I wish I could keep everything (I'm a total collector), but I also feel guilty when things go unused.  When we moved into our new house preparing for the boys' arrival, I combined my studio and my work space into a space only about as big as my studio was before.  So things are a bit cramped and I've overflowed into the guest room closet, and the hall closet, and the boys' bathroom closet and am needing to reclaim some space!

So if you see something you'd like, shoot me an email.  All the deets are on the for sale page.  Oh, and please be patient, I only have child care a few afternoons a week, so it might take me a bit to get back to you.  :)  Thanks!

-Julee

Hi friends!  Happy Tuesday! I'm popping in today to share a quick little CAS card I made for this week's CAS235 challenge over on Splitcoast.  The theme is road trip and it made me think of this quote in the Happiness Found set... Happiness is found along the way - not at the end of the road.   True story, peeps!  Even in the toughest times of caring for two colicy newborns, every once in a while, Mark and I would just start laughing because it was so preposterous that two little things could make SOOOOOOO much noise!  Those giggles amidst the tears are some of the things I remember most as my mind has started doing that amazing thing where it forgets the bad and remembers the good.



For the card, I grabbed a scrap of paper from my scrap bin and adhered to a soft sky card base.  I stamped the sentiment in black across both layers, then went back and only inked up the happiness with soft sky ink and slightly offset it, for a little shadowing.  I added a couple soft sky leaves stamped in the corner (from the same Happiness Found set).  Then for some reason, I really wanted a button on the layout.  So I found a black one and then decided it needed something to "ground" it.  I looked up from my desk and there was a set of stickers in my Project Life bin staring at me, so I pulled off the remember one, clipped one end to make it a banner and tucked behind the button.  I wanted it to say always remember, but I couldn't find an always sticker in my collection, so I pulled out the Take Note set and used the alphabet strip and a black marker to stamp each letter individually, then cut out and popped up on dimensionals.  Easy peasy, and such a nice reminder to enjoy life as it is happening.

That's all from my little corner of the world.  If you haven't taken advantage of Verve's Anni-VERVE-sary sale yet, there are still a few more days to pick up some steals!


Enabler's List
Stamps:  Happiness Found, Take Note (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Honey Pie (Cosmo Cricket), Soft Sky (SU!)
Ink: Black, soft sky (SU!)
Accessories: button, adhesive labels stickers (pebbles)

Hi friends!  It's my day over on the Verve Blog to wrap up this month's Pile on the Sweetness August Diva Dare. Be sure to head on over there and leave some comments on the Diva posts for a chance to win. And you have until Wednesday to get you Dare creation in for another chance to win! 

This month's dare pays tribute to Diva Andrea (Ewen Style), and Diva Christyne (Stampin' with Sugar).  Both Divas are known for the wonderful way they can add layer upon layer on a card.  So what we're daring you to create this month is a card using lots of layers.   




My take on layering included a whole lot of handcut flowers.  I know, I'm a little weird, but I actually love to cut out stamped images by hand.  It's really stress relieving, so when our power went out for 6 hours last week I had to pull out a favorite Verve set, Great Friend, and stamp and cut to my heart's content!

I just loved how the flowers looked on their own when I layered them together, so decided to heck with the card layers, there was plenty of dimension just with my flower cluster.  {grin}  So I kept the layout clean (if not simple) with a smoky slate background, a wedding wishes sentiment from  Love Story and accents of seam binding from the  Stormy Skies Collection and a big bling flourish and some liquid pearls.  A classy and elegant card for some friends of ours who got married over the weekend.

Supply List
Stamps: Great Friend, Love Story (Verve Stamps)
Paper: smoky slate, basic black (SU!), white (Neenah)
Ink: black
Accessories:  Stormy Skies Collection (Verve), Zva Creative rhinestone swirls, Onyx liquid Pearls (Ranger)

Hi friends!  It's the final Monday of the month and that means it's time for a Round or Square Mojo Monday sketch. This one's a simple one, so I hope you have fun with it!


