Don’t you just love this little sock monkey?  My sister’s probably laughing at me right now, saying "I told you so!". Not too long ago I was adamantly telling her that I would NOT be ordering the Sock Monkey stamp set  because I didn’t like the monkey.  However, after seeing the sock monkey used in so many cute little ways, I was bitten by the "gotta have it" bug and caved in and ordered it.  It’s such a perfect kid’s set - both to make cards to give to kids, as well as a great set for kids to use to make their own cards.  As part of the Sock Monkey set you not only get the monkey, but you also get some cute accessories and even a few greetings (you can find this set on pg. 51 of the catalogue for $31.95 CAN).

Of course, when I saw the Sock Monkey Accessories set, I couldn’t resist, so I added that to my order as well (pg. 51, $25.95 CAN).  Although I didn’t have a chance to use it this time ’round, I’m sure I’ll be having lots of fun with it as well (or my kids will).

When I chose the colors for this card, I based them around the Rainbow Sherbet DP.  Again, when I first saw this DP I didn’t like it because I thought it was too loud.  By using only a small piece on my card, it added just the right amount of "fun" without being too overwhelming.  Like the Sock Monkey set, Rainbow Sherbet has really grown on me for kids’ cards (p. 171, $11.95 CAN).

I’ve included a full supply list of all the things I used to make this card, below. In terms of how I made it, it’s pretty straightforward.  I stamped the monkey onto Whisper White CS and punched him out using my 1 3/4" circle punch and colored him in using Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel Watercolor Wonder crayons.  Because his arm got partially cut off when I punched him out, I stamped him a second time on a scrap of Whisper White and cut out just his arm and then glued it on using my 2-way glue pen.  This makes it look like he’s reaching out of the window.  The balloon comes from a cute stamp set called Crazy for Cupcakes (pg. 64, $28.95 CAN).  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to align the balloon exactly where I wanted it. I then stamped the balloon onto a scrap of white, colored & glittered it, and mounted it onto the card using a Stampin’ Dimensional. The balloon and party hat were also colored in using WWC (tempting turquoise & Pumpkin Pie), and then glittered up using Dazzling Diamonds glitter and 2-way glue.

I’m planning on giving this card to my oldest son for his 10th birthday.  Although you might think that this card is too young for a 10 year old boy, it’s right up his alley - he loves monkeys and he loves it when I add glitter to my cards.  Unlike a lot of kids nowadays, he really seems to appreciate the things that I make for him, and he puts them with his "treasured possessions".

The greeting came from a fun new birthday greeting set called On Your Birthday (p. 141, $39.95 CAN) - definately a "must-have" if you make and give a lot of birthday cards.
 

As you can see, this card was quite a time-intensive AND a supply-intensive card, but a very fun card to make none-the-less. You’ll notice that I’ve started including full pictures of the stamp sets I’ve used.  I’ve done this because I often get questions about what stamp set something comes from, or what package of DP it comes from - this way it’s right there for you.

Stamps: Sock Monkey, Crazy for Cupcakes, On Your Birthday
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel WWC, Black Staz On
Paper: Rainbow Sherbet DP, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Whisper White CS
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, 1/16" handheld punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, coluzzle system (circle template, cutting blade, mat - to mat the 1 3/4" circle), 2-way glue, dazzling diamonds glitter, Fresh Favorites I buttons, Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, mini glue dots, paper snips, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Although I’m a day late again with my featured posts, I figured that since I stamped this, I had might as well share it rather than waiting until next Saturday.  I’m finding that squeezing in stamping time during the week is really challenging right now.  Now that Samuel is 6 weeks old, he’s moved beyond the "sleepy newborn" stage, to the constantly awake stage. Just like all my other kids, he does NOT seem to want to nap.  Despite the fact he’s cranky and tired, and he can hardly keep his eyes open, for the most part he will not sleep on his own.   He wants to be held and nursed the entire time he’s "sleeping".  The minute I try and unlatch him and put him down, his eyes pop open.  About the only time I’ve had to stamp the last 3 weeks is on Saturday afternoon and evening.  My husband takes over with kids and holds the baby while I embark on a stamping marathon. With our move now looming 2 1/2 weeks away, I suspect that it’s going to get even worse. So, although I WILL BE STAMPING AND POSTING it won’t be according to my regular daily themes - it will be when I can, as I can. I need to temporarily suspend my planned features until sometime mid-October, after we’ve moved and settled in. 

