Crystal Wilkerson Hybrid Goodness / Enabling

Crystal Wilkerson has some super yummy new boyish collections available in her store at JessicaSprague.com that I am completely and totally IN LOVE with!! You all know I'm a sucker for a good boy theme and I do love to make little boy cards, so when I saw these new kits I couldn't wait to get started on a few sample cards for her! (I LOVE being on Crystal's hybrid team). And in case you're not already familiar - Crystal is the creative genius who designed Echo Park's first line that has been such a huge hit this summer - Sweet Summertime. You can find that in scrapbook stores all over the place, but I'm a bit partial to the digi version as I like to resize and print my own papers (only printing what I'll actually use, save the trees, oh - and that limitless supply is nice too! LOL).

But this new line of goodness, Me and My Brother, is so stinkin' adorable!! And 2 of the element kits - shown below - will be available for only $1 during {One Buck Wednesday} tomorrow (Wednesday) only - so be sure to pick them up!! The entire collection is available HERE.
Here's a look at a few cards I've created with the Collection:

I used Mercy's Tuesday's Sketch #87 and a stamped sentiment from the adorable Across the Miles stamp set by Clear and Simple Stamps for this one:

I used Mercy's Tuesday's Sketch #88 for this one:

And finally, my favorite of the three, this one uses another sentiment from the Across the Miles stamp set (CSS).

And here are a few peeks at the rest of the Collection - have you ever seen such cute boy papers!?!? I mean seriously!?And now I can't wait to use these on a few digi layouts too!! I TOLD you they were yummy!! :-)

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #12

I'm so excited to be putting my Waltzingmouse Stamps to good use with these weekly sketches!! I'm playing along again this week with WMS Sketch #12 and it was another fun one! I kept it clean and simple this time, creating this everyday boy card that I can have on hand for a birthday or whatever.


I used some old October Afternoon DP (I'm not sure which collection it's from, sorry!) and inked up the cute little race car from the Free Spirit - Boy stamp set in colors to match the DP and stamped it 3 times, cutting each one out with my hobby knife. The fun stamped frame is from the Very Vintage Labels 4 set that is Nestie friendly! LOVE that set! The only real embellishment other than the label nestie is that tailed Baja Breeze ribbon. Sometimes though, clean and simple is just what you need (especially for a little boy)!!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #83

Well, it's Sunday again (already!?) and that means it's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! We have a fabulous Guest Designer playing along with us this week - THE Nancy McKinney, who just happened to design this week's sketch!


I cheated a little with my card, creating a horizontal card instead of a square card - but I wanted to have room to get plenty of that fun lace and pom pom trim on there!!


Since Nancy designs stamps for Taylored Expressions, I decided to pull out some fun TE goodies for my card again this week. In fact, I grabbed my yet-to-be-inked Take Note set (and the coordinating die), designed by Nancy herself, for that fun olive green frame! The flowers and sentiment are from the Garden Party Blooms set - I just love the variety of flowers in that set!! I also used the Garden Variety Project Pantry kit (can't get enough of that stripey paper!) and some red Bazzill Pom Pom Trim. (I told you I was putting some new TE goodies to use!!! LOL). Whew. I think that's about it. The rest is self explanatory I think.

Be sure to check out the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with the sketch.

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

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

Verve Project Parade - Something Old, Something New

Did you know that the August Release Project Parade has started over on the Verve Blog? Jen del Muro kicked it off yesterday and today it's my turn! I'm really loving this month's theme - Something Old, Something New - to use a previously released Verve set with one of the sets that was released on August 20th. I had lots of fun creating this {really really late} Birthday Gift for my BFF using the new set Dream Big with the older set Bountiful Backgrounds.


Head on over to TODAY'S POST on the Verve Blog for all the details, more photos and for information on how you can play along with us for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate to Verve!!

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #125

It's been a really long time since I had a chance to play along with one of the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenges, but I had a SUPER productive day today in my Craft Room. Dean was at school all day and then is spending the night with my Mom and Joel is working a 36-hour shift - his "regular" job today and tomorrow seeing to his duties as Case Manager with Aloha House, and pulling an overnight shift tonight at the residential Crisis / Detox Center upcountry. He likes to do this periodically because it's good extra money and it lets him sort of see firsthand what's going on with his clients as the majority of his clients end up spending at least some time at the LCRS (Licensed Crisis Residential Services / Shelter). And all the while he's on call as a Crisis Mobile Outreach worker. I'm really glad he loves his job!! (and HAS a job right now with all of the government cuts to Social Services lately!) Anyway, I digress. My point was - I have had a lot of time to myself today!!

