Sweet Sunday Sketch #123

I'm running late this week, so I'll get right to it. It's Sunday and that means it's time for another fabulous Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. Here's a look at this week's sketch:


I pulled out some patriotic (and ON SALE!!) Verve and created a hybrid card for my sample this week:


That stamp set is Verve's American Hero - isn't it perfect for this time of year? And - it's 40% off through June 30th!! WOW!! I did some paper piecing on the firecracker and star. All of the patterned paper is printed digi paper from the 12 Months: July kit by Penny Springmann (Sweet Shoppe).

Be sure to stop by all the Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with this week's sketch. A few of the girls are taking the week off this week due to fun stuff, but stop by anyway - their blogs are always full of inspiration!

• Dana White
• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick

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

Hulabella SFYTT

This adorable hula girl image has been on my wish list for quite some time and so I was THRILLED to find out that Stamping Bella was the June Sponsor for Sketch For You to Try! Just the excuse I needed to grab it!! :-) Hulabella is colored with Copics (and fair warning - I'm NOT a good "colorer of people" images) and I finally used some Splash patterned paper from Echo Park I've had in my stash for over a month now - with a piece from the Lime Twist collection from My Mind's Eye thrown in as well. I added a ribbon and a button / twine combo to the bow as finishing touches and called it done! The layout is based on the June Sketch For You to Try:


There are only a handful of days left this month to play along and we'd love for you to join us! All of the details, as well as the entry link system, for this month’s SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY can be found on THIS post on Jen's blog from the first Saturday of the month.


Be sure to stop by the rest of the SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they've done with the sketch this month (I'm sure they have a SFYTT category or tag list in their sidebar - or just browse / scroll through all the yummy goodness on their blog - you're sure to be inspired!):

Jen del Muro with guest designer Joanne Basile
Amber Hight
Amy Sheffer
Carole Burrage
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Kerry Johnson
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Terri Moore

Thanks for stopping by!

Key Ingredients Cards

There are only a handful of days left in the month - can you believe that!? I wanted to share a few quick and easy cards I whipped up using the June Key Ingredients kit by Taylored Expressions. My grandmother recently asked me to send her a packet of simple (and relatively flat) cards she can have on hand to send to friends. She wanted a variety of all-occasion cards and the Key Ingredients sure came in handy when putting these together for her! Here's a look at a couple of the cards included in the packet:


That one uses several of the Basic Grey Sweet Thread patterned papers included in the kit this month - I just cut them into strips, used my sewing machine and some zig-zag stitching to attach them to a piece of bright pink cardstock and added a sentiment strip and flower and that's it! The sentiment is from the Labels of Love stamp set (one of my new Taylored Expressions faves!).


And that one is my favorite of the pair, probably because it features my favorite of the Sweet Thread papers so prominently. Then I just added a narrow strip of cardstock to the edge, with the corners rounded using my Corner Chomper, another flower and sentiment strip. Again, the sentiment is from Labels of Love. And that's it!

Don't forget to check out the Key Ingredients Gallery throughout the month for even more inspiration and ideas using this month's kit from our DT!! And do stop by the Key Ingredients Blog - there is so much information about the kit, inspiration, and fabulous other links to check out!

Also, be sure to stop by the Key Ingredients DT Blogs throughout the month to see what they've been up to - their blogs are listed in my sidebar over there on the right!

ANNNNDDD...there's a REALLY awesome special going on for new subscribers to the Key Ingredients right now through the end of June that you won't want to miss out on! New subscribers can get a FREE Taylored Expressions stamp set! You can read all the details HERE on Taylor's Blog.

I'll be back a few more times this weekend with some sketch challenge samples (SFYTT and Sweet Sunday Sketch), so stop back by!!

WMS Sketch Challenge #52

I had some time to myself this afternoon so I decided to play along with the Waltzingmouse Stamps Sketch Challenge! Because it's their 1-year anniversary of sketch challenges, participants got to choose their favorite sketch from the past year and use it this week. I decided to use Sketch #20:
I rotated that long skinny panel by 90 degrees, but I think my creation still counts...


