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Year in Review - Part 2

Hi friends!  I'm back with day 2 of my year in review.  But first, just a little sale reminder..
Today is the FINAL day of  Verve's Good Buy 2012 Sale If you haven't checked out the sale, be sure to grab up some of these great deals before they're gone!



Okay now that I've done my enabling for the day {wink}, on with the 2012 highlights...
Looking back at these cards, I'm amazed at just how creative I was able to be even though I felt so downhearted this year.  It has been the hardest year of my life, both personally and professionally and I'm so ready to close this chapter and start anew. How about you?

August
September
Uses Brighter Days and Borderline
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October
Uses Autumn Splendor
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November
Uses No Matter What (releasing January 11)
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December (you get 2 because I couldn't decide)
Uses Wings of Love
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Uses Merry & Bright
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So that's a wrap here at Poetic Artistry for 2012.  Thanks for coming along on my journey this year!

Have a fabulous New Year's Eve and I'll "see ya" in 2013!  


Year in Review - Part 1

Hi friends!  2012 is quickly nearing its end and I thought I'd take a little time today and tomorrow to look back at my favorite creations from this year.  All in all, I got more stamping done than I thought I would, but not nearly as much as I would have liked!  It's funny how I can remember exactly what was going in my life when each of these cards were made, but I often have trouble retaining basic information from one day to the next.  Something about the artistic process must jive with my memory banks! {grin}  Okay, let's get to it...

January
Uses Wings of Love
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February
Uses Be Okay and Twitterpated
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March
Uses To the Moon, Hope Blooms and Twitterpated
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April
Uses Joyful Blooms and Bloom & Grow
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May
Uses Words of Wisdom
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June
Uses Birthday Bash and Super Dad
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That's all for today.  All of the stamps used on these projects are from Verve and are on sale 10 - 50% off through December 31, 2012 during our Good Buy 2012 Sale!  I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the July through December 2012 highlight reel!  Hope you're having a fabulous day.   

 

Twist of Soho

Click for image source
Hi friends!  It's Friday again and that means it's time for a new Viva la Verve! sketch.  It's still 2012, but we're kicking off our January 2013 series of sketches today!  This year the girls decided to add a twist of inspiration once a month were you can either choose the sketch, the inspiration piece, or both in one card.  Amber's our hostess with the mostess this week and she's kicking off the twists with a super fun mood board to inspire you along with one of her fabulous sketches.

The inspiration piece totally made me think of this paper from the Soho Garden paper pad that came in the December Scarlet Lime Mixed Media kit.  A bit more yellow than orange, but it's what got the wheels in my head a turnin'!  {grin}  As I was flipping through the pad deciding which other pattern to use, one of the prints reminded me of the flower in Wonderfully Made (40% off during our Good Buy 2012 Sale), so I picked that as my set and dove right in. 



I stamped both the sentiment and the flower from Wonderfully Made on the text paper from the same pad, then colored the flowers and the banner lightly with PanPastels and then highlighted with a Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink marker and a waterbrush.  The leaves are stamped on a different print and everything is cut and layered on dimensionals.  I used some pinking circles to mat everything, then added in a scalloped bottom edge and some liquid pearls and a seam binding bow to finish things off.

I feel a little refreshed after my first time stamping in almost two weeks.  Hopefully I'll get a little more time to play before Mark has to go back to work next week.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend, and if you haven't yet, be sure to head on over to Verve for our big year end sale!


Enabler's List
Stamps: Wonderfully Made (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Soho Garden (American Crafts), Early Espresso (SU!), White
Ink: Black Archival (Ranger), PanPastels
Accessories:  Classic Circles & Pinking Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Liquid Pearls (Ranger), seam binding, scallop edge punch (SU!)

Out of Season

Hi friends!  Merry day after Christmas!  Our boys have been very sick with RSV for the past week, so all of our Christmas plans were cancelled and we've just been sticking around home (and the doctor's office).  Fortunately, much of our family lives close by so the boys got several visits yesterday with lots of presents to open for their first Christmas ever.  So even though we weren't feeling 100% and didn't make it to any of the holiday gatherings we had planned, we still had a very merry Christmas surrounded by those we love!

Being sick myself and not sleeping for several nights due to having to monitor the boys' breathing, there hasn't been much time for stamping lately.  So I was looking through my files this morning and found this card I made for the twins' first Easter that I never posted.  Those first few months were such a crazy time for us!  Oh, who am I kidding.... every minute since they were born has been a crazy time!  {grin}  Anyhow, I used the sweet little Hoppy Easter set from Verve, which is 50% off right now during our Good Buy 2012 Sale.


