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Colorful

Happy Tuesday!  I've been feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and today, so I'm just going to post a little card from my stash.  This one uses last week's SCS color challenge - {CC285} pacific point, rich razzleberry and old olive, with a dessert option of adding doilies.  I had recently downloaded these Doily Shapes from the Cutting Files, and wanted to give it a go, so I sat down to try to tame these wild colors.


I started by cutting the doilies out on textured pacific point with my Cricut and SCAL software.  Next I added a white Marvy Mega scallop circle punch in between the two layer of doilies and used the Happy Hello set for the circle frame and sentiment in the center.  I made the background paper myself using the flowers and leaves from the new Great Friend set and some pacific point, rich razzleberry and old olive inks.  To dress things up, I added a scallop border, some hotfix rhinestones and a bit of rich razzleberry polka dot grosgrain.

And there you have it - a bit bolder than I normally go, but it's always fun to change things up a bit and get a fresh perspective on stamping!  :)  Hope you have a fabulous day - it's back to the couch for me.

Vintage Mojo

Happy Monday!  It's the beginning of another week and time for another Mojo Monday sketch.  Since it's the last sketch of August, it's a round or square week!  I hope you'll play along, it's always fun to see everyone's non-traditional cards!

This week's sketch was inspired by this little butterfly card I made a while back.  I liked the layout, but yesterday when I went to make a new card with the sketch I felt like stepping outside the lines a bit.  Shocking, I know!  LOL  I never like to make the same card twice, so I started by flipping the sketch, trading the circle for a flower and using the greenery as the photo corner element.  I think it turned out kinda neat!

I had some Lost & Found My Mind's Eye paper scraps on my desk from an earlier card and pulled out some Life is Good Echo Park paper scraps to add to it.  The flower, sentiment and greenery are from the new Great Friend Set.  The flower is stamped onto the newsprint lost & found paper, then cut out and layered.  Next I stamped the leafy sprig on ivory in Wild Wasabi, then cut out and layered behind the flower on top of the notebook paper from the Blue Skies set.  The sentiment is also stamped in Wild Wasabi and I added a cute little Tim Holtz mini paper clip for accent.

Most of the layers are sponged with Pumice Stone distress ink and I curled a couple corners, distressed the edges and added a little vintage lace trim.  My final little accents were some Black Stardust Stickles and some new little 4mm peridot rhinestones to accent the flowers on the paper and a gorgeous green with gold rimstone for the flower center, both from Pizzazz Aplenty.

This card also qualifies for the Something Old, Something New Project Parade Challenge to use a new set with an older set.  Be sure to head on over to the Verve Blog today for the next installment in our parade, then play along with us for a chance to win some Verve!

Okay, that's it from me this fine Monday morning!  Hope you have a fabulous start to your week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Summertime Tea

Hi y'all!  Happy Saturday!  I hadn't planned on posting today but last night I got a little stamping time in before Mark got home from work and I love how my card turned out.  It's VSN over at Splitcoaststampers, which means there's lots of fun challenges going on this weekend.



The AUG10VSNA challenge was to make a clean & simple (CAS) card inspired by food that reminds you of summer.  I just love sitting out on the patio in the cool morning sun drinking tea, so I pulled out A Cup of Life and got inky!  The teapot is a little retro, so I knew I wanted a vintage look to my card.  I stamped the teapot and cup in black, embossed in clear and then colored and shaded with Copic markers.  The steam is stamped in pumice stone and embossed in clear, then I added the two sentiments in cherry cobbler and black and sponged around the edges of my Labels 12 die with Pumice Stone distress ink.  I added a black mat with some little white gel pen dotted accents, then cut into some of my new favorite paper from the gorgeous Lost & Found line by My Mind's Eye.  For a little flair, I ruffled a bit of ribbon I thought matched the teapot and tied it together on one end with some linen thread and a button.  I finished off with a curled corner up top and three little red rhinestones to highlight the sentiment. And I was done in just over 35 minutes, which means it's totally CAS for me!  LOL 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a fabulous day!

A Sketchy Cupcake

Happy Friday!  Woohoo, it's practically the weekend and after a loooooong couple of weeks, I'm looking forward to some quality relaxation!  I just started a new book that's got me hooked, so I foresee some Kindle time in my future!  Hooray!  I multi-task and listen to audio books quite a bit when I'm packing orders and stamping, but there's something magical about actually sitting down to simply read and get engrossed in a good story!  One of life's simple pleasures!

Anyhow, I guess I should get on with the card for the day.  I used this week's SCS sketch {SC295} and pulled out the new Fabulous You and Carpe Cupcake sets to make this sweet card.



