Sites of the week

As you have probably read from her blog, Susan’s husband, Eric, is currently undergoing treatment for a very aggressive form of lymphoma. Through this battle, my BFF has always found a way to make lemonade out of the crappy lemons life has been handing her and her family lately. I admire her strength to smile on days that I know are filled with rain clouds. Eric is strong and is making it through the treatments one day at a time. There have definitely been some setbacks with adverse reactions {meaning kidney function, fevers, and complete loss of appetite} and needed transfusions. And, the reality of it is that the bills are adding up and Eric is out of sick time at work. This is where you can help!

My Favorite Things, Verve Stamps and The Cat’s Pajamas are having a benefit sale Friday through Sunday (EDIT) with 10% off your purchase and a portion of the proceeds benefit the Liles’ family. You can support them and get stamps…win, win!!

OR

There is a DONATE button on the side of her blog. You can read more about it on THIS post that her sister and friend wrote. If you have any questions in regards to this, please contact Sheila {a longtime friend of Susan’s} at sheila@remember4faith.com

Tonight I am bringing them some BBQ chicken, pasta salad and sliced strawberries to hopefully ease the day to day stuff that goes on with or without cancer knocking at your door. I hope you can my friend, too!

PS-I love what Alma wrote on her blog about our friend. You can read her post HERE.

I actually have a bunch of new stuff to show you, but I can’t…yet! I’ll be pre-posting a bunch of stuff in the next few days for the next couple of weeks. Of course, I will be popping in with some new baby posts, too! I’ve seen a couple people do this and I kinda like the idea of taking a look back at the year just past and “reviewing” cards/projects done. I’ve chosen a favorite card or project for each month. I’m not even sure that “favorite” is the best word to use here because I view each of the company’s stamps differently, but anyways, here it goes {BTW…I’ve linked each of the original posts and be sure to click on the pics for a larger view, too}…

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

eeek…that was harder than I thought it would be!! I wanted to pick 2 or 3 for each month!!

Welcome to the first Saturday of the Month here on i{heart}2stamp! The first Saturday of the month brings not only a brand new sketch, but also brings aboard a new Designer of the Month {YAY!}. This month I would like to welcome Amy White from the UK!

Here’s a little about Amy in her own words…
I’ve always loved creating things - I have been fascinated with rubber stamps for as long as I can remember (I still have the first one I bought as a kid!). I was introduced to card making about 5 years ago while on holiday, and have been completely hooked ever since. I became a Stampin’ Up demonstrator almost two years ago and I love it! As well as making cards for my workshops and classes, I also make them for my church bookshop, as well as my sister in Australia (my biggest fan!). I get my inspiration from surfing blogs and SCS and I love participating in sketch challenges as it gives me a great starting point. I’m so honoured to be playing along with Jen’s awesome team for November!

Be sure to check out HER BLOG and SCS gallery!

Here’s this week’s sketch…

Here’s my take on it, using some Unity Stamps that I have had for weeks and needed some serious lovin’…

Detail Shot…

Here’s Amy’s beautiful card using Verve Stamps…

Want to see more SFYTT goodness? Check out the SFYTT sisters…
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Kelly Lunceford
Susan Liles
Leigh O’Brien

I hope you will play along with us!! Just be sure to link your card here with Mr. Linky! If you have any issues with Mr. Linky, just email me {link under my pic}…

I mentioned the other day that I am desperate to stamp “just because.” Well, yesterday I did it! I got some new MFT stamps that I recently ordered and I wasn’t about to let them collect any dust, so I got crackin’ and made this card {can you tell I am in a Halloween-y mood?}…

A couple of detail shots…

If some of you are scratching your head saying “Didn’t you used to design for them and don’t you do pub work for them?”…you are right. I just did this card out of the blue, though. No pub call, no submission request, no…nothing! Can you tell I feel a little liberated. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE being on DTs and it really doesn’t seem like “work,” but I have done it with all my heart for so long that I actually think that I forgot the “just because” stuff. It feels good. What’s even better, I really like how this card came out

As for the deets…
I started off with a 5 x 5 base created from PTI Vintage Cream cardstock and then layered it with Bo Bunny orange on orange polkas matted with black. That panel and the main image panel have stitching around all four edges. The main image panels’ edges are also sponged {before I stitched}. The 2 big clouds and the girl, both from the Too Cute To Spook set, are popped up on dimensionals from Jody. The sentiment panel is Prism Intense Kiwi and is punched with a border punch from EK Success {gotta love those Michael’s coupons!}. As for my finishing touches, I added Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles rhinestones, punched stars and a PTI button with twine tied in a bow on the back side {love the way that looks!}.

On a side note, I want to thank everyone that supported me on THIS POST about not supporting the SU! changes. Even if you don’t…that’s OK!! I appreciate that we all can have different opinions on the subject. I know that some demos don’t believe that it is anyone’s business what is happening on the demo side. I have to disagree. Just think of any company out there. Don’t you want to know what their practices are and don’t you want to support those that you agree with? There are other companies within this industry {which will remain unnamed} that I don’t agree with either. Guess what?…they don’t get my business. If you want to think of it like politics, I guess that is kinda what it’s like. Some get my vote, some {very few} don’t. Let’s just keep this a happy and friendly industry to play in!
Several of you have emailed me personally and I have not had time to respond to each one. I have read all of them, though. I cringe every time I open an email titled “SU changes” or the like, out of fear that I am going to get a brutal lashing. So far, no lashings. …thank you!

Don’t know if I will be posting tomorrow, but you know I will be back on Saturday with another SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY.