Cast Your Cares

Hi Everyone! Happy Tuesday! Today I'm sharing a card I made with the new 1 Peter 5:7 set. I used an older Sweet Sunday Sketch #22 which just called my name. The patterned paper is from the Everafter collection by Cosmo Cricket. Hopefully you don't get sick of it. I don't think I've ever used one collection of paper as much as this one. I LOVE it! The silhouette stamps are from the Because of You set and stamped in Tangerine Tango.



What's In It?
Stamps: 1 Peter 5:7
Paper: Basic Gray, Tangerine Tango (SU!), Everafter DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Soft Sky, Tangerine Tango, (SU!), Smoky Gray (Versafine)
Accessories: Basic Gray taffeta (SU!), Diamond Stickles, Classic and Petite Scallop Circles (Nestabilities), metal charm, metal photo corner (We R Memory Keepers)

My Help

Happy Monday! Did y'all have a fabulous weekend? I can't believe it's almost July. My brother arrives today for his annual 4th of July visit, so I'm not sure how much stamping I'll get done this week. I do have a couple cards I haven't shown you yet from our new release, so there will be at least a couple posts this week.



My card today uses this week's Mojo sketch. Check the sketch out and get inspired by the fabulous samples from the Mojo design team over on the Mojo Blog this morning. For my stamping, I chose the new Psalm 121:1-2 Plain Jane and my go-to paper right now, the Everafter collection by Cosmo Cricket.



There's nothing too complicated here. The scallop shape is a Nestabilities die cut, I added a white taffeta bow, then substituted some layered white paper flowers from Kaisercraft as my oval shape. The brads in the center are the Fire ones from SU! and I finished off with some pearl dew drops in the corner.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a fabulous start to your week!

What's In it?
Stamps: Psalm 121:1-2 Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: White, Everafter DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: white taffeta, Fire brads (SU!), Scallop Squares (Nestabilities), paper flowers (Kaiser Craft), Stardust Stickles, pearl dew drops

We're In This Together!

Happy Saturday, peeps! We had such an awesome time at the release party last night. Thanks to all of you who attended! All the new sets are now available for purchase, along with a little sale on over 30 of our favorite meaningful sets.

I love cards with purpose and my card today has a special meaning. It uses the Forever in Our Hearts set that just released and is a special card for Mr. Verve. This image is his absolute favorite from the release, and I wanted to make him a little card to thank him for just generally being awesome. Things get really hectic around here at release time, and my stress level goes through the roof. It's usually fend for yourself at meal times and several nights where I'm awake working until dawn, when he's getting up to go to work. It takes a special kind of guy to not only deal with it, but totally 100% percent support me in all I do.

I chose the we're in this together sentiment, because it truly fits our partnership. My concept for the card was a blending of masculine and feminine, where the two come together to make something totally unique. For the masculine side of things, I chose chunky hardware, straight lines and angles and the kraft and chocolate cardstock. For the feminine accents, I chose curviness, the flowery DP and the taffeta bows. I just love the masculine/feminine fusion that was created!

What's In It?
Stamps: Forever in our Hearts (Verve)
Stamps: Forever in our Hearts (Verve)
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip (SU!), Everafter DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Soft Sky (SU!), Copic markers
Accessories: Classic Circles (Nestabilities), Jumbo Grommets, Medium brads, Lots of Tags dies, white taffeta (SU!), sewing machine, sponge Kraft, Chocolate Chip (SU!), Everafter DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Soft Sky (SU!), Copic markers
Accessories: Classic Circles (Nestabilities), Jumbo Grommets, Medium brads, Lots of Tags dies, white taffeta (SU!), sewing machine, sponge

Okay, that's all for now, folks! Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome weekend!

Peeking Just for You

Happy Friday! I can't believe it's already time for another release. The Verve Release Party kicks off at 9PM Eastern TONIGHT! I hope you'll come, because Mr. Verve and I can't wait to chat with y'all! All of our new sets will be available following the release party.

The Divas are peeking a set called Forever in Our Hearts over on the Verve Blog today. Be sure to check it out for a chance to win! I'm actually a day behind on my peeks, since I took yesterday off for the Bella blog hop. So today I'll be sharing a project I made with Just for You and Kindred Spirits.


This is one of my favorite projects I've made in a long time and I went a little photo happy, so get your cup o' joe. This was a special gift set I gave my Mom for her birthday last week. I honestly don't think she's ever been as thrilled about something I made her as she was when she saw this one. She just kept picking it up and touching it. That made my heart smile.