The frame from Fabulous You is embossed in Chocolate Chip craft ink on prism paper, then I trimmed it out and mounted on a Chocolate Chip Scallop rectangle.  I honestly think this is the first time chocolate chip has seen the light of day since Early Espresso came to live at my house.  I never thought I'd like a brown better than chocolate chip, but the times they are a changin'!  LOL  Next I embossed the sentiment from Carpe Cupcake in the center of the frame, then started in on the cupcake.

I stamped the cupcake a few times and pieced together with chocolate, aqua and kraft pieces.  The sprinkles are embossed on the frosting, then accented with Cinnamon Stickles and I sketched in a little loopy border on one of the stripes with a chocolate chip marker.  Here's a little close-up of just the cupcake so you can check out that loopy detail - super simple, but I think it adds the perfect touch of whimsy. C'mon and get a little closer, don't be shy! :)


The main kraft layer of the card is embossed with a QuicKutz embossing folder and I added a little ruffle striped ribbon and some liquid pearls to finish things off!  Okay, that's all for this week!  Thanks so much for stopping by my little corner of blogland!  I hope you have a weekend filled with your favorite things!  And be sure to head on over to the Verve Blog today to see the next installment of our Something Old, Something New Project Parade!

Kind Words and New Toys

Happy Thursday!  Today would have been Mother Teresa's 100th birthday, so when I took some time to stamp last night I knew I wanted to use the Mother Teresa quote from the new Kind Words set.  That woman imparted so many beautiful pearls of wisdom during her lifetime and this is one of my all time favorite quotes.  Other than the stamp, I had no plan other than to have fun and use as many new toys as I could from a recent shopping spree!  :)

First out of the package was the new Sizzix 3D Flowers die.  I used some Seeing Red felt from TCP for the flower, rolled it up and then added a few prima leaves I found in the clearance bin.  The leaves were originally white, but I colored them with Copics to get a more realistic effect.  I think I'll be going back to pick up more of these little leaves! Love 'em! 


Next up was a new embossing folder set from BasicGrey I found at Jo-Ann's.  They have a collection of folders and dies for Christmas and I think this one is from the Sugar & Starry Night set.  I loved the look of it, so I just had to rip off the packaging and use it!  And once I started I couldn't stop!  I embossed two layers of Labels 11 dies, a silver specialty paper layer and the ivory card base!  To add a little interest I swiped some silver pigment ink on the black layers and some black on the silver layers.  Love the elegant feel this gives!

When I was browsing Viva la Verve entries yesterday, I saw this card by Maureen and just loved the way she stitched another panel onto her Labels 11 die, so I just had to try it!  And then the tutorial on SCS yesterday was ruffled ribbon, and if you can believe it, I had never even thought to stitch my ribbon to ruffle it!  I've been painstakingly gluing each little fold down!  So that was definitely a must try, especially since my sewing machine was already out!  :)  And to finish things off I added some 4mm ivory pearls I ordered recently from Pizzazz Aplenty.  Definitely a fun trip to the studio this go round!

Hope you have a fabulous day and that echoes of kind words ring in your ears all day long.  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thoughts

Welcome to Wednesday!  Today is the start of a new Project Parade over on the Verve Blog!  Be sure to check out the Diva-licious eye candy over the next few weeks and play along for a chance to win prizes!



Today's card was a quick little thing I pulled together with leftovers from my Mojo Monday sample card that I posted earlier this week.  I had originally intended to use four flowers on the Mojo card, but when I got them all done, it was a little busy and covered up all the DP, so I set 3 of them aside for later.  The flowers are all from the Dream Big set, stamped in Baja Breeze and Daffodil Delight, cut out, layered and accented with liquid pearls, some cute little flower center punches and a brown pearl.  I just love the papers in the Greenhouse Gala DP, so I had to use up more of the scraps on my desk!   I added a little punched scallop border accented with liquid pearls, a strip of 1/8" daffodil delight taffeta and finished off with the modern label punched sentiment and a hand cut mat in early espresso.

The "happy thoughts" sentiment is the current customer appreciation stamp we've been including with orders since release night.  We've got under 100 left, so if you want this design, you'll need to order soon.  When they're gone, they're gone, and we move on to something else.  I recently re-designed the packaging for these "freebie" stamps, and love how they turned out.  They make me smile each time I tuck one in an order!  :)

Okay, that's all for today!  Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you're having a fabulous week and that all your thoughts are happy ones!

Best Day EVER

Happy Tuesday!  Last night I took a little "me" time to unwind after a full day of packing orders.  A week or so ago I downloaded this cute little A Sweet Day digi kit from Sugarplum Paperie & Ellie Lash, but  hadn't had time to play with it yet, so I printed out a few of the papers and headed up to my studio.  These papers were just begging for a little shabby chic treatment!