That's right, it's time for Verve's annual Good Buy sale.  Everything is marked down 10-50% off and if you enter the code SHOPHOP in the gift code box at checkout you'll get an EXTRA 10% off!  Woohoo!  A bargain for you... and less inventory for us to count come January 1.  Double woohoo!


Okay, I'll let you get back to your post-Christmas fun.  Hope you're having a wonderful week!  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Cup of Cheer

Hi friends!  It seems December keeps marching on and it's already time for another Mojo Monday sketch!  This week's sketch was submitted by Carole Burrage and is perfect for keeping things simple, or for dressing it up a bit more like I did.


I had the Delightful & Delicious set out on my desk because I wanted to make a little something to go with a gift card to a local coffee shop.  The sketch seemed like the perfect excuse to paper piece these cute little coffee cups, so I just went with it!  I had my heart set on using the sentiment "have a cup of cheer", but I couldn't find one in my stash, so I created one on the computer, printed it out and added as a little sentiment flag.  To dress things up, I added a bit of washi tape, a border punch and some sweet little jingle bells.  The finishing touch was a bit of stardust stickles swirls in the coffee and then a zigzag line down the seam binding to match the chevron washi tape.  Super fun and perfect for tucking a little gift card inside.

I hope you're having a fabulous December and can find a little "me" time this week to share your take on this week's Mojo Monday sketch!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Delightful & Delicious (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Blue Christmas (Recollections), Black, White
Ink: Black
Accessories: Stripes & Scallops Knockout punch (American Crafts), washi tape (Glitz Designs), computer generated sentiment, rhinestones, jingle bells, seam binding, paper piercer, Stardust Stickles

Rejoice

Hi friends! Happy Friday!  I found a little time to sneak away and stamp this week and just had to work some more with the Rejoice paper scraps that were still on my desk from my Mojo Monday card.  Here I paired the papers with the Holiday Greetings set and the Viva la Verve December Week 3 sketch.

Everything came together really quickly, especially since I was mainly using scraps.  I added a little doodled dotted line border around the papers to give each layer a little definition.  One layer is crimped and brushed with white ink to match the faded look of the background paper.  The snowflake is stamped in Riding Hood Red, which I stamped off twice before stamping on my circle for a watermark effect, then embossed the Merry Christmas sentiment over the top in Early Espresso.  I made the wreath from lacey circle Nestabilities, then added Rouge liquid pearls for the berries.  I finished off with a big red and white bow and a Flourished Trim border (on sale right now during our Stocking Stuffer Sale).

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Holiday Greetings (Verve Stamps)

Paper: Rejoice (BoBunny), Crumb Cake (SU!), cream
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Early Espresso (SU!), Jasmine White (Mix'd Media Inx), Walnut Stain (Ranger)
Accessories: Flourished Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Lacey Circles and Classic Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), liquid pearls (Ranger), paper corrugator (Fiskars), ribbon (May Arts)

Merry Mojo

Hi friends!  Another weekend flew by and it's time for a brand new Mojo Monday sketch again!  This week's layout comes from Teresa Kline.  When I was making my card I was a little distracted by the huge 12 foot blow up Santa Claus my neighbors were blowing up across the street, so I wasn't very focused on sticking to the sketch.  The inspiration is there and that's all that counts, though!


The papers are from the gorgeous Rejoice Collection from Bo Bunny.  I thought the sketch was perfect for one of the paper doilies I've been hoarding and I decided to stamp directly onto the patterned paper with the sentiment from Merry & Bright.  To make it stand out a little bit more on the pattern, I embossed it in white, then outlined with a dark grey copic.  No worries if you get a little messy with the outlining, a colorless Copic blender will remove any stray grey marks from the embossed lettering.  The kraft piece is stamped with the snowflakes from Merry & Bright, although I added some crimping and distressing with white inks, so you can't really see too much of it.  A Pennant Trim die cut border (on sale for Verve's Stocking Stuffer Sale!)  is tucked behind the pretty May Arts ribbon bow and I finished off with a little bit of liquid pearls around the sentiment panel.


December seems to be moving at light speed!  The boys were amazed when they saw our tree lit up for the first time this weekend.  Their 9 month birthday was yesterday and it's so crazy how much they've grown just in the last month.  Little movers and shakers, they are!  They're starting to interact with each other quite a bit.  Here, they were showing each other their hands.

Anyhow, that's what's going on in my world... babies, babies and more than a little bit of LAUNDRY!  {grin}  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you find a little time to get creative with this week's Mojo Monday sketch!


