December SFYTT

Hi There! It's been awhile, huh? Today's post is one with a couple of important announcements, so stay tuned for those. I haven't posted in a few weeks and I missed the first Team Post for the December SFYTT because we were on a little mini vacation on Oahu. But I'm back, which brings me to the first announcement...I'm sure most of you stampers have heard by now that this is the Final SFYTT - yes final as in EVER! After years of fabulous inspiration, Jen has decided to take a break from the sketches. So how about a look at that final sketch?

For my card, I decided to pull out my all-time favorite Verve set, Happy Days, as well as some patterned paper from the Seen and Noted collection from Pebbles. I added some splattered ink and a few wood veneer stars and called it good.

So this brings me to my second announcement, which is really hard for me to make, but I've been putting it off for several weeks now and it's time. After several amazing years as a DT member for Verve, I recently stepped down, which was a super hard decision to make. Right now I'm just wanting to spend more time with my family and less time blogging. I still love Julee and Verve and all of the wonderfully talented Divas, but I'll just be going back to being a really good customer.

I'll also probably be posting a lot less frequently in 2013 than I have in the past. Well, actually, probably about the same as I have the last couple of months as I've already pretty much cut back on that. Most of what you'll see from me will be Project Life posts (I'll just start fresh with that in 2013) and the occasional card here and there, but I'm no longer on any DTs, so no more deadlines or blog hops. I do have one Guest DT gig lined up in a few months, but other than that things will be pretty mellow around here.

OK, back to the December SFYTT... Each month this year, as in years past, we've had some amazing sponsors. This month, Splitcoast Stampers is offering up a full one year fan club membership to the winner of the SFYTT 2012 Christmas Day Giveaway! Have you participated in all 12 months of SFYTT this year? If so, you're eligible to win the Grand Prize! The winner will receive $20 gift certificates from EACH of this year’s sponsors, as well as a one year membership to SCS. TWELVE prizes total! All of the details can be found HERE on Jen's Blog. Here's a list of all of this year's sponsors:

The Cat’s Pajamas
Your Next Stamp
The Craft’s Meow
There She Goes
Skipping Stones
Lil’ Inker Designs
My Favorite Things
Verve Stamps
Kraftin’ Kimmie
Market Street Stamps

Whew! That's a lot of stuff in one blog post!!  Be sure to stop by these other SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they're sharing today with this month's sketch!

Jen del Muro
Carole Burrage 
Jodi Collins
Susan Liles
Tracy Schultz

OK, that's it from me. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

November SFYTT Post #2

It's the 3rd Saturday of November and that means it's time for some more Sketch For You To Try Inspiration from a few of the SFYTT Sisters! Have you had a chance to play along with this month's sketch yet? You've got until November 30th at midnight, so there's still plenty of time to create something and it's a SUPER fun sketch this month! And don't forget we have another amazing sponsor this month - Sweet Stamp Shop!

First, let's take another look at this month's sketch:

I decided to pull out one of my favorite Verve holiday stamps and create a simple Christmas Card:

I used papers from Lawn Fawn's Fa La La Collection and some pom pom trim,but I forgot to put my half circle thing down before I glued on the trim, so unfortunately you can see a little gap in there where I couldn't smoosh the circle in under the trim. Oh well! The card's most likely just going to family, and I know they won't mind, so I decided to just leave it. Sometimes little mistakes like that are just OK and this one was definitely not worth redoing the whole card over! So anyway, how about that awesome stamp, huh? That is the super cute Joy Plain Jane from Verve. I love it and do not use it nearly enough.

Be sure to stop by these other SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they're sharing today with this month's sketch!

Jen del Muro
Carole Burrage 
Jodi Collins
Susan Liles
Tracy Schultz

OK, that's it from me. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Verve Diva Inspirations November 2012 Blog Hop

It's November 5th and that means it's time for another Verve Divas Inspirations Blog Hop! On the 5th of each month, the Verve Divas Inspirations Team along with some of the Release Team will be sharing creations using some of our favorite Verve sets from both past and present, and as always, there are PRIZES!!

You can start the hop at the beginning on the Verve Blog and continue on through each fabulous blog - be sure to leave a little comment love along the way and you just might win some Verve goodies of your own! If you arrived here from the talented Jen d's blog, then you're on the right track! Just in case, here's a look at the Master Hop List:

	1. Betty	7. Susan
	2. Jen d.	8. Andrea
	3. Jen T.	9. Charmaine
	4. Julee	10. Janelle
	5. Sankari	11. Maureen
	6. Sony	12. Teresa

My Grandmother's birthday is next week and I need to get her gift in the mail, so I whipped up a fun birthday card that I know she'll love (She's my grandma. Honestly, I could have probably smeared mud on a piece of cardstock and she'd tell me it was beautiful, but still...I decided to go ahead and try to make it cute anyway! LOL). 

