Sites of the week

Wow! This week flew by! I can actually say that it was productive as well…YAY!! Over the weekend I want to work on some stuff to submit for publication. Today I also hope to make it to the Fort Worth Duck Pond with one of my friends and her little one. I love going to the duck pond with some bread and popcorn and just hanging out and feeding the quackers. If we are lucky, there will be little ducklings there, too. I’m bringing the camera, so consider this your warning for a potential of lots of Ellie pics next week.
Well, it’s Saturday, so you know what that means!…I’ve got another Sketch For You To Try! YAY!! I am still in awe over all of last week’s projects {and of course all of the other weeks,too}!!! I hope you will find this one fun to do, too. Be sure to link your creations to this post and when you upload to SCS, please use the keyword “SFYTT.”

Here’s the sketch for this week…

My sample…

Detail shot of the glimmery flowers {from Michael’s in the wedding section} that I colored with an aqua painter and Groovy Guava re-inker…

Here’s this month’s Guest Designer, Sarah Green’s, sample…

You can also see more stellar samples from Amy, Carole, Shannan and Susan. Have a great weekend!

I often say that I start with an idea and the finished product looks nothing like my original intentions. Don’t we all? This project falls right into that category! This started out as a plain jane tray from GLUE. {No, that is not insulting their product! They make plain wood products that you get to finish.} So, this was going to be a key rack. I was going to put the letters k-e-y-s in the squares and add some hooks, and do some other embellishing. Well, I pulled out the chipboard letters that I have and nothing was working. I didn’t have the hooks, either. I just started messing around doing a little of this and a little of that. I reached for things with all sorts of texture, and this is what I came up with…

I love this!!! Love It Love It Love It!!! Maybe it sounds like I am tooting my horn and maybe I am, but I don’t care…I LOVE IT!!! :) Here’s how this all came to be…
First, I painted the wood with acrylic white paint. Dry. Repeat. I then cut out black felt and adhered it in the 4 squares with Mod Podge. On top of the felt I layered 3 Prima flowers that are held together with a Making Memories crystal brad. I adhered them to the felt using hot glue. The chipboard flower in the center is covered with K & Co. paper that I found at Target. You can’t really tell from the pic, but the chipboard brackets and “d” were first covered in black paint {that part is obvious, I know} and then coated with several layers of Diamond Glaze…these babies SHINE!! The finishing touches include clear baubles {these are the larger kind from Michael’s floral dept.}, photo corners and ribbon. The bow that you see is attached using hot glue. The same ribbon is also wrapped around the outside edges. While this is called a tray, I am going to keep it on a plate holder as a piece of home decor. I am getting some more of these, and I can’t wait to play!! I have sooooo many ideas. The rest of the GLUE girls should be posting their projects soon. Be sure to check them out!

Coming up…
*Saturday I have another Sketch For You To Try…of course
*I just crossed over 400K hits this week. I think that a celebration and a thank you is in store. Tune in next week for a HUGE giveaway!

Are you a challenge junky? I used to be a lot more active with challenges than I am now. I love seeing all the different challenges on SCS and on several blogs, I just don’t have the time to commit to all of them {*sniffle*}. Well, if you are a challenge junky, Verve has one for you. AND…it involves a prize…gotta love prizes!! The challenge is officially issued on the Verve Blog HERE, so if you choose to do a little pillow talk yourself, be sure to link your wonderful creation to that post.

Here is a picture of the inspiration…

When I first saw the inspiration for this challenge, I immediately knew what I wanted to do. I know that some of the girls are using each of the individual pillows as inspiration, but I am using them collectively as inspiration for my card. I chose the SU! colors Soft Sky and So Saffron because I felt they complimented each other nicely and I knew that I could work with them. In addition to knowing what colors I wanted to use, I knew that I wanted to use Fancy Florals Remixed because it paired well with the Cuttlebug die (from the Harlequin die set). I alternated orientation and colors of the dies on the base of my card. For my main panel, I used a Nestabilities rectangle die. I topped off the stamped panel with more layered Cuttlebug dies. The beading on the pillows had me reaching for my Bella Baubles in Pearl. I love the Pearl color because it gives you a little more “umph” than clear, it’s elegant and softly accents your card. How’s that for a little pillow talk? I can’t wait to see what your pillow talk looks like!

Here’s mine…

I think that I have expressed in the past how much I love Julee’s Mojo Monday sketches. If you missed me saying that before, let me tell ya…I LOVE ‘EM!! This week being no exception. I took a couple artistic liberties to make this card exactly how I wanted it, but for the most part it is the sketch from this week. I love how the top panel drops past the panels below it. It rarely occurs to me to do that, especially at the bottom of the card. I think that I have also mentioned that I love to pair my Bellas up with the sketches. As you can see, I did it again. The sentiment is from PaperTrey and the red panel is run through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder. As for the coloring, I used Copics and then highlighted with my Sakura Stardust pen, which I like more than my Spica because I can actually get the “ink” to come out. I spread the shimmer all over, and dulled the glittery lines by using an Aqua-Painter.
Today Ellie and I are off to story time at the library. We went for the first time last week and she loved it! It was music week last week. They sang songs, read a book, played instruments and even made a little kazoo from a toilet paper tube, wax paper and a rubber band. Hopefully I won’t need Tylenol after story time today. You can only image what 18 kids under the age of 5 with instruments sound like. Ellie had the cymbals and thought they were GREAT…imagine that! As much fun as that was, I am hoping for little less BANG in story time today. LOL! Have a great day!

***Please excuse the interruption of today’s scheduled programming for a little sidenote…
If you are interested in participating in an ATC swap using MFT images, please see THIS POST on SCS in the MFT Member Company Forums. I am looking to fill up group 2 and hoping you can help. THANKS!!!***

In case you missed the very first TCP Tuesday last week, I catch you up to date… Each Tuesday, The Cat’s Pajamas is issuing a challenge. Here are the basic deets that you should know:

1. Each a week one of the TCP DT members will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {color, theme, etc.}
3. You will have until Saturday night to complete the challenge.
4. Link your project on that week’s hostess’ challenge announcement. This week you will link your project HERE.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {ETA: This week, there is a specific TCP stamp to be used}
6. There will be one winner each month. They will be deemed that month’s Swankiest Stamper and get $25 in Cat’s Cash {money to spend on the TCP site!}.

This week’s challenge is to use Big or Little Sprinkle. If you are so motivated to run and purchase either of these, but the brakes on. Yes, I told you not to buy these today…for a very good reason. Both Big and Little Sprinkle will be part of a huge set that is being released next week. You are gonna love it! Here is my sample using Big Sprinkle…