Sites of the week

Happy Saturday! I have been so busy stamping and I think that my fingers may be permanently stained with ink!…seriously!! Today is the first Saturday of the month and that means I get to introduce a new Guest Designer to you…YAY!!

Please welcome Suzanne Dean as the Guest Designer for the month of September!!

A little about Suzanne in her own words…
I am a SAHM to 2 loving children and 7 furbabies (5 cats and 2 dogs–yes I am a crazy cat lady, hee hee). I have been married to my wonderful and oh so supportive hubby for 13 years. He supports me in everything that I do including volunteering for our local animal rescue and fostering “many” animals over the years. I enjoy stamping and papercrafting as it is a great escape and form of relaxation for me and my “hectic” life. Nothing makes me happier than good ole’ Mr. Brown bringing me a big box of stamping goodies–that’s a great mail day! I’m so excited to have been asked to be Jen’s Guest Designer this month. I was totally floored and honored that she asked me. Here’s to a month full of fun and thanks for having me!!

Here’s the sketch for this week…


Here’s my sample using the scarecrow from the new MFT release, We’re Not Scared. I just love this lil’ guy!!…

Here’s Suzanne’s darling sample that just makes you wish that it was Christmas already…

Be sure to check out the wonderful creations of my friends: Amy R., Amy S., Carole, Shannan and Susan.

Want some stamps and stampin’ goodies? I have 2 MFT sets along with some paper and ribbon just for you. All you have to do is tell me your best memory from this summer. Want 2 chances to win? Participate in this Sketch For You To Try and link it here in a separate post.

Winner will be announced NEXT SATURDAY!…Lots of time to play if you want to!

Is anyone else excited that it’s opening weekend for college football. Two words: BOOMER SOONER! I know I hear Carole’s echo! I am actually not Sooner born and bred, rather Sooner wed. I went to Arizona State, so I will also be cheering on my Sun Devils…who just happen to be coming into this season with a fairly good ranking {15, I think}. So, who are your rooting for?

I started making my card with the new Meet The Verve Diva challenge in mind. Michelle has challenged everyone to create a card with some supplies that are underloved. Hmmm…where do I begin? The embellishments, the stamps, the chipboard…the list goes on. I know you know what I mean. If you are shaking your head, it is possible that you are in denial. LOL!

Before I get to the card I made, let’s see the sketch…

Here’s my card…

Detail shot…

As I kinda eluded to, I have plenty to choose from in the way of unloved goods. So, what did I choose? I chose some vinyl appliques {those swirly thingamajingys} from ScrapWorks that I picked up a couple of months ago at the Great American Scrapbook Convention. I used Kraft paper, which is something that I am trying to do more and more. The Prima flowers are from a share that Jody had and I never go for the bold colors…especially black. I also picked up some acetate that I rarely use and the stamp is a Verve Stamps sentiment that I have not used yet.

Bonnie Sharp has been with us all month long and I have truly enjoyed each and one of her creations. Please give her a standing ovation as she leaves us with this totally cute card!…

Wanna see more samples using this sketch? Check out Amy R., Amy S., Shannan and Susan’s blogs. Carole made some weak excuse and won’t be posting until Sunday {she knows I’m kidding!!}.

Also, I want to ***wave hello*** to all the ladies that took my class at Imprints last night. I got to meet some really wonderful women and we had a lot of fun. They’re probably blaming me for a wee bit of enabling, too! I am setting up more classes in October and will let you know as soon as they are all firmed up.

I have had a lot of people ask me how I come up with my sketches. Sometimes it’s something I draw on paper and other times I just get to making the sketch on the computer and I’ll see how it comes out. This sketch falls into the latter category. I was actually pretty nervous about creating a card with it, but it turned out to be a pretty fun sketch to work with. I hope that you will feel the same!

I’m writing this post on Friday night and I have to admit that I am going to keep it short and sweet for this simple reason…Tony brought home Season 2 of Dexter on DVD. Is anyone else totally intrigued with this show? We don’t have Showtime, so I haven’t seen any of these episodes yet. If you recall, my DVR died in the middle of Season 1’s finale. I did end up seeing it in full and now I am “dying” to see the next season! Yes, it’s a bit morbid, but I like it. At one point I really wanted to go into forensics and work with all of that icky stuff that I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole these days. I decided against it because I can be an emotional person and I would have to turn that completely off at work, and I was afraid that I would bring the “off” me home. Does that even make sense?

