April (Monthly) Sketch

Here is the April Sketch Challenge. Simple LO but that allows you to really showcase the photo or two that you choose for it.

Think about it. Maybe some Easter Egg Hunt pictures? Everybody dressed up at the same time??? Does that really happen?

 
I chose to do the sketch with pictures of two of our grandsons who live in Dallas. It was Max's birthday but little brother Mason was helping open and try out the presents. The boys are so much fun. I love being with them. We are very blessed to have 3 wonderful grandsons.

T is for.....

I admit it..... I'm way behind in my ABC Christmas cards. I have ideas for "J" but they are still just ideas. Now it is time for another letter:

"T" is for:   

• Toys
• Tinsel
• Trains
• Tags
• Trumpets

Also.... Being in Kansas City and on the cable modem, I was able to upload more items to the Purrfect Sentiments ShopHandmade Store.  While most of the items listed are handmade cards, I will also be carrying some embellishments for those of you that like to make your own. At the moment I have 4 sets of Serendipity Squares for sale. Please specify, if ordering, whether you would like certain colors, pastels or brights. I will have special sets available for special holidays such as Halloween and Christmas. Feel free to leave ideas in the comments. 

Copic Colour Challenge + Sew Many Cards

Sew Many Cards is sponsoring the Copics Colour Challenge this week. This is my entry using using basically Olive, Blue Violet and Walnut. Tayla is a SMC digi. Chester loves Tayla even tho she's a tiger she is still a cousin kitty. I used the olive on the hat and boots, Walnut on the shirt and stripes on the fur and blue violet for the fish and most of the patches. The background paper is lavender with a white pattern of twisting lines that reminded me of seaweed (wrong color I know). Maybe they are fishing lines.

Anyways, this card could be used for Father's Day or for a man's birthday.

Fred She Said March Challenge

You would think with an entire month to complete one little old card, I wouldn't be uploading this just hours before the challenge closes. Well, I am.

Fred-She-Said's March challenge was to use 3 hearts. I made this Anniversary card with 3 heart Dazzles (HOTP). The pansies (in a border & in the teacup) are my favorite digis from FSS. As I did here, I like to double cut the blossoms and layer them with 1/8 inch Dots. Sometimes I add some Paper Glaze, but did not have the time tonight. For some reason the camera thought the purple flowers were blue. I used prune & violet Copics.
Now I need to focus on three layouts for this week. Two are DT assignments and one is to submit to Scrapbooks, Etc. Glad I have Friday off. One I will have to get finished by Wednesday night, but the other two could stretch to Friday if necessary. Hopefully not. Have a good week everyone.

Serendipity Squares and other good things

This is my entry for the Bugaboo Challenge: Coral, Banana & Kiwi. I have the coral Copic, the green is close to kiwi, I admit the kitty is a stretch for banana but I didn't have anything that really looked like banana yellow. This is a birthday card. "Knock Knock" "Who Me?" inside "Just coming by to wish you a Happy Birthday!"

The 3 squares are Serendipity Squares. I will be selling these in packs of 15 on ShopHandmade at the Purrfect Sentiments (Purrfect) store. The sets will be $3.25 each (free shipping).  You can indicate whether you want (a) a mixture of colors (b) blues/greens, (c) yellows/oranges (d) pastels or (e) brights. I have been having uploading problems but am taking my computer to Kansas City and the cable Internet tomorrow night. Hopefully the shop will be updated by Tuesday morning.

The sand castle is the Friday Freebie from Sew Many Cards. I love it! I'm ready for summer and sand castles mean the beach, the sun, the water, playing with the grandsons, dreaming of all kinds of things. Even with living at the lake house through the winter, there is something different about being at the lake in the summer. I liked this background paper - looks like waves. Waves of water, waves of heat.... waves of sleepiness and carefree days.