I used Free Spirit Boy and Free Spirit Sentiments on my card and love how it turned out - you guys know how much I like my boy cards! All of the supply details are below.

Stamps: Free Spirit Boy, Free Spirit Sentiments (WMS)
Paper: Kraft, Soft Stone CS (PTI); Not Quite Navy CS (SU)
Ink: Not Quite Navy (SU); Fresh Snow (PTI); Faber Castell PITT Artist Pen Big Brushes (for coloring surfboards)
Accessories: Baker's Twine (the Twinery); Trio of Tags die (Spellbinders)

Thanks for stopping by!

Father's Day Make a Page Monday (on a Sunday)

Father's Day has been both happy for me this year as we celebrate the amazing Daddy and husband Joel is for our family, but also bittersweet as this is my first Father's Day without my Dad. I'm not going to say much as I don't want to dwell on being sad today, but I wanted to share this layout I made awhile back. It's of our final Father's Day with my Dad, just one year ago.

Journaling reads "Susan, Jen, Joel and Dean went to visit Eddie for Father’s Day 2010 at the Assisted Living Center where he was staying. They took him a cupcake from the bakery at Whole Foods, which he seemed to really enjoy! The nurses had given him a flower to wear on his shirt and we saw a bit of the old Eddie grin when we put his OU hat on him for our picture. It was a bittersweet day as I think we all knew deep down that this would be our last Father’s Day together. Little did we know this would be the last family photo we would take with Eddie."


Credits:
Credits (all from Sweet Shoppe)
Cindy's Layered Templates #52 by Cindy Schneider
He's the Man by Traci Reed and Dani Mogstad
Misc. flowers and elements from Sweet Escape by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Sunshine of My Life by Susan Bartolini.

Sweet Sunday Sketch #122

Hi there! It's Sunday and that means it's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge!! Karen has another fun sketch for us to play with this week:


I created a bright (and girly) hybrid birthday card that is definitely a bit out of my comfort zone as far as the colors go, but I think I'm liking the finished results:


I dug into my Verve stash and pulled out the Birthday Bash stamp set and paper pieced the balloons - one of my favorite looks using that set! I added a simple Birthday Wishes sentiment strip from the Birthday Phrases stamp set. And all of that bright patterned paper? That's actually printed digi paper from the Sun Kissed digi kit by Melissa Bennett (Sweet Shoppe). Overall, a super simple but fun card just in time for a 5-yr-old birthday party next weekend!

Be sure to stop by all the Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with this week's sketch.

• Dana White
• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick

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

Make a Page {Thursday} - Anniversary Edition

Well, I didn't get my Make a Page Monday post done on Monday, but I thought today was a good day to share a couple of very special layouts I created for my Dad's Tribute Album. Today would be my Mom and Dad's 39th Wedding Anniversary if my Dad were still living. It's kind of a bittersweet time with that AND my first Father's Day without my Dad just around the corner. But working on this album has been such a comfort to me. It is so nice to be able to remember my Dad before Alzheimer's came along and to see him smiling and happy in these photos!

So here are the layouts with credits below. The first one is of my parents on their wedding day, June 16, 1972. I'm actually not sure I'm loving this layout. Mostly it's those 2 large flowers (at the bottom of the photo but on top of the photo - the blue one and the pinkish-purplish one) - I think I need to get rid of one of them. The symmetry is distracting me. Or maybe make one smaller? It just looks weird right now. I don't know. All I see are those 2 big flowers. What do you think??

All available at Sweet Shoppe Designs:
Cindy's Layered Templates - Half Pack #3 by Cindy Schneider
Wonderful Tonight by Julie Billingsley and Jady Day Studio
Alpha from In His Footsteps by Traci Reed

And this one is of my parent's 35th Anniversary just a few short years ago (my parents are the people in the top photo) when they went to dinner at Spago's in Wailea to celebrate with sweet friends Jim and Linda who happen to share the same anniversary:

Template by BellaGypsy Designs (Gotta Pixel)
Note to Self by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe)

And that's it from me. I'll be back with a few card posts this weekend, so be sure to stop back by! Have a great day!! And thank you all for humoring me in the sharing of my scrapbooking layouts each week - your support keeps me motivated to continue working on this special project!!