I was inspired by Jen Tapler's money holder she made with last month's release and since my Mom is hard to buy for, I just figured I'd give her a little mad money all dressed up in a pretty money holder. I just measured a dollar bill, added a little room for margins, then scored twice and folded. I added a little piercing to the Everafter DP (Cosmo Cricket) before glueing to the Kraft money holder base, then adhered 18" lengths of kraft taffeta to the front side with sticky strip, leaving the ends trailing off to allow for tieing. The oval frame stamp is from the Kindred Spirits and I've added the From: Me To: You stamp from Just for You to the center, then cut and matted with Oval Nestabilties. A little Fleur de lis punch on either side and a couple chocolate pearls accented it beautifully. I didn't do a whole lot to the back, just added a little strip of the Everafter paper and tied up the bows.




This card was the basis for the VSJUN04 sketch. I really didn't think the layout was going to work at first, but I just loved how the card turned out - so I had to make it into a sketch! The card came together so quickly! I embossed the script Cuttlebug folder on Kraft, then cut a 4 inch square of the Everafter paper and cut on the diagonal for a triangle. I punched this with the EK Success border punch, then layered over the Kraft and tied with chocolate taffeta. Next I punched a single fleur de lis, covered with Diamond stickles and glued below the ribbon for a faux charm. The circle frame and sentiment are from the Just for You set and it reads, "I'm so blessed to have you in my life". It's cut out with Classic Circle Nestabilities and then I added some diamond stickles for a little sparkle on each scallop.

What's In It?
Stamps: Kindred Spirits , Just for You (Verve)
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip (SU!), Everafter DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!), Vintage Photo, Tea Dye (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Classic & Scallop Ovals, Classic & Scallop Circles (Nestabilities), fleur de lis punch & border punch (EK Success), Kraft and Chocolate taffeta (SU!), Chocolate pearls (Kaiser Craft), sponge, Diamond Stickles, script embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Honey Put On That Party Dress

Welcome to the Birthday Blog Skip, Hop & Dance sponsored by Stamping Bella! If you just happened by and didn't come here by way of Carole's uber chic blog, you can CLICK HERE to start from the beginning at Bloggabella.

So why am I posting a KETTO card during the middle of our release week? Because it's Emily's (THE Bella herself) birthday, that's why!!! Happy Birthday Emily! Oh, and I'm a textbook over-committer and will take any excuse to squeeze in some inky time with my beloved KETTOS! This is Ginger KETTO - isn't her party dress fab? That Tom Petty song just kept going through my mind as I made the card... "Oh my my, oh hell yes, honey put on that party dress!" LOL Most everything on here is self-explanatory. I did hand cut the black mat for the sentiment tag with some mini scallop scissors. And each tiny little rhinestone was hand placed on Ginger's paper pieced party dress! All the dotty paper is from the Sabrina collection by Making Memories. Want to see her dress up close and personal? Well, I'm glad you asked! Click the image to embiggen it and bask in all the bitty bling! LOL

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Now it's time to hop on over to Lesley's blog. Have a great day!

How about a prize? In addition to the fabulous eye candy, there's a prize hidden somewhere along the hop! One pre-selected blogger will draw a random winner from the comments on her post, and the winner will receive a $40 Gift Voucher to Stamping Bella!!! The fun part is...we're not telling you who it is! So as you hop, make sure you leave comments on every post so you have a chance to win!! The winner will be announced on Monday in the Splitcoast forum. MWAH!

Peeking Kindred Spirits

Happy Wednesday! Today is the first day of Sneak Peeks over on the Verve Blog, and let me tell ya, you're in for some eye candy. Hop on over to check out more sneaky cards with the Kindred Spirits set and find out how you can win this set for your very own!

I'm totally in love with fleur de lis imagery, so it's no surprise that I just NEEDED a stamp set to give me even more reasons to use my EK Success fleur de lis punches! LOL This set is so "me" and really got my creative juices flowing. I keep reaching for it every time I step into my studio, even though I know I have other projects I need to finish!

Here's what I did:

• Stamped the oval fleur de lis frame once in black and again in Regal Rose
  Punched out the center oval with the SU! wide oval punch
• Cut out the black oval with Classic Oval Nesties and layered on Scallop Oval Nesties
• Stamped the main image in Regal Rose (2nd generation) in the center oval, then stamped over the top in black with the Kindred Spirits sentiment
• Layered ovals with dimensionals, then looped some polka dot ribbon behind
• Punched the regal rose cardstock with the fleur de lis border punch, then embossed with the Swiss Dots folder
• Punched another strip of black cardstock with the fleur de lis and layered over the regal rose layer
• Added white opal liquid pearls across the top and bottom edge, then finished off with a pearl cluster on the side

Okay, that's all for this post. You can see another one of my creations with Kindred Spirits over on the Verve Blog today, along with cards from Laurie, Tosha, Lynda and Michelle! Have a fabulous day!

