Sweet Sunday Sketch #75

Happy Sunday! You know what that means - Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge time! Now, I have to admit, I wasn't exactly crazy about this sketch initially...


All those little circles threw me for a loop. I didn't know what the heck to do with them. So I created this card, which really didn't follow the sketch at all, but whatever. The point is to use the sketch as inspiration, right? (someone back me up here...)


I was able to get my Enjoy the Ride (PTI) set inky for the first time and added the Birthday Wishes sentiment from Mega Mixed Messages (PTI) as well. The DP is printed digi paper from This Boy's Life by Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe) - one of my favorite recent digi kits!

But I was feeling all bad for abandoning the sketch and imaging the crap Karen was going to give me later on Facebook, so I caved and - get this! - I actually created a SECOND card!! And this time I stuck to the sketch pretty closely I think with this no-stamping, all-hybrid card:


Yeah, yeah, I know. Enough with the cars already, right? And I already used that Going Places digi kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow (Sweet Shoppe) just a few weeks ago. But come on - TWO CARDS people!! I think I get bonus points for 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
• Nancy Riley
• Joanne Basile
  

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

Verve New Release Blog Hop

Verve Stamps just released 3 AMAZING new sets and the Divas are celebrating with a new release hop today!

First, a little housekeeping… if you clicked over from Amber's blog, then you’re right on track. If not, then head on over to Julee’s blog, to start from the beginning. If the chain gets broken along the way, you can head over the Verve Blog for the full link list.

Oh, and best part? We’ve hidden a little prize for one lucky commenter along the hop, so be sure to spread a little comment love around as you hop! Okay, well, maybe it’s not so little. {grin} You could win the entire release, so let’s get hoppin’!

And now for the eye candy...

My favorite set this release is the patriotic American Hero, just in time for kicking summer into high gear with the 4th of July here in the U.S.! I just love the new font in these new releases and the variety of sentiments in this set is awesome! And those stars!?!? LOVE them! I decided to go ultra patriotic with my card today, pairing my stamped sentiment and star with some printed digi paper from the Boom Boom Clap kit by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe).

That's it! Thanks for hopping with us today! I'm the last stop on the Blog Hop so if you started at the beginning and made it all the way through, you're done! You can head on over to the Verve Blog to check out more eye candy that was shared earlier this week, or see the new sets in their entirety in the Verve Store! (Now's a great time to shop to get in on those special Introductory Prices!!).

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

I've only participated in one previous Blog Hop with Papertrey Ink, but I couldn't resist this month's super flexible challenge, which was to play with your fave PTI color combo! I whipped up a quick card this afternoon and am just BARELY getting it posted before the deadline. Here's a look at my color combo:


I had a lot of fun creating my card with my favorite PTI colors of Kraft (surprise, surprise!), Hawaiian Shores, Pure Poppy, Vintage Cream and a tiny splash of Ripe Avocado. I also pulled out lots of neglected PTI goodies and put them to good use!!


I used my Woodgrain Impression Plate on the Hawaiian Shores CS and rounded the top corners with my Corner Chomper. I stamped some Polka dots from Polka Dot Basics II in Fresh Snow Ink (because I don't have Vintage Cream ink, and the Fresh Snow actually matches pretty well) on the Pure Poppy CS and added a strip of scalloped Kraft CS.


The flower is a layered felt flower cut with the Beautiful Blooms Dies and a Pure Poppy button for the center. The leaf, stamped in Ripe Avocado ink, is from the Turning a New Leaf set. Finally, I added the "Mahalo" sentiment (this Maui girl is ALWAYS needing to refill my stash of Mahalo cards!) from the Aloha stamp set.


Overall, I LOVE how this simple card turned out. I'm pretty sure the layout was inspired awhile back by a similar card I saw on Dawn McVey's blog using the woodgrain texture, some polka dots, and a diecut flower, but oriented horizontally. I remember loving the look of the woodgrain, polka dots and flower combination and stored it in the far recesses of my brain for later. (I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I saw something similar on Dawn's blog)?? I can't wait to recreate this card in other color combinations and am off to check out the other Blog Hop participants for color combo ideas to use in the future!!

You can find a list of all of the Blog Hop participants on Nichole's Blog.

Verve Release Party

Have you noticed all the fabulous new Verve peeking out over on the Verve Blog? It's Release Week and the Release Party is TONIGHT in the Verve Forum!! I'm laying low this release because of my hand, but I did find some time to play with my new goodies and was able to create a few simple cards with some of the awesome new stamps!! I thought I'd pop in and share one with you this morning.