Yesterday this was the first card that I made.  It uses the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set and Windsor Knot DP.  I don’t really like it all that much, but that’s usually what happens when it’s been a week since I’ve stamped - it takes me awhile to get going.  I made the card below yesterday as well - it also falls within the category of a 10-15 minute card, and since I like it a lot better I thought I’d share that with you as well.

This card incorporates Perfect Plum Pale Plum and Old Olive.  It’s a color combination I haven’t used in a long time, but I thought the Perfect Plum DP was just perfect for this stamped image. For the main image I used the Fruit Stand stamp set and for the greeting, I used Thank You Kindly.  I just love the way they look stamped on the new Top Note die for the Big Shot.  I hope you guys don’t get bored of seeing that die, because I absolutely love it!  Since the edge is perforated, I followed that to cut down the white CS top note, so that it matted perfectly onto the Pale Plum top note.

Yesterday my husband took the kids to the Fall Fair for a few hours while I stayed home with the toddler and baby, and they came home with the greatest hats.  I just had to share a couple of pictures.  This one is of my two older boys (the one on the left is 8 and the one on the right is 10).

Here’s a picture of my daughter with her hat. She looked so cute because the hat looked almost as big as she was! Each of the kids one a stuffed animal as well, so of course she had to show off her "cudly" in the picture. Unfortunately we didn’t get a good shot of her on her own, or a very good group shot of the three kids, so I had to crop this photo which is why you see her brother’s elbow in the picture (I haven’t quite yet figured out how to edit it out).

Happy Friday everyone!  I’m on a posting marathon today!  Be sure to check out my tutorial for the card box I created for holding 4" x 4" cards in my earlier post,  and the lovely gift I received from the wonderful demonstrators that are a part of UDI (Utah Diva’s International).

Today’s card is a simple card using a fall-themed stamp set called Thoroughly Thankful.  I just love this stamp set - it’s perfect not only for cardmaking, but for scrapbooking as well (you can actually see a scrapbook page using this set on page 30 of the Idea Book & Catalogue).  To create this card I stamped the block image onto Natural Ivory CS several times in Basic Brown ink.  I then cut out the blocks, colored them in using a blender pen and classic ink, and mounted them to a strip of Chocolate Chip CS. I placed some chocolate twill ribbon along the bottom of the Chocolate Chip strip (this ribbon is now retired, but you can substitute 1/4" chocolate chip grosgrain).  After I mounted the Chocolate Chip strip to the More Mustard card front I coated the images with crystal effects and let them dry.  You can kind of get an idea of the effect by looking at the Pumpkin.  It looks really pretty in person.

Stamps: Thoroughly Thankful
Ink: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Really Red, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard.
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard CS.
Accessories: crystal effects, blender pen, chocolate chip twill ribbon

Yes I do realize it’s actually Friday and not Thursday *lol*!  I made this set last weekend intending to share it with you all on Thursday, but had some issues with photographing the set, and wasn’t able to get the pictures taken and edited in time.  Since I know you all look forward to my Template Thursday posts, I decided to share it with you anyways - just one day late.

I had a lot of fun creating this set.  Since Stampin’ Up! released the Fresh Cuts Notes in June (which are 4" x 4" cards),  I’ve really fallen in love with creating 4" x 4" cards - especially after I stumbled across THIS TUTORIAL by Cindy Lawrence, which showed how to make envelopes for 4" x 4" cards using our Medium Whisper White envelopes and designer paper (DP).  So I pulled out my new Flower Fancy stamp set &  Georgia Peach DP, and set about creating a set of six 4" x 4" cards (2 of each of the ones shown), 6 matching envelopes, and a cute box to hold them in.  Notice the large half-back pearl in the center  of the flowers.  Those come from Stampin’ Up!’s Pretties Kit.  Because they are so large, I haven’t used them as much as the other elements in the Pretties Kit, and had a lot left over. I was really pleased they fit in the center of the flowers so well, because it gave me the perfect opportunity to use them up. Here’s a close-up of the box:

Here’s a top view of the box:

I loved the way the cards and matching envelopes looked in the box, so I opted not to put a lid on it.  Instead, I thought it would make a really pretty gift wrapped in cellophane and tied with our 1 1/4" pink pirouette grosgrain ribbon.

