You Have to Kiss A Lot of Toads ...

Happy Saturday!

Today's card doubles as my sample for both Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try and this week's challenge over at Our Creative Corner. I'm so accustomed to making cards with one main image panel, so I loved how this week's SFYTT forced me to think outside my box. The OCC challenge this week is to use at least two hearts. The Bittersweet background paper is full of them, plus I added two hearts to one of the toads. The images, from Anna Wight's Fish Friends by Whipper Snapper Designs, have been colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol. The sentiment is computer generated. Here's a look at the inside:



I'd love to give this to someone getting married or celebrating an anniversary. So fun!

For more SFYTT samples, visit Jen and guest designer Kirsten DuBosque at i{heart}2stamp, Amy Rohl, Carole Burrage, Kelly Lunceford, Shannan Teubner, and Susan Liles. To play along, link up your project as a comment on Jen's post. If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword: SFYTT.

For more OCC samples, visit the OCC blog or visit the individual designers' blogs: Cindy Haffner, Dawn Easton, Denise Marzec, Jackie Pedro, Jennifer Meyer, Julee Tilman, Kim Teasdale, Laurie Schmidlin, Lynda Benden, and Silke Ledlow. To play along, link your creation to the OCC blog. If you upload to SCS, use keyword: OCCC.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great weekend!




Stamps: Fish Friends (Whipper Snapper Designs)
Paper: Bittersweet (Basic Grey); Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Old Paper and Walnut Stain distress inks (Tim Holtz/Ranger)
Accessories: Prismacolors, Gamsol, blending stump, circle Nestabilities, vintage brads, paper piercer, narrow chocolate twill by SU, Offray wide brown twill, foam tape, sewing machine, BossKut flourish die
Size: 5 1/2" square
Note: The sentiment is computer-generated. Font is New Courier.

Viva La Verve

Have you checked out the new Viva La Verve sketch challenges? Verve Diva Amber Hight has been putting out some great sketches on Fridays, and each one has a "twist," or extra requirement. And you know how it is with Verve, right? It pays to play - Julee is always giving away something! The deadline for the January challenges has passed, but be sure to watch the Verve Member Company Forum on SCS for February's sketch challenges and get started early. (Do as I say, not as I do ... LOL! This is actually last week's sketch, but I really, really liked this sketch and wanted to try it!)

The three flowers are stamped on some dp by Around the block, heat embossed, and trimmed out. The white layers are all a heavy, textured watercolor paper. I picked up a tablet of a new-to-me type of watercolor paper a while back, since my local store was out of my preferred kind. I ended up not liking it for watercoloring, but it looks great as a card stock substitute.

Thanks for visiting!



Stamps: Meditations (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Mellow Moss, Baic Black (SU); watercolor paper (Canson); dp (Around The Block)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Accessories: clear ep, vintage brads, paper piercer, dimensionals (SU); black satin ribbon (Offray); lace border punch (Martha Stewart)
Size: 5 1/2" square

Verve Project Parade - Caught Being Kind

Today is my turn to post in the Verve Stamps "Kid At Heart" Project Parade. If you haven't tuned in yet to the parade so far, be sure to visit the Verve Stamps blog. There are some really darling project ideas!

I've created a little project inspired by my son's elementary school. I love his school's Caught Being Kind program, where teachers can award children who go above and beyond normal good manners and kindness, and the children who are caught have their names read on the next morning's announcements.

I know you'll be shocked {wink}, but my 8- and 5-year-olds (one boy, one girl) sometimes have "issues" getting along. Sound familiar? I'm thinking Caught Being Kind would be a great program to try at home as well. The idea is pretty much the same as the school's. Mom and Dad issue the awards, but instead of having their name read during announcements, the child will get a Caught Being Kind ticket at dinnertime and the family will make a big fuss over both the child and the act of kindness. To make the whole ticket thing a little more exciting, I created a special book to store the tickets. I love that they'll be able to keep track of how many they've earned, but even more, that they'll be able to read back through them as a reminder of what they did to get each ticket. Right now, I'm thinking we'll let them cash in their tickets for special rewards, like a movie date or a special breakfast out with Mom or Dad.

