Sites of the week

Happy Friday, friends!! My great day yesterday is being followed by a day of having to take Nic to the doctor today. Yesterday was filled with friends and cupcakes {What’s Up Cupcake in Keller is YUM-O}…and a house cleaner {a HUGE treat for me}. Today is filled with a tired lil’ man that can’t seem to stop coughing. It could be worse, I know, but it could be better! Hopefully he {and we} will get some better rest tonight and be on our way to enjoying a great weekend.

As you know, this month’s Sketch For You to Try sponsor is ANITA BE STAMPIN. I have quickly become a fan of theirs because of the cute stamps that are of remarkable quality. It’s nice that they come in cute packaging, too. For this month’s sketch, I have been working with the set Monster Hugs…

I took some creative liberties on sizes of the panels to accommodate the size of my main image panel and I really loved the combination of papers that I used {Echo Park, Bella Blvd., and American Crafts} and I didn’t want any of them to get lost in the mix. Here are a few couple pics…

I popped up both the flower and the heart. The heart is cover with Diamond glaze, as well as the center of the flower and my lil’ monster’s teeth {can’t really see that in the pics, but it’s cute in person…promise!}. As you can see, I repeated the yellow flower and the heart in my embellishment next to the sentiment.

Here’s the sketch…

Sketch details…

HERE is the link to this month’s sketch post.

1. The SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY {SFYTT} will be posted on the first Saturday of each month on www.iheart2stamp.com at 8am EST and will stay open to participants until the last day of the month, unless otherwise noted.
2. This is for fun! Interpret the sketch as you wish and embellish as desired. There are no vendor restrictions, but we would love to see you use the sponsor’s stamps!
3. Each month we will have a Designer of the Month that will be chosen from past month’s participants.
4. Come and play with us on each and every sketch! On Christmas Day 2011 a prize package worth over $200 will be given away to one very lucky and loyal SFYTT stamper that participates in EVERY sketch for the year.
5. To be eligible for the prize package, you must complete ALL of the sketches by each of the deadlines AND link your creation to the link system on that month’s sketch post (the first Saturday of the month). Everyone except for SFYTT Sisters are eligible for the prize package, including Designer of the Month and international players.
6. When posting your sketch creation on your blog, please post the sketch and link back to the sketch post on www.iheart2stamp.com. When posting to online galleries, please use the keyword “SFYTT.”

Thank you again to our February sponsor…

Is it Friday yet? I’ve been a day ahead of myself all week, so today is Friday to me. Well, not really; however, one can hope, right? This weekend is Tony’s birthday and Ellie and I have a little surprise up our sleeves that I am looking forward to. More on that next week!

As for crafty projects at hand, I have been having fun with some of the new and some of the older Verve sets. I used 3 different sets to create pattern paper: To The Moon {hearts}, Munchkin Phrases {Little Man sentiment}and Bountiful Backgrounds {polka dot}…

The sentiment is stamped on the Embossed Oval die and I added buttons going across the width of the card, all on top of the felt heart cut from the Jotted Heart die…

This is just one of a few baby cards that I have been creating. Baby on the brain? NO WAY!! LOL!! We are d-o-n-e!! Our family is pretty lucky that Nic wasn’t our first! Man, I love that kid to the moon and back, but he can be a beeeeeast at times! Everyone says that it’s a boy thing. I was kinda hoping something that my oh-so-patient {hahaha} mothering could work with. Note, I didn’t say “fix,” but rather “work with.” I guess we’re stuck with each other as is! LOL!!

I actually have a couple friends that are expecting and the new set, To the Moon is very inspiring! Note…more to come {and I am thinking pink now!}

Welcome to your next stop along the My Favorite Things March VIP Hop! Did you start at Kim’s blog and hop along from Frances’? If not, take a little rewind so you don’t miss a single thing! This month MFT has a great new Who’s that Girl set called Who’s That Musical Girl? paired with…

Musical Girl MINI (VIP exclusive stamp set - will never be offered for sale or be available again $9 value, FREE)
Musical Notes Die-namics die {I don’t even have mine yet!}
10 pack of Wild Cherry Scalloped note cards
An assortment of White and/or Black Pearl Flourish and Cream/Rhinestone Stick Pins
Idea-Ology Trimming ribbon

What a fun VIP package! I decided to create a notepad cover to go along with the image and “Just a Note” sentiment. I adorned the image with a heart from the Hearts a Plenty Die-Namics…

A couple detail shots…

I love the ribbon closure on these type of projects. I adhere my ribbon with red line tape on the front and back, but leave the spine without any adhesive. Also, I attach the ribbon with the cover open. This allows for the proper amount of “give” when you open it. I added a tiny little musical note tag as an embellishment and attached it with some May Arts silver twine.

On the inside I stamped several pages {not every single one!} with the “Just a Note” sentiment with one of the musical notes from the set…

Now off you go hopping along to Jody’s blog, where I am sure that she has something to make your jaw drop!!

Lots of fun stuff is happening at The Cat’s Pajamas these days! I’m not just talking great stamps, CutUps dies and embellies, either. Alma has been working on fun events and opportunities for customers to get involved and have the chance to win some great TCP prizes. We have a few things up our sleeve, so you will want to stay tuned for more to come!

Did you hear about THE PICK OF THE LITTER?
This is something new that we are doing to recognize customers and their creations. EACH and EVERY weekday, one creation will be selected to be highlighted on the TCP Facebook page and in our forum on SCS. Will it be you?

Play along in the weekly TCP Tuesday challenge for a chance to not only win some Cat Cash {Moolah to spend on TCP product}, but also for a chance to be crowned the newest Swanky Stamper of the Month!

This week’s challenge is to use candy on your card. EEEEK!… That’s what went through my head at first, but then I got to thinking about all the different ways to incorporate candy. At first I thought of doing a shaker, then I thought a pouch might look cute. I had a few ideas swirling in my head when my original goodies were eaten up. After diving into Ellie’s stash from her V-Day party at school, I found this mini sucker and thought that it would look super cute in PJ’s hand!…

Detail shot…

To create the circle with strips of paper, I first got out a piece of scrap cardstock. I then layered and adhered strips of cardstock wider than the circumference of my die. Finally, I cut the circle out with the die. I did have to run it through the Big Shot a couple of times to get a clean cut because it was so thick. Easy peasy…and cute!!

Got some extra candy that you don’t mind gluing down {or incorporating in any other manner}? Come play along and post your creations to Alma’s post HERE. Full details/rules also on that post. Happy stamping and good luck!!

I have LOVED making Valentine’s stuff this year! There is such an abundance of FANTABULOUS papers, embellishments and, of course, stamps. This year’s Valentine’s line from Verve absolutely melts my heart! I thought about making a heart garland from the Jotted Heart die, like I mentioned in a previous post. I got to looking at the sets I had pulled out on my desk and decided to make a few tags/embellishments using a fun color combo and this is what I came up with…

I made a total of three of these {not bad for someone that doesn’t do any mass production!}. The bottom layer is the Classy Label die, stamped with the coordinating label image from Love Notes. I then layered it with the Jotted Heart die cut panel stamped with the polka dot background stamp from Bountiful Backgrounds. The sentiment is from the new set, Swirling Hearts.

I took one of them and added it to a simple card…

There are still a couple more for me to play around with. I think that these would look cute on a jar or bottle filled with candy, attached to a baker’s bag or even a gift sack. If I ever got around to scrapbooking they would make a great embellie, too. So many possibilities!