Sites of the week

Looking for the Verve blog hop? Click HERE

Looking for the Taylored Expressions blog hop? Click HERE

How did your shopping adventures go yesterday? I went late in the day, so I didn’t get any of those “doorbuster deals,” but Tony did. I kicked him out early to pick up a couple games and such at the dreaded and loathed Wally World {Wal-Mart}. I hit Michael’s and Kohl’s later in the day after my pedicure, which tickled oh so much!! At least I have pretty pink toes now!…before I left, I asked Ellie what color I should get and pink was her request. She requested that Rosie get purple, and was quite pleased when Rosie came back with dark purple toes.

I “warned” you earlier in the week that I would have a sketch that would make you think a little and here it is…

I have been in a scrappy run lately, and this is my latest scrappy creation…

Detail shot of the circles cut with Nestabilities dies. The leaves were cut with the Think Pink design card for Slice…

A huge thank you to Amy for playing with us this month. Here is her BEAUTIFUL creation…

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

I’m hoping that you are going to play along, too! Just link your creation to Mr. Linky below

Did you gobble ’til you wobbled? How many naps snuck in there after devouring your turkey feast? Well, I hope you had a good one! Since I am pre-posting this, I can’t tell ya how everything went on Turkey day yet. I hope to have stories and pics to share soon!

So, maybe you gobbled, then you wobbled, but now you are HOPPING! Yep, you are right smack in the middle of the Taylored Expressions Black Friday Blog Hop, so if you happened upon here on accident, you might just want to rewind and start at the beginning {there’s a full list of participants below}.

Taylor has challenged all of us to embellish the Perfect Pacakage box {which also comes in a square shape!}. So I opened it up {folds completely flat} and stared at it. Hmmm…what do I want to do with this? Yes, it fit standard cards perfectly. Hence the name, Perfect Package. However, I wasn’t putting cards in there. I ended up putting a scarf that I am giving to my secret sister in there, so I wanted to give it more of a gift box/wrapped feel and this is what I came up with…

Detail shots…

I don’t know that this is my “traditional” style, but I gotta say that I am pretty darn happy the way that it came out! The green numbered paper is from Making Memories and the numbered note card is from October Afternoon. I added a Nestabilities die cut scalloped circle to be the base of the “4u,” which was cut from the Think Pink Slice design card. I LOVE the new design cards that have the matting/shadow feature.

So what are your shopping plans? Mine?…none! Well, at least I am not going out anywhere, but that’s not to say that I’m not making Tony brave the crowds. He’s 6′7″ and people generally don’t push him around. You would think that people would get out of the way for a beached whale…giant pregnant lady, like myself, but NOPE! Between all the hormones and general uncomfortableness, I am likely to say something that’s not so nice should someone cross my path! LOL!

If your plans include online shopping, don’t forget to check out the BLACK FRIDAY DEALS at TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS!!…
–> 15% off everything in the store {use code TEBlackFriday at checkout}
–> up to 50% on JustRite products
–> Buy 2, get 1 free Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles
–> Don’t forget to check out the new shirts and aprons, too {so cute!!!!…and if I wasn’t the size of a beached whale, I would totally be checking out with one of the brown sleeved shirts!!}

Here’s the hop list. Have fun hopping along to JEN TAPLER’S BLOG! See you tomorrow for another SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY {this one will get ya thinking, too!!}

Alex Maldonado: http://fairyblossoms.typepad.com/
Amy Rohl: http://inkaboutme.blogspot.com/
Beate Johns: http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Bev Gerard: http://savorthejourney.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Charmaine Ikach: http://oodabugalley.blogspot.com/
Cindy Haffner: http://cindyhaffnerscorner.blogspot.com/
Debbie Olson: http://debbiedesigns.typepad.com/
Donna Baker: http://www.serenityinstamping.com/
Jami Sibley: http://jami.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
–> YOU ARE HERE Jen del Muro: http://iheart2stamp.com/
–> GO HERE NEXT Jen Tapler: http://jentapler.blogspot.com/
Jenn Balcer: http://jbalcer.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Jennifer Buck: http://thebuckstampshere.blogspot.com/
Jessica Diedrich: http://thewhimsicalbutterfly.blogspot.com/
Joan Ervin: http://stampingwithapassion.blogspot.com/
Joanne Basile: http://www.stampedbyhand.blogspot.com/
Linda Duke: http://www.lindaduke.typepad.com/
Lori Craig: http://loricraig.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Rose Anne Reynolds: http://paperdelightz.blogspot.com/
Sankari Wegman: http://sunnysankari.blogspot.com/
Sharon Harnist: http://paperfections.typepad.com/
Sherry Cheever: http://sherrycheever.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Taylor VanBruggen: http://www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/

Well, I got an email from Sara this morning saying that she had not slept and was still working on the overall site design. I told her to GO TO BED! So, the entire site isn’t all changed up yet…as I am sure that you can see, but I do have my cool new logo to show you {thank you Sara!}. TA-DA…

So, what do you think? Personally I love it and can’t wait to see how the entire site will be a reflection of this logo. Are you asking why I need a logo? If you are thinking that I am starting my own stamp company, I hate to break it to ya, but NO WAY! Not that it doesn’t sound like a fun adventure…just not one for me. I do have some other stuff that I am working and I really wanted I piece that I can identify with and people can identify with me. Make sense? Probably not, but play along, k?