The cover and inside pages are cut using Stampin' Up's Top Note die. The title is done with JustRite Stamper products. I embellished with two brown-embossed hearts from Hundred Hearts. The inside pages are Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, and Baja Breeze, accented with scraps of Sassafrass Lass dp and stamped with the background pattern from Hundred Hearts.

I didn't want to set myself up for having to make a whole new page for every ticket, so I designed the inside pages to hold removable tickets. As they redeem their tickets, we can take them out and keep re-using the pages of the book.

The book I'm showing today is for the 8-year-old boy. I'll make something more girly for the 5-year-old next. (Had to get the harder one done first!)

Want to play along and be "A Kid At Heart?" To play, just link your project to THIS POST and you'll be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve Stamps. Please be sure that your entries are linked there no later than 8PM (Mountain) on February 5th. The winner will be announced on the Verve blog on February 6th. Have fun and good luck!



Stamps: Hundred Hearts (Verve Stamps); JustRite Stampers
Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up); dp (Sassafrass Lass)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU); Old Paper and Walnut Stain Distress Ink (Tim Holtz/Ranger)
Accessories: 7Gypsies book ring; SU ribbon, ticket punch, slit punch, jumbo eyelet, Top Note die, paper piercer, 1/4" circle punch, crystal effects, dimensionals; BossKut die; Spellbinders die; brown embossing powder; Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts burlap string

One of A Kind

By the time this post goes live, I should be on an airplane headed to CHA! Woohoo!! I'm so excited to see all the latest and greatest in the industry and even more, to meet other stamping friends who will be there! I promise I'll take pictures (which is much better than being IN them).
Today I have two projects. Both of my Saturday challenges are sketches this week. And fun ones! This first card is my sample for Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try. Take a peek at the sketch over on i{heart}2stamp. That little area in the upper right where the horizontal band starts out as the top layer on the left side, but goes behind another layer on the right side (I'm probably not explaining it very well) gave me fits! On my card, the solid red horizontal strip's disappearance behind the red dotted vertical strip just looked too abrupt. I decided to add the burlap string to literally and figuratively tie it together. I can't wait to see what the other SFYTT girls did in that area. Speaking of SFYTT girls, there's a new kid on the block. Please give some love to the newest sketch sampler, the fabulous Kelly Lunceford (aka atomicbutterfly on SCS)!

Jen del Muro and guest designer Kirsten DuBosque
Amy Rohl
Carole Burrage
Kelly Lunceford
Shannan Teubner
Susan Liles

Wanna give the sketch a try? Just upload your project to your blog or SCS (SCS keyword is SFYTT), then link up your creation to Jen's post. Hope you can play along! And here's something all you SFYTT fans won't want to miss: Jen has a blog blinkie for the SFYTT sketches now! To add it to your blog, all you need to do is follow the instructions HERE. I{heart}sketches ... how 'bout you?

The adorable daisy and ladybug image is from Anna Wight's new Fish Friends set, available at Whipper Snapper Designs. The sentiment is from Friendly Expressions, also one of Anna's new sets. I stamped on white and colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol. I stamped the image a second time, colored and trimmed out the flower only and adhered it on top of the first one with dimensionals. The sentiment banner is just a little bit contoured so it bows outward in the middle. The paper is Twitterpated by Imaginesce.

Next up is my sample for this week's sketch challenge at Our Creative Corner. Our January host, Jennifer Meyer, put this one together. I thought it would be perfect to use with these two fish, also from the Fish Friends set. The sentiment is from Friendly Expressions.



I watercolored the circles first, using a Taken With Teal re-inker (I know, can you believe?! I might even need to re-order Taken With Teal card stock with my next Stampin' Up order ... who'd have thought?). The fish are stamped separately, watercolored (Summer Sun, More Mustard, and Really Rust), trimmed out, and coated with Crystal Effects. The bubbles are a separate stamp and I stamped those onto the backgrounds, then dotted one set of bubbles with Crystal Effects. Why not the other? I forgot :) Except for the two brads, all those Taken With Teal circles on the middle panel are just punched 1/2" and 1/4" circles coated with Crystal Effects. The designer papers are from Nana's Nursery Baby Boy Collection by DCWV.

