Deconstructed Sketch #25-Nicest Thoughts

Hello out there! I've been a very bad blogger lately, haven't I? Well hopefully once we're all moved, I can establish my schedule again! My house is in upheaval right now and I have a week until the packers come to take my house away! Doesn't bode well for my creative muse;)

Today is Thursday and Jen has another fabulous sketch for you! Check it out!

This is a really fun sketch that you can really make your own! I changed the shape of the circle panel just so I could use my new PTI dies:)

This is an interesting color combo, I pulled it from that paper from Authentique's Splendid line:) 

The stamp is a Plain Jane from Verve called "Nicest Thoughts". These Plain Janes are a real bargain at only $3 a piece! Love them:) The butterfly is a stamp from Chicks Rule and is cut out with the coordinating Flutterby die.

Now go check out what the rest of the team has done with this sketch! Also, a HUGE welcome to our two Guest Designers, Andrea and Tracey!

• Amber Hight
• Andrea Ewen – Guest Designer
• Arielle Gordon
• Donna Wardle
• Jen Shults
• Jessica Diedrich
• Kadie Ensley
• Lori Boyd
• Pam Varnell
• Sheri Gilson
• Tracey Pickersgill – Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by today:)

Deconstructed Sketch #24 - Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Hello! It's Thursday, which brings us a new sketch from Jen at the Deconstructed Sketch blog! Yesterday was my grandma's birthday, so I made a card for her using this weeks sketch (yes, this card is going to be a week late by the time it gets to her, lol!)

For my card, I flipped this sketch horizontally:)

I've been cleaning my stamp room and found this GinaK Designs set that I've had but NEVER took it out of the packaging, *gasp*! This set is too pretty to not see ink so I set about creating my DS24 sample with the Lovely Labels 3 set! Since it's my Grandma's (83rd) birthday today, I thought I'd make the card for her:) The label (stamped in Pink Lemonade Fresh Ink) coordinates with Spellbidners Labels 18 dies. The sentiment was stamped on the ribbon tags die. 

The circle pattern paper is from MME's Lost and Found line, but I forget which pack it came from.

The twine is from The Twinery and the buttons are from PTI.

Be sure to hop around and check out what the rest of the Deconstructed Sketch Design Team has made!

• Amber Hight
• Angela Sowell
• Anna Maria Nilsson
• Arielle Gordon
• Donna Wardle
• Emma Eads
• Jen Shults
• Jessica Diedrich
• Kadie Ensley
• Lori Boyd
• Sheri Gilson

Thanks for stopping by today!

BOO to YOU!!

Hey there! Do you like surprises? Julee is releasing a new Halloween set TODAY! This sweet and spooky little set is just in time to create a fun card or gift for a friend!

We have a limited supply of Boo to You available on the website today with more arriving in the coming weeks, but we can’t guarantee the re-stocking will be here in time for Halloween. So if you’ve got to have it, grab it fast! 

Here's my card...

I have been purging my craft room for the past day or so and found a ton of older 12x12 patterned papers that haven't seen the light of day in quite awhile, so I decided to use some:) I think this argyle pattern is from MME's Fine and Dandy collection. 

For the ghosts, I stamped them and then outlined them with my T2 Copic marker, and then went over that with Ice Stickles. Nothing scary about a sparkly ghost, right?;)

Don't you loooove the font combinations in this set? I'm crazy about them! And please, look away from the crooked line of buttons, lol! I attached them with glue dots, and the glue dots appear to be running away in different directions with my buttons, lol, doh! 

If you think you've seen this layout before, you're RIGHT! It's our SFYTT layout for the month of October!

 Click HERE to go to Jen Del Muro's blog to see the sketch post and details on how you can win a whole bunch of crafty fun this December!

Thanks for stopping by today:)

Deconstructed Sketch #23-Holly Jolly Christmas!

Time for another Deconstructed Sketch Challenge! I have another Christmas card to share with you today:) I don't know why, but I've really been in the mood to create Christmas cards lately. Not much sense in it for me since my home will be on a boat on it's way to the US and I won't have any way to mail them out, unless I want to mail them out by November 5th, which I don't. LOL! Anyhoo, sorry to ramble! Here's our sketch for this week--

Some sketches just work, kwim? You can just visualize what you want and it works! Almost all of Jen's sketches work like that for me. This one is one of those sketches:)

I bought a few Tiddly Inks last week, and colored them all up at once so all I had to do for this card was throw it together. This is "Lillie Claire-Sweet Christmas Dreams" How sweet is she? I colored her with Copics and then, after spending quite awhile coloring the candy cane *just right*, I covered it with Stickles, lol! Oh well, I love a shiny candy cane! The sentiment is from PTI and the papers are from Basic Grey's Nordic Christmas line. 

So, I think I mentioned {a few times} that I'm getting ready to move back to the US! We're moving to Phoenix and we'll be leaving Okinawa on November 12th. So, all of our house will be packed up and shipped to the states on November 7th. Since my stuff will be somewhere on the Pacific Ocean until mid-to late January, I will be taking a short break from the Deconstructed Sketch team. I'll be back as soon as I get my new house all set up and have a scrapbook room again! I will still be here for the rest of October, but starting November, you won't see much from me. In the mean time, check this out: 

**Do you love sketches? Would you like to be a guest designer for The Deconstructed Sketch? Jen is holding a contest using this week's sketch to find a VERY SPECIAL designer to guest with us from November 3, 2011 to January 26, 2012. That's THREE months designing with the Deconstructed Sketch Girls! If you are interested all you need to do is make a card using this week's sketch and add your card to InLinkz on Jen's blog by October 19, 2011 at 8 pm CST and add GUEST to the end of your name when linking up. If you are selected Jen will contact you regarding the specific duties for the three month term.**

Be sure to hop around and check out what the rest of the Deconstructed Sketch Design Team has made!

• Amber Hight
• Angela Sowell
• Anna Maria Nilsson
• Arielle Gordon
• Donna Wardle
• Emma Eads
• Jen Shults
• Jessica Diedrich
• Kadie Ensley
• Lori Boyd
• Sheri Gilson

Thanks for stopping by today!

Deconstructed Sketch #22--Happy Holidays

It's time for another Deconstructed Sketch Challenge!! We are sponsored this week by the FANTASTIC Christy Croll of Tiddly Inks. Tiddly Inks digital stamps range from adorable and cute to funky and dark. There is something for everyone to love at Tiddly Inks. All of the images are hand drawn by Christy Croll and are high resolution digital images. You can find Christy's images at the Tiddly Inks store and the Tiddly Inks Basement, discount store. As our sponsor this week Christy is offering a $10 gift certificate to one lucky sketch participant!

Here is our sketch for this week:

And here is my card using Minnie's Christmas Lights!

My card base is Kraft and the patterned papers are from BG's Nordic Holiday line The sentiment is from a PTI stamp set.

Minnie was printed out on Neenah Smooth cardstock and I colored her in with Copics to match the papers.

If you’d like to join us this week all you need to do is create a project using the above sketch as inspiration. There are no specific image requirements for this challenge. Upload your project to your blog or to an online gallery and link it back Jen's blog to Inlinkz by Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 8 pm CST. We are playing for a $10 Tiddly Inks Gift Certificate this week so make sure to get your entry in! (If you miss the deadline please leave a link to your card in a comment on Jen's blog… we’d still love to see it!!)

Be sure to hop around and check out what the rest of the Deconstructed Sketch Design Team has made!

• Amber Hight
• Angela Sowell
• Anna Maria Nilsson
• Arielle Gordon
• Donna Wardle
• Emma Eads
• Jen Shults
• Jessica Diedrich
• Kadie Ensley
• Lori Boyd
• Sheri Gilson

MFT Sketch #39

Hey there! I have a super quick post today. I'm trying to keep up with my blogging/card making so I'm just gonna make this quick and painless, lol!

I made this card for MFT's sketch challenge this week!

Here's my card, using the butterfly from Inspired by Butterflies and the sentiment from Just My Type...

The card base is Gray and the orange is Terracotta Tile, both by PTI. The patterned paper is from MME. I just adore that big butterfly stamp, the Inspired by Butterflies set is my absolute FAVORITE MFT set ever. I love how this actually looks like a monarch butterfly stamped on that orange polka dot paper! The twine is from The Twinery.

Thanks for stopping by today:)

HIP HIP HOORAY! October SFYTT!!!

Hey there! So can you believe it's October already? It's insane! After Billy got home from the desert in September, the days are just cruising by. We have 42 more days left in Okinawa and we'll be moving to Phoenix Arizona!! Woohoo! We're super excited:) Going from a HUMID hot place to a DRY hot place, lol!

Okay, well I know why you're here, so lets get on with it, shall we? The first Saturday of the month brings us a new sketch from Jen!

