Just Give Me Stamps...

Paper Smooches August DT Blog Hop...

It's Pep Rally week and we are here today to share a sampling of the Paper Smooches September stamp release with you! The three NEW clear stamp sets will be available to purchase at 12:01am, Eastern time...on September 1st. You will find them HERE.

To add extra fun to our blog hop...we are offering up a prize! Just leave a comment on any of the five design team blogs listed below for your chance to win one of the three new stamp sets! (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify) You have until midnight MT on Friday, August 31st to leave a comment. Please check all five blogs on Saturday, September 1st to see if you are one of the five lucky winners.

 

Emily Leiphart

Heidi Van Laar

Kalyn Kepner

Laurie Schmidlin

Teri Anderson

 

To increase your chances of winning:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post

2. Tell us that you Facebooked about our blog hop

3. Tell us that you Tweeted about our hop

4. Tell us that you posted on your blog about our blog hop

(which means that you have up to four chances to win on each blog)

 

LOL!!!  I can't even tell you how much I have giggled over this stamp set!  Chief Crafty Pants...  Teeheee!  How does Kim come up with this stuff?  Talk about a fun set!  You are so going to love Jive Turkey!  :-)

I decided to create a tag...perfect for adding to a hostess gift!  I just had to give Chief Crafty Pants some polka dotted clothes...I mean, come on...he's Chief Crafty Pants!  :-)  I can totally see using him for SO many other occasions...birthday, encouragement, and even Christmas!

Well, don't forget to go visit the other ladies for more chances to win some free Paper Smooches! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  ~Laurie

Some Projects to Share and a GIVEAWAY!

Good morning!  I have a fun post in store for you today!  :-)  The folks at Bazzill sent me some new goodies to play with...AND share with you!

I saw that Bazzill was now making patterned paper, and in the smaller 6 x 6 size no less!  I have ordered and used some of it already and was impressed with the quality.  The paper is thick and just a little bit textured...I love it! 

I played with the new Beach House Collection from Bazzill and loved the fun mix of patterns and colors!  My first thought was how versatile the patterns are...can be used for all things beach and summer, but also everyday cards.  I even thought that several of the patterns would make great Christmas paper!

Since my goal this month was to make as many birthday cards as I could, I chose to make...a birthday card!  LOL!  I started with a cut file from the Silhouette store.  The card base and accessories (the strips, key hole, & buckles) are all from the new Card Shoppe collection (Peanut Cluster, Candy Bar, & Rock Candy). If you click on the photo (a larger version will pop up), you can see the yummy texture on the paper!

Here's a photo of the inside of the chest.  I added some more patterned paper on the inside.  I love the neutral stripe pattern...I actually think it's my favorite!  The anchor is another file I cut out with my Silhouette Cameo.  The sentiment and rectangle frame is from Verve's new Treasured Words set (and the Rounded Rectangle die).  To secure the card from opening on its own, I added some magnetic closures underneath the buckles (the other part is on the front side of the bottom flap).

For my second project, I created an encouragement card.  I used four different patterns from the Beach House Collection as well as cut two strips out from the striped paper (it's a collage of several different patterns).  The sentiment and ship are from Verve's new Learning to Sail set.  I also used some Peanut Cluster and Candy Bar cardstock from the Card Shoppe Collection.

Last post I did featuring the Card Shoppe cardstock, I received several questions about where this new cardstock can be purchased.  From what I've found, it's available almost everywhere cardstock is sold!  You can check your LSS or I know that scrapbook.com carries all 28 colors.  Just type in Bazzill card shoppe in the search bar! 

Want to win some of these goodies for yourself courtesy of Bazzill?  Included in this giveaway is a package of 56 (2 each of 28 colors), high quality, 100 lb. Card Shoppe cardstock and a 24 sheet pack (4 each of 6 designs) of the Beach House patterned paper Collection!

Just leave a comment here on this post before Saturday, September 1st at 9:00 pm Mountain Time!  I will choose a winner and announce it Sunday morning!

Thanks for joining me here today!  I hope your day is a creative one!  ~Laurie

Just a Note (and some personal stuff)...

Good morning!  Well, this week my daughter started back to school.  Wow.  Where in the world did the Summer go?  This is her junior year...her JUNIOR year!  It really hit me the other day.  We don't have that much more time left with her!  Alison is such and AMAZING person and we (DH & I) have a great relationship with her.  I totally love that girl young woman!

This year is quite different than the other years.  Not only is she a junior, but she is starting school knowing that she has a HUGE fight ahead (more on that below).  I whipped up this card over the weekend for her.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out he bird and branch (it's a file from Echo Park).  Ali loves birds of all kinds...whimsical birds, realistic birds, majestic birds...if it's a bird, she loves it!  :-)  I thought a long time on what I wanted this card to say.  I mean, "normal" sentiments didn't feel right.  With what lies ahead for her, wishing her a great year just didn't seem right.  Don't get me wrong, I sincerely hope and pray (literally...pray often) that she will indeed have a great year, but I didn't want it to sound like a platitude.  Instead, I chose the Just a Note sentiment (from the Sentiment Sampler by Paper Smooches).  For a little extra texture, I ran the bird through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  A polka dot bird.  Teeheee!

So, here's the photo I took this morning of her.  Isn't she SO beautiful?  I cannot even tell you how proud I am of her...words just fail me.