Don't forget to take a look at what the other OCC designers came up with. You can see all the samples together on the OCC blog, as well as individually on the designers' personal blogs:

Cindy Haffner
Dawn Easton
Denise Marzec
Jackie Pedro
Jennifer Meyer
Julee Tilman
Kim Teasdale
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynda Benden
Silke Ledlow

A special welcome and thanks to Carla, aka cmsuto, who joins us as our guest designer this week!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Owl Always Be There For You

Today I have another look at An Owl for All Seasons by My Favorite Things. I'm lovin' this sweet, sweet set and have more ideas sketched out than I'll ever have enough stamping time for! Another thing I'm lovin' is the adorable Chloe's Closet line by Making Memories. I found the paper and tons of coordinating embellishments at my local Michael's recently and can't put it away. It's so cute!

I stamped the owl and a bunch of leaves onto Vintage Cream cardstock by Papertrey, then colored everything with Copics, and trimmed it all out. For the background, I first used an air art tool to speckle the panel with SU Bashful Blue. Then I heavily sponged the edges with SU's Buckaroo Blue. The sun is just a circle punched from Barely Banana and attached over the bacgkround. I used dimensionals to attach the owl and some of the leaves. After I had the card design all laid out, the bottom left corner of the image panel was looking a little bare. I tried buttons, brads, ribbon, but they all made the card look cluttered. I ended up adding just a little bit of piercing -- enough to break up the negative space, but not overpowering or distracting.

Speaking of My Favorite Things ... two new stamp sets are being released TODAY: Heartbreaker from the BC Dzyns line, and Paper Doll Sayings from the MFT Presents line. Some of the DT have put together an awesome blog hop for the occasion -- it all starts at Kim's blog! It's also What's Up Wednesday (WUW), which means a WUW challenge (this week hosted by Jessie Rone and having to do with ribbon), a "How'd They Do That" (this week hosted by Frances Byrne and featuring digital papers - she has some really cool tips and tricks!), and an awesome WUW Hook-Up (special pricing on the BC Dzyns Release Bundle and a free ribbon spool for the first 50 orders).

Happy Wednesday!

[Edited to Add: For the time being, I have removed my post from this past Tuesday. Some anonymous commentors were taking my reflections on the inauguration in an entirely different direction than I intended and some unfair (IMHO) assumptions were made. There are public forums on the internet for discussing the political and moral issues of our day. I do not wish this to be one of them. If you'd like to correspond, I will gladly accept personal emails (my email link is in the upper left corner of this blog, just below my picture). Fair warning - further blog comments on these issues will be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation!]



Stamps: An Owl for All Seasons (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream; SU Kiwi Kiss, Buckaroo Blue, and Barely Banana; Making Memories "Chloe's Closet" dp
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Buckaroo Blue
Accessories: circle nestabilities, distressing tool, Copic markers, paper piercer, Making Memories button and ribbon, SU Bashful Blue marker, air art too, binder clip and scalloped edge punch

Whipper Snapper Featured Designer

Good morning! I have such fun news to share today! The one-and-only Anna Wight has invited me to be a Whipper Snapper Featured Designer for January and February. I adore Anna's whimsical style of illustration, and am so excited to work with these new sets. Thank you, Anna, and thank you Whipper Snapper for this opportunity!

There are two new sets this month, Fish Friends and Friendly Expressions. I chose to work with Friendly Expressions first. I love floral images of all kinds, and the wonderful assortment of friendship sentiments could work well for so many different occasions, or for those wonderful "just because" cards that are so fun to send and receive. I am certain I'll get loads of mileage from this set! Take a look:



Are you checking to make sure you're at Pickled Paper Designs? Yes, I really did make this! I know it's a departure from my usual, busier designs, but I really like the vintage/shabby/a little-bit-country look! I colored the flowers with Copic markers, then added some speckling using an air art tool and a Bordering Blue marker. Most of the layers have been sponged with Antique Linen distress ink and roughed up using an edge-distressing tool. I coated the flowers and leaves with Crystal Effects. The sentiment banner is an idea I got from Anna herself - I can't seem to stop making them! Such great alternatives to the ubiquitous tag (not that I have anything against tags, lol).