This card uses Framed Wishes, which is a FREE gift with a $35 purchase through 8/31 at Verve!  I love the fun little frame in this set and I find myself writing this sentiment a lot inside birthday cards, so I thought it needed to be a stamp.  Anyhow, I embossed the frame in white directly onto the A Sweet Day printed paper, then roughed up the edges and matted on some of the pink striped paper.  Next I made a little accordion thingy with a strip of 1.25" x 11" paper scored at 1/4" intervals.  I added a little beaded pin with some pink pearls and bunched up some shabby wrinkled ribbon to pin behind the sentiment, "Wishing you the BEST DAY ever".  The sentiment is cut with a Labels 4 die, sponged with some vintage photo ink and popped up over the accordion/beaded pin thingy.  I know, I'm SOOOOOO technical today!  LOL

To finish off the card, I embossed some white cardstock with the Victorian Wallpaper textured impressions folder (I can't stop using this one... love, love, LOVE!), then ruffled up some more of that seam binding ribbon, distressed the edges and matted on a blushing bride card base.  Here's a little close-up of the center of the card.  Give it a little clicksy to embiggen it!  :)

And there you have it.. a little shabby loveliness for this Tuesday morning!  Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have the best day ever!

Being Awesome

Welcome to the start of a new week!  I always love new beginnings, they remind me of that Anne of Green Gables quote, "Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it."  LOVE that! 

It's the beginning of a new year for Verve, and I must say I'm so excited about the stamps we just released on Friday night!  I've been feeling beyond exhausted this year and was beginning to doubt myself and my creativity and then like a breath of fresh air, I sat down to illustrate for this release and the idea floodgates just opened wide!  Anyhow, I spent the whole weekend packing these babies up to head out to their new homes and couldn't wait for the first chance I could steal away to stamp with them!  So my sample for today's Mojo Monday sketch (designed by the uber talented Mary Fish - I SO admire her clean, beautifully modern style!) uses two new sets... Dream Big and Happy Hello.

I started by stamping the rounded square frame from Happy Hello onto some Greenhouse Gala DSP, then punching out with a square punch, rounding with a 1/4" corner rounder and matting with early espresso.  For the background, I ran a piece of white cardstock through with the Victorian Wallpaper textured impressions folder, then matted on early espresso.  The sentiment is also from Happy Hello, punched out with an oval punch and matted with the scallop oval punch.  The flower is the smallest flower stamp from the Dream Big set.  I stamped it twice in daffodil delight, then cut out the inner flower on one and layered it over the other one with dimensionals.  I used a circle punch of DP and one of the punches from the Punch Pack for the flower center, then totally copied Sankari's idea from this gorgeous card to accent each of the petals with some liquid pearls.  I just love the look of it!  The leaves are also from the Dream Big set.  I stamped them in pear pizazz, trimmed out and finished with some highlights with a pear pizazz marker to add a little depth.

Okay, that's all for me today!  I've got to get back to my shipping desk!  :)  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to head on over to the Mojo blog to see what the other gals cooked up with this week's sketch!

Endless Echoes

Wow!  Our release party last night was so much fun and I'm still kind of on cloud nine, partly from a fabulous release and also because of  this news that Susan's husband Eric is cancer-free and in remission!  Now that's something to celebrate, I tell ya!

I'm going to be busy packing orders for many days to come, so I thought I'd change up the scenery before I forget.  This is one of my favorite cards I've made in a long time and it uses a new set called Kind Words.  The title of the set comes from this Mother Teresa quote..

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."

Isn't that just a beautiful quote? It's so true that kind words ring in your ears long after they are spoken, often coming to mind just when you need them the most.

So I just had to use this quote as soon as this set arrived.  This card was actually my inspiration for one of the Anni-VERVE-sary sketch challenges - I just loved how the layout came together and had to turn it into a sketch.  I picked up some Jillibean Soup paper at the craft store a while back and just fell in love, so that's basically all the paper on the card, plus a little kraft.  I wanted a shabby feel to my card, so I added a little stitching and distressing.  The sentiment is stamped directly onto the ledger paper and the flower silhouette is inked up with bashful blue ink, then I just took an old olive marker to the stem and spritzed the stamp with water before stamping for a watercolor effect.  Then I used my air art tool with a Crumb Cake marker to add a little "dirt".  I finished off with some bitty buttons, backed with coordinating paper and tied with linen thread, plus a bit of vintage lace.

Okey dokey, I better get back to work.  Thanks for stopping by.  Hope your day is filled with kind words!

Our Refuge

Hey everybody!  It's finally Friday, and that means we'll be partying over in the Verve forum tonight at 8PM Eastern!  I'm so excited to reveal the new sets and chat with all my Verve-alicious friends!  Stop by for a little while, or stay for the whole shebang... whatever fits your schedule.  With 10 reveals (8 new sets, a free set and a plain jane) things are sure to be hopping!

