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I'm loving the clean and simple look lately! For this card I used my Unity kit of the month and my Cricut (I had to dust it off first though!) I cut out my heart using the doodlecharms cartridge and then sewed a messy border around it. I used my Copic markers to color in the chimney and heart on my little house and added some glitter to the heart. A big stitched ribbon bow and I have a clean and simple card!

Thanks for stopping by!

stamps: July kit of the month (Unity)

ink: memento tuxedo black (Tsukineko)

paper: real red (SU!); copic medium weight blending

accessories: cricut; sewing machine; red glitter (G Studios); ribbon (Bazzill); Copic markers

Thanks Grandma

My Mother In Law is a saint! She is staying with my four children this week so my husband can work and I can enjoy my time at CHA! Last week was her birthday but she was out of town so we still have her card and gift sitting on the counter. For her card I again was inspired by some of the Fan Club challenges posted last week on SCS. This card incorporates 5 of the challenges including a sketch (my favorite!) I used 3 different patterns of DP from the Urban Prairie collection by Basic Grey and a SU! stamp set that hadn't seen ink yet. I have to say that I really like the new "clear" sets that SU! has come out with. They stamp well and are easy to stick to my acrylic blocks. I also added a tiny embossed butterfly using a SU! embosslits die.

Thanks for stopping by!

stamps: Whimsical Words (SU!)
ink: rose red, so saffron (SU!)
paper: rose red, whisper white (SU!); Urban Prairie DP (Basic Grey)
accessories: border punch (Martha Stewart); ribbon (Ofray); swarovski crystals (Jolee's); emboslits die (SU!); circle nestabilities (Spellbinders)

On My Way!

I am so excited to be on my way to CHA in Chicago today!! I can't wait to get there and meet some of my fellow i {heart} papers DT members IRL! I've been busy making a few things to post while I'm gone and most of my inspiration came from the week long Fan Club challenges posted at SCS. Are you a fan club member? You should be- each month the exclusive fan club Dirty Dozen gallery is overflowing with inspiration! Once a year they host a week long challenge just for fan club members to play along in. Just a little perk to being a member! Anyways, my first project covers 3 challenges and is a little gifty for my CHA room mate! I used a Starbuck's Frappaccino bottle and wrapped some DP around the outside. I added some fun trim I found at Walmart and some rolled paper flowers along with a sentiment. The top is also decorated with the same DP and a corduroy brad. I filled it with chocolate kisses (who doesn't like chocolate as a gift?!)

Thanks for stopping by!

stamps: With all my Heart (SU!)
ink: tangerine tango (SU!)
paper: Ooo la la DP (MME); kiwi kiss, old olive, tangerine tango (SU!)
accessories: beaded trim (Walmart); oval punches, corduroy brad (SU!); orange silk ribbon (Creative Impressions)

Quietly

It's time again for the i {heart} papers design team challenge! This month's challenge is to use any of the 12x12 open stock paper that is available at the i {heart} papers store. Now, if you have been shopping with Kate lately, you know that she is having a HUMONGOUS sale and the 12x12 paper is going fast! Check out the sale page to see what I mean. I chose a piece of SEI paper from the Mimosa collection called daiquiri. It is double sided and my background is one side of the paper and I used the glittery side to paper piece my Unity flower. The flower's center is a Lemonade brad by Basic Grey.

Check out my fellow DT members projects here:

Carolyn

Cathleen

Deb

Gretchen

Kendra

Loretta

Lori

Lynn

Megan

Tracy

Kate

We'd love for you to play along with us! Upload your creation to an online gallery or your blog using the keyword IHP0710 so we can find it and then leave one of us a link so we can check it out! (By the way, do you recognize my card layout? It is this week's clean and simple challenge)

Thanks for stopping by!

stamps: June Stampin' Store kit (Unity)

ink: memento tuxedo black (Tsukineko)

paper: rose red (SU!); copic medium white; Daiquiri DP (SEI)

accessories: lemonade brad (Basic Grey); circle nestabilities (Spellbinders); sewing machine

Delight

Delight, that's what summer is to me! I love the warm (even hot) weather, sitting outside on my deck reading in the sunshine, watching my kids play soccer, going for family bike rides and eating food from the grill! Unfortunately, summer is also a slow time for my stamping. I try (I really do) but I find myself drawn outside far too often and away from my craft room! (Thus the lack of blogging the past weeks!) One stamping event that gets me excited about stamping again is the new Stampin' Up! catalog that is unveiled every July. My demonstrator, Laura, just dropped mine off for me last week and I've hardly put it down! I have a list of "must have" supplies already started and I seem to add another thing to my list each time I page through the catalog! With SU! on my mind, I decided to create a SU! only card to share with you today. It's pretty simple and straight forward and I used my favorite tool- my Big Shot! The felt flower is cut using the Island Floral die and it cut through my cheap Walmart felt without problem! I also used the Lots of Tags and Little Leaves dies and the tiny butterfly is from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit die. The background is embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.

Thanks for stopping by today and I promise to be back tomorrow- it's our monthly i {heart} papers design team challenge!

stamps: Define Your Life (SU!)

ink: chocolate chip (SU!)

paper: crumb cake, certainly celery, pretty in pink (SU!)

accessories: pretty in pink satin ribbon; little leaves, Island Floral, Lots of Tags, Beautiful Wings dies (SU!); button (SU!); linen thread (SU!); polka dot embossing folder (SU!)