Faith Sneek Peek

Happy Tuesday! Today my card uses the second sketch in our Verve Release Week Challenges. I'm also sneaking a peek of one of the new plain janes, Hebrews 11:1.


The verse is stamped with Chocolate Chip Kraft ink on vellum cardstock and then embossed with clear EP. I cut squares of Ever After paper by Cosmo Cricket, ran them through the Cuttlebug with the Textile embossing folder, then glued to a white square and sewed the vellum piece in the center with my sewing machine. This is layered on Chocolate Chip and then a 5.25" white card base.

For the accent I layered a couple Prima Les Fleur and finished off with one of those beautiful copper Finishing Florals from Flourishes. I'm not sure you can tell in the photo, but if you click the close-up you can see that I added a little Stardust Stickles to the primas and it positively shimmers. Okay, that's it for today. Tomorrow the Sneak Peeks start over on the Verve Blog. Hooray!


What's In It?
Stamps: Hebrews 11:1 Plain Jane
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Cardstock Vellum (SU!), Ever After (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft (SU!)
Accessories: Clear EP (SU!), Les Fleur (Prima), Finishing Florals (Flourishes), Textile folder (Cuttlebug), sewing machine

Mojo Sneak Peek

Happy Monday! It's already time for another Mojo sketch, and this week is also release week here at Verve! It seems like the months just fly by!

Today my card uses this week's MOJO92 sketch, but it also doubles as the first challenge in the Verve June '09 Release Week Challenges. Play along with all the Verve challenges this week and you'll have a chance at winning our entire release! Check out this post in our forum for all the scuttle.



I'm also sneaking a peek at one of the new Leaves Plain Jane as well as a couple coordinating leaves stamps from the Just For You set that will release this Friday night. On top of being Father's Day, yesterday was my father-in-law's birthday, so this little card has already found its new home.

The sentiment is from the Fancy Florals set. I basically did a lot of random stamping of the leaves with always artichoke, chocolate chip and close to cocoa inks. The white panels are sponged with Vintage Photo and Tea Dye distress inks. The square hardware is aged copper (although it kind of looks gold in my poor photo) and I used the large and small SU! star punches, the Martha Stewart Branch punch and a button for the little embellishment on the side.

What's In It?
Stamps: Fancy Florals, Leaves Plain Jane, Just For You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Kraft, Always Artichoke (SU!)
Ink: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa (SU!), Vintage Photo, Tea Dye (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories: Large & small star punches, hemp twine, chocolate stitched ribbon (SU!), Branch punch (Martha Stewart), button (BasicGrey), sponge, hardware (We R Memory Keepers)

It's A Guy Thing

Hey everyone! Have y'all got your entries in for the Verve Project Parade? Today (6/20) is the last day to enter, so if you've been putting it off, today's the day to kick into high gear.


My project had to kick it into high gear, too. I made my Father's Day card a while ago, but have been thinking about what to do for the gift packaging for a bit. Well, yesterday I found out that there was a change of plans and we were meeting up with my parents last night. Eeek! So I had to hurry my little concept up a bit, as in start to photos in 30 minutes! I started with this Popcorn Box Template that I had in my Things To Try folder.

Here's what I did:

• Printed template pieces on Classic Cream cardstock then cut out and glued the two sections together with Scor-tape


• Used Cloud Fiskars decorative scissors across the top, then lightly sponged all the scored parts with Tea Dye ink


• Randomly stamped the stripey stars from Seeing Stars in Night of Navy and Bordering Blue


• Finished assembling the box with sticky tape


• Stamped the oval shape from Dad's Day twice on cream scraps


• Stamped the sentiment from Dad's Day in one of the ovals and punched out with the wide oval punch


• Trimmed out the other oval, and layered on dimensionals


• Added Chocolate Stitched grosgrain around the box with Scor-Tape, adding stamped oval panel to cover the seam

I dressed it up with a little tissue paper, then some of Dad's favorite treats and a gift card to the movies. Easy breezy beautiful!

Arrrgh! It Be Hybrid Thursday!

Hey everyone! It's Thursday again and time for another release over at The Digichick. Kelleigh designed a cute little Daddy's Toolbox template this week. Check out Kelleigh's blog for a great tutorial on assembling the box, plus a free little tool download to coordinate with the template. When I put mine together I had my little nephew on the brain, so I pulled out my favorite stamp set by TCP {Arrgh! Piratey!} and went for a treasure chest theme, complete with Reese's peanut butter cup pirate booty!