If you're hoping to win a little Verve, deadline for comments on our New Release Spotlights as well as entries for the Anni-VERVE-sary sketch challenges are due by 6PM ET tonight (8/20).  Okay, enough with the announcements, let's get to some eye candy...

My card for today features the plain jane from this release, Psalm 46:1, the frame and an accent from Fabulous You and the small open flower from Great Friend  Just a regular hodgepodge of sets - you know me and my mixing and matching!  :)  I started by stamping the frame in black on kraft cardstock, then matting with black cardstock and using a 1/4" corner rounder.  The Psalm 46:1 verse, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." is embossed in white inside the stamped frame, then I stamped the Great Friend  flower in black on white cardstock and lightly shaded with Copic markers to match the little prima flower center.  The pinstripe paper is from the Neutrals Patterns by SU! and I stamped the coordinating accent from Fabulous You on either side to draw the eye into the verse.

I pulled out a little blush blossom and embossed it with a new Sizzix embossing folder, then added a new EK Success border punch to the top and some lace to the bottom, finishing off with some pearl accents.  Okay, I've still got miles to go before I sleep, so I'm signing off.  Hope to see you at the release tonight!  :)

Just Because

Happy Thursday! Today's the final day of the Verve New Release Spotlights and we've saved one of my favorites from the new sets for last... Great Friend.  Be sure to check out the full hop list at the bottom of this post and leave a little love for the Divas as you hop around the blogosphere for a chance to win this set! 
 

For my sample card, I used the flowers in Great Friend both as a focal point and to create a stamped background.  This set has three sizes of bold and solid flower images, perfect for layering, which I did with the bold images for my focal point.  Each is trimmed out, layered on dimensionals and I added a few leafy sprigs (also from this set) behind it.  For the background, I stamped several of the small and medium outline flowers in basic gray ink, then filled in the smaller flowers with the solid flower inked in Peach Parfait.    This card was my inspiration for Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch AVS2010E.  {You still have until Friday at 6PM Eastern to get your sketch cards in for a chance to win some new Verve!  Click that sketch link above for all the details!} 

Okay, on with the card... I layered some SU! poly twill ribbon in pear pizazz and peach parfait each direction, then made a sentiment strip by embossing the Just Because sentiment from Great Friend onto vellum cardstock, then sponging with Peach Parfait and layering onto vanilla cardstock.  My final touch was a Basic Gray mat, some rounded corners and a few Stardust Stickles highlights on the flower center.

That's all from me today.  Time to check out the final peeks on the Diva blogs...

1. Laurie8. Teresa
2. Amy9. Jen T.
3. Michelle10. Tosh
4. Mercy11. Julee
5. Susan12. Jackie
6. Maureen13. Lynda
7. Sankari

Be sure to leave some comments along the way for a chance to win!

A Happy Hello

Happy Wednesday! Wow, it feels like the week is just flying by! Today is the 5th day of the Verve new release spotlights, and today the Divas are shining their spotlights on two new sets... Kind Words and Happy Hello.  Be sure to check out the full hop list at the bottom of this post and leave a little love as you hop around the blogosphere for a chance to win today's sets! 
 

For my sample card, I chose to work with Happy Hello.  This Fall To Layout {FT102} from a couple weeks ago really caught my eye, so it was the main inspiration for my card.  I started by stamping the circle frame from Happy Hello three times in Cherry Cobbler on some Neutral Patterns paper (just love this text print paper), then punched out with a 1.25" circle punch and matted with a 1.375" circle punch in cherry cobbler.  The little primas were from a recent shopping excursion to Michael's. For my sentiment, I stamped the Hello stamp in black directly on the patterned paper, then stamped the A Happy stamp on cherry cobbler with whisper white craft ink, then cut out and pasted next to it.  There's a stamp in the set that is just a trio of little circles.  I stamped it on either side of the completed sentiment to give me perfect placement for my hot fix silver glam rocks that I applied.  A little Divine Twine, a notebook edge border punch and some distressed edges and my card was finished!

That's all from me today.  Time to check out more peeks on the Diva blogs...

1. Sankari 7. Julee
2. Lynda 8. Teresa
3. Charmaine 9. Michelle
4. Jen d. 10. Amy
5. Maureen 11. Jackie
6. Sony 12. Mercy

Be sure to leave some comments along the way for a chance to win!

Embrace Life

Happy Tuesday!  Can you believe it's already the 4th day of the Verve new release spotlights?  That means we're only a few days away from release!  Today the Divas are shining their spotlights on a new flower set called Dream Big.  Be sure to check out the full hop list at the bottom of this post and leave a little love as you hop around the blogosphere for a chance to win today's set! 
 