Hydrangea Hippo

Hydrangea Hippo is the Sew Many Layouts Challenge sponsor this week. HH provided some of the supplies for creating the layouts. This week's challenge is to cut everything out by hand. I must be strange because I normally cut everything by hand. I own several paper cutters but love my Tim Holtz Tonic scissors. I own 3 pairs and have bought them for family members as well.

I wanted to share some pictures of the daffodils trying to survive the wild weather in Missouri this spring. We've had 60 degrees - 30 degrees, 18 hours of rain, 6-8 inches of snow and a few hours of sun - all in the last week. The green background paper is from HOTP but the smaller swatches were provided by Hydrangea Hippo as were the multicolored wide ribbon, the die cut circles and the stars. I accented the smaller pieces with 3mm crystals from Mark Richard. The butterfly digi is from Sew Many Cards. I just gave it two different but coordinating color treatments.

I will be using more supplies from Hydrangea Hippo in the new future but don't let that stop you from visiting the shop.

Easel Cards

I tried making an easel card for the first time this week. They are so much fun! This card is my last as a guest member of the DT for Prairie Fairy. It is also my favorite. I fell in love with this paper from Yellow Bicycle over a year ago and bought several sheets. I've been rationing them out. I added the Prairie Fairy digi and some Dazzles. A light blue button brad hold the easel open. This would make a great anniversary or birthday card.

This one is for Sew Many Cards. The challenge this week is to use a punch. I used a punch & fold to make the flower. The striped pink paper has glitter on it which didn't show up in the photo. The background paper is gcd studios Designer Paper. It has a lot going on, but in shades of blue with a little black and a little green. I thought Oliver Owl looked good in among the "flowers" on the paper. I used a teal flower shaped brad for positioning the easel. This card could be used for graduation, birthday or even get well soon.

My apologies to Mary @ Paper Cutz Challenge. I couldn't remember which card was for this week. I had made this week and next week's cards and when I wrote this post originally, I wasn't sure which card to upload. So this is the correct one. The challenge this week is to make an Easter card without bunnies or chicks. I used a Prairie Fairy digi of Miss Mouse and her basket of Easter eggs.

Try something new this week: A new technique, a new tool or a new challenge site. Most of all - Have Fun!

Squigglefly has New Digis!!

 














I made this card with one of the newer Squigglefly digi-stamps. They have a great variety to choose from.
However the BIG NEWS is the new line being released on March 27th called Inside-Outs. They will include 2 images and 2 sentiments - one for the outside of the card and the other for the inside. How many times have we made a card and spent a lot of time on the front, but then the inside is blank or minimal wording/decoration? This will solve it.

Check out the Squigglefly blog for more information.

Cornish Heritage Farms

Cornish Heritage Farms is the Sew Many Cards Challenge sponsor this week.

Cornish Heritage Farms (CHF) is owned & run by Richard & Liz Pomeroy. Why the name? Richard & Liz are originally from Cornwall, England hence the Cornish Heritage & the 'Farms' is the 100 acre farm in north central Montana where they live & where all the stamps are manufactured. Richard & Liz believe in producing a high quality product so all the stamps are deeply etched, red rubber. CHF is a diverse stamp company in the fact that it consists of a variety of different licenses & styles, ranging from very detailed (Thomas Kinkade) to simple line art (Tom Fun Collection) therefore offering something for everyone.

The stamp I was given to use had 3 stamps in it. "Friends" and a dolphin and the sentiment I used on the card: "A smile is a curve that sets everything straight" I love that phrase. But, I am challenged in using traditional stamps - I'm used to digis. I did find these easier to work with than others I have tried. The quote from Phyllis Diller is a great one. I paired it with a digi of Halen giggling. When you laugh, you release stress and put things back into perspective. This card could be used for encouragement or friendship.

ABC Christmas "J" is for ....

ABC Christmas - Are you keeping up? I've got ideas for this week but no card yet.

The letter is..... "J" is for:

• Jingle Bells
• Jesus
• Joseph
• Joy

Can you come up with other "J"s? Join in the fun.