My card uses a mix of stamps from Verve.  The Classy Label die cut is stamped with one of the chevron backgrounds from Borderline  then I layered the enjoy the little things sentiment from Let it Be over the chevron stamping and distressed the edges with espresso ink.  I dug out my slot punch to make a little ribbon slider in my die cut, then slid my ribbon through and tied a seam binding bow around the soft sky panel, which is embossed with a chevron embossing folder.  The little bear is from To the Moon and I water colored him with distress inks and a water brush, then cut out and tucked behind the label.  As I was making this card, I was thinking how cute this sentiment would be for someone expecting twins.  Just add a second little animal and voila!  {grin}  But since I don't know anyone expecting twins right now, I stuck with just the single bear for my card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Be sure to head on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers came up with for this sketch.

Enabler's List
Stamps: To the Moon, Let it Be, Borderline (Verve Stamps)
Paper: soft sky, early espresso (SU!), white (Neenah)
Ink: Early Espresso, soft sky (SU!), Walnut Stain (Ranger)
Accessories: Classy Label Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Signature Ribbon Collection (Verve), pearls (MME), chevron embossing folder (SU!)

Hi friends!  Happy Friday!  Today I've got a little gifty project to share with you.  I love everything about fall... especially school supplies.  Although the boys aren't anywhere near school-age yet, I've been so inspired by seeing all the back to school projects in blogland lately.  When I was scrolling through emails I came across Kelleigh Ratzlaff's pencil boxes templates and had to download one and give it a try.


I thought pairing it with the Teachers Count set would make the perfect little back to school present for a teacher, so that was my inspiration.  Kelleigh's template set has cutting files, but since I still have yet to clear a space for my cutter on my desk, I just printed the PDF template out and used that on Smoky Slate for the base of the pouch.  I added a 1.75 x 7.75" strip of designer paper down the front of the pouch for accent, then used a coordinating paper for the pouch band.  My tag uses the Tiny Sweet Scallop Die Set and I stamped the sentiment from Teachers Count onto a flag from the Flag It Die Set.  The apple is stamped onto the coordinating Apples Die Set and then I paper pieced the leaf and apple in coordinating papers.  Some black scrapper's floss ties the tag on and I accented the bow with a red rhinestone.  The finished pouch holds 4 pencils.  The whole project took under 30 minutes, and most of that was deciding which papers to use! {grin}

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Teachers Count  (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Report Card (October Afternoon), Smoky Slate (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: Black
Accessories:  Apples Die Set, Flag It Die Set, Tiny Sweet Scallop Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), scrapper's floss (Karen Foster), rhinestone, Pencil Boxes Template Set and Cutting Files (Kelleigh Ratzlaff)

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I have a tiny little project to share with you.  For the last couple of months I haven't felt much like stamping once I get into my studio.  Now, of course about the 5th read-through of Good Night Moon (a creepy children's classic which my boys are obsessed with that teaches children to say goodnight to nobody and to air and that it's totally okay to have a bowl full of mush sitting on your nightstand) each morning I'm TOTALLY ready to stamp, but alas, it's not meant to be.

So I've been reading this book about being an artistic mother.  One of the notes I've taken from the book are that you should create for an hour every day.  But there are lots of different phases to creating - you can't just make art all the time.  There's the purchasing supplies, and the gathering of ideas, and the testing out new techniques and the actual creating, and then the presentation of the finished product, the cleaning of your workspace, etc.  All of these activities are part of the artistic process and just because you don't feel like creating a masterpiece or can't possibly get into the studio today, doesn't mean that you can't do something artistic with the time you do have.


So, that's just a great way of justifying all the time I spend on Pinterest, right?  It's art!  {grin} Anyhow, the other day while pinning I remembered just how much I love little tags.  So I pinned a bunch, and then when I got a little stamp time I decided just to make a little project... one tag.  It was fun, quick, and since then I've felt a bit more longing to jump into the stamp room for more than just the required project.

I used the Joyous Noel set for the poinsettia and the sentiment.  I stamped the leafy poinsettia on white and colored with copics, then cut out and adhered to a Sweet Scallop Die tag.  Next I embossed the plain poinsettia in white on Cherry Cobbler and then cut out and popped up over the leafy image.  The sentiment is embossed in Cherry Cobbler directly on the tag and I finished with some ribbon from the Red, White and Beautiful Collection.  Oh, and I glued a sequin in the center of the poinsettia to "hold" a large amount of gold liquid pearls.