June Key Ingredients

Hi there! In case you haven't already heard and checked it out, the June Key Ingredients from Taylored Expressions has been revealed and the Design Team has been busy sharing sample projects over on the Key Ingredients blog all week - be sure to stop by and check it out (today is my day to post over there -hint, hint). So I'm sharing a little glimpse of my project as well as some exciting information about a special {AMAZING} Promotion for Key Ingredients subscribers so be sure to keep reading for all the details!!

This month's kit featured the Basic Grey Sweet Thread papers and they are so yummy and fun to play with! Several weeks ago my Mom and I enjoyed a nice Spa Day together at the Grand Wailea Resort and they had THE cutest cupcake solid bubble bath bombs in the gift shop and I just had to pick up a few - I had a project exactly like this in mind! I knew one of these adorable cupcakes would fit perfectly in the Mini Kraft Bakery Bags and it would make the perfect gift for a special friend! Of course, a gift just isn't complete without the perfect tag...


I really kept the entire project relatively simple - the whole thing came together in about 15 minutes! I just made a little "frame" for the window on the bakery bag using some circle nestabilities and that was it for the bag (I didn't want to distract from the pretty cupcake inside). As for the tag, I simply altered an old Maya Road chipboard luggage tag I've had in my stash for years with little strips of paper from the kit. The sentiment is from the Sprinkled with Love set and I also used the Small Scallop Border Die along with a couple of the flowers included in the Key Ingredients kit. I grabbed a ribbon from the kit and tied the tag to the bag and it's ready for giving! Here's a look at the project with the cupcake out of the bag (doesn't it look yummy!?)


Now, how about that Big Promotion I mentioned earlier!?

If you are not a current Key Ingredients Subscriber, now is a great time to join the monthly kit club! You will have so much fun creating with all the coordinating elements right at your fingertips! Perhaps you've been sitting on the fence thinking about it for awhile. And if all the regular subscriber benefits aren't enough, we might have just the Special Offer you need to take the plunge!

• Enroll in a 6 month Key Ingredients Subscription with payment to be charged to your credit or debit card monthly and receive your choice of one of the following Mini or Petite stamp sets absolutely FREE: Crafty Expressions, Beary Special Accessories, You're my Type Upper, You're my Type Lower & #'s, A Little Love, Moka Olivia, Moka Charlotte, Capture my Heart, Collectors Anonymous, Summer Wreath.
• Enroll in a 6 month Key Ingredients Subscription with one upfront payment and choose a FREE stamp set (Full-size, Mini or Petite) from this list: Miniature Motifs, Borderlicious, Fashionista, Bakery Business, Trick or Sweet II, Sweet Indulgence, Love Everywhere, Tweet Hearts, Luxurious Labels, Sweet Occasions, Crafty Expressions, Beary Special Accessories, You're my Type Upper, You're my Type Lower & #'s, A Little Love, Moka Olivia, Moka Charlotte, Capture my Heart, Collectors Anonymous, Summer Wreath.
• IMPORTANT: Do not add the FREE stamp set to your cart. Leave a comment at checkout with your selection and we'll make sure it gets included with your first KI shipment.
• Offer good to new Subscribers only through June 30th. You will receive the June KI kit while supplies last. If we run out of June kits, we will notify you and your first shipment will be the July kit.
• A note to our current Subscribers - you received a special renewal offer via e-mail last week. Please e-mail us at kits@tayloredexpressions.com if you missed it.

OK, that's it from me today! Don't forget to check out the Key Ingredients Gallery throughout the month for even more inspiration and ideas using this month's kit from our DT!! And do stop by the Key Ingredients Blog - there is so much information about the kit, inspiration, and fabulous other links to check out!