Soft Pencil Sponsors Sew Many Cards Challenge

I was on a Soft Pencil marathon yesterday. Three cards using 4 digis. This first card is my entry to the Stamping Sisters in Christ challenge. A clean and simple card. Michu and Ratini are singing happy songs. I used HOTPs Paper Pizazz: Use Em for Anything: Pastel for the background paper and DCWV Border Punch Strip for the cardstock. The Michu & Ratini digi is colored with Copics. I added 5mm pink crystals (Mark Richard) and lettering from Sticko.

Sir Chester & I found Softpencil because of Michu. The simple drawings of Michu (a cat of course) and her friend Ratiny are a lot of fun to color and incorporate into cards and layouts. There are also cute fairies and other designs. Our favorites though are the ones with Michu (you wouldn't have guessed that would you?)

This 2nd card is appropriate for the lake. Michu & Ratini are sailing a newspaper boat with a friend. I used Debbie Mumm "Travel" matstack for the background paper. Cardstock selfstick border, fabric sticker (HOTP) and Colorbok green metal dots finish off the card.

This 3rd card is for Easter. Just flowers and a feeling of spring. The redbird is on a blooming branch. I accented the branch with mini paper flowers. Felt Frenzy lettering added the "Happy Easter"

Now I'd like you to "meet" Elizabeth. She has become a friend in a short time. Sir Chester has a crush on her Michula.

Hello everyone! my name is Elizabeth Pujalka and I´m the illustrator and designer behind Softpencil Digital Stamps, home of Michu and his lovely friends, where you can find cute
illustrations for your crafting needs.

My illustrations are a homage to the Nature and their creatures, where a sweet child, a simple flower or a fragile animal become protagonists. I invite you to know my whimsical world plenty of gorgeous characters and to enjoy creating with them!"

Check out SoftPencil digis. They are so much fun. New Easter digis were just added today!

Two more challenges met

The theme at Cute Card Thursday this week is "anniversary". The background paper is from Use Em for Anything - Pastels from HOTP. The pansy digi is from Fred-She-Said and I double printed the flowers to layer them with 1/16 dots. The metal heart/arrow was in my stash. I went through a phase over a year ago of ordering various metal embellies from several sources. I am just now getting around to using them, but there isn't a manufacturer/designer listed on the bags.

I used the same background paper for this entry to Copic Colour Challenge. The only colour of the three listed this week that I had exactly was "prune" the purplish color on her hat, flower and soles of her shoes. The other colors were spectrum green (I used Mignonette) and pale blue (I used Ice Blue). The turtle digi was a freebie this week at Bugaboo along with the clown I used in an earlier post. The solid cardstock is from DCWV and the sentiment is a fabric sticker from HOTP. I love the metal flower with the bright teal/silver brad. I added some silver Dazzles to complete the card.

I hope to finish a couple of more cards for challenges today. I also want to upload more cards to my new shop! Purrfect Sentiments is on Shop Handmade. So far I am selling just completed cards. I give the option if you want a similar card - same thing but in pink or change the Happy Birthday to Happy Anniversary- then purchase the card closest to what you want and in the comment section or by emailing us at purrfectsentimetns@hotmail.com you can specify the changes. I will do my best to meet your choices. Exact paper match could be difficult, but similar paper (color, bright/pastel/ small pattern/stripes/solid) shouldn't be a problem. I know most of you make your own cards, but if you know of any one who would be interested in buying handmade cards send them my way. So far all of my cards are $2.75 with s/h $0.75. One big advantage to buying from Purrfect Sentiments is that you won't go to a shower/birthday party/retirement bach, etc and see the same card you have given by 3 or 4 other people too. If the satellite Internet connection settles down later today, I will be uploading more inventory.

Sew Many Layouts Challenge

DH and I went to see Cactus Flower with Loretta Swit at New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park KS. (I AM spelling theatre correctly). We have season tickets and last Sunday was our turn for this play.

We have a recipe challenge this week: newspaper, paper clip, staple and a post-it note plus a SMC digi of course. It was nice to use one of Angela's digis (the champagne glasses) that I usually don't have a place for. Foxes & Robbers is sponsoring the challenge this week. I used one of their tags along the left hand side of the LO. I added some paper pink roses to it.

Try it out. Dig through those pictures - you know you have plenty - and try the recipe. Share it with us.

Busy Night

I've been busy making cards tonight - can you tell? Spring Break Weekend means I can "play" at odd hours of the day/night.

This first card is a sketch challenge from Bugaboo. The digi clown is actually a Bugaboo freebie at the moment. I thought he looked very cute and with bright colors he works well with the sketch. I used HOTP's Bright Tints (yellow paper) and Birthday cardstock (blue & violet papers).

My month as a guest designer at Prairie Fairy is slipping by quickly. The challenge this week is to use complementary colors such as red/green or blue/orange. Miss Mouse's springy dress works well in red and white. The background paper and metal dots are green, the matte paper is a deep burgundy. I was happy with the daisies giving some life and dimension to the card.

Cards for Men's Challenge was purrfect timing. The challenge is to make a Birthday card for a man or boy. Our nephew's birthday is Sunday so I made his card, submitted a photo to the challenge and mailed the real thing on to Chicago. Prairie Fairy is sponsoring the challenge and I printed out one of her digis to make the card. Then I spotted this one from Phindy's Place. I've had it for awhile but haven't used it. This seemed an appropriate use of the deer.

Sadly a friend lost her father last week. I wanted to make her and her family a special card. Simple and peaceful. After considering several digis I decided on this one from Soft Pencil. I added a couple of leaves near the bird and placed mini paper flowers over small circles (berries ?) along the branch. The sentiment and the flourish were cut out of gold Oh My Vinyl with the Cricut Expression.


There will be a post tonight (Friday) close to midnight with the latest layout for Sew Many Layouts. Check back for it. Also if you didn't see the cards for Paper Cutz and Sew Many Cards scroll on down to the next post.

Hectic Week

It has been a very hectic week. I got back to the lake (after a weekend in Kansas City) just after midnight Sunday night. There was some unusual traffic next door throughout the night. I wondered if something was wrong. No ..... it is the beginning of "snagging season" which is a form of fishing. The neighbors and their friends wanted to be among the first of the season so they went out after midnight and came in around 4:00. Follow this with Math Competition on Tuesday night and parent/teacher conferences after school Wednesday. Spring break weekend started at 3:00 Thursday. A 4-day weekend to play!!!

This week's challenge at Sew Many Cards is a Sketch Challenge. I used this week's Friday Freebie digi for my focus. The sketch calls for a double oval in the middle, but I modified it into egg shapes cut with the Cricut Expression using the Easter cartridge. All the papers are from HOTP CardMaker Creative Pack. I had a difficult time folding the ribbon into shape. It was self adhesive which the adhesive was helpful, but it was also a very thick ribbon which made it hard to fold. I chose 4 different colored flower brads to finish off the sketch.

The Paper Cutz Challenge is a recipe this week. It calls for 3 buttons and 1 ribbon. The digi is from DZDoodles. I love the old fashioned look. The paper roses from My Moments (Paper Wishes) fit over the flowers in the paper pattern. I chose 3 small purple buttons and a simple dark green ribbon to complete the recipe. This card could be used for Mother's Day or birthday or just a Springy "Thinking of You, Friend" type card.

ABC Christmas "S" is for...

I am finally getting caught up. Here is my "M" is for Manger card. The Sew Many Cards digi of the Holy Family is the focus of the card. I used a dark blue background with white swirls and snowflakes. An acrylic snowflake is at the top. Two bands of red ribbon flank the image and on the ribbon are gold Dazzle borders.

You should have several cards by now. I hope you will share them on Paper Wishes Message Board by joining and creating an ABC Christmas album. At least check out the ones that are there. Some amazing ideas.

