Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #104

I can't believe it's Sunday again already! I'm not getting much accomplished at all this month creatively, but that's OK! Lots going on. Anyway, you all know what Sunday means - time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! Here's a look at this week's fun sketch that Karen created for us:

I busted out some of my favorite older Verve sets to create this colorful hybrid card:


The patterned papers are printed digi papers from the new Having a Laugh kit by Karen Lewis (the Digichick). I have recently re-discovered Karen's kits and have a mild girl-crush!! LOL. She is AWESOME. As for the stamping, those layered stars are from Verve's Seeing Stars, one of my most-used boy card stamp sets! The sentiment is from Great Expectations. I added some silver brads to the star centers and a harvest gold (PTI) ribbon and called it done.

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!

February Key Ingredients

*This is my 2nd post today, scroll down for my Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge sample*

I wanted to pop in and let you all know that today is my day to post a project using the February Key Ingredients over on the Key Ingredients Blog. Here's a peek at part of my project:


Head on over to THIS POST for all the details and more photos, which explain things a bit better. And be sure to stop by the Key Ingredients Gallery throughout the month for more inspiration from the DT using the fabulous February kit!!

You can read all the scoop about the February kit HERE.

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #104

Whew! It's been almost 2 weeks since my last blog post! CRAZY. It's been a very busy few weeks - we had my Dad's Celebration of Life last Saturday (2/5) and I was very busy trying to finish up the Tribute Album I was creating in his honor (I'll start sharing some of those layouts here soon) and enjoying time with friends and family who traveled from the mainland to help us celebrate my Dad's life.

OK, so anyway. It's Sunday!! That means it's time for a Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. As always, Karen created a fun one for us this week:


I was in need of yet another little boy birthday card for one of Dean's preschool buddies who turned 4 last week, so I can up with this, which sort of resembles the sketch - right!?


I used a bunch of neglected PTI goodies - Tiny Treats Birthday, By the Numbers Impression Plate, Mat Stack 5 die, medium Scalloped border die. The color combo is PTI's Kraft, Dark Chocolate, Spring Rain, Pure Poppy, and Harvest Gold. I colored the cute little balloon image with Copics, added some Chocolate Chip ribbon and called it good.

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!

Verve Diva Inspirations Blog Hop

Hi there and welcome to the first official Diva Inspirations Blog Hop! As you have probably heard by now, 2011 has seen some exciting changes at Verve Stamps - one of them being the creation of the new Verve Diva Inspiration Team. You can read more details about this team and some of the other changes HERE on the Verve Blog, but basically this new team will be focusing on highlighting stamps from previous Verve releases. I'm super excited to be narrowing my Verve Diva focus a bit with this new Inspiration Team!

Each month, this Diva Inspiration Team will be kicking off your month with some fabulous inspiration in the form of a Blog Hop! Stop by each of the blogs listed below and you just might find yourself the proud owner of some new Verve-y goodness!! 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. One lucky commenter on the mystery hop spot will win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Store! The deadline for comment entries is Saturday, February 5. If you get lost along the way (or if for some reason my list isn't working right), head on back to the Verve Blog for the Master Hop List.

1. Betty	6. Michelle
2. Dawn	7. Lynda
3. Jen d.	8. Shannan
4. Jen T. (that's me!)	9. Sony
5. Julee	10.Susan

And now on to my creation for the hop (and for the record, it's REALLY hard to take photos of an ensemble like this!!)...


I was in need of a last-minute birthday gift for a dear friend last week and decided to create a super simple little gift ensemble using Great Friend - with the recurring element on each piece of the gift set being an embossed image on vellum - don't you just love those vellum flowers!?


I used Kraft and Whisper White cardstock along with some retired turquoise polka dot DP from Scenic Route on a little 4x4 notecard, tall covered notepad and covered post-it notes.


I added a silver brad to the center of the embossed vellum flowers for contrast and to sort of ground them (and let's be honest - I needed something to hide the adhesive since they were vellum!). My friend LOVED this little gift and it could easily be reproduced using so many different colors and patterns of DP to totally change up the look. That's what I love about those Great Friends flowers - they are so versatile!


Now that I have my project out of the way, I have a couple more exciting announcements to share. Did you notice a few new names in that hop list up there!? That's right - we've added 3 brand new Divas to the Diva Inspirations Team! I'm so excited to be working with Betty Wright, Dawn Easton and Sony Christoph! . All 3 of these girls are amazingly talented and I can't wait to see what they've created today! Be sure to leave them a little love and a warm welcome today!