Also, be sure to stop by the Key Ingredients DT Blogs throughout the month to see what they've been up to - their blogs are listed in my sidebar over there on the right!

Birthday Party Across the Miles!!

**If you're here looking for my Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge Sample, it's right below this post!**

Welcome to the Fantasy Birthday Tour for my sweet friend Taylor VanBruggen. Happy Birthday Taylor!! Since we all couldn't be together to celebrate with you, we decided to have a Virtual Birthday Party Across the Miles - and guess what? Everyone's invited to join us to help celebrate Taylor's special day!! You should have arrived here from Jessica Diedrich's blog, but if you didn't you might want to head back to the beginning at Jami Sibley's Blog.

It wouldn't be a Fantasy Party without Fantasy gifts, now would it?? If money were no object, my gift to you Taylor would be a First-Class, Five-Star, all-expenses paid MAUI VACATION!!! :-) Because I mean, I know it's technically YOUR day and all - but I should get something out of this too, right!? And I know that deep down, all you REALLY want for your birthday is to come visit me!! ;-) Right? (Did I mention you'd be visiting me on MAUI, as in PARADISE??). The only catch is that we have to spend at least one day of your Fantasy Birthday Getaway stamping, OK? But the rest of the time we can spend here...


or here...

or here...

Totally up to you. And Here's a link to Maui's Official Travel Site so you can plan the rest of your trip. :-)

So I did make Taylor a birthday card, but I totally didn't get it in the mail in time for her to receive it by her birthday (sorry Taylor!). Here's a pic of the card I mailed her:


I used a few fun Taylored Expressions goodies. All that yummy paper is from the Lime Twist Life of the Party collection by My Mind's Eye. I paper-pieced the ice cream cone from Sprinkled With Love and added a little Happy Birthday sentiment from Labels of Love. I also used some Espresso Dimensional Pearls (that came in my Make a Wish Project Pantry Kit) to add the sprinkles on top of the ice cream! Oh, and that awesome sketch? That's the June Sketch For You To Try!

Well, that's it from me. Now head on over to Jackie Pedro's Blog and see what kind of fabulous Birthday Fantasy she's got in store for Taylor! And don't forget to stop by Taylor's Blog and wish her a Super Happy Birthday!!

And Taylor, I'll go ahead and set up our stamp table here...

Happy Birthday!!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #121

Hi there! I hope everyone's summer is off to a good start! I've been hearing about lots of super hot weather (like in the 100s in some place! yikes!!) on the mainland, so I guess it's time for me to stop complaining about it when I'm sweating because it got up to 89 degrees in Kahului in the afternoon! I think when you live in a place like Maui, you completely lose your tolerance for extremes of temperature. I've learned that I'm pretty much only comfortable between the temperatures of about 72 and 86 degrees. Anything below or above that range and I'm unhappy. Fortunately though, we don't have too many days outside of that range, so I'm good most of the year!!

Anyway, I'm sure you're not here to listen to me blab about the weather. It's Sunday and that means it's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge!! I had lots of fun with this week's sketch - it's another keeper for sure!


Dean's been super cute lately, saying lots of things I wanted to jot down and remember (like when he lost his big toenail last week after running over his foot with the bathroom door and he said "I'm going to go put this {the toenail...ewww} under my pillow and tonight the toenail fairy will come and leave me a present" - seriously!? First of all this kid shouldn't even know about the TOOTH fairy yet, let alone be able to extrapolate that into making up the TOENAIL Fairy!! LOL. and also last week at school when all the kids painted pictures - most of them painted things like rainbows or flowers or stick figures of themselves with their families - and Dean painted nothing but a bunch of multi-colored question marks all over the paper. When I picked him up from school and asked him to tell me about his painting he answered me - in a tone of voice that suggested I was the stupidest person who ever lived - "It's a MYSTERY Mommy". Well, duh! ha!). Anyway, I figured it was time to make Dean another special card and write him a little letter inside sharing some of my thoughts and feelings and some of those adorable memories I want to capture. And of course, it's once again a Space-themed card. Hope you're not getting tired of those!!


