Meow Munch - A Purrfect Treat

Welcome to MFT's July Blog Hop! If you arrived here from Frances's blog, you're in the right place. If you just happened to stop in and would like to start at the beginning, head over to Kim's blog and just keep following the links.

Tomorrow night My Favorite Things will be releasing four new sets, including two new Perfect Packaging label sets. I've used the cat label set, called Purrfect Treats, to put together a cute little jar of homemade cat treats. To complete the presentation, I put the finished jar in a cellophane bag and tied on a matching tag.

Here's a look at the jar by itself:



And here's a close-up of the top, which also uses MFT's awesome alphabet set, Bling 'Bet.



And last, a close-up of the matching tag:




Next stop on the hop is the fabulous Christina Fischer!

Thanks so much for stopping by,



Stamps: Purrfect Treats, Bling 'Bet (My Favorite Things)
Paper: MFT Perfect Paper Panels, Stampin' Up Basic Gray, MFT Spring collection dp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Regal Rose
Accessories: MFT 16-ounce square jar, Spellbinders Labels 4 and Petite Oval Nestabilities, black brads, black and pink burlap string, black gingham ribbon, pink twill, Copic markers, SU paper clip, cellophane bag

You're the Best

I seriously thought Jen was trying to kill us all with her Sketch for You To Try this week. I really struggled at first! Have a look over at i{heart}2stamp. I kept envisioning something funky, hip, and scrappy, but I made a U-turn and headed for an old stand-by instead - black and white, or in this case, black and neutrals. Funny how we have our "comfy old sweats" types of cards - the ones we just settle right into without thinking too much. This ended up being one of those :)

I'm loving Verve's new Kindred Spirits. The two fleur-de-lis are stamped in black, clear embossed and popped up for dimension. The papers are all from Die Cuts With a View's La Creme collection. I found the yummy ribbon on clearance recently at one of my local craft stores - AC Moore maybe? I like how the gingham and button add a bit of a country look to the elegant fleur-de-lis. All of the new Verve stamp sets are now officially available in the Verve store. You'll find the sets sold individually, as well as value pricing on the entire release for a limited time.

I can't wait to see what the SFYTT sistahs have done with this sketch. Here they are:

Jen del Muro with guest designer Ashley Newell
Amy Rohl
Carole Burrage
Kelly Lunceford
Susan Liles

Hope you can play along, too. Despite my rough start, it ended up being a really fun sketch to work with. Link up your card to Jen's post and remember to use keyword SFYTT if you upload to Splitcoast.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you have a fantastic weekend! If you're in the Northern Virginia or Maryland area, think about heading out to the Great American Scrapbook Convention at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia. I'll be hanging out there for at least part of the day. There's a good chance you'll find me at the My Favorite Things booth or wandering around nearby. I'd love to say hi!



Stamps: Kindred Spirits (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream and White; DCWV La Creme dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Spellbinders circle and mega curved rectangle Nestabiltiies; Spellbinders Fancy Scalloped Border Piercabilities and tag die, May Arts burlap string, PTI button, Making Memories gingham ribbon, SU pearls

Forever in Our Hearts

Ready for another peek at the new Verve? Today I'm showing a card made with Forever in Our Hearts, a beautiful sympathy set done in true Verve style. I honestly wish I could tell you you'll never need this set, but the truth is, this is a must-have set more than most others. Why? Because when bad things happen and we find ourselves at a loss for words, a good sympathy set is truly invaluable. The imagery in Forever in Our Hearts is peaceful and the sentiments heartfelt, making those difficult sympathy cards at least a little bit easier.

For my card, I've chosen a soothing blue-green-brown color scheme and kept the overall design clean and simple. The tree is stamped in brown pigment ink and clear embossed. I added just a few extras to enhance the overall design: some scoring, pleated satin ribbon, pearls, and some pretty scallops on the sentiment and along the bottom border.

Remember to check out the Verve Stamps blog today to see more peeks of this set and to enter for your chance to win one of your own. And remember, tonight is our Release Party, beginning at 9 pm EST. The sets will be available for purchase at 10:30 pm EST.

