Sites of the week

I’m going to go ahead and tell you now…this is going to be a long post. A fun one, but a long one.

Let’s start things off with TCP Tuesday…

I am your {Guest} Hipster Hostess With The Mostess this week. Carole’s off living the dirty girl life, and asked if I would take over for the inspiration challenge this week. Not only is it just plain fun, but she’s a good bud, so there was no way that I would say “no.” Your inspiration for this challenge is a swatch of Michael Miller fabric…

I chose this piece of inspiration because there is so much to play off of…colors, the geometry, the florals, the repetition {I could go on}. The main focus that I used for my sample was geometry and color. Normally I print an inspiration piece out, but this time I didn’t. I felt a lot better about not constantly referring to it and just letting my creativity do the walking, ahem…stamping, cutting, embossing, etc…

Here’s my sample…

Detail shot…

Stamps: Sunburst Curtain, Big Thanks {The Cat’s Pajamas}
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze {Stampin’ Up!}
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze {Stampin’ Up!}
Other: Sewing Machine, Ribbon, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Nestabilities Scallop Square Die, Flower Punch, Ticket Corner Punch

Stuff you should know about TCP Tuesday…

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 {ME, this week}. This week you will link your project HERE.
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 TCPTUES16 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.

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Onto fun family stuff…
Ellie’s birthday party was a blast. She has such a good time and it was so fun to see her get excited for the party. Thank goodness it’s over…if I hear “pink cupcakes” anytime soon, I might just have to be sick! Boy, was she THRILLED about those!! Here’s a picture of one of the cupcakes that my friend created for the party…

And what they look like when a 2 year old gets a hold of one…

PRESENTS!!!… {boy, did she get SPOILED!!}

Now for a little story that I just have to share…
Yesterday, Ellie came with me to the post office. Like 90% of the times that we go to the post office, it was packed. This time it was so busy that I had to park across the street. When we came out, it was just as crazy and instead of attempting to turn around right there I drove up the street to do a U-Turn…which ended up being more of a 3-point turn. In the middle of me turning around, a “little” voice from the back says, “Try Again!” LOL!!!

***I will be taking off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from blogging. I have been under the weather and need to catch up on some stampin’ stuff as well as some much needed rest. Of course, I wouldn’t miss a Saturday and a SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY. See ya then!!

YAY! It’s Saturday! Today is Ellie’s birthday party and I am finishing up the last minute details. I would love to tell you that I have cute handcrafted favors, but I don’t. I just can’t bring myself to put together something that I know will be literally torn into pieces in a matter of seconds. Maybe next year!

Of course, here on Saturdays, I have a SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY. I actually should call it Sketch For US To Try this week, because I fell in love with the split circle idea that I saw on page 53 of the July ‘08 Cards Magazine. I normally use a sketch that I have created myself, although I do not claim that no one else has ever laid paper out that way. However, this week, I wanted to give this a shot and I put it out there for the team as well. Speaking of the team…we have grown. Nope, I’m not expecting! Amy Rohl {SCS: rohla} is joining us! YAY! I have “known” her through SCS for a couple years and she decided to pull a rohla…you’ll have to ask her about that one. Please give a very warm welcome to her and her tremendous talent.

Now, back to the sketch that I was speaking of…

Here is my sample using stamps from CHF and the Paisley background from SU!…

This is a sample from Jessie, the Guest Designer for July…

Don’t forget to check out my buds… Amy R, Amy S, Carole, Shannan and Susan. Tony will be here tomorrow. Maybe he will throw in some Ellie birthday pics. If not, I will be sharing a couple {or more} next week. Have a great weekend!

Hip Hip Hooray…it’s Saturday! Did you all have a fun fourth? We had a great time at our friend’s house, but getting back home was a nightmare. There was a 18 wheeler turned over on the freeway, so we were detoured through downtown where the police had half the streets closed off. What was normally about a 30 minute venture turned into over an hour. But, we got home safe and sound, so I can’t complain.
Well, it’s the first Saturday of the month, so I get to introduce a brand spankin’ new Guest Designer…YAY!! I got to meet Jessie at the Arlington Shoebox swap, and she is truly a sweetie! I am glad she has hopped on board this month with me and the rest of the SFYTT gang…Amy, Carole, Shannan and Susan. <-- Be sure to check out their samples, too!

Welcome Jessie Rone...