I used the new American Hero set on this card. Be sure to stop by the Verve Blog to see more Sneak Peeks of this amazing new set!! The layout is an old Sweet Sunday Sketch by Karen Giron and the DP is printed digi paper from the All American kit by Christy Lyle (Sweet Shoppe).

Be sure to stop by the Verve Forum tonight between 9 and 11 pm Eastern Time for the Release Party!! I'm going to try to stop in and at least say hi - I haven't missed a Verve Party since becoming a Diva, but my hand still isn't allowing for much typing, so I'm bummed that I probably won't be sticking around too long! But I have to make sure you all aren't having too much fun without me!! ;-)

Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop

I'm so excited to be participating once again in the Taylored Expressions Blast From the Past Blog Hop!! I'm joined by some AMAZINGLY talented papercrafters from around the world, so be sure to stop by each blog to see what they've done!!


This time around I decided to get a headstart on my Holiday Cards! I pulled out my Wings of Joy stamp set and used the fun string of winter wear, coloring with Copics to match my printed digi paper from the Winter Wonderland kit by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe). I added a little stamped sentiment strip, also from Wings of Joy, to the bottom right of the card. I threw on a few matching buttons threaded with hemp twine and some zig-zag stitching, but my favorite part? I finally used some Liquid Applique for the first time ever - adding it to some of the mittens and stocking caps in the stamped image!


That's it! Don't forget to stop by the rest of the blogs listed below for some awesome inspiration! Trust me, it will be worth it!!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #74

It's Sunday again and that means it's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! Karen has another AWESOME sketch this week:


This week I made a fun hybrid Father's Day Card to send to my husband's StepDad, CR:


I used cardstock from Clear and Simple Stamps along with printed digi papers and elements (aren't those ties ADORABLE!?!?) from the new He's the Man kit by Dani Mogstad and Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe). The stamped sentiment is from the Boys Will Be Boys set from Taylored Expressions.

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
• Nancy Riley
• Joanne Basile
  

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

Three Great Companies, One Great Cause

I'm a little late posting this, but wanted to make sure you all knew about this fantastic cause! Many of you probably know that my fellow Verve DT member, Susan Liles' husband Eric has been battling a very aggressive form of cancer. Susan has remained unbelievably positive and upbeat throughout the ordeal. Eric is a fighter, but round after round of chemo has left him out of sick days at work with medical bills piling up. I can't imagine the stress of all of this!! Well, I've seen first-hand how generous the papercrafting community can be when I reached out to all of you with the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's Event last year. Now it's time to dig in and help with another worthy cause.

Three amazing companies that Susan designs for, My Favorite Things, The Cat's Pajamas, and Verve, have teamed up for a fundraiser to benefit the Liles family. You save 10% storewide with all three companies, and as you shop, the Liles family benefits by receiving a portion of all weekend sales revenue. It's a win-win! Use coupon code SUSIEQ at My Favorite Things. No code needed at The Cat's Pajamas and Verve. The sale has already started and runs through Sunday, June 20.

Susan's sister and and a good friend have also set up a donate button on Susan's blog if you'd prefer to make an outright donation.

Sweet Sunday Sketch #73

Hey there! Pretty short and sweet post from me today - It's still Saturday here in Hawaii. My MIL arrived yesterday for a 3-week visit so we've been on the go all day having fun and now I'm tired!! We went to the beach this morning (it was a BEAUTIFUL day in South Maui!) and I did some Stand-Up Paddleboarding. I sometimes feel seasick when I paddle, so I only go out on the water when it's SUPER calm. It was a pretty perfect day and I paddled for a long way. When I'm on the board I usually have to stop because my arms feel like they're going to fall off - the same was true today. I was disappointed because I didn't feel like I was getting that good of a leg or ab workout while I was out, but my triceps, biceps, chest and shoulders were on FIRE! It's been awhile since I paddled so I forgot that you don't usually feel it until you're done and back on solid ground! Oh man. The second my feet hit the sand my ENTIRE BODY felt like jello!! My quads, ASS, hamstrings, ASS, calves, ASS, abs, ASS, even the bottom of my feet, oh yeah, and my ASS are now feeling like I got hit by a bus along with my arms!! LOL. But it was fun! The water was crystal clear - I saw tons of fish, the reef was beautiful, and a couple of Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles swam under my board while I was out (those are endangered btw). Yep, pretty awesome beach morning!! We'll see if I can get out of bed tomorrow!! Tomorrow we're going to go check out the new Tropical Farmer's Market at the Maui Tropical Plantation and maybe do a hike if my legs are functioning! Keep your fingers crossed! ha!