I have a second card to share today, too. Michelle Rodgers (owner of Stamper's Dream) is having a birthday today! Happy Birthday Michelle! I know she loves Penny Black images, so Cheesecake Party seemed perfect for her birthday wishes. Stop by her blog and leave her some birthday love!!



Thanks for visiting today!



Forever in Our Hearts:
Stamps: Forever in our Hearts (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Dark Chocolate and White card stock; K&Co textured dp
Ink: SU Chocolate Chip craft, VersaMark
Accessories: SU iridescent ice and clear embossing powders, pearls; Spellbinders petite ovals Nestabilities; Papertrey ribbon; Scor-Pal; Martha Stewart border punch

Cheesecake Party:
Stamps: Cheesecake Party (Penny Black)
Paper: Blush Red Prismatics, Neenah white cs, My Mind's Eye Breaking Free dp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic markers, SU Top Note die, Martha Stewart border punch, Quickie glue pen, clear glitter, 7 Gypsies spiral clip, sheer ribbon, burlap string, paper flower and button (from stash), Spellbinders Flourish Accent Shapeabilities and Piercabilities scallop border die

Faith

Verve Stamps is previewing new sets again today and tomorrow, leading up to tomorrow night's release. Over on the Verve blog, you can take a peek at Just For You, a collection of sentiments designed to celebrate and honor those special loved ones in your life. Read all the way down for a chance to win one for yourself!

I realized last night that the card I was planning to show today includes an image that hasn't been peeked yet, so I'll sit on that one for today and go to Plan B. Each month, in addition to the fabulous sets, Julee also tucks in a few Plain Janes. These are single stamps priced and packaged for value (only $3 each!). I've combined two of this month's Plain Janes - Leaves and Hebrews 11:1 - for today's card. This one has so many of my favorite things ... Scripture, buttons, beautiful papers, soothing colors, lace trim, stitching, and charms. Hope you like it!

The new sets will be released tomorrow night. Our Release Party begins at 9 pm in the Verve Forum on SCS. We'll chat, reveal the full sets, show more samples, announce winners, and then at the end, the new sets will be available for purchase. Hope you can join us!



Stamps: Hebrews 11:1 and Leaves (Verve Stamps Plain Janes)
Paper: Papertrey Dark Chocolate cs, My Mind's Eye Bella Bella French Flea Market dp
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Stampin' Up Baja Breeze
Accessories: Spellbinders Labels 3 and Circle Nestabilities, Papertrey buttons, May Arts string, SU ribbon, Blue Moon Beads charms, lace trim, sewing machine

Kindred Spirits

Ooo la la!! There are some Vervalicious new sets coming this Friday, and the peeks have officially begun over on the Verve Stamps blog. That means both some great eye candy each day for the rest of the week AND chances to win free stamps, so be sure to check it out!

Today's featured stamp set is Kindred Spirits, and it is a real beauty, I tell ya. I've long been partial to the fleur-de-lis image, so this set is right up my alley! For today's card, I went a little clean-and-simple, pairing up an image and sentiment from Kindred Spirits with some of the beautiful patterns from Cosmo Cricket's Everafter collection. Tres jolie! I inked all the edges with Antique Linen distress ink to add to the aged look the paper already has. I also added a little depth to the fleur-de-lis cluster with a darker gray Prismacolor pencil, then finished the card off with some decorative borders and some machine stitching.

When can YOU get your hands on this set? This Friday night! The festivities begin with a Release Party beginning at 9 pm in the Verve Stamps forum on SCS. Hope you can join us!




Stamps: Kindred Spirits (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream; Cosmo Cricket Everafter collection
Ink: Papertrey Smokey Shadow; Ranger Antique Linen and Vintage Photo distress inks
Accessories: Stampin' Up ribbon and corduroy brad; Spellbinders Piercabilities; Fiskars A-Fleur border punch; sewing machine; Prismacolor pencils

A Sketchy, Dirty MFT Celebration

Lots of things going on today! First, it's Saturday, so it's time for another Sketch For You to Try. It's also the 20th of the month, which is both Celebrate MFT day and the monthly Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni challenge.