A Slow Thank You

One of my little day care girls gave me a gift card as a thank you for a great year. The "rules" for gifts in our house is a thank you has to be written before the gift can be played with or used. I can't break my own rule (and the gift card is starting to burn a hole in my pocket) so I put together this little thank you using today's sketch challenge. I stamped my turtle with memento rich cocoa ink and colored him in using my Copic sketch markers. I added some glitter to his shell and the butterfly. The sentiment is from the Verve set Celebration of Thanks and it's all layered on some Quite Contrary DP by MME. Along with the card I am sending her some summer treats to play with until we get back together in the fall!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are enjoying your summer too!

stamps: Celebration of Thanks (Verve); May stampin store kit (Unity)

ink: memento rich cocoa (Tsukineko)

paper: very vanilla, pretty in pink, kiwi kiss (SU!); Quite Contrary DP (MME)

accessories: Copic sketch markers; circle nestabilities (Spellbinders); embossing folder (Quickutz); polka dot sheer ribbon (May Arts)

Grateful

I'm home by myself for a few hours and I got a little stampin' done! I made a quick (and pretty clean and simple) thank you card. The branch is from the Unity June stampin' store kit of the month and I stamped it once in chocolate chip and once in pumpkin pie and then cut out the little leaves and glued them over the top of the chocolate chip branch. I embossed the always artichoke background with a SU! embossing folder and then lightly sanded it for a roughed up look. A little layering, paper piercing and a silk ribbon make it complete.

Thanks for stopping by on this holiday weekend!

stamps: June stampin' store kit of the month (Unity); small script (SU!)

ink: chocolate chip, pumpkin pie, always artichoke (SU!)

paper: always artichoke, whisper white, chocolate chip (SU!); yellow/orange (Archiver's)

accessories: silk ribbon (Creative Impressions); paper piercer, paper distresser, sanding block (MM); scallop scissors, embossing folder (SU!)

Happy Birthday Kim!

It's Kim's, the fabulous owner of MFT, birthday next week but we are celebrating a few days early with a surprise blog party! Each person on the list below has created a card or project in honor of Kim's birthday and we are sharing them with you! (I am soo honored to be asked to participate in this!)

This is my card made with that fabulous Olivia DP again! I also used the cutie "Make Mine a Double" Pure Innocence girlie. I paper pieced her dress and colored the rest of her with my Copic Sketch markers. Then layered her up with my nestabilities and some ribbon and buttons!

For my gifty I used a wooden letter "K" and covered it with a different paper pattern from the Olivia collection. I lightly sanded the edges with an emery board and then added a layered felt flower. I just used some scraps of felt that I had in the kids' art bin and a sizzix die in my Big Shot to cut them out. I had a scrap of crepe ribbon left over too that I twisted into a couple of leaves for the flower. I glued it all together with my hot glue gun and then attached it to the "K".

Here's a close up

Stop by the MFT blog to wish Kim a happy birthday and then head over to the rest of these ladies' blogs for some more birthday goodies!

• 
  
  Alex Maldonado
• 
  
  Alma de la Rosa
• 
  
  Amy Sheffer
• 
  
  Barbara Anders
• 
  
  Beate Johns
• 
  
  Bonnie Ratzloff
• 
  
  Carole Burrage
• 
  
  Carolyn King
• 
  
  Cassie Trask
• 
  
  Chris Veneruso
• 
  
  Christina Fischer
• 
  
  Cindy Haffner
• 
  
  Dawn Barghorn
• 
  
  Dawn Easton
• 
  
  Erin Smetak
• 
  
  Frances Byrne
• 
  
  Gabrielle Howey
• 
  
  Gretchen Belknap - that's me!
• 
  
  Jen Davis
• 
  
  Jen del Muro
• 
  
  Jenn Balcer
• 
  
  Jessie Rone
• 
  
  Joanne Basile
• 
  
  Jodi Collins
• 
  
  Jody Morrow
• 
  
  Joy Stagg
• 
  
  Julie Dinn
• 
  
  Karen Motz
• 
  
  Kelli Hull
• 
  
  Kerry Johnson
• 
  
  Leigh O'Brien
• 
  
  Leslie Rodriguez
• 
  
  Lisa Henke
• 
  
  Lori Craig
• 
  
  Megan Lock
• 
  
  Melody Rupple
• 
  
  Michele Boyer
• 
  
  Michelle Lanning
• 
  
  Sherrie Siemens
• 
  
  Susan Liles
• 
  
  Tammy Hershberger
• 
  
  Wendy Bond

Thanks for stopping by!

Courage

I ordered my Verve stamps last Friday night after the release party and they were in my mailbox on Monday! Holy macaroni was that fast shipping! Anyways, I fished them out of their envelope and left them laying on my desk until I was ready to play with them. I took this week's sketch for you to try and some Oliver DP by Basic Grey and went to work! (Yep, this is Olivia's brother that I told you about yesterday and he is full of boy themed paper. Great colors too!) The scalloped bordered edge is a Tim Holtz on the edge die that I got at Archiver's.

If you participate in this week's sketch for you to try and link it up to Jen's blog, you have the chance to win some $ to the Verve store! Go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

stamps: Blue Skies (Verve)

ink: sahara sand (SU!); memnto rhubarb stalk (Tsukineko)
paper: naturals putty, not quite navy (SU!); textured red (Archiver's); Oliver DP (Basic Grey)
accessories: tiny library clip, twill, linen thread, paper distresser (SU!); button (MFT); sewing machine; Tim Holtz die (Sizzix)