Sites of the week

Oh goodness! Did you catch all the Royal Wedding highlights…or even watch it before the sun came up? I didn’t dare miss a wink of sleep {!!!}, but didn’t hesitate for a moment to reach for the remote first thing yesterday morning! So what was your favorite part? Mine? It was when they walked out on the balcony at Buckingham Palace and you could see Kate say “Wow” as she looked out upon the crowd. I can only imagine what a humbling experience it was for the girl that got what every little girl dreams of! My little girl will forever be MY princess, but Kate grew up and and gets to “play” one in real life!!

So, what does the weekend have in store for you? It’s our last soccer weekend of the season. Ellie has yet to put on in the goal; however, she is proving to be quite the lil’ goalkeeper! She even took a ball to the kisser in her last game. That experience didn’t come without a few tears, but she said she’s tough and didn’t want to come out of the game. I have to applaud that! This is the same girl that had the meltdown of the century when she got scratched on her foot by the dog when he leaped {or at least attempted to} over her when the doorbell rang. Granted, I know that hurt, too, but taking a ball to the face and brushing it off…that’s my “tough princess!”

Am I ever going to get to the stamping portion of this post? Well, ok! As you know, I have been playing around with both the smaller size {3″ x 5.5″} card base and also a more simplistic style. Here I used both along with my Verve stamps and dies…

I used a combination of pattern papers as my starting point and then worked my way into choosing a sentiment to pair with the Verve stamps and dies. Although I have been terrible about sending them out lately, I love having a stash of thank you notes on hand. It’s great that Verve has a variety of sets that utilize this sentiment {or form of it!}. The “Thanks so much” sentiment comes from the Celebration of Thanks set and I paired it with the Classy Label die that matches the label from the Love Notes set. As I was laying this card out, it seemed like it needed “something.” That something was the leaves from the new set, Bloom and Grow, stamped in olive green. As I am sure that you can tell, the flower embellishment is handmade. I created it using the same black polka dot paper with 2 sizes of the Floral Circles die set. I crinkled up the paper and then topped it with a linen thread adorned red button.

Well, off to soccer I will go! Hope you have a wonderful weekend and I will see you here tomorrow {yep, on a Sunday :)} with another installment of Verve-a-liciousness!

If you find time to take a break from watching all of the Royal Wedding hubbub, won’t you play along with this month’s SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY? There are only a couple more days to enter! I hugs thanks again to our sponsor, UNITY STAMP Co.!!!

Just a reminder, here’s the sketch {all deets on how to play along can be found on THIS POST from the first Saturday of the month}…

Here’s another sample from me using the set, Family Dynamix…

Also, a huge thanks to Jen Shults for being this month’s designer of the month!! You can see her fabby SFYTT creations HERE on her blog! Thanks, Jen!!

I hope you will play along with us for a chance to win some great prizes. What’s a better than a fun sketch…great swag to go with it!! Happy Stamping!!

Hey friends! Hopefully I will be a back with a little more consistency now. Thank you all for your well wishes regarding my arm. Believe it or not, that pic is actually the “prettiest” one that I have! Ick!! I ended up having to go to the doctor on Monday and got a tetanus shot and a heavy dose of antibiotics. It looks like it is all on the mend now…thankfully! I actually got to color a bit…yay!! It’s been difficult since the burn is on my right forearm {the part that rests on the table when I write/color…EEE-OUCH!}.

I was actually supposed to be your Hipster Hostess with the Mostess this week for TCP Tuesday, but {new and fabulous Cat Packer}Jenny came to my rescue since I needed just one extra day. THANKS, JENNY!!! This week is an inspiration challenge that I am sure will get ya going like that morning cuppa…

Here’s my go at it using A Beary Good Year…

Detail shot…

Even though I am a big fan of my local coffee shop, Jitter Bean, the Starbucks cup and sleeve lent to making this card exactly what I had envisioned. I tried to bring in a little bit of each of the inspiration pics to my card. The felt coffee cup gave lead me to stitched around the edge of the bottom pattern paper panel and use the baker’s twine. I tried to bring in the metal in with the brads and the staples. The small rectangular vintage {type} paper was inspired by the far right panel. Of course, PJ holding the coffee cup encompasses all of those pics The sentiment fit perfect with the inspiration and is from Toni’s Tea Set.

So whatcha thinking about?…besides a refill on your coffee mug. Come on and play along with us! Just link up your creation HERE on Alma’s blog. Happy stamping!

Thank you all for your comments and emailed well wishes regarding my burned arm. I have been slathering the pure aloe vera on…and on and on!! You’ll see that I had to avoid coloring once again {sniffles…my new Copics just arrived!!}

I received my new Verve Stamps in the mail on Monday, too {much to my delight!} and I got stamping right away. I am really L-O-V-I-N-G the 3″ x 5.5″ size that I have been playing with lately. It’s just a wee bit smaller, but still enough room to create something cute. You can let the panels hang over either side and it will still fit in an A2 envie {YAY!}. I think I may have already blogged that before, but as I write this it’s late and I am too lazy to go look what I wrote a few posts ago. {SORRY!!} Anywhooooo…

Can you believe that I used 4 Verve dies on this lil’ card?…

A CUT ABOVE Dies used…
-Vintage Oval
-Elegant Leaves
-Floral Circles {2 sizes used}

In addition to the fun dies, I used 2 of the new sets {swoon!!}…
-Hope Blooms {sentiment}
-Bloom & Grow

**THIS CARD IS AVAILABLE AS A CARD KIT ON ETSY** **Etsy Listing HERE**

Yep, I have taken the dive into selling on Etsy! Look for more card kits and such to come soon!

I’ve had a few cards that haven’t been colored, lately. This one; however, wasn’t really a choice. On Monday night I burned the HELL-O out of my right forearm while dumping pasta into a colander. My right forearm lays (sticks!) on the table when I color…OUCH!! So, today’s card features a painless version of this week’s TCP Tuesday…an AWESOME sketch from the Hipster Hostess with the Mostess, Leigh!

The aforementioned burn… (OUCH!!!)

The TCP Tuesday sketch for this week…

Here’s my take on it, using the new PINWEEL CutUps DIE from The Cat’s Pajamas, along with a sentiment from Field of Pinwheels…

Detail shot…

The pattern paper is from American Crafts. I stitched around that panel for a little added detail. The larger of the background panels is dry embossed. I tried mixing and matching colors with those panels and I just wasn’t loving anything I came up with, so I went with all Kraft and then embossed that one panel to “mix it up” a little. Of course, I couldn’t stay away from adding a little Linen Thread {yes, you need this!}.

Want to play along? Be sure to check out all the details HERE on Alma’s/The Cat’s Pajamas blog. Happy stamping!

Alright folks, I am off to enjoying a fun spring day with 2 of my favoritest people in the whole wide world!