I’ve always thought that God gives you only what you can handle. And, thanks to God, we are all tougher that we think. 😉 We are all doing what we can to help prevent the spread of this deadly virus

Earlier this month, the counties surrounding the county where The Cat’s Pajamas is located put in place a Shelter-in-place order and mandated the closure of all non-essential business. And, though we think stamping is pretty essential 🙂 we are happy to help fight the spread of the Coronavirus by sheltering in place until April 7.

So, while we are sheltering in place we’re having a 10% off SALE and FREE shipping for ALL orders shipping to the US and CANADA! We’ll ship all orders once the order has been lifted on April 7.

Please stay safe

I pray you are all staying well. The world has certainly changed for all of us. Let’s just remember to be kind to one another and we’ll get through this together.

I don’t know about you but I have never been so glad to have an “at home” hobby as I do now. Cardmaking has certainly been a great distraction from the anxiety and uncertainty.

And speaking of cardmaking, you have until the end of the month to submit a project to our TCP Tuesday challenge for a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to the store. The challenge is to use a “furry animal” on your project and TCP products are not required to participate.

More Cat Pack Projects:

Julee (Make Tea)

Kerry (Bearing Flowers, Rectangular Stamp Die)

Melissa (I’m Not Fat)

Cristena (Kickin’ It)

Beata (Make Tea, Year of the Rat Bundle)

Deborah (Family Forever)

Brenda (Year of the Rat Bundle, Watercolor Basics, Skinny Alphabet Stencil)

To see more about the challenge and post your project, go here.

Stay safe and well my friends!

 

The March TCP Tuesday challenge is to include a Furry Animal (s) on your project. There are many furry critter images in the TCP Store although TCP products are not required. You have until the end of the month to complete a project and an added bonus is the $50 gift voucher some lucky artist has a chance to win.

Examples from The Cat Pack:

Beata (Make Tea)

Julee ( Follow the Bunny Bundle, Apron CutUps, Grass CutUps)

Christine (Make Tea , Toppers CutUps)

Cristena (Grab the Unicorn, Make Tea, GReat Outdoors Stencilz)

Melissa (Make Tea, Spring Mix)

Nancy (Follow the Bunny Bundle, Sugar, Sugar, Stitched Squares & More)

Here are the details for the TCP Challenge:

• Each month a new challenge will be posted on The Cat’s Pajamas blog and our Facebook page.
• If you want to play along you just upload your design to The Cat’s Pajamas blog page using the InLinkz button provided.
• You are not required to use a Cat’s Pajamas stamp or die but if you have them we would love to see them.
• On the day of the next challenge the winner will be chosen from the previous challenge and will receive a Cat Cash Voucher for $50.

Have fun with this challenge!

We had many really great entries from the February challenge and the randomly selected winner  was Mary Ellen. Please contact admin (admin at  thecatspajamasrs dot com) to claim your $50 gift voucher. Congratulations!

Since Valentine’s Day is over I wanted to repurpose a tinsel wreath that I got over at the Dollar Tree and make it more of an all-year round kind of decor.

I thought it was also a great way to use my stencils! Stencils are CRAZY versatile and they aren’t just for walls or crosswalks any more. I love all the great techniques that are being released on the world now that crafter’s have them in their hot little hands

I particularly like them to personalize a simple wreath to give a custom message. Our alphabet stencilz have nice big letters and are affordable when compared to stamps and dies. Plus, if I don’t get the coverage I wanted with the stencil I can easily replace it and repaint.

So, for this wreath, I removed the tinsel from the heart and trimmed of all the “extras” (see video 😉 ) and painted the frame up to mimic rattan. Then, I wired in some pretty florals.

Then, I pulled out some burlap ribbon, white chalk paint and our Shakey Serif Stencilz. I stenciled up several different words so that I could audition them and have them on hand if I wanted to change out the word later.

Finally, I cut off the word “welcome” and hot glued it to the frame. What do you think? I’m in LOVE

But, I was not done there! I went to Pier1 and saw a floral bunny for WAY more than I wanted to pay. I knew I could make it for a TON less, so I gave it a try.

For this bunny, I used a tinsel covered bunny from the 99cent Store, but you could use any frame or even draw out a bunny on foam core and cut it out.  I unraveled the tinsel and chose my flowers and either pulled the heads off the stems or cut the stems very short.

Starting with the largest flowers, I hot glued them on the frame and filled in the rest with more flower, really packing out the curves so that the were accentuated. (all those flowers tend to make definition go away). Then, I added the “Hoppy Easter” ribbon that I stenciled earlier and topped it with a burlap bow.

What do you think? I really LOVE the bunny tail from white hydrangeas and the contrast between the pretty soft flowers and the farmhouse look of the stenciled burlap ribbon.

Check out the video for how I did these two projects and tips on how to stencil the letters.

The February TCP Tuesday challenge to use Stencils on your project is going strong. You have until the end of the month to submit a project for a chance at a $50 gift voucher to the store. The Cat’s Pajamas has some outstanding stencils but you do not have to use a TCP product to participate.

