Sites of the week

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER FOR THE GINORMOUS BLOG TART GIVE AWAY!!! HERE are all the details. **WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED MONDAY!!** I had previously planned to announce the winner on the first, but I have something else up my sleeve for this Sunday, so you will have to be patient just one more day.

Happy Saturday everyone! As many of you read this I am marching up and down the high school stadium at {fitness} Boot Camp. I have been so bad this week!! Tomorrow starts a new week, a new month and a new eating plan…no bad food! I have indulged in a little of this and a little of that and it’s time to get back in gear. I have goals to reach by the end of the month!! Self-restraint is not a strong point of mine…just look at my studio!!

Anyways, I will stop boring you about how I am scared to get fat again and get onto this week’s SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY! Here is the sketch {I am so excited about this one!!}…

My sample…

Thank you so much to Kirsten DuBosque for being the Designer of the Month for January. Her creations have been amazing, and this one is no exception!…

Wanna see more samples? Give some love to…
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Shannan Teubner
Susan Liles
Carole Burrage
Kelly Lunceford

If you play along, just link your card on this post. When you upload to SCS, use the keyword SFYTT so we can see them all in one place. There are no rules to these sketches, just use your creativity and HAVE FUN!

Next week I am going to start using Mr. Linky {assuming that I remember!} on my SFYTT posts so that we can see all the players front and center.

Today is another repeat of Susan Liles’ 29th birthday. I won’t tell you what anniversary she is on, but let’s just say it’s not the first or second…or third, or… Be sure you hop on over to her blog and give her a big birthday hug!

Last night Ellie and went over to her house. The kiddos played for a little bit while we talked stamping and life. I gave her the present that I found for her on Etsy by searching the word “Faith.” I love that it has a crown on it, too-because that is just so her! HERE is the link to the Home Studio Etsy store where I found this and MANY MANY MANY other cool pendants and chains!

Of course, I couldn’t just hand her a necklace. Well, it came in a pretty lil’ bag, but I wanted something a little more. So naturally, I made the packaging. It’s essentially a 2468 box, but just scale that down to 1.75″ increments. I scored the sides of the bag about halfway down so that I could tie it shut. The crown charm just ties it all together.

The paper for this bag is from Papertrey and the taffeta ribbon is from Stampin’ Up!. Hope you all have had a wonderful week. I’ll be back tomorrow with another SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY…it’s my favorite this month and I already have my card done and I love love love love it {kinda a hint}.

Also, GLUE has a cool lil’ project for you to create for the special someone in your life. It’s called the Luv-O-Dex {cute, huh?}. It’s like a Rolodex of all the things that you love about your honey. It’s a 150+ piece kit for $14. HERE is the link with all the info and where you can buy it.

Happy FREEZING cold morning! We are currently prisoners in our own house because of the ice all over our driveway, but hope that will all clear up by mid-day. That’s the beauty {and curse} of living in North Texas…if you don’t like the weather, just wait 10 minutes. My hope for the future is sunshine and melting ice!

Today, I have a card using Verve Stamps’ new plain Jane, Jeremiah 29:11. While I do not think that I am a religious person, I really do like these Plain Janes and do like stamping with them. Julie has chosen some beautiful scripture to put into stamps. HERE is a link to all the Plain Janes that Verve currently offers.

The pattern paper is from American Crafts and I just love the colors that it incorporates: aqua, olive and cream. The black that I added to my card just sets off those colors. This is one combo that I will be using again! To mimic the pattern in the paper, I embossed the Cool Caribbean panel with the Texture embossing folder for Cuttlebug. The flowers are from a large packages of flowers from K & Co. that also match some stickers that I picked up {not used here}. The pearls in the centers of the flowers came with the flowers, but I added the small pearls on the circle punches. Finally, what do you think of the layout? I’m thinking that it may have to be a sketch in the future!

Hope you all are having a bright and sunny day!

ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT TO ENTER INTO THE GINORMOUS BLOG TART GIVE AWAY WORTH OVER $450!!! Click HERE for all the details and HERE for the Official Entry Form. Good Luck! I got a message from Julie at DBU that said that the cards are pouring in! I’m so glad that everyone has come together and supported this great cause!

Baby It’s Cold Outside is the perfect sentiment for today! The news has been on “Ice Storm Watch” for the past 12 hours now. So far it’s cold…make that VERY cold, and drizzly, but apparently that’s still big news around here. LOL! I have been pretty bummed about not being at CHA, but a lot of flights are delayed coming and going out of DFW today, so I have to think that maybe someone was lookin’ out for lil’ ol’ me!

So, today is Tuesday and Leigh has a great sketch for us. I love how she comes up with unique card sizes! This one measures 7 x 4.25″. I used one of my most favoritest images from TCP and the sentiment, like I mentioned, just fits with how I feel and goes perfectly with the card.

A couple detail shots:

The snowflake is from a package that I picked up at Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart after the holidays for dirt cheap. The fur on her coat and hat has liquid applique on it for added dimension. I used Zva Creative rhinestones to dress it up a little. These rhinestones are available through Taylored Expressions, and in my opinion, some of the best around. I really like Swarovskis to dress up my cards, but the shimmer on these is AWESOME and you get a lot more bang for your buck, for sure!!

So, wanna play along with the TCP Tuesday challenge?…EVERYONE can! Here’s what you are gonna want to know…
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 on THIS post on Leigh’s blog.
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 TCPTUES43 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.
10. Oh yea…HAVE FUN!

It’s been a busy weekend and I am ready to get into the groove with a new week. I need to get back on my diet and hit the gym, that’s for sure. Last night we went to get frozen custard and they had one that they should have just named “The Jen.” It was vanilla custard {the kind I always get}, raspberries {if these were the last food on earth, I could live 100 years…happily!}, Oreos {I’m surprised Ellie didn’t come out of me saying O-R-E-O with as many as I ate during my pregnancy} and then to top it all off there was hot fudge down the entire center. It was called a Raspberry Fudge Pothole…YUM-O!! Let’s just say that the elliptical machine will be getting some serious time in from me this morning!

Now onto the stamping business at hand! Yesterday was the Featured Stamper challenge over on SCS and I just love who was chosen: Vicky Gould! She is quite possibly one of the nicest stamper’s on SCS and I am so glad that she got her moment in the spotlight! Congrats Vicky! Click HERE to see that card that I used from her gallery. Here is my creation based on her card…

What I changed:
1. Used an embossing folder for my dots instead of glitter
2. Used a different color for the matting of my main image
3. Used a different cupcake image/sentiment {Love is Sweet set from Stamp a Sweet Impression}
4. Used Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles around the edges of the matting instead of hand drawn embellishments

Here is an image of Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles, which are currently on special for just $3.99. You get a TON {over 400} of these SUP-AH Spar-ka-lay rhinestones {I’m picky about that!} in this itty bitty package…