Sunflower Studio

YOU'RE #1 {mftwsc13}

Tomorrow is my Godchild's birthday and in my usual always-late-birthday-gift-giver form I just sat down to make her card today.  I am notoriously horrible at birthdays.  I can remember my immediate family - at least the dates - but that's about it.  I think it runs in my side of the family because we all do it.  We like to say it makes the celebration last longer when you get your gift weeks after your birthday.  Anybody out there with me?  No?  Oh well, I try...

I've had some new stamps from MY FAVORITE THINGS sitting on my table for a while so I chose this cutie-patootie ALL STAR A LA MODE set to work with.  This gal is perfect for Erin because she's a terrific teenager and this girl is not only cute but cool too! I based my card on this week's MFT WEDNESDAY SKETCH CHALLENGE #13.

As for supplies, I can't get enough of the new EASY ROSETTE and GRASS CUTUPS die from THE CAT'S PAJAMAS and incorporated them here.  I used my favorite cloud paper from October Afternoon.  The pink polka-dot is OA too.  The green is Cosmo Cricket and the text background paper is from SU! I tried to make my bottom layers a little "scrappy" and added a piece of Heidi Swapp decorative tape that's been hiding in my drawer.  A button, some brads and delish twine from The Twinery finish it off. Oh, and I finished the inside as well.  The MFT gals are the queens of this stuff so I just took their lead and followed along.  I don't usually finish my card insides but I do think it looks really nice...who knows, could become a habit. The inside sentiment is from A Muse.

Happy Birthday, Erin...your gift is coming!!

DOGGIE THOUGHTS {sfytt}

Okay, so here's my SFYTT card for this week!  See THIS POST for the sketch and details. Glad to have gotten it done....

Recently, the sister of my neighbor had to put their dog down.  She was only four and a half years old but had cancer.  It was heartbreaking for them.  She was such a good, good dog.  We got to know her since she came to visit fairly often.  Hopefully this card will let them know that we're all thinking of them...and Sadie too.

Supplies:  Stamps - Dog from Anna Wight's Singing Cowboy set from Whipper Snapper Designs, sentiment from A Muse; Paper - patterned papers from Cosmo Cricket, SU! Kraft cardstock, PTI Vintage Cream; Ink - Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, Onyx Black Versafine; Other - Copic markers and airbrush, PTI ribbon and button, TCP linen twine, wool felt, craft wire, Sizzix cloud die, Spellbinders Lg. Mega Ovals die, vintage book page, Canson photo corners, SU! glitter

LUCKY DAY KETTO {sfytt}

Thinking ahead about St. Paddy's Day?  Anything that will bring me closer to Spring is a good thing!  So here's a Spring-y card for this week's SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY.  I couldn't pass up a couple of new KETTO images from STAMPING BELLA when I recently ordered the new Cosmo Cricket papers.  I've been eyeballing these little gals for a while.  They're very sweet and whimsical but with an edge.  I really like that!

This is MISSMATCH KETTO and she's wearin' the green in hopes of wishing someone a very lucky day.  The gingham paper is from the the new Cosmo Material Girl pack.  The darker green patterned paper is from a Memory Box holiday pack.  I added super-wide green striped ribbon from SU! (some of my very favorite!), a white paper flower, green silk shamrock, and a button center to jazz it up.  The little sentiment is from A Muse Artstamps.

This is your last week to enter JEN'S SFYTT CONTEST.  All you have to do is make a card using one of the February sketches and upload your card to the corresponding slideshow guestbook.  Really...Jen's got a fabulous prize package that you won't want to miss out on!  All of the details can be found on her blog.

Need more inspiration using the sketch?  Visit the other SFYTT girls today to see what they've come up with...I'm off to do that right now!

Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Susan Liles
Kelly Lunceford

and Jen del Muro with her special guest designer for the month, Mona Pendleton.

SYMPATHY TOP NOTE

I am always inspired by whatever AMY ROHL comes up with. So, when I saw her TOP NOTE QUARTET I knew that I had to give it a try.  It's a pretty simple design that you can dress up or down as you see fit.  I love that!  I needed a sympathy card this week and I created my card with that in mind.

Not a ton of stamping but that can work, right?  Sometimes you need to step back to a simpler design.  The patterned papers here are from the La Creme pad from DCWV.  It's a great pad because it has some pages that are flocked.  I used PTI ribbon, the leaf die is from Sizzix, a big brad from Recollections in the center of my scalloped circle punch flower made from vintage book pages, KaiserCraft pearls, and the Top Note die from SU!  The sentiment is by A Muse Artstamps.

