June SFYTT - Maisy Ketto

Any ideas how it got to be June already? Eeek, what happened to May? And April, too, for that matter? The good news with it being June already is that it's time for a brand-new Sketch For You To Try! This month, our sponsor is Stamping Bella! I'm super excited because on my mental list of images I wish I had more time to stamp with, my Bellas would be at or very near the top!

I've used Maisy Ketto for today's card. Coloring is with Copic markers, finished with Prismacolor pencils. The papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Salt Air. The cardstock die-cut flowers and butterfly are also from CC. I tucked in a Verve sentiment (from Fairy Tales), which I die-cut using Li'l Inker's fabulous little Sentiment Flags die. Perimeter stitching is all by hand using both taupe and ivory threads. The string along the bottom is just some basic household string.

Here's the sektch:

The SFYTT sisters have been busy making gorgeous sketch samples. Click around and you'll see what I mean! Be sure to give Joanne Basile a warm welcome -- she's our June guest designer!!


Jen del Muro with guest designer Joanne Basile
Amber Hight
Carole Burrage
Jen Tapler
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Kerry Johnson
Megan Lock (coming later)
Susan Liles
Terri Moore

We bid a fond (and hopefully temporary) farewell to Sony Christoph  this week. She's stepping down due to her current course load, which sounds positively monstrous. Good luck and hang in there, Sony!

To play along with the June SFYTT, just make a card or other project using the sketch and link it up HERE anytime before the end of the month. Those who participate in all of the 2011 sketch challenges will be eligible for a mega prize drawing at the end of the year. And remember, all future guest designers are chosen from current participants!

Cheers!




Stamps: Maisy Ketto (Stamping Bella)
Paper: Papertrey Kraft and Vintage Cream, Copic XPress-It blending card stock, Cosmo Cricket Salt Air
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Versamagic Thatched Straw
Accessories: Spellbinders circle, lacey circles, and Labels Sixteen Nestabiltiies, Stampin' Up corner rounder, paper piercer, needle, thread, foam adhesive, Li'l Inker Designs Sentiment Flag die, Cosmo Cricket Salt Air cardstock die-cuts, Papertrey button, household string
Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Out On A Limb For You

Just checking in with a quick post this beautiful Friday afternoon. I've put together a little something for the Color Throwdown Challenge #144:

The cutie-pie image, from Tree Limb Cling Stamp Set by Stampendous, is colored with Copic markers. The leaf trio and bird are popped up for dimension. The sentiment tag is one of those metal-rimmed tags that were sooooo popular a while back (like several years back!). The pink polka-dot panel was die-cut with a Grand Labels Four Nestabilities die using my Grand Calibur (love the big cutting size!). I pleated some woodgrain pattern paper in a kind of whimsical, sloppy fashion, then tied some hemp twine around it. To finish off, I added a random sprinkling of black buttons for a little pop. My papers are by My Mind's Eye. The pink, I believe, is from Life of the Party, and the green is from Out of the Blue.
Update: My bad ... the pink is from Tickled Pink and the green is from Happy Go Lucky. Sorry about that!

My youngest son and I went up to the local farm where we have our CSA membership to pick up our first box of produce today.

I loved watching Gabe jump on the giant jumping pillow ...

... while waiting for the tractor, which took us out to the u-pick strawberry fields ...

... where we picked these!

Bonus: those berries haven't been sprayed with a single chemical, the sky was a picture-perfect light blue, and the morning was breezy and in the mid-'70s. Does it get any better?

Have a great weekend!

Verve Inspirations Hop - #1 Dad

Today I'm excited to join in with the Verve Diva Inspirations team for its monthly blog hop! You'll find the master list below and over at the Verve Stamps blog. My card features one of the June Stamps of the Month  Dad's Day, along with some Out of the Blue papers by My Mind's Eye. More sale info below.

1. Julee 9. Andrea 2. Betty 10. Sankari 3. Dawn 11. Maureen 4. Jen d. 12. Teresa 5. Jen T. 13. Tosh 6. Lynda 14. Amy 7. Shannan 15. Charmaine 8. Susan 16. Amber

We've hidden a little mystery prize on one of today's hop spots, so be sure to leave a little comment love as you hop around for a chance to win!
Comment Deadline: 11:59pm Mountain, June 5
Prize: $30 gift certificate to Verve

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June Stamp of the Month :  We're having double the fun and featuring two sets... Dad's Day and American Hero!At 40% off during the month of June, these two sets are a super big deal!

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A brand new month also brings along a new sale here at Verve! During the month of June, you'll find savings on stamps for all the men in your life. Find out which sets are on sale by visiting our Sale page.

Enjoy the hop!

Life Is Like A Butterfly

"Life is like a butterfly.

It goes where it pleases & pleases where it goes."

JustRite Stampers has a stamp set called Butterfly Gardens, and coincidentally Pink Paislee has a Butterfly Garden paper collection. Both were floating around the chaos that is my workspace at present, and I couldn't resist putting them together just for fun. I also threw in some shapely die-cut panels done with the awesome Donna Salazar Creative Book Pages dies from Spellbinders. These have been calling my name since I first saw them back in January! Some stitching, seam binding, bling and a floral cluster provide the finishing touches.