I used pulled out some of my favorite neglected Verve sets to play with this time around. That fun birthday sentiment is from the Making a Statement set, which has sentiments for so many different occasions! I also used my Loopy Blooms die to cut out a cute little felt flower because it felt like it needed a little something on the left side of that circle when I was finished. Isn't that a fun sketch? I played along with this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and just LOVE this one! All of the patterned papers are from the Seen & Noted Collection by Pebbles (one of my new faves - can't wait to use these in Project Life!).

That's it from me today. Julee is next up on the hop, so head on over to see what kind of fabulousness she's created and then keep on hopping along! Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to stop by the Verve Blog as well to check out the new specials going on this month as well as the amazing New Release stamps that were added last week!! Believe me, you won't want to miss them!!

October SFYTT Post #2

It's the 3rd Saturday of October and that means it's time for some more Sketch For You To Try Inspiration from a few of the SFYTT Sisters! Have you had a chance to play along with this month's sketch yet? You've got until October 31st at midnight, so there's still plenty of time to create something and it's a SUPER fun sketch this month! And don't forget we have another amazing sponsor this month  - Market Street Stamps!

I'm a little late with my post today because our internet has been out since yesterday morning, so I had to come over to my Mom's to post this. I'm hoping it's something going on with our cable company and not my modem, but I'm putting off calling them because I'm afraid of what they'll tell me!! It's such a pain to swap out the modem - I either have to wait weeks for a cable technician to come to the house or I have to unhook everything myself and take it in to the cable place and swap it out (something I dread because there's always a super long line and I hate dealing with the big tangle of wires behind my computer!!). Anyway, sorry for the delay...

Let's take another look at this month's sketch:

I decided to add a card to my birthday stash using some old Verve favorites! (You might notice that sometime between creating the card and taking a photo one of my cats decided to take a bite out of the top right corner! Funny thing is I didn't even notice that until I was editing the photo! Hopefully I can flatten it out and the recipient won't notice?? If not, that cat is going to be in big trouble!!).

 

I pulled out some super old papers from my "are-you-ever-going-to-use-me" pile and got to work. I love paper piecing those balloons from the Birthday Bash set and I added a simple Make a Wish sentiment from the Birthday Phrases set and was done! Super easy.

Be sure to stop by these other SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they're sharing today with this month's sketch!

Jen del Muro
Carole Burrage 
Jodi Collins
Susan Liles
Tracy Schultz

OK, that's it from me. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Verve Diva Inspirations October 2012 Blog Hop

Welcome to the World Card Making Day edition of the Verve Diva Inspirations Hop!  Along the hop this month we're debuting FIVE brand new plain janes that just hit the store today, so grab a drink and hop along to see a fresh mix of old and new Verve and maybe even win a prize! You can find out all the prize details and see the full reveal of the new plain janes over on the Verve Blog today.  If you arrived here from the talented Betty's blog, then you're on the right track! Just in case, here's a look at the Master Hop List:

	1. Betty	9. Andrea
	2. Jen T.	10. Charmaine
	3. Julee	11. Janelle
	4. Sankari	12. Laurie
	5. Sony	13. Maureen
	6. Susan	14. Teresa
	7. Amber	15. Tosha
	8. Amy

I decided to create a fun Halloween treat box using an older Big Shot Sizzix Fry Box die I had in my stash, some new Halloween papers, and a mix of old and new Verve stamps:

The papers are all from the new Witch Hazel collection by October Afternoon - so fun! And how about that sentiment? That's the brand new So Sweet Plain Jane - isn't it awesome!? I also added a paper pieced pumpkin from the Boo to You stamp set (which just happens to be the October Stamp of the Month, meaning it's currently 40% off!!). Finally, I splattered a little bit of Calico White Mister Huey's Color Mists on the front of the box and called it done. The box is ready to add some little Halloween treats to in a few weeks and give to my own little monster!

That's it from me today. Julee is next up on the hop, so head on over to see what kind of fabulousness she's created and then keep on hopping along! Thanks for stopping by!

Verve Diva Inspirations September 2012 Blog Hop

It's September 5th and that means it's time for another Verve Divas Inspirations Blog Hop! On the 5th of each month, the Verve Divas Inspirations Team will be sharing creations using some of our favorite Verve sets from both past and present, and as always, there are PRIZES!!

