Rustic Elegance

Happy President's Day to my fellow Americans! My kids were home all of last week due to the back-to-back blizzards, they only went to school 2 days the week before, and now another holiday? I think we're all ready for some "normal" around here :)

I started out today's card as a more rustic, manly, non-traditional Valentine for my husband, but turned it into a "just because" card for my stash instead. The three little squares are stamped with an image from Verve's Accent Notes, and the sentiment is from Celebrating You. The rich patterned papers are from 7Gypsies' Gypsy Market collection. The layout is based on last week's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge #267. I nudged the vertical trio to the left to accomodate the ribbon knot and sentiment tag, but otherwise, I followed the sketch.

See you back here tomorrow for a very special, Haiti relief blog hop! Can't wait!!

Have a great day!




Stamps: Accent Notes, Celebrating You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Dark Chocolate and Vintage Cream, 7Gypsies Gypsy Market dp
Ink: Ranger Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Accessories: Making Memories decorative brads, distressing tool, Frayed Burlap Distress Stickles, Offray brown twill, Papertrey twine, Spellbinders tag die

Get Well Soon Blog Hop

Michelle Rodgers of Stamper's Dream just had some surgery, so the Dream Team is getting together today with a surprise blog hop to wish Michelle a speedy recovery. Surprise, Michelle! Get well soon!!

My Dream Teammates are a wildly talented bunch, so hop on over to see what they've all done for Michelle today. You'll see two new faces on the team - welcome, Cindy Lawrence and Dawn Easton!

Tosha
Cammie
Denise
Cindy
Silke
Amy -- (you're here)
Laurie
Becca
Dawn

Visit Michelle at her blog if you'd like to leave some well wishes, too!

Today's card is also my sample for Jen's Sketch For You To Try for this week. Have a look:



I'll confess I had major trouble getting this sketch to come together. I don't know why?? It *looks* innocent enough. I had just given up on my third attempt and was scooping up all the scraps, when today's card more or less fell in place on the scrap pile.

The "You Make Me Smile" sentiment and decorative border on the card front are both from JustRite's Seeds of Kindness set. The patterned papers are all from Basic Grey's Origins 6x6 paper pad. I included my "Get Well Soon" sentiment on the inside, which is from Just Rite's Just A Note set.



Be sure to check out what the other SFYTT sisters have put together for sketch inspiration this week:

Jen del Muro, with guest designer Mona Pendleton
Amy Rohl
Kelly Lunceford
Leigh O'Brien
Susan Liles

To play along, upload your creations to the sketch slideshow at the bottom of Jen's post today. Use keyword SFYTT in the online galleries.

Have a great weekend, friends.




Stamps: Seeds of Kindness, Just A Note (JustRite Stamps)
Paper: Basic Grey Origins 6x6 Pad, Stampin' Up Basic Black and Whisper White
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Spellbinders classic and scalloped circle Nestabilities, Offray ribbon, May Arts olive burlap string, CTMH flowers, Swarovski clear crystals, Cuttlebug 2"x6" "Ornamental" die (corner treatment), EK Success scalloped border punch, Stampin' Up spiral punch, edge distressing tool
Size: 6" square

Sweet Birthday Jolinne

Today, I'm looking out on a sunny blue sky for the first time in what feels like eons - woohoo! My area of Virginia, like so many other parts of the East Coast, has been hammered by winter weather this past week. We're still buried under well over three feet of snow, and the high winds have created 5-foot snow drifts along our driveway. Time to dig out, so I'll make this short and sweet!

Hopefully, you've seen My Favorite Things' newest character, Jolinne. If not, have a look! She's a charmer, isn't she? Three new sets featuring this sweet little girl were released earlier this month, and they're all just as sweet as they can be. There's no such thing as too many birthday cards, so I picked Birthday Balloon Jolinne to work with first. She's colored with Copics mostly, and then I added the grass and sky with Prismacolor pencils. (I used Paula's super cool grass tutorial in the My Favorite Things "How'd They Do That?" forum.)