Some detail shots:

The sentiment is stamped in white, then heat embossed with white embossing powder. The white piece to the right was done with one of the dies in the Fleur-de-Lis Doily Accents Shapeabilities set by Spellbinders.

The larger flower is from Prima's Innoscence 2 flower collection. The smaller flower is a Kaisercraft Coconut Paper Bloom. Both have been dotted with some Stardust Stickles for some sparkle. The peach crinkled seam binding has been tied into a double bow and topped with a button. It's hard to see in the photo, but I also tucked in a Webster's Pages butterfly stick pin.

Here and there, I added a little bit of Krystallos Vintage Glass Glitter Shards by Art Institute Glitter. You can see it along the edge of the Creative Book Pages diecuts.

The butterfly was punched twice from vellum cardstock using a Martha Stewart punch. The bling in the background is by Zva Creative. (And I really should stick something on that butterfly to hide the glue dot, don't you think?)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Love Deepens

While browsing through this month's Viva La Verve gallery on Splitcoast yesterday, I was so inspired by the many clean, crisp designs and thought I'd give that style a go, too. As much as I love the shabby, vintage, distressed look, I've been feeling like so many of my designs are all starting to look the same, so this was a nice change of pace. (I mean, really, I didn't sponge anything!) The papers are from Pink Paislee's Soiree collection. Overall, Soiree is filled with bright, saturated colors and patterns, but this more subtle coral/gray/splashes-of-lime hides out in there, too.

The sentiment, from Verve's Love Deepens set, is stamped in gray onto a green circle diecut. The flowers, from Bloom & Grow, are stamped first in Stampin' Up's Groovy Guava and then overstamped with white craft ink. The leaves (also from Bloom & Grow) were done with a mixture of  Versamagic Key Lime and Tea Leaves. Both the flowers and leaves were die-cut with Verve's "A Cut Above" dies: Floral Circles and Elegant Leaves. I gave the sentiment circle a white mat using a Spellbinders Peony Nestabilities die. The wavy edge complements the wavy edge of the Verve dies. The green string stuff is some Karen Foster scrapper's floss from my stash.

The layout is this month's Sketch for You To Try (really, really love this one!!):

Since changing to a monthly format, the SFYTT designers all like to post at least two sketch samples each month, just to keep the inspiration going and make sure you don't forget about us! Guess who almost forgot this month? But there's still another day yet to get your project created and linked up, so if you haven't done so yet, I hope you'll still play along! Your Next Stamp, our sponsor this month, has provided a generous 10% discount during May for SFYTT fans. Just use coupon code SFYTTMAY at checkout.

Before I go, wanted to wish my fellow Americans a Happy Memorial Day. And to all of the men and women who serve or have served in our armed forces, I'm truly humbled by your service and grateful for the freedoms I enjoy because of you. Thank you!

Hello, Fairy Friend

While my husband and the kids made a little trip to the ice cream parlor, I consoled my weight watching, hungry, sugar-craving self with some stamp therapy. I used Tosh's Viva La Verve Week 5 Sketch:

There are five Viva La Verve sketches this month. If you make a card with each of them, link your creations up to the Sketch Champions thread in the Verve Forum by midnight CT Thursday, June 2 for a chance to win an upcoming Verve release in its entirety. For more info, visit any of the May Viva La Verve sketch challenge threads in the Verve Forum. Please feel free to play along with Verve or any other stamps you have on hand.

I deviated from the sketch a tiny bit by bringing the tilted panels forward a layer or two -- all because I accidentally stitched closed the pocket I'd created for those two tilted panels. Doh! The vintage fairy image is part of Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden collection, as are the other papers. The sentiment, from Verve's Hope Blooms, is stamped on top of a flower from Bloom & Grow, then die-cut with one of the Floral Circles dies. The leaf cluster stamp is from Bloom & Grow as well, and it has been die-cut with Verve's Elegant Leaves die.

Don't forget ...

Verve's annual Memorial Day Sale is here!!

--May 27 through May 31 --

Save 20% off all stamps and 10% off all dies!

Limited to stock on hand. Discount cannot be applied to previous purchase.

Thanks for visiting! Hope many of you are enjoying a long holiday weekend!




Stamps: Bloom and Grow, Hope Blooms (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Stampin' Up Naturals White card stock, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden dp
Ink: Versamagic Jumbo Java, Sage, Tea Leaves, Wheat and Thatched Straw, Ranger Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress
Accessories: Verve Elegant Leaves and Floral Circles dies, seam binding, paper piercer, needle, thread, sewing machine, muslin, Zva Creative bling, Maya Road Kraft tickets, May Arts burlap string, Cuttlebug Seeing Spots embossing folder, sanding block, Stampin' Up dimensionals
Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Verve Memorial Day Sale

Verve's annual Memorial Day Sale is here!!

--May 27 through May 31 --

Save 20% off all stamps and 10% off all dies!

Limited to stock on hand. Discount cannot be applied to previous purchase.