W(h)ine...it's a good thing!

I actually think "wine" is better than "whine", but like many others, I fall into the "listen to me whine, please" trap for which I'm so thankful for good girlfriends--they're the best listeners! I don't have too much to whine about this week: I'm still employed, my family is healthy and relatively happy, and the big guy up there is always lookin' out for me! What more can a girl ask for, right?! Enough about me, on to this week's SFYTT which does, in fact, have something to do with my chatter!

I chose to use a great set from Our Craft Lounge--Going Gourmet for today's sketch. The wine bottle/glass/cork image is repeatedly stamped on three Kraft 1 3/8" circles with a paper pieced napkin on each. The fourth circle of the sketch was reserved for the sentiment: Thanks for listening to me whine, thus the chatter in paragraph numero uno. This beautiful paper is Crate Paper's Birdie Collection, just about as yummy as a good bottle of wine I tell ya! Two buttons highlight the upper horizontal strip, each tied with linen thread and bright orange taffeta ribbon finishes off the bottom horizontal strip from Jen's sketch.

Come out and play along with today's SFYTT, and be sure to check out more inspiration from the rest of the girls:

Jen/Kirsten
Amy
Carole
Kelly
Shannan
Susan

Have a great weekend!

TCP Tuesday!

For TCP Tuesday with a fun sketch from this week's hipster hostess with the mostess Leigh O'Brien. You can click on her name for all the deets if you find your self liking this sketch and wanting to play along.

I used these images from Havin' a Pow Wow, a super cute set! The paddlin' pooch is watercolored with reinkers and a watercolor brush. Please go easy on my feeble attempt at water and a sunset! I'm sorry to say that I couldn't find a source for the patterned paper, but the other papers are Baja Breeze, So Saffron and Riding Hood Red. A bit of piercing highlights the banner and a few buttons finish this one off!

Have a great day!

happy birthday jens!

Boy did I struggle with the SFYTT today! I think it was probably that I was trying to make a masterpiece in minutes, or perhaps my mojo has taken the weekend off, or maybe its because I struggle with teen-boy-birthday cards?! Whatever it is, I am happy to say that I did finish this card (after throwing out two others waaay beyond repair) and I'm semi-pleased with it. No, I'm not fishing for compliments, just lettin' you into my head for a sec! BTW, Jens is my 13 year old nephew--happy birthday to you! As if he reads my blog, bwa ha ha ha!

The card base is Archiver's textured white cardstock with layers of Elegant Eggplant and Kiwi Kiss DSP with a banner strip of Basic Black. The open circle was cut with my 1 3/8" and 2" punches a bit offset for a more modern look. The chipboard letters are from SU!'s Lots of Letters pack; sentiment is from CTMH's Happy Birthday set. To add to the modern look of the card, I used my corner rounder and notebook edge punches as well.

Couple of other housekeeping notes this morning! First off, be sure to check out the eye candy of my fellow SFYTT team: Amy, Carole, Susan, Shannan, and our fearless leader Jen and her January GD. Secondly, we have a new SFYTT team peep and you're going to be sooo excited: the Kelly Lunceford/Atomicbutterfly. She is fab-U-lous to say the least and a sweetheart to boot! Lastly, Jen has a super-duper SFYTT badge that you are more than welcome to stick on your blog if you happen to {heart} her sketches as much as the SFYTT crew does! Click here to find out to get it.

LoVe MaCHiNe!

Here's a little ditty for TCP Tuesday #42! If you're wondering what TCP Tuesday is, it stands for The Cat's Pajamas weekly Tuesday challenge, hosted by members of the TCP Design Team. This week's hipster hostess with the mostess is Karrie Baker, and here's the link to her blog with all the deets: TCP Tuesday 42.

I used the retro TV image from TCP's It's a Mod Mod World along with one of their sentiments which reads: I'm Just Your Love Machine. I suppose I'm stretching it a bit, considering a TV isn't necessarily a "machine" per se, but I'm giving this to my 13 yo son who, like many boys his age, is pretty much in love with the TV whether it's on ESPN or hosting his fav video game. Hope you get a kick out of it!