The papers are Girl Friday by Cosmo Cricket. As I was laying this out, I had a yellow flower underneath the green button, which nicely tied into the yellow balloons opposite the image circle, but somewhere during assembly, the flower didn't make it. I *just* noticed and don't want to fool with taking a new picture, so you get what you get ;)

Here's a look at the inside, where I picked up just a hint of the outside design and added the second sentiment.



Have a fantastic day!

Valentine Gift Tin

Hi friends, today it's my turn to post over on the Verve Blog for the current Project Parade. Each month, we pick a theme for our parade and then all the Divas take turns posting their project. This month, it's all about Tags, Tins & Treats. As always, we have two fantastic prizes to give away, so be sure to head on over there for all the details. But hurry, the parade ends this Sunday, Valentine's Day.

For my project, I decorated one of Provo Craft's hat-box-shaped, handled tins and filled it with random Valentine trinkets and treats for my sweet little girl. Additional project info is posted at the Verve Blog.



Thanks for stopping by!

SFYTT is Back With A Huge Prize Package!

After taking the month of January off, Jen del Muro and the rest of the Sketch For You To Try girls (Amy Rohl, Kelly Lunceford, Leigh O'Brien, and Susan Liles) are back! I'm so excited, as these Saturday sketches have been a sort of anchor to my stamping week. Jen has drawn up some fabulous new sketches for this month and reformatted the SFYTT a bit. A gigantic welcome back prize package is up for grabs, too! Check this out:



Worth playing for?? You bet! Here's everything you need to know:

1. A new sketch will be posted at i{heart}2stamp.com each Saturday in February
2. There will be a Slide Guest Book that you can post your creation(s) to at the end of each of those posts.
3. You will have until March 2nd to post your creations to the corresponding sketch. Be sure that each of your creations is posted to the correct Slide Guest Book.
4. You can enter as many times as you like, but must upload each creation separately. All entries should be posted to your blog or online gallery, as well. Please use the keyword "SFYTT" for all online galleries.
5. All participants will be considered for next month's Designer of the Month, as well <---that's cool!
6. A RANDOM participant will win the prize package and will be announced on March 3rd. Winner will have five days to contact Jen via email to claim prize.
7. The March Designer of the Month will be chosen and contacted March 3rd, but will not be announced until the first Saturday of March.


Here's this week's sketch:



Some beautiful inspiration from the SFYTT Sisters to get you started:
Jen del Muro with Designer of the Month Mona Pendleton
Amy Rohl
Kelly Lunceford
Leigh O'Brien
Susan Liles

And my sample:



For several months, I've been admiring the tissue paper flowers that Daniela Dobson makes for her projects. The circles on today's SFYTT were practically screaming for me to give one a try. Daniela has a great tutorial on these HERE. I used the Dahlia Nestabilities to die-cut my pieces -- worked like a charm! On the perimeter of the two smaller circles flanking the big flower, I created a decorative ivory ring using one of the border images from JustRite's Just A Note. The papers are all from the For Him Ooh La La kit by My Mind's Eye.



On the inside, I repeated the floral motif, creating a flower base with the Dahlia Nestabilities and a center stamped with both a border and center from JustRite's Just A Note. The two small flowers are paper die-cuts that are included in the MME paper kit.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you'll give this awesome sketch a try - can't wait to see!!




Stamps: Just A Note (JustRite Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream and Aqua Mist, For Him Ooh La La kit by My Mind's Eye , ivory tissue paper
Ink: Stampin' Up Always Artichoke and More Mustard, Ranger Antique Linen Distress
Accessories: Spellbinders Dahlia, classic circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities, Making Memories butons, Stampin' Up leaf die, Zva bling, lace, Papertrey ribbon, sewing machine

MFT February Blog Hop

Welcome to the My Favorite Things February blog hop! If you've come here by way of Joanne, you're in the right place. If you've just happened by, then you'll definitely want to get caught up by starting with Kim. I'd hate for you to miss a single thing!

Tonight, we're celebrating MFT's biggest and best release ever! Among all the fantastic stamp sets is the third annual Twisted release, Twisted Threesome, a collection of sometimes snarky, sometimes a bit off-color, and always hilarious sentiments that go along with many of your favorite MFT images.

