Finally...Sweet Sunday Sketch #58

OK, I'm keeping this short and sweet as I still feel like I'm behind on EVERYTHING since I basically lost an entire day of my weekend yesterday with all the Tsunami craziness!! Anyway, I'm sure most of you have already seen this week's sketch over on Karen's Blog, but in case you missed it, here it is:


I inspired myself this week. I had been playing with this fun digi kit, Own It, by Lauren Grier and Shawna Clingerman (Sweet Shoppe Designs) and Verve's Seeing Stars stamp set making a boy card for my Sketch For You To Try card (which I haven't shown you yet either - it's coming tomorrow) and liked it so much that I decided to stick with that theme for this week's SSSC card. Here it is (and I LOVE it!!):


Man, blogger has been doing weird things to my images lately. I swear they really do look fine on my computer once I'm done with editing, but then when I upload them here they seem all washed out and the lighting is off and they even seem a little blurry. It's seriously frustrating!!! Is this happening to anyone else or is it just me? Does anyone know if there's a fix for this?? Are they suddenly compressing our images or something?

What's In It:
Stamps: Seeing Stars, Uplifting Phrases (Verve)
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip CS (SU); printed digi paper from Own It by Lauren Grier & Shawna Clingerman (Sweet Shoppe)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU)
Accessories: Brads, Star punch, dimensionals (SU); ribbon, button (PTI)

be sure to stop by the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs to see what they've done with the sketch...

• Karen Motz
• Laura Fredrickson
• Lynn Put
• Nancy Riley
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick

Then play along with us and post your creation using InLinkz over on Karen's Blog!

Sweet Sunday Delay

Hi there! My Sweet Sunday Sketch sample card will be delayed a bit. Of course I don't work ahead and with everything going on here in Hawaii today - I've been up since 4:00 am dealing with the stress and worry of the Tsunami warning, sirens, evacuations, re-stocking our disaster kit, etc. We are all breathing a great big sigh of relief that the Tsunami was not nearly as large as they had anticipated and I have to say that it's a little bit comforting to know that our state is VERY prepared for such a disaster. So anyway, I'm sure you understand why I didn't get around to finishing my Sweet Sunday Sketch card!! I did start it, but I'm just too tired to finish it up, photograph it and do my post before I head to bed tonight. I promise I'll be back sometime tomorrow (Sunday)!!! Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes via e-mail, facebook and text messages!!

{Embellish} Color Challenge

Did you see that there's a new challenge posted over on the {Embellish} Magazine blog? And this time around, Verve Stamps is sponsoring the challenge with a Verve prize for one lucky participant!! You can read all the details HERE.

Here's a look at the Challenge Image (click image to view it larger):

And here's what I came up with:


I created this hybrid card using the fabulous circle frame from Verve's Just For You set with a sentiment from Celebration of Thanks. I cheated a little with the addition of some Kraft (you all know I can't help it!!). Besides the Kraft and White CS, the others are printed digi papers from the Shabby Sugar digi kit by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe). I added some buttons in the challenge colors and used my Apron Lace punch to create a decorative border along the bottom to fulfill the challenge requirement. Some zigzag stitching and a bit of yellow ribbon finished it up!

Be sure to stop by the {Embellish} blog to see what their DT has done with the challenge and several of the Verve Divas are playing along today too (you can find links to their blogs in my sidebar). I hope you'll join us for a chance to win some Verve goodies!!

Viva La Verve - February Week #4

It's been awhile since I participated in Verve's weekly Viva la Verve Sketch / Inspiration challenges over at Splitcoast, but I had some time today and I really liked both the sketch Amber designed for this final week in February and the inspiration photos, so I decided to give it a go!! These challenges are so much fun and I'm really going to make a point to play along more often in the future!! Here's the hybrid card I created with this week's sketch (I used the floral patterns in the napkin photo as inspiration, using it to choose my patterned papers):

This card came together SUPER fast! (like less than 15 minutes start to finish). I used one of my favorite sentiments from Verve's Floral Whimsy - this is one of the first Verve sets I ever bought and still one of my favorite Verve sets that I go to time and again!! That yummy paper is printed digi paper from the Persimmon kit by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe).