You can download a copy of the template I created for this box here.

Stamps: Flower Fancy, Fundamental Phrases, Boho Blooms
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Basic Black
Paper: 12" x 12" pink pirouette CS, 8 1/2" x 11" Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Whisper White CS, Georgia Peach DP
Accessories: Regal Rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Pretties Kit, mini glue dots, sticky strip

Step 1: Download your template, follow the cutting, scoring and folding directions.

Step 2: Lay your CS piece face up. Stamp and decorate the front of your box.  Place sticky strip on the two middle flaps as shown.

Step 3: Peel the red backing off of the sticky strip, bring up the back of the box, and stick the small flaps to the inside of the larger flaps.  Place sticky strip along the inside of the large flaps (the ones on the box front piece).

Step 4: Peel the backing off of the sticky strip, bring up the box front and stick the large flaps to the outside of the side flaps of the box back piece.  Your box is now assembled, finish decorating it as desired.

Quick and easy isn’t it? In order to create the envelopes I followed Cindy’s tutorial and first took one of our medium whisper white envelopes and sealed it shut. The envelopes are 4 3/8" high, so where you see the black line in the picture below, I cut the envelope using my tabletop paper cutter.

I then took a piece of DP that was 2 1/2"  x 4 3/8", and scored it at 1".,   I then glued the 1" flap to the envelope as shown in the picture below, and rounded the corners of the flap. It’s kind of hard to see in the picture below, but the "seam" (where I sealed the flap of the envelope down) is at the back of the envelopes.

Here’s a close-up of the finished envelope and one of the cards:

Unfortunately, Stampin’ Up! doesn’t carry their envelope glue anymore, which means to seal the envelope you’d have to use some other kind of double-sided adhesive.  Also, please note that you cannot mail 4" x 4" in either the US or Canada, instead you’d have to give it someone in person or with a gift.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial.

Take a look at this beautiful baby gift I received from Utah Divas International!  The gift included some handstamped thank you cards that I can send out, some onesies, a treat pouch for each of the older kids, a wrapped chocolate bar, diaper ointment in a cute little box, and some bath salts in a decorated test tube. You can see a close up of the pictures below.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with UDI, it’s a wonderful group for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators that was started by a demonstrator from Utah.  I’ve been a member of the group for about 6 months now and have loved every minute of it.  You can check out the UDI blog here. In fact, if you love challenges, they are running an inspirational challenge right now, for the chance to win a free stamp set - so be sure to pop over and check it out!

Here’s a close up of the treat pouches:

Aren’t they cute?  There were three "boy" ones and one "girl" one.  Below you can see a close up of the wrapped chocolate bar, diaper ointment and bath salts:

Wasnt’ that sweet of them?  Thank you so much UDI! 

Are you disappointed that we won’t have a Regional Conference in the Ontario / Michigan / New York area until sometime next Spring?  How would you like the opportunity THIS FALL to get together with your peers to:

• Hear not one, but TWO top US demonstrators share their Stampin’ Up! experiences
• Make a FABULOUS make & take project
• SWAP, SOCIALIZE, & NETWORK with fellow demonstrators in our area
• Pick up lots of ideas: both CREATIVE & BUSINESS, AND
• Have a chance to win Stampin’ Up! PRIZES! - including Stampin’ Up! ’s Sizzix Big Shot!

YES? Then have we got an event for you!