Check out the rest of the featured designers. I'm so honored and happy to do this alongside these talented stampers:

Beth Matson
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/ematson
Blog: http://nevertoooldtocolor.blogspot.com/

Jackie Pedro
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/strappystamper
Blog: http://thescallopededge.typepad.com/

Lisa Zappa
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/lzappa
Blog: http://shabbychickjunk.blogspot.com/

Tosha Leyendekker
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/stamps4funinCA
Blog: http://stamptalkwithtosh.blogspot.com/

And of course ...
Anna Wight
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/sweetmissdaisy
Blog: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/

Before I go, I want to share two more things ... First, Verve's monthly Project Parade has begun today on the Verve Stamps blog. Jen del Muro kicks off our kid-themed parade with an adorable tic-tac-toe project - you must see it! Second, stop by the My Favorite Things blog or MFT SCS forum to see this week's Weekly WOW, a new feature you can find every Monday!!

Thanks for stopping by,



Stamps: Friendly Expressions (Whipper Snapper Designs)
Paper: Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink); Buckaroo Blue, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard print (SU!); gingham dp from Chloe's Closet by Making Memories
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic markers; crystal effects, air art tool, Bordering Blue marker, distressing tool, paper piercer, vintage brads (SU); button (Making Memories); burlap string (Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts); Argyle Cuttlebug folder, sewing machine

Irresistible

I couldn't resist the corny post title, since this week's OCC challenge is Emboss Resist. When I first thought about this technique, I'll admit it sounded so five-years-ago. I think this was one of the very first "wow" techniques I learned as a beginning stamper. I wanted to try something more up-to-date, so I stamped Flourishes' Damask background onto a River Rock patterned paper from the retired Brocade Backgrounds SU pack, clear embossed and then heavily sponged River Rock ink onto it. The result is that the embossed parts show through to the background pattern, while the rest is a little more solid-color-looking. The flowers and sentiment are from Verve's Meditations set, and the black stem/vine thingy I created by cutting BossKut's Scroll die into pieces and rearranging a little. The flowers are coated with Crystal Effects. The ivory panel is cut with Nestabilities and then a smaller square Nestability is embossed inside.

Here's how the emboss resist looks in more vibrant colors. This time I stamped onto one of the patterns from SU's new Raspberry tart paper. FYI, I also added some speckling using the air art tool with Baroque Burgundy and Basic Black markers. The speckling looks pretty wretched in this photo (lol), but in real life it looks nice - trust me :)




Be sure to check out the challenge details at Our Creative Corner, where you'll also find samples from all the OCC designers. For more chitchat, visit their individual blogs:

Cindy Haffner
Dawn Easton
Denise Marzec
Jackie Pedro
Jennifer Meyer
Julee Tilman
Kim Teasdale
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynda Benden
Silke Ledlow

Hope you can play along! Remember to use keyword: OCCC if you upload to SCS!

Next is my sample for Jen del Muro's Sketch for You to Try:



You can see the sketch, Jen's sample, and guest designer Kirsten DuBosque's sample at i{heart}2stamp. Carole is roughing it in Aspen for the weekend, but the other "SFYTT girls" will have their usual awesome samples:

Amy
Shannan
Susan

The cross and sentiment are both from a new set called He Is Risen from Our Daily Bread Designs. I stamped the cross onto ivory card stock, trimmed it out, then sponged with Antique Linen and Walnut Stain distress inks. All the designer papers and flower embellishments are by Prima.

As always, you're warmly invited and encouraged to play along! If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword: SFYTT.

Before I go, I want to acknowledge two awards I've been given recently. First, Danielle at Paper Inspirations by Danielle has nominated me for the following award. Thanks Danielle! I'm honored.

"This award is given to a blog that invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!"

The rule of the award is to now pass it on to another 8 people who demonstrate this spirit. So, here is my list of some incredibly talented stampers and cardmakers. Please be sure to visit their blogs and appreciate their wonderful work. Thank you!

1. Jami Bova
2. Heather Rolin
3. Jennifer Meyer
4. Dawn Easton
5. Michelle Woerner
6. Jessie Rone
7. Michelle Rodgers
8. June Houck


Next, Lisa Hjulbert of The Craft's Meow has awarded me with the Butterfly Award.