So that's it!! I'll be back in just a few hours with another Verve post along with a special announcement!! So be sure to check back in a bit!! ;-)

Hybrid Lova Ya

Well, I'm a little late posting this sorta Valentine-y card, but oh well! I have another V-Day project to share with you in a day or 2 also, so hopefully nobody has a problem with it. This is what happens when I procrastinate with my blog posts! For the record, I DID have this done BEFORE Valentine's Day (by a few hours anyway), I just didn't get around to sharing it with you all until now! :-)

This is for Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You to Try ginormous contest thingy she has going on over on her blog. I'm sure you've all heard about it by now, but if you haven't, head on over and check it out - you still have about a week left to play along!! Anyway, you can check out the sketch I used for this card HERE. I changed things up only slightly - moving my little "embellishment cluster" up a bit - because it just worked better that way on my card! It's called Creative Liberty, LOL. Take a look at my card:


I went with a hybrid card again this week, using this fantastic kit, Chirp, by Penny Springmann over at Sweet Shoppe Designs. All of the paper (except for the Kraft base) and all of those embellishments (except for the 3 buttons and the machine stitching) are printed digi goodies from the kit!!! Pretty cool, huh? And the best thing about hybrid is that for just $5-7 I get an ENTIRE kit (that would probably cost me about $25-30 in "real" supplies) that I can print over and over again as many times as I want!!! There's no waste, I only print what I'll actually use - so if I love 3 papers from the kit but don't love the others, well I can print those 3 papers 75 times and never use the others - all for that one-time price of $5-7!! And you want to know a little secret?? Some of your favorite artists (like Zoe Pearn and Christy Lyle and lots of others who design those AWESOME paper packs like Bloom and Grow for My Mind's Eye and other companies - they sell those same kits in DIGI for that low $5-7 price over at Sweet Shoppe!!! shhhh!! Don't tell MME that I told ya!).

Anyway, enough hybrid info-mercial-ing from me! Back to my card. The "Love Ya" sentiment from Say It With Style (PTI) was stamped on Kraft CS with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I used my sewing machine to attach the sentiment panel to the card, used my circle nesties to cut out some of the printed digi papers, hand cut some of the printed digi embellishments and attched them with dimensionals, added a few buttons and I was done!!

OK, that's it from me for tonight! I can't believe the weekend is already over! ugh. We have a crazy busy week this week - Dean has a preschool field trip that should be interesting. His class is going on a Whale Watch boat Thursday morning. I'm not going (I get DEATHLY seasick), so Joel is going along. I wish I could be a fly on the wall of that boat!! Dean says he doesn't want to go, he just wants to go to the beach instead to watch the whales "like normal". So cute!! Then Joel leaves Thursday afternoon with his high school wrestling boys for a long, tiresome weekend on Oahu for the high school wrestling Hawaii State Tournament. They had the Maui Interscholastic League Championships (this is kind of like "Regionals" on the mainland? It's all of Maui County which includes Maui schools, Molokai and Lanai) this weekend and Baldwin High boys took 3rd and the girls took 4th. I think he has 4 of his boys who qualified for State. He mostly works with the upper weights and his heavyweight won the MIL tournament and has a pretty good chance to do well at State, so keep your fingers crossed!! I'm just soooo ready for wrestling to be over this year!! :-)

Sweet Sunday #57

Wow! I've really been slacking in the blogging lately, huh? February has just been a crazy busy month - I can't believe it's already almost over!! I've been enjoying taking this month easy with the design work and spending a little extra time with Joel and Dean, something we've really needed after the stress of the last several months with finding placement for my Dad. (more on that at the end of this post). Anyway, here we are, already Sunday again and time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge!!

Karen cooked up a doozie for us this week. She stumped me all right with this one! I don't know if my MoJo is just in hiding or what, but I sure struggled with this sketch (click image to view it larger):

I needed a sympathy card to send to a dear friend, so here's what I came up with using Verve's Forever in our Hearts and the little butterfly from Petals and Stems:


Other Supplies:
Paper: Kraft, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip CS (SU); Scarlet Jewel, Sweet Blush CS (PTI)
Ink: Momento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko); Scarlet Jewel (PTI); Copic Markers
Accessories: Circle Nesties (Spellbinders); Sweet Blush ribbon (PTI); Chocolate Chip ribbon (SU); Spica Glitter Pen

If you haven't already, be sure to stop by the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs to see what they've done with the sketch...

• Karen Motz
• Laura Fredrickson
• Lynn Put
• Nancy Riley
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick

hen play along with us and post your creation using Mr. Linky over on Karen's Blog!