I also hope you're not getting tired of my new obsession with my glass-glittered stars! I promised myself I wasn't going to use one on my next few projects, but I just couldn't help myself on this one. I had to. It was too perfect for it. The papers are from Rocket Age by October Afternoon and the Stamp Set is Half Pint Heroes by Waltzingmouse Stamps.

Be sure to stop by all the Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with this week's sketch.

• Dana White
• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick

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

Well, that's it for now. I'll be back in just a few hours with a very special blog post, so stay tuned!! I'm also planning on making a cute little box sometime soon to hold all the little keepsake cards I've been making for Dean this year. I've been making him a special card filled with memories and thoughts on his childhood a few times a month and I think they need a fancier home than a shoebox! What do you think?

Make a Page Monday

Well, I've been slacking once again with my Make a Page Monday posts the last few weeks. Things were just super busy around here with Dean's preschool graduation and my MIL's 2-week visit. But I did get several layouts completed this week, so I feel awesome about that!! I'm going to share a few of them with you today. If you're not familiar, Make a Page Monday is a weekly blog post where I share a handful of layouts with you from the Tribute Album I've been working on about my Dad's Life (he passed away in November from Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 59) and maybe a layout here and there from Dean's baby / toddler book I'm trying to catch up on. None of these will be in any particular order. And if you're interested in the details you can probably click on the layout and see it slightly larger. So here goes...(credits below each layout).

I didn't get anything new done on my Dad's Tribute album, but I got 5 new layouts done for Dean's album, so I'm just going to share those with you today and save some of my Dad's layouts from my stash for future posts (I have a feeling I'll be working on his book quite a bit in the next few weeks as I'm feeling a bit nostalgic with Father's Day and what would be my parent's 39th Anniversary coming up).

It was the week of bath layouts. First up is this simple but adorable layout using photos from Dean's first bath back on December 11, 2006:
Credits:
Bees Knees Templates by Connie Prince
Good Clean Fun by Bella Gypsy
Alpha - Children at Play by ASlagle
Wordart by Ali Edwards (Designer Digitals)
Tab from This Boy's Life by Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe)

And another bath layout, this time the photos are from when Dean was almost 3 months old - late February 2007:
Credits:
Rub A Dub by Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe)
DJB I Love Me Some Celeste font by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe)
Gimme Some Layers Seeing Double Vol. 1 by Cluster Queen Creations (Digichick)

And my favorite of the bunch - just some pics of baby Dean resting peacefully when he was about 3 weeks old:
Credits:
In This Together by Shawna Clingerman (Sweet Shoppe)
Cindy's Layered Templates #17 by Cindy Schneider (Sweet Shoppe)
Wordart by Ali Edwards (Designer Digitals)

One of Dean's many, many trips to the beach as a baby - but his first time dipping his toes into the Pacific Ocean! (And I am in LOVE with this template!)
Credits - all available at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Aloha by Lliella Designs
I Love Me Some Celeste Template by Darcy Baldwin
Misc. Elements from Kona Coast by Julie Billingsley

And here's one with an adorable photo of Joel and Dean in the front yard at my Mom's house after a birthday dinner for my brother in March 2007:
All products available at Sweet Shoppe:
Family Man by Shawna Clingerman and Penny Springmann
Cindy's Layered Templates #78 by Cindy Schneider
Font - DJB Print by Darcy Baldwin

2011 Scrapbooking Goals:
Total Pages Completed: 5/132
Dean's Baby Album: 5/66
Dad's Tribute Album: 0/66

Sweet Sunday Sketch #120

Well, here we are - Sunday again - and that means it's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! I have to admit, when I first saw this week's sketch, I was a little bit NOT excited. I wasn't really feelin' those circles. But once I got to creating my sample, I totally changed my mind and I'm convinced this sketch is a keeper!!