Thank you Lisa! I, in turn, am to mominate ten fellow bloggers:

1. Jerri Jimenez: I can't wait to meet Jerri when I take her watercoloring class at CHA next week! (YES, I'm going ... Anaheim-bound, baby!)
2. Betty Wright
3. Kim Crawford
4. Silke Ledlow
5. Nancy Riley
6. Suzanne Dean
7. Amy Rohl
8. Jen Tapler
9. Christine Okken
10. Michelle Petermann


If you are so inclined, the idea is to pass this award along to 10 others, as follows:

Post the award logo on your blog
Add the link to the person who nominated you
Nominate 10 other blogs and post their links as well
Let those people know that they received the award

Thanks for stopping by!




Emboss Resist:
Stamps: Meditations (Verve Stamps); Damask (Flourishes, LLC)
Paper: Basic Black, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Brocade Backgrounds dp (all SU)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, VersaMark, River Rock
Accessories: clear embossing powder, sponge daubers, crystal effects, ivory taffeta, vintage brads, paper piercer, dimensionals (all SU); BossKut Scroll die; square Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug folder (Provo Craft)
Size: 5 1/4" square

SFYTT:
Stamp: He Is Risen (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Paper: Always Artichoke, Cranberry Crisp, Very Vanilla (SU); dp (Prima)
Ink: Cocoa (Close to My Heart); Cranberry Crisp, Always Artichoke (SU); Antique Linen and Walnut Stain Distress Inks (Tim Holtz/Ranger)
Accessories: burlap string (Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts); flowers (Prima); deco brad (Making Memories); cornice border punch (Martha Stewart); vintage brads, distressing tool, Cranberry Crisp ribbon, paper piercer (SU!); Birds and vine Cuttlebug folder (Provo Craft); sewing machine
Size: 5 1/4" square

Valentine, Sweet Valentine

As promised, more Verve projects. This first was created with Sweet Valentine. I love this red, brown, green color combo - great for a guy card, even with the big ol' ribbon.

Next is a four-pack of little 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" love notes, created with Hearts On Fire:



And a tote to hold them:



My favorite set of the new release is Hundred Hearts. The sentiments are phenomenal! I chose to pair one of them with a photo of me with my youngest when he was only a couple months old. I'll either slip this into a scrapbook or put it in an 8x8 frame I picked up recently. I have to tell you, it feels strange putting my big ol' mug on here like this, but here goes anyway:




And a close-up of the ribbon/tag/sentiment combo:





Thanks for visiting!



Sweet Valentine:
Stamps: Sweet Valentine (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive dp (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip craft, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive
Accessories: clear embossing powder, sponge daubers, ticket corner punch, ribbon, paper piercer, brads (SU!); Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder (Provo Craft); Copic marker, Labels 2 Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

Hearts on Fire Love Notes and Tote:
Stamps: Hearts on Fire (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray, Going Gray, Very Vanilla card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko), Pink Pirouette (SU)
Accessories: clear embossing powder, ivory taffeta ribbon, sponge daubers, small oval punch, dimensionals, paper piercer (SU); Fancy Scalloped Piercabilities, scalloped square Nestabilities (Spellbinders); narrow ivory satin ribbon (Offray); adhesive pearls (K&Co.)

Hundred Hearts Scrapbook Page:
Stamps: Hundred Hearts (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Maine Blueberry dp (SU!)
Ink: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue (SU!)
Accessories: self-adhesive pearls (K&Co); Victorian Border Piercabilities (Spellbinders); heart charm (Blue Moon Beads); paper piercer, scallop border punch, silver cord (SU); ribbon (Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts); Scor-Pal; foam adhesive
Photo Credit: Portrait Innovations, Leesburg, Virginia

Life's Greatest Comforts

Before I get to today's card, a quick reminder that the January Fan Club gallery is now open to Fan Club members! This month, the dirty girls drew inspiration from our homes as we built a gallery called Making a House A Home. If you're an SCS Fan Club member, head on over there to see the gallery and to welcome in the two newest dirty girls. If you'd like more info on how you can join the Fan Club, click HERE. I'm sad to say this is my sixth, and last, month as a member of the Dirty Dozen. I have been so honored to be on this team, alongside so many stamping rockstars. The farewell is hard, but I'm also excited for whatever fun opportunities might come next!