More examples from The Cat Pack:

Welcome back to Christine (Stuck on You Bundle, Big Beautiful Blending Brush Succulent Stencil)

Julee (Make Tea, Twist Stencil)

Nancy (Splish Splash, Great Outdoors)

Beata (Look for the Rainbows , Big Beautiful Blending Brush, Twist Stencil)

Melissa (Don’t Feed the Dust Bunnies, Great Outdoors Stencil)

Wendy (Stitched Enjoy, Handdrawn Scrolls Stencil)

Brenda (Follow the Bunny Bundle, Pattern Builder Stencil)

Deborah (Words of Love, Skinny Alphabet Stencil, Handdrawn Scrolls Stencil) 

Upload your projects here.

 

 

 

I little while ago, I was inspired to create a pair of heart topiaries that I absolutely LOVE! I love everything about Valentine’s Day. What is not to love about hearts and flowers, candy and my Sweetheart!? I wish every day was Valentine’s Day, but I know that’s not possible. So, what do I do with decorations that are “heart-oriented”? Well, here’s what I did with the heart topiaries.

I removed the hearts and their “stems” and replaced them with these “lavender” topiaries and burlap ribbon bows. It’s a terrific way to repurpose your crafts and update them for a different look.

It’s easy. I may even change them out for a different holiday or season. Hope you like them.

The January TCP Tuesday challenge is to use  a Stencil (s) on your project. There are some fabulous stencils in the TCP Store although TCP products are not required. You have until the end of the month to complete a project and an added bonus is the $50 gift voucher some lucky artist has a chance to win.

Stencil Ideas from The Cat Pack:

Julee (Year of the Rat Bundle, Great Outdoors Stencil)

Cristena (Make Tea, Handdrawn Scrolls)

Beata (Grab the Unicorn, Great Outdoors Stencil)

Brenda (Hello Spring Bundle, Birch Trees Stencil, Great Outdoors Stencil)

Melissa (Follow the Bunny Bundle, Hello Spring Bundle,  Skinny Alphabet Stencil)

Nancy (I’m Not Fat, Birch Trees Stencil)

 

Here are the details for the TCP Challenge:

• Each month a new challenge will be posted on The Cat’s Pajamas blog and our Facebook page.
• If you want to play along you just upload your design to The Cat’s Pajamas blog page using the InLinkz button provided.
• You are not required to use a Cat’s Pajamas stamp or die but if you have them we would love to see them.
• On the day of the next challenge the winner will be chosen from the previous challenge and will receive a Cat Cash Voucher for $50.

We had many gorgeous entries from the January challenge and the randomly selected winner  was Holley. Please contact admin (admin at  thecatspajamasrs dot com) to claim your $50 gift voucher. Congratulations!

 

Welcome to our January Blog Hop! I just love the very FIRST Release of the NEW Year. All week you’ve been (me, too) enjoying mini hops featuring our January Collection with The Cat Pack AND with The Coffee Loving Cardmakers 😉 This is the last hop of the month and if you’ve come here from Deborah Anton’s blog you have reached the end of the hop. If not, start at Kerry Urbatch’s blog.

For me our January Collection is all about NEW beginnings and the start of a year full of playing with fun, fun stamps. Like the NEW Hello Spring Stamp Set.  Such cute little fairies in this set, so I decided to create little fairy habitats.

You may remember, on Halloween, I made little lanterns and cloches with little witches. I reused the stands, and found a small glass cloche at Ikea and another one at Goodwill.  And at the Dollar Tree, when I found little fairy houses and accessories and such I took it as a sign to make more.

First, I stamped up the images from the Hello Spring Stamp set, and colored them with copies. Then, I fussy cut them and attached wire to the back of them, making sure that the wire went through the neck, to give the figures strength.

I painted the stands white, but used a bit of sandpaper to rough up the stands for a more comfortable look.  I attached a styrofoam block to the base, covering it with moss. Then, I added the fairy door, accessories. and the cute fairies. To the back of the door I inserted some flowers for color, making sure that they fit comfortably under the cloche. Lastly, the butterfly adds even more fluttery fun.

It came together so fast, I made another! You can see the styrofoam here, showing the different layering to give the little scene more depth and interest. I’ll cover the blocks up, shortly.

Finally, this cute little planter. Last year, my sister and I had a girls night out and we went to a class where we made cute hanging planters, like this one. My sister’s string promptly broke and a couple of months later I found out that her succulents died. ( I thought I had the brown thumb of the family. So, I found a plastic version of the hanging planter at the Dollar Tree and a slew of plastic succulents so I created this version for my sister.

I added more mushrooms here and am thinking and possibly fairy lights. Not sure. What do you think? I’m so happy that there is no way that she can,  kill it. Sweet!

That’s it for now. I hope you give these sweet little fairy houses a try.

Want to see The Cat Pack’s take on this collection again? Just click on the links.

Kerry Urbatch
Cristena Bagne
Julee Tilman
Nancy Thomas
Melissa Chipperfield
Beata June
Brenda Nakandakari
Wendy McGaffey
Deborah Anton
Alma de la Rosa– That’s me

---

I picked a winner for Sneaky Peek Day #7 from Cat Packer, Melissa Chipperfield’s blog. The winner is:SLBT! Congrats SLBT. Please contact me at admin@thecatspajamasrs.com to claim your prize.