In addition to new faces, Verve has a new sale starting! During the month of February, treat yourself right with some Sweet Savings on all sorts of sweet stamps and dies from Verve! If it's for your sweet tooth or just has the word sweet in it, it's on sale! Check out our sale page for all the info. Plus don't miss our February stamp of the month, Sweet on You, which is on sale this month for 40% off! That's all for now on the Verve front. Until next time... happy hopping!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #102

Hi there! I'm headed out the door to a birthday party as I type this up and get my blog post scheduled, so I'm keeping this short and sweet. It's that time again - time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! Here's a look at the sketch Karen created for us this week:

I was in need of a baby boy card for our next door neighbors, so I went with another Verve-y Hybrid card this week:


I used Verve's new Emery Plain Jane, paper-piecing that adorable little elephant (seriously, isn't he the cutest!?) as well as a sentiment from the new To the Moon, which is officially my new "go to" baby stamp set (it's chock FULL of adorable images and sentiments - the hardest part of making this card was deciding which combination of image / sentiment to use!!). The papers are all printed digi papers from the Alphabet Soup for Boys kit by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe).

And speaking of Zoe Pearn - many of you are fans of hers and some of you may not even know it (In addition to her fabulous digi desgins, she is the designing master mind behind many of your favorite My Mind's Eye lines such as Alphabet Soup, Bloom and Grow, Garden Party, Ooh La La, etc). So I had to share this with you all in hopes that you will find it in your hearts to help out Zoe and her family in their time of tragedy. Many of you have heard of the devastating floods that have ravaged Australia recently. Tragically, Zoe's home and the majority of her family's belongings were completely destroyed in these floods. She has lost nearly everything at a time when she was hoping to enjoy being at home with her newborn daughter. Can you imagine? You can read Zoe's story and see some photos HERE on her blog (be sure you scroll down a few posts to start at the beginning - and have the tissues handy! The photos are UNREAL. I can't begin you imagine what she is going through right now). Her designs have brought so much joy to so many people in the form of cards, scrapbook pages and other papercrafting projects across the world and now it is our turn to show our appreciation for her amazing creativity. Sweet Shoppe Designs is selling a limited edition fundraising kit, Brighter Days Ahead, to benefit Zoe and her family. I hope you'll find it in your heart to purchase this kit as proceeds will go directly to Zoe. Even if you're not a digi or hybrid scrapper and have no intention of using the kit, you can still make the purchase to help Zoe and her family. Thank you for letting me share - Zoe is part of my extended family at Sweet Shoppe Designs!

Anyway, 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!

January Key Ingredients Nugget Tin

Hi there and Happy Saturday! I'm going to choose to ignore the fact that it seems like I'm the only person on the planet not at CHA and just get on with sharing this fun little project using Taylored Expressions January Key Ingredients kit!! You still have a few days left to get this fun kit before we're on to February's kit!


I created this cute little nugget tin to give to a co-worker who's birthday happens to be on Valentine's Day. I'm sure she hates getting Valentine-themed birthday gifts, but she's just going to have to suck it up this year, because I couldn't resist! I used one of the Clear Top Hinged Tins and covered several Hershey's Nuggets with some of the DP from the January KI kit to put inside. I tied some of the ribbon from the kit around the tin and added a tag die-cut from some of the coordinating cardstock in the kit. The tag was decorated with more DP from the kit, a little strip of Scalloped Eyelet Border die, and a cute little cupcake tag and "celebrate" sentiment. The cupcake was stamped from the Kid at Heart set and the "celebrate" is from A Year of Sweet Sentiments. I colored the cupcake with copics from the January Copic Kit and added some Crystal Stickles to the frosting. Cute, yeah?

Don't forget that there are some great deals going on through the end of this month (only a few days left to get in on those!) - both NEW and CURRENT SUBSCRIBER SPECIALS!! More information about these specials can be found on Taylor's Post on the blog. Speaking of the blog, have you had a chance to check out the new Key Ingredients Blog? Each of the Key Ingredients Design Team Members has posted a special project on the blog using the kit this month - it's a great place to go for inspiration, links to all the KI related news and all kinds of good stuff!