So I got to play along with TESC #125, creating a Teacher Thank You card to have on hand for this school year as I'm sure I'll need it. Dean's preschool teachers are pretty amazing!!


I used the Taylored Expressions set Make the Grade along with some older DP from Imaginisce I had in my stash. I stitched the circles on with my sewing machine and added a scalloped cork border and some orange ribbon as embellishment. Cute, yeah? It was a fun sketch!!

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #11

** This is my 2nd post today. Please scroll down to see my Taylored Expressions Blast From the Past Blog Hop Post**

I was so excited to find time again this week to play along in another Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge! I don't normally create circle cards as I typically struggle with these, but I had SO MUCH fun with this one!!


I got a few of my new Midnight Feast stamps inky - the circular Boo! stamp and those fun little bat images that I cut out with my hobby knife. I was also super excited to use my Silhouette again for this sketch - the card base is from a trio of pinked circle shapes and that yummy scroll-y frame thing?? I cut that out with my Silhouette too! Isn't that awesome!? You can't really tell in the photo, but that frame is adhered with lots of little dimensionals, so it's popped up above the card base, which gives the whole thing lots of amazing depth and shadow. I love it!! Finally, I added some stitching and some layered buttons and it was done! What do you think?

Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop

It's time for another fabulous Blast from the Past Blog Hop with Taylored Expressions and friends! I can't tell you how much I've thoroughly enjoyed playing along with these Blog Hops each month and checking out everyone's creations!!

My sweet and amazingly talented friend Sankari designed a super fun sketch for the hoppers to play with this month and {gasp!} I actually used it!! LOL. Take a look at the sketch:


And with that sketch, I decided to play with one of my favorite TE sets, The Places You'll Go to create this colorful card for my son Dean:


I colored the image with Copics to match the DP. And isn't that fun DP? It's from the Garden Variety Project Pantry Kit (as is the ric-rac and red textured CS). I don't think I'm breaking any Blast from the Past rules by using current Project Pantry Kits! I just love how versatile those kits can be, even the ones that seem really "theme"-y, can actually be used for everyday projects too as you can see! I added a couple of matchy-match buttons from SU and Basic Grey and I was done! Cute, yeah? My son's SUPER into space right now, so he's going to LOVE this card!!

Now, be sure to stop by all the other Hoppers' blogs to see what they've created this month. There's some amazing talent on that list so you're sure to find some inspiration!!

Button Rainbow

I'll admit it. I got a little excited when I woke up this morning and was reading some blog comments and Regina had left a comment on one of my posts saying something like "Congrats on your PC August Gallery win". At first I was confused and wasn't sure what she was talking about and then I remembered that a few weeks ago I had played along for the first time in one of the PaperCrafts Connection Challenge thingies. It was their August Gallery Challenge to be exact. The challenge theme was "Buttons, Brads & Ribbon" and I made a card with lots of buttons:

Like I said, this was my first time playing in one of their challenges. It was lots of fun! I'm sure I'll be joining in more often in the future. Winning can be a bit of a motivator like that. ;-) Oh, did I forget to mention that? LOL. Yeah, I was one of the winners. You can check out my card and the other 2 fabulous winning entries HERE on the Papercrafts Connections Blog.

Sweet Sunday Sketch #82

It's Sunday again!! And Karen's created a super fun Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge for us this week:

For my sample, I used one of the brand new Verve sets and some fun digi papers to whip up this card.


That's the new Kind Words Stamp set paired with some printed digi papers from Delightful by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe). I added some Marina Mist grosgrain, keeping the embellishments to a minimum on this on. Verve has some fabulous deals right now on the New Releases (including a FREE special set with $35 purchase while supplies last). If you missed the party, be sure to check out all the new sets that were released Friday. Honestly, I have a feeling this is going to be the most popular Verve release EVER!!

Be sure to check out the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with the sketch.