In the frenzy of finishing up my projects, I neglected to post all of my samples from the most recent Verve release. I'll start with one of my favorites, a card that uses the newest Plain Jane, called Comfort. (Plain Janes are single sentiment stamps at a very wee little price of only $3 each). I'd be hard-pressed to tell you exactly what I like so much about this card - it just feels comfortable to me, like an old, worn quilt or something. The clear embossed floral image is from an older set called Serenity.



I've had requests to show the insides of my cards, so here's a look at this one. I usually keep the insides very simple, with just a few bits and pieces pulled in from the front. You might be able to see where I stamped the floral image from Serenity in VersaMark ink onto the bottom left of the large white panel. I love the super subtle watermark look. (I know it's really, really faint in the photo. It's much more noticeable in real life.)



Next is a project using Meditations. I made this as a full card, but the front could easily be turned into a piece of framed art instead.



Tomorrow, I'll have three Verve Valentine projects to share. See you then, and in the meantime, thanks for stopping by!



Comfort:
Stamps: Comfort and Serenity (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Ivory cardstock (Papertrey Ink); Ruby Red (SU); Classic K Cardstock Pad (K&Co)
Ink: Ruby Red craft (SU); Antique Linen Distress (Ranger); VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: ivory buttons, clear embossing powder, distressing tool, paper piercer, dimensionals (SU); ribbon (Making Memories); burlap string (available at Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts); sewing machine; lace trim (available at Hancock Fabrics)

Meditations:
Stamps: Meditations (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Night of Navy, Very Vanilla (SU); Blue Awning dp (K&Co)
Ink: Night of Navy, River Rock (SU!)
Accessories: Oval Nestabilities and Victorian Border Piercabilities (Spellbinders); clear embossing powder, navy organdy ribbon (Stampin' Up); Icicle Stickles (Ranger); D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder (Provo Craft); foam adhesive, sponges

Our Daily Bread Designs Sketch Challenge

Our Daily Bread Designs is hosting its first sketch challenge, and three lucky participants will win a Shimmerz bottle of their choice!

To play along, create a project using any ODBD images and this sketch. Leave a comment on this Our Daily Bread Designs post linking to your creation. If you upload to SCS, we'd love to see your creations there, too. Remember to use keywords ODBD and ODBDSC01 so we can find them! With the sketch, have fun! Turn it, flip it, whatever you need to do to work with your design. The overlapping square and diamond can be layered either way ... square on top of diamond or diamond on top of square. Hope you can participate!! Deadline to be included in the drawing is midnight, January 23 EST.

The design team members are all uploading their samples today or tomorrow. Take a peek for some inspiration ...

Angel
Angella
Angie
Becca
Betty
Chris
Cindy
Dina
Jami
Jane
Judy
Kelley
Kim
Laurie
Lorelie
Sita
Stacy

For my card, I used one of the verses from Lift Up Our Hands as my focal image. I stamped in Close to My Heart Cocoa ink, then sponged with Old Paper and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. I coated the panel in Stampin' Up's glassy glaze embossing powder twice to create a lacquered look. Here's a close-up of that:



The background panel is dry embossed wtih the D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder and machine-stitched using some metallic thread. I used Angel Wings Shimmerz to coat the two paper flowers I used as embellishments.

I also decorated the inside. The diamond from the outside shows up again inside, and the corners are embellished with one of the dies from Cuttlebug's Vintage 4-pack.



Thanks for stopping by!



Stamps: Lift Up Our Hands (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Paper: Dark Birchtone and Bronze Ore metallic (Prism), Very Vanilla (SU!), Blue Awning dp (K&Co.)
Ink: Cocoa (Close to My Heart); Old Paper and Walnut Stain Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: SU pearls, glassy glaze embossing powder, Offray ribbon, Bazzill and Prima flowers, Making Memories bronze brad, Angel Wings Shimmerz, Sulky Holoshimmer 145-6008 thread, Cuttlebug Vintage die

Sketch Blues

Hi everyone! Somewhere admist all the "stuff" on today's card, let's hope you can actually spot Jen del Muro's Sketch for You to Try. To see Jen's sketch, click on over to the newly redesigned i{heart}2stamp. There, you'll also find Jen's sample, guest designer Kirsten DuBosque's sample, and all the info on how to play along. For more inspiration, visit the SFYTT regulars:

Amy
Carole
Shannan
Susan

I mentioned this the other day, but just in case you haven't seen yet, you MUST check out the blog tart Jen has put together to celebrate the new year and her redesigned site. The total value is more than $450, and it all goes to one winner. There's a requirement to enter, but it's a good one that will benefit a philanthropic cause. Check it out!

