It's SFYTT Time

It's Saturday already, and time for another Jen del Muro "Sketch for You to Try." Be sure to visit i{heart}2stamp to see the sketch, Jen's sample, and guest designer Joanne Basile's sample. Then head over to see what Carole, Shannan, and Susan have put together. If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword SFYTT, so everyone can see all the projects in one place.

The chick stamp is the same one I used a couple days ago to make my line-dancing chicks. It came from the Michael's dollar bin. I think it's just too adorable! I used circle nestabilities for the focal point image (Jen's sketch shows an oval, by the way). The ribbon slide comes from the new Styled Silver hodgepodge hardware kit. I dotted a circle of liquid pearls onto the slide to go along with the pearls elsewhere on the card (which come from the Pretties kit). The flowers are from the Heavenly line by Prima. For the centers of each flower, I used a decorative brad (again from the Styled Silver HPH kit) topped with a half pearl.

Stamps: Chick (Studio G, Michael's $1 bin)
Paper: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, stamper's select white (by Papertrey), dp from the Delightful simply scrappin kit (I think it was one of last year's Sell-A-Bration selections?)
Ink: Summer Sun, Really Rust, Soft Sky
Accessories: Pretties kit, Styled Silver hodgepodge hardware kit, classic and scalloped circle nestabilities (by Spellbinders), aqua painter, dimensionals, scallop scissors (by Creative Memories), rose 1/4" grosgrain, celery 5/8" grosgrain

Line-Dancing Chickies

Don't these little chickies look like they're having so much fun? I was inspired by a ridiculously cute Penny Black chicky stamp that I saw recently on Paula Williamson's blog. My group of dancing chicks was done with a stamp that I found in the dollar bin at Michael's. I stamped the image twice for the front row, then masked those two and stamped again three times for the back row. Voila, a chorus line was born.

Along the way, I got stuck with my color scheme, so I turned to my yellow color drawer for inspiration. (My embellishments are stored by color, Stacy Julian-style -- I LOVE it!) As soon as my eyes landed on this gold mesh-looking stuff, my chorus line turned into a hoedown. Can't you hear the "Achy Breaky" right now? [If you check out that video, I really must ask: "Have you ever seen that much big hair or that many pairs of tight jeans in once place???"]

I'm submitting this card for the My Favorite Things guest designer challenge, which is to make a monochromatic card or project. Wanna play too? Get right on it ... the contest closes tonight at 10 pm EST.

By the way, is anyone else taking Stacy Julian's Library of Memories class? I'm supposed to be auditing it as an alumni, but I haven't yet made it into the classroom. Is it week 2 already?

Stamps: chick stamp from Michael's $$ bin; Canvas & Crosshatch backgrounds from Stampin' Up
Paper: More Mustard, So Saffron, Stamper's Select White (by Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Palette Noir, Summer Sun, Really Rust
Accessories: primas, vintage brads, 1/4" circle punch, distressing tool, sponge daubers, foam mounting tape, aqua painter, sewing machine, mesh "ribbon" (source unknown, you can get this in the floral sections of craft stores, it's often used to make bows for wreaths)

Hip Hip Hooray

Three things to celebrate this week:

1. I won some GREAT heart candy from Cindy Vernon. Be sure to check out her blog, Creating with the Heart. Fun projects, lots of inspiration, and more giveaways (every Friday, I think).

2. I let the submissions deadline for the June issue of CARDS come and go (January 15th) without sending anything. Of course, after the fact, I was kicking myself, wishing I had at least sent something. So it was a surprise to get an acceptance email from them anyway. They selected something I had sent in the month before. So for me, an unexpected extra happiness!

3. This one is so fun! I passed 100 subscribers through FeedBlitz! That's a big deal for me :) To celebrate, I'm putting together a package of goodies for Robin, who was subscriber #100. Fun! To start, she'll have her choice from a few extra stamp sets I have sitting around. And then, just for a little extra fun, I added one item from each of my color drawers (where all of my embellishments are stored by color). I hope she enjoys getting a bunch of random little embellishments.

Here's what I chose:
metallic: two silver and two copper swirl paper clippies
clear: set of 8 acrylic frames/slides
brown: this drawer is a little sparse, but I found some magic mesh that looked fun
purple: surprisingly, this drawer is a little sparse too (maybe dd has been raiding the stash), but I found a paper flower
black/gray: roll of black and white gingham ribbon
white: two snowflake brads
blue: library card
green: metal arrow
red:partial package of red Stampin' Up eyelets
orange: partial package of Heidi Swapp flowers
yellow: skein of funky fringe knitting yarn ... neat to use any place you'd put ribbon or fibers
pink: Heidi Swapp pink-tinted ghost flower
chipboard: one large circle with cut-out flower by Bazzill

Today's card is also for Robin. It uses the same Seeing Stars set from Verve that I used yesterday, as well as one of the $1 clear stamps from Michael's. Circles are done with nestabilities, stitching was with a machine, and all the stars are popped up on dimensionals.

Stamps: Seeing Stars (Verve Visual); sentiment from Studio G $1 set from Michael's
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Confetti Tan, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Outlaw dp
Accessories: wide chocolate grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals
Size: 4 1/4" x 4 1/4"