The new letter for this week is "S". "S" is for

• Stable

• Sleigh or sledding
  

• Snow (fort, balls, drifts)

• Santa Claus (of course)

• Star (on the tree, of Bethlehem)

• Sleeping children

• Sugarplums
  

• 
  

I've Been Busy

Kaboodle Doodle Challenge is to make a birthday card. Since Bugaboo is providing the prize, I used a Bugaboo digi (multiple times) on this card. "Hey Gal Pal"....."Let's party!!!" When you get to my age, the ladies on this card are "remember when". Remember when we used to be able to stay up late and party. Remember when we were that thin without being sick. Remember when we could balance on those heels!


This impish little leprechaun is a digi from Phindy's Place. He is going to visit my MIL for St. Patrick's Day. He reminds me of our grandsons (her great grandsons). The paper roses are "My Moments" purchased through Paper Wishes. They have a value pack of 170 flowers - roses and daisies - in various colors for a reasonable price. The flowers are self stick so no need to fumble with tiny brads.


"Friends/Brothers" is my entry in the Phoolish Phor Phindy Challenge at Phindy's Place. The challenge is to use two Phindy images on a single card. I would have liked to squeeze in 3, for the 3 grandsons, but coloring the detail on images this small was difficult for my eyes. I won't say which two grandsons I think these two look like. I bought the lettering yesterday at Scrapbook Unique in Lenexa KS. Teri (the owner) had opened a 2nd sales space next door for a clearance/sale weekend. She is making room for new stuff. I also found some lovely papers that I can't wait to use.

I also completed a DT card for Prairie Fairy and an ABC Christmas Card for the Paper Wishes MB. Not bad for 24 hours (and I actually slept for 7 hours and played Phase 10 Twist and ran out to get Chinese). I printed off some other digis to color and tracked down more freebies on various sites. Pretty productive day.

Who Me?

Sew Many Layouts Challenge for this week is to scrapbook your name or the name of someone special to you. While I think the intent was to decorate your name, make it an anagram, use different fonts, etc. I took it in a different direction. I have many names. I was born Mary Susan but my brother started calling me Susie and the rest of the family followed. At school I was Mary Sue. When I met DH he like Mary better than Sue so I became Mary. I started teaching and many of the kids, even high schoolers, would stumble over my last Polish last name so I shortened it to Mrs. Ski. Then 3 children came along and I became Mom. Two are married so I am MIL. Now there are 3 grandsons and I'm Grandma. If there had been more room, my great niece and nephew in Denver used to call me Aunt Doozie before they could say Aunt Susie. So... do you have many names? or do you have many sides to your personality? Scrapbook it and enter the challenge!

Paper Wishes Message Board has a Swap called PW Friends.
The first swap was "What do you like to do other than papercrafting?" Well, I'm addicted to Sudoku. I have a book in my purse, one by my chair, one in the bathroom and another in the bedroom. There is also one on my desk at school. It is a great way to learn a little bit about the people you "talk" to on the message board.

Friday Cards

First is my second guest DT card for Prairie Fairy. The challenge is to use tissue paper on the card. The yellow flower in the lower left is made of tissue paper. The background paper is from Paper Studio "Chicka" pad. I liked the varying stripes of the different patterns in the pad. Lots of bright springy colors. There are actually two Prairie Fairy images. I simply printed them close together and sized them approximately the same. Colored them with Copics. Added a Doodlebug Boutique Brad (orange flower upper right) and some gold Dazzles to complete the card. Inside it reads: Happy Easter, Happy Spring!

"Just Because" is my card for this week's Paper Cutz Challenge. The theme is: "Anything Goes" which is a great excuse to make a card that you have wanted to make, but just wasn't fitting any of the current challenges. The digi here is from Fred She Said. I printed two, colored two and used the leaves and flowers of one to layer over the other. I used 1/8 inch dots to lift the image. Then I coated the flowers and some of the leaves with Paper Glaze to give them a porcelein look.