Demonstrator Stampfest

 Saturday November 15th, 2008
hosted by: Andrea Walford (Cambridge, ON), and Donna Henley (Guelph, ON)

TIME:     9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

PLACE: Future Inn, 700 Hespeler Road (Hwy 24, South of Hwy 401), Cambridge, ON, Canada

EARLY-BIRD REGISTRATION:   $60 when you REGISTER BY SEPTEMBER 30^TH (early bird registrations are also entered in a draw for a chance to win Stampin’ Up!’s Sizzix Big Shot! Draw takes place Nov. 15th). 

REGULAR COST: $75 if you register between Oct. 1st and 15th.  Final date to register: October 15th, 2008

NOTE:    Lunch will not be provided. Restaurants are within walking distance from the hotel.

Guest Speakers:

 KIMBERLY VAN DIEPEN from Colorado Springs, CO …
"Desire, Motivation and Attitude"

Is your business in need of an uplift?  This presentation will have you look at all three areas to help you build a strong business! 

Kimberly has been with Stampin’ Up! for 5 years during which she moved 4 times and rebuilt her business in 4 different states.  She is a 2008 Founders Circle Achiever and ranked #7 for Demonstrator of the Year.  

GLENDA TRAVELSTEAD from Bartlett, IL … 
"The Little Engine that Could"

This presentation includes many fun, practical ideas to get a new business going, or jumpstart the one you already have.

Glenda Travelstead is a 2007 Stampin’ Up! Advisory Board Member, multiple Founder Circle Achiever, Rising Star, Demo of the Year and more. 
 

BONUS STAMP-A-THON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14^TH:

Register for Friday night too, and you will have the opportunity to make 20 different "DEMONSTRATABLE" cards that you can re-create in your classes and workshops. Everything will be pre-cut for you, ready to stamp & assemble.

TIME: 7 PM - 10 PM

PLACE: Future Inn, 700 Hespeler Road (Hwy 24, South of Hwy 401), Cambridge, ON, Canada

COST: $35

Friday night space is limited to 60 seats - so register EARLY! Friday stamp-a-thon is offered only to those attending the Saturday Stampfest. After September 30th, if space is still available, it will be opened to others.

EARLY-BIRD REGISTRATION (*prices will be adjusted to the regular rate after September 30th)

Register for Friday & Saturday: $95 (early bird price)

Register for Saturday Only: $60 (early bird price)

When you register, please bring a hand-stamped card for display and hand it in when you arrive, using current Stampin’ Up! products only.Everyone loves to see displays-this is how we get them!  Please put your name & email address on the back of your card. (recipe is optional)

************************************************

SPACE WILL BE LIMITED TO THE FIRST 80 REGISTRATIONS FOR SATURDAY, AND THE FIRST 60 REGISTRATIONS FOR FRIDAY -DON’T DELAY; THIS EVENT IS EXPECTED TO FILL FAST!

NOTE: Registered participants will receive a confirmation email with a link to the website, where you can check regularly for updated information, attendance list, supply list to bring for Friday and/or Saturday, local hotel and restaurant information, and any last minute instructions before the event.

SWAP GUIDELINES (swapping is an optional activity)
*All products used MUST be from the Fall & Winter Catalogue or Holiday Mini Catalogue
*Projects must be something that can be demonstrated in a workshop or made in a class
*Card fronts, 6X6 scrapbook pages and 3D items are all acceptable & inter-changeable
*Please put your name and email address on the back of all your cards; recipes are optional.

 IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Andrea Walford  andrea@sunnystampin.com  OR Donna Henley donna@scrappinwithdonna.com

Payments may also be made by cheque.  If payments are made by cheque please send TWO cheques - one for the Friday session and a separate cheque for the Saturday session just in case the Friday session is full by the time we receive your cheques. Please make cheques payable to:Donna Henley
55 Chillico Drive
Guelph, ON N1K 1Y6
Canada

 *REFUND POLICY:  Full refund if you cancel your spot by Sept. 25th.  No refunds will be issued after that date.

If you’ve noticed that my Tuesday blog feature has a new name - you’re absolutely right.  I made the change a few weeks ago after feedback I received during my big blog give-away.  I heard from a lot of you that you wanted more techniques and others that wanted more 3D projects and templates.  As a result, I decided to focus on techniques on Tuesdays, and to focus on 3D projects on Thursdays (which I call my Template Thursday).

