A Mellow Yellow Graduation Card

My niece Alicia recently graduated from the University of Michigan. If you're keeping score, you may recall that I went to Michigan State University. This of course means that University of Michigan is my nemesis!! Making a yellow and blue card is just about the very last thing I'd ever want to do. BUT - my niece is awesome and we are very proud of her, so I put aside my distaste for all things UM and made her a little card... ;-)

Hambo Stamps had the perfect digi for my card - Wee Henrietta Grad. She's so cute! I just colored her with my Copics. The little UM logo on her collar was an image I found online & printed. Stickles was added to the diploma - because really, who wouldn't want a sparkly diploma??

This card is also my Quickfire creation for the latest Catered Crop Recipe Swap! Linda's Mellow Yellow challenge asked up to use yellow on our cards. Done and done!

The Recipe Swap is open until June 8 - plenty of time to link up your yellow creation! Join us!

Thanks for stopping by,

Stamps: Digi - Wee Henrietta Grad from Hambo Stamps, Great Expectations from Verve Stamps
Paper: White cardstock, blue cardstock, patterned paper
Ink: Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black), Copic markers, printer ink
Other: Washi tape, My Favorite Things Die-namics (Blueprints 1), Stickles, machine stitching

Thinking of You

I made today's card for a fellow stamper I've been thinking about a lot lately. I hope it helps brighten her day just a little.


I played along with the latest Mojo Monday challenge for sketch inspiration.

And since I was playing Mojo Monday, I busted out a bunch of Verve goodness from a recent little (massive!) shopping spree. I used Distress ink for the flower and sponged the edges, which gave Julee's beautiful crisp design a more rugged look. I hope she doesn't mind. :-)

Happy Stamping!

• Stamps: Bountiful Backgrounds, Great Friend and Circular Sayings from Verve Stamps
• Paper: SU Sahara Sand & Lavender Lace, Jenni Bowlin DP (blue polkadot), GP white
• Ink: Vintage Photo & Broken China Distress inks
• Accessories: EK Success punch, SU scallop edge punch, Marvy circle punch, machine stitching, pearls (Joy Crafts), Glossy Accents (around the pearls to keep them in place going thru the mail)

Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop!! I'm so excited to be here hopping along with Julee, owner of Verve, and all of her other adoring fans! I remember the day Julee first announced her new little adventure on her blog - I really cannot believe it's been three years already! (Sidenote: I also cannot believe I've been blogging this long!) :-) If you've been hopping along, you arrived here via (my idol!) Jen's fabulous blog. If you just happened to stop by my blog today, head on over to Julee's blog for all of the info on how to win prizes and start hopping from the beginning!! And if you get lost along away, head on over to the Master Hop List to get back on track. Now that all the formalities are out of the way, how about I show you my card?


Not only is it Julee's anni-VERVE-sary, but yesterday was my wedding anniversary! So I decided to make an anni-VERVE-sary anniversary card for my hubby. :-) I busted out a couple oldie but goodie Verve sets - Wild Thing for the heart, and Feeling Groovy for the sentiment. As you all know, Julee's stamps have THE BEST sentiments - love them so much!

It's kinda funny that you came here from Jen del Muro's blog, because I used her fabby sketch for my card.


Ok, that's enough chit chat, you have A LOT more hopping to do! It's time to hop on out of here and check out another wonderful Jen - Jen Cuthbertson!

Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Wild Thing and Feeling Groovy from Verve Stamps
• Paper: Hero Arts Kraft notecard, Stampin' Up black & vanilla CS, DP from AMuse (red) and Pink Paislee (blue)
• Ink: Ranger Distress Ink (Fired Brick, Vintage Photo), Palette Noir
• Accessories: Cork (MFT), Scallop edge die (PTI), circle dies (Spellbinders), pewter brads, machine stitching

Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the first ever official Anni- VERVE-sary Blog Hop. Verve turns two today and we’re celebrating with a hop, hop, hop! The party kicked off over on the Verve blog, so if you’ve just happened along, be sure to hop on over there to start from the beginning! And to make this party a real shindig, there’s a mystery jackpot hidden at one of the stops along the hop. One lucky commenter on that blog will win Verve’s entire August release! But of course, it wouldn’t be a mystery if you knew which blog, would it? So if you’re feeling the love, give a little shout out to the bloggers in the hop and you just might have a reason to jump for joy!