In her own words…
Holy Cow, would you look at me!! A year ago if you had told me that I would be a guest designer on one of my FAVORITE blogs, I would have looked at you dumbfounded and said, “What’s a blog?” LOL!! I started stamping 7yrs ago, but never really took it seriously. I became a demonstrator in 2001 for SU and have remained one(purely for the discount) ever since. I joined Splitcoast Stampers back in 2005, but never did anything but CASE other peoples cards up until October of last year. Since then, I have started my gallery on SCS, my blog, became design team coordinator for Paper Pretties, and been fortunate enough to have guest designer spots with My Favorite Things and for Melanie Muenchinger’s(illustrator for Gina K.) blog. When I got the email from Jen, I thought I would have a {heart} attack!! I look forward to working with her and her amazing team for the next month!!

Here’s the sketch for this week…

Here’s my sample using “Out Of This World” DP and the inque boutique Space Cadet set from The Purple Turtle Stamp Shoppe…

Jessie’s GORGEOUS sample…

Won’t you come play with us? Please be sure to link your project to this post and if uploading to SCS, please use the keyword SFYTT. Have fun and hope you have a great weekend. Tony will be here the SECOND Sunday of each month. If you expected him on the 6th, sorry, he’s got another week to come up with something!

Psssst…don’t forget to wish Kim (the MFT Lady) a happy 40th Birthday!!

Have I ever told you that I absolutely adore the chichiboulie line at Stamping Bella {as well all the other stuff that she enables me with!!}? LOL! Yesterday I sat down to make a card using one of the new Verve Stamps sentiments and thought that this chichi {Ruby Ribbonlace} looked so happy. I think that you could use her for a “cause” card, but she also reminds me of a free spirited girl just jumping around and that is how I am using her here. So, I had the sentiment, image and layout…it’s Mojo Monday 44 from Julee’s blog, but no idea about the colors. I find myself reaching for DP more and more often, which in the past was just not me. I also find myself going for bright cheery colors. Obviously the Texas sun is getting to me. LOL! I got out a K & Co. paper pack that I picked up from my LSS not too long ago and found this fun print. I thought that it would look perfect with her dress. So off I went to color and put everything together. Here’s what I came up with, a knock your socks off happy card…

So, why does the title of this post also say “a wee bit sad?” Well a couple month’s ago I got an email letting me know that PaperCrafts had accepted a card of mine {now, that’s knock your socks off happy!!}, but then I got the issue yesterday and the card just didn’t photograph well and you can hardly see any of the details, hence a wee bit sad. I really am not all that upset about it, nor I am not faulting PC for anything. In fact, when I saw it {page 65, I am on 23, too-double YAY!} I said, “Ohhhh no, you can’t see anything on it,” then turned the page. I knew that I could post a pic of it here. So, here is what it REALLY looks like…

Much better, huh!?!?! I really do love this card, so sorry if it seems like I am tooting away at my own horn.

Speaking of pub stuff, I am taking tomorrow off to work on stuff for publication and to celebrate our country’s independence with an afternoon bbq. I hope that you all have fun and stay safe this weekend!! I will have a SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY on Saturday. See you then…along with a new friend and Guest Designer!!!

Verve Visual is now Verve Stamps AND they are now a Member Company on Splitcoast. Click HERE to go to the Verve Stamps forums. To kick things off in a Verve-a-licious way, Julee is issuing YOU a challenge and a chance to win some Verve Bucks {money to spend on Verve stamps!}. HERE is the link to that challenge thread. I hope that you will play along and good luck if you do! The challenge is to use stars on your project. Since I love using fun shapes like stars, I jumped right into this! Here is my creation…

The sentiment is from the new Verve release, Feeling Groovy. I paired it up with my SU! star punches and some paper and ribbon from Papertrey Ink. The right side of the base of the card is embossed with my D’Vine Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder. This card came together rather quickly and the layout is great for a lot of different cards. I think I am going to try switching up the stars with flowers or maybe snowflakes. I can also change out the sentiment, colors and choice of embossing folder. Better keep an eye on me with this one!

Other things to check out today…

TCP Tuesday, being hosted by Katie. Check out all the fun stampin’ deets HERE.

The new MFT release is TOMORROW night. You can join us in the MFT forum from 9-11 EST {Wed.} for fun, friends and great samples to view. I will be showing off 6 samples here tomorrow. You can see some samples, a.k.a. MFTeasers, from the DT now HERE.