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick
• Joanne Basile
  

Nancy Riley will be sitting out for awhile while her daughter recovers from a car accident, but you can stop by her blog and wish her well if you'd like.

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

Verve Sneak Peek - Great Friend

Well, here we are - the final day of Sneak Peeks before the big Verve Release Party tomorrow night! Today the Divas are sharing samples using the new set Great Friend - a set of 12 absolutely AMAZING stamps that you are going to love!! There are 6 flowers in 3 sizes, perfect for layering, in both solid and outline stamps, some leafy goodness and a few fabulous sentiments that you'll definitely be seeing A LOT of around my blog in the future!!

I went with a sort of "mod" look for my sample card today...


I layered the 3 sizes of the outline flower stamped in Versamark ink on Real Red, clear embossed and then cut out with my hobby knife. Of course, you'll note my standard Kraft with a bit of black and some retired Scenic Route DP. I added something totally new for me on this card - those swirly black jewel things. I had a little trouble getting them to go exactly where I wanted and I had to cut off one smaller swirl altogether to get it to fit on my vertical card (and it's not really oriented exactly like I wanted - I wanted it at a little more of an angle, but I guess those things take a little practice?) - but they were definitely just the right touch for this otherwise clean and simple card. I also added several smaller jewels to the flower center on top of the stamens (is that what they are? I don't know. I'm not a botanist.) then added the "Just Because" sentiment and rounded one corner of the main matted panel and it was done!

Want to see more fabulous eye candy using Great Friend?? Stop by the Divas' blogs listed below - they're all sharing projects today using this set.

1. Laurie
2. Amy
3. Michelle
4. Mercy
5. Susan
6. Maureen
7. Sankari
8. Teresa
9. Jen T. (that's me!)
10. Tosh
11. Julee
12. Jackie
13. Lynda
14. Amber

And be sure to leave comments telling everyone what you think - One lucky commenter on a randomly chosen official sneak peek post (see today's post on the Verve Blog for the "official" list) will win the sets being peeked that day. Deadline for comments is 6PM Eastern Friday, August 20.

And in case you missed it, there's yet another chance this week to win some new Verve - Julee created 5 new sketch challenges for this release! Play along with 1 or all 5 for a chance to win fun prizes. One lucky participant who does them all will win the entire new release! Check out the Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch Challenge thread in our forum for all the details on how to enter! You've still got time to create, so have some fun getting inky!

Don't forget to join us tomorrow night, Friday, August 20 at 8:00 pm Eastern time in the Verve Forum for our Release Party!!

Verve Sneak Peek - Dream Big

It's another day of Verve Sneak Peeks and today I'm sharing a card with you using one of my favorite sets from this release, Dream Big. This set of 18 stamps includes several mix-n-match flowers and stems, leaves, and sentiments in a fabulous Verve font that I absolutely LOVE. I have a feeling this set is going to quickly become a Verve best-seller!!


For my card, I stamped 2 of the 3 flower images (those are the small and medium flowers!) and their coordinating stems in inks to match the Twitterpated (Pebbles) DP, then cut the images out with my hobby knife. I added some old buttons my stash to the flower centers and mounted the flowers on dimensionals on a Kraft circle nestie shape to sort of "frame" them. I have to admit I had a hard time choosing which of the 8 sentiments to use, but finally went with "embrace life". Some Early Espresso grosgrain and yellow pom-pom trim from my stash completed the card. I was really pleased with how this card turned out and can't wait to stamp those flowers in every color of ink I can get my hands on!!!

Want to see more fabulous eye candy using Dream Big?? Stop by the Divas' blogs listed below - they're all sharing projects today using this set.

1. Sankari
2. Shannan
3. Lynda
4. Mercy
5. Charmaine
6. Jen T. (that's me!)
7. Sony
8. Laurie
9. Teresa
10. Amber
11. Maureen
12. Julee
13. Michelle

And be sure to leave comments telling everyone what you think - One lucky commenter on a randomly chosen official sneak peek post (see today's post on the Verve Blog for the "official" list) will win the sets being peeked that day. Deadline for comments is 6PM Eastern Friday, August 20.