For my Verve-a-licious creation I decided to *finally* make a *graduation* card for my cousin's son. Yes, he graduated in June. *sigh* I've told you all many, many times that I'm the Procrastination Queen. Are you finally starting to believe me?? So I pulled out one of my favorite Verve sets, Seeing Stars, and got to work. Since I was participating in a Verve hop, I thought it was only fitting to turn to this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge for inspiration. I changed it up a wee bit though. I did my best to keep the color scheme masculine and not add any frilly details - which is tough because you know how I love my glitter and ribbon!! I couldn't skip the polka dots, but I think I succeeded in finding some of the most manly polka dots around. :-)

Alrighty then, enough with the chit-chat, you have a whole bunch of blogs to hop to yet! Thanks for stopping by! Now hop on over to Susie's blog, for a little more Verve-y goodness!

• Stamps: Seeing Stars from Verve Stamps
• Paper: Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue, Bo Bunny DP
• Ink: Night of Navy, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini & brown thread, SU photo corners punch, Spellbinders Labels One die, aged copper brads

Cards for Heroes Blog Hop

Hello my blogging friends - I'm here today to tell you that even hippie liberals like myself care deeply about our troops!! :-) I was so honored when I got an email from Cards for Heroes, asking if I'd like to participate in their blog hop this weekend. I was not familiar with this organization - but wow, what a great group of people!! CFH's mission is to support our nation's armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them. How many of us create card after card, many of which end up just sitting in a box somewhere in our craft room?? I encourage you to take some time this weekend and look through your stash, put a few together and get them sent off to CFH! Or, spend your stamping time today creating some new hand-stamped happiness to send! Check their website, there are some guidelines - for example, the cards cannot contain glitter, as it can be a safety hazard! You also should not send potentially offensive cards. And I do realize the card I'm sharing today has the potential to offend, so I will not be sending this particular one to CFH. But it will go to a soldier in Iraq! Last night as I was banging my head on the desk, trying to decide what to create for this hop, a chat window on Facebook popped up with a message from my friend Gary. Gary and I have different political views, but we are able to laugh about it - and he was actually teasing me about something I had posted. Gary also served in Iraq, so I mentioned what I was working on. He told me that when he was in Iraq he received cards like this and really appreciated it - so that of course warmed my heart, to hear that feedback. Then I told him, jokingly, that I was going to make a hippie card to show that even liberals like me care about this - and he told me he knew a fellow hippie liberal currently serving in Iraq who would love the card!! So then I had to make it!! So this particular card will be going to an Air Force officer stationed in Iraq, who was thrilled when he got to meet President Obama and Rahm Emanuel during their recent visit to Baghdad. I don't know this man, but I am so completely thankful for what he is doing for our country, and I plan to tell him so. I'll write a note to him on a separate sheet of paper, so he can in turn use this card to send to one of his own hippie liberal friends back home who will appreciate it. And then I'm going to go through my card stash and find another stack of cards to send off to Cards for Heroes. I can't think of a better way to spend my Memorial Day weekend!! If you'd like to send a note of gratitude to a soldier, visit the AnyHero page at the CFH website. And now I'm sure you are anxious to keep hopping, and I'm thrilled to be able to link to one of my absolute stamping idols, Leigh at Sunflower Studio!! I'm sure you're in for a treat, her work is always fantastic!! And if you just happened upon my blog here in mid-hop, I encourage you to go back and start at the beginning, at Cards for Heroes. Thanks for stopping by today!!

