Sketch Book 3, Layout 1

Hello! I signed up for Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook 3 class this month! I'm very excited about it and hoping I can keep up. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday she sends us a sketch and the sketches come with FABULOUS samples from many scrapbooking "celebrities" (for lack of better term, ha!). The class just started on Monday and I'm still caught up:) Here's my first layout!

I used some super old papers from MME and SU! Chocolate Chip cardstock! All the fun little die cuts are also from MME (I think the line was called "Breaking Out") I also used the Technique Tuesday set "Ordinary Days" to create half of my journal block.  I took these pictures a couple days ago when I took the dogs to the beach to swim, they had a great time, as you can see on their happy faces:)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Gettin' Shabby with MFT!

Hello out there, friends! How the heck are you today? I'm doing quite well! It's been an absolutely GORGEOUS weekend in Okinawa! Probably low-70's, BRIGHT SUNNY SKY, no clouds, green grass/blue sky, birds chirping, kids throwing sticks in my backyard.. *sigh* it's the little things in life;)

I decided to try out for MFT's guest designer spot again this month! I figure what they hey, even if I don't get picked, I'm having WAY MORE FUN than any girl should be allowed to have:) The challenge for this month is sHaBbY! I can do that! I actually LOVE to do that, just don't do that very often. SO, since my shabby creative muse was with me this weekend, I made TWO cards for this challenge:) GO ME! LOL!

Here's my first one...

I can't TELL you how much I love this card! I truly hate saying that because it sounds so conceited, but I don't mean it that way, lol! I just had so much fun making it! There is nothing better than a fist full of fabby dies, some great stamps, and a plan:)

The card base is Vintage Cream and the patterned paper I used is from Crate Paper's Portrait collection. I created the rosette with MFT's  3/8" Rosette die-namics, layered on a Decorative Doily die-namics. I stamped a frame and cut it out with the Polka Dot Greetings die/stamp set, but then covered it up with a sentiment and now you can't see it, lol! The sentiment is from Framed Greetings and I trimmed it with the Faux Crotchet Border die. The butterfly is from Inspired by Butterflies! I stamped the butterfly on vellum and then trimmed it out carefully and curled the wings under a bit:) I finished this card off with some twine and buttons from PTI, and a photo corner punched with an SU! punch. I also inked everything with Creamy Brown chalk in (colorbox) and did some sewing:) Think I used enough dies? LOL! You can NEVER use too many dies;)

Okay, this next card I created today, on a whim! I saw this amazing card by Debbie Olson created a couple days ago with the Labels 4 Grand Nestabilities and have been wanting to try one! I was on my way upstairs to grab some laundry and a small whisper came from my stamp room saying "come try the shaped card" OooOOOoooo! I couldn't resist, bahah! So I cut the card base out and the rest was history:)

The paper is from The Girls Paperie! I've been HOARDING these two sheets (I bought two of this particular piece, the floral and gingham are the same sheet, both sides) of patterned paper and when I knew I wanted to create another card for the shabby MFT challenge, I knew it was time. 

I created a belly band for my card instead of tying it with ribbon, this way I don't feel bad untying it, knowing I'll never get the bow right again, lol! The belly band just slides off and I think is a fun accent:)

 I used the Framed Greetings frame stamp and die for the focal point and stamped a sentiment from Flower Silhouette under the row of buttons! 

I also added Star Dust Stickles to the card front and on the inside panel...

Unfortunately, my picture came out a little bright here so you can't see the inside really well so I blew it up real big, lol! I stamped the flowers from Flower Silhouette again and then cut another one out with the matching die and glued it down. The sentiment says "I just wanted you to know that you are fabulous" :) Isn't that sweet? This card has a home to go to as well;)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I had fun crafting this weekend and I'm glad I have friends to share with:) Have a great Sunday!

April SFYTT--Sponsored by UNITY!!!

Hey there! I hope your weekends are off to a RELAXING and WONDERFUL start:) I had a nice Saturday, did some crafting, exercised, took the dogs for a long walk, gave them baths (not an easy task!), made some cookies, read for a bit, now I'm watching CSI and enjoying my blog list! 

So since it's the FIRST Saturday of the month, that means there is a NEW SFYTT sketch! YAY! This month's sketch is SO DANG FUN!!

Isn't it awesome? LOTS of room for interpretation on this one! 

So you want some MORE fun news? We have a FABULOUS sponsor this month! Check it out...