Enabler's List:
Stamps: Merry & Bright (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Rejoice (BoBunny), Crumb Cake, Espresso (SU!), cream
Ink: Versamark, Jasmine White (Mix'd Media Inx), Copic markers, white gelato (Faber-Castell)
Accessories: Pennant Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), paper corrugator (Fiskars), liquid pearls (Ranger), Shine Spray (Studio Calico), ribbon (May Arts), paper doily (Freckled Fawn), paper distresser (Tonic)


Verve Stamps + Ribbon Carousel = Crazy Delicious

Hi friends!  Today we've got a special treat for you with a whole lot of eye candy and a couple fabulous prizes up for grabs! The Verve Divas have partnered up with the talented Ribbon Carousel Crew to bring you a joint blog hop! This hop promises to be overflowing with crafty goodness and lots of "loving" inspiration! 
The Verve designers are using some scrumptious ribbon from the Ribbon Carousel in their cards and you'll see some very "lovely" Verve stamps (which just happen to be on sale!) used by the Ribbon Carousel Crew.  It's always fun to see some new perspectives on a set, don't ya think?  Anyhow, we'd love for you to participate and hop along with us for a chance to win some crafty gifts even if you're on the naughty list this year!  {grin}

Now, lets talk prizes!   
Hop along with us today and leave some blog love for the Verve Divas and the Ribbon Carousel Crewmates to be eligible to win one of the 2 prizes up for grabs!  We'll select 2 random commenters from 2 randomly selected designer's blogs, so be sure to spread the love around!

November Release CollectionRibbon Carousel
The Verve Stamps prize is the ENTIRE November Release
and the Ribbon Carousel prize is a NEW Ribbon Carousel with your choice of knob color! 

Ready to Hop?! 
Check out the link list at the bottom of the post.  Now after that big intro, here's my card...



When I received my package of gorgeous ribbons, I just loved the way they looked all lined up.  So I took my inspiration from that and made a fun little ribbon banner card.  Each pennant is made from about a 3" strip of ribbon, folded over and secured with scor-tape and then folded around a piece of thread, which I threaded through two pierced holes I made in the designer paper.  The stamps are from the Wings of Love set by Verve and I matted the heart on the coordinating Wavy Hearts die, then used a clothespin to attach it to my banner.  The background is made of torn scraps I had in my drawer.  I added some book-style washi tape, too, dabbed on a little watered-down gesso, sponged on some black ink and added a dusting of glitter.  Oh, and distressed edges... for some of the interior distressing, I misted a little water on the paper and then lightly scratched the paper until it started to peel up.  So simple, but such a neat effect.  Okay, I think I covered it all.  Now it's time to let your fingers do the clicking...

Wintery Wishes

Hi friends!  It's the first Monday of the month and that means it's time for a Mojo Monday contest!  Verve is sponsoring prizes, so be sure to schedule a little creative break sometime this week to play along.  Today's sketch comes from the mind of the one and only Carole Burrage.



I thought this layout would work perfectly for something simple, sweet and mailable, so that was my goal for the card.  And I think I actually accomplished it!  Woohoo!  I've noticed that a lot of clean and simple stampers will take a layered sketch and use the stamps as layers to keep things simple, so that's what I tried with the snowflakes from Holiday Greetings.  The sentiment is also from the Holiday Greetings set and I added some thin black mats and tied in the pool party with a little tone on tone stamped border below.  A border punch, some ribbon and liquid pearl accents and the card was done.  Easy peasy!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hope you have a fabulous first week of December!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Holiday Greetings (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Sleigh Ride (Crate Paper), pool party, basic black (SU!), cream
Ink: Pool Party (SU!), black
Accessories:  circle punches (SU!), stripes & scallops Knock-Outs (American Crafts), seam binding ribbon, Liquid Pearls

Starry Joy

Hi friends! The results of my rigorous {grin} Black Friday online shopping spree have started arriving and so I just had to squeeze in a little time to play with some of it! This card uses the new Holiday Toppers and Star Rosette CutUps from The Cat's Pajamas. Ever since a friend pointed out this North Pole paper from the Sleigh Ride collection, I've had it in my head to make a card using it and the Joy to the World Plain Jane. I wanted the sentiment to look a bit like a globe, so I stamped it directly on the map paper, inked the edges with some black soot ink and matted on a black Nestabilities circle. The rosette is made from the same paper, just using the reverse side, which is a red and white stripe. I decided to make a tent style card, so I could play with that fun star topper, then just alternated the paper for the stars and finished with some wide black ribbon and a rhinestone star.


 Hope you're having a fabulous start to your December!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enabler's List: 
Stamps: Joy to the World Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Sleigh Ride (Crate Paper), Real Red, Basic Black (SU!), cream
Ink: Black soot (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Star Rosette and Holiday Toppers CutUps (TCP), Classic Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), wide striped ribbon (SU!), embossing powder, distressing tool, star rhinestone