Sites of the week

Happy Friday Y’all! I’m actually writing this on Thursday night and just wrapped up watching Big Bang Theory. Does anyone else read the letters that Chuck Lorre puts at the end of the show? I find it quite amusing how very “Dear Charlie Sheen…” they are these days. I have to admit that I kinda like watching the crazy unwind. I guess I’m a little bit of a sucker for the US Magazine material…LOL!

Well, I am guessing that you didn’t come here to “listen” to me jibber jabber about Big Bang Theory or the craziness of Hollywood. Maybe something more of the inked up nature is what you are seeking…and not the Kat Von D style of ink.

I have to admit that this card has several points of inspiration. I saw some great patriotic decor at the store the other day, some of which had pattern mixed in with the red, white and blue. I do also like the idea of the die cut words that Papertrey is coming out with soon. I have a Cricut and Make the Cut {yes, ProvoCraft I do and I will continue to use it!!}, so I figure that I can cut any word out and pair it with whatever stamps I have on hand {I kinda have a few…LOL!}. I used some bolder die cut lettering for this card, along with the Verve sets World’s Best and Wishful Elegance…

The tab at the top is the Verve Vintage Oval die cut in half and then topped off with a light blue felt heart and button with linen thread tied through it…

I first cut the letters out, and then stamped tone on tone with the pattern stamp from Wishful Elegance…

I had fun with the wonky stitching both in the center of the card and at the bottom near the sentiment…

Finally, I have to say that I am pretty pleased with myself having done a Dad’s Day card in May! I’m always cutting it close with getting cards done {and sent!!} in time! I hope everyone has a great weekend! We are going to be cooking up some landscaping ideas here. Fun, fun, fun!!

Ready for another challenge from The Cat’s Pajamas? This week’s Hipster Hostess with the Mostess is our new{ish} Cat Packer, Tori Wild. I’ve been getting into a spring and summer groove with bright colors, so this one definitely got me thinking for a minute before I got crack-a-lackin’ on my card.

The colors…

I used Whale of a Time, along with TCP’s CutUps {Big Scallop, Easy Rosettes and Wave} to create my card…

Detail shot…

Wanna play along? Be sure to check out all the details and upload your creation on Alma’s blog. Happy stamping!

I have to admit that I am pretty bad about sending out cards. I shouldn’t be since I have a stash of hundreds at my fingertips. I never like sending something that I already made for something else. Please tell me that I am not the only one with this creative weirdness {yep, that’s what I am going to call it}! However, I did make a point to send this card to a special friend of mine. It’s terrible that her situation {cancer} has made me realize how lucky I am to be able to send her {or anyone for that matter!!} a card for their birthday or other special occasion. To quote a mother that lost her son to the same terrible disease, “We are promised nothing.” With that in mind, we aren’t promised the chance to get to send that card out, so I will make a point to take the chance {opportunity, really} while I can!

Happy Birthday {a few days early!} to my friend, Anne..

This card uses Verve’s Bloom & Grow, Hope Blooms and Bountiful Backgrounds sets. I really like the layered stamp style that Heather Nichols demonstrated on her blog HERE and decided to give it a shot with these Verve stamps. I love how it turned out. I did originally stamp the birthday sentiment on that main panel, but I didn’t like how the dots looked on the words. I could have redone with embossed lettering, but went with the good ol’ standby of a sentiment flag. In addition to the Verve stamps, I also used Verve’s Flutterby and Elegant Leaves dies.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and all you moms were spoiled beyond belief! Tony surprised me with a trip to surprise my mom. It was great to visit my parents and even better that I got a first class upgrade on the way there…sans kids. I actually got to read 100 pages in my book in one sitting…now, if that’s not an accomplishment I just don’t know what is!

Have a great day and take the OPPORTUNITY to send a card to someone you care about, even if it is “just because.”

Happy first Saturday of the month! It’s time for another great {sponsored} sketch! I’m glad to see many of you have been playing along each month for a chance at the grand prize. Of course, you can jump in at any time for fun…that is what this hobby is all about, right?!

Thank you to all our previous sponsor’s including April’s UNITY STAMP CO. I have a few Itty Bitties to send out to…

#32 Katy with THIS great Unity creation. Katy, just send me an email with all your info and I will get those sent off to you soon.

Our sponsor this month is the fun and fresh…YOUR NEXT STAMP and they have a special offer just for our SFYTT fans…

Are you ready to play along? Here’s this month’s sketch…

Here’s my interpretation {as loose as it may be} of the sketch using Birthday Surprise and Tea Time Fhiona sets…

Detail…

Are you interested in being a Designer of the Month? I choose each D.O.M. from previous month’s entrants. This month, I would like to welcome SFYTT fan and Your Next Stamp DT Member, Kerri Michaud…

A little about Kerri in her own words…
Hello! My name is Kerri Michaud and I am thrilled to be the SFYTT May Guest Designer! I adore Jen’s sketches, and I’m so excited that Your Next Stamp is the sponsor this month! I have been stamping for almost 3 years now, and I have loved every minute of itJ I’m a stay at home mom to 3 children, ages 8, 6, and 3, and have been married to my wonderful husband, Barry for 11 years. Yes, Kerri and Barry or as some of our friends call us-CareBear LOL! Besides stamping, I have been attempting to learn how to use my camera. I have taken a couple of online photography classes, and am having so much fun! I am a reality t.v. junkie, and a lover of most crime shows. I look forward to seeing all of your beautiful creations this month using Jen’s fabulous sketch!

Here’s her darling card…

This month brings us a new SFYTT Sister…Jen Tapler! Please give a her a very warm welcome. You can visit her blog, as well as all the other sister’s blogs for more great SFYTT inspiration…

Amber Hight
Amy Sheffer
Carole Burrage
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Kerry Johnson
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Susan Liles
Terri Moore

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.”

Now it’s your turn! Happy stamping and good luck!!

Happy Spring, friends! After a couple of days of dreary rain and plummeting temps, I am happy to say that I think that spring is here to stay. Thank goodness! I’m ready for a little sunshine and long walks with the kiddos! All that rain was accompanied by some serious winds that took out our fence {boo!!}. I know that in comparison to what several people are going through in the south, that is nothing, but I still don’t have to like it! The repairs commence tomorrow, along with having to walk our dogs for potty breaks {ugh!}.

On another note, did you see that SCRAPPER’S BOUTIQUE is having trunk show with tons of great stuff from THE CAT’S PAJAMAS? It’s this weekend and it is going to be a BLAST! LOTS {oh, and I mean LOTS} of spectacular prizes, make-n-takes that you won’t want to miss and a pajama party to boot! So much fun!! I’ll be there doing make-n-takes for a few hours on Saturday…hope to see you there!

Did you see Julie is your Hipster Hostess with the Mostess for the week’s TCP Tuesday challenge? This week’s challenge is to USE BUTTONS. I think that I use buttons on 90% of my cards, so this one was pretty easy for me. I decided to use them as a horizontal “panel” and to embellish the Flower BUTTONS CutUps die cut flower…

As you can see, I reached for some more of the new My Mind’s Eye Lime Twist collection {swoon!}. The small flower print was perfect for paper piecing the heart that the bear {Bear Hugs set} is holding.

Here’s a few shots of the buttons {adorned with my FAVORITEST product…LINEN THREAD}…

Wanna play along? Check out all the deets and uploading instructions HERE on Alma’s blog. Happy stamping and GOOD LUCK!!