• Stamps: Hippie from Stampola, Feeling Groovy from Verve Stamps
• Paper: Kraft, GP white, blue DP from Kaiser, red DP from Making Memories
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black & Rich Cocoa, SU Creamy Caramel & Chocolate Chip, Copics for coloring
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini

My Sparkly Vampire Card

Here's my latest Cinema Saturday card. Can you tell what movie they picked this week?? That's right - TWILIGHT!! Sure, Edward doesn't wear a cape, and his hair is WAY more stylish than this - but I just couldn't resist pulling out my favorite little vampire stamp!!! It's from a Westrim Crafts set called Spooky that I found on the clearance rack at Archiver's just after Halloween last year, so I'm thrilled to be getting him inky for the first time. You see, I *love* vampires!! It's a little known fact about me. (although, if you read this blog regularly, this is not the first time I've admitted it!!!) However - Twilight - well, I resisted reading it for the longest time. No offense to some of you, but I just thought it was a little creepy that all these middle-aged women were in love with a teenage vampire!! But then I thought more about it - wait! He's a vampire! He's probably been seventeen for a very long time, so really, he's MUCH older. Oh. But that means he's like a hundred year old vampire hot for a seventeen year old girl. Still creepy. But then I decided - who cares - he's a vampire and I love vampires!!! hee hee So I actually just finished the first book the other day, and watched the movie when I knew this would be the challenge this week. I really do like it - but I'm not going to claim to be one of the FANATICS out there. I just love all things vampire!! (ok fine I'll admit it - Edward is totally dreamy!!) Well anyway, I had a super fun time making this card!! One thing in Twilight that's different than the other vampire books I've read is how she dealt with them going out in sunlight - she has them SPARKLE in the sun!! So my little vampire has a super sparkly face, thanks to my Stardust Gelly Roll pen. There's also sparkle on the chipboard heart (Christmas Red Stickles) and the hearts on the DP are sparkly too. I also colored over the vampire's hair, cape and shoes with my black Glaze pen, so he's sparkly AND shiny! I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch for the card, which was awesome as always, and as luck would have it a Verve sentiment fit with my theme quite nicely! So there you have it, my sparkly vampire card and my confession about my love for vampires, which began long before they were sparkly teenagers. Yes, I am a weirdo. :-) FYI you have until Thursday 9pm PST to play along with Twilight! You know you want to!! ;-) Thanks for stopping by today!!

• Stamps: Spooky from Westrim Crafts, Wild Thing from Verve Stamps
• Paper: Read Red, Silver from SU, Black & black polka dot from MM, Purple from Marcella, Expensive but Cute heart DP
• Ink: Palette Noir, Encore Silver, Copics
• Accessories: Cuttlebug & folders, chipboard heart from stash, Christmas Red Stickles, Stardust Gelly Roll pen, Black Glaze pen, Marvy punches, SU scallop border punch, metallic red brads from my stash

