Live the Life You've Imagined - DS54

I absolutely love this sentiment from Verve's Words of Wisdom set. Here, I've paired it with a die-cut butterfly (done with Verve's Flutterby die) and some Summer Fresh papers by Simple Stories. The layout is this week's Deconstructed Sketch, #54:

I think I've mentioned my unease with symmetrical sketches. In theory, they should be the easiest, and they're awfully pretty on paper, but when it comes time to create something, inevitably I end up feeling boxed in and constricted somehow. I struggled with this one yesterday and gave up on a few different attempts. This morning, however, my card came together in no time. Less than an hour -- a major feat for me!

I hope you'll join us this week at The Deconstructed Sketch. Link up your creations HERE. But first, have a look at all the inspiration the DT has put together:

Amber Hight

Arielle Gordon

Donna Wardle 

Jen Shults 

Jessica Diedrich

Judy Rozema, Guest Designer

Kadie Ensley

Lori Boyd

Pam Varnell 

Sheri Gilson

Thanks for stopping by!





Stamps: Words of Wisdom (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Kraft and Rustic White card stock, Stampin' Up Riding Hood Red card stock, Simple Stories Summer Fresh 6x6 pad
Ink: Versamagic dark blue, Ranger Brushed Corduroy and Antique Linen Distress Ink
Accessories: Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities, Verve Flutterby die, Stampin' Up wide twill, Papertrey buttons, Lemon Divine Twine, The Cat's Pajamas natural linen string, adhesive pearls, distressing tool, foam squares
Size: 5 1/2" square

May SFYTT -- Last Call!

Just a reminder, the deadline to get your May Sketch For You To Try is approaching. You only have until the end of the month. Also remember, those who complete all 12 sketches this year will be entered into a drawing for a mega prize pack.

Here's our sketch again ...

and a big thanks to our May sponsor Skipping Stones Design.

Link up your creations HERE. Happy stamping!

(click to enlarge)

Have a great weekend!

 

Enjoy - DS53

How about a new Deconstructed Sketch? Jen's got a great one this week, both good-looking and easy to work with. Here it is:

I haven't done an accordian-fold rosette in a while, so that seemed like a great place to begin. I topped it with two hearts (Verve's Wavy Hearts die set) and a petite sentiment, "enjoy," from the new Small Celebrations set. The papers are from the lovely My Mind's Eye Indie Chic "Citron" line. I swapped the scallops for three buttons, and those three mini circle accents for a touch of spiral notebook border. (The ever-inspring Amy Rohl did this recently, and I just loved it. It looks waaay better on her card than it does here, but it feels good to dust off an old favorite nonetheless.)

Visit the Deconstructed Sketch Girls for more sketch inspiration:

• Amber Hight
• Arielle Gordon
• Donna Wardle 
• Jen Shults 
• Jessica Diedrich
• Judy Rozema, Guest Designer
• Kadie Ensley
• Lori Boyd
• Pam Varnell 
• Sheri Gilson

To play along, link up your card to the Deconstructed Sketch #52 challenge post.

That's it for me today. Happy Thursday!

TCP Tuesday #211 - Flower Pots & Mustaches?

Hey there, happy TCP Tuesday. Jen is our host, and has come up with a beautiful trio of inspiration photos for us this week:

I was {obviously} inspired by the flower pots as well as the blades of grass/foliage on the far right. I die-cut the flower pots out of cork using the flowerpot die from the Window CutUps set. The Grass border and Flower Buttons are also TCP CutUps. (I have a wee die addiction!) And here's something fun ... see the green leaves behind the flowers? That's the Mustache Slide turned upside down. I used the mustache slide to cut some green patterned paper, then threaded that striped paper through it, and turned it upside down for leaves instead of mustaches. Finished off with a sentiment from the new Bloom stamp set.

Here are all the swanky details on how YOU can play along!: 1. Each Tuesday we will give you a challenge. 2. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge. 3. Add your entry to the guestbook on Alma's blog and/or upload to the SCS Gallery, using the keyword TCPTUES211 for this week's challenge. 4. TCP stamps/dies are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. 5. There will be one randomly chosen weekly winner, announced on Tuesdays. 6. There will be one winner, The Swanky Stamper, announced the 1st of each month. They will win several sets from an upcoming release and get to play along with us at our Pajama Party and Blog Hop.

Thanks for checking in!

Fresh Summer Days - DS52

It was love at first sight the moment I saw the Summer Fresh line by Simple Stories. I dug in right away for this week's Deconstructed Sketch sample. Number 52 -- can you believe?

I have to confess that symmetry usually wigs me out, but I really enjoyed working with this one. For the circle panel, I created a sweet, summer scene using the Grass Border, Pinwheel, and Clouds Border CutUps dies from The Cat's Pajamas.

The sentiment is just a layering of printed elements from the Summer Fresh pad. Not even a speck of stamping today. Two other TCP CutUps dies play supporting roles ... the red oval in the sentiment stack was done with one of the Circus Labels dies and the ivory scallop borders along the top and bottom of that blue floral horizontal band were done with the Queen of Hearts border. All of the TCP CutUps can be found HERE.

More sketch inspiration:

• Amber Hight
• Arielle Gordon
• Donna Wardle 
• Jen Shults 
• Jessica Diedrich
• Judy Rozema, Guest Designer
• Kadie Ensley
• Lori Boyd
• Pam Varnell  (off this week)
• Sheri Gilson

To play along, link up to Jen's Deconstructed Sketch #52 post.





Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream, Kraft, and Enchanted Evening card stock; Simple Stories Summer Fresh dp
Ink: Ranger Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Vintage Cream
Accessories: The Cat's Pajamas Grass Border, Clouds Border, Pinwheels, Circus Labels, and Queen of Hearts CutUps dies, Spellbinders Labels Three and Classic Circles Nestabilities, Divine Twine, Papertrey button, distressing tool, foam adhesive, paper piercer/needle/thread
Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

TCPTuesday #210

It's time for a new TCP Tuesday challenge, and this week it's a sketch challenge ... an interesting one, too! Can't wait to see what you'll make of it. Lots of room for creativity! Here it is:

And some news, too ... Leigh O'Brien, who has been hosting the TCP Sketch Challenges for a long, long time, is taking a break for a little while. I wish her the best and will miss her unique sketches. They always get me thinking in new ways. Guess who is taking her place as sketch challenge hostess? Yours truly! Yep, that's right, once every five weeks, I'll don that coveted moniker "hostess with the mostess." How cool is that?! The four weeks in between will stay the same ... Jen for inspiration, Julie for technique/supply, Lori for color, and Susan for CutUps/stamps. 

Leigh leaves some big shoes to fill, but fortunately, she's already got the next couple of sketches drawn up, so for a time or two (or three), I get the easy job of just showing up and drooling over all the gorgeous creations. I hope yours will be one of them.

For my sample, I decided to tackle that tall skinny panel by first turning it horizontal and then arranging a four-pack of postage stamps into a loose rectangle. The postage stamps were done with the new Commemorating You stamp set and the Stamp Trio CutUps die. Each stamp has a different birthday greeting. The funky flower at the bottom was done with TCP's new PomPom Flower CutUps die. I rolled it into only two layers, leaving a large hole in the middle, which I filled with a very generous helping of hot glue topped with a black button.

Here are all the swanky details on how YOU can play along!: 1. Each Tuesday we will give you a challenge. 2. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge. 3. Add your entry to the guestbook on Alma's blog and/or upload to the SCS Gallery, using the keyword TCPTUES210 for this week's challenge. 4. TCP stamps/dies are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. 5. There will be one randomly chosen weekly winner, announced on Tuesdays. 6. There will be one winner, The Swanky Stamper, announced the 1st of each month. They will win several sets from an upcoming release and get to play along with us at our Pajama Party and Blog Hop.

Have you see the postage challenge over at Moxie Fab World? I'm linking today's card -- you should play along too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Amy

Just A Note -- SFYTT

A few of My Mind's Eye's new Indie Chic paper pads made their way to me yesterday, and I couldn't wait to dig in. The colors in "Ginger" were especially calling my name -- orange, pink, gray, lime. Not sure how it will come across on-screen, but the background is Papertrey's Smokey Shadow, which tends to show as black, but is really a deep, rich shade of gray.

The flowers and tag are dies by Verve -- Loopy Blooms and Sweet Scallop. The sentiment is from the new Joyful Blooms set. I'm really enjoying the font combo for these sentiments. The layout is the May Sketch For You To Try (generously sponsored by Skipping Stones Design). Also posting sketch inspiration today are:

Amber Hight
Becky Carafa
Megan Lock
Kerry Johnson

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!

Viva La Verve!

I'm hosting this week's Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge over in the Verve Forum on Splitcoast -- FUN! Here's what we're playing with:

Hope you'll join us! Participation details are HERE.

Miss U - DS51

Happy Thursday and Happy Deconstructed Sketch Day! Here's what we're playing with this week:

I pulled out one of my very favorite Verve sets, You and I. along with the coordinating die set, I Heart U. The papers are from the We R Memory Keepers Anthologie 6x6 pad. The ivory decorative frame is from the Twisted Metal Accents set by Spellbinders. I definitely took some liberties with the circle focal point and went with a layered grouping instead.

More sketch interpretation from the Deconstructed Sketch girls and our newly named guest designer, Judy Rozema. Welcome, dear friend!

• Amber Hight
• Arielle Gordon
• Donna Wardle (sitting out this week)
• Jen Shults 
• Jessica Diedrich
• Kadie Ensley
• Lori Boyd
• Pam Varnell
• Sheri Gilson
• Judy Rozema (guest designer)

Hope you can join us this week! To play along, link up your creation HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

May SFYTT - Skipping Stones Design

Happy Cinco de Mayo! In addition to margaritas and the mariachi, today also brings us the May SFYTT, which is sponsored by Skipping Stones Design, home of some of the funniest stamp sets in the industry.

Here's what we're playing with this month:

I was in the mood for something soft and pretty this morning when I sat down to stamp up today's sample (nothing like waiting until the last minute), so I pulled out my all-time favorite Skipping Stones Design set, the classy and timeless Healing Wings. I stamped one of the beautiful butterflies onto pink paper, then trimmed it out, curled the wings for dimension, and attached it to a patterned gray Spellbinders Labels Eighteen die-cut. All of the papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Evangeline Mini-Deck. Accents include crinkled seam binding, burlap string, stick pins, mini rose ribbon, adhesive pearls, and distressing. Missing is some stitching, and that's because my brat machine is broken -- again! Grrrr.

Visit the SFYTT Sisters for more sketch inspiration:

• Jen del Muro with designer of the month, Annie Rose
• Amber Hight
• Becky Carafa
• Carole Burrage
• Jen Tapler
• Jodi Collins
• Kerry Johnson
• Megan Lock
• Susan Liles
• and our newest Sister, Tracy Shultz (Welcome Tracy! Woohooo!!!)

Hope you'll join us at SFYTT this month! All the how-to is in the graphic below (click to enlarge):

Have a fantastic weekend, friends!