So last night at about 10:30pm I sat down to write up this morning's posts and realized we were scheduled to peek a different set than I remembered.  Uh-oh!  And since I hadn't stamped with Dream Big yet, it was up to the stamp room, do not pass go, do not collect $200.  LOL  Luckily for me, the stamps in this set make creating super easy.  I love the large size of this flower (about 2.25" wide) with three sizes perfect for layering or going solo.  I can't wait to have a little time to play around with stamping my own background paper with these bold blooms.

For this project, I started by stamping the three blooms in Blushing Bride, then trimming out with a thin white border.  I layered these together with dimensional tape and embellished with a SU! filigree brad and a metal flower from Making Memories.  I then set the flower aside and stamped some leaves directly onto Crumb Cake paper in Old Olive, then embossed the embrace life sentiment in white at the bottom.  The paper is from the 6 x 6 SU! hostess pack of in color papers and I added a little bow with some Blushing Bride striped twill.  To finish off, I wanted a little dangling somethin' somethin' from my ribbon, so I chose the mini vintage tags from SU!  The paper on the tags is actually a sparkly vanilla, which clashed with my project, so I used a 3/4" circle punch, glued it to the tag and punched a hole with my crop-a-dile.  The sweet little heart is also a stamp from Dream Big and is stamped in Blushing Bride to match.  My final touch was a few little pink pearls along the sides to add some pizzazz to the DP.

That's all from me today.  Time to check out more peeks on the Diva blogs...

1. Sankari 8. Laurie
2. Shannan 9. Teresa
3. Lynda 10. Amber
4. Mercy 11. Maureen
5. Charmaine 12. Julee
6. Jen T. 13. Michelle
7. Sony

Be sure to leave some comments along the way for a chance to win!

Cupcake Bash

Good morning!  It's Mojo Monday and the third day of the Verve new release spotlights!  Today the Divas are shining their spotlights on two fun new sets with a birthday theme...  Carpe Cupcake and Birthday Bash.  Be sure to check out the full hop list at the bottom of this post and leave a little love as you hop around the blogosphere for a chance to win today's sets!  And while I've been busy prepping for this Friday's release, Maria Gurnsey stepped in for me with today's Mojo Monday sketch.  I had a blast with it, and I hope you'll play along!

For my project today, I combined stamps from Carpe Cupcake and Birthday Bash.  The cupcake sprinkles and candle with star are all separate stamps in the Carpe Cupcake set, so I built my cupcake, then colored with Copic markers, using a white gel pen to highlight the little sprinkles and to add some diagonal stripes to my candle, then cut it all out and added a little swarovski crystal to the center of the star.

Y'all know by now about my recent fascination with Wild Wasabi, so it's not surprising that it's making another appearance today!  I cut the vanilla Classic Oval, then stenciled in the center portion with some Antique Linen distress ink and stamped the balloons so they'd extend past the oval shape.  Next I stamped the balloons from Birthday Bash again on a scrap of Cream cardstock, colored with Copics and pieced over the balloons on the oval panel.  This panel is matted on a Labels 10 die cut, which I accented with a few more swarovski crystals. (I say, there's no such thing as too much bling!  LOL)  I did a similar treatment with classic ovals and labels 10 for the "Happy birthday to you" sentiment, which is also from Birthday Bash.  The background papers are from the SU! Newsprint DSP.

That's all from me today.  Time to check out more peeks on the Diva blogs...

1. Julee6. Teresa
2. Michelle7. Maureen
3. Jen d.8. Jen T.
4. Sony9. Amber
5. Jackie10. Tosh

Be sure to leave some comments along the way for a chance to win!

Framed and Fabulous

Happy Sunday!  It's the second day of the Verve new release spotlights, and today the Divas are shining their spotlights on two up and coming releases...  Framed Wishes and Fabulous You.    Be sure to check out the full hop list at the bottom of this post and leave a little love as you hop around the blogosphere for a chance to win today's sets!  When I was illustrating the new sets, I was in the mood to make some quick and elegant ATC cards and tags with Plain Janes, so I designed a couple frames that are 2.25 x 3.25" (which fit a majority of our Plain Jane line of stamps), then added some encouraging sentiments for quick little tuck-in notes and cards.

For my project today, I started by embossing the frame from Framed Wishes in white on Kraft Cardstock.  I trimmed it out and lightly sponged the edges with Vintage Photo.  Next I cut a deckled rectangle from Ocean Mist and stamped one of the flourish elements in the Fabulous You set around the edges in Cool Caribbean, then skewed it behind with a little peach parfait twill in between.  The sentiment is also from the Fabulous You set and is stamped in peach parfait along with the same flourish element, which I cut out and layered so it could extend past the edge of the circle.  I added some pinking circles to spice things up, accenting the tip of each point on the peach layer with a white gel pen.

