*Special* MoJo Monday #88

Super quick post again tonight as I get ready to turn off the challenges on the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's site in just about half an hour!! Whew! What a week!!

One of the amazing challenges this week was hosted by the extremely generous Julee Tilman of Verve Stamps. Julee let us use last week's MoJo Monday sketch as one of the SOA challenges and it was one of the most popular challenges on the site, with a chance to win some fabulous Verve Goodies!!! Julee (who will NEVER get out of sponsoring SOA....LOL!!) was the one and only *official* sponsor last year and the very first to jump on board again this year. I don't think I'll ever be able to tell her just how much I appreciate all that she does!

Anyway, here's the card I created using Julee's sketch...because of SOA, I've been WAY behind on my DT & CT requirements, so this one is serving double duty for both Verve and Sweet Shoppe Designs!! (love it when I can work that out!!)

Stamps: World's Best (Verve)
Paper: Chocolate Chip CS (SU); printed digi paper from Beep Boop kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Lauren Grier (Sweet Shoppe)
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Circle nesties; Old Olive ribbon, dimensionals (SU)

Taylored Expression Key Ingredients Challenge

Wow! It's been awhile, huh? I have been SWAMPED with Stampin' Out Alzheimer's and am sooo excited about the success of the event!! We have over 1100 members and have raised over $6200 that will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association later this week!! Thank you so much to everyone who has participated! Today is the final day of the event - you have until midnight (EDT) tonight to get your challenge projects uploaded on the site to be eligible for all the fantastic prizes!! We'll be updating the albums and choosing & posting winner's tomorrow. The site will remain open and accessible through June 7, but then it will all disappear until next year!!! (yep, that's right - we're definitely making this an annual event!!).

Anyway, I FINALLY carved out a few minutes to stamp this evening and created a quick card for the Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients Subscription Challenge. If you're not already a Key Ingredients subscriber - you're missing out!! This is my 3rd installment and it's well worth it! Anyway, the challenge this month was to use stitching on your project (faux or real) - I went with hand-stitching this time (boy, that will be the LAST time I hand stitch ANYTHING!!! blech) and a restricted element of no sentiment on the card front. That no sentiment restriction is what got me and really prevented me from loving my card. It just feels like it's missing something! Oh well! After a week and a half away from being creative, my MoJo has gone into hiding and I'm a little rusty...

Stamps: Whimsy Tree Plain Jane; Up, Up and Away (Verve)
Paper: Taylored Expressions May Key Ingredients
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive (SU)
Accessories: ribbon, dew drops (TE May KI); Paper Piercer; Button Twine (PTI); circle nesties.

Tonight's the Night - Verve Release Party!!!

Hi there! Sorry I've been MIA so much this week and haven't had a chance to share any of my projects using the FABULOUS new Verve stamps until now!!! I've been SWAMPED preparing for the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's event, which kicks off on Monday!!! Believe me, you do NOT want to miss this event!! We now have over $1000 worth of goodies donated from our generous sponsors that we'll be giving away throughout the week. You can read more about the event HERE and more about the story behind why I created this event HERE.

Ok, on to the Verve Goodness....I hope you'll all have a chance to join me in the Verve Forum in just a few hours for the Verve Release Party!!! The fun begins at 9:00 pm EDT!!! And if you haven't stopped by the Verve Blog to check out the sneak peeks, hurry up and head on over there - you have about an hour left until 8:00 pm EDT to comment on the posts for a chance to win new Verve stamps!!!

Here's a look at the project I shared yesterday on the Verve Blog:
I created a Keepsake box, using the new Protector stamp set, to hold little momentos and handwritten notes of memories of my Dad. The paper I used is printed digi paper from the Family Ties kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow (Sweet Shoppe). My Dad has Alzheimer's Disease and sometimes when I'm feeling overwhelmed by the sadness of watching the man who raised me slip away from me, I will take a minute and journal about some little special memory of my father before the illness struck. My biggest fear with this illness is that after he's gone I will not be able to remember him as the amazing man he once was, but instead I will only remember this shell of a man I see now. Caring for someone with Alzheimer's Disease is a heartbreaking, frustrating, maddening experience - My hope is that this little keepsake box will help me hold on to those precious memories of happier times and that it will be a comfort to me when I need to feel a connection to my Dad as the wonderful man he once was.