And in case any of you are wondering how things are going with my Dad, the transition to the Alzheimer's Care Unit at the Assisted Living Center has gone SOOOO smoothly we almost can't believe it! My Dad seems so content and really very happy there. I can't tell you how good that makes us feel. There have been a few bumps, mostly with some behavioral issues and interactions with other residents, but we're told this is normal for Alzheimer's patients during this type of transition. We've adjusted some meds and made some changes to some others and are just hoping for the best. But really, things are going so much better than any of us expected! Of course, he's getting lots of attention - apparently he's quite popular with the ladies!! LOL. He is one of only 3 male residents out of 15 in the Memory Care Unit and is the youngest resident by at least 20 years. So it makes sense. But it's pretty funny. Anyway, thank you all so much for the many kind words of support and encouragement you've left on my blog as I've shared my story with you. I can't tell you how much it's appreciated!!

Sweet Sunday #56

Yeah, yeah, so I'm like 48 hours late with my sample....but I have a REALLY good excuse. Trust me. I can't stand reliving the trauma that was my disastrous Valentine's Weekend again, so if you're interested in reading about our major failed camping trip and all the troubles and drama that ensued (complete with photos), you can do that on my family blog HERE. Otherwise, I'll just get right to my {late} Sweet Sunday sketch card...

Most of you have probably already seen it by now, but Karen has another fun Sweet Sunday Sketch for us to play with this week (click image to see larger):


I created a simple no-stamping-at-all hybrid card:


I went with a Kraft CS base and then all the rest is printed digi goodies (including that yummy flower!!) from the Happy Go Lucky kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow (Sweet Shoppe). I did a lot of stitching on this card and added a PTI button with some hemp twine to the flower center and called it good. Pretty simple all-occasion card!!

If you haven't already, be sure to stop by the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs to see what they've done with the sketch...

• Karen Motz
• Laura Fredrickson
• Lynn Put
• Nancy Riley
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick

hen play along with us and post your creation using Mr. Linky over on Karen's Blog!

Thanks for being patient with me this week!! Hopefully I'll be back next week if Karen doesn't kick me off the team!! ;-) LOL!

A Hybrid SFYTT

ETA: I just realized after posting this that maybe the reason this all came together so quickly and those circles stopped being so intimidating and I couldn't get a stinking butterfly out of my head was because of JEN'S fabulous card!!! damn it! Obviously I had her butterfly card on the brain when I made this and without realizing it, I practically reproduced it. I promise it was unintentional! Now I just feel totally lame. LOL.

It's been about FOREVER since I played along with one of Jen's Sketch For You To Try challenges, but I couldn't resist this week!! Have you seen her fabulous contest and giveaway going on this month? WOW! Be sure to go check it out. You can see the sketch on her blog, but here's what I came up with:

I have to admit, those 3 circles on the sketch intimidated the hell out of me!! LOL. What was I going to do with THOSE? And then I saw this fabulous new Limited Edition digital kit, Oh So Pretty at Sweet Shoppe and the wheels started turning. Now this car is much more detailed than my usual, but I'm pretty happy with it. And how about that stitching? It's actually pretty straight around the edges - almost as good as that Jodi Collins, huh? HA! (and FYI - I made the stitching around the circles sloppy on purpose!). All of the papers except the Kraft CS are printed digi papers - aren't they YUMMY? I stamped the "Just Because" sentiment from Verve's new Celebrating You on a scrap of Kraft and used my Trio of Tags die from Spellbinders to cut it out then attached it to the satin ribbon bow. The butterflies were cut from more printed digi paper using my Sizzix butterfly die from SU.

So that's it from me tonight! Have a great week!!

Sweet Sunday #55

Wow, the weeks of 2010 are just flying by already, huh? So here we are on Sunday and it's time for another fun Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge. Karen has another fun sketch for us this week with a circle! (I'm lovin' these circles lately!!). Take a look:

And here's my hybrid interpretation of the sketch:

So far I'm doing pretty good with my 2010 goal to actually USE my purchased stamps and here's another example of that - when I first saw the DT samples of this Chemistry set from There She Goes, I knew I would have to have it!! It arrived on Friday, just in time for me to use on my sample for this week's sketch - and I just LOVE how this turned out!! And that yummy DP? That's printed digi paper from the new Friends by Choice kit by Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe Designs). This is such an adorable kit with lots of fun papers and embellishments. I colored the little chemistry set with my Copic markers (that was another goal - to start getting more use out of that investment and try to improve my coloring skills) and added a little die-cut tag with the sentiment "I love you beyond measure". Here's a detail shot:
Be sure to stop by the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs to see what they've done with the sketch...

• Karen Motz
• Laura Fredrickson
• Lynn Put
• Nancy Riley
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick

Then play along with us and post your creation using Mr. Linky over on today's post on Karen's Blog!