I pulled out some Taylored Expressions goodies to create my sample for this week:


The patterned papers are all from the Lime Twist Happy Go Lucky collection from MME. I used the It's in the Bag stamp set, which I have been super anxious to get inky since I received it a few weeks ago!! yay! And that fun 3-dimensional gift bag? That was created using the Shopping Bags and Labels die set - so much fun!

Be sure to stop by all the Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with this week's sketch.

• Dana White
• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick

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

June SFYTT

It's the first Saturday of the month and that means it's time for a new Sketch For You To Try!!
And this month we have a FABULOUS new sponsor - Stamping Bella! yay! Unfortunately, the USPS seems to be taking their sweet time with my stamp set, so I don't have a Bella sample for you today - but don't worry, you'll know as soon as I receive that package!! I can't wait! In the meantime, I decided to create another Father's Day card to add to my stash using some of my favorite Verve stamps.


That yummy DP is actually printed digi paper from the new Spare Me digi kit by Libby Pritchett (Sweet Shoppe) that just released TODAY! I also used my old stand-by for masculine cards - that fun wave-circle-frame-thing from Verve's Happy Days as well as a sentiment from Happy Phrases. And I hope you guys aren't getting tired of my glittered stars yet! Because I seem to be on a glittered star kick lately! So yeah, there's another one of those along with some buttons and ribbon to match my papers. And that's it. I think I just have 2 more Father's Day cards to make and then the husband and grandparents are all taken care of this year!

And here's a look at the June sketch - now go get to work on your own creation!!


Be sure to stop by the rest of the SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they've done with the sketch:

Jen del Muro with guest designer Joanne Basile
Amber Hight
Amy Sheffer
Carole Burrage
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Kerry Johnson
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Terri Moore

Well, that's it from me today. My mother-in-law has been here visiting for 2 weeks and heads back to Kansas tonight, so we'll be enjoying our last day with her probably with a fun day at the beach!

ETA: In my haste to get my post scheduled last night I totally forgot to include the information about how to participate and all the good stuff about winnings and such! You can play along with us by making your own creation using the sketch and linking it up HERE anytime before the end of the month. Everyone who plays along with all of the 2011 sketch challenges will be eligible for a super awesome prize drawing at the end of the year! All of the contest details can be found in this post on Jen's blog. Have fun!

Verve Diva Inspirations June Blog Hop

I can't believe it's already JUNE!! This year is going by WAY too fast! Another new month brings us another new Verve Divas Inspirations Blog Hop! The Verve Diva Inspirations team and several special guests from the Release team are here to start your month off right with a little Verve inspiration! Take a little peek at each of the fabulous blogs below for some Verve-alicious eye candy and you just might win some Vervey goodness of your very own!

1. Julee 9. Andrea 2. Betty 10. Sankari 3. Dawn 11. Maureen 4. Jen d. 12. Teresa 5. Jen T. 13. Tosh 6. Lynda 14. Amy 7. Shannan 15. Charmaine 8. Susan 16. Amber

We've hidden a little mystery prize on one of today's hop spots, so be sure to leave a little comment love as you hop around for a chance to win!
Comment Deadline: 11:59pm Mountain, June 5
Prize: $30 gift certificate to Verve

I created a fun Father's Day card using the currently-on-sale Dad's Day set and some fun patterned paper from the Out of the Blue Lime Twist Collection (MME). Some mustard-y satin ribbon, baker's twine, machine stitching and a home-made glass glittered star were all the embellishment needed.

Since it's a new month, that means we've got a new Stamp of the Month to reveal! In June we're having double the fun and featuring two sets... Dad's Day and American Hero! And at 40% off during the month of June, these two sets are a super big deal!

A brand new month also brings along a new sale here at Verve!
During the month of June, you'll find savings on stamps for all the men in your life. Find out which sets are on sale by visiting our Sale page.

That's it from me today! Enjoy the hop and the rest of your week!!