My first card is one that I made using Jen's Sketch For You To Try. Check out Jen's blog, i{heart}2stamp to see the sketch, details on how to play along, plus samples from both Jen and guest designer Ashley Newell. For more inspiration, have a look at what the SFYTT crew has put together: Amy Rohl, Carole Burrage, Kelly Lunceford, and Susan Liles. Remember to use keyword SFYTT if you upload to SCS.

This is also my card for the DD/DDA challenge. This is just a fun challenge where the dirty girls past and present get together for a little reunion of sorts. Here's our challenge details:

Challenge Focus: Create a project that screams school's out for summer.
Do you like the beach, camping, the mountains, bbqing, you name it, whatever screams summer to you is fair game.
Required Element: Mini brads
Restricted Element: Buttons
You can see what the other players have come up with HERE. (We'll all be uploading throughout the day.)


Next up is a little something for Celebrate MFT Day:



What's that? Just a day we like to set aside to get your My Favorite Things stamps inky. This month, Joanne has challenged us to use a favorite Stephanie Fizer image. That should be easy! I love them all :) I made this card with The Poppies set for the release back at the beginning of the month, but I haven't shown it here yet. I combined the word "Rock" from The Poppies with the letter "U" from Bling 'Bet. The skulls are also from The Poppies. Hope you can play along! Details are HERE - remember to use keyword CelebrateMFT so we can see your project!



By the Seashore:
Stamps: By the Seashore (My Favorite Things)
Paper: MFT Perfect Paper Panels, SU Riding Hood Red, PTI Dark Chocolate, My Mind's Eye Free Bird dp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic markers, SU photo corner punch, 1/2" circle punch, hardware, ribbon, May Arts burlap string, sewing machine, Spellbinders Labels 4 and circle nesties, EK Success dotted wavy border punch
Size: 5 1/2" square

U Rock:
Stamps: The Poppies (My Favorite Things)
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, SU Basic Black, Making Memories dp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Pretty In Pink
Accessories: MFT crystals; Copic markers; Stardust glitter pens - silver and clear; SU curvy label punch, Top Note die, 1/2" circle punch, and ribbon; paper piercer

Thanks, Coach

I made some gift card holders for the two coaches of my daughter's softball team using Papertrey's All-Star Team and All-Star Team Additions - love these sets, by the way! The papers are from My Mind's Eye Breaking Free collection.

The style is a tri-fold, with the finished size just slightly larger than a standard gift card. The top flap folds down and tucks behind the corduroy button/punched circle accent to keep the holder closed. When you open the top flap, you see both the "Just Play, Have Fun, Enjoy the Game" sentiment from All-Star Team Additions as well as a "World's Best Coach" sentiment that I made by putting together "World's Best" from Verve's World's Best set and spelling out the word "Coach" using my JustRite Stamper and the Brayton font. (Do you see where I punched the slit in the wrong place? Grrrr.)



And last, when the card is fully opened, you see a middle panel, which I decorated to include the names of the five girls who gave the gift card. I cut five triangles for pennants and wrote one of the girl's names on each, then hand-drew the string. I also hand-wrote the "To," "From" and amount info.



Maybe I went a little overboard on the whole "privacy" thing, smudging out all that info, but my sister just about scared me to death the other day with some things she had learned at a recent internet safety training class that she took as part of her job as a high school administrator. You can never be too careful!

Hate to say goodbye on that note - sorry! Thanks for stopping by today!



Stamps: All-Star Team and All-Star Team Additions (Papertrey Ink); World's Best (Verve Stamps); Brayton font (JustRite Stampers)
Paper: SU Pumpkin Pie and Basic Gray card stock; My Mind's Eye Breaking Free dp
Ink: SU Pumpkin Pie and Basic Gray; Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: SU corduroy buttons, small star punch, slit punch; Creative Memories 1" punch; May Arts burlap string; edge distressing tool