Good Grief - Word Association

I think most of my regular blog readers know that my Dad, who is only 59 yrs old, is in the late stages of Alzheimer's Disease. Watching a loved one slowly slip away from you emotionally and cognitively while they remain (for the most part) physically intact creates a very difficult and unique grieving process. In reality, the amazing man who raised me is already gone and has been gone for quite some time. I mean sure - there's an unresponsive, agitated, incontinent, grumpy, anxious, weird-smelling, detached man who essentially looks exactly like the man who raised me - but trust me, that is NOT the man who raised me. However, I'm finding it harder and harder to remember that amazing man who was my father and instead when I think of my Dad, I first think of THIS difficult person. And that is my greatest fear - that all of my wonderful childhood memories will slowly be replaced with memories of this person that Alzheimer's Disease has left us with. And I had a pretty kick-ass childhood in great part because I had such a kick-ass Dad!! I don't want to forget that.

So when I discovered the Good Grief blog - a scrapbooking journey through loss and healing - and their scrapbooking challenges related to helping you scrapbook and journal about a loved one you have lost, I decided this might be just what I need to help me deal with the roller coaster of emotions I am experiencing as I watch my father quickly decline. And hopefully, this will help me hold on to more of those happy memories and not dwell so much on what's happening now. And yeah, I realize technically my Dad isn't DEAD, but for all intents and purposes my Dad is already gone, ya know?

So anyway, I hope you all are OK with me sharing my Good Grief creations here every now and then. These will be my "Therapeutic Posts"! LOL. So here goes my first Good Grief Challenge...

February's challenge is to Use Word Association. That's it. Open to plenty of interpretation. I was inspired by Amanda's Layout - I really liked how she listed a lot of random things that reminded her of her father and I wanted to do something similar, but with a focus on a few key descriptive words and include one of my favorite photos of my Dad, taken just 4.5 yrs ago before Alzheimer's disease robbed us of him. Here's my digital layout (click on the layout to view it larger if you'd like to read the journaling):

Credits: Boyfriend Jeans by Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe); Template from Collection 8 by Janet Phillips (Sweet Shoppe)

Of course, these aren't the only things that make my Dad who he was - but the small words / phrases are more like little "memory joggers" for me - each of them tells a story from my childhood, each special and significant in it's own way - some funny, some poignant and some just very specific memories I want to hold onto.

Thanks for letting me share this with you today!

It's a Blog Hop

Hi there!! It's been FOREVER since I had a chance to play along with one of Kelleigh Ratzlaff's Creative Team's Blog Hops, but even though my Hybrid MoJo seems to still be on a little break, I was happy to jump on board today and play with the rest of the girls!! If you arrived here from Kelleigh's Blog, then you're on the right track. Next on the list is the super talented Julie!!

Kelleigh has a FABULOUS new Grab Bag in her store today and I decided to use one of the items in the grab bag, the Tapered Box, to create this super quick and easy little hybrid gift box:
I used digi papers from the Birthday Monsters kit by Lauren Grier (Sweet Shoppe) on the box and stamped the "It's Your Day" sentiment from the Party Time set from Verve Stamps. I added a simple curled ribbon topper and it was ready to be filled with some sweet treats and all set for giving!!

In case you get lost along the Hop, here's a list of everyone playing along:

Kelleigh
Jen (that's me!)
Julie
Dana
Sunghee
Christy

Tags, Tins and Treats

Today it's my turn to post my Verve Project Parade Creation over on the Verve Blog. Be sure to stop by and take a look!! Here's a look at the completed hybrid project:
For more detailed photos and project information, visit THIS POST over on the Verve Blog. All papers used on this project are printed digital papers from the Kitschy Sweet digi kit by Traci Reed & Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe). All of that stitching is also digital, from the Border Basics: Line Stitches by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe) - pretty cool, huh? I used a TON of Verve stamps, listed below, to create this special keepsake mini album, altered gift tin and tag as a Valentine's Day gift for my son Dean.

Head on over to the Verve Blog to play along with us in this month's Project Parade for a chance to win $25 in Verve Bucks!!

Products Used:
Stamps (shown): Be Mine Plain Jane, Heart's Desire, Thankful Accents (Verve) Stamps (inside mini album): Love Monkey, Celebrating You, Accent Notes, Heart's Desire, Thankful Accents (Verve)
Paper: Printed digi paper from Kitschy Sweet by Traci Reed & Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe)
Ink: Basic Grey, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss (SU); Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Accessories: Buttons, ribbon (PTI & SU); Tin, chipboard album & chipboard luggage tag (Maya Road); Corner Chomper (Making Memories); Round the Corner digital masks by Janet Phillips (Sweet Shoppe); Digital Stitching by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe); Pom Pom trim from stash.