The TV set was stamped both on white and blue textured papers from DCWV, cut out, popped up and layered on another stamped TV set again on a larger piece of the textured white cardstock. Before adhering the TV screen, I stamped it with the sentiment and red hearts from SU!'s Small Sayings set. The rest is pretty self explanatory. I've seen a few ribbon/button combos like the one I attempted here, although it's a bit of a trick to get that button attached to the ribbon to lie flat!

Dirty Girl Challenged

Ok, so here's my real challenge lately: remembering deadlines! Yes, yesterday was the 20th day of January which means that the current and alumni Dirty Dozen Girls over at SCS were to upload their monthly Dirty Challenge cards/creations. So, when one of my students told me that yesterday was actually January 20th, not January 19th, I realized that once again--I was late to the par-tay! Determined to participate in the challenge anyway, I just showed up fashionably late.

Dirty Girl Jodi Collins/Kharmagirl issued the challenge for us this month and here it is:
Challenge Focus: A Valentine's Day/Love-y Dove-y card!!
Required Element: Texture!! Anything you can *feel* (ie: Fun Flock, Crystal Effects, Embossing/Debossing, velvet ribbon...
Restricted Element: No RED!! Pink is ok...but no red...

My texture comes from the retired SU! designer paper I used and you won't find a lick of red on this one! I think this will be going to DH for V-Day, so lookie there--I've finished something like totally weeks before it's deadline! Things are lookin' up Ü

Card deets:
Paper: retired SU! dp, so saffron, brocade blue
Ink: Ranger Distress inks in walnut and old paper
Accessories: chit chat rub-on, heart and top note dies, button, sponge

Sunday's FS102 on Tuesday!

I seem to consistently be a day late and dollar short these days when it comes to keeping up with the goings-on in the blogger world of stampers and over at SCS, so the fact that I just tuned in to see that Lori Craig/stamp_momma was Featured Stamper #102 on Sunday should come as no big surprise. What is a big deal though is this "stamp_momma lady"! Although I've never met her, I can just tell what a warm and wonderful lady she is from visiting her blog and seeing the things she's doing here and there as well as the swell comments she leaves me! Go, see for yourselves what I'm chattin' about: check her out her blog or her SCS gallery and see this wonder!

To play along with the FS challenge, you choose a card from said person's gallery and CASE it with a few changes, whether it be colors, stamps, embellishments, etc.. Well, in this case there were two of Lori's cards that tripped my trigger, so I'll give links to both.

Inspiration card #1
Inspiration card #2

I used the same stamp set as card #2 and the same layout as card #1, using different colors, papers and embellishments. I also stitched a bit of red thread around the perimeter to pull in the red color of the heart in "honey". Ranger Stickles (Diamond) were used in the wings and the heart for a little extra sparkle, cause these two bees are in love and 'cause Lori did that in her card (#1)! The images are watercolored with reinkers and a brush adding sponging on the edges to tone everything down and give it a little shabby love. The trio of heart brads replace the dew drops in Lori's card (#2 in case you're keeping track!).

I had a great time perusing Lori's gallery and I always love to stop by her blog, so if you're looking for a challenge or just some great eye candy and down to earth chatter, be sure to stop by, see her and play along: Featured Stamper 102 Challenge.

Whoot whoot, let's celebrate!

Quite the color combo here, eh?! There's a reason for that and it goes like this: I was invited to attend a bachelorette party on Saturday night where each attendee was to bring a pair of undies and a bottle of kickapoo-joy-juice (that's my name for a bottle of what ever trips your trigger!) for the bride-to-be. Well, wouldn't you know I found the cutest pair of undies at our nearby ShopKo store, complete with purple owls on a yellow background, so of course I had to make my gift tag all matchy-matchy! I'm sure you're all just dying to see those cute undies aren't you? Well, guess what...I forgot to take a picture--story of my life!

The owl and sentiment are from URA Hoot by Kim Hughes, available through CHF. Simple watercoloring with a brush and reinkers and then a bit of added bling to her eyelids cause she's goin' out and about, baby! The bling-bling is just a bit of Ranger Diamond Stickles, so easy! The patterned paper is Scenic Route Sonoma Collection with two bling-bling brads holding it together.

Have a hoot of a day!