And then there's that flower!  I've recently fallen in love with making my own flowers, using the easy technique in this handy dandy flower tutorial.  So, the other night while I was working away on a tax report, a light bulb went on, and I wondered what would happen if I tried this technique with the gazillions of old primas I never use anymore because they don't look very realistic.  Definitely worth a try, so I just layered them all together, then sprayed with water and crinkled the petals all up into a ball.  Then it was just a matter of letting it dry and pulling them apart!  I LOVE how it turned out!  And I'm so excited to put some of those bottles of primas to good use again!  Hooray!

That's all from me today.  Time to check out the other stops along today's hop...

1. Shannan 5. Jackie
2. Amy 6. Teresa
3. Amber 7. Maureen
4. Tosh 8. Julee

Be sure to leave some comments along the way for a chance to win!

Love Story

Happy Saturday!  Our Anni-VERVE-sary release is less than a week away and today we're kicking off our week of new release spotlights!  We've changed our format a little bit this month, and we've got 6 little mini hops planned for you between now and the release.  Tune in each day as the Verve team shows you what they've been doing with our 8 new sets!  We've hidden a prize on one of the participating blogs each day (the full link list is at the bottom of this post), so leave a little comment love as you hop around to be entered into a drawing to win that day's featured stamps!  Deadline for comment entries is 6PM Eastern Friday, August 20.  Winners will be announced at our Anni-VERVE-sary Bash Release Party that night.

Our first spotlight is shining on Love Story... my take on the Wedding/Anniversary theme.  This set is jam packed with traditional and heartfelt sentiments (both large and small) and some elegant imagery to match.  For my project, I went a little scrappy, so there's not too much stamping here, but I LOVE the way it turned out!  A friend of ours is getting married soon, and this was exactly the project I needed to house a little gift card.


I started with Kelleigh's Funky Bag #2 Cutting Files and cut the bag out of some Meadow Lark Dusk (My Mind's Eye) paper using my Cricut Expression and SCAL software.  While I was at it, I resized some of Kelleigh's Doodle Labels & Frames and cut them out along with the letters L, V and E for the card.  I stamped the small Wedding Wishes sentiment from Love Story at the bottom of the tag, then layered some heart punches, and some itty bitty buttons, then attached to the bag with a beaded pin through some wrinkled seam binding ribbon.

Once the bag was finished, I moved on to the card.  A few days after I sent Love Story off to the manufacturer, I saw an ad that used a double ring image for the word love, and ever since then I haven't been able to get the idea for this card out of my head!  I embossed the double ring image from Love Story in gold, then punched out  with a circle punch and filled in with Gold Stickles for some super shimmery goodness.   I embossed some white and cherry cobbler cardstock with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, then cut the heart with the Primitive Hearts Sizzix die and used decorative scissors to hand cut a scalloped mat.  I used a scrap from the same paper as the bag, punching the edge with the Iron Gate Martha Stewart punch, then adding a coordinating black mat.  I finished off with a black bow and some more wrinled ribbon to tie complete the ensemble.


Okay, here's the link list of today's spotlight hops.
Be sure to check out everyone's projects with Love Story!

1. Mercy7. Julee (ME!)
2. Jen T.8. Teresa
3. Susan9. Amber
4. Sony10. Maureen
5. Tosh11. Lynda
6. Laurie

And don't forget to leave a little love along the way for a chance to win!

A Good Steward

Hi y'all!  Happy Thursday.  I've been working like mad trying to get all the behind the scenes tasks done for our release.  So this afternoon I thought I deserved a quick little break to recharge my batteries.  So I popped up to my studio to make a little gifty.

From a very young age, I remember my parents telling me I needed to be a good steward of the things given me.  Not only talents and skills, but also the things that fill up our homes.  It's a good thing to use what you have instead of constantly wanting something you don't.  I find myself in a constant battle trying to remember this.  And I've had this guilty little secret hiding in my stamp room since Christmas.  It's called a Cricut Expression and SCAL (Sure Cuts a Lot) software and it's been nagging at me all year long, along with the gluttony of papers and supplies filling up my studio - a big, loud reminder of my failure to be a good steward of the blessings I've been given.  Another thing I just HAD to have that hasn't been used.

So this weekend I watched a few YouTube videos on how it works, then pulled it out, dusted it off and installed the software.  Kelleigh Ratzlaff (template designer extraordinaire) has started designing cutting files to use with digital cutters, so I had to test things out to see if it really was as easy as everybody said.  Well, let's just say I am in LOVEEEEE!  The first template I cut out, I seriously felt like I was cheating!  {You'll be seeing that one this weekend.}  All I had to do was score and decorate!  EEEK!  I'm hooked and you'll see a lot more from me in the near future using this new best buddy of mine!  Mr. Cricut and I?  We're pals now!  :)

Kelleigh has just released a few of her best selling templates as cutting files for only $1.99 over at the digichick.  And now through Friday, they're on sale for only $1.59.  SERIOUSLY???  I spend more than that on a pretty piece of paper that I only get to cut into once.  For today's project I used the Funky Bag #1 Cutting Files and also laid it out on my screen so I could include the freebie Paper Flower Pieces and the freebie Fancy/Funky Bag Scallops all on one 12x12 piece of paper with one pass through the Cricut!  Since my paper was double sided, I flipped the scallop border horizontally so that it would line up when I used the other side of the paper.

