My mom's birthday was this past Thursday and we're celebrating tomorrow with a little birthday lunch, so I decided to use this week's SFYTT for her card. The image I chose is from a retired SU! set, Botanicals; a set that I'll never give up. I used Copics to color the image, stamped the butterfly and script images from the set in Ranger Distress ink (Old Paper), and then cut it into squares. I love the whole "window pane" look, but I'm afraid my image should've have been a bit bigger? Not sure if the essence of the image got lost a bit... Anywhoo, I do love the end result and the colors I chose--a little bit Winter with a little hope of Spring. The sentiment is from PTI's Floral Fusion (Summer CHA set), and it fit perfectly in that little space. Almost forgot that I used another PTI set for the plum strip--Background Basics: Diamonds, love it!

Here is Jen's original sketch along with links to the SFYTT crew. BE SURE to check out Jen's post and PLAY ALONG because you could be the winner-winner-chicken-dinner, or is it weiner-weiner-chicken-dinner, of a FANTABULOSO prize package!

I've got a quartet of cards to share, all of which use the same simple sketch featuring my Top Note Bigz die from SU!. I haven't used the die for quite some time and forgot how much I love it. It wasn't intentional, but all stamps used are from PaperTrey Ink, and the "Miss You" card was made for Melissa Phillips' inspiration challenge.

I fell in love with this and a few of the other PTI sets from their September release, and if I remember correctly, I told you I'd be back with a few more PTI designs using those purchases. I'm holding true to my word with today's SFYTT card that's a little fun, a little formal and a little, perhaps, masculine.

This week's Stamp Simply challenge is to create a gate fold card. Mine is pretty simple, straightforward -- a 8.5 x 5.5 sheet of cardstock, scored 2 1/8" in from each end, resulting in an A2 card when folded. The patterned paper is cut at 2 x 5 3/8" on the outside, and my inside vanilla layer is 4 x 5.25" or you could even go with 3.75 x 5", too.


I made this card for a wedding we're invited to on Saturday, and that I'm playing for as well. Their invitations were very simple in kraft, embellished with printed leaves, so I kept with fall colors. My patterned paper is from DCWV Indian Summer Fall Stack, layered on Dusty Durango, with a 1" Chocolate Chip belly band. The belly band is topped with chocolate grosgrain and a die cut vanilla oval, stamped with their initials using PTI's Fresh Alpha and a damask from Vintage Labels. The "J" was computer generated using Edwardian Script font.



The inside panel is stamped with retired SU! -- leaf from Botanicals and the sentiment from one of the All Year Cheer sets.

Let's see what the rest of the Stamp Simply girls have done with their gate fold cards, and BTW, I am having a ball participating in these challenges this month--a great group of girls and fun challenges!

Sharon
AJ
Barb
Barbara
Deb
Janine
Jenny
Julie
Tammy

Have a great Thursday eve/Friday, and remember to use keyword: ssnotime109 when uploading to SCS. See you Saturday with a new SFYTT!

Just a couple of cards I made in the last week or so that I wanted to share with you. The first is a confirmation card made for a friend to give away, and the second is a card I sent to a friend's dad, who is battling cancer right now.

We're celebrating George's 2nd birthday today, although his actual birthday falls on Monday. This summer he developed a strong love of baseball, and we hit/catch/run after the ball each and every day it seems. I took this photo of him getting ready to bat and thought it would be the perfect photo to incorporate into his birthday card. Just as it happened, Jen incorporated a circle layer in today's SFYTT card, and it worked perfectly as a "baseball", what luck!

My colors scheme is Kraft, Real Red and Not Quite Navy, and I used the happy birthday sentiment from Amazing to Zany (SU!), along with two sets from PTI: All-Star Team and Star Prints. The chipboard 2 is from Basic Grey and was smooshed in Real Red craft ink to give it a little color. When I asked my husband what color I should make the 2, he told me, without hesitation, "red, so it will show up better, because he's going to be 2 and that's the most important part...". Duh, why didn't I think of that?! I think he made a good call Ü

Can't wait to see what the rest of Team SFYTT has done with this awesome sketch, so let's play ball!

Jen & Gretchen
Amy
Kelly
Susan

Have a great weekend and be sure to play along with us. Don't forget keyword: SFYTT when uploading to SCS and/or leave a link of your post over at Jen's place!

Earlier this week I posted a baby card that I really loved, and I told you that I needed to make at least 2 more of them. Well, I don't know what it is about me, but I have a hard time making the same card again, so I decided to use Jen's fun SFYTT for another baby card I need for a shower I'm attending today.