Sew Many Cards Challenge theme this week is to make an Easter card. I just love the digi of Cammi in the jelly bean jar. I used Paper Glaze on the jelly beans outside the jar as well as the mouth of the jar. A few Dazzles and bright Easter paper and the card is alive.

Stamps Alive -- Terri Olsen -- owner is the sponsor for the Sew Many Cards Challenge this week.
SPONSOR PRIZE PACKAGE -- CUTTLEBUG COMBO EMBOSSING FOLDER -- DAMASK

I started my business in 1993 to give me something to do. I had worked
all my life and recently quit to be a stay at home mom to my new baby.
I've always been interested in paper products and I didn't like paying
full price for some of the things I wanted. So I started my business. I
like to pass my savings on to others. I've made some really good
friends over the years. I've always been a small business I only
advertise word of mouth. Over the years I've kept as busy as I wanted
to be.

It has been very interesting to see the hobby industry change over the years. I had a "scrapbook" store in my basement before Las Vegas knew what a scrapbook store was. I've dealt with Provo Craft the entire 17 years I've been in business and that has been fun, to watch them change!!

And last but not least, the Friday Freebie from Sew Many Cards. This cute "Mom" pocket can be dressed up or down to fit the style of "Mom". I used Vintage SaraPapers from Paper Wishes. The paper had a natural border printed on it. I added some Dazzles for sparkle and the card is simply complete. Can be used as a Birthday card, Mother's Day card, or a "Just Because" card. I wish my Mom was still here. Nonny would have enjoyed these cards.

Monday Update!

Sir Chester's envelope of goodies goes out to CHERI from MO. Send your address to Sir Chester at purrfectsentiments@hotmail.com and we'll get your goodies in the mail to you.


This is my submission to Cards for Men. The challenge this time is to use paper piecing. The pattern is from Paper Wishes: HOTP's CD 606 Paper Piecing Patterns. It is a great collection of patterns at a reasonable price. The papers for the piecing and the background are all HOTP Paper Pizazz. The blue borders say "Party Party Party" and "Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate".

ABC Christmas (sorry my card isn't ready yet) is "M" is for.....

• Moonlight on Snow
• Mistletoe
• March of the Toy Soldiers
• Manger Scene
  

As always you aren't limited to the suggestions above. Go ahead with your own ideas for "M". Check out the cards in the highlight album at Paper Wishes. Click on "All Albums" and scroll through for individual ABC Christmas albums and the Highlight album.

KLM Sponsor for Sew Many Cards

KLM is one of the sponsors for Sew Many Cards this month.

SPONSOR PRIZE PACKAGE -- 3 digital images of your choice from the KLM Designs store.

KLM Digi Stamps (KLM Designs) was started by a Mother & Daughter team. Kathryn (owner of KLM Digi Stamps) and Sue (Company’s artist) started designing digital stamps for their own creations. After much response & excitement to their designs they formed KLM Digi Stamps.

KLM carry’s a large selection of designs from clowns, which are the company’s signature design to digital sentiments. All images are delivered ZIP format. Each image file contains JPEG and PNG format files. Images can be resized, reversed and altered to your likings.

Having moved to Kansas in 1992 the sunflower is a reminder of the years of the kids growing up, scouts, piano lessons, art lessons, hockey & soccer games, etc etc. This sunflower is a KLM digi. I printed and colored two copies. After cutting out the leaves and flower of the one I used 1/8 inch Dots to give elevation. A couple of butterfly Dazzles completed the focus on the sunflower. The butterfly punch provides additional 3D effect. Halen (a Sew Many Cards digi) rounds out the front of the card. "Life, Love & Laughter, Happy Birthday" completes the sentiment on the inside of the card. This one is going to my first born niece & godchild, Heather. She will be thirty something on March 10th.

Spring Has Sprung???

If you are looking for the Blog Hop, just scroll down 3 posts.