So, that was my little story about trying to get my mojo back on track.  Thanks so much for stopping by and for reading my ramblings!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Joyous Noel (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Cherry Cobbler (SU!), white
Ink: Cherry Cobbler (SU!), black, versamark
Accessories:  Sweet Scallop Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Red, White and Beautiful Collection (Verve), sequin, liquid pearls (Ranger), white embossing powder

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time to get sketchy with another Mojo Monday sketch.  This one's a fun one with triangles and banners and circles, oh my!


For my card I pulled out the Trendsetter collection from Fancy Pants.  The striped paper is a 3 inch square cut corner to corner on the diagonal for 2 easy triangles.  The Hebrews 6:19 verse is from the Strong Anchor set and stamped in Midnight Muse.  I also added the remember this sentiment from Remember This (50% off during our Anni-VERVE-sary sale!).  I added some hand cut banners from coordinating paper, then finished off with an anchor charm I got from Etsy, some seam binding ribbon and a few shiny pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Be sure to head on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers have done with this week's sketch!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Strong Anchor, Remember This (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Trendsetter (Fancy Pants), cream (Neenah)
Ink: Midnight Muse (SU!), Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)
Accessories:  Truly Madly Deeply Ribbon Collection (Verve), Classic Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), 1.25" circle punch (SU!), shiny silver pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty), anchor charm (WhispySnowAngel on Etsy), linen thread

Hi friends!  Happy Friday!  It's time for the August Week 3 Viva la Verve! sketch and this week's hostess is the fabulous Sarah Gough.  I just love a chance to make a square card, so I couldn't wait to work on a birthday card for one of the boys' playmates that is turning one this month.


Since I happen to know the party colors are pink and yellow, I thought I'd start there for my color combo.  The yellow totally made me think of  Chicks Rule and I thought she'd look cute floating on the heart in the sketch, so I used the Wavy Hearts Die Set to cut a heart, then stamped the birdie.  I then stamped the birdie two more times and colored with pan pastels, layering the body and then popping up the head on a dimensional and trimming off the excess so it exactly fit the heart shape.  I added a little wand for the birthday girl.

I added just the you're from one of the other sentiments in the set to the a little birdie told me sentiment.  Next I stamped a 1 from the Calendar Countdown and punched out and layered with several circle punches and dies.  The sentiment is framed with one of those frame embossing folders from SU!.  I punched holes around my circle panel and tied on some ribbons from the Truly Madly Deeply and Spring Fling ribbon collections for a shabby, girly look.  For my border, I layered three different Flourished Trim die cuts and then accented with coordinating colors of liquid pearls.  Chicken wire embossing seemed the natural choice for the background panel and I finished off with a few rounded corners and some hand drawn dotting.  The finished card size is 5.25" square.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Be sure to head on over to the Viva la Verve! forum to play along with this week's sketch.  And if you're in a shopping mood this weekend, stop on by the Verve store for our Anni-VERVE-sary sale!


Enabler's List
Stamps: Chicks Rule, Calendar Countdown (Verve Stamps)
Paper: blushing bride, barely banana, basic black (SU!), white (Neenah)
Ink: black, barely banana, pan pastels, black pen
Accessories: Wavy Hearts Die Set, Flourished Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Truly Madly Deeply and Spring Fling ribbon collections (Verve), Pinking Circles (Nestabilities), circle punches (Sizzix), Chicken Wire embossing folder (Cuttlebug), embossing frame (SU!), corner rounder, star bling, liquid pearls, stardust stickles

Hi friends!  Happy Thursday!  Today I have a little card I was able to squeeze in during nap time yesterday. The twins have recently decided that they only want to sleep at night, so nap time has been very hit or miss lately.  And afternoons are my favorite time to stamp, even though I rarely get to stamp then.  So it was a real treat and I really enjoyed the daylight streaming through my window as I created this card.


The layout is Jen's DS113 sketch.  I didn't have an idea of what I wanted to stamp when I sat down, so I randomly grabbed a paper pad out of a bin that I haven't used for a long time, and pulled out this Holiday Style paper by October Afternoon.  A flip through the pages, and I knew exactly the vintage holiday card I wanted to make, complete with the Joy Plain Jane (which happens to be 50% off during Verve's Anni-VERVE-sary sale).

