Sites of the week

Are you having fun hoppin’? If you came to me by way of Jody, you are on the right track. If you want to start at the beginning of the blog hop, click HERE for Kim’s blog. When you are all done here, head on over to see Craphead, ahem…Cammie!

Stamping makes me happy. My daughter makes me happy. Stamping my daughter makes me REALLY HAPPY! No, I didn’t actually ink up a stamp and put it on her. I stamped her image and made a card. Yep, an image of Ellie! This new set from My Favorite Things is called Nite Nite Ellie. The concept of the set was developed by me and Kim {MFT head honcho}. Another cool thing about this set is that it supports St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Just in case this question comes up…No, Ellie is not sick and we have not sought out the help of St. Jude’s personally; however, this is a wonderful organization and it does help a lot of families. I hope that you will help us help them.

If you haven’t met Ellie, let me introduce you…

This is Ellie in ink…

This is gonna be my favorite set ever, I just know it. Yes, it has personal ties, but I love how easy it was to paper piece, too. That paper that you see is NEW MFT paper! Kim took some of the digital paper designs and had them made into real DP!! YAY! The digi paper is awesome, but I do love the real stuff! I created the crescent moon by cutting out a circle with my Nestabilities, and then I cut out the crescent part with the same circle. The stars were punched out and popped up on glue dots for some added dimension.

Now, hop on over to Cammie’s blog to see some more Ellie cuteness!

With my resolution of doing more SCS challenges in mind, I headed off to see who was the featured stamper today. Much to my delight, it’s Julie Ebersole. {aka JulieHRR} I don’t think that I have ever done a Featured Stamper Challenge. This isn’t because I haven’t wanted to, but rather, I usually take Sunday off from stamping and I don’t like doing challenges days after they are posted. So, I jumped right into her gallery and chose THIS card. Not until later did I realize that I didn’t 100% follow the rules, because her card was done for an A Muse sketch challenge. Go figure, the first time I try to do this challenge I mess up! LOL! Anyway, I made this card…

I basically just used the layout and made everything else my own, including the patterned paper {instead of a patterned card}, satin ribbon {instead of stitched ribbon}, stamps from Our Craft Lounge and brads {instead of rhinestones}.

Ellie had a first today, too. She had her first dance with a boy! LOL! Our friends came down from Oklahoma and their little boy is the same age as Ellie. We turned on some tunes and they danced together {with a little encouragment from the peanut gallery}.

After a few minutes, Ellie’s friend had enough and took off running. Here’s Ellie chasing him with open arms {LOL!!!}…

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Hugs-Jd

SUPPLIES:
Paper: SU! patterned paper, SU! Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral; PTI Stamper’s Select White
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Copic Markers
Stamps: All stamps from Our Craft Lounge
Other: Making Memories Brads; Satin Ribbon, Nestabilities, Clear EP

…still no SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY card. It just didn’t happen, no other explanation. So instead of fretting about it, I’m just letting myself slide on this one. No biggie, I think that this is the only one that I missed this year. Plus, I was messing around with my new Slice, so I really do kinda have an excuse. I do; however, have a lot to say, and I hope I don’t bore you too terribly much. So here it goes…

1. The Cat’s Pajamas is having an AWESOME sale! 25% off EVERYTHING on the site!
2. My new site is coming soon! Some parts may be a little delayed, but I hope that I will be launching the all new www.iheart2stamp.com…YAY!! Sara Williams is the mastermind behind this re-do. I hope that you like what she has in store for me!
3. When the new site launches there will be some MAJOR blog candy, so be on the lookout!
4. About the book…I was commissioned to do 6 pages in an alcohol based marker {i.e. Copic} book that is being published by Design Originals. The book will be out in time for CHA at the end of January. At the time of publication, I will have some available for sale here, if you are interested.

Ok, now onto the lots to show part. Here are a few pics from our Christmas vacation…

I love this shot of Ellie and I at the dolphin show at Sea World. Yes, it does get cold in “Sunny” Southern California. We bundled her up just a little extra because she was getting over pneumonia.

A couple from Christmas Eve with Tony and Ellie…

While in San Diego, I went to the cutest little paper crafting/stamping store called Paper Tales. Here is some of the loot I hauled home…

I am totally excited about these strawberry boxes!…

And this ribbon…

How cute! Pixie Sticks!!!…little tubes filled with glitter {from Pink Paislee}…

YUM-O smelling embossing powder {from Gel-a-Tins}. It’s really more of a light mint mixed with sweet vanilla…so yum!…

Who can guess what was on my brain? LOL! Top one is from Inkadinkado and the bottom one is A Muse…

These are alterable bracelets that I picked up from Creative Cafe {online store}. How fun are these? I am so looking forward to altering these!…

So did I bore you? Hopefully not. I plan to play a little more with the Slice later today and I may just have something to show off. I know better not to make promises or hopes, tho.. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Yesterday I told you that I would have a sample for the cuteness from Our Craft Lounge. So here it is…

I totally fell in the love with the little girl when I first saw these images! The set comes with her legs separate from the body portion. Why? Because there are different patterns you can put on her dress and then you can make her tights match! Gotta love a girl with fashion sense! I think that I may mass produce this card, or something similar so that I have them on hand as Ellie’s thank you notes. Speaking of Ellie Bellie…Yesterday when I was flat ironing my hair she came in and said, “Me too, me too!” So I did!! She has CRAZY curls and her hair goes in every direction, so I thought it would be fun to give it a shot…

CHEEEEEEEEEEEEESE…

So, did you survive Halloween on a Friday night? We shut things down fairly early so that we wouldn’t have barking dogs and a sleeping toddler. Ellie actually had a pretty sad Halloween. It started with her waking up at 5 am needing a breathing treatment. By 9 am we were in the doctor’s office getting oral steroids and further breathing treatments. We finally {it’s been months} got an official diagnosis of asthma. Poor thing!! She started coming around by trick or treating time, so she was able to go out to a few houses. So cute! She dressed up as a bumble bee and said “buzz buzz buzz” all night. Here she is just before we went out…

Well it’s the first Saturday of the month so I have a new SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY and a new DESIGNER OF THE MONTH…Becca Feeken of Amazing Paper Grace.

Here is a little about Becca, in her own words…
When Jen first wrote me to ask me to be a Designer of the Month, my husband had to hold my typing fingers so that I didn’t write back to ask her…Me? Really? Seriously, I’m honored that she asked! I’m a long time reader and fan of a Sketch for You To Try.

They say that one often meets his destiny in the road he takes to avoid it. So true! Over a year ago I began reading blogs but was convinced it would never appeal to me, I was content to be a wallflower. My blog Amazing Paper Grace and my SCS identity, Becca Stamps, have opened the door to countless friendships in addition to relationships with the incredibly supportive companies who have allowed me to work on their teams: Friends of Flourishes Blog Team and Design Team for Our Daily Bread Designs. I look forward to working with Jen for the next month as well as seeing the fabulous creations everyone posts of her fantastic sketches.

Here’s the sketch for this week…

My sample, using My Favorite Things stamps that will be released this Wednesday, November 5…

Becca’s gorgeous sample…

Check out the samples from a few of my stampin’ friends, Amy R., Amy S., Carole, Shannan and Susan!

Wanna play? Here’s what you should know…
1. ANYONE can play.
2. Have fun with this!
3. When uploading to SCS, use the keyword SFYTT.
4. Post a link to your blog or gallery on this post.