This was such a fun card to make. Squigglefly Challenge was to have a fun border, a punched border. I've only had the butterfly punch a short time & I love it! Because it is a wide punch, the "border" is almost 1/2 the width of the card. To have positioned the card "landscape" would have only had 2 butterflies.

The bottom layer of paper is from Paper Pizazz, a multicolored flower paper with a 60s feel. The yellow paper did not have a mfr on it. I know I purchased it by the sheet. It is a heavy weight paper good for punching. I added green crystals (Mark Richard) to the body of each butterfly. The digi of the bird on the mailbox is from Squigglefly. I added some Dazzle butterflies to it. "Hello" Dazzle is below. The orange ribbon is from Michael's. One of those rolls in the $1 bin with no mfr or just says "sold at Michaels" or "made in China". This card could be used for a birthday, get well soon, I Love You or even Happy Easter. Springy & Cheerful.

You just have about 22 hours left to leave comments and become a follower to be eligible for Sir Chester's envelope of goodies. Or just leave a comment in the next few hours for the Blog Hop prizes.

Cute Card Thursday

If you are looking for the Sew Many Layouts Blog Hop, scroll down 2 posts. It's worth the side trip (I hope).

Cute Card Thursday is asking for a green card. I've made several St. Patrick's Day cards recently, but I have a personal policy to not submit a card to more than one challenge.

This little cutie is from Bugaboo.
Her bow matches the Easter Egg she just found, but she seems a bit bewildered. Butterfly Dazzles and the butterfly punch enhance the spring theme. The flowers, Creative Expressions, help draw on the green and pink from the image. The background paper is Paper Pizazz.

Morley & Me

If you are looking for the Sew Many Layouts Blog Hop - It is one posting down.

Now......Morley & me. When the Prairie Fairy (Roberta) emailed me about being a guest designer, I was thrilled. My first "assignment" was to make a St. Patrick's Day card. Morley Dancing (a Jig) seemed perfect. Then I remembered seeing a beer mug somewhere in my stash. It magically appeared. The Blackletter cricut cartridge served as my font and some chipboard, brads and ribbon brought it all together. The background paper is actually light green - not tan but the other colors came out good. This is a fun card. I just have to decide who is to be honored with it later this month.

If you haven't gone on the Sew Many Layouts Blog Hop, then please scroll down for all the information. Don't forget to leave a comment and become a follower if you aren't already. This will give you the chance to win Sir Chester's envelope (big envelope) of goodies. Read all about it in the next posting down.

Sew Many Layouts Blog Hop: Learn a New Technique!

The Sew Many Layouts Blog Hop starts at Sew Many Layouts. If you arrived from Heather you are on the right path. If you just stumbled in here, please go to the beginning of the hop. We wouldn't want you to miss any of the fun.



This Hop is a little different. Each design team member chose a different technique that you could use on your layouts. You get a mini lesson on each. Feel free to contact us if you have questions and then to post your creations at the Sew Many Layouts Blog to share. Leave a comment at each stop on the Hop and you will be eligible to win some prizes.
Purrfect Sentiments CEO: Sir Chester is offering a prize of his own. If you are a follower or sign up during the Hop to be a follower at Purrfect Sentiments then you will be eligible to win an envelope of goodies. One can never have too much stash. See the picture above. I also suspect that Sir Chester is adding more to the envelope each day while I'm at work.


I have incorporated two techniques to highlight in this layout of Sir Chester Katt. While I am normally creating on the fly, for this layout I took the time to gather my materials: Paper, photos, cardstock, Paper Glaze, slide mounts, Copic markers, etc. Not a complete list, but a good beginning.