Here's what I did:

• Printed the lines-only pdf version of the template on brown paper bag paper from Paper Accents.


• Trimmed template, scored and sponged all folds with Vintage Photo ink


• Cut panels for all the sides from cream cardstock, stamped randomly with Vintage Photo ink, then sponged the edges with first Vintage Photo Distress ink and then Brushed Corduroy ink


• Stamped the sentiment on the front panel and stamped the little pirate dude on cream paper


• Paper pieced the pirate dude's shirt and hat and then matted on Petite Scallop Circle Nestabilities die cuts


• Finished off with a vintage decorative brad for the latch

What's In It?
Stamps: Arrgh! Piratey! (The Cat's Pajamas)
Paper: Brown Paper Bag, Pearlized Cream, red cardstock (Paper Accents)
Ink: Vintage Photo, Brushed Corduroy (Ranger Distress), Crimson Red, Onyx Black (Versafine), Copic markers
Accessories: Petite Circles (Nestabilities), deco brad (Making Memories)
Template: Daddy's Toolbox Template Set (Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs)

Daring Balloon Ride

Happy Wednesday! This morning I decided to start the day off with a little stamping. I've had these cute digi papers from the Garden Party Mini Kit printed and sitting on my desk for about a week, so I decided to cut into them. The colors are a little more daring than I'm used to, so I knew I had to use the Dare to be you sentiment. And I've seen so many adorable cards with the stripes on this balloon paper pieced, that I just had to give it a go.



For the layout I went with a whimsical, floating feel. The main balloon panel is cut with the Nestabilities Labels 3 and I used the SU! Lots of Tags Sizzix die for the oval shape. The ribbon is some wide pomegranate satin ribbon from my stash and I added one of those fabulous Finishing Touches from flourishes. These ones are the copper variety. A little stardust stickles on my clouds and some black kaiser craft pearls on the side and voila!

What's In It?
Stamps: Up, Up and Away, Dare to Be You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Garden Party Mini Kit (Elise's Pieces), Black and white cardstock
Ink: A Muse Black, Copic markers
Accessories: Labels 3 (Nestabilities), Lots of Tags dies, wide oval punch, satin ribbon (SU!), Finishing Touches (Flourishes), Stardust stickles, Kaiser craft black pearls

Viva la Sweet Tooth

Happy Tuesday! Today I have a card for the current Viva la Verve sketch with a twist. This week's twist is to use a lot of white space. Oh, dear! I'm more of a color my world rather than a white space kind of gal, so I definitely knew I had to make a little time to do this challenge.


I pulled out a couple of older sets, Cupcake Affair and Sweet Valentine and started in on this cute little sketch. The cupcake parts are stamped in black and then I added the frosting in Pink Pirouette and colored the rest with Copics. Next I embossed just the right hand side of the panel with the Swiss Dots embossing folder and then sponged lightly with Pirouette pink around the edges, before matting on Pink Pirouette cardstock. The horizontal strip is punched with my new Sunburst Fiskars border punch. (I think this is the first time I've used it where I haven't almost completely covered it up! LOL. I inked the sentiment from Sweet Valentine separately and stamped on two different lines, then punched with the 1.25" circle punch, layered with the 1 3/8" and the scallop circle punch. The ribbon is pink taffeta that I curled by heating with my heat gun then painted with a mixture of diamond glaze and glitter.

What's In It?
Stamps: Cupcake Affair, Sweet Valentine (Verve)
Paper: White, Pink Pirouette (SU!)
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose (SU!), A Muse Black, Copic markers
Accessories: Circle punches, pink taffeta (SU!), pearls (Kaiser Craft), liquid pearls, diamond glaze, glitter, Swiss Dots (Cuttlebug), Sunburst border punch (Fiskars)

Just Another Mojo Monday

Hi Everyone! Happy Monday! Did y'all have a good weekend? Mine was pretty good. I did a quick little blog makeover on Saturday, so if you're looking for the comments the link is up top next to the post title. Gotta point out the "IMPORTANT" things, right? LOL :)

Well, it's time for another Mojo sketch and this week I went long and thin. Every once in a while I like to do a non-standard sized sketch to shake up the mojo. I hope you have fun creating with it!



My card features that cute little bear from the Happy Camper set by The Cat's Pajamas. Doesn't he just make you smile? I colored him with Copics and sponged around the panel with Broken China Ranger Distress Ink. The papers are all from my scrap pile and I used some of the cool trims and buttons from TCP.