Today’s technique is a modified version of a technique called Joseph’s Coat.  This is a technique that has been around for quite awhile - I think I first learned it from my upline 4 years ago.  I’m not sure where she learned it, or who came up with it in the first place.  The way Joseph’s coat is normally done is as follows:

1. Take a sheet of glossy cardstock.  Ink up your brayer on a spectrum ink pad (an ink pad with multiple colors on it), and ink up your cardstock.
2. Stamp your images onto your colored glossy CS in VersaMark ink.  Sprinkly on clear embossing powder and heat emboss.
3. Ink up your brayer in black ink and completely brayer over the glossy CS.
4. Wipe off the excess ink with tissue.

Since Stampin’ Up! no longer carries spectrum pads, I decided to try it in a different manner - using my sponge daubers.  I actually  liked the effect better because it gives a softer look - the different colors are less defined - more natural-looking, and they blend into one another more.  Instead of black ink, I used Chocolate Chip ink because again, I thought it would give a softer look.  Here’s a quick tutorial on how I made my card:

Stamps: With Gratitude
Ink: Summer Sun, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, VersaMark
Paper: Naturals Ivory, More Mustard, Glossy White CS
Accessories: sponge dauber (1 per color), brayer, paper piercer with foam mat and piercing template, More Mustard 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Embossing buddy, Clear embossing powder, heat tool

Step 1: Take a piece of glossy CS, a sponge dauber and More Mustard ink.  Ink up your sponge dauber on the More Mustard ink pad and "pounce" spots of More Mustard randomly over the glossy CS.

Step 2: Repeat step 1, this time using Pumpkin Pie ink.  You’ll notice that I actually pounced the Pumpkin Pie right next to my More Mustard spots, and in some cases pounced a bit on top of the More Mustard.

Step 3: Repeat step 2 with Really Rust.

Step 4:  At this point, I pulled out my Summer Sun ink pad and filled in the white spaces by pouncing on Summer Sun ink.

Step 5: Once your glossy CS is completely covered with color, pull out your Really Rust ink pad again.  Ink up your sponge dauber, but this time, instead of pouncing, rub it (back and forth and in circular motions) all over the glossy CS.  This will help blend and soften the edges of the colors a bit.

Step 6: Rub your embossing buddy all over the surface of your glossy CS.  Ink up your leaf stamps in VersaMark ink and randomly stamp your leaf images all over the glossy CS.  Sprinkle on clear embossing powder then heat emboss.

Step 7: Take your brayer, ink it up in Chocolate Chip ink and brayer all over the glossy CS.  Re-ink your brayer and repeat this step until you get the depth and darkness of color coverage you desire.

Step 8:  the clear embossing powder over the stamped images will resist the ink, so once your CS is as dark as you’d like, take a tissue and wipe the excess ink off of the glossy CS and off of the stamped & embossed images.

Decorate your card as desired. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Happy Labour Day weekend & welcome to another Stampin’ Up! Makeover Monday!  I’m very sorry about the lack of posts this past week and weekend - I had every intention of posting, but unfortunately, due to the circumstances of the past week (see my post on "Surviving the Craziness"), I wasn’t able to touch ink to rubber even once. It was agonizing.  All my new stamps, my beautiful papers and gorgeous accessories, just sitting there!  By Sunday I was in serious withdrawal.  Thankfully though I was able to spend a few hours in my stamp room playing with my new stuff, and I now have all my projects for my regular daily features done up until Friday.

For those of you new to Makeover Monday,here’s how it works: every Monday I take a totally, or mostly non-Stampin’ Up! project and make it over using all Stampin’ Up! products.  Although colors and images can change, the layout has to stay the same. My card for today’s post was inspired by this card HERE by Debbie Olson. For my card I used the following supplies:

Stamps: Cheers to You
Ink: Apricot Appeal, Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green, Green Galore, Read Red Classic inks, Black Staz On
Paper: Rainbow Sherbet DP, Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green
Accessories: Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, paper piercer & foam mat, silver brads, 1 1/4" circle punch, crystal effects, slit punch.