The Joy Plain Jane is embossed in white on paper bag cardstock, then colored with Spica glitter pens.  I distressed the edges of each panel with a paper distresser and vintage photo distress ink.  I even got motivated enough to finally change the bobbin on my sewing machine so I could do some stitched accents. Then I embellished with one of my favorite ribbons, a button and some sequins layered under rhinestones.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Joy Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Holiday Style (October Afternoon), brown paper bag (Paper Accents), cream (Neenah)
Ink: Embossing Ink and Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger), glitter pens (Spica)
Accessories:  corner rounder, sewing machine, paper distresser, button, sequins, embossing folder (SU!), rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty)

Hi friends!  It's Monday again, and time for another Mojo Monday sketch.  When I sat down to create this sketch I was thinking about Maureen, who is constantly looking for excuses to use doilies on sketches, so this one's for her!


I kept everything pretty simple (for me).  The book paper butterfly was a leftover sitting on my desk that had been spritzed and turned out to not be the color I was looking for on another project.  I thought it looked great with this banner die cut from Spellbinders.  The sentiment is from Let it Be and stamped onto a Classy Label Die cut from a ruled index card.  I also cut a black classy label in half and aligned it as a makeshift mat for the sentiment panel.  The arrow is a resist chipboard piece that I sponged with honey ink and then added some sequins inside the arrow with glue.  A crimped piece of coastal cabana cardstock finishes off the layout.

All right, that's everything card-related.  Verve's August Diva Dare has already started and the Divas are Piling on the Sweetness each week day through August 26.  There's a comment prize and a participation prize, so follow along for a chance to win!



Enabler's List
Stamps: Let it Be (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Key Lime dp (BoBunny), coastal cabana, crumb cake, basic black (SU!), white, doily, book paper
Ink: Black, Honey (Ranger Distress)
Accessories:  Classy Label Die, All Aflutter Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), banner die (Spellbinders), Arrows Resist Chipboard and Mr. Huey Pool Spritz (Studio Calico), sequins, paper corrugator

---

Hi friends!  I'm popping in with a quick little clean & simple card I made for this week's CAS232 challenge over on SCS.  The inspiration was the lyrics of a song, which has the line, "spread your wings little butterfly".  Well, I just happened to have a leftover book paper butterfly and the Wings of Love set still on my desk, so I took it as the universe telling me I needed to take a break and make a card!

Hi friends!  It's Monday and time for a little MOJO!  {If you're looking for my CASE Study Blog Hop post CLICK HERE}.  Otherwise, hang tight because you're at the start of the August Diva Inspirations Hop! It's also a contest week over at Mojo Monday, so be sure to play along for a chance to win some new Verve. 
That's right, it's the 5th of the month and that means it's time for the Verve Divas to breathe new life into some much-loved stamps and dies. And there's a PRIZE up for grabs, so be sure to leave a little shout out in the comment section of each blog as you hop about to be entered in a drawing for a $30 gift voucher to Verve Stamps! Check out all the details and prize info over at the Verve Blog.


For my card, I was inspired by Teresa's Dare to Get Dirty challenge over on Splitcoast.   I changed one panel on the sketch to a heart, using a Sizzix die and adding a little stitched embossing down one side.  The papers are from a Valentine's pack of papers, but I love how they work for other occasions as well.  The sentiment and heart border come from an old favorite... Thankful Hearts.  I stamped them in a silver frame that I re-discovered in my crafting closet while I was looking for that Sizzix die.  A bit of distressing, an embossed background and some twine and bling finish the card off.

Alrighty, there's lots more crafty goodness to see along this hop, so I'm going to wrap things up.  Be sure to leave a comment at each stop for a chance to win some VERVE!  A gift certificate would come in super handy paired with the amazing sale going on this month at Verve!  {grin}

We're celebrating 6 years of VERVE this month with a huge sale! Your favorites are bound to be marked down, since all stamps & dies are 10-50% off during the month of August! Now that's something to celebrate!

	1. Julee	9. Teresa
	2. Amy	10. Charmaine
	3. Anya	11. Christyne
	4. Betty	12. Maureen
	5. Karen	13. Marisa
	6. Sarah	14. Amber
	7. Susan	15. Andrea
	8. Tiffany

Enabler's List
Stamps: Thankful Hearts (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Fourteen (Crate Paper), Cream
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Basic Black (SU!), Walnut Stain (Ranger Distress)
Accessories:  Primitive Hearts Die, hearts embossing folder (Sizzix), stitched border embossing, coral twine and metal frame (SU!), rhinestones

Hi friends!  CASE Study is celebrating 3 years of challenges and as a former Muse (March 2011), I've been invited to celebrate in today's blog hop!  If you're just popping in, you'll want to head on over to the CASE Study blog to start from the beginning.   If you've already been hopping, you should have just arrived from Julia Stainton's blog.