And that yummy paper flower?  See those nine little flowers from the free Paper Flower Pieces?  Cut perfectly with my Cricut using some SU! specialty paper that's been collecting dust.  Then I just followed the easy steps in this flower tutorial video.  While the flower was drying, I simply scored and assembled the bag, then made a little tag with a sentiment from Fluttering By and attached it all with some black wrinkled ribbon and a bit of twine.  Super easy and fun!

Oh, and speaking of Fluttering By, if you're planning to participate in our Fluttering By/Petals & Stems Ready, SET, Stamp challenge, the deadline is quickly approaching.  Link up your entries {over here} by Sunday, 8/15 for a chance to win!

Okay, thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Ahoy There!

Happy Tuesday!  Are y'all having a good week so far?  Mine is definitely filled to the brim with stuff to do.  :)  No chance for boredom around here in the next few weeks, that's for sure!  So last night, after working WAY too long, I decided to squeeze in a little me time and do something to make me happy.  And this little whale from TCP's new A Whale of a Time set was just the ticket!  Doesn't he just make you smile?


And since I knew I wanted to participate in the TCP Customer Blog Hop before things got too crazy around Verve, I got right to work!  I started out with Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #86 and added in last week's TCP Tuesday challenge of using CutUps dies.  Here, I used the wave dies to cut some BasicGrey Oliver paper and lightly lined the tips of the waves with glue, then sprinkled with clear German glass glitter (Holiday Glitzy).  Captain Happy (that's what I call him) is paper pieced onto some SU! Naturals DSP Patterns Pack paper, then lightly sponged around the edges with basic gray ink.  For the vertical panel, I pieced a couple large scallop rectangle Nestabilities together to fit my card, using some more of the Oliver BasicGrey paper.  The little sentiment tag is layered in between two of the Cutups button dies, cut on Birch wood paper and colored with Copics to match my card.  I finished with some white twill, a few cross-stitches with some ivory linen thread and a healthy dose of liquid pearls.

That's all my rambling for today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!


What's In It?
Stamps: A Whale of a Time (The Cat's Pajamas)
Paper: Oliver (BasicGrey), Naturals DSP Patterns Paper Pack, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Gray (SU!)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Gray (SU!)
Accessories: Wave and Buttons Cutups dies, Holiday Glitzy, Ivory Linen ThreadSheets of Birch (TCP), Round-it-all (Zutter), Liquid Pearls (Ranger), Big Scalloped Rectangles and Tags Nestabilities (Spellbinders), twill, black star rhinestone

Simple Pleasures

Happy Monday!  It's the start of a new week and time for a new sketch over on the Mojo Monday blog!  For my card I pulled out an older Verve set, Floral Whimsy and  some DeLovely paper by Cosmo Cricket.

The flower sprig was stamped in Early Espresso, then painted with a mixture of diamond glaze, Daffodil Delight Reinker and glitter.  For the sentiment, I masked off part of the larger sentiment to display just the life's simple pleasures, then inked in Not Quite Navy and trimmed the tails to make a little banner.  A few little flower clusters stamped in daffodil and painted with the same glittery mixture add a little balance to the sentiment.

I've been admiring Sankari's cards with an abundance of liquid pearls lately, so I thought I'd try my hand at fitting a bit more than I normally would around the Labels 4 frame.  The ribbon is daffodil delight taffeta, and I curled it with my heat gun to get a wrinkled look.  Oh, and there's that SU! Square Lattice textured impressions folder - absolutely love the texture it brings to the Pear Pizazz layer.

So that's it for today.  I'm up to my eyeballs in stamps and packaging materials preparing for our release on the 20th.  Hopefully I can find some time this week to sneak into the stamp room!  :)  On a Verve note, our Anni-VERVE-sary sale is still going on through Saturday, so don't miss your chance to save!!!

Give Thanks

Today I'm feeling thankful.  Thankful for for the small things in life.  Thankful for the great big things in life.  Thankful for friends.  Thankful for an abundance of Hello Kitty birthday loot.  Thankful for a business I can run from home.  Thankful for the freedom to express my opinions.  Thankful for blueberry milkshakes and for skillet lasagna.  Thankful for Fridays.  Thankful that the sun always comes out after the rain... and that good memories eventually triumph over bad ones.  Just thankful.