For more inspiration, check out our Key Ingredients Gallery.

And be sure to stop by each of the Key Ingredients Design Team Members' Blogs to see what they're up to - you can see their KI projects as well as tons of other fabulous inspiration:

• Barbara Anders
  
• Jessica Diedrich
• Lisa Hjulberg
• Lynn Put
• Melody Rupple
• Taylor Van Bruggen

Verve + SFYTT

Man, it's been one of those months! I have been dying to play along with this months Sketch For You To Try and have so many ideas running through my head for the sketch, but before I knew it - it's almost the end of the month! Seriously? What the heck happened to January!? So last night I decided I better get it in gear and put at least one of those ideas to paper! I pulled out a couple of the Verve stamps I had in mind and got to work.


It's a hybrid card, using printed digi papers from the Adorableness kit by Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe). I took a few creative liberties with the sketch - I rotated it 90 degrees and moved the embellishment thingy (flower) over. I don't think Jen will mind. As for the stamps, I used the Framed Wishes (clear embossed) frame stamp along with a sentiment from Feel the Sun that seemed appropriate with that awesome flower that I really wanted to use because it matched so well with the paper. When I finished, something was missing, so I added the swirled rhinestone sticker thing. It still seems like something is missing to me, like I wish I had added some stitching or something, but it'll do.

Here's a look at Jen's original sketch (remember, I rotated it):


You still have time to play along with the sketch this month - it's the first sketch of the year and if you play along every month this year, you'll have a chance to win a ginormous and fabulous prize! But then again, maybe you shouldn't - because then that would just decrease my chances of winning!! LOL.

You're the Glue

Monday again!? ugh. I better get right to it. It's actually still Sunday night in Hawaii and I better get myself to bed soon. I have a fun card I wanted to share with you using the January Key Ingredients kit. I had some time this weekend to play with the kit some more and knocked out a few more Valentine's as well as a super cute birthday gift for a co-worker (don't worry - I'll be back in a few days to share that with you as well!). But first, here's one of my Valentine Cards:


Cute, yeah? When I got my order of stamps in last month, inspiration struck and I thought how adorable would some of the sentiments from Collectors Anonymous and Kitschy Kitchen ("You warm my heart", "you make me hot", and "we make the perfect pair") be on Valentine cards!? Awesome, right? So I whipped one up with the glue image and sentiment from Collectors Anonymous and I have to say, I'm kinda lovin' it! Everything on this card (except the stamps) - the cardstock, the DP, the ribbon - is from the January Key Ingredients kit. And I colored the glue images using Copics from the January Copic Kit (the perfect way to start or round out your Copic collection!!).

Have you had a chance to check out the new Key Ingredients Blog? Each of the Key Ingredients Design Team Members has posted a special project on the blog using the kit this month - it's a great place to go for inspiration, links to all the KI related news and such, and Taylor has some FABULOUS deals going on for both new and current KI Subscribers this month. There's still some time left:

NEW SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL: Just purchase a NEW 6-month subscription from the TE Store before January 31st and receive a free gift each month of your 6-month subscription (totaling over $20 in freebies!)
CURRENT SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL: renew or extend your subscription for 6 months by January 31st and receive free goodies for the next 3 months!

More information about these specials can be found on Taylor's Post on the blog.

For more inspiration, check out our Key Ingredients Gallery... and keep checking back! More projects will be created and uploaded there by the design team through the end of this month.

And be sure to stop by each of the Key Ingredients Design Team Members' Blogs to see what they're up to - you can see their KI projects as well as tons of other fabulous inspiration:

• Barbara Anders
  
• Jessica Diedrich
• Lisa Hjulberg
• Lynn Put
• Melody Rupple
• Taylor Van Bruggen
  

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #101

Happy Sunday! Karen's cooked up a fun Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge for you to play with this week - I have to tell you that when I saw the sketch I wasn't too crazy about it, but once I started working on my card, I absolutely LOVE this one!! I hope you'll all play along with us this week!


I went with a no-stamping, hybrid card for my sample, creating this so NOT my usual style (I'm usually not a shabby kinda girl) Valentine card, which I surprisingly am kinda loving right now:


The papers are all printed digi paper from the Shabby Sweetheart kit by Jennifer Barrette & Susan Bartolini (Sweet Shoppe). Several of the embellishments (the flowery heart, the scrolly label and the "Be Mine" sentiment strip) are also printed digi elements from the same kit. I added a paper doily, some machine stitching, a little mini clothespin, a Heidi Swapp ghost shape (see close-up image below so you can actually see that - it sort of disappears in the larger photo), some floral stem things, and an American Crafts flower brad. Like I said, very much out of my comfort zone, but one of my fave V-Day cards I've created so far this year!