There are a couple of things that I really like about my card today, but don't get me wrong--I'm not bragging, just some things that turned out right for me! First is the argyle embossed background on the Spring Moss layer because it reminds me of those beautiful baby afghans you see in knitting magazines (something I'll probably never accomplish in my lifetime). Second is this color combination (Ripe Avocado, Aqua Mist, Spring Moss and Kraft)--it just screams baby, but in a soft, subtle manner. And last, I really love paper piecing this boat from SU!'s Nursery Necessities! I added text and mini polka dots on the boat and the larger sail for a little extra sumpin'.

Thanks for listening to me today, but now it's time to scoot off to SFYTT land and see what's there:

Jen and Megan
Amy
Carole
Kelly
Susan

Have a great weekend!

It's our niece's 21st birthday today, and she's in the hospital, so I wanted to make her a card that will hopefully cheer her day a bit. The card uses a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages as well as their Polka Dot Basics 2 set. I embossed the polka dots for little extra sumpin', attached glittery numbers from American Crafts Thickers and tied a button and bow using PTI's Perfect Plum satin ribbon and button twine. The main image layer is die cut using my SU! Top Note die, all set against a textured white card base for extra pop.

Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to pop back in tomorrow for another great SFYTT from Jen and the gang!

Yesterday was the online release of Stampin' Up!'s monthly demonstrator magazine, Stampin' Success , and I am so fortunate to be featured as their September Guest Designer! It all started this past May, so I've had to keep it a secret until NOW, and boy is it ever fun to share with you all!

I had the opportunity to ink up two stamp sets that were recently unveiled in the Holiday Mini Catalog, Note to Self and Charming, using a self-selected color palette consisting of: Old Olive, Not Quite Navy and Ruby Red. Without further adieu, here are the projects I created along with the article...

I've been wanting to make a flower from text paper and thought Jen's SFYTT gave me the perfect opportunity with that big ol' circle, flanked with an embellishment. I'd also tapped into my 4x4 Jenni Bowlin paper pack earlier this week and thought the papers would be perfect for a shabby/clean/vintage look. Is shabby-clean an oxymoron? Probably not in the stamping world! This is a closeup of the {bee} charm I made using polyshrink plastic (shrinky dink) and the bee stamp from the retired SU! Botanicals set.

Well, another Saturday means another wedding and another SFYTT! We're invited to a wedding reception later this afternoon for Jared & Sarah, would actually got married in Jamaica on February 14, 2009. They're having a reception today in a local spot for those who weren't able to make the wedding in Jamaica (that would be us, darn!). Anyway, they're keeping with the tropical theme, so I created flip flop coasters featuring the newly released images from TCP's On The Beach and By The Sea. Here's a photo of the pile of flip flop coasters I created, followed by my SFYTT card which just happens to be doubling as their wedding card.


Jared's mom is the Mary of whom I speak so highly of here and there on my blog. She's my friend, my fellow stamper and George's daycare provider. When she showed Sarah the flip flops I'd done for the TCP release, Sarah loved them! So, what would any good and serving paper crafter do but make enough for the head table, right?! Ü

Good morning all you good people! Another Saturday, another SFYTT, and this one is a dandy! Don't be intimidated by the layers because they all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. My color scheme is inspired by one of my garden areas and I probably should have taken a picture of it, so you could see the rich colors of the hollyhocks, bee balm and foliage from which I drew upon....mebbe later!

I've been doing quite a bit of stamping using soon-to-be-released (Tuesday, July 22!) stamps from The Cat's Pajamas, and the images are just so darn funny, cute and all around swanky, that I was pulled to do a little shabby-vintage-flower cluster stamping today. I pulled out my Big Shot and Birds and Blooms dies AND my newest SU! purchase--Medallion background stamp (love, love, love it!). The medallion was the first stamp to catch my eye in the new catty and I knew it'd be the first one I'd buy (I know myself so well, don't I?! Purely rhetorical--don't answer that!), and darned if I didn't.

After putting the layers together, I knew I needed something less circular and more linear/grid-like for the Pixie Pink layer, so I used my retired Houndstooth background stamp and quite like the result. Other details are the mini pearls and sentiment flag, stamped with a sentiment from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages. I'm invited to a 40th birthday party tomorrow for a co-worker, so I'm thinking this one's for her!

Let's peek in on the other SFYTT gals and don't forget to use the keyword: SFYTT when uploading to SCS. If you're a fellow blogger, leave a link to your SFYTT creation over at Jen's.