So when I sat down to stamp this afternoon, I knew I wanted to use this verse, "Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever. - 1 Chronicles 16:34".  And since I haven't had a chance to stamp all week, I knew I wanted to stamp just for the fun of it.  So I pulled out some new toys - the Vintage Wallpaper textured impression folder, some new papers and the Long Scalloped Oval Nestabilities.  I was originally going to go for just shades of brown, but once I started, I felt in the mood for some blushing bride.  For the butterflies, I embossed them in Early Espresso on vellum cardstock, then cut out, rubbed the backs with Blushing Bride ink, then layered onto my card with Zip Dry glue in the centers so the wings would still pop up a bit.  The butterflies are from the Blue Skies set and the verse is the 1 Chronicles 16:34 plain jane.  Then I just finished off with a ton of little pink liquid pearls.

Okay, I hope you have a fabulous weekend!  And be sure to check out this post on the Verve Blog to see all the winners from our Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop!

Concord Pizazz

If you're looking for my Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop post, {click here}

Welcome to another week! It's the first Monday in August, so that means it's a Mojo Monday contest week! And this week's sketch is straight from dreamland. That's right, I had a dream about making a card with this layout and immediately drew it out when I woke up!  Now that's the kind of dreamin' I need to do a lot more of!  :)



I had so much fun using Fancy Florals and Thoughtful Florals (both 30% off during our 3..2..1..SALE!)  for my blog hop project that I decided to make another card with these two sets.  The colors are new in-colors....  pear pizazz and concord crush.  Sounds like the makings of a great cocktail!  :)  Anyhow, the DSP is from the little hostess pack of designer papers and I did a little embossing with a QuicKutz large polka dot folder that matches the size of the polka dots in the paper pretty well.  The flowers (one from Fancy Florals, and a tiny one from Thoughtful Florals) are stamped on DSP and then cut out and layered.  I used my new iRock hotfix tool (one of the birthday goodies I bought myself) to attach the rhinestones directly to the ribbon and the center of the flower.  I've used hotfix tools before with much frustration, but this one is cordless and super simple, and there's no need to change nozzles for every size of rhinestone.  I'm a FAN - especially since I got mine at Michael's with a coupon!  :)

Okay, enough yapping.  Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope you have a chance to check out the Anni-VERVE-sary blog hop if you haven't already.  You have until Wednesday night to get your comments in to be eligible for prizes, so there's still plenty of time to join in!

What's In It?
Stamps: Thoughtful Florals, Fancy Florals (Verve Stamps)
Paper: In-Color DSP, Pear Pizazz, Concord Crush (SU!)
Ink: Concord Crush, Pear Pizazz (SU!)
Accessories: Dotted Wave punch (EK Success), Round-it-all (Zutter), iRock hotfix tool and crystals (Imaginisce), Circle punches, Concord Crush Stitched Poly Ribbon (SU!), polka dot embossing folder (QuicKutz), White Opal Liquid Pearls (Ranger)

Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop!

Welcome to our Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop! Verve turns 3 years old today and we’re celebrating with a hop! Since I'm in charge, I get to kick things off with the first stop on the hop!  So if you just happened along, jump on in!  We've got some Verve-alicious eye candy as well as plenty of blog candy, too!  So grab a cup of joe (or your beverage of choice) and hop along with us!

PRIZE INFO:  There's a mystery jackpot hidden among all the blog hop posts!  It's a secret which hop is the hiding spot, but one random commenter on that post will win a $75 Verve gift certificate!  So it's in your best interest to comment on as many posts as you can!
The Verve Divas also have a little something to give away on their blogs! Leave them some love on their hop posts and you'll be eligible to win one of the sets they're featuring today. You've got until 11:59pm on Wed. 8/4 to leave your comments, so there's a few days to get through all the hops.  You can refer to the Master Hop List  at any time for the full list of links, and we've even designated which blogs belong to Divas so you can be sure to find their posts!

Oh, and we have a big Anni-VERVE-sary sale starting today and also just announced our two fabulous Guest Divas for August!  Check the Verve Stamps Blog today for the scoop!


Okay, let's get this party started!  When I sat down to make my blog hop project, I couldn't decide on what set to use. Then after a lot of shuffling pretty papers around on my desk, I finally decided to just go back to the beginning.  Thoughtful Florals and Fancy Florals were the first stamps I designed and I still love them to this day.  For the card, I used the August Week 1 Viva la Verve! sketch and chose my own inspiration photo.  I stamped my own paper for the white floral background, then used some digi papers from the Fru Fru paper pack.  The top heavy pillow box is a new template from Kelleigh Ratzlaff that is part of her August Grab Bag. I used the same digi papers to put it together, then made a fun little stamped tag to finish it off.  I had a blast inking up these old favorite sets!   Like what you see?  Just leave a comment on this post for a chance to win both Thoughtful Florals and Fancy Florals!

Thanks for stopping by! Now it's time to hop on over to Becca's blog, for some more celebrating!  Happy hopping!