And in case you missed it, there's yet another chance this week to win some new Verve - Julee created 5 new sketch challenges for this release! Play along with 1 or all 5 for a chance to win fun prizes. One lucky participant who does them all will win the entire new release! Check out the Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch Challenge thread in our forum for all the details on how to enter! You've got a week to create, so have some fun getting inky!

Don't forget to join us Friday, August 20 at 8:00 pm Eastern time in the Verve Forum for our Release Party!!

All About Dean

Hi! I thought I would share this Digi Project I created this weekend for my son Dean's preschool project titled "All About Me". The parents in Dean's class were given an assignment this month to put together a little poster about our child for them to display in the classroom. We were given a little handout with prompts and were asked to include photos and told to "be creative" and were provided with the poster board, which was an 11x14 inch NEON GREEN (seriously. think 1987 day-glo green) piece of poster board to work with.

OK. So obviously these people don't know me very well. I can't work in these conditions. Really? REALLY!? Joel and my Mother actually discussed amongst themselves NOT TELLING ME about this assignment, fearing that I would go way overboard and perhaps somehow damage my young son's status as a "cool kid" with a highly "scrampified" (Joel's word) project. What?! Me? Go overboard on a CREATIVE project. Come on. That's just crazy talk. I got this, Dude. I am ALL over this shit (pardon the language). I mean, this kind of thing IS the reason I had a child in the first place, right? ;-) (kidding, kidding)

Here's the list of things we were supposed to include - This is me, My favorite food, My favorite activity with my family, My favorite book, My special hobbies, My house, My pets, My family, My favorite place to visit, My favorite toys.

So yeah. Dean has the raddest All About Me project in the entire Turtle Class at Children's Garden Preschool. Check this out (credits are listed at the end of this post):


I know you can't really read the journaling (although you might be able to click on the photo and see it larger), so here's what it says:
1. My name is Dean Edward Tapler. I am 3 years old. My birthday is December 6, 2006.
2. One of my special hobbies is reading. I love to read books. I am a very good reader. (this isn't on there, but yes, my 3-yr-old can somehow read. Don't ask me how. I have no idea. He started teaching himself sight words at about 18 months and soon after started reading by sounding out the letters and is now reading at about a 2nd or 3rd grade level. It baffles me. Probably too much Sesame Street on TV as an infant or something, LOL).
3. My favorite food is cupcakes. I especially love chocolate cupcakes with lots of frosting.
4. Another one of my special hobbies is painting. My favorite things to paint are planets and nebulae.
5. I love hanging out with my family at the beach. We go to the beach almost every weekend.
6. I don't really have a favorite toy, but I love my books about Space. I know lots about Space.
7. One of my favorite places to visit on Maui is Keopuolani Park to play "Ninja Warrior".
8. I love everything about Space. I can name all the planets and their moons and lots of other information.
9. Another activity I enjoy doing is hiking. I love hiking to waterfalls and swimming in the streams.
10. My address is *** (maybe I shouldn't post that here?). I live in a house in Maui Lani in Kahului. There are plenty kids in my neighborhood.
11. My Mommy's name is Jen and my Daddy's name is Joel. We are a happy little family of 3.
12. I have 2 cats. Their names are Nani and Spooky, but Nani is my favorite. She loves it when I pet her.

So there you have it! You may notice the recurring Space theme. My 3-yr-old is currently obsessed with Space / the Solar System / the Universe and knows things about Space that I have never even heard of. It is weird. So yeah, there's a Space theme there - but I want to remember that about him at this age.

Oh yeah - so what did I use on that layout? I altered Cindy Schneider's Year in Review II template to make it fit the 11x14 size I needed for the project and used the absolutely adorable Another Galaxy kit by Traci Reed and Julie Billingsley. Both products are available at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

I'm having the thing printed today at Costco in the 11x14 size and am just planning to glue it to the stupid Neon Green poster board (so none of the poster board is showing) and will turn it in Wednesday when I drop Dean off at school. Joel just keeps rolling his eyes at me. But I'm sorry - I just couldn't turn in a Neon Green poster board with a couple of photos and magazine clippings glue-sticked to it and Dean's name written at the top with a Sharpie. LOL. And if Dean's embarrassed by this, well, let this be a good learning experience for him, because if my own childhood is any indicator - it's only bound to get worse!! ;-)

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #10

I recently discovered a new-to-me (I know it's not really NEW, but I'm sometimes slow to discover these things way out here in the middle of the Pacific!) stamp company, Waltzingmouse Stamps, that I have fallen in LOVE with. And then this week I discovered that they have a weekly Sketch Challenge and I decided to get some of my new stamps inky and play along!