HAPPY BABY! {sfytt}

Here's my take on this week's SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY.  I started a little knitted baby throw during the snow last week for a neighbor who had a little girl at the beginning of the year.  So I finished that but I needed a card...not that I probably couldn't dig around in my piles and find one...I just felt like a new baby would need a NEW card.  Thankfully, the sketch gave me a great jumping off point.

All of the animal images here are from WHIPPER SNAPPER DESIGNS.  They have great expressions, don't they?  The sentiment stamps are both from A Muse - still my fave for small sentiments in fun fonts!  I dug deep into the paper stash for these pretty patterned papers from the Basic Grey Oh Baby! Girl collection.  I also used my Fiskars Apron Lace punch for the scalloped border, ribbon, buttons and twine from Papertrey, and a paper flower by The Card Co.

Why don't you sit down with this week's sketch and get to work on your card?!  REMEMBER...JEN has a fantastic prize package this month.  It's full of must have goodies...see the picture here!  All you have to do is upload your card using one of this month's sketches to the correct guest book slideshow on Jen's blog.  Eazy peazy!  Jen has all of the details on her blog so be sure to take a look there.

Wanna see what the other SFYTT girls did with the sketch this time?  Here are the links:

Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Susan Liles
Kelly Lunceford

and Jen del Muro with this month's guest designer, MONA PENDLETON.

I thought I'd also share a photo of the baby throw.  I get the LION BRAND YARN catalogs and I'm always inspired.  I'm pretty much a beginning knitter so I stick with the easy ones.  This one is called SUNSHINE DAY BABY THROW and the pattern was free (although, you may have to sign up to see it).  I have two other friends getting ready to have babies this year so I know I'll be making a few more of these!

HAPPILY EVER AFTER {sfytt}

Sorry...I'm a little late today!  It's been a crazy week...and, unfortunately, not for the good reasons.  {Can we say sick husband with the flu?  Or, how about...little boy running his face into the corner of the wall?  Yea...that about sums it up!  All are getting better now so we do have THAT to be THANKFUL for!}

It's time for another of JEN'S SKETCHES FOR YOU TO TRY.  I have to reiterate how much I love these.  They really do make you think outside of your comfort zone and stretch your creativity.  As I mentioned in my last post, I'm in love with these paper flowers!  This time I used some pages from a song book that I found in a local antique store.  I added some small PTI buttons to the flower centers and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter - which is now EVERYWHERE on my craft table - to make 'em "purty".  All of the patterned papers are from a new pad from PTI and I, again, used the Sizzix vine die for the leaves.  It wouldn't be finished without a big ole bow - this time, scrumptious ribbon from SU!.  Only a teensy bit of stamping...what a change that is...the sentiment is from A Muse Artstamps.

Well, hopefully you'll have time - between your holiday shopping trips and turkey leftover meals - to check out all of the SFYTT gals cards this weekend.  I'm off to do that now...here's the list:

Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Kelly Lunceford
Susan Liles

and Jen del Muro and her special guest for the month.

Don't forget that if you create a card using the sketch you should upload it at Jen's blog so that we can all oooh and aaah over it!

SNORKEL BOY

I needed a little "pick-me-up" type of card today so I sat down with some brand new stamps that I just ordered from A Muse.  I do love all of their little images and fun sentiments with mixed up fonts.  They're truly hard to resist...they're like chocolate for me!

Anyway, this was my favorite of the new images...Snorkel Boy.  He reminds me of my little guy...he won't take that daggone mask off for anything!!  I mean, really, it almost covers his mouth too and he refuses to let you put the strap further up on his head so that the mask fits in the right place.  Oh well...he is eight and, you know, they already know it ALL by that age...ha!

My card also uses new Snorkel patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket, some Nestabilities dies, and a handful of buttons from Storage Units, Ink & More!  Oh yea, I also used my Anywhere Hole punch to add holes to the background paper so that the blue textured paper would show through...the more bubbles the better, right?!

TCP TUESDAY #29 - COLOR CHALLENGE

Here we are back at Tuesday again!  I ran out of time for last week's very interesting TCP Tuesday Inspiration challenge from Jen.  Check out the slide show on Alma's blog to see those cards for sure.  THIS WEEK, Toni is the Hipster Hostess with the Mostess and she's come up with the color combo of Blue/Gray, Pale Yellow, and Dark Red.  I couldn't quite envision this until I saw Toni's cute card.  And then, when I grabbed my cardstock, with the colors all side by side, this card sort of fell into place. 

