Proverbs 31:28

Happy Monday, blog friends, hope you had a great weekend celebrating fathers everywhere! I put together today's card using Sankari's Viva La Verve sketch (turned on its side). It's a unique and fun sketch -- hope you'll give it a shot for a chance to win some Verve! Challenge details are posted HERE.

The Scripture stamp is Verve's Proverbs 31:28 Plain Jane and the papers are from the adorable Emma's Shoppe collection by Crate Paper. I love this Scripture and am so glad to have it stamp form -- great for celebrating mothers on Mother's Day or any other time! I'm hanging on to this card to give my mom on her birthday later this summer. She and my oldest son almost share a birthday. Cole, her first grandchild, was born the day before my mom turned 60. Ever since then, I've felt like her birthday gets a little overshadowed by his. She is, of course, more than happy for him to have the birthday spotlight, but even so, I want to make sure her day is special, too! So this is just a small head-start at making sure that happens!

Card details include sanded and distressed edges, stitching, baker's twine, paper curlycues, and some uber sweet Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Eclectic Buttons. I've had these buttons quite a while and had to overcome major urge-to-hoard tendencies before using them on a card -- they're that cute! On the other hand, since they're that cute, USE THEM, share them, enjoy them, right?

Update to add: I forgot to mention that my mother is a retired librarian, an antique collector, and an extremely sentimental person. She has saved all sorts of things from my childhood and even hers. The Emma's Shoppe pattern that is a series of vintage children's book spines is absolutely perfect for her!

Have a happy day!





Stamps: Proverbs 31:28 Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Kraft and Rustic Cream card stock, Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe dp, Basic Grey Ivory Basics dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Papertrey Fresh Snow, Versamagic Wheat and Aquatic Splash
Accessories: Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Eclectic Buttons, Papertrey twine, Spellbinders classic circle Nestabilities, foam adhesive, sanding block, paper piercer, needle, thread, My Favorite Things Little Open Scallop Die-namics, distressing tool, corner rounder
Size: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

Sweet(tea}

I love this darling image, Clementine the Teapot Girl, available at Stamping Bella, sponsor of this month's Sketch For You To Try. I adore anything with a teapot; add that sweet little girl with her precious pigtails and I'm a goner! Clementine is colored with Copic markers to coordinate with the Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe papers I chose. The letters on the sentiment banner were stamped with some old mini foam stamps from my stash. The layout is this month's Sketch For You To Try ...

To play along, just use the sketch, upload to your blog or an online gallery, and link up to Jen's June SFYTT post before the end of the month! Looking forward to checking out all the beautiful entries!

Here's a closer look at the coloring. I really need some help with pinks -- they never seem to come out quite like I want!

Keeping it short today ... fighting off some kind of bug (thinking maybe my youngest gifted me with his strep throat -- thanks, buddy!) and trying to deal with the bomb known as Last Day of School that went off in my house yesterday afternoon. How about you ladies? If you have schoool-age kids, are they out now? Anyone in a school district with year-round school?

Love to all!

Stamper's Dream & Friends Blog Hop

Today, the Dream Team at Stamper's Dream and some very special guests have teamed up for a blog hop. Along the way, you'll find more eye candy than you'll think is even possible, plus you'll have a chance to win some hidden blog candy. Let's get going!

Here's today's hop order:

Debbie Olson
Becca Feeken
Michelle Rodgers
Laurie Schmidlin
Amy Sheffer (you're here)
Denise Marzec
Tosh Leyendekker
Mona Pendleton
Cindy Lawrence
Silke Ledlow
Arlene Cuevas
Charmaine Ikach
Mariana Grigsby
Lea Lawson
Joan Ervin
Teresa Kline
Jeanne Streiff
Kellie Fortin
Christina Fischer
Jo Thompson

And here's the blog candy that will be awarded to one random commenter along today's hop:

Be sure to leave lots of comment love to increase your chances of winning! Michelle will announce the winner this Thursday evening, the 16th.

For my card, I wanted to play with some newish goodies: Spellbinders Grand Calibur, Grand Labels Four Nestabilities, and Tim Holtz's Papillon stamp set by Stamper's Anonymous. I also incorporated a sentiment from You Are My Anchor by JustRite, a set with which, I must say, I'm quite taken.

I started by making the shaped card base using the largest Grand Labels Four Nestabilities and my Grand Calibur diecut machine. Next, I cut the green panel (a butterfly pattern from Graphic45's Once Upon A Springtime 8x8 pad) using the next smaller Grand Labels Four die. The sentiment, from You Are My Anchor, was stamped onto a  layered circle and lacey circle panel. I strung a Melissa Frances Super Mini Envelope and Tag (aren't they *adorable*?) from some crinkled seam binding, then embellished with a stamped and colored butterfly (from Papillon), some trim, a Zva Creative pearl flourish, stitching, and a chipboard glittery star.

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy the hop!