I'll be sharing more projects with the new sets tonight at the PARTY, along with the other Divas!!! I hope you'll join us!

My Time Template Challenge

Happy Saturday Everyone (or Happy Aloha Friday if you're here in Hawaii with me, since it's still Friday here as I post this!). Sorry I've been quiet this week. I've been hard at work on a very special project that I'll be able to tell you all about very soon.

But for now I'm here to share with you the latest My Time To Create Challenge!! This week we're doing a Template challenge - This week's challenge is to create a birthday gift using one of Lauren's fabulous My Timeless Template from Papertrey Ink (and incorporate the color purple or a butterfly somewhere in your project!).

I used the Get a Handle on It template to create some cute gift packaging for a gift certificate. I love using heavyweight Acrylic on these templates and then filling the package with fun stuff! (for this project I used PTI's Clearly Creative Cardstock). I just love how it turned out!!

Stamps: Big Bold Birthday (SU); Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)
Paper: Clearly Creative CS, Plum Pudding, White, Kraft CS (PTI)
Ink: Pale Plum, Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa (SU)
Accessories: Pink Pirouette ribbon, jumbo brads, scallop border punch (SU); hemp twine; Trio of Tags die (Spellbinders)

Be sure to stop by the other My Time to Create DT girls' blogs to check out all of their fun birthday creations.

Lauren
Alicia
Dana
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Odette
Lisa
Tamara

Here's a peek at all of their fabulous projects:

If you'd like to play along with us this week, head on back to Lauren's blog and post a link to your project in the Mr. Linky on Saturday's Challenge post.

Sweet Sunday Sketch

I finally had time to participate in one of Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge's today! And I LOVE this sketch!! Here's my take on it:

Stamps: Branching Out, Special Delivery (TSG)
Paper: Basic Grey, Whisper White CS; Urban Garden DP (SU)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Copic marker (YG95)
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss ribbon, Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardward, dimensionals (SU)

That's it for me today! I'm on Oahu today for a doctor's appointment, hanging out with my friend Leslie, probably having lunch as this posts. I'm soooo excited to do some shopping at a REAL MALL!!! And, I'm hoping to have time to swing by Hawaii's first Target before heading back to the airport in the evening to fly home!! (and yes, before you ask...when you live on Maui, sometimes a simple doctor's appointment actually involves FLYING to another island!!).

How Convenient...

....that Dawn McVey's latest Raspberry Suite Color Challenge just happened to be these colors!
I had already started on a baby card and had plans to finish up the gift this weekend when I saw her post and the colors matched pretty well with what I was creating!! One of my coworkers had a baby girl April 30 and I was in need of a small gift. I decided to use Scattered Showers to create a card, onesie and matching gift box and think it turned out sooo cute!
I used Lauren's Perfect Matchbox Timeless Template for the packaging. The onesie was created with Avery dark t-shirt iron-on transfer sheets, by stamping directly on the transfer sheets and then ironing on according to instructions. It all came together relatively quickly and I think Mom and Baby will be pleased.

Stamps: Scattered Showers, Polka Dot Basics (PTI)
Paper: Smokey Shadow, Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, White CS; Text-style Pink Patterns (PTI)
Ink: Berry Sorbet, Smokey Shadow, Fresh Snow (PTI)
Accessories: Sweet Blush double stitched ribbon, Sweet Blush buttons, Black buttons (all PTI); Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Jumbo Eyelet, Slit punch (SU); Hemp Twine; Gerber Onesie; Dark T-shirt Iron-On Transfers (Avery);
My Timeless Template - Perfect Matchbox

And finally, I thought I'd share this cute pic of Dawn and I a few weeks ago in Kaanapali. Dawn and her hubby were on Maui for a few days while on a Hawaiian Cruise. Joel and I met them at Hula Grill in Kaanapali for a yummy dinner and then we all shared a Hula Pie from Leilani's on the Beach (and we literally sat on the ground on the beach, breaking our plastic utensils fighting over the oreo crust!!). It was so fun to spend a few hours with Dawn and her husband! She's such a cutie and so sweet (one of those stunningly perfect girls that you'd love to hate, but you just can't because she's too darn sweet!!). ha! Anyway, the beautiful sunset was a great end to a fun evening with new friends.