Slide Mounts make a great border. You can use them edge to edge or spread them out along a strip of cardstock. The slide mount can highlight a charm, a decorative brad or a series of appropriate digis. I chose three digis of Tayla from Sew Many Cards. After coloring her with Copic markers I selected a coordinating color and used it on the white side of the slide mount. Using the Xyron sticker maker I stickied the slide mounts and placed them over the colored digis. Do not expect to see the entire digi. Most would have to be too small to fit. Use creative judgment in attaching the slide mount. Trim off excess cardstock. I also made a small embellishment using two slide mounts, one square and one with a small circular opening. I colored them with the Copic markers in coordinating colors and then offset the positioning. In the middle of the small circle (this slide mount is on top) I attached a two layer flower with a brad. You could substitute a fancy brad by itself or a charm or even a mini photo.





After adherring the slide mounts to a strip of wide border cardstock it was time to add a second technique. Some digis need a little something extra to set them off. Paper Glaze can add depth and shine to accent portions of the digis. I applied a thick layer of Paper Glaze (by Aleena: $5 @ Michael's) to the watermelon rind and seeds, to the sling for Tayla's arm, the eyes and to some of the fur. Just squeeze it out slowly and "bead" it around the area to be highlighted. The bottle says you can apply with a brush, but I would be afraid too much would absorb into the brush and be wasted.





I matted the photos and scattered them around the page. This was such a pretty patterned paper (with no company name on it) that I wanted to let it show and add to the total effect. By "scattering" the photos I could keep from covering up some prettier parts of the paper. Since I was taking pictures along the process, I discovered a great use for the camera. I laid out the elements of the page and made adjustments. Then I needed to disassemble the page to add adhesive. This time I had the photo to help me put the elements back where I wanted them. In the the future I may take the pic, apply adhesive, complete page and then delete the pic.

I hope I have inspired you to try something new. If you have any questions please email me at the address at the top of the blog: purrfectsentiments@hotmail.com.


Don't forget to leave a comment and sign on as a follower of Purrfect Sentiments to get your name in for Sir Chester's envelope of stash. Name will be chosen at random.
Also your comment will add your name in for a Blog Hop prize. If you try out any of these new techniques from any of the stops on the Blog Hop, share them!

Your next stop is at Nancy's. Happy Hopping

Sir Chester has Stash

March is National Crafting Month and Sir Chester has decided to share some of his stash with one of you. Although he has this photo to show you, he has been adding to the padded envelope while I'm at work each day. Here is how to win this special delivery from Sir Chester:

• Be a follower of Purrfect Sentiments (sign up along the right hand column)
  

• Leave a comment on this post or this weekend's post about the Sew Many Cards Layout Blog Hop
• If you leave a comment at both then you have two entries.
  
• Ends Monday, March 8th @ noon central time. Winner will be announced Monday evening.
  
• The winner will be determined by random.org

Have you ever seen such cute leprechauns?? This St. Patrick's Day card for the Paper Cutz Challenge was made using a brand new digi from Soft Pencil (I just love Michu and Sir Chester loves the real Michu) colored with Copic Markers. This digi is really brand new. Just hit their store Thursday. The paper is from Paper Pizazz (HOTP). The green paper flowers are My Moments purchased from Paper Wishes along with the Dazzle gold borders, the Mark Richard amber crystals, and (I believe) the shamrock brad. The Magic Mesh is a light green and was purchased on ebay. The sentiment is a piece of ribbon from a St. Patrick's Day ribbon pack.

KLM is one of the sponsors of Sew Many Cards Challenge this month. The skate boarder is one of their digis. With three small grandsons, I'm a sucker for cute little boys. Miki, a Sew Many Cards digi is hanging from the tree with a present. Both digis were colored with Copic markers. The fabric lettering was purchased at Paper Wishes as were the crystals, the paper and probably the light green circular brad. Intended as a birthday card, this could also be used for a special achievement (good grades, made the team) or special day (first game day, kindergarten graduation).



The Friday Freebie from Sew Many cards is this darling little heart pillow. It is just "sew' " "purrfect" for that crafty friend who is into any of various forms of stitching: quilting, cross stitch, paper piercing, etc. To stitch the flourish I used a template from Bazzil's 'N Stitchz series. I love the effect, just don't always think about using it.