You can start the hop at the beginning on the Verve Blog and continue on through each fabulous blog - be sure to leave a little comment love along the way and you just might win some Verve goodies of your own! If you arrived here from the talented Jen d's blog, then you're on the right track! Just in case, here's a look at the Master Hop List:

	1. Betty	8. Amber
	2. Jen d.	9. Amy
	3. Jen T.	10. Andrea
	4. Julee	11. Janelle
	5. Sankari	12. Maureen
	6. Sony	13. Teresa
	7. Susan	14. Tosha

I decided to just have a little fun and add a generic "just because" card to my stash. I started out playing with this week's MoJo Monday sketch, but got a little side-tracked along the way so I lost a few layers (but it's a great sketch, so do be sure to check it out!). I did have fun mixing up one of my favorite older Verve stamps with a fun sentiment from one of the new releases!

I will never get tired of using that fun wave-y circle frame-y thing from Happy Days! For me, it will always be my go-to circle framer! I added the "smile" sentiment from the brand-new Doodled Occasions set, which fit just perfectly tucked inside the wave-y circle frame-y thing! I used a mix of October Afternoon papers from my stash - I've been on a mission lately to do a little stash-using-up! I used mostly papers from Sasparilla with a few other random October Afternoon papers thrown in as well. As for embellishments, I stuck with my recent stand-by's of Mister Huey's Sprays and Wood Veneer Stars from Studio Calico. Overall, I think I managed to accomplish a fun gender-neutral generic card that would work for quite a few occasions.

That's it from me today. Julee is next up on the hop, so head on over to see what kind of fabulousness she's created and then keep on hopping along! Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to stop by the Verve Blog as well to check out the new specials going on this month!! Believe me, you won't want to miss it!!

Products Used:

Happy Days by Verve Doodled Occasions by Verve Wood Veneer Stars Sasparilla by October Afternoon Mister Huey's Spray in Estate Green

InLinkz.com

September 2012 SFYTT

Well, here we are again already - first Saturday of the month and time for another fabulous Sketch For You to Try!! I hope you all had a chance to play along with us last month - Lots of exciting things in store for participants of the monthly SFYTT this year, including a chance to win another fabulous huge prize package at the end of the year!! All of the details can be found on today's post over on Jen's blog, with some of the details outlined in the "In a Nutshell" graphic at the end of this post. We have another amazing sponsor this month - Kraftin' Kimmie!

First, here's a look at this month's fun sketch:

 I had fun with the sketch this month, but needed to rotate it 90 degrees for what I had in mind. I also pulled out some of my new Verve stamps and some fun neutral papers and got to work on another card for my son Dean:

I'm really happy with the way this card turned out - fun with a little sparkle, yet still masculine enough. Patterned papers are from the Classic Calico Paper Pack from Studio Calico, and the White Woodgrain Cardstock is also from Studio Calico - I've been hoarding that for quite some time and am glad I finally cut into it! Yes, I used my all-time favorite Classy Label stamp from the Love Notes set (Verve) along with the coordinating Classy Label Die and I was super excited to finally get one of the fun sentiments from Brighter Days inky! Sometimes it's hard to find the right embellishments for boy cards and a lot of people shy away from glitter, but not me! - Mostly because my son still loves all things sparkly and glittery, so I'm not afraid to add a little bling! I added some Martha Stewart silver glitter around the edge of the classy label mat. I also used some more Mister Huey's Color Mister in Inky Black to add some ink splatters. Then there's the wood veneer stars, washi tape and little tiny staples for finishing touches. I think it all came together pretty good and didn't lose it's masculine feel.

Be sure to stop by the rest of the SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they've done with this month's sketch! And a very warm welcome to our Designer of the Month, Leslie Good! Don't forget to stop by her blog to see what she's created as well.

Jen del Muro
Amber Hight
Amy Sheffer
Becky Carafa
Carole Burrage
Jodi Collins
Kerry Johnson
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Tracy Schultz

Products Used:

Classy Label Die (Verve Stamps) Love Notes (Verve Stamps) Brighter Days Classic Calico Paper Pack Wood Veneer Stars White Dots on Black Washi Tape Tiny Attacher

InLinkz.com

August SFYTT Post #2

 

It's the 3rd Saturday of August and that means it's time for some more Sketch For You To Try Inspiration from a few of the SFYTT Sisters! Have you had a chance to play along with this month's sketch yet? You've got until August 31st at midnight, so there's still plenty of time to create something and it's a SUPER fun sketch this month! And don't forget we have another amazing sponsor this month  - Verve Stamps!!

