happy holidays!

Hello! Just wanted to pop in and wish you all a wonderful holiday!

My Christmas cards finally went out earlier this week. I made my own again this year. This time I used as many photos as I could to document a year's worth of memories. I went through all my photos of the past year and picked my faves. As you can see most of them are of the girls. But we did include our annual family portrait in front of our maple tree as the main photo.

In a departure from previous cards, I also included my version of the Christmas letter. A top 10 list of our favorite memories. This might be my favorite card yet.

The journaling card and banner are by Paislee Press. Fonts used: Ranger, Kingthings Typewriter, and Pacifico.

 What have been up to besides making and sending out Christmas cards? Well, I've been busy with my shop and everything that goes along with that: making new items, writing tutorials, creating a newsletter, and blogging on my catshy crafts blog. Definitely a labor of love. I love what I do! So I'm sorry I haven't updated my papercat blog in a while. But if you would like to peek at my other blog, here's a peek at what you will find: 4 brand-new tutorials, updates on my new Catshy Crafts items and new features like: Etsy Love Mondays, Thankful Tuesday ands Thrifty Thursdays!

I hope you will check it out!  Here are quick links to keep in touch.

Blog

Shop

Pinterest

Twitter

Facebook Fan Page for Catshy Crafts

One of my new tutorials at Catshy Crafts blog.

and then there was one*

With my new Etsy shop and business coming together, I realized that I would have to cut down on other commitments, namely my creative team with JessicaSprague.com. I loved being a team member there for the past year and a half. They have so many great designers there! Kitschy Digitals, Queen of Quirk, In the Making, Cosmo Cricket and Echo Park to name a few of my faves. But, Sofia has started school again and Zara will be in a one-day a week toddler class. I see a lot of playdates, homework, school events and extracurricular activities in my future. So I stepped down from the team yesterday. My gallery is still up at the site if you want to take a peek at my  pages.

I still hope to scrapbook both with paper and pixels. I'm thinking of adding a scrapbooking-for-hire component to my business. Just not sure how yet. Until then, I will scrapbook when the mood strikes. Like last night. I broke out a kit that bought weeks ago, but never used: Hello, Love by Paislee Press.

hello, love | Paislee Press' hello love digi kit

*p.s. I am still designing for Kitschy Digitals. Love her stuff!

digital layout : turning two

I have a new layout to share using Echo Park's Country Drive line - so cute and up my alley in terms of colors and uber-cuteness. I also used Kitschy Digitals and Creativity by Crystal - all available at JessicaSprague.com (please full credits below). The background paper I used was already in the grid design -- I just added borders horizontally and vertically to emphasize the four squares of patterned paper. I used two journaling spots, breaking up my journaling. And clustered my embellishments together, tucking in a few smaller photos of Zara (taken on the same day).

Thanks for taking a peek!

turning two | *Echo Park* Patterned paper: Country Drive Paper Pack
Borders + Journal Cards: Country Drive Element Pack #1
Bird and word art: Country Drive Element Pack #2
Green z: Country Drive Alpha

*Kitschy Digitals*
Yellow button: Thrift Store Grab Bag
Pink gingham flower: Fresh Blooms Kit
Round red stick pin: NSD 2010 Freebie[/url]

*Creativity by Crystal*
Tons of Scallops Template Kit

in the scraproom: Jessica Sprague CT layouts

Today, I have a couple of digital layouts to share for my CT work at JessicaSprague.com. Of course, I scrapped about my daughters....again. They are just so scrap-able! If you want direct links to the products I used in each layout, please click on the caption below each image to take you to the JS gallery. I have included links there. Thanks for stopping by!

my girls | Splendid Fiin's Tween Add-on Papers + Teen Add-on Elements + Hand drawn Bookplates Set 2 @ jessicasprague.com

sing out loud | template tuesday 6/28/2011 by mindy pitcher + Splendid Fiins' Evidence Arrows 2 + Feedsack Papers + Feedsack Element Pack 2 + Echo Park's Summer Days Alphas @ jessicasprague.com

Welcome to stop #17 of Jessica's Sprague's Birthday Bloghop!

Welcome to my little paper and digi crafting blog! I'm Cathy (aka cayla73), creative team member for JessicaSprague.com and this is stop number 17 of Jessica Sprague's Birthday Bloghop! I hope you're enjoying all the freebies, fun and festivities so far!  (Note: If you came here first or got lost along the way, click on the image below to take you back to the start of the bloghop!)

Today, I have a super-cute cluster to share with you. If you are not familiar with what a cluster is, well, I'll tell you! A cluster is a grouping of digital elements (usually a .png file) pre-designed for you that can be used on any of your digital (or hybrid) projects. You can add it to a scrapbook page. Resize it. Add photos. Add journaling. Add extra elements. Layer it. Even print it out for a hybrid project. Something like a quickpage but a little more versatile because you can change it up to suit your needs.

{CLICK ON THE PREVIEW TO DOWNLOAD} Sorry, the blog hop has ended. The link has been disabled.

I hope you like it! And here's a page that I made using my own cluster. As you can see, I layered the cluster on blue paper, added an extra glitter element, journaling in a column, and an extra tag with mini stars. (All the "extra" elements and paper I added are from other birthday bloghop freebies.)

zara and sofia | 4ever bloghop cluster by cathy pascual (using elements by queen of quirk, in the making, echo park, kitschy digitals, carina gardner) + blue paper by queen of quirk + glitter spill by kari holt + bar code tag + starlets by liv.edesigns

If you make a page or project with my cluster, I'd really, really love to see it! Please leave a comment with a link or you can e-mail me at cayla73@yahoo.com. And, of course, I'd love if you visit me again at my little blog.

And, now on with the bloghop. The next stop is the uber-talented, Chrissy!

in the scraproom: I'm on page 124!

This arrived a few days ago. The Big Book of Scrapbook Pages. Check it out - I'm on page 124.

And here's the published layout up close....

big girl on campus

big girl on campus
Kitschy Digitals' Pretty Felt Feathers + Thrift Store Grab Bag + Granny's Sewing Basket + Calico Dream + Echo Park Hybrids' Springtime Alpha/Element 1 + Springtime Paper/Element 1 @ JessicaSprague.com

My 22-month-old loves to visit her kindergartener sister at school and all the kids in the class seem to love her! Some photos from today's surprise visit at lunch and recess.




 

Two Peas Digi page: bright star

I am slowing down in my old age. This page took me all day (on and off - in between running after my two little girls). I do love the green paper and the hand-drawn title and accents from Wilna's "Somewhere Out There" kit at Two Peas in a Bucket.

I added the scalloped edge to the green paper by first adding the scalloped stitch from Vinnie Pearce's new kit, Bloom - also at Two Peas. Then I used my magic wand and selected "outside" the scallops. Then I selected the paper in my layers palette and deleted the selection. Finally I added a pink paper from Wilna's kit underneath. I love the added bit of pink.