Happy Go Lucky Tag Trio

I made some super quick, easy thank-you tags last weekend for some year-end gifts, and whipped up a batch of extras to have on hand. I used the same basic layout each time, just changed the paper combos and sentiments to make three variations. The tag shape is die-cut with Verve's Sweet Scallop die, and the sentiments are all from Verve's Sweet Treats stamp set. The papers are Happy Go Lucky by My Mind's Eye.
 
They were so quick to assemble that I made three of each:

 And here's one in action, tied onto a clear cello bag containing an amazingly fragrant handmade bar of soap that I found at the local farmer's market.

I gave these away by themselves, but they'd also be perfect along with a gift card when you need a bigger gift.

Hope you're having a great weekend!





Stamps: Sweet Treats (Verve Stamps)
Paper: My Mind's Eye Happy Go Lucky, Papertrey Kraft
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Verve Sweet Scallop die, Stampin' Up 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, small star punch, and curly label punch, Papertrey buttons, The Twinery twine

Happy Birthday, Sailor

Nina's sketch (#118) over at Card Patterns was too interesting to pass up! I paired up JustRite's new You Are My Anchor with Webster's Pages Yacht Club papers to make a masculine card. Both the sentiment and captain's wheel image were stamped and diecut with Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities. I then stamped the captain's wheel a second time onto white card stock, colored it with Copics, trimmed it out, and popped it up for dimension. The boats are part of the Yacht Club paper design. I embellished with a couple of sailor knots, a die-cut border, distressing, and stitching. It didn't quite turn out like I had hoped, but I'm glad I gave the awesome sketch a try!

I have to show you the full You Are My Anchor set, now available at Stamper's Dream. Love this set!!

And here's the Card Patterns #118 sketch (I moved the circle element to the opposite side):

Happy Friday!



Stamps: You Are My Anchor 2" Round Borders & Centers (JustRite Stamps)
Paper: Stampin' Up Confetti White, Papertrey Ocean Tides and Kraft, Webster's PagesYacht Club 6x6 dp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper, Brushed Corduroy Distress, Papertrey Fresh Snow
Accessories: Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities, Copic markers, foam adhesive, Stampin' Up rope twine, string, Papertrey Eyelet Border die, paper piercer, needle, thread
Size: 5 1/2" square

Recycling Mojo

To everyone making "green" choices and reducing your footprint -- this card is for you! I printed the green recycling logo onto a ruled Basic Grey Basics pattern, then stamped the sentiment, from Verve's American Hero (currently 40% off as a June Stamp of the Month selection), on top.The little ribbon tails are a 5/8" lightweight ivory twill.

For the vertical strips, I tore up a page from an old architecture paperback. The horizontal strip is made up of some burlap, a narrow strip of corrugated cardboard, household string, and a scallop border that I die-cut with My Favorite Things' Open Scallop Border Die-namics die.

The layout is this week's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge (#194). It's a contest week, which means there are lots of Verve prizes available to challenge participants -- good luck! (Click the link for all the contest details.)

This is a different style of card for me -- thanks for looking!

Happy Tuesday!





Stamps: American Hero (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Kraft, text paper from recycled book, Basic Grey Basics White dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Walnut Stain Distress Ink, Versamagic Wheat chalk ink
Accessories: Spellbinders classic circle Nestabilities, 5/8" lightweight natural twill, MFT Open Scallop Border Die-namics, burlap, recycled cardboard box, household string, foam adhesive
Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Happiness Is You

Your Next Stamp sponsored last month's Sketch For You To Try, and this adorable image, Tea Time Fhiona, is what I chose to work with. It may be a new month/new sketch/new sponsor, but I just had to show this image some more love - it's so cute! I colored with Copics, sponged around the outside with Aquatic Splash VersaMagic chalk ink (with the Nestabilities die still in place), then added some hand-stitching.

The layout is last week's Card Positioning Systems sketch, #220. Turned sideways, it was perfect for this image. I kept the layout clean, with minimal layering and only a few embellishments ... a white crochet flower topped with a button, some baker's twine, a punched strip, dry embossing, and a little tab in the upper right where the sketch shows three small circles. The card base and background layers are Papertrey's Smokey Shadow card stock. The designer papers are from My Mind's Eye's Happy Go Lucky 6x6 pad.

Hope you had a great weekend! I spent too much time (and money) shopping for the kids and just the right amount of time watching baseball and enjoying some of the best weather ever! Today, laundry, the yet-to-be-planted vegetable garden, two half-finished home improvement projects and a dirty car are calling yelling my name.

Here's a photo of my 10-year-old doin' his baseball thing:

Have a fantastic day!





Stamps: Tea Time Fhiona (Your Next Stamp)
Paper: Copic X-Press It card stock, Papertrey Smokey Shadow card stock, My Mind's Eye "Happy Go Lucky" dp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMagic Aquatic Splash
Accessories: Spellbinders Rectangle Nestabilities, paper piercer/needle/thread, foam adhesive, Fiskars corner rounder, My Favorite Things Little Open Scallop border die, The Twinery twine, Stampin' Up white crochet flower, button from stash, Stampin' Up label punch, Cuttlebug Seeing Spots embossing folder
Size: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"