Sites of the week

Way back when I was an SU! demo, and before I was really into coordinating pattern papers, I would create my own pattern paper using background stamps. Having a plethora {yes, seriously, that many!} of backgrounds from Market Street Stamps has gotten me in the mood to create my own pattern paper again. It’s also feeding my want to do some cards in a scrappy style…

I did a white embossed {Cuttlebug} panel atop the white 4.25″ square base and then layered each of the circles. Originally, I had 4 circles and I lined them up with 2 on top and 2 on bottom, but I like this a lot better. Can you tell that the heart in the center of the circles are popped up?…

And, of course, a sentiment flag…

Can you believe a total of 5 different MSS stamps went into making this lil’ card?…

Cane Background
Loopy Loo Polkas Background
Pretty Perfect Grid Background
Sweet Lace Background
Birds of a Feather

All of the MSS background stamps are A2 size so that the entire base of your card can be covered, or you can use pieces like I did here. I used to have a giant background stamp block, but somewhere along the way it has disappeared. I quickly figured out that was not a problem {YAY}! I can ink up my background stamp, lay my paper right on top of it and press lightly. Viola!

Be on the lookout starting next Monday for some sneak peeks of some great new Market Street Stamps!

It makes me chuckle that as a paper crafter, I am always moving onto the next holiday just as one has barely passed by. I savor making Halloween all the way until Oct. 31, but the Jack-o-Latern’s light hasn’t blown out before I’m making stuff for Turkey Day and Christmas. I think I was sketching out Valentine ideas on Christmas Eve, so it’s no surprise that Valentine’s was just yesterday and I am fast-forwarding to Mother’s Day today{I’ll have to make a u-turn for St. Paddy’s!}…

I actually made this card early last week when I got the My Mind’s Eye -Miss Caroline- Howdy Doody- line. Can you see that I just couldn’t decided on a pattern?…LOL!! Or a banner size for that matter! Both the banner dies, the label die and the sentiment are from the Flags & Tags Stamp and Die set from Lil’ Inker. This set is quickly making it to must have/go-to short list for me! Very versatile and fun! As much as I LOVE to color, I also love putting together something that’s a bit more on the “scrappy” side and this set fits the bill for that, for sure!

Yes, it’s a little wild and crazy on the pattern and the banners, but I like it. I don’t think that I could roll with it with bright colors, but I like the subdued hues.

I have a little boy that doesn’t understand, “Let Mommy type this out for 5 mins.” so I am off to take care of his craziness and feed some geese. Hopefully he won’t say “Awww” and try to hug them this time!! EEK!

***SECOND POST OF THE DAY! PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR FIRST POST***

Can you believe that the 4th of July in just 2 weeks {ok, a little more than that}? Weren’t we just battling snow and ice? Seems like this year is flying by…just like all the others!

After making the patriotic shadowbox the other day, I still had the Verve set, American Hero {currently ON SALE…a really good sale, too!}, sitting on my desk. Hmmm…what to do, what to do!?! Make a cute lil’ acetate tag is what you do…

I first cut the acetate tag with my Labels 19 Nestabilities die and then embossed half of it. The bottom portion is covered with pattern paper on both sides. The front side is stamped with the “4th of July” sentiment and I adorned the star with yet another {embellished} star…

The rosette was created with the Easy Rosette die and cut from some fabby Pink Paislee paper that has stars on it. I {heart} using pattern paper with simple designs to make these rosettes. I think it provided the “punch” for this project. The firecracker was a late addition, but I am glad that I decided to add it. It was just what this embellishment/sentiment needed…

I added a little bling bling to make it shine and then topped it off with some {very} thick hemp twine and linen thread. I was going to go with ribbon, but I needed/wanted something to complement the kraft cardstock on the tag. Subtle, yet effective.

Hope you all are finding fun inspiration for all your patriotic projects. I’m off to keep creating! Have a great weekend!

It’s time for the March Creative Challenge from the My Favorite Things DT. This month we are bringing you home decor projects made using the MFT Die-Namics dies. We recently did a makeover on Ellie’s room. It used to be painted green and she was BEGGING us to paint it pink. So, a couple weeks ago when she went to Disneyland with family in California, Tony and I got busy and painted it “Fairest of Them All.” Four nights and three coats of paint later, she had a pink room. I also added some flowers and butterflies throughout room {pics coming soon…PROMISE!}, so I thought that it would be fun to make something with the Die-Namics Butterflies that would compliment the rest of the decor.

My inspiration came solely from THIS project Making Memories.

Although, I had a lot of trouble capturing a good picture of my mobile I hope from the several mediocre ones that I did get you can see how it came out {cute, if I do say so myself!}…

I cut out A LOT of butterflies from the Echo Park Springtime {and Little Girl??} line and attached them to clear thread hanging from the inside circle of an embroidery circle.

I added tulle around the embroidery circle to make it a little more POOF-Y…

One suggestion I would make if you choose to do one of these…Attach your tulle before attaching your line of butterflies {or whatever suits you}. I don’t know what I was thinking doing these in reverse, but I did and it was a mess at times. All of the strings would have had 3 large, 3 medium and 3 small butterflies, but some of the strings got tangled. Then, more got tangled. Words were said and scissors made an appearance. I like what I ended up with still, but it was a learning {the hard way} experience!

Ok, enough of my jibber jabbering! There are lots of home decor items to see from many of the MFT girls! You can see a full list on Kim’s blog HERE! Enjoy!!

That’s right, it’s Anni-VERVE-sary time again! Verve Stamps is celebrating 3 years today! I am so happy to say that I have been with Verve for these 3 years and it has been a wonderful ride. It’s rare that I meet someone that is not familiar with Verve, but when I do I get to tell them about the beautiful stamps and the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING SENTIMENTS! There’s no way I could pinpoint one thing that’s my favorite, but I have to say that the sentiments are right at the top of the list. They give me a chance to make scrappy type cards that I might not otherwise make, but adore creating. With that in mind, I created my card for our Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop.

Yep, I said HOP! That means that you should have started at the Queen of “V” Julee’s blog and come here via Tosh’s blog. There’s lots of Verve eye candy and candy along the way. Yep, I said CANDY…meaning that there are some special prizes hidden along the way, so be sure to give some love at each of your stops for a chance to win! You’ll be checking out creation from all of us Divas, as well as awesome Verve fans and customers.

Here’s my card using a sentiment from the set SWEET ON YOU, which you have a chance to win just by leaving a comment on this post!…

If you check out the other sentiments in the set, you will see that these are all meant to be paired up with some sort of popular candy like “You’re a Lifesaver” and “Love You to Pieces”…as in Reese’s Pieces. The sentiment that I used can be paired up with just about any candy that comes multicolored. I actually used this sentiment and pattern paper idea on THIS project. I paired that with the ricrac idea that I had on THIS project.

See why I love Verve sentiments??

Ok, did I do enough BLAH BLAH BLAH? Just kidding

It’s time to hop, hop, hop on over to Libby’s blog for more Anni-VERVE-sary greatness.