That's right! Unity Stamp Co! Get OUT, right? I really miss my days on the Unity DT, they are a super fun and sweet group of girls and I still follow them all religiously:) And Angela, what a DARLING woman. Just love her. When I found out Unity was our Sponsor this month, I pulled out all my Unity and decided to use this gorgeous sentiment from Moments in Bloom...

I had made a card earlier today with these same BEAUTIMOUS papers so decided to keep the shabby chic theme rollin' while it was in my head, lol! You can't tell, but I embossed the Rustic Cream cardstock with my Woodgrain Impression place from PTI. The patterned papers are from Crate Paper's Portrait Collection. I can't TELL you how much I'm loving that paper pad right now! Gorgeous colors and patterns=HEAVEN! I had this card idea in my head and when I finished the main layout, I didn't know how I wanted this sentiment to work out. It would have just sunk into that patterned paper and been invisible had I stamped directly onto it, and I didn't want to hide it by putting cardsock on top. So I stamped the sentiment on vellum and wala (how do you spell that, anyway? LOL!) I love how it turned out! Now the only problem was how to mount it so you couldn't see the glue dots. I decided to add these brads to the corners of the torn vellum, and then stuck a glue dot on the back of each brad. That worked well because now the sentiment panel is raised a bit and pops off the card better. The pretty border dies are the Dainty Doily Border die-namics from MFT. I tied some twine around the card front (under the sentiment panel) and tied a bow, topped off with a pretty flower from Recollections! The fun "hinges" I created on the kraft cardstock are new dies from Verve called
"Charming Banner". 

1. The SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY 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 are no 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.”

7. Check out the SFYTT Sister’s links just below to see more creations using this month’s sketch.

April Guest Designer--Jen Shults (YAY!!! LOOOOVE HER!!!)

Amber Hight

Amy Rohl (Amy has sadly stepped down from the team to spend more time with family, stop by and wish her well!)
Amy Sheffer
Carole Burrage

Jen Del Muro
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Kerry Johnson
Leigh O’brien (Leigh has sadly stepped down from the team to spend more time with family, stop by and wish her well!)
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Susan Liles

Terri Moore (Our new SISTAH! Stop by and see what she cooked up!)

Viva la Veve! April Week 1

Hello! It's the FIRST Friday of the month so we have a BRAND NEW MONTH of VLV challenges for you in the Verve Forums!!

This week, I'm the hostess! Here's my sketch:

It's a FUN ONE! I hope you'll come play with us! Click HERE to go to the challenge thread!

Here's my card, using stamps from Chicks Rule!

I stamped the basket on GinaK layering weight cardstock and then colored it in with Copics. I stamped the basket off two more times and cut out the basket, and then just the ribbon and popped them all up on dimensionals! I didn't get a picture of it, but this basket is dimension-riffic! :) I stamped the flowers  and cut several out and popped those up on dimensionals as well:) I cut a vellum butterfly out with the new Flutterby die, LOOOVE this butterfly! All the papers are from the Sparkling Spring paper pad by Prima.

I know you want to come play with us! CLICK HERE and join the party! You don't have to have Verve stamps to play along, play with whatever stamps your heart desires!

How about some SALE information???

For the whole month of April, the spring stamps on this page are all 20% off! Get your inky little hands on them while you can! 

Kindred Spirits is the April SOTM! Get it for 40% off! That's HUGE! This is a gorgeous set too, you'll love it!

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy your Friday:)

Food for the Soul

Today I decided to ink up one of my new Kraftin' Kimmie stamps, Lucy!

She has GOT to be my favorite Kimmie stamp ever. I am something of a bookworm myself so this stamp SCREAMED to come home to me:) I didn't have anything particular in mind when I set to making this card, I just started coloring and thought I'd hop on over to the Kraftin' Kimmies Blog and see what their weekly challenge was. This week, we're supposed to use SPRING colors so I picked out these papers from the Report Card collection by October Afternoon and started putting this together:) The little tabs on the stamped image are new dies from Verve called Charming Oval!  The die I used is the middle sized oval. I think this card is actually going to make it in the mailbox! I made this for a special friend and have made a deal with myself to send cards out more often, just because:)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Recipe:

Stamps: Lucy (Kraftin Kimmie Stamps)

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa (Memento), Copics

Paper: Vintage Cream, Summer Sunrise (PTI), Report Card (OA)

Accessories: Charming Oval dies (Verve), flourish edge punch (EK Success), square Nestabilities (Spellbinders), pearls (Kaiser), buttons (PTI), twine (The Twinery), lace (manf unk)

The LAST Mystery Monday:(

It's a sad day for me today, my last cards for the Club Anya & Friends team! Club Anya & Friends is going away and in it's place will be something HUGE and EXCITING so make sure to check out the TGF Blog for details!