I decided to create a fun menopause-themed gag gift ensemble. For the card, I combined the toasting duo from Girls Night Out with "Welcome to Menopause," which is part of one of the Twisted Threesome sentiments. For the first time ever, I was wishing for heads on these gals, so that I could give them some gray hair. Maybe I should have added some age spots and wrinkles to their hands and necks?? (My layout is the Mojo Monday Sketch #124 turned on its side.)





The inside holds a second sentiment, "Aged Perfectly" from Girls Night Out. Such a nice way to say "old" - LOL!





Then I created a Menopause Survival Kit tin, which includes various hot flash remedies and a wearable pin for the gift recipient. Most of these ideas were gleaned from different commercially available gag gifts, but why purchase this kind of thing when it's so much more fun to make your own. Here's a look at the Survival Kit contents:

First, a "Hot Flash Hankie" - a handkerchief slipped down into a decorated glassine bag. (Yikes, did I spell hankie right?) Text is computer-generated.





Second, one of those disposable, instant cold compresses that you find in first aid kits. I wrapped it with a simple sleeve and included the sentiment "You're SO Hot," which is the first half of the "Welcome to Menopause" sentiment that I used on the card front.





Third, a water spritzer, wrapped in a band of dp and labeled "Fire Extinguisher" (text computer-generated):





And last, an "I'm SO Hot" button that the recipient can wear proudly - teehehe. I hand-cut and glittered the flames. "SO Hot" is from Twisted Threesome and the word "I'm" can be found in other MFT sets - Who's That e-Girl and Window Shopping, to name two. (The warning text is computer-generated.)





All of the survival items fit nicely into an altered tin. I used some fun MFT Adornments on the tin - Spring Glittered Garnishes along the bottom just below the blue-ish band, and Crystal Clear Swarovski Crystals on the half-label die-cut (applied with the Professional Touch HotFix Crystal Applicator).




Coloring throughout is done with Copics. Designer papers and coordinating die-cuts are from the My Mind's Eye Ooo-La-La For Him collection. Believe me, I considered the whole red hat society color scheme, but I am sooooo NOT a red and purple kind of gal - just couldn't do it! But wouldn't that be fun?


Whew! That's it for me! Your next stop on the hop is the fabulous Susan Liles! Enjoy the rest of the hop!

MFTeaser: You Make the Grade

We're on Day Three of this month's My Favorite Things Teasers, and it's all about Pure Innocence today! We have three new images in this very popular line. Be sure to visit Kim at the MFT blog anytime after 11 am to see a full list of the designers who are posting today. You won't want to miss a single one of these cuties!

I chose to work with You Make the Grade. So many possibilities for this set - school days mini albums, notebooks for kids, backpack tags, scrapbook pages, and so much more. With teacher appreciation week coming in May, I decided to get a jump start by making a teacher gift item. Not too long ago, my daughter and I found oodles of chipboard albums in the dollar section at Michael's. I hardly ever do mini albums, but I absolutely cannot resist chipboard, so I brought home quite a few of these (great shapes, too - flower, butterfly, teapot, house, plus lots of label and tag shapes). I decorated two of the "pages" from an apple-shaped album for the front and back of my gift box/bag. The papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Boyfriend line, and the die-cut stickers are from October Afternoon's Report Card line. The image is colored with Copics, then trimmed out.

To create the bag, take an 8 1/2" x 6 3/4" piece of heavy cardstock (I used Papertrey's Vintage Cream), score at 2 1/4" on all four sides, like this:





cut along the score lines as shown:





then fold it into a box ...




and adhere it to the chipboard front and back, as shown:




I'm not sure yet what I'm going to put in here, maybe some treats in a cellophane bag or maybe some mini notecards and envelopes?

Thanks for stopping by today! Tomorrow, we're introducing a brand-new artist, whom you're sure to love!



Stamps: You Make the Grade (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Boyfriend and Nutmeg, MFT Perfect Paper Panel
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic markers, foam adhesive, circle Nestabilities, October Afternoon Report Card die-cut stickers, Papertrey buttons and twine, SU spiral punch, stapler, ivory acrylic paint, chipboard album, Scor-Pal