From Courtney's Closet #36 - an inspiration challenge

Welcome to From Courtney's Closet, the somewhat weekly feature on my blog where I dress my sweetpea up in one of her cutie patootie outfits, and then make a card based on that outfit! Donna guessed that Courtney might be wearing a baby apron in today's picture - I WISH!! How cute would that be?? No, when my baby girl "helps" me unload the dishwasher, she's wearing a super cute Cool Caribbean and Chocolate Chip outfit with polka dots and flowers!! (Am I the only one who describes colors - ALL colors - as Stampin' Up colors???) :-) So after I finished the card tonight, I looked at it and thought "WOW - this looks like a Unity card!!" That was not intentional - I am not trying to promote that company. Not that I have anything against them, they seem like a fine company (although the owner looks more like a supermodel than a stamper?? Am I wrong???), I've just not found room in the budget to try any of their stamps. Yet. :-) But anyway - I digress. As usual. Today's card is fairly straightforward! I knew I wanted to use white flowers with brown centers - I turned to my box of Stampin' Up Pretties and found the flower, and then found my stash of goodies from Nancy's share to contain the perfect large brown brad (I am so grateful to Nancy for doing the AWESOME SU embellishment & paper shares, I am using what I got from her ALL THE TIME!). The sentiment is from an old Verve set - I think maybe Julee's first stamps? I bought them in red rubber when the set was called "Thoughtful Phrases" and the company was called Verve VISUAL, but now the same sentiments are part of the "Thoughtful Florals" clear photopolymer set. Well, between Verve and Unity, I sure did do a lot of jabbering about stamp companies considering the teeny tiny bit of actual stamping on this card!!!! Geesh. So, how about you? Want to make a card with lots of actual stamping on it, inspired by this outfit? Or one with even less than mine has?? If you do, link back here when you have it posted so I can come and take a peek!! Last week's outfit (and/or my CAS card!) inspired some wonderful creativity! First of all, the one and only super famous and all around amazing Donna, who I mentioned earlier (yes I am a TERRIBLE name dropper!) played again this week! YAY!!! Love her super cute card! (and check her blog for another cutie with this same tree!)And speaking of famous - holy smokes - the one and only ALLISON played too!!! Talk about EXCITING! :-) This scrapbook page of her sweet Charlotte just makes me want to pinch those cheeks...!!!Speaking of pinchable cheeks and general cuteness, Sue also made a scrapbook page, of her sweet grandbaby Cole and his loving Gwamma.And speaking of scrapbook pages (aren't I on a complete roll tonight with my segues??**), Warm & Wonderful (for lack of a better name! Sorry, I couldn't find your actual name on any of your blogs!!) sent me a photo from the ADORABLE scrapbook she had put together for her niece, who just had a baby. Do yourself a favor and check that link, her entire book is just fantastic!!Hmm... can't think of another perfect segue so I'll just move onto my HAPPIEST player this week, and that would be Ananya! Everything about her card made her happy, so she even used that as the sentiment! And, well, that makes me completely HAPPY too!! So cute, Ananya!!I was very HAPPY to see Chris send me her link earlier today - you weren't too late, girl, because I was way behind on posting this as usual!!! Love your card - that was such a fun sketch this week!Maria's card is sure to bring a smile to anyone's face - my favorite gingham girl used some plaid, too! Love it!And last but not least, my favorite this week - Jenn! While sweet Sue avoids orange like the plague, Jenn embraces it! Actually she may love it a little TOO much, if you know what I mean...! (actually, I don't even know what I mean - I'm typing this entirely WAY too late at night and I'm being completely goofy, LOL!) If you haven't visited Jenn's blog yet, please do - she's super funny, and she used to live in Austin so she is just cool by default. Oh and her cards are nice too! :-)Thanks everyone for playing this week, and thanks to the rest of you for stopping by. Make sure and come back on SATURDAY, I'll be joining in on another fun FireCracker blog hop! And you know that Pamela, she usually includes prezzies! Yay!! Have a great weekend! :-)

• Stamps: Thoughtful Phrases/Thoughtful Florals from Verve Stamps
• Paper: Cool Caribbean, Whisper White, PTI Dark Chocolate paper & DP
• Ink: Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: SU Pretties kit, SU brown brad, Bazzill brown mini brads, satin ribbon

