Third Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop

Today, Verve is celebrating its third anniversary with a special blog hop featuring Verve fans everywhere! The festivities all begin with the head Diva and designer of all Verve-y goodness, Julee!

Julee, congratulations and happy third anni-Verve-sary. I wish you and Verve all the best for the year ahead and can't wait to see what's in store. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of the team. I'm truly honored!

If you've been hopping along already, you should have arrived here from Sara Henton. And when you're finished here, you'll head over to Wendy Space. If anything breaks down along the way, you can find the master list HERE.

We've got quite a few prizes hidden along the way, including tons of stamp set giveaways on each of the Diva blogs and a huge ($75) gift certificate hidden elsewhere along the hop. (I'm giving away Always On My Mind and a Psalm 3:3 Plain Jane - woohoo!!) Be sure to leave comments along the way for chances to win. The deadline to enter is 11:59 pm EST Wednesday, August 4. Happy hopping!

And happy shopping, too! The Anni-Verve-sary Sale has begun! All the details are over on the Verve blog. While you're there, give a warm welcome to Verve's two newest guest designers!

For today's project, I put together a little giftie for a friend who is currently battling breast cancer. I made the box using The Flapper cut file from My Time Made Easy.

The top of the box features the dangling hearts image and the "Hang in there" sentiment from Always on My Mind:

Inside I've placed a bar of handmade pink ribbon soap on a bed of pink crinkled paper Easter "grass."

And here's a closer look at the underside of the lid, where I've included Psalm 3:3. My friend's chemotherapy is taking its toll, and I just love the message here that the Lord is her shield during this battle and that He will lift her head whenever she's tired or weary.

That's it for me! Your next stop on the hop is Wendy Space. Have fun!




Stamps: Always on My Mind, Psalm 3:3 Plain Jane (Verve)
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, The Girls Paperie "Paper Doll" collection
Ink: Ranger Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, and Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Accessories: Spellbinders oval and Labels Four Nestabilities, May Arts burlap string, Papertrey vintage buttons, foam adhesive, R83 Copic marker, corner rounder, distressing tool, Hug Snug white seam binding, Stampin' Up library clips

The Secret of a Perfect Marriage

 Today's Sketch For You To Try is being sponsored by Totally Stampalicious! If you're not already familiar with this company, do check out their fun and hilarious stamps!! A $25 gift certificate to Totally Stampalicious will be given away to one lucky sketch participant. Just have your creation linked to Jen's blog by Friday.

Here's the sketch this week:

I think I have a little thing for stamps of old people, so it only took me two seconds to choose Gus and Stella to play with this week. If anyone knows the secret to a perfect marriage, you know this wise, seasoned couple will. Ready?? ....

Yep, that's gotta be it, right?! LMBO!

Be sure to visit the rest of the SFYTT gang for more fun Totally Stampalicious sketch samples.

Jen del Muro with guest designer Sandra MacLean
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Carole Burrage
Jenn Diercks
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Leigh O'Brien
Megan Lock
Sonja Christoph
Susan Liles

Have an awesome weekend!

Shindig

I fell head over heels in love with this Shindig image by Penny Black at CHA back in January. Seriously, how flippin' cute is this? Just look at those sweet expressions! And those eyes? Adorable! I colored with Prismacolor pencils on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White card stock. The sentiment is from on older Impression Obsession set called Mini Messages. The papers are from Pink Paislee's 365 Degrees collection.

Here's a detail shot:

Check out Shindig and other adorable Penny Black stamps at Stamper's Dream. Also be sure to check out the Sales & Specials section. CHA = sale time -- gotta make room for all the new goodies!

Thanks for visiting!



Stamps: Shindig (Penny Black); Mini Messages (Impression Obsession)
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Pink Paislee 365 Degrees
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Soft Sky
Accessories: Prismacolor pencisl, Gamsol, blending stumps, sewing machine, Papertrey ribbon and button, May Arts burlap string, Martha Stewart Optic Dots border punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Spellbinders circle die, foam adhesive
Size: 5 1/2" square

Love Bunny - Flirt

Hi friends, do you miss me yet? I'm trying to stamp, I promise!!  With one tornado, fourteen hours without electricity (or running water), four teeth extractions (not mine, thankfully), one {more} basketball loss, and nine stitches (let's just say the arm of a rocking chair doesn't make a very good ladder {eyeroll}), it's been hard! When it rains, it pours, right?

