Sites of the week

Are you ready for some more Verve-a-licious-ness? Today myself, along with several of the Verve Divas and Guest Divas are peeking two new sets that are going to be released this Friday, A Happy Hello and Kind Words. Both of these sets have a lot of versatility and can be suited for any style. I can’t believe that I was able to sit down and not only create both of these back to back {thanks for the good nap, Nic!}, but to make them so different from each other. In the past, I have found that once I am in one frame of mind/creativity that is the direction that I will take for awhile.

Here’s the more elegant of the two, using the to-be-released on Friday set, Kind Words…

This next one is a little more “cute-sy” and uses A Happy Hello…


Here are some deets about this Verve release…
1. The Release Party is on Friday, August 20th at 8pm EST on the Verve Forum on SCS
2. You’ll wanna check out THIS THREAD for a chance to win a $25 Verve gift certificate or possibly THE ENTIRE RELEASE!
3. This is the biggest release of the year!!

Excited yet? We are, too! Go on and check out what all these divas have for you…
Sankari
Lynda
Charmaine
Amber
Maureen
Sony
Julee
Teresa
Michelle
Amy
Jackie
Mercy

Psssssst…don’t forget to leave a little love at each stop along the way for a chance to win some Verve stamps!!

It’s time to give you a little teaser of the new a´ la mode from My Favorite Things…Time to Celebrate! <--it IS time to celebrate about it, but that’s the name of the set, too

Several of the MFT Design Team girls have a peek at this fun set for you to check out. You can find a full list on Kim/The MFT blog HERE at 11am EST.

These a´ la mode sets {which are in rubber, don’t forget!} are great to color, but also leave plenty of room to paper piece… and you know I love that! I didn’t end up paper piecing this girl, but I would love to find some great brown and pink papers to do the cake with {or any other cake-ish color combo for that matter!}. You have to check out the framed image that Carole has of one of the a la mode girls HERE…WOW, I’m jealous!

This is just one of two a´ la modes that are being released tonight at 10pm EST, along with the VIP kit that will be including an exclusive mini set that will not be available after this VIP offering.

Have you been checking out all the new Verve Sneak Peeks? We’re doing it a little different this month, so listen up! Instead of having a handful of cards on the Verve blog, the Divas are hosting their own sneak peeks on their blogs. Of course there are prizes to go along with this, so be sure to leave a little love {a comment} on all of the sneak peek posts as those prizes are hidden along the way.

Today we are showing you two of the new sets: Birthday Bash and Carpe Cupcake. Both are such fun sets and I have had a blast working with them!

Here’s a list of the Divas and Guest Divas who are showing you some of the fabulosity of these two sets…

1. Me {you know this!}
2. Julee
3. Michelle
4. Sony
5. Jackie
6. Teresa
7. Maureen
8. Jen T.
9. Amber
10. Tosh

Here’s my sample using Carpe Cupcake, with the “Birthday Girl” sentiment from Birthday Bash! I love the size of the “Seize The Cupcake” sentiment and I used it to create my own pattern paper that acts as a backsplash to the cupcake…

Detail shot…

Here’s a peek at the cutie patootie Birthday Bash set…

These balloons are great to both color and paper piece. I went ahead and paper pieced these and then topped them with Diamond Glaze. The stars are topped off with Diamond Stickles…

Ok, scroll back up and check out the great samples the other Divas have created!!

Greetings All! Thank you to everyone for the FB and emailed birthday wishes. I spent my special day in Austin at the lake with my family. Here is a pic of the sun rising over the lake…

So in all the hustle and bustle of taking a quickie trip to Austin, I got my days just a wee bit mixed up. I thought that MFT’s Greatest Hits: Clearly Sentimental was supposed to be today {you can see the links for everyone that did play along correctly HERE}. I didn’t design this sketch to be used with a smaller sentiment, so when I sat down to create this I had an “oh shoot” {or some form of that expression} moment. I still got it done, although it’s not quite like I want it. Then I got an email from Joanne yesterday saying, “Aren’t you playing with us?” Yep, I had another one of those “oh shoot” moments…followed by a smack to my forehead. It was a little too late to do anything other than just go with the original plan of having this as my MFT card. Oh well!

Now that I have just completely told on myself with all this business about this and that, why don’t I just show you the sketch and my card??

The sketch…

My card using the MFT set, Clearly Sentimental About You…

I wish I would have taken a picture of how I created the center panel, but I didn’t {there I go telling on myself again!}, so I will just have to tell you. I wanted a more substantial panel than the Framed Greetings Die-Namics, so I glued 2 of them together and put a strip of cardstock up the middle to hide the seam. Easy peasy and it created a great shaped panel!!

Designer of the Month, Ashley N. Newell, has created this cutie patooootie card using this week’s sketch…

Of course THE SFYTT SISTERS have some great inspiration for you to check out…
Susan Liles
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O’Brien
Megan Lock
Amber Hight
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Jenn Diercks
Carole Burrage

Want to play along? I think that you will have a great time with this sketch! Just upload your creation to the link system below so we can all see what you’ve come up with! When uploading to any online galleries, please use the keyword “SFYTT” and if you want to get the sketches early, just become a Facebook friend {link over there on the left}. I post the sketches on Friday’s over there

Happy TCP Tuesday!!

This week’s challenge is being co-hosted by Joanne and Carole. Joanne’s been your “it girl” for all color challenges, but the torch is being passed to Carole. Be on the lookout for some bright color challenges coming your way! This week is pretty mellow and fun with a combination of kraft, red and denim blue. I hope you have fun playing with these colors like I did. They certainly aren’t ones that I would have thought to grab on my own {that’s why I love challenges!!}…

Here’s my card using the favorite TCP “go to” set, A Beary Good Year…

I used a combination of Pink Paislee {blue} and The Girls Paperie {red} papers paired with kraft and white cardstock to complete this challenge. Using pattern paper is an easy way to bring color to a project. I didn’t always like using pattern paper and would use stamped or embossed cardstock instead. Granted, that was a long time ago!! I quickly learned that the patterns were fun to mix and match and the colors were a great addition to my cards/projects.

In addition to the papers adding some “umph” to projects, die cuts are all the rage with several companies producing their own, including The Cat’s Pajamas. TCP affectionately calls their dies “CutUps.” I used the Flower Buttons die set to create the layered flower on the bottom of the card. It’s topped off with some INCREDIBLE linen thread that doesn’t pill, break or fray!!

Alright folks, enough blah blah blah…I’ve got kids to feed around here I hope you will play along for a chance to win some serious Cat Cash…$$ to spend on TCP products. You can find all the “how to” deets on entering this challenge on Alma’s/TCP blog. Happy stamping and good luck!