Fun one, right? 

Our sponsor this month is the wonderful Waltzingmouse Stamps!

Claire is just the sweetest person you could ever meet and has the most wonderful selection of stamps! I love to shop in her store:)

For my card, I used one of my favorite WMS sets, Vintage Banners!

I just LOOOOVE aqua and red together, so when I saw the background paper in the MME pack, I knew that was my color combo. I thought a littlel pop of green would be fun in there too:) The banners in this set coordinate with the Spellbinders Nestabilites. I stamped the banner in Island ink (Fresh Ink) and then matted the banner with the lacy pennant in Aqua Mist. The sentiment is included in the Vintage Banners set and was stamped in Rhubarb ink (Memento) and cut out with a  1 1/4" circle punch.  I inked all the layers in Wheat Chalk ink and then sewed and glued everything down:) 

1. The SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY {SFYTT} will be posted on the first Saturday of each month on www.iheart2stamp.com at 8am EST and will stay open to participants until the last day of the month, unless otherwise noted.2. This is for fun! Interpret the sketch as you wish and embellish as desired. There areno vendor restrictions, but we would love to see you use the sponsor’s stamps!3. Each month we will have a Designer of the Month that will be chosen from past month’s participants.4. Come and play with us on each and every sketch! On Christmas Day 2011 a prize package worth over $200 will be given away to one very lucky and loyal SFYTT stamper that participates in EVERY sketch for the year.5. To be eligible for the prize package, you must complete ALL of the sketches by each of the deadlines AND link your creation to the link system on that month’s sketch post (the first Saturday of the month). Everyone except for SFYTT Sisters are eligible for the prize package, including Designer of the Month and international players.

6. When posting your sketch creation on your blog, please post the sketch and link back to the sketch post on www.iheart2stamp.com. When posting to online galleries, please use the keyword “SFYTT.”

Check out what my SFYTT sisters have created with this sketch!!

Jen Del Muro 

Amy Sheffer

Becky Carafa

Carole Burrage

Iwona Palamountain (Chupa!)

Jen Tapler

Jodi Collins

Kerry Johnson

Megan Lock

Susan Liles

Terri Moore

Iwona Palamountain (Chupa!)

Deconstructed Sketch #21

Hey there! Remember me? I've been a very bad blogger this week, I know! I'm having a hard time finding the time/motivation to stamp lately, grrr! Once I saw this week's Deconstructed Sketch though, I knew I had to find time! Check it out!

There are so many possibilities with this sweet little sketch! Here's my take on it, using a bunch of Verve!

I still had my Portabello Road paper (MME) on my desk so I decided I'd go with those again:) I love the colors in this pack. The "Life is Good" is a Plain Jane stamp and the "a day to remember" and leaf sprigs are from "Sunny Days". I used the Leafy Sprigs dies to cut out the leaves and then stamped on them after they were cut out. I used my Classy Label die for the sentiment panel. You can see the coordinating stamp from Love Notes stamped very lightly under the sentiment:)

Well that's it from me today, head on over to the Deconstructing Jen blog to see the sketch, details, and a link of my participating team mates! Thanks for stopping by today, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet;)

September Diva Dare--XOXO

The September Diva Dare over at the Verve Blog is goin' down! This month, the Diva's are CASE'ing (copy and steal everything!) each other:) These are some of my favorite challenges, outside of sketches! 

Andrea had the task of matching all of us Diva's up to the talented girl we'd be case'ing. No matter who we got paired up with was going to be a challenge because every single one of these Diva's is full of talent. I happened to get Laurie! OMG, right? Nothing like a little pressure to get your mojo going, haha! I always love her elegant, distressed, shabby style. I was MUCHO intimidated, but as I started going through Laurie's gallery, I was also MUCHO inspired:) After alot of "hmmmm'ing" and "haw'ing" I decided on THIS beauty! I loved the diagonal panel and wanted to see what I could do with it!

I knew I had to have distressing, inked edges, and fabulous sewing to even come CLOSE to making Laurie proud! The sentiment is from "Making a Statement" and the leaves are from "Sunny Days" and cut out with the "Leafy Springs Die Set".  The heart behind the sentiment is cut out using the Jotted Heart die. The diagonal panel is paper from MME's Lost and Found Two line. I also used some fabulous SU! ribbon and a Recollections rose! 

Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Case-a-Diva creation (posted September 16 or later) to the linky widget on the DAY ONE post before 9pm Mountain on Sunday,October 2nd. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store. Verve Stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em we would  LOVE to see ‘em!
2. For another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout-out in the comments section as we share our Case-a-Diva  creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Monday,October 3rd right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn!  We DARE you to show us your creations!

Deconstructed Sketch #19

Hello there! I'm here today with a card using this week's Deconstructed Sketch (#19). I love all the layers on this one!

For sketches that use alot of layers, I only focus on getting those layers together before I begin embellishing. I won't necessarily glue everything down, but I have all my layers cut and inked and distressed, or whatever! That way I ensure followed the sketch, hahah! Then the FUN begins;)

All the papers I used are from the "Rosy" line by MME. I love these feminine colors, so beautiful:)

Like I mentioned, before I did any stamping or embellishing, I picked out my papers, matted them, and sewed them. I then added all the scalloped edges.

I cut out my Rounded Scalloped Frame die and stamped the sentiment from Words of Wisdom on the inside piece of the die (the frame and rectangle inside come out in two pieces) and stamped the scalloped frame (from Making a Statement) in Calypso Coral ink. Once I had my sentiment panel figured out, I began glueing everything down. The flowers are from Making a Statement and cut out using my Loopy Blooms dies. The brads are from SU! and the twine is from PTI.

Well that's it from me today:) Make sure to swing by the Deconstructed blog to see Jen's sample, challenge details, and the rest of the DT's cards!

Thanks for stopping by today:)

SCRSC60 - Case the DT!

Hey there! This week's SCRS challenge is a fun one, you get to hop around and see all the DT's cards, pick one you like, and CASE it! CASE'ing is always fun, and if you're in a bit of a rut and can't find your mojo, CASEing someone's card always helps to get the juices going.

Here's my card, using Shopping Millie!

I colored Millie up to match the papers from MME and then drew in a sidwalk around her. I wanted to ground her a bit, and find that drawing a sidewalk or grass really helps bring the image to life. All I did was draw some lines and then color them with my gray Copics. I cut out the picket fence (from MFT) and glued it down behind Millie, again, creating a scene that really pops out at you. The sentiment comes with Shopping Millie, and I stamped it on cardstock cut with my Charming Banner dies from Verve.

I used this week's Deconstructed Sketch for the layout...

Well that's it from me today, make sure you check out the rest of the DT's samples and CASE one! Can't wait to see what ya'll do with this weeks challenge:)

Karber Team:

Amber Hight
Elena Joldersma
Kadie Ensley
Mary Johnson
Peggy Toole - Sponsorship Coordinator
Piali Biswas
Suzanne Bier - Newsletter Coordinator
Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps Blog

SCRS Team:

Alice Wertz
Jessica Diedrich - September Guest Designer
Kim Yu
Shaela Odd
Simonne Clay
Sparkle Smith
Stephanie Kraft

Viva la Verve! September Week 2--Thank You!

Hey there! I'm here today with a quick card for this week's VLV challenge! Amy is our hostess this month and came up with this BEAUTIFUL sketch!



Here's my card!

This card started out with me just playing with my Distress Stains. I was rubbing them on paper, just playing and havin' fun. Then I thought, "Hey! What if I clear emboss some leaves and do a little Distress Stain resist? So that's kinda where this card came from, haha! I cut a piece of white cardstock to 3.25x4.5 and stamped and clear embossed the leaves from Bloom and Grow. Then I used my Shabby Shutters Distress Stain and just rubbed it over the whole piece of cardstock, using tissue to wipe excess stain off of the leaves. 

I think the Distress Stain is my new favorite technique, there are so many fun ways to use this product. I bet this technique would look awesome with a gradient color combo using different colored stains. I think I'll try that tomorrow!

In this picture, you can see the turqouise flower from Bloom and Grow (cut out using the Floral Circles dies) sticking out from behind the bow. The sentiment is from You and I and the tags are the Tiny Sweet Scalloped Tag dies. The paper is from Portabello Road by MME:)

Thanks for stopping by today! I'll be back later this week...

August Diva Dare

Hello! This is my 2nd post today, so if you're looking for my Sparkle Creations preview card, please click HERE or scroll down a bit, thanks!!

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Just wanted to post real quick to let you know I have a project up on the Verve blog! This month's Diva Dare is "Sending some Sunshine":) Here's a peek, click here to go to the blog to see the post in full. Thanks for stopping by today!