Today's card is also my sample for this week's color challenge at Our Creative Corner, which is to use two blues plus a neutral. Or neutralS, in my case - I couldn't stop with just one! (Monochromatic color schemes are not my strong suit - I always feel the need to add something to help break up the color.) All the challenge details, as well as samples from the OCC designers, are on the OCC blog. This week's guest designer is a special treat, too - Julia Aston! Just wait until you see her gorgeous card! For more chit-chat on the samples, visit the designers' blogs:

Cindy Haffner
Dawn Easton
Denise Marzec
Jackie Pedro
Jennifer Meyer
Julee Tilman
Kim Teasdale
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynda Benden
Silke Ledlow

Everything is pretty straightforward, there's just a lot going on. The supply list below will identify all the "stuff," but if you have any how-to questions, then as always, just ask! Here's a look at the inside:



Thanks for visiting today!



Stamps: Lift Up Our Hands (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Paper: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand Brocade Blue, dp by ATD/Momenta
Ink: Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand
Accessories: BossKut flourish die; flowers by CTMH; SU filigree brads, paper piercer, distressing tool, and dimensionals; Offray ribbon; K&Co adhesive pearls

2009 Divine Design

Have you seen the Divine Design 2009 Challenge? I enjoyed participating in this challenge a few times last year, and hope to be more consistent with it this year. The challenge is a great way to use your papercrafting to help memorize Scripture and meditate on God's Word. (Basically, you create a Scripture-based project each month, but you can read the "official rules" if you click on the link.) I'd love to create some kind of mini-album or Scripture box, but just like last year, I don't have such an album or box created or planned (where does the time go?), so I'm going with a card. And if by December I still have no album, but have 12 cards, I will be happy that I participated every month! Huge hugs and thanks to Nancy Morgan and Angel Wilde, this year's challenge hosts, and to Lori Craig, who started this challenge last year and continues as a "Scripture Chick" this year!

The Jeremiah 29:11 Scripture stamp and cross image are from a new set that Verve will be releasing tonight. All I can say is I hope Julee ordered lots of these!

I stamped the cross in Mellow Moss and the Scripture in black onto card-stock-weight vellum. It looks a little fuzzy in the picture, but in real life, it's such a nice soft look and you can see the background paper through the vellum as well. The frame, which is popped up on dimensionals is made with Nestabilities. The piercing is done using an Ornare piercing template I got from Our Daily Bread Designs. The black "pearls" are by Kaiser, and I found them at Stamper's Dream.

I hope you can join the Verve Divas at the release party tonight, 8 pm ET, in the Verve Member Company Forum on SCS. And a heads-up to all challenge lovers, Verve Diva Amber Hight has this week's new Viva La Verve Challenge posted, too.

Thanks for stopping by!



Stamps: Jeremiah 29:11 (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, vellum cardstock (SU); K-ology Hannah Cardstock Pad (K&Co)
Ink: Mellow Moss (SU); Memento Tuxedo Black; Ranger Antique Linen Distress
Accessories: classic and scalloped rectangle Nestabilities, mega curved rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Offray black satin ribbon; burlap string (Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts); Kaiser black pearls; Ornare piercing template; foam adhesive; sewing machine

New Banner!

What do you think of my new banner? I LOVE IT!! A few weeks ago I asked Jami Bova (aka Sgt Stamper on SCS) if she did custom banners (because I kid you not, there is nothing she DOESN'T do - I've never seen a single person wear so many different hats - and wear them well!), and she responded that yes, she does and she was even starting a new venture doing blog artwork. Check out all her services at Sgt. Stamper's Studio! I've been reluctant to have someone design a banner for me because, well, I'm picky and I'm kind of a control freak and like to do things myself. I'm sooooo glad I asked Jami, because she exceeded my every expectation. I think I'm going to hire an interior designer next .. something else I've always been reluctant to do. (Would you believe Jami does that too? Too bad she's living in Korea right now!).

You're HOT!