The theme for the blog hop is Inspiration, and in the spirit of CASE Study, I chose a papercrafter I've been admiring as of late as my inspiration.... Dana Fleckenstein of Pixels & Glue.  I love her "this & that" approach to card making, which is always fresh, interesting and simple, but with more dimension and embellishment than traditional CAS cards.


To keep my own style present in the card, I added in a bit more mixed media than the original I was CASE-ing.  (You can see a pic of Dana's card below.)  And of course my beloved Soft Sky had to make an appearance.  I saw sequins, tags, butterflies, a one word sentiment and stenciling in the original, so I added all of those things in, along with a little flair of my own.  The butterflies are made with the All Aflutter Die Set   I cut three copies of each size of butterfly from book paper, then glued the centers together, fluffed them out and added sequins and liquid pearls for the butterfly body.  There's also a bit of dry brushed paint on each butterfly, left over from doing the stenciling on the card base and sentiment panel.  The fly. sentiment is from the Wings of Love set and I accented it with a little pre-made banner embellishment.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have time to hop around to all the hops - there's so much eye candy to see and a chance to win some fab prizes if you comment on all the stops.  Check out the CASE Study blog for all the details.  Next up on the hop is...  Torico.

by Dana Fleckenstein

Enabler's List
Stamps: Wings of Love (Verve Stamps)
Paper: soft sky, basic black, crumb cake (SU!), Key Lime (BoBunny)
Ink: black, pool and white paint (Martha Stewart)
Accessories:  All Aflutter Die Set, Scalloped Trim Trio Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), polka dot basics ribbon collection (Verve), Pinking circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), corner rounder, Chicken Wire embossing folder (Cuttlebug), bubbles stencil (Studio Calico), onyx liquid pearls (Ranger), Fact & Fiction Flags & Banners (BasicGrey), sequins

Hi friends!  Six years ago today the Verve website went live and we sold our very first stamp!  I had no idea how my little side business would change my life.  I often tell people I didn't intend to start a business... it just happened to me.  I opened my shop with the intention of just selling crafty things I liked and hopefully earning a little money to offset the major spend that my papercrafting was turning into.  Something to do on the side while I figured out what to do with my life, ya  know?


Somewhere along the way to our store opening I had the idea to design a little stamp set and see if anybody wanted it.  Just a few little phrases to fit my favorite punch.  And then another set for all occasion cards... the Fancy Florals set.  Soon, stamps were the main part of my business and in 6 months Verve had switched to clear stamps, and phased out papers and ribbons and such so I could focus my time on bringing new stamps to life!

Oh my!  How my life has been richly blessed by this business.  Verve has flourished beyond my wildest dreams and largely because of Verve, we were able to move into an incredibly beautiful brand new house only a few short months prior to the arrival of our twins.  And our lives are forever changed.  Definitely a charmed life.

The past year and half has brought many challenges to our family. There have been job changes and pay cuts and vendor issues and depression and little time or energy  to devote to Verve.  And even though I know I am very blessed, I often feel that I have completely failed at the end of the day.  One of those failures is the fact that for the first time in Verve's 6 years, we won't have a stamp release in August.


But we're still going to celebrate with a HUGE SALE!  All Verve stamps and dies are on sale 10 - 50% off this month!  And there should be new stamps and dies in September AND October.  And then, hopefully on a much more regular basis! Because good things are going to happen!  Just like my shabby little card says.  {grin}

So thanks for supporting Verve and for sticking around this little blog that doesn't get near the attention it used to.  I'm blaming it all on these three boys... I mean, really, they're pretty distracting, don't ya think?



Enabler's List
Stamps: Brighter Days (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Prairie Chic (BoBunny), Blushing Bride (SU!), White (Neenah)
Ink: Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Flag It Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), vintage lace trim, pearl, Regal Flourishes Texture Fades (Tim Holtz)