I'm sad that the Sweet Sunday Stampers had to say good-bye to Laura Frederickson last week as she stepped down from the team - I'm definitely going to miss her amazing card each and every week!!

On a happier note, we're super excited to be adding a new face to the Sweet Sunday Stampers team - Dana White is joining us and I know you're all just as excited as I am to see what she creates each week!!

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!

Taylored Expressions Blast From the Past Blog Hop

Well, it's time for the first Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop of 2011 and I'm pretty excited to be playing along again this month! This month's theme is "Love" and the requirement is to use Taylored Expressions stamps released prior to November 2010. Here's what I came up with:


I'd had those cute Flamingos in Love for awhile now, but for some crazy reason they had yet to see ink, so I knew they would be perfect for today's hop! I stamped the image twice so I could cut out the actual flamingos and pop them up on dimensionals (I like the way the little bit of white left around the edges of them makes them pop a little more so they really stand out). The sentiment is from the Animal Love Sentiments set that pairs perfectly with all of the Animals in Love stamps from the Stamps a la Carte section. But how about those yummy papers (and ribbon and heart stick pokey things)!? They're from the new Valentine Project Pantry kit, which is AWESOME! But I have to ask you guys (and I think I've mentioned this before - the one other time I've used them) - going back to those heart stick pokey things - I always love the way those things look when I see them used by other people and they look fantastic - but what do you guys do with the sharp pokey tips? Do you jab something soft onto the ends or just leave them all poking out as a potential under-the-fingernail jabbing hazard? They look great, but they just seem so functionally dangerous to me? Am I missing something? I mean, I'm probably just going to give this card to Joel so it won't matter (it's highly likely he won't even notice the heart pokey things) - but I'm just curious if anyone has any tricks for this - or am I just WAY overthinking things and not giving my card recipients enough credit? Maybe they're really not stupid enough to accidentally jab themselves under the fingernail with those things?? Somebody fill me in here!! LOL.

Ok, so anyway - back to the fabulous Blast From The Past Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by all the other Hoppers' blogs to see what they've created this month. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz

Hi there! Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day! Today is also the Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz with the theme of Valentine / Love! This is only my 2nd time participating in a WMS Blog Waltz and I'm super excited to play along this month!!

I have to admit that initially I was a little stumped trying to come up with a project for this waltz as I don't have any WMS Valentine's stamps and I really wanted to make a V-Day project / card. I thought about using that fun Sweet Confections stamp in the Rescue Remedies set, but I really wanted to make something for my 4-yr-old son, Dean. Then suddenly as I sat and watched my space-obsessed son drawing yet another Solar System picture, inspiration struck and I pulled out my Half Pint Heroes set and got to work...


I used this non-Valentine stamp set to create THE perfect Valentine card and treat for my son.


I went with the very appropriate rocket ship, adding a little boy colored to look like my tousled-hair Dean.


I combined 2 of the sentiments on flagged strips to form the sweet message "love you to the moon and back". I added a little bit of pink pom pom trim for embellishment to the card and tied a red satin ribbon around the top of the treat tube.


The little gift tag on the treats says "To: l'il dude, from: mommy". The "to:" and "from:" as well as the "l'il dude" (with "hey" masked out) are all from the same Half Pint Heroes stamp set. I'm really pleased with how this turned out, especially since I was starting to panic and had NO IDEA yesterday afternoon what I was going to do for this Waltz! Just goes to show that so many of these stamps really are quite versatile and can be used for multiple holidays and occasions!