Jen & Regina
Susan
Carole
Kelly
(Amy won't be in this weekend--she's hittin' the beach! You go girl Ü)

***I keep forgetting to thank you all who left me such nice comments last week about my mini-anxiety about leaving George overnight with my brother and his family for the first time last weekend. Everything went grrrreat! Ü

Well, I didn't think I was going to be able to participate in the SFYTT challenge today because I had "scheduled" stamping time during George's nap yesterday for my SFYTT card and had unexpected company all afternoon. On top of that we're leaving this morning for an out-of-town wedding and George is spending his first night away (from his crib) with my brother and his family. Needless to say, it's a little bit stressful for me--worrying if he'll sleep well, be too much to handle for my brother and his family, etc, etc! I'm sure all will be fine, and I don't know why I'm rambling on and on because I'm short on time this morning, ha! So, without further rambling, here is the wedding card I whipped up this morning using Jen's sketch:

Remember that you are all invited to play along with Jen's weekly SFYTT challenge. When you do play along, be sure to leave a link over at Jen's blog and/or use the keyword: SFYTT if you upload to SCS. Ok, here's the rest of the SFYTT crew for you to view!

Jen & Regina (July Guest Designer)
Amy
Carole
Kelly
Susan

Have a great weekend!

For today's (challenging for me) Sketch For You To Try! My card uses a new In Color--Bermuda Bay, and soon to be retired In Color--Kiwi Kiss with touches of Chocolate Chip and a piece of K&Co. Carolyn Gavin Greenhouse Collection patterned paper. I am in love with the Bermuda and Kiwi combination, so I definitely need to grab another package of Kiwi before it's too late!

I decided to make the side by side circles by sentiment focal point, using PTI's Mega Mixed Messages and a chipboard 'U' from SU! smooshed in Chocolate Chip craft ink. Rather than layering the chipboard on a punched circle, I used a brass template to pierce two circles. Chocolate satin ribbon tops this one off!

Let's see what the SFYTT sisters have done with this fun and challenging sketch:

Jen and Ashley
Carol
Amy
Kelly
Susan

Have a great weekend!

Today's card is a birthday card made for our 4 year old nephew using a Kim Hughes image from her set, Little Gal (CHF) along with sentiments from SU! (it's your birthday) and TCP (hot dog). The colors are SU!: Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry. I also used my Spellbinder's Labels 2 and circle dies paired with hand cut sentiment layers. The final embellishments are punched stars and red mini brads.

I'm making this a short post as I'm having major internet connectivity issues today, and I don't want to push it by taking too long before my next outage!

Thanks for stopping by today!

As soon as I saw some of the design team samples using the Verve sets, World's Best & Protector, I just knew I had to have 'em! Today I'm showing you the first card I've made using World's Best, and I hope to have another card to share tomorrow since this card is for my FIL and the next will be for DH from the kiddos.

I really like this color combo: Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay and Old Olive with a splash of Kraft, although it was hard to capture the true Bermuda Bay--it's looking more like Tempting Turquoise in the picture. I see myself using it again and again. The stamped with PTI Guidelines Two using Ranger Old Paper distress ink, and it gives it a really nice, subtle look. The sentiment area is Spellbinder's Labels 2 with a hand trimmed flag running across and tied with a button and twine. Just for a little balance on the left, I added a row of piercing. Oh, one last detail on the olive layer is embossed vertical lines on each edge using my Scor-Pal.

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope to see you tomorrow!

Carole conjured up a fun sketch for TCP Tuesday this week and Jen is our HHWTM (aka hipster hostess with the mostess)! So, hop on over to Jen's blog for the original sketch and of course a fabulous sample to boot. One other link is to the entire clearly swanky set in which Poochie resides: Smells Like Cake (N-7543).

For my sample, I paired a couple of the new In Colors: Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo with PTI's Ripe Avocado. The ribbon is matching polka dotted Crushed Curry grosgrain topped with a button and mini felt flower, all tied with twine from PTI. Poochie is blender pen colored with reinkers.

I also put my Scor-Pal to good use, creating a "french" bulletin board look on the Melon Mambo layer and again to frame Poochie. I'd seen the bulletin board idea in the latest issue of the monthly SU! demo magazine, Stampin' Success. My lines are scored every 1" with a 1/4" circle punched from matching card stock, adhered to each intersection of the scored lines....clear as mud?! Easy peasy, girls!

Just one more thing--a quick picture of an assortment of thank you notes I finished yesterday:


Have a terrific Tuesday!