Oh yea, short and sweet…

Be sure to check out the samples from Amy R. {who is the inspiration for my card…I love how she uses the SU! set}, Amy S., Carole, Shannan and Susan {who we hope survived Six Flags with a four year old in 95 degree heat on Friday}.

So, here’s the sketch…

My sample with a boat that I made myself {I didn’t like how the stamp was stamping…LOL!}…

I {heart} the Guest Designer this month…Bonnie Sharp! Isn’t this gorgeous!!??!!

I hope that you will play along!! When uploading to SCS, please use the keyword SFYTT. The stars are meant to represent an embellishment of choice. Have fun with it!

Who can resist these Rachelle Anne Miller stamps? I just {heart} these images, so when this one came in the mail the other day I knew that I had to use it for today’s Sketch For You To Try. I just crossed over 600K yesterday {woot woot!}, so I am going to do another chance to win a goodie bag from me for all those that participate in this week’s SFYTT. Just be sure to provide a link to your project on this post by Thursday night. I will draw a random winner on Friday morning.

Before I get onto the sketch, I want to give a BIG cheer to Amy S. {Pickletree} who is the newest Dirty Girl on SCS. Congrats Amy!! Be sure to check out her sample for the sketch, along with those of Amy R., Carole, Shannan and Susan.

Ok, here we go…

Here’s my sample…

Detail shot {just pretend you don’t see that little bit of red on her chin!}…

Bonnie {this month’s Guest Designer!} did a wonderful job of interpreting this sketch! I love how her design is a little outside the box and oh so clever!!…

Have fun with this one!! The star is meant to represent any large embellishment/shape, so don’t feel limited by the star shape. When uploading to SCS, please use the keyword SFYTT. Have a wonderful weekend. I’m gonna take Monday off, but I will be back on Tuesday. See ya then

Announcements:

1. It’s Anni-VERVE-sary time!! Yep, Verve is turning one and you are invited to the party. You will want to check out the challenges and sneak peaks in the Verve Forum on SCS. I will be blogging tomorrow with a sneak peak of one of the new sets.
2. Did you see? My mini pizza box got chosen for Project of the Month over at the TCP site. THANKS!!
3. MFT is having a new release the Wednesday. Be sure to join us for some HOT summer fun, as we welcome in some cool seasonal stamps! BTW-I just happen to have an extra of one of the sets here. Hmmm…I’m thinking that a blog tart on Monday sounds like a great way to start the week.

I have been looking forward to Saturday for a couple days now. Susan and I are headed out to Mineral Wells {about an hour away} to the only scrapbook store left around here. She’s been out there before and says that the paper selection is de-lish, so I am pretty darn excited!
Around here, you know it’s time for another SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY and A NEW GUEST DESIGNER! Please give a super warm welcome to Bonnie Sharp!

A bit about Bonnie in her own words…
Oh my goodness, when I first received Jen’s e-mail asking if I would be interested in being the guest designer for August, I really couldn’t believe it!
But, here I a little bit of history for you– I have been very happily married to my high school sweetheart, Ron, for the past 28 years and he actually seems to semi-support my habit.
By that, I mean 50% moral support “Ohhhh that’s pretty, what’s for supper?”
Thank goodness he has his own hobbies so he doesn’t complain. It helps that I get the mail (Visa bill), pay the bills (Visa bill) and that our house has a separate entrance to the basement where my stamping room is located! (sneaky sneaky)
It all began (put your feet up) when my daughter, Marcie and my niece, January actually FORCED me to put together a few pages for my mother-in-law’s Christmas present –
I said “ Nooooo WAY!!! …..I can’t do that! I won’t do that! I hate cutting and pasting!……” They said, “blah blah blah…..whatever”
Long story short – there was wine involved……but the pages turned out quite amazing for a first try and after that day I was IN!!
Nowadays, stamping is pretty much my day’s fun, after gathering eggs, mucking about in the barn and the odd golf game - very odd!
Truly - I love stamping!…… I love stamping when I’m happy and I love stamping when I’m blue — because it makes me happy!!
I am sooooo looking forward to this month and working with Jen and her fabulous team!!
Thanks Jen!! YAY!

Here’s the sketch for this week…

My sample, using stamps from the upcoming release {this Wednesday} from MFT…

Bonnie’s cuuuuute sample, also using MFT…

My pals, Amy R., Amy S., Shannan and Susan have samples for you to see, too. Carole’s still my pal, but she’s taking this week off vacationing {and probably still stressing about all the stamping she *has* to get done}.