Ok, anyway, so much for short and sweet! On to the Sweet Sunday Sketch...I absolutely LOVE Karen's sketch this week!! So versatile and so much fun. If I had more time today I would have rotated it and made a second card. I definitely have plans for that later this week! I'm anxious to see if any of my fellow Sweet Sunday Stampers did that!?


I made another fun hybrid card this week, this time inking up my PTI Up, UP and Away stamp set for the very first time. I also broke in some PTI felt, a new texture plate and dies. But my favorite part of this card is definitely that fun paper!! I used printed digi paper from the new Fish Tales kit by Melissa Bennett (Sweet Shoppe). That circle journal tag is also digi - printed from the included element pack from the same kit! Soooo much fun!


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
• Nancy Riley
• Joanne Basile
  

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 me. I have a busy week ahead with my MIL here and a friend of hers is also here visiting Maui for the first time so we're going to be hitting up a few must-see tourist spots. I think I somehow was even talked into driving them to Hana on Wednesday!! My hand surgery is scheduled for Thursday. I have a few blog posts scheduled for the next couple of weeks, then I'm hoping to get back into creating and blogging on a much more regular basis when typing and mousing isn't so uncomfortable!!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #72

Hi there! So at least I'm consistent while I'm being a total slacker - it seems that lately the only blogging I can get done is for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! I do have a good excuse, I promise. Besides just the usual craziness and prepping for my MIL's upcoming 3-week visit (she arrives Friday), I'm having some really minor surgery on my hand on the 17th. Don't worry - it's really NOT a big deal at all (and I am a Physical Therapist, so I do know a thing or 2 about these things), but the underlying problem (which will soon be a thing of the past) is causing quite a bit of pain when I do any amount of typing or mousing. I have what's called a Carpal Boss, which is really just a fancy name for a bone spur on one of the bones of the wrist. But because of where it's located, the extensor tendon of my index finger snaps over the spur when I do anything that requires me to move my fingers. The bone spur itself isn't painful at all and really not a problem. But that repetitive rubbing of the tendon over the spur IS a problem. I use my hands A LOT - in my papercrafting hobby, in my digital scrapbooking hobby, and in my "real job" as a physical therapist (doing manual therapy, demonstrating exercises, and lots and lots of paperwork and patient documentation). So anyway, long story long - that tendon gets inflamed and irritated quite often, which is super painful. The more I do, the more irritated it gets. So it's time to just deal with it and get it taken care of. So they're going to go in and just shave off that spur and things will be good after about 2-3 wks. In the meantime though, I'm just not feeling like doing a ton of typing (can't you tell from this long-winded post!?!? LOL). However, I can't seem to stay away from Karen's amazing sketches!! :-)

Ok, getting right to the point...this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge is lots of fun, as usual:

I took the easy way out AGAIN this week and went hybrid with my no-stamping card using this ADORABLE new Going Places digi kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow (Sweet Shoppe):


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
• Nancy Riley
• Joanne Basile
  

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

Ooops!

I did it again! I accidentally published a post here on my Designs Blog that was intended for our Family Blog. Sorry guys! I deleted it right away, but if you subscribe in a reader, I think the post probably stays there - so if you see a post about a recent family trip to the beach and pics of my son and hubby playing in the sand and are all "what the?" - that was intended for our family blog. SORRY!!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #71

Happy Sunday! I can't believe it's already Memorial Day Weekend! CRAZY. Do you guys have anything exciting planned this weekend? It's a 4-day weekend for me and we spent most of the day yesterday doing yardwork. We planted a total of 20 palm trees in our yard!! Yes, that's right - TWENTY. They're all Areca Palms along our back fence, something we've been meaning to do for over a year now. We're hoping they grow fast and give us some shade for the back side of our house, which faces the West and gets SUPER hot in the late afternoon. Anyway, today we're just going to chill at home - I'm crafting a little and catching up on laundry while the boys do some boy stuff. Tomorrow we'll probably head out to Makena and spend at least half the day on Big Beach - our Memorial Day tradition!! Of course, it's a holiday, so that means half of Maui will be there with us, but that's OK! It's a Monday and I won't be at work so I don't really care!! :-)

Anyway, today's Sunday so it's time for another fun Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. I really REALLY love this week's sketch and can see myself using this one over and over again. It's so versatile!