Viva La Verve

Happy Mother's Day!! I hope all you Moms out there are having a super fun day!! I'm getting exactly what I wanted - an entire day all by myself, uninterrupted, in my craft room!! YAY!! Then we'll go out for a nice dinner. One evening next week we'll be having a late Mother's Day dinner with my parents and Grandmother at Humuhumunukunukuapua'a Restaurant at the Grand Wailea - Yum! We spent yesterday morning Upcountry in Makawao at the Seabury Hall Craft Fair and had lots of fun! The weather was beautiful and the Jacaranda Trees were in bloom. Dean had a blast on the giant Slip-n-Slide and painting a flowerpot for Grandma Jo and a Pet Rock for TuTu (my Mom)! Here's a pic of Dean enjoying some traditional Taiko drumming (he LOVES both Taiko and Tahitian drumming) and trying to decide if he liked the GIANT and VERY steep slip-n-slide or not:OK, I know you're not here for my personal ramblings, so I'll get on with it! I had another chance to play along with one of the weekly Viva la Verve challenges this weekend and it was lots of fun! This week's "twist" on the sketch was to use blue and green and your choice of neutral (you guessed it - I went with some Kraft!!). Here's my take on the sketch:

Stamps: Petals and Stems, Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Kraft, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Old Olive CS; Washington Apple DP (SU)
Ink: Old Olive, Bashful Blue (SU)
Accessories: Swiss Dots cuttlebug embossing folder; button (Basic Grey); hemp twine; circle punches; dimensionals.

Head on over to the Verve Forum on SCS and play along for your chance to win Verve's next release!!!

My Time to Inspire Challenge

I've been having Blogger issues all week and am crossing my fingers I can get this to post....we'll see!!

I'm back with a quick and easy clean card using Lauren's new My Time to Inspire Challenge. This is Lauren's first Inspiration challenge and I had a lot of fun with it! Here's a look at the Inspiration photo:
As you can see, I used the photo to inspire just about every aspect of my card - from the top-heavy design to the little flowers.The flowers are stamped in Momento Tuxedo Black and are from Verve's Wishful Elegance set. I colored them with Copics and added some large silver brads to the centers. The bottom white panel of my card was embossed with my Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder to give it a little bit of dimension and I added some So Saffron ribbon. I could see a very pale yellow in the dress, but wanted to give my card a little more pop, so went with the Saffron color. The sentiment is from SU's Bitty Birthday, stamped in Versamark ink and embossed with detail white powder before punching out with my Word Window punch.

Check out this preview of Sneak Peeks for a glimpse at what the rest of Lauren's Challenge Team created based on the Inspiration photo:
Then head on over to their individual blogs to see the entire projects:

Alicia
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Tamara
Dana
Lisa
Odette
Pam
Tracey
Kristen

Want to play along? Just create a project, letting the photo spark your creativity in whatever way pleases you. Then upload a photo of your project to your blog or favorite online gallery and link us up to it HERE in the Mr. Linky thingie on Lauren's post. Can't wait to see what you all create!!!

It's in the Bag

Have you had a chance to play along with the weekly 3D challenges over at Papercraft Planet yet?

This week, our challenge is being sponsored by Kelleigh Ratzlaff from The Digi Chick!. Kelleigh has generously offered a $20 gift card to her store for the best bag! In addition, the winner will also get a $5 gift card to ANYTHING on the Digi Chick store!

Kelleigh's templates (which many of you have seen me use before) are AWESOME and so easy! You just print the design on to your patterned paper, cut, score and glue! Or, if you want to get fancy, you can use digital papers and print it that way, then you always have an instant, printable, bag on hand!

Here's a look at my bag:

I used Kelleigh's Funky Bag #2 template, printed on the back of some polka dot American Crafts DP, to which I glued a piece of textured Pink Pirouette CS for the front flap. I added some Chocolate Chip ribbon to hold the flap closed and a layered felt embellishement (also American Crafts). I stamped "Just Because" from Verve's Fluttering By in Versafine Vintage Sepia on Pink Pirouette CS and punched out with my Word Window Punch to add to the front of the bag and it was done - ready to fill with some candies or other small gift.

These little bags would make perfect baby or bridal shower favor bags, gift card holders, graduation money holders (picture them done in school colors!!), and just about anything else you can think of!