** I learned tonight that this word is spelled segue NOT segway!! LOL!

From Courtney's Closet - an inspiration challenge

I literally spent more time today trying to get a good photo of Courtney than I did making the card! She LOVES the dress she's wearing this week - loves to EAT it, that is. And to just grab at it and wave it up and down. It's such a big, full skirt - so many ways to entertain herself with it...! But anyway, thanks to the digital age and the ability to just keep snapping a zillion photos without having to pay a fortune to develop them, I did manage to get a couple of keepers. And... do you notice anything new and exciting (other than the dress!) in the first photo?? Courtney is sitting on her own, not in the Bumbo! That's another reason the "photo shoot" took so long - I wanted to show you her new skill, but it's a very new skill, so she only stays up for a few seconds. So I got a lot of blurry photos of her tipping over...! I *love* this dress she's wearing! I was bad and went into the Carter's store - I try not to do that because I lose all self control! I didn't lose ALL control but I did manage to buy this too-adorable-to-resist full priced dress rather than the sale racks dress I had pictured I'd buy upon entering. Oops. I just loved the color combo of the dress - green and brown. And of course it has polka dots! I had to attach a second photo of Courtney to show you the bow on the side of the dress (or maybe because she just looks too cute!). My card is pretty simple, only one layer of paper! I decided to try that fun, whimsical, groovy kind of haphazard sewing I've seen on other cards - I like it! The flowers are from the Verve Stamps set Feeling Groovy. The flowers have a little diamond glaze in their centers, and are popped up on dimensionals. IRL this card has a lot more depth and texture than I could capture in the photo. I inked up just the word "groovy" from one of the sentiments. I just love the sentiments in this set, they are so much fun!! So - if you love Courtney's new dress as much as I do, why don't you play along?? If you do, be sure to let me know about it! And if you post on Splitcoast please use keyword FCCC so I can find you. There were some super cute cards inspired by Courtney's duckie dress last week! We had another first-timer with Dannie - not just the first time doing my challenge but the first time doing any inspiration challenge! That's just so cool!! And check her blog, she even gave a great tip for coloring brads along with creating this adorable card!
New blogger Kathryn was inspired to make this super cute pocket card! What a great take on the challenge!!
Diane played again - I love that she added the bubbles behind the duck, too cute!
And of course my FCCC BFF Sue, who's now played seven of the nine challenges I've posted up until now (this week is the 10th already, can you believe it??). I just love her bright, cheerful card - and would you look at that, she also thought to add bubbles. :-)
Thanks so much for playing along, you gals ROCK! And thanks everyone else for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Feeling Groovy from Verve Stamps
• Paper: Wild Wasabi Textured CS, Whisper White
  
• Ink: Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini, brown thread, May Arts ribbon, scissors, dimensionals

Can I have your autograph?

I'm going to send this card to one of my superstar stamping idols - problem is, I have so many, I'm not entirely sure yet which one will get it! This card came together today thanks to challenges posted by two of those idols - the sketch is Julee's Mojo Monday challenge (MOJO41), and the color combo came by way of an inspiration challenge posted by Shannan on the Verve Visual blog (VVPP03). I've had this idea cooking in my head for a while now - ever since I saw those sentiments in the Great Expectations Verve set (which, btw, I just noticed happens to be on sale now!). I stamped the "superstar" sentiment repeatedly on Sahara Sand cardstock to make the "background paper". And I highlighted the "autograph" word with a marker - I seem to be addicted to doing that lately, sorry if you're getting sick of it! The stars are from Verve too - I just love these Polka Stars and bought them a few weeks ago when Julee had all the star stamps on sale - gotta love a sale!

Since I'm the first to admit I have trouble stamping without turning to challenges for inspiration, I thought for fun I'd show you a little glimpse into my creative process! Whenever I get the opportunity to hide out in the stamp room for a while, I start by heading to my favorite blogs and SCS. I take a piece of notebook paper and jot down the various challenges I always want to play (but don't always get to!). I'm sure you are all familiar with these challenges, they are issued by the superstars of the stamping world, but here are the links just in case they are new to you and you'd like to check them out for yourself: Beate's WSC51, Great Swaps Girls GSGC07, Jen's SFYTT, Julee's MOJO41, Taylor's TECC19, SC179, CC169, Kristina's Color Inspiration #10 and the Verve Product Parade VVPP03. If you have a challenge you host or visit weekly, let me know - maybe I'm missing out on a good one!! (Oh, I always look at Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge too, I forgot to check it this morning!) So then I just take my handy dandy piece of notebook paper into my stamp room, and it helps get my creative juices flowing. Monica asked me if I keep an inspiration journal, and I don't - I REALLY should! It was just recently I thought to start SAVING these pieces of notebook paper - since my notes are not neat and pretty I didn't think they were worth keeping, duh! I think if nothing else I might start putting them into a binder. One of these days I really want to make a cute little sketch book to keep ideas in - yet another thing on my stamping to do list... someday... :-) Thanks for stopping by today!!

• Stamps: Polka Stars and Great Expectations from Verve Visual
• Paper: Basic Black, Ruby Red, So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Whisper White
• Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Ruby Red, So Saffron
• Accessories: Scissors, marker, SU brads, SU oval & slit slot punches, May Arts ribbon