Today, we're CASE'ing this awesome card from Joni--

I love her black and white coloring but I'm no where NEAR brave enough to try that, lol! Here's my card, I stuck with her awesome layout--

Oh, hey! Her HAIR is black, yeah! LOL! This is Twirl Anya who was release last month. I really love her and her short, sassy 'do! I stamped her on some Copic X-press cardstock in Tuxedo Black and colored her in with Copics. The patterned paper is from BG's Hello Lucious (love this stuff!) and the sweet tag is a die and stamp set from PTI.

Okay, I totally slacked and forgot to post my Saturday Sketch card on my blog, so I'll go ahead and do that now and then we'll just pretend it's been here all along, it'll be our secret;)

That's Hat's Off Anya (probably my favorite TGF stamp EVAH! I love her!). The paper is from BG's Hello Lucious again (see, told you!) and the sentiment is from Chicks Rule by Verve and was a new release on Friday.  You can see the Saturday Sketch challenge post HERE. Come play with us!

Okay, well that's it from me. I got Apple TV yesterday and am having WAY TOO MUCH FUN watchin' my shows on the big scree, yay!!!

I want to say a HUUUUUUUGE THANK YOU to Marie and Jess for the amazing opportunity, I had a GREAT time and will forever cherish the friendships I made with my fellow DT Members! Speaking of which, hop on over and visit their blogs for their MM post. I'll be seeing you around in the new TGF challenges:)

Club Anya Blog

• Elena -- March Guest DT
• Jessica Diedrich
• Anna Maria Nilsson 
• Kristy Young

Taylored Expressions Sketch

**This is my second post today, please scroll down or CLICK HERE for my Verve Spotlight project!**

Hey everybody! Have you heard the GREAT NEWS?!  The Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge is BACK!!!  New sketches will be offered on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month and there will be a PRIZE DRAWING each time!  You will be able to get all the sketch info both in the SCS TE Forum and on Taylor's blog.  You are NOT required to use TE stamps to play, but there's a bonus prize available if you do! We're kicking it off today with TESC135!!

Here's this weeks AWESOME SKETCH!

Fabulous, right? I had so much fun with this one! Here's my card-

I used the super cute "Oh Nuts" Ala Carte stamp set, I just love that squirrel! Everything on this card is from the March Key Ingredients kit, except for the brads:)

I cut four holes in the yellow cardstock and then masked a piece of vanilla cardstock and stamped the squirrel in each of the holes and colored him up! I've been a subscriber to the Key Ingredients kit for a few months now and I just love how everything coordinates! Don't you love that wooden button? It comes with a bunch of them!

You have 2 weeks to enter this challenge and I hope you'll play along with us!  Are you ready to hop around and see all the samples created by the TE Sketch Crew?  Let's go!

• Lisa Hjulberg
• Lori Craig
• Melissa Sauls
• Monika Davis
• Rachel Sztonyk
• Taylor Van Bruggen
• Jami Sibley
• and special guest Amber Hight (winner of the TE SCS Grand Opening Gallery Challenge)

Would you like to join the TE Sketch Crew?  Taylor is looking for a new sampler for the team.  If you'd like to be considered please play in this week's sketch and upload your sketch card featuring TE images to your SCS gallery using keywords:  tayloredexpressions, TESC135, TESampler2011 

(be sure to use a comma and then a space between each of the keywords as shown)   

Note:

• To be entered into the prize drawing you MUST upload to SCS with keyword TESC135.  
• To be considered for the open spot on the Sketch Crew you MUST upload to SCS with keyword TESampler2011
• To have any creation featuring TE stamps show up in the Taylored Expressions Gallery, you must upload using keywordtayloredexpressions (no space)

Verve Spotlights - Day 3, Chicks RULE!!!

Hey you! Thanks for coming back! I bet you're anxious to get your hands on some new Verve after seeing all the previews, aren't you? Well, tonight is your lucky night! New Verve will be available HERE tonight at midnight!

Also, don't forget about our Release Party! We'll be CHATTIN' IT UP in the Verve forums starting at 9 pm EST! Come and chat with us, we ALWAYS have a blast:) Click the banner above to go to the party thread!

Today, the Diva's are spotlighting the adorable new set called Chicks Rule and another new die, the Flutterby die!  This die matches the adorable butterfly stamp in the Chicks Rule set! 

Let's get to it:)

I used the the large butterfly from Chicks Rule and the small butterfly from Egg-stra Special, along with the new Flutterby die for this card!  To start out, I cut a bunch of butterflies out of the card front using the die. Next, I stamped the large butterfly, in the negative space created by the die, in Fresh Snow ink. 