OK, so take the challenge -- create a small gift bag, and upload it to Paper Craft Planet. Use the tag 3d11. You do NOT have to use one of Kelleigh's templates to win -- but they are so easy and fun, we know that you'll want one :) We'll pull it into the album and pull a winner next Tuesday. I can't wait to see what you make!

Check out what all of the Supernovas have made:

Adela Rossol

Melanie Muechinger

Lynn Mercurio

Diana Gibbs

Kim Burmeister

Wendy Price

Jen Tapler (that's me!)

Tammy Hershberger

Erika Martin

Lori Tecler

Jessica Fick

Sankari Wegman

Susanna Boyd

Take the 3d Challenge.

Check out the 3d11 Gallery

Get more inspiration by joining the Hybrid Chick group, here on PCP!

Verve Project Parade

Have you had a chance to check out the Project Parade going on over on the Verve Blog? This month's theme is "It's a Girl Thing" and the Verve Divas are sharing projects created with that special woman (Mother, Sister, Friend, etc) in mind. Today is my turn to host and here's a little peek at my project:To see more of my project and to find out how you can win $25 in Verve Bucks, head on over to THIS POST on the Verve Blog!!

PCP Sketch Challenge SK050209

This is my 2nd post today, scroll down to see my post for Lauren's My Time to Create Sketch Challenge!!

This week, at Papercraft Planet, we are thrilled to have MyGrafico sponsor our weekly Paper Craft Planet sketch challenge. While you don't have to use any particular stamp sets or products to win the sketch challenge, MyGrafico wanted you to be able to play along. To celebrate National Scrapbook Day, they are offering 40% off all digital downloads until May 3rd! They also have two really great sets that you can download for FREE! (Here are the freebies: Baby Silhouettes and Vases and Flowers.) Plus, if you play along during this week's sketch challenge, you could win the Butterfly Garden set!

Check out this amazing sketch by Melanie Muenchinger!

Here's my card using Melanie's sketch and one of the digital stamps from MyGrafico's Butterly Garden:

I also used printed digi paper from Fun For Me by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe Designs) on my card. The digi stamp is colored with copics and I added a SU grommet to the flower center. The sentiment is a SU rub-on.

Want to play along? Create a card using Melanie's sketch and then upload it onto PCP. Use the tag: sk050209 That's all there is to it!

To get you excited, the rest of our DT is showcasing the sketch challenge prize set Butterfly Garden. Check out their blogs sometime today to see what they made :)

Adela Rossol

Melanie Muechinger

Lynn Mercurio

Kim Burmeister

Wendy Price

Tammy Hershberger

Diana Gibbs

Erika Martin

Lori Tecler

Jessica Fick

Sankari Wegman

Susanna Boyd

Also, be sure to check out our sketch challenge entries for this week and join the Sketch Challenge Group!!

My Time Sketch Challenge #32

Well, I have some pretty exciting news to share with you - Lauren Meader has asked me to join her My Time To Create Challenge Team!! I'm thrilled to be sharing samples for her amazing challenges each Saturday with you. She's completely revamped her Challenge schedule and has a whole new lineup in store. You can read the details about her plans HERE.

Today is my first official post as a member of Lauren's team and I'm sharing with you my sample for Sketch Challenge #32! Here's a look at this week's sketch:


For my sample, I decided to highlight some really fun digi papers from the Carefree kit by Heather Roselli and Tracy Howard (Sweet Shoppe Designs). I actually didn't stamp on my card, because it just didn't need it with these eye-catching papers! I did add some white satin ribbon (SU) and a single yellow button (Basic Grey) for embellishments. The bracket-y thing on the right side is a printed digi embellishment, actually a journaling tag and I just typed "happy birthday" before printing. The main paper panels are all matted on white cardstock and popped up on dimensionals for added depth. Pretty simple!

And here's a peek at all of the DT samples:

Head on over to their individual blogs and check out what the team has created - there's some pretty fab eye candy!!

Dawn
Kendra
MacKenzie
Maria
Tamara
Dana
Lisa
Odette
Pam
Tracey
Kristen

If you'd like to play along, you can post to your blog or any of the online galleries using keyword mytimess32 and then head back over to Lauren's post HERE and add your creation to Mr. Linky.