We Love "The Bee"!

My daughter is starring as Rona Lisa Perretti in her high school's Spring play, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, so I'm dedicating this week's SFYTT to her! Once again, I took advantage of two wonderful "bee" stamp sets from CHF: Sweet Bee and The Birds and The Bees (Kim Hughes Collection), and a paired them with a partial page from a discarded dictionary and some yummy Cosmo Cricket paper (Early Bird).

I added a few Tiny Twinkles to the crown and sparkly letters that spell out "t-h-e" to jazz up the central circle layer at bit. Here's a close up shot...

Let's buzz on over and see what the rest of the SFYTT crew has this week:

Jen del Muro & Angie Tieman
Megan Lock
Jenn Diercks
Amber Hight
Amy Sheffer
Kelly Lunceford
Leigh O'Brien
Susan Liles

Have a great weekend!
~Amy

TCP Tuesday 102

Joanne is this week's TCP Tuesday Hostess with the Mostess, and she has a fun color challenge for you. I've been wanting to make a big ol' sunflower with this stamp from A Beary Good Year, and the bold yellow from this week's color challenge was the perfect opportunity! I stamped an extra flower, colored it, cut it out, and popped it on top for added dimension. There's a wee bitty black button atop the flower for a little extra sumpin'-sumpin' as well.

I think the rest of the card is pretty straight-forward...a bit of Copic coloring, Spellbinder's Labels 4 die, SU! Old Olive brads and retired Cerise DSP...did I forget anything? Hope you can find a little time to stamp up somethin' real nice with Joanne's color combo this week, and be sure to upload it to Alma's guest book if you do!

Thanks for stopping by today!
~Amy

Publications and a Dirty Dozen Challenge

Hi there, I've got a few things to share with you today, starting with a card that I had published in Stamp It! Cards 2010 using Green Thumb from PTI along with a sentiment from SU!'s Warm Words set.

Second up is another card I had published recently in the Mar/Apr 2010 issue of Papercrafts using another PTI set, Guidelines Two. The die cut bird and flower are from SU!'s Birds and Blooms.

Finally, a card I just made yesterday and posted over at SCS for the monthly Dirty Dozen Past and Present Challenge, hosted by Joanne Basile. The challenge was to create something full of Spring, and the birds and the bees, but you couldn't use any border punches. For this clean and simple card, I used two sets from Cornish Heritage Farm: Sweet Bee and The Birds and The Bees (one of my favorite Kim Hughes sets!).

The felt flower was made using a strip of pink felt that I straight stitched on one side with button thread (for good holding power) and hand scalloped with a scissors on the opposite edge. After I'd done those two things, I pulled the thread tight and finger teased the felt until I had the desired flower shape. I finished it off with a fun button from MFT and my sentiment stamped on a die cut label.

For Sus*Q

Our SFYTT teammate and good friend, Susan is going through a rough time right now. Her husband has been diagnosed with cancer and they could use all the love, support and positive thoughts we can "will" their way, so this week's SFYTT is dedicated to Susan, her husband Eric, and their family. We'd like you to create something to send to Susan, Jen will have all the deets, including Susan's address on her SFYTT post today, so please send Sus and family a little hug this week in the mail.

Here's my rendition of this week's SFYTT...

Once again, I've turned to my sweet Pure Innocence stamps from MFT, paired with a sentiment from PTI's Damask Designs. The "note" on the French memory board is stamped with an alphabet by Hero Arts, and all these delicious patterned papers come from October Afternoon. The scripted layer is from a discarded dictionary, with the word "prayer" peeking out to the left of my sweet PI girl. Coloring was done with Copics, and the die cut cork layer is compliments of some new Nesties I got this week (Labels 9). Last, but not least, is the moss green textured paper that you see bits and pieces of (layers under patterned paper, memory boards "ribbons", and cutie pie's skirt), which is from Couture Cardstock ...good stuff!

Here's a little detail shot of the main image...

Ok, let's see what inspiration the rest of the SFYTT crew has this week:

Jen del Muro & Angie Tieman
Megan Lock
Jenn Diercks
Amber Hight
Amy Sheffer
Kelly Lunceford
Leigh O'Brien

I know Susan is also updating her blog as well, so stop by and give her a little love there as well. Finally, I just want to send my thoughts, prayers and love to Susan and her family---{{{Sus}}}}!
~Amy

TCP Tuesday 101: Let's get poke-y!

I'm your TCP Tuesday hostess this week and my supply challenge is to use your paper piercing tool somewhere, somehow on your creation. I used my piercing tool to highlight the central image of my card as well as along the edges of the light blue layer instead of actually machine sewing. Speaking of the main image layer, that cutie pirate boy is from Arrgh! Piratey, and the papers are from CTMH.

As always, here are the TCP Tuesday details:
1. Each a week one of The Cat’s Pajamas DT members will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, technic, supply, color, theme, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge.
4. Post your design to the guest book on Alma's blog. Only designs posted to the guestbook are eligible for Swanky Stamper.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a specific stamp}
6. There will be one winner each month. They will be deemed that month’s Swankiest Stamper and get $25 in Cat’s Cash {money to spend on the TCP site!}.
7. Only designs posted to Alma's guest book will be considered for the Swanky Stamper.
8. The newly crowned Swanky Stamper will be announced on the First of the Month and have his/her winning entry posted on The Cat’s Pajamas website where he/she will reign for the entire month.

Ok, there you have it--the challenge and the deets, so go and get poke-y!
~Amy

I'm a MFT Fabulous Friend this week!