I stamped some small butterflies on the card front in white ink, and then colored all the butterflies with an R22 Copic marker. I like how it creates some contrast:) I added the little antennae with a brown marker, added some pearls, and a couple pieces of ribbon and a bow! I stamped the sentiment in Rich Cocoa ink, I love that  font combination, don't you? For a last detail, I cut a piece of clear cardstock *just* smaller than the card front and glued it to the inside of the card front. Here's what it looks like flat...

I think you're REALLY going to love this set and that Flutterby die, they're SO FUN!

As you know, we love to celebrate here at Verve, so we've hidden a prize along the hop today! One lucky commenter on one of the Diva Hop Spots below will receive today's featured stamps and dies...Chicks Rule and Flutterby die! The deadline for commenting is 6PM Mountain on Friday, March 25. Winners will be announced during our ReLeAsE pArTy that night! 

1. Maureen 7. Sankari 2. Amy 8. Tosh 3. Amber 9. Julee  4. Janelle 10. Andrea 5. Teresa 11. Charmaine 6. Laurie

Thanks for stopping by today, see you in the party thread tonight!!!

Verve Spotlights - Day 2 is EGG-STRA SPECIAL!

**Click on banner to go to party thread (that won't be hoppin' until Friday!)**

Hello bloggers! Back for more, are ya? I can't say I blame you because the Diva's have MORE prepared for you with another new stamp set called Egg-stra Special and some new A Cut Above dies!

I just got my dies in the mail today, so I didn't have time to use them yet! But I know the other Diva's have them and can't wait to show you what they do!

For my card, I started by stamping a whole bunch of eggs and then coloring them with Copics! I cut them all out and popped them up on dimensionals. This is a textur-iffic card, believe me, lol! If I mail it, it's going to have to go in a box, lol! I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white cardstock and then cut the corners to make a tag, which I then tied onto the ribbon with some green twine!

I also tied a Bling Button from Bazzill onto the ribbon bow, isn't that thang gorgeous??? It's so sparkly! 

Oh, and did I mention there's a prize??? We love to celebrate here at Verve, so we've hidden a prize along the hop today! One lucky commenter on one of the Diva Hop Spots below will receive today's featured stamps and dies...Egg-stra Special, Charming Banner Die Set and Charming Oval Die Set! Deadline for commenting is 6PM Mountain on Friday, March 25. Winners will be announced during our ReLeAsE pArTy that night! 

Here's the hop order, get to hoppin'!

1. Laurie 7. Julee 2. Charmaine 8. Sankari 3. Jackie 9. Janelle 4. Amber 10. Maureen 5. Tosh 11. Teresa 6. Andrea 12. Amy

Are you ready for some NEW VERVE???

**Click on banner to go to party thread (that won't be buzzin' until Friday!)**

I hope so, because you're going to be able to GET some new Verve on Friday!!!!!!!!!! w000t! It's been a couple months since we've had a new release and I know you guys are all comping at the bit to see what's coming! I know you're going to love this release, it's so sweet! Today, we're spotlighting a couple sets. The first one is Lucky Ducky, a super cute set with little ducky's and some sweet sentiments, and a new Plain Jane called Hope Perches. I have a project made using each of them, so lets hop to it!

My first card uses a couple of the ducks from Lucky Ducky!

I really wanted this to be a St. Paddies day inspired card, because of the "lucky" sentiments, but couldn't find any really good St Paddies day papers! I settled for a couple greens and yellows from the Modern Homemaker paper pack from October Afternoon! 

I stamped the middle duck once on the white cardstock and then again on the polka dot paper. I paper-pieced the middle duck, I just think he looks FABULOUS in polka dots;) The sentiments in this set really "quack me up" and I think you'll agree that this set is a MUST HAVE!

Okay, next up is the Hope Perches Plain Jane!

I stamped the PJ on a label cut using the Classy Label die by Verve and then sponged Creamy Brown ink around the edges. The papers are from Reflections by Prima, don't you love them? They really work well with this sentiment! I added a bunch of lace, twine, a doily (PTI's parisian lace doily die), and did a lot of sponging!

Okay, that's probably enough chitchat.  Here's the official hop list for today. 
On your mark, get set.... HOP! :)

1. Charmaine 7. Teresa 2. Janelle 8. Amber 3. Laurie 9. Tosh 4. Jackie 10. Amy 5. Sankari 11. Andrea 6. Julee 12. Maureen