Here's a look at two more of the new sets just released by My Favorite Things. This first card is made with Good Knight. This sweet set includes a castle and a knight, plus some really fun sentiments, but it was the dragon and "You're HOT" sentiment that were callin' my name. If your guy isn't into drippy sweet declarations of love or all the pinks of Valentine's Day, this would be a great Valentine. I did my coloring on this one with Prismacolors, OMS and a blending stump.

This next card uses Valentine Flopsey:



This set makes my heart hop! There are oodles of different little words and acronyms that you can fit into the heart ... BFF, Hugs & Kisses, etc. Sooooo clever! The patterned papers are both part of a new Stephanie Fizer Spring Collection of digital papers from MFT. I had never used digital paper before - it was so easy! If you're curious about how they work, or if you're looking for new ways to use digi papers you already have, check out Jody Morrow's five-part digi paper tutorial, available in the MFT Member Company Forum. You'll find them in the How'd The Do That sub-forum, or here are the direct links:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

The offset scallop border along the bottom was a mistake. I cut my strips to size first. When I punched one of them I started in the middle and worked out to both sides. On the other, I started at one and and worked my way across. Laid them together and ooopsie, they didn't line up. But I actually liked the staggered look, so I kept it :) Flopsey is colored with Copics.

Before I go, just a quick reminder about Verve's sneak peeks on the Verve blog and Verve's Looking For Love challenges in the Verve SCS Forum. Click those links for all the perinent info! Tomorrow night is the release party. The fun begins at 8 pm --->RIGHT HERE<---. Hope to see you there!

Also, have you seen Jen del Muro's newly redesigned i{heart}2stamp site? Oh my! Check out her amazing blog tart! Talk about the mother lode! She's giving away hundreds of dollars worth of stamping goodies from too many companies for me to list here. Be sure to check out THIS POST to see how you can enter for a chance to win! I love how she's included a philanthropic twist!



You're Hot:
Stamps: Good Knight (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Pacific Point, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, My Mind's Eye dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Labels 1 Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Prismacolors, odorless mineral spirits, blending stumps; word window punch, distressing tool, paper piercer, hardware (SU!); Cuttlebug folder (Provo Craft); ribbon (unknown); sewing machine

Whoo Loves My Favorite Things?

Hi everyone ... if you're here for the My Favorite Things blog hop and didn't come by way of Amber, then you'll want to go back to the very beginning and start with Kim. I'll see you back here in a jiffy! Hey, wait a minute .... what am I doing in the MFT blog hop? Surprise!!! I'm part of the MFT design team now! Woohoo!!

Before I get carried away and forget ... when you're done here, the next stop on the blog hop is Ana!

If you've never done a blog hop, what you do is start with Kim (MFT owner), who will send you to the next person's blog, who will send you to the next, and so on down the list. You'll get a chance to see a whole bunch of MFTeasers (projects using the new sets) along the way, and at the end you'll find a special MFTreat! Have fun!

Tonight (Wednesday, January 7th), MFT is releasing FOUR new sets including a Who's That Girl set that is Maid for You! Join us for a New Release Cocktail Party from 9-10 p.m. Eastern time in the MFT forum on SCS. Be on the lookout for all the details on how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer. Hope to see you tonight!

As a DT member, I'll be focusing primarily on the MFT Presents line, which includes the adorable Stephanie Fizer images and the whimsical Annie LaPoint images. The MFT Presents set for January is Owls of the Season by Stephanie Fizer. Aren't these owls the sweetest? I stamped them onto different patterned papers from Memory Box's Frost collection, then trimmed them out and adhered them with dimensionals onto another Frost pattern. I did a lot of sponging, distressing, stitching, and piercing along the way, and embellished with some "Shimmerized" (new word) snowflakes, an Anna Wight-inspired sentiment banner, some yummy brown polka dot ribbon and some homemade glittery icicles.


Here's a close-up of the icicles:



Thanks for stopping by!



Stamps: Owls of the Seasons (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Sage Shadow (SU!); Frost collection (Memory Box)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger distress inks, SU Sage Shadow & Chocolate Chip
Accessories: SU filigree brads, dazzling diamonds, crystal effects, distressing tool, and paper piercer; MS snowflake and border punch, Shimmerz (coffee and angel wings), ribbon (source unknown), burlap string (Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts); Copic markers; sewing machine