Just popping in to give myself a little shout out: Kim, owner of My Favorite Things, is featuring me as her MFT Fabulous Friend of the week and sharing a couple of fun projects I created using two of my favorite PI images, so check it out HERE!

Thanks for letting me pat my own back there for a second!
Amy

If friends were flowers...

...I'd pick YOU! I am so blessed to have so many wonderful friends--stampers and non-stampers, but one of those gals that I've been thinking much about lately is Susan Liles. Susan is a stamping friend whose husband was recently diagnosed with cancer, so I've been praying for Susan, her husband and family, and thinking about her new sense of 'what really matters'. I'm hoping and praying that she's finding the love and support her family needs right now. My card today features bright and cheery colors that were inspired by Susan's fun and cheery disposition as I know it and see it in her lovely work.

I hope you're inspired to play along with this week's SFYTT, and for more viewing pleasure, here's the SFYTT crew lineup:

Jen del Muro & Angie Tieman
Megan Lock
Jenn Diercks
Amber Hight
Amy Sheffer
Kelly Lunceford
Leigh O'Brien

Card deets...
Pure Innocence image from Digistampcharacters
Stamps from Papertrey Ink: Green Thumb & Background Basics Diamonds
Paper: Pumpkin Pie (SU!), Perfect Plum (PTI), green polka dot (American Crafts)
Color: Copics
Embellishments: Twinkles gems (Taylored Expressions)

Happy "100th" TCP Tuesday!

We're havin' a party filled with lots of fun challenges and features of various TCP sets in honor of TCPTuesday #100 ! Leigh is heading up the 100th TCP Tuesday blog hope, so you can hop over to her place to start from the beginning, or perhaps you landed here from Tracy's blog on your way through the hop. When you finish up here, head on over to Ana for the next stop.

My supply challenge to you is to incorporate felt into your TCP Tuesday 100 card. You can see that I've used PJ Bear from A Beary Good Year and fashioned his scarf from a piece of green felt and then bling'ed it up with Twinkles from Taylored Expressions. PJ is colored with Copics (E31, E35) and he's holding a Smooch covered clover in Green Apple. I also used felt to layer the sentiment-button holder and wonky stitched the edges of the Garden Green layer. Last but not least is the fun patterned paper layer from my 6x6 pad of Nook & Cranny papers from Basic Grey.

Here's a detail shot of PJ's fancy scarf. I used teeny tiny bits of Crystal Effects, which I dotted on the scarf first, to adhere the tiny Twinkles and then positioned them with a tweezers.

Now, for the fun details:
Come play along with one or all of the Cat Pack celebratory challenges and increase your chances to win some fun TCP stamping loot! Also, be sure to sign in your creation(s) on Alma's slideshow. Next is a list of the Cat Pack challenges with each of the girls buddying up for a total of four challenges (sketch, inspiration, color, supply):

SKETCH CHALLENGE
Leigh
Jen

COLOR CHALLENGE
Joanne
Susan

INSPIRATION CHALLENGE
Toni
Tracy

SUPPLY CHALLENGE
Amy (me!)
Ana

I can't wait to check Alma's slideshow this week to see what you've all come up with, so get going and get swanky!

~Amy

You've Got Mail {SFYTT}

I think I've already told you this, but I just have to say it again: I {heart} Pure Innocence images and can't get enough of playing dress-up with these girls! I've used MFT's Happy Mail, paper piecing just about everything except the birdie and her face & arms. I used Basic Grey's Nook and Cranny 6x6 pad for the paper piecing...the same paper combo as my TCP Tuesday card found in my previous post...love the blues and browns. Even though I'm yearning for Spring, I added warm & fuzzy felt ribbon (SU!) because it just seemed 'right' with the rest of the card. The crocheted lace ribbon is also from MFT and can be found here.

Now for some fun and exciting news: we have new SFYTT crew! Please help me welcome new faces to our SFYTT team, followed by Jen & Miss March Guest Designer, and then the rest of the pack...

Megan Lock
Jenn Diercks
Amber Hight
(Amber is on vacation right now, but she'll be joining us soon!)

Jen del Muro & Angie Tieman
Amy Sheffer
Kelly Lunceford
Leigh O'Brien
Susan Liles

Here's Jen's original sketch:

Have a wonderful weekend, all!
~Amy

TCP Tuesday #99: hide the eggs!

Here I am again bringing you TCP Tuesday on Wednesday...do I see a new trend?! I hope not because I hate to be late to the party, so I'm going to try and be on time next week, and I can guarantee it because The Cat Pack is throwing a big old challenge par-tay in honor on TCP Tuesday 100, so be sure to check in next Tuesday for the deets and your chance to win sumpin' reaaal nice!

Ok, here's my take on a wonderful sketch brought to us by our hipster hostess, Leigh O'Brien. I really, really like this sketch and will most likely be using it again and again. I have the darndest time with ovals, and I really like how this sketch works perfectly with the oval layer--that Leigh, she's the best!

My paper pieced mama chick, her eggs and all the rest of the layers use Basic Grey's Nook & Pantry 6x6 pad that I picked up at MFT. The TCP set here is from Beans & Bunnies & Peeps, Oh My!. And finally, that yummy crocheted lace you see...that's from MFT's Bakery Blend ribbons, yum!

Be sure to check out Leigh's blog for all the swanky deets, and I'll see you Saturday if not before. Thanks for stopping over today ~Amy