I used the Cat's Pajamas Fright Night set again...can you tell that I like this one?!  I wanted this card to fit into my Freaky Friday challenge for this week too so even though it looks a little spooky it's not really a Halloween card.  I colored over the face on the tree stamp so that we have silhouettes instead of happy trees.  I chose SU! cardstock in Red Riding Hood, So Saffron, and Blue Bayou for the color challenge.  The Basic Grey Mellow patterned paper matched the color combo and the "feel" of my Copic colored stamped layer too.  I added some texture with the Swiss Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder and used SU!s Word Window punch to add the sentiment from A Muse.  I little line of red brads finished it off.  Hoot Hoot!

Don't for get to link your card to Toni's challenge post.  If you're uploading to Splitcoast, please use keyword TCPTUES29.

Note - This card also works for this weeks Freaky Friday challenge - use Halloween stamps to make a NON-Halloween card!

FRIGHTFULLY DELIGHTFUL FREAKY FRIDAY CHALLENGE

I've had this challenge idea bouncing around inside my brain for a while now and I finally had to just jump in and get it posted here on the blog.  I'm a little long winded so I hope you'll stick with me...

1.  I LOVE HALLOWEEN!  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!  So, as a stamper, you can only imagine the amount of Halloween stamps, patterned papers, ribbon, and other paraphernalia...KWIM?  You can never have too much, right?!!!  With that in mind, I wanted to run a weekly challenge this month to spotlight this fun holiday and all of the goodies that go along with it.

2.  I just celebrated my TWO YEAR BLOG-IVERSARY last Friday, October 3rd.  Two years!  I really can't believe that I've been spending my time sharing on this blog for that long.  I thank those of you who have checked in with me from time to time.  It's a pleasure hearing from you and being able to share what I love to do with you here.  I'm a smidge away from reaching 200,000 visits too...WOW!

3.  Did you know that TODAY, OCTOBER 7TH is ANNA WIGHT'S Birthday?  Hee hee...Well everyone should know!  Anna is truly an inspiration to so many of us stampers and she so generously treats us to her artwork, sunny disposition, and hilarious exploits on the farm each day.  There's no one who deserves a ton of well wishes more than Anna!  HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNA!!

So, the details for the challenge are going to be posted HERE or you can click on the Freaky Friday Challenge logo in the left sidebar.  Please click on over to that page for details.  I hope you'll play along with me this month.

I'll start the challenges with this card featuring Anna's Polly stamp...for this card, I've named her "Polly Dah-ling".  Obviously, she's been "bitten" by some sexy vamp!  Do you think she's been watching too much True Blood? 

Week 1 - Friday, October 3, 2008 (posted a tad late on 10/7...oopsie)
Use any NON-HALLOWEEN stamp to create a Halloween themed card or project.
Post link by 12 noon (eastern time) on Monday, October 13. Keyword: FFC01

If you decide to play along with me, please link your card to THIS post. 

 

Supplies:  Stamps - Polly (CT928) by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper, sentiments from A Muse; Paper - textured papers by Coredinations, Papertrey White, patterned papers by My Mind's Eye; Ink - Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Onyx Black Versafine, Ranger Mushroom Adirondack ink; Other - Copic Markers, Nestabilities Ribbon Tag die, Copic Multiliner, Sakura Clear Glitter pen, American Crafts brads, EK Success Martha Stewart ribbon, sponge.

CHEERS POLLY!

I just love all of Anna Wight's images for Whipper Snapper.  That gal is soooo talented!  I bought "Polly" here a few months back.  She reminds me of my sister.  She used to have those pigtails when she was a little girl.

This card is for a challenge swap with one of my Yahoo groups.  The inspiration was this fancy shmancy cake.  THAT CAKE looks so yummy.  I'm not sure where the original photo came from by it makes me think of the ACE of CAKES.  I love that show and the fact that it's filmed right down the road in Baltimore.  Who knew they could do all of that with CAKE!

Supplies:  Stamps - Polly by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper, flower by Stampendous, sentiment from A Muse; CS - Basic Black, Pink Passion, Only Orange, Green Galore by SU!, watercolor paper; Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, various for watercoloring Polly; Other - Copic markers, orange Stickles, black brads, waterbrush.