Speaking of raining and pouring, we're getting our fair share of natural hazards around here. Two weeks ago, we had an earthquake of all things (my first). Fortunately, it was a mild one (3.6 magnitude). The DC area isn't exactly prone to them, so a lot of people had no idea what it was ... low-flying aircraft, thunder, some kind of explosion, etc. I, on the other hand, knew exactly what it was ... the Volturi.

For about half a second, anyway. Then I did what I always do for the week or two after seeing a Twilight movie. I repeated to myself, "There's no such thing as vampires. There's no such thing as vampires. There's no such thing as vampires."  (Speaking of Twilight, or in this case, Eclipse, where are the Team Jasper t-shirts???)

So I did finally get a chance to stamp a little last night and whipped up today's card using Jen's SFYTT for this week (turned sideways), along with a super adorable Amber Ink digi stamp called Love Bunny - Flirt. Amber Ink is sponsoring the sketch this week, so just for playing along (deadline is Friday, July 30, 5 pm CST), you'll have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Amber Ink. You're also welcome to use code SFYTT&AmberInkC3P1GA to save 10% on any Amber Ink purchases. Amber has some adorable digi stamps and papers - check them out!

Here's the sketch (again):

Hope you'll play along!



Stamps: Love Bunny - Flirt (Amber Ink), Meet Emma & Wyatt (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Crate Paper Citrus collection, Papertrey Kraft and Vintage Cream, Neenah card stock
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Old Paper, Vintage Photo, and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, Stampin' Up So Saffron
Accessories: Copic markers, Prismacolor pencils, 5/8" natural twill, Spellbinders Labels One and Labels Four Nestabilities, Creative Memories 1" circle punch, liquid applique, Making Memories button, May Arts burlap string, foam tape
Size: 5 1/2" square

Happy Birthday Julee!

It's Julee Tilman's birthday today, and several Verve friends are celebrating with a surprise birthday hop! If you've been hopping, you should have arrived here from Wanda Cullen. If not, head over to the Verve blog to get started. I know I can't wait to see all of today's birthday wishes for one of the sweetest people around!

Julee, I hope your day is filled with blessings and joy! You are one amazing woman and you deserve the very best!! Big hugs!

Here's my card, created with a sentiment and flourish image from Blessings, along with some new Oliver patterned paper by Basic Grey. It's pretty straightforward, so not much explanation required :)



I'm the end of the line for today's hop. Thanks for joining us, and if you'd like to leave Julee some birthday wishes too, head over to her blog, Poetic Artistry!

Amber Ink SFYTT

It's SFYTT Saturday, and a special one at that. (My sample will be a couple of days late, by the way. Hope you'll check back early next week.) No doubt SFYTT fans have already seen the sketch and three pieces of exciting news on Jen's blog as well as fellow SFYTT sisters' blogs. If not, let's get right to it!

First, congrats to Megan Lock, proud mama to one beautiful baby girl, Emma Grace, who was born on Tuesday! Second, we welcome back stamper extraordinaire Carole Burrage, who re-joins the SFYTT sample-making sisters beginning today! Last, this week's sketch is sponsored by Amber Ink! All participants in this week’s sketch will be eligible to win a $25 Gift Certificate to the Amber Ink store! Everyone participating in this week’s sketch is also welcome to use the code SFYTT&AmberInkC3P1GA for a 10% discount at amberink.com.

Here's the sketch:

Remember to link up your sketch card to Jen's blog and use keyword SFYTT in online galleries.

Happy stamping!

Live. Love. Laugh.

This is my second post today. 

For a Dare To Get Dirty challenge card, scroll down one post.

I love how well this floral image from Hero Arts' Real Flowers goes with the Citrus line by Crate Paper!  I inked the stamp with VersaMagic chalk inks (Thatched Straw, Mango Madness, and Jumbo Java). A lot of my stamping these days is with images that need to be colored or paper pieced. The images in this set are a refreshing change of pace!

The layout is Jen's Sketch For You To Try this week, which is being sponsored by The Wild Flower Patch. This is the same company that did the Tennessee flood relief fundraiser that I participated in a while back. Really cute stamps!! One lucky sketch participant will win five digi images of choice! Due to time constraints, I wasn't able to use their stamps this week, but look for something when I get back from the beach.

Here's the sketch:

Take a peek at what the SFYTT girls have created this week and consider playing along! Upload your creation to Jen's blog and remember to use keyword SFYTT when uploading to gallery sites.

Jen del Muro with guest designer Sandra MacLean
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Jenn Diercks
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Leigh O'Brien
Megan Lock
Sonja Christoph
Susan Liles

Have a great weekend!