Be sure to stop by and check out the rest of the Waltzers - you can find the list of participants HERE in the WMS forum. I can't wait to see what everyone created this month!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #100

It's Sunday in most parts of the USA and that means it's time for Sweet Sunday Sketch #100! Wow! Can you believe we're already at Sketch #100!? Amazing. And Karen has a fun one for us this week:

I'm having trouble with my wireless keyboard - it's suddenly decided to ignore about every 3rd letter I type, which is driving me INSANE and meaning it's taking FOREVER to do anything. And yes, I've tried changing the batteries and switching the thingie to a different USB port with no luck. So I think I have to buy a new one. And this is already my 2nd on in 6 months! ARGH! Any suggestions on a good one? Anyone else have this trouble with wireless keyboards? And I have to have wireless because my workstation is counter height, so I have to bring my keyboard down to my lap when I type to keep things ergonomical so as not to cause musculoskeletal strain or overuse injury (I am a Physical Therapist ya know, and these things are very important! LOL). Anyway, I WAS going to keep this short and sweet, but it seems I'm just babbling on and on about my keyboard woes. ha!

So on to my sample...I wanted to make a fun gender-neutral birthday card to have on hand using those awesome Verve balloons, so I busted out some Stampin' Up Celebrations DP for this one (ya know, fun and gender neutral and all):


Isn't that fun? I used Verve's Birthday Bash for the balloons, paper piecing each one with cardstock that matched the DP and the Happy Birthday sentiment is from Verve's Big Wish. These are 2 of my favorite "go-to" birthday sets and I love how they mix and match with so many other stamp sets in my stash! I added a glittered star I bought on Etsy (MemrieMare) and some pom pom trim to fancy it up a bit and it was done!

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

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
  
• 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!

January Key Ingredients

Have you guys had a chance to check out the all-new Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients Blog? I have a project posted over there today, so please stop by and check it out for more photos and all the details, and let me know what you think! Here's a little sneak peek of my project:

And here's a look at the fantastic January Key Ingredients kit (I totally stole this image from Taylor!!) - isn't it yummy!?


There are some pretty amazing specials going on right now for both New and Current Subscribers. New Subscribers - During each month of your 6-month subscription, Taylored Expressions will send you a FREE GIFT with your kit for a total of $20 in free product for the length of your subscription! Current Subscribers - Renew or extend your subscription for 6 months by January 31st and get 3 months worth of free goodies! You can find out more details on Taylor's Post HERE on the KI Blog.

The rest of the Key Ingredients Design Team, including our newest member - Barbara Anders! - will be sharing projects on the KI Blog throughout the week this week - so be sure to stop by every day for a little KI Inspiration while you're waiting for your kit to arrive!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #99

Well, I'm super late with this post - we've been having internet issues all evening. I'm not sure if it's island-wide, just in our neighborhood, or if it's our modem? I'm not a tech girl, so I don't even know how to tell these things. But anyway, I'll just get right to it while things seem to be working. This week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge is a fun one:


I haven't had much stamping time lately as I've been working hard on digital layouts for my Dad's Tribute Album (I'll start sharing pages soon if anyone's interested - well, I'll probably share them anyway even if you're not interested!! LOL) as we've set a date for his Celebration of Life / Memorial for the first weekend of February, so I'm really having to scramble to get the Photobook done - I'd like to have it done before then. Keep your fingers crossed I can accomplish that. So anyway, that project is really cutting into my crafty time, but it's been very therapeutic! So I kept my card this week really simple:


I used some fun Valentine Collection DP from We R Memory Keepers and some Sugar Rush Woolies from Basic Grey. I added a scalloped border and ribbon from PTI and it was done! The whole thing literally took about 10 minutes, start to finish! Gotta love that!!

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

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
  
• 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!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #98

Happy New Year!! What better way to start off 2011 than with a fabulous new Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge!? Karen designed a fantastic sketch for us to play with this week. I have to admit, initially I was a little stumped with that offset, cut off ginormous circle - but once I got going with this one, it turned out I really loved it!

I decided to play with one of my favorite Verve sets of 2010, Dream Big, for my sample card - keeping the focus on those large beautiful flower images that I can't seem to get enough of! I decided not to use the stems that come in the set but just the flowers by themselves (LOVE that the flowers and stems are separate in this set so you can do that!).


The DP is another old favorite, a retired pattern from Scenic Route (these were from scraps, so I don't know the exact line - sorry!). I stamped each of the 3 flowers once in Stampin' Up's Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango and Marina Mist ink to match the DP and cut them out with my hobby knife so I could pop them up on dimensionals. I added some buttons to the flower centers and the "thank you" sentiment from the same Dream Big set. Some pom pom trim and a scallop border were the finishing touches. I have to admit I'm really loving this bright and cheerful card!

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

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
  
• 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!