 

In case you didn't know, there are some pretty exciting things going on this month at Verve!! It's the 5-year Anni-VERVE-sary and to celebrate there's a really awesome sale with 10-50% off all stamps and dies in the store. In addition, there's a HUGE New Release coming up next week and Sneak Peeks started a few days ago and will continue the next several days on several Diva Blogs. Finally, there are a few challenges going on with lots of prizes up for grabs! The details about all of these fabulous things can be found over on the Verve Blog, so be sure to stop by there!

OK, now moving on to my SFYTT card...I'm actually giving you guys a Sneak Peek at one of the new Verve sets that will be releasing next week. But first, here's a look at this month's sketch:

And my take on it, which I'm now realizing is very similar to my original SFYTT card I made this month:

That gorgeous flower and sentiment are from the new Lean on Me set, which features 10 awesome stamps - 4 flowers and 6 sentiments. (psst...there's also a coordinating die set, but I didn't get mine ordered in time to play with it on this card, so I had to do things the old fashioned way with a hobby knife - but you can bet next time I'll be using the dies!). Much like my first August SFYTT card, I also used the Tagged Rectangle Die as well as one of the coordinating stamps from Tag Time on this card. All of the patterned paper is from the Woodland Park collection by October Afternoon.

Be sure to stop by these other SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they're sharing today with this month's sketch!

Jen del Muro
Carole Burrage - taking a break
Jodi Collins
Susan Liles
Tracy Schultz

OK, that's it from me. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Verve Diva Inspirations August 2012 Blog Hop

It's August 5th and that means it's time for another Verve Divas Inspirations Blog Hop! On the 5th of each month, the Verve Divas Inspirations Team will be sharing creations using some of our favorite Verve sets from both past and present, and as always, there are PRIZES!! It's an extra special month here at Verve - Anni-Verve-Sary!! In celebration, the Inspiration Team has some special guests playing along with us this month. Several of the Release Team Divas as well as a few other guests are joining us on this hop. You won't want to miss it!!

You can start the hop at the beginning on the Verve Blog and continue on through each fabulous blog - be sure to leave a little comment love along the way and you just might win some Verve goodies of your own! If you arrived here from the talented Jen d's blog, then you're on the right track! Just in case, here's a look at the Master Hop List:

 

	1. Betty	9. Andrea
	2. Jen d.	10. Janelle
	3. Jen T.	11. Laurie
	4. Julee	12. Maureen
	5. Sankari	13. Teresa
	6. Sony	14. Charmaine
	7. Susan	15. Christyne
	8. Amber	16. Laurie

Most of my regular followers know that I periodically create special cards to give to my son, Dean. I started doing this when he was a baby, filling the inside of each card with a handwritten note / letter - just some of my thoughts about being his Mom at this particular time in his life. Sometimes they're full of encouragement and pride and lots of love, sometimes they're full of frustration at whatever latest parenting struggle we're dealing with. I don't always give him these cards, but I do tuck each of them into a special keepsake box - hopefully someday they'll be really special to him. He gets a card for all major special events and holidays and then a few random "just because" cards each year too. The card I made for today's hop is a special card for Dean as he started First Grade this past Monday. I really can't believe I'm the mother of a First Grader!! Anyway, this important milestone called for a Dean card...

 First I have to say that the design of this card was loosely based on a very old Sweet Sunday Sketch, one of my favorites actually. All of the patterned paper is printed digi paper from the Hit the Books kit by Robyn Meierotto (Design House Digital). I stamped one of my favorite and most-used stamps, the classy label stamp from Love Notes and then cut it out with the Classy Label Die. The "Dream Big" sentiment is from the Words of Wisdom set and those stars? They're from one of the very first Verve sets I ever purchased, way back before I became a Diva - Seeing Stars! Still love that classic set!! Once again, I tried adding some splattered Mister Huey's ink, which I do think I'm getting a little better at. I think the messiness of this is sometimes appropriate for boy cards, if I could just master the technique so it didn't look quite so much like a big mistake! I think I'm getting there.

And now for my proud Mommy Moment. My First Grader:

And that's it from me today. Julee is next up on the hop, so head on over to see what kind of fabulousness she's created and then keep on hopping along!

With a new month comes a new sale, and this month we're celebrating FIVE wonderful years of Verve! So in proper celebratory style, we've made some fantastic discounts on some wonderful product! Through August 31, save 10 - 50% off select stamps and dies. Everything is on sale while supplies last, so go ahead and treat yourself to one or two, or even FIVE stampy pleasures! {grin}

 

August 2012 SFYTT

 

Well, it's that time again already - first Saturday of the month and time for another fabulous Sketch For You to Try!! I hope you all had a chance to play along with us last month - Lots of exciting things in store for participants of the monthly SFYTT this year, including a chance to win another fabulous huge prize package at the end of the year!! All of the details can be found on today's post over on Jen's blog, with some of the details outlined in the "In a Nutshell" graphic at the end of this post. We have another amazing sponsor this month that's very near and dear to my heart - Verve Stamps!!