We finally heard back from Alison's neurosurgeon at Seattle Children's.  They took so long because they met several times to discuss her case.  As it stands now, the medication (two anti-seizure meds) seem to be holding them off for a week to two weeks, then she has break through seizures.  Not only that, but the medicine is starting to become toxic to her (Dr.'s words...not mine).  The bad news is that the scar tissue is located extremely close to the part that controls the left side movement.  What they (and we) have decided is that they will do two surgeries.  For the first one, they will put electrodes all around the area causing trouble.  He described it as "brain mapping".  Then, three days later, they will go in and remove as much as they can making sure to stay away from the movement parts as best they can.  So, in a nutshell, she will be having two major surgeries with some definite risks.  There is a 67% chance that the surgery will be successful (no more seizures).  Those are not as great of odds and I would have liked, but it looks a lot better than the alternative (continuing break through seizures and toxic medicine). All of this will take place in a couple of weeks.

If all things go VERY well, she will be able to return to school after 5 weeks.  Trying to make up that much work after having brain surgery will be hard to say the least.  We're not sure what will happen, but have decided that we will make decisions as we need to. Since she has already gone through brain surgery once...we definitely don't have rose colored glasses on...we know what it's like.  We know how long therapy and recovery takes.  Having said that, we are SO incredibly grateful to have an opportunity to fix this for her...AND having one of the best surgeons out there today! 

Thanks so much for "listening"!  I have found that talking/writing about it really helps me process everything. 
Hugs, Laurie

Waltzingmouse New Release Blog Waltz...

It's time!  Waltzingmouse is release lots of new stamps, dies, and cut files today!  To celebrate, the design team is putting on a blog waltz (hop)!  If you've arrived here from Claire's blog, then you are waltzing in the right order!  You definitely want to visit each design team member today as there will be some FREE WALTZINGMOUSE GOODIES!!  More on that below...

My first card features the new Light of the World Sentiments and Bright Season sets as well as the new Opera Tags die set!  Just look at the detail embossing on the tag (they kind of look like sun bursts)! 

 

For my second project, I created a very clean and simple card set using the new Vintage Garden Flowers set.  This is the photo of the little box I created to hold the three coordinating cards and envelopes.

It's not always easy for me to keep it clean and simple, but the detail on these stamps really steal the show so I wanted to keep all of my other embellishments on the minimal side.

All the cards are 4" square...a perfect size for sending a little note to someone you care about!  :-)

Aren't these new stamps wonderful?  Speaking of new stamps...want to know how you can win some?  Just leave a little comment love on each of the blogs as you waltz along and you will be automatically entered!

Make sure to leave your comments before August 26th 11:59 PM, 5:5 9AM Central, 3:59 AM Pacific and 6:59 AM Eastern!

 

Next up on the waltz is the wonderful Anya!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hugs, Laurie

Treasured Friendship (Anni-VERVE-Sary Day 9)...

Verve is celebrating its 5th anniversary this month and the party is just getting started! Come join us over the next 9 days as we showcase the 23 new stamps and dies releasing from Verve! We'll be counting down the minutes and revealing all the new sets in our forum from 9-11pm Eastern on Friday, August 24, so make plans now to join us for our release party!

In the meantime, we've got a fun filled hop for you today! So let your fingers do the clicking and peek into the creative minds of Verve's talented Divas and Guest Divas as they give you a little tour of what's to come! Inspiration abounds, and so do the PRIZES!

That's right! We've picked a mystery blog from today's hop and hidden a prize! So be sure to give a little shout out in the comment section as you hop around to each blog on the list. We’ll draw a random winner from all of the comments on the mystery blog to win today's featured sets and dies. Check out the Verve Blog for all the prize details and deadlines.

Want even more chances to win? Head on over to the Verve SCS forum and play along in our Anni-VERVE-sary release challenges. Or hop on over to the Verve Blog to find out about our Verve Card Carnival, for a chance to win the entire new release (a $300+ value)!

If you are hopping along with us, then you should have arrived here from Julee's blog! If not...you can head back on over there and she will get you started off right! :-)

On my card, I used the new Treasured Words set combined with the Rounded Rectangle and Pennant Trim Dies!  The card base is a file folder (from the Silhouette Store) that I cut out with my Cameo (so is the doily for that matter :-).  I used some more patterned papers from one of my new My Mind's Eye paper pads.

 

Here's a little info on the Customer Card Carnival...

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Create a new card using Verve Stamps Post your card to your blog or gallery Include a link to the Verve store in your write up Link your card using the entry form HERE

One lucky participant from all the entries will win our ENTIRE new release of products! That's over $300 worth of stamps and dies! You may enter as many times as you like, but each entry must be a different card, in a separate post, and include a link to Verve. Only new cards posted August 16 through August 24, 2012 will be eligible. Deadline to link your cards is 5PM Eastern on Friday, August 24. The winner will be announced at our release party that night (you don't need to be present to win)!

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

Ready to do more hopping? Next up on the hop list is the fabulous Maureen!

 

1. Julee 9. Charmaine 2. Laurie S. 10. Janelle 3. Maureen 11. Betty 4. Teresa 12. Christyne {Guest} 5. Tosh 13. Laurie W. {Guest} 6. Amber 14. Jen S. {Guest} 7. Amy 15. Susan 8. Andrea

 

I'm so glad you stopped by today!  Hugs, Laurie

P.S.  See you at the release party tonight!!  :-)