I created this card for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #10.


It's a hybrid card using the fun Rescue Remedies set, a set that let's me make fun vintage-y cards without having to try too hard since that's a style that really doesn't come very natural to me. The stamps really do all the work for me. I love that. I don't have to bust out a bunch of technique stuff that I'm not comfortable with (because as you know I'm so NOT a technique girl!). Although I DID try something totally new for me on this card - Glimmer Mist. Yeah, yeah - again, old story for most of you. But I've had that bottle of Glimmer Mist sitting around for like 2 years and NEVER used it. Like I said, NOT a technique girl! But all I did was spray. Is it really that easy? Was I supposed to do anything else? It did give it a nice glimmery sheen, but I'm disappointed it doesn't photograph better - you really can't see it. Oh well. Here's my attempt to see that Glimmer Mist a little better, but I'm not sure you can really tell and the color's weird in the photo.

As for the rest of the card, the papers (besides the Kraft) are all printed digi papers from the Summer Days kit by Zoe Pearn. I created the little rolled flowers (using Kraft and a couple of printed digi papers) with a cut file for my Silhouette purchased from the Silhouette website (soooo excited I finally got my Silhouette to work with Windows 7 after only like 6 months of it sitting here gathering dust!!). I also added some messy stitching, a ribbon and a pokey thing (are they called "hat pins"?) that I never use because they always just look like an injury waiting to happen. I'm pretty sure I'd never actually give someone a card with one of those sharp things jabbing out of the front. Yikes. But I have to admit it is awful pretty.

So that's it. I'll be back soon with another Verve Sneak Peek!!

Verve Sneak Peek - Birthday Bash

It's another fabulous day of Verve Sneak Peeks! And today the Divas are sharing projects using two fun new birthday sets, Birthday Bash and Carpe Cupcake!

For my Sneak Peek project today, I decided to share another hybrid gift packaging idea with you using the Birthday Bash set. This is a super fun set of 13 stamps that will really round out your collection of Verve birthday stamps. They are perfect for creating birthday cards for all ages, either gender and include one of my favorite Verve fonts! I used the balloon image and a couple of the sentiment stamps to make a birthday card and matching little box to hold a gift card or money - so much nicer than just tucking it inside the card, don't you think?


The DP is all printed digi paper from the He's a Jolly Good Fellow kit by Shawna Clingerman (Sweet Shoppe). And that card layout? I used one of the Anni-Verve-Sary Release Week Challenge sketches (AVS2010C to be exact) - more on that at the end of this post. I colored the balloons with Copics and ruffled the satin ribbon (which didn't really turn out as I'd hoped, but whatever. I need the practice. LOL).


And here's a closer look at that little gift box all closed up. The box itself, made out of Kraft cardstock, was created using the Box #2 Sizzix die in my Big Shot machine. You can see in that first photo above that I lined the inside of the lid as well as the outside of the lid and box with the same printed digi paper that I used on my card. I added a little scalloped border of Kraft CS and tied some ribbon around the whole thing. Finally, I stamped the "Make a Wish" sentiment from the Birthday Bash set to make a little tag and I was done!


Want to see more fabulous eye candy using Birthday Bash and Carpe Cupcake?? Stop by the Divas' blogs listed below - they're all sharing projects today using this set.

Julee
Michelle
Jen d.
Sony
Jackie
Teresa
Maureen
Amber
Tosh

And be sure to leave comments telling everyone what you think - One lucky commenter on a randomly chosen official sneak peek post (see today's post on the Verve Blog for the "official" list) will win the sets being peeked that day. Deadline for comments is 6PM Eastern Friday, August 20.

And in case you missed it, there's yet another chance this week to win some new Verve - Julee created 5 new sketch challenges for this release! Play along with 1 or all 5 for a chance to win fun prizes. One lucky participant who does them all will win the entire new release! Check out the Anni-Verve-sary sketch challenge thread in our forum for all the details on how to enter! You've got a week to create, so have some fun getting inky!

