Sites of the week

A couple weeks ago, Lauren posted THIS TUTORIAL on how to make Easter baskets with Nestabilities {stinkin’ cute, huh!?!}. OMG!! I could’ve smacked myself in the forehead. I have been doing these with circle PUNCHES for sometime now. It never dawned on my to break out the Nesties! It’s good to have {PS} friends around to turn on that light bulb from time to time. Anyways…Lauren and I got to chattin’ and we came up with a little challenge for each other. To make one of these fun little boxes/bags/basket {you pick whatever name you want to call them} with Priceless from SU!. In addition to using that set, we set forth colors to use, too…Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, So Saffron and Certainly Celery. I didn’t get started on my creation until last night after Ellie went to bed. I’d like to think that it’s cuter in person than the pic shows because of poor lighting. I sewed each of the panels and the hearts are mounted on dimensionals. The handle of the basket has two holes punched in the top of it so I could tie the ribbon through it. The handle is actually glued into the inside of the basket, but appears to be held on by Build-A-Brads {which I have been hoarding for months now!}. If I were to re-create this, I think that I would clear emboss the swirly on the Certainly Celery. I probably will re-create it just because I think that it would look much better with the embossed image; I was just way too tired last night to even think about making more than one of these {even though they are fairly simple}.

Be sure to check out Lauren’s blog to see her beautiful creation.

Other stuff you may want to know about~
*Tomorrow is another SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY, the announcement of a new GUEST DESIGNER and the announcement of a new someone that is going to play and do samples with us every week…YAY YAY and more YAY!!
*Tomorrow is also the release of THREE new sets from Verve Visual. There have been some fun sneak peeks on the Verve Blog and on Julee’s blog.
*Sunday is Tony’s day to blog here. He’s in the middle of mid-terms and mid-term projects, so be sure to come offer up some “rah-rah” support.
*Monday I will have a slew of new Verve projects…stay tuned!

one more thing…
If you are interested in winning stamps from MFT, be sure to check out THIS POST on SCS.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND

Before I get started on my post for today, I just want to remind you that I have some SU! sets for sale on the post below this one. Check ‘em out, you may just want one to follow you home.

There are one, two, THREE super cute sets being released on March 1 from Verve Visual. The set that I am featuring here today is called Anniversary Birds. Birds are definitely “hot” right now {yep, that sounds weird}, so I was so excited to see that Julee designed a set with birds. This card is for my parents that are celebrating their 30th anniversary next week. It is no surprise to me that their love has endured the test of time, and all the other day to day pressures of a marriage. They have always been wonderful relationship role models. Thanks Mom and Dad for teaching me what love is and what it means to be loved. I hope {and plan} that 25 years down the road that my daughter will be giving me a similar card and saying similar things about her {incredible} parents.

More samples from the upcoming release can be found on the Verve Blog.

Stamps: Anniversary Birds (Verve Visual)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Pretty In Pink (SU!), DP from Cloud 9 Designs
Ink: Dark Brown Chalk Ink (ColorBox); Markers (Copic)
Accessories: Ribbon, Heart Charm, Dimensional Glue Dots , Paper Piercer

**Sale at Verve Visual through Friday…15% off all stamps**

I’m cleaning out my collection and have a lot of SU! to sell. Take a peek and see if one of these can be adopted by you.

Too Terrific Tags $8
All About U $18
Letter Prints $8
Shapes and Shadows $15

Shipping: Via Priority Mail only
ETA: pricing is for US shipping. I will have to figure out international.
1-2 sets fitting into a Priority Envelope $4.80
2+ sets fitting into 1 Priority Box $8.95
Insurance is optional.

Payment: Via non-credit card PayPal only. Item will ship within 3 business days of payment.

Please email me if you are interested in any of these sets. Email link is under my pic. –>

I am always on the lookout for fun sentiments. You can say the Coco Chanel {and Emmabella} nailed this one!! How cute and sassy is this!?!?! I’ve actually had both of these stamps for a little while now just waiting for some inky lovin’. Yesterday Ellie was kind enough to take a long nap between loads of wash and this is what I came up with. I think it’s a pretty good rebound from the sweet and simple side of me that you saw yesterday! You may not believe this…I JUST got that paper less than a week ago. OMG!! I am so proud of myself for not hoarding it for weeks, ahem, months on end. The DP is from My Mind’s Eye {love it love it love it}, the colored cardstock is SU! {Cool Caribbean and Basic Black} and the white cardstock is from PaperTrey. I must tell you that the PaperTrey white cardstock is AWESOME!! It makes the best card base and it is a dream to color on. Savvyshoppabella is colored with Copics. I really like the shadow/ground that I can create using the Copic markers and the Copic blender pen. I used to use the A Muse oval {which I still love}, but I am finding myself using this technique more and more. Maybe it’s because the Copics are already out in front of me. I dunno… Back to the card deets… I scalloped the edges with my small corner rounder punch and added a little bling with Swarovski crystals. This card will most likely see its way to a friend or be a RAK, but I also think that it would be a fun money holder for the shopper girl in the family…oh yea, that’s me. Hmmm…now that’s an idea {Tony, I’m kidding!!}.

Mom Update:
Thank you all again for your support! I spoke with my mom yesterday and she sounded GREAT!! Obviously there is a lot ahead of her still, but I am glad to hear that she is at home, up on her feet and in great spirits. Yay!! She is very appreciative of the cards that she has been receiving. Thank you!! Hugs-Jd

I sat down to stamp last night and I was just fresh out of energy to make a project with any great amount of detail. Tony even agreed that this card is a little boring. Oh well, I still like it! I started out with the Garden Green base and then scalloped the edges and stamped the Polka Dot background on the Real Red cardstock. The main image panel was run through the Cuttlebug to get the embossed dot frame and then punched out with a scallop square punch. I colored the strawberry {from the upcoming SU! Tart and Tangy set} with markers and stamped it on my main panel. I then created another strawberry and cut it out and mounted it on top of the main panel strawberry. Many times when I mount an image, I like to have that same image under the mounted one. That way it is not just white {or your base color} under the mounted image and there is a little more dimension. For the sentiment I grabbed “sweet” from the {now retired} SU! So Very set. For my finishing details, I have a center band that I have distressed, I pierced the paper to create somewhat of a border and finally I added a red eyelet on the sentiment panel.
That’s a whole lotta explaining for a simple card…LOL!! Anyways, here it is…