Sites of the week

I never used to be a coffee person. I liked the occasional Starbucks or Jitter Bean drive-thru runs, but never considered myself as needing a cuppa. Then, Tony got me a coffee maker for my birthday last year. That was the end of not being a coffee person. Each morning I brew myself a strong {quarter} pot of coffee and pour it over a tall cup of ice and flavored creamer {International Delight’s Almond Joy is the current fave} and enjoy my own cuppa iced coffee…for pennies compared to the drive-thru places.

With {iced} coffee in hand, I went into my stamp room to see what I could accomplish. It was of no surprise to me that I felt a little inspired when I came across the Delightful & Delicious set in my Verve drawer {yep, I have companies separated by drawer}. The large Coffee & Friends stamp called out to me first looking like a postage stamp. I ended up stamping a few in a row attempting to get a good impression and then it hit me…they kinda look like tickets. I went with that idea and came up with this…

Looking down the line…

The embellishment was created with seam binding ribbon double bowed and then topped with a Prima from my stash and a button tied with baker’s twine. I added it to the top of the “Thanks a Latte” panel which I wanted to serve as my main sentiment of the card. For a while, I have been mixing and matching Verve sets, but this time I kept all the stamps I used from one set. I contemplated creating some background paper with one of the mugs, but it would have just been too much for the card. More is more, but sometimes it can get overdone.

Well friends, I’m outta here to enjoy a little R&R today. Hope you have a great weekend!

Greetings stamping friends! Looking for a fun stamp challenge this week? Susan is the Hipster Hostess with the Mostess for this week’s TCP Tuesday challenge and she is challenging you to use a stamp with transportation incorporated on it. This should be pretty easy if you want to give some inky love to some of the newest stamps from The Cat’s Pajamas {bicycles, planes and balloons…oh my!}.

I chose to use to use the new set, Take Off…

Detail of the sentiment, Cloud Border CutUps die cut {embossed} and coloring…

Lovin’ the Mango seam binding ribbon {and Baker’s Twine}…

One more detail shot…

Wanna play along? Check out all the details on Susan’s blog HERE. Happy stamping!!

Ahoy there, Mateys!

I’m a little early to be chatting like it’s Talk Like a Pirate Day {September 19th}, but it’s still fun any day of the year. By the way, if you are interested in reading more about Talk Like a Pirate Day, there is an OFFICIAL SITE explaining how it all began in addition to some vocabulary you might want to pick up on before the big day. It’s good for a laugh, or two!

So why the pirate-y spirit? It’s none other than the new Ahoy Matey set from My Favorite Things {this month’s SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY sponsor}. I knew this guy would fit perfectly into this month’s sketch…

This card probably would have been great for a guy until I dove into my rhinestone stash and gave it a little bling bling along the star panel {created with the Stacking Stars Die-Namics die set}. I’m sure there are still a few guys that would like it

As you can see, I took a more interpretive approach to the three circle panels indicated on the sketch {posted below}.I just couldn’t stop reaching for those rhinestones, either…

There’s a little less than a week less to play along with this month’s sketch! Won’t you play along? It’s fun and easy…I promise!

Click HERE for the JULY SFYTT 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.”

TGIF!! This week has putted along like no other! LOL! I guess I am just ready to get out of the house! Fortunately, I think I will be doing just that this weekend! Tomorrow I am teaching at my LSS and I think we have a few other things going on that won’t keep us housebound, even if the weather makes it feel like it’s a zillion degrees outside!

I mentioned yesterday that I have managed to squeeze in a little stamping time here and there {generally during Nic’s naptime}. I keep reaching for my Verve dies to use in combo with each other. I really like that I can use them together, which {in my opinion} is not something that you can do with some of the other boutique company dies. Yesterday I used a couple of my TCP CutUps dies together. Again, in my opinion, I think it’s important for these to have versatility that they can be used individually or separately. Now, that’s not saying that fun boutique dies can’t be used on their own, it’s just an added perk to your investment when they play well with others.

On this card I used not just two, but THREE of Verve’s A Cut Above dies…

The sentiment {from the Thankful Blossoms set} is mounted on top of the Classy Label Die which is stamped in a coordinating image from the Love Notes set. I placed the Classy Label die cut atop a Martha Stewart mini doily that I have had sitting in my stash for what seems like forever. I think it gives it the perfect touch and brings in the white from the base of the card and the embellishment.

The embellishment is created from the Classy Label die which is stamped with the coordinating image from Bloom & Grow. I topped that off with a felt flower cut with the smallest of the Floral Circles dies, tulle and a button tied off with linen thread…

I’m off to the gym to take a class from a woman whose motto is “Pain is weakness leaving your body.” Eeeek! Have a great weekend!

This summer has proved to be a wee bit challenging for squeezing in stamping time, but fortunately it has been done! Not only providing me a little stress relief, but also checking off my to-do list. Anyone else counting down the days until the kids are back in school? LOL! I think that I might be going a little less crazy if the weather wasn’t trapping us inside most of the day. Geez, I break more of a sweat getting the kids in and out of the car at the gym than I do actually in the gym…at least it feels like it sometimes!

Back to that whole stamping thing I mention, though! This week’s TCP Tuesday challenge is a color challenge being brought to you by Hipster Hostess with the Mostess, Tori Wild. You can see her sample and more challenge details on her blog HERE.

Don’t you just love these summer colors? Just makes me crave an icy cold lemonade!

I set out to make a card, but when I got part of the way through making this large panel, I decided to keep it as a tag. I think it will be fun to either attach onto a bag front or hang from a gift bag handle…

I made this card by mixing and matching sets and dies from The Cat’s Pajamas. The sentiments come from the {new} Kick Some Grass and Bearing Flowers sets. I used both the Easy Rosette and Button Flowers CutUps dies. I love how well they pair together, but each is so much fun on it’s own, too!

Today, I have a few more stamping to-dos to knock off my list, as well as prepare for a Copic 3 class this weekend. Maybe I can squeeze in a little pool time, too. I swear it’s almost too hot to go to the pool! How can that be?

Have a beautiful {cool} day!