Sites of the week

YAY! It’s Friday, which means I get to show off an “Anything But A Card” project to you. This week, I’m also throwing in a card to this post. You’ll see why later

My bud, Susan, and I went to the Great American Scrapbook Convention last month. While we were at the Glue booth, we decided to duel. Okay, not really. We picked out a couple products to challenge each other with. {Note, these are not yet up on the Glue site}. I came up with a little project for Ellie’s room with pictures of Tony’s side of the family. Susan is still working on hers at this very moment, but she promises a very cute project to be completed later today. Be sure to check it out HERE.

First, here is the inspiration for this piece. It’s the bedding that I hope to get for Ellie’s room. Cute, huh?

It started out as a plain piece of wood. I added the paint, paper, ribbon and all the other embellishments that you see. The photos are on this do-dads, which I painted, covered in paper and then threaded ribbon through…

Here are some detail shots…

This part was created with a circle coaster covered in the orange polka dot paper. I then used the “negative” portion of a Bazzill chipboard flower that I have had forever and covered in with the green paper and dew drops. It is mounted on dimensional glue dots on top of the circle coaster.

So, it’s Anything BUT a Card Friday usually. Today it’s Anything AND a Card Friday. I am a little behind on challenges and such. Today is Julee’s {creative genius that IS Verve Stamps} birthday and I wanted to incorporate some of challenges that I have been “missing.” This card incorporates three challenges…

1. It’s Julee’s sketch for Mojo Monday #47
2. Laurie’s “Got Vellum?” Dare To Get Dirty challenge. I used the new Papertrey vellum cardstock here. YUM-O…I likeee!
3. Susan’s “Button, Button, Who’s Got The Button?” verve challenge

Shannan has a thread going in the Verve forum on SCS telling Julee HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Be sure to stop by {HERE}.

See you manana!

Yesterday evening we went to one of Ellie’s friend’s birthday party at a bounce house place. She has a blast!…and we were worn out, too. At first she was very unsure of the bounce houses and the slides, but in the end, she did not want to go home…imagine that! They even had a dress up and make-up session for all the girls. Great time to not bring my camera, huh? Ellie got into 2 dresses. One was very pageant like and the other was a pink flapper dress. TOO STINKIN’ CUTE!! Fortunately, my friend took tons of pics, so hopefully I will have a few soon.
On to the project for today…I made a cute little tag to top the birthday present. As you can see, her name is Hallie. I cut her name out with the Red Tag Alpha for the Cuttlebug in both Regal Rose and Whisper White to create shadowed effect. As for the finishing details, I punched the butterfly with my Martha Stewart butterfly punch and put Swarovski crystals down the center. The flowers are from Making Memories and are also topped off with Swarovski crystals.

The top {left side} of the tag is layered with the SU! scallop circle punch and 1/2″ punch. I used SU! Regal Rose grosgrain, May Arts pink with white polka dots and some Hobby Lobby pink satin ribbon.

Are you all having fun playing along with the Dare To Get Dirty ‘08 challenges over on SCS? I’ll have a fun one for you on Saturday, as well as another SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY here.

The Dare To Get Dirty ‘08 challenges are in full swing over on SCS. This card is a sample that I made for Jody’s “It’s All About The Ribbon” Challenge. I started with my inspiration…American Crafts ribbon and let it lead me on all aspects of the card. You will notice that the card is long and thin {cut with Nestabilities}. The scalloped edges resemble the dots on the ribbon. Of course the punched circles also mimic the ribbon’s pattern. It looked a little plain without any stamping throughout the card, so I used a Hero Arts clear set that I got a while back. I used VersaMark so that the image would not be too dramatic on the circles {or “olka-dots” as we now refer to them here}.

Be sure to join the Dirty Girls for the next several days for lots of fun challenges. I am hosting a challenge on Saturday, in addition to the Sketch For You To Try here.

It feels like I just did a TCP Tuesday post…wait a minute, I did! LOL! Those few days off last week was a much needed break, as I really was not feeling well. I am STILL trying to shake the cough and relying on strong meds to let me sleep without coughing. I am feeling quite a bit better, though. Thank you all for the well wishes via comments and email. Hugs to you all!

Well, it’s Tuesday and time for another TCP Tuesday challenge. If you haven’t jumped on board with these challenges yet, this is your chance! This week’s challenge is a color challenge… orange, pink and chocolate brown. YUM-O! The specific colors I chose to use are Pumpkin Pie, Pixie Pink and Chocolate Chip from Stampin’ Up! You do not have to use SU! colors, it just happens to be what I have most of. As for the super fun layout, you probably recognize it from Taylor’s Cupcake Challenge from this past Friday. I punched out some extra circles and gave them to Ellie. She’s been running around with them calling them her “olka-dots.” That may have to take over for “fufferly” because she actually says “butterfly” now {sniff, sniff!!} LOL!

The image and sentiment are from The Cat’s Pajamas {of course!}. I embossed the Pixie Pink panel and circle on the main panel with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder.

As for my finishing details on this card, I used the new SU! scallop edge punch on the Pixie Pink panel. I also added some brown brads to the corners. On the main panel, I used a paper piercer and template to create a border. The right side of the card has rounded corners to mimic all the rounded edges all over the rest of the card. Finally, I used my clear Spica glitter pen to glaze over the “icing.”

The deets on TCP Tues…

1. Each a week one of the The Cat’s Pajamas DT Members will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, color, theme/inspiration, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until {this} Saturday night to complete the challenge.
4. Link your project on this week’s hostess’ challenge announcement. This week you will link your project HERE.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a specific stamp}
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!}.
7. When uploading to SCS, please use the keyword TCPTUES17 for this challenge.
8. Alma will post the entries from the week the following Monday on her blog.
9. The newly crowned Swanky Stamper will be announced on the First of the Month and have his/her winning entry posted on The Cat’s Pajamas website where he/she will reign for the entire month.

Happy Monday! If you have been keeping up with the Verve Stamps blog you may have noticed the Project Parade for this month is all about ATCs! I love doing ATCs because it is so much fun to see how much creativity you can pack into such a small space. When I started doing this ATC, I knew that I wanted to incorporate a lot of texture and depth. To accomplish this goal I used several different products. For the main panel, I cut and embossed a circle using Nestabilities dies. I then stamped the floral image twice and then colored and outlined it with Copic markers. The butterfly is mounted on dimensionals and is colored with Copic markers and topped with Niji Pearlesent Watercolors (very fun product). For the Kiwi Kiss panel, I embossed it with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder. I then used the SU! Ticket Corner Punch on the corners, so that I could add brads.

Wanna win $15 to spend on Verve Stamps?

All you have to do to play in this Vervalicious challenge is create your own Artist Trading Card! Leave a comment with a link to your project on this post by 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Time on July 31st, and you will be entered for a chance to win! Using Verve stamps is not a requirement, although it doubles your chance of winning. We will have two winners, one randomly drawn from a pool of all entries, the other will be selected as our favorite from all the projects using Verve stamps. Both winners will receive $15 in Verve Bucks. We will announce the winners later that day. If you upload to Splitcoast, please use the keyword VVPP04 so we can all see your creations!

***SCS FAN CLUB MEMBERS…TODAY STARTS “DARE TO GET DIRTY ‘08″ ON SCS! HOPE YOU WILL PLAY ALONG WITH US!***