I created a sweet summery hybrid card this week using printed digi papers and an adorable digi Popsicle embellishment from the Pop! digi kit by Dani Mogstad (Sweet Shoppe). The "sweet" sentiment tag is stamped from the Mini Mixed Messages set from PTI.


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
• Nancy Riley
• Joanne Basile
  

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

Sweet Sunday Sketch #70

Happy Sunday! You know what that means - Sweet Sunday Sketch time!! I'm a few hours late with my post. Oops! Like that's never happened before. Ha! We've just had a crazy busy weekend and I totally forgot to schedule my post. My card's been done and just as I was about to head to bed I was like "Oh Crap! My Sweet Sunday Post!". So here I am...

When I saw the flourish-y thing on the sketch I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do. And this is SO out of character for me. I mean, this card took like 2 hours to make. ugh. But I must admit I love it.


That flourish is HAND CUT! It's a printed digi image from the Desmond & Molly Jones kit by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe). Isn't it yummy? I resized it in Photoshop Elements, printed it out and used my hobby knife to cut it out. Then I used a bunch of neglected PTI stamps - Background Basics Text Style, Say It With Style, and the leaf is from In Bloom.

Oh, you wanna see the sketch? OK. Here it is...


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
• Nancy Riley
• Joanne Basile
  

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

The World

I'm finally getting around to sharing with you one of my favorite cards I created using Verve's latest release. Julee always amazes me with her seemingly limitless ability to come up with the perfect quotes to turn into stamps AND match them up with the most beautiful fonts! This One Person stamp is no exception:


Now, if you're a regular blog reader you know that I don't normally do a lot of coloring. I'm just too lazy. I normally like to finish up a card in half an hour or less and if it takes longer than that I start to get frustrated with the process. But those awesome flowers were just SCREAMING at me to pull out my much-neglected Copics and color them!! I am FAR from a Copic coloring expert, but I must say I was pretty proud of how those flowers turned out! (but they did take FOREVER). I took the colors from the striped Scenic Route DP I chose to use - doesn't this card look nice and Spring-like?

Just Because

*ARGGH! I've just realized that I have about 5 blog posts that I had scheduled throughout May that never published. I am so frustrated with this and it seems completely random - some posts publish while others don't. Anyone else having this problem? So I'm copying and pasting the html into a new post and publishing immediately. I'll try to catch up over the next week.

I am LOVING the new Kind Deeds stamp set from Clear and Simple Stamps! That floral image is my favorite kind - elegant, yet still simple enough in it's silhouette form to keep it from being too "froo-froo" (and yes, that is totally a word!). This is one of my favorite cards I've made with the set so far:


I used some more yummy retired Scenic Route DP along with coordinating cardstock from CSS - Kraft Like a Rockstar, On the Catwalk Cream and Dish all the Dirt Brown. The floral image was stamped in SU's Wild Wasabi ink. I added the "Just Because" sentiment, rounded some corners on the main image panel and tied some chocolate grosgrain on as finishing touches and it was done!

Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop

I'm so excited to be playing along in the Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop with an AMAZING group of talented papercrafters!! You can find the list of participants at the end of this post - be sure to visit them all, you definitely won't be disappointed!!

For my Blast from the Past project, I actually decided to purchase one of my favorite TE sets that has been on my Wish List for quite awhile but that I just never got around to adding to my cart. Well, it's that time of year and this Blog Hop seemed like a good excuse, so I am FINALLY the proud owner of Boys Will Be Boys! YAY! I used the trio of ties image and the #1 Dad sentiment to create this fun card for my Father-in-Law for Father's Day:


Are you tired of that sketch yet? It's one of Jen del Muro's Sketch For You to Try sketches from last month and I'm telling you, it just may be the most perfect sketch ever created! I can't stop using it!! I stamped the tie image once on cream cardstock, then masked off one of the ties and stamped it again so I'd have a nice odd number of ties in a row (I wanted an oblong panel of ties and I have this weird aversion to even numbers). I then stamped the ties on various colors of cardstock to match the Thrift Shop DP (October Afternoon) I used on the rest of the card, cut them out with a hobby blade and popped them up on dimensionals on the original cream panel. I added a scalloped border and some pleated chocolate grosgrain to finish it up.