First, here's a look at this month's fun sketch:

August is full of important friend birthdays for me so in trying to build up my birthday card stash I created this fun card:

All of the patterned papers are from the Cakewalk line by October Afternoon, which I'm totally loving! In place of the main rectangular panel, I used a Tagged Rectangle Die, tilting it slightly (I know, don't fall out of your chair - I hate tilted panels, but it looked weird all straight like I normally like things). Those fun balloons are from the Birthday Bash set.  I added a small and simple "Let's Party" sentiment from the Birthday Phrases set and then fancied things up with several scrappy embellishments from my stash - pom pom trim, wood veneer stars, hemp twine, etc.

Be sure to stop by the rest of the SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they've done with this month's sketch! And a very warm welcome to our Designer of the Month, Peggy McCurry! Don't forget to stop by her blog to see what she's created as well.

Jen del Muro
Amber Hight
Amy Sheffer
Becky Carafa
Carole Burrage - taking a break
Jodi Collins
Kerry Johnson
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Tracy Schultz

Happy Birthday Julee!

Today is the super sweet and ultra fabulous Head Verve Diva Julee Tilman's birthday! Several of the Verve Divas (well, those of us who aren't off doing exciting summer things like traveling) are sharing special Birthday Cards on our blogs today just for Julee. Or, you can head on over to the Verve Blog (we hijacked it today) to see a big post full of Verve-y Birthday Cheer for our amazing Julee! And don't forget to stop by Julee's blog and wish her an extra special Happy Birthday!

Julee, you really are amazing! I hope you have a super awesome Birthday!! 

I was a little strapped for time when throwing my card together, so I decided to CASE myself! I always did love this card in my Verve Gallery and thought I could make it a little more Julee-friendly (read: slightly more feminine) but also keep it Jen-friendly too (read: not TOO feminine! ha!). This is what I came up with:

That works, right? I started off with some fun new printed digi papers from the Preppy collection by Robyn Meierotto. Then I pulled out a few old favorite stamp sets from my Verve Stash and got to work. The frame is actually from the Dad's Day set - I love mixing that frame with all kinds of different sentiments, it's so versatile! (and no, I'm not going to pass up another opportunity to nag Julee about a coordinating die. I'm still waiting Julee...). The birthday sentiment is from the Making a Statement set and fit inside that frame perfectly! It's like they were made for each other (and just so you know, all the sentiments from Making a Statement fit inside that Dad's Day frame!). I added a few of my "Jen Stand-bys" for embellishments - pom pom trim and a glittered star from the Memrie Mare etsy shop. I also added something new for me - those stick pin things. I don't normally use those because I don't like having sharp pokey eye gouging hazards sticking out from the front of my card, but I got smart this time and raided Joel's tool box and just snipped those suckers right off, then glued the stick stumps down! Presto chango, no more sharp pokey things!

So that's it. As is pretty standard for me and my terrible card-mailing ways, Julee will be receiving this card well past her actual birthday. Because I pretty much suck at actually putting cards in the mail. So just act surprised when you get it Julee! ;-)

Don't forget to stop by the Verve Blog for more eye candy! And remember there's a pretty sweet sale going on in the Verve Shop this month (20% off ALL stamps!!!).

Hello Friend

Hi there! Do you ever see a card out there in blogland, fall in love with it, and just know that you'll be reproducing it with similar supplies from your own stash as soon as you have a free hour to sit down and stamp? Well, I've had THIS CARD by the talented Jodi Collins bookmarked for almost a year now and finally found that free hour this week to sit down and CASE it!! And man, I'm so glad I did because I just love the way my card turned out!! I changed things up a bit, but my version was completely and totally inspired by Jodi's original fabulousness. Here's a look at my creation:

I went with a vertical card using a Kraft base, but still stamped my fun coffee cup images on crisp white cardstock. I also used different stamps than Jodi. My coffee cups are from Verve's Better With You set, but I still colored them very much like Jodi's originals. The cute little solid heart on the sleeve is from the smaller coordinating Sip and Savor set. And the sentiment is from the fun little Friendly Phrases set. Like Jodi, I added a simple strand of Baker's Twine around the top of the card as a finishing touch and was done!

I have a few friends with birthdays coming up and can't wait to tuck a Starbuck's gift card inside and give this card to someone!