It’s funny, but when I first saw the Rainbow Sherbet DP in the catalogue I did NOT like it. I thought it was very "loud". I don’t use colors in the Bold Brights family all that often any more.  I decided to order it anyways because I had already ordered every other DP and didn’t feel right leaving one out *lol*!  When I pulled it out yesterday I was surprised by how much I like it - the patterns and colors are really fun!

Although you can’t see it in the picture, I coated the cocktail glass with crystal effects to give it a more realistic "glassy" look.  It looks really neat in "real life".

Now it’s your turn! Take a totally or at least mostly non-Stampin’ Up! card, 3D item or scrapbook page, and make it over using all Stampin’ Up! product.  Post it to your blog, Splitcoaststampers, or other photo gallery and link to this post.  Once you’ve done that, post a comment in the comments section of this post with a link to your card.  You can makeover as many projects as you would like. Each project gets you one entry into my monthly draw.  The winner is drawn the first Monday of the following month, and receives an item valued at $14.95 or less (CAN) from the current Stampin’ Up! catalogue. Contest is open to both demos and non-demos.

September came a little early this year! Although I’m sad to see summer coming to an end, I must admit that I’m excited to be heading into September.  I don’t know if this comes from my days of being in school, but I find that for me, September marks the beginning of a "new" year, even more so than January.  I have all sorts of exciting things up my sleeve for you all that have been "brewing" for quite awhile now (well over 4 months now), just waiting for the right time to be released.  Although I wish I could spill the beans right now, unfortunately I can’t, or it would ruin the surprise.  Suffice it to say that some of things that I have been hinting at for months will finally start to come to fruition this fall. 

In the meantime,  I have been gearing up to dive back into my Stampin’ Up! business now that the kids are heading back to school.  I’m sure many of you are doing the same.  With more time during the day, I’m sure many of you are contemplating finally having a little time to yourself for some stamping.  For those of you that are Stampin’ Up! demonstrators, you’re probably starting to plan your fall line-up of classes.  So, rather than waiting until September 1st to launch my newest Class Planner & Stamp Class by Email, I decided to launch it today!

I have to say, I think this is one of my favourite classes so far.  I absolutely love the color combination and the silhouette style stamps - very different from the look of my other class sets.   If you’re looking for quick and easy cards to make that have a real "wow" factor, then this class is the perfect answer! You’ll use the Upsy Daisy stamp set and Urban Garden designer paper to create these four stunning cards and a sleek little box to hold them in (see the picture of the box below). Because it has a low materials cost, this set is ideal for gift-giving. 

If you’re a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator you can purchase this class planner HERE. If you have a monthly subscription, the class planners were emailed out earlier today.  If yours is not in your inbox, be sure to check your spam folder.  If you don’t find it there then please be sure to email me and I’ll resend it to you ASAP.

If you’re not a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, (or you are one but you do not offer classes), then you can purchase the Stamp Class by Email version HERE. 

Just to give you an example of the craziness this week, this was my day yesterday:

• 9 am - dropped my son off to Sylvan learning center
• 9: 30 - 11:00 am - met with accountant
• 12:00 pm  - picked up my son from Sylvan
• came home, made lunch for everyone
• 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm - went to the new house to meet someone from the fencing company for a quote on fencing in the pool and talked to the contractors  Rushed home
• 3:00 pm - met with a moving company to get a quote for a move
• 5:00 pm - dinner and "cranky time" for the toddler
• 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm - stampers club class
• 10:30 pm left for the hospital because I was positive I had a bladder infection (which I do)
• Got home at 2:30 am!

Whew!  I’m tired just re-living it.  Each day this week is pretty much the same, so as you can see, it doesn’t leave much time for stamping. Next week should be better though, I do plan on posting this week but probably not until Thursday.

I do want to share some good news with you though.  My 2 year old son has been undergoing testing for his hearing because he’s not talking yet, and an initial test showed that he might have mild hearing issues. This morning we were at the pediatric audiologist’s and they did further testing and found that his hearing is fine!  What a relief!