As for the new stamps, I have been playing with some of the upcoming new release stuff from My Favorite Things. Although I am technically a DT member, I do have some of the upcoming stuff and I am happy to show it. Here is Valentine’s Flopsey…

Detail…

All of the sentiments that come with this set can fit into the heart that he is holding, but I just love the paper that I was working with that I wanted to do a little paper piecing to make it all matchy-matchy. Isn’t that they cutest paper. Paper Crafts sent it to me when I got one of my cards back from them. It’s from Dream Street Papers and I am definitely going to have to find out where to get my hands on some more. Too cute! The shape that they bunny is mounted on was cut from my Noteworthy Slice cartridge {Seriously, I can’t put this thing away!}. On the Kiwi Kiss panel, I ran it through the Cuttlebug after I cut it. As for the finishing touches, I added some paper piercing, white gel pen dots and K & Co. rhinestones. I have some more ideas for this lil’ guy, so be warned that this isn’t the last of him!

The My Favorite Things release is on Wednesday night. There will be a blog hop on Wednesday, starting on Kim’s blog. Instead of a full blown release “party,” there will be chatter in the MFT Forum on SCS just prior to the 10pm EST release.

So, did you all make it through the New Year’s celebrations? Tony and I were snoozing before midnight. Yep, big duds! That just means that next year that we have to have twice as much fun, right!?! I did get some crafting done on New Year’s Day, including today’s Sketch For You To Try. Being that it is the first Saturday of the month, I have a new Designer of the Month to introduce to you…

Please welcome Kirsten DuBosque! She’ll be adding her crafting genius to the weekly sketches all month.

Here is a little about Kirsten in her own words…
Hi! I’m Kirsten, or ked on Splitcoast! I was so excited when Jen emailed me about being her Designer of the Month! She’s always been one of my favorite stampers, so it wasn’t even a question! I’m a full-time SAHM / very part-time RN from Columbus, OH that relocated to the west coast of Florida with my Hubby, almost 8 years ago. I was a quilter, then after my little boy was born in 2004, I started scrapbooking. I had a few invites to go to stamping parties, but I refused, because I knew I couldn’t get into it “just a little bit”! Well, finally caved in 2006, and just as predicted, here I am! LOL

This “stamping world” has provided me with much more than I ever thought it would! Currently, I’m serving on two design teams - My Favorite Things and Lizzie Anne Designs, and I’ve had the privilege of having many things published. But most importantly, I have met so many people that I now can call my friends. You can’t ask for much more than that from a “hobby”!

HERE is a link to Kirsten’s blog.

The sketch for this week…

My sample uses a star for the embellishment panel, but feel free to use any shape you want. Remember, it’s all about having fun with the sketch! The center Raspberry Fizz {Papertrey Ink} panel was cut out with my Nestabilities and the numbers were cut out with my Slice {also pictured}. The cute lil’ martini glass charm is from Stamping Bella {GREAT quality charms, no chintzy metal!}.

Here is Kirsten’s sample, which I think is an absolute RIOT! Image is from Stamping Bella…

Wanna see more samples? Give some love to…
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Carole Burrage
Shannan Teubner
Susan Liles

Now for the STUFF…
1. The new look IS coming I promise! I feel like I have hyped it up so much and we’re still waiting. I talked to Sara yesterday and she is working on it. The original plan/layout couldn’t work, so we had to think of something else. I have about 15 donors for my blog tart that will coincide with the launch of the new look. I’m crossing my fingers for Monday, but I am not putting it up until it’s perfection. I promise the look and the tart will be worth the wait!

2. Do you have any creative resolutions? I got to thinking about the last time I did an SCS challenge and I could not remember when it was! Shame on me! I resolve to do more SCS challenges, in addition to meeting my personal goals that I mentioned on the first {learn more, to network more and to publish more}.

3. Did you see the new Verve Stamps challenges on SCS? You can check out the Viva la Verve challenges each Friday on the Verve Forum on SCS.

4. When I asked Tony a.k.a. i{heart}the stamper when he’ll be blogging again he said, “We’ll see.” I’m hoping that we will be “seeing” him again SOONER rather than later!

YAY! I used my Slice! At first I panicked because it would not cut through cardstock. With a quick little adjustment, I was on my way! If you are having problems like this, THIS PAGE on the Slice site has very helpful videos to watch. I love this resource page! What a wonderful idea…do you think anyone will catch on to this? {crossing fingers!}

I’m guessing that you really don’t want to hear too much about me in awe of their videos, and would rather see what I made. So here it is. I altered a tin to give to my friend, Rosie…

The plaque shapes behind the letters are from the Noteworthy design card, and the letters are from the FaLaLa design card. I used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder on the Kraft piece after I cut out the shape. I have yet to try to cut on anything other than flat cardstock or patterned paper.

I picked up this little crown at Paper Tales in San Diego. I am so proud of myself for you using it so quickly and not hoarding it! LOL!!

Here’s a detail shot of the flower {from Stamping Bella} and Swarovski crystal that I added for detail on either side of her name….

Finally, here is the top of the the tin. These are some Prima Sprites that I got at eclectic Paperie.

This morning I am back to the gym after a way to long break. I am sure I am going to feel it tomorrow! I had no problem taking in every guilty food pleasure yesterday as a last hoorah, knowing that I would be pack to the routine today {ugh!}.