Don't forget to join us Friday, August 20 at 8:00 pm Eastern time in the Verve Forum for our Release Party!!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #81

Hey there! It's Sunday and that's means it's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge!

I struggled with this one. All those little darn little circles throw me everytime Karen uses them on a sketch. I hate them. ;-) I never know what to do with them. So it was buttons this time. And I totally left off the 3 little ones on the bottom. Oh well. I made mind a horizontal card and I tried to add a sentiment but couldn't get anything to work. I'm not loving this card. I love all the goodies I used, but just not loving how it all came together. Probably if I didn't wait until the last minute to start working on it, I could come up with something better!! LOL.


I got a new package of goodies from Taylored Expressions in the mail TODAY that I was excited to break in! That DP and ribbon is from the In the Kitchen Project Pantry Kit. And I finally got my Garden Party Blooms stamp set inky for the first time!! Love those stamps! I added some buttons and a silver brad and lots of 3-D adhesive for some extra dimension and it was done.

Be sure to check out the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with the sketch.

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick
• Joanne Basile
  

Nancy Riley will be sitting out for awhile while her daughter recovers from a car accident, but you can stop by her blog and wish her well if you'd like.

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

Also, a quick reminder that there are more Verve Sneak Peeks happening today on some of the other Diva Blogs!! Head on over to the Verve Blog for all the details!

Verve Sneak Peek - Love Story

It's almost that time - New Release time at Verve!! And man are you guys in for a treat this week!! Seriously. This is probably THE best release Julee has come up with yet. AMAZING. And the Sneak Peeks all start today on several of the Verve Divas' blogs with a look at a fabulous new set called Love Story. This is a set of 20 stamps - images, frames, large and small sentiments - that are perfect for creating cards and gifts that celebrate any type of love story. I plan to use this set for wedding cards, bridal shower gifts, new baby cards, anniversary cards, and there are even a few sentiments that would work for all-occasion cards as well! And don't forget about Wedding / Shower invitations and favors - this would be the ideal set for those projects! Oh, and scrapbook layouts?? The list just goes on and on.

For my Sneak Peek project today using Love Story, I decided to step out of my comfort zone a bit {translation: lots of soft pinks and frilly looking papers} and create a romantic matchbox-style gift packaging to hold a special wedding gift for a good friend of mine.


It's it pretty? I went hybrid as usual. The box base is Kraft cardstock, but all of the other papers are printed digi papers from the Sunshine of My Life kit by Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe). I stamped the Best Wishes sentiment inside the stamped frame image and cut out with a hobby knife. The little birds and the "to the happy couple" sentiment are also stamped from the Love Story set.

The matchbox was created using an old tutorial I printed off over a year ago from Kelly Lunceford's blog. The rest of the supplies are listed at the end of this post.

Want to see more fabulous eye candy using Love Story?? Stop by the Divas' blogs listed below - they're all sharing projects today using this set.

Mercy
Susan
Guest Diva Sony
Tosh
Laurie
Head Diva Julee
Teresa
Amber
Guest Diva Maureen
Lynda

And be sure to leave comments telling everyone what you think - One lucky commenter on a randomly chosen official sneak peek post (see today's post on the Verve Blog for the "official" list) will win the sets being peeked that day. Deadline for comments is 6PM Eastern Friday, August 20.

And in case you missed it, there's yet another chance this week to win some new Verve - Julee created 5 new sketch challenges for this release! Play along with 1 or all 5 for a chance to win fun prizes. One lucky participant who does them all will win the entire new release! Check out the Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch Challenge thread in our forum for all the details on how to enter! You've got a week to create, so have some fun getting inky!

Don't forget to join us Friday, August 20 at 8:00 pm Eastern time in the Verve Forum for our Release Party!!

Matchbox Supplies:
Stamps: Love Story (Verve)
Paper: Crumb Cake (SU); Printed digi paper from Sunshine of my Life by Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe)
Ink: Early Espresso (SU)
Accessories: Scallop border punch, Seam binding ribbon, grosgrain, jumbo eyelet (SU); button (PTI); Matchbox tutorial by Kelly Lunceford

Sweet Sunday Sketch #80

Aloha! Did you miss the Sweet Sunday Stampers last week? I didn't really feel that sorry for Karen and some of the other girls who were all whining about how they were just too busy to deal with the rest of us and they just had too much on their plate, what with traveling to Chicago and those all-important name-dropping blog posts about meeting up with each other, ogling all the new papercrafting goodies, blah blah blah, {vomit}, WHATEVER. Give me a big fat break. What about the rest of us? huh? huh? We're here. Actually ready a whole day early with a sketch card to post, all by ourselves, ALONE, at home. But nooo-oooo-oooo, {insert 3-octave change in your voice while saying that long drawn out "no" like you did when you were an annoying teenager to get the full effect of this rant, and don't worry, I'll be adding a foot stomp at the end} - Karen was too busy for all that. Too many important things to see and do at CHA for the rest of us Little People who wanted our sketch last week {foot stomp}. LOL!! (just kidding Karen - you know I love ya and really I'm insanely jealous). So here we are, after a week off (and if Karen doesn't have a sample card tonight I am going to give her SO MUCH crap) with Sweet Sunday Sketch #80.

I flipped the sketch for my sample card and was totally inspired by this card by Maile Belles. I wanted to do the acetate jar like she did, but none of my ink would work - it just kept smearing no matter what I tried, nothing would dry! (and I don't have any Palette Noir ink). So oh well! It would have looked so much better with an acetate jar, but then again I would have had to figure out how to attach the stinkin' thing without the adhesive showing....so...supplies are listed at the end of the post.
ETA: I totally forgot to link the card by Maile Belles that inspired me. So HERE it is. Sorry about that! :-)

Be sure to check out the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with the sketch.

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick
• Joanne Basile
  

Nancy Riley will be sitting out for awhile while her daughter recovers from a car accident, but you can stop by her blog and wish her well if you'd like.

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

Supplies:
Stamps: Friendship Jar, Friendship Jar Fillers, Polka Dot Basics II (PTI)
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White (SU)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Crumb Cake, Tangerine Tango (SU); Copic Markers
Accessories: Ribbon, Woodgrain Impression Plate, Label die (PTI)

Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop

We're celebrating 3 Fabulous years of Verve with a very special Blog Hop today!! Things kicked off this morning over on Julee's Blog, so if you just happened along you may want to head on over there and start at the beginning. If you arrived here from Amber's Blog, then you're on the right track! You can find a list of all the participants in the Hop HERE in case you get lost along the way somewhere. ;-)

There are tons of prizes along the way, with each of the Verve Divas giving away at least one Verve Stamp set, so be sure to leave some love in the comments for all of the stampers as you hop along! All the prize details can be found in the first stop on the hop. You've got until 11:59pm on Wednesday, August 4 to comment for a chance to win, so happy hopping!

I decided to create a fun hybrid card today using one of my favorite Verve sets, Relax, and some printed digi paper from the Life's a Beach kit by Shawna Clingerman, Melissa Bennett and Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe):

I just love those bright colors with the gray and kraft! I added some black sand from Waianapanapa near Hana on the East coast of Maui to the bottom of the card, which I personally thought was the perfect finishing touch! I love that little bit of texture and the black sand matched perfectly with the colors on the card.

Don't you just love that Relax set? How'd you like a chance to win it? Just leave a comment here on this post by 11:59 pm Wednesday, Aug 4 and you'll be entered to win the set!! And don't forget to check out the rest of the Divas' posts along the hop for more chances to win other fabulous Verve prizes!!

Now head on over to Angel's Blog, the next stop on this amazing Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop, for some more inspiration!

Oh, and one more thing - now through Aug 14 is a great time to stock up on all those Verve sets you've been dying to own!! With the Anni-VERVE-sary sale you can get 30% off all Year 1 Sets, 20% off all Year 2 sets and 10% off all Year 3 sets!!

Relax Card:
Stamps: Relax (Verve)
Paper: Crumb Cake (SU); Smoky Shadow (PTI); Printed digi paper from Life's a Beach by Shawna Clingerman, Melissa Bennett and Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe)
Ink: Going Gray (SU)
Accessories: Dimensionals (SU); Waianapanapa Black Sand (near Hana, East coast of Maui)