What's In It?
Stamps: Happy Camper, Nightie Alpha (The Cat's Pajamas)
Paper: Cardstock (Bazzill), DP (Cosmo Cricket, Kaiser Craft, Bo Bunny)
Ink: Black Dye ink (A Muse), Broken China (Ranger Distress Ink), Copics
Accessories: Classic Rectangles & Petite Ovals (Nestabilities), Great Outdoors Trims & Buttons (TCP), Paper Flower (Kaiser Craft)

You wanna wanna play in a challenge?

Guess what? Today I'm a guest over on the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge blog! Each Saturday they feature a new challenge based on a movie. I've been wanting to play for quite some time, so when Sankari and Brooke asked me to be their guest, be their guest, put their challenge to the test, I just hopped right on board! *giggle*

For this week's challenge, they're featuring one of my favorite movies of all time... Beauty and the Beast! We'd love to have you play along this week, and there's even an opportunity to win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Store, so be sure to check it out!

I still remember watching it in the theatre when it came out. I was completely spellbound. And then my Dad gave the VHS to me for Valentine's day the next year. Mind you, I was in high school when it released, but I still watched it over and over again. Fairytales just make me sigh... I'm such a romantic at heart. I realized while watching the movie again last night that I can still recite the ENTIRE movie word for word - that's how many times I've seen it! In fact, my original video tape had a little glitch in the part where Beast growls "You wanna stay in the dungeon?" and it always said "you wanna wanna stay". So imagine my surprise when I was watching the DVD version for the first time last night and it didn't have that little you wanna wanna in it! I kind of missed that endearing little audio skip. LOL

Anyhow, on with my inspiration. There's so much I love about this movie, Belle's soft yellow dress, the Parisian decor and of course, my favorite character... Lumiere! "I've been burned by you before! hohoho" I added little hints of all of these things to my card. The fabulous lantern image is from the Lanterns set by Inkadinkado. I embossed it in black, then masked off the lantern and sponged with Scattered Straw ink for a nice glow. It's cut out out with the Peony Nestabilities die and then I sponged around the edges with Bordering Blue ink. I layered and offset the same size of peony in basic gray behind it.

For a little Parisian flair, I pulled out the Ever After Collection by Cosmo Cricket. I cut a 4 x 5.25" piece of the green paper corner to corner and then used my new Starburst fiskars punch along the diagonal, then layered over the soft yellow paper. And Beauty and the Beast wouldn't be what it is without a rose, so I inked up a rose stamp from Inkadinkado and stamped in Rose Red three times and Always Artichoke one time, then colored in with Copic markers and cut and layered for some dimension. The sentiment comes from the Fairy Tales set by Verve and fulfills the fairy tale requirement. It's stamped on a Nestabilities tag and layered beneath the rose. I accented the card with some grey taffeta and a We R Memory Keepers photo corner with a little added pearl. To finish off my sparkly fairy tale creation, I added Lemon stickles to the lantern and stardust stickles to the rose.

I hope you can find some time for fairy tales this week! Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Edited to add: I felt the need for a blog makeover this morning, so I've made a few tweaks. It took me a while to find where it went, so I thought I'd let you know that the comments link is on the tab to the right of the post title at the top of the post! :)

Easy Breezy Sweet Peas

Happy Friday! The weekend's almost here! Hooray! Today I have a quick little card I made for the Flourishes Easy Breezy 10 minute card challenge. Sadly, due to my general lack of time to do any stamping just for fun anymore, my Sweet Peas set from Flourishes has sat uninked since I ordered it on release day back in March! Eeek! Show these stamps some love! LOL I figured I could carve out 10 minutes, which was the only requirement for this challenge.



I have to admit I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to do, but I really didn't think I could do it in under 10 minutes. However, I came in at 9 minutes and 47 seconds, largely due to the fact that I keep every single item I possibly can within arm's reach of my desk. It's quite messy and cluttered, but I don't have to waste time reaching for anything! LOL

I started by cutting the Nestabilities Labels Four in white and basic gray. Next I sponged the white with Pink Pirouette while still in the stencil, then stamped and colored the Sweet Peas. Glued the shapes together and picked up the Celery Cardstock and Celery ink to ink to letterpress/deboss the d-vine swirls, then matted with Basic Gray. The sentiment is stamped on white and then punched with the large oval punch and matted on a basic gray scallop oval punch and popped up over some pink taffeta ribbon. I finished off with a little stardust stickles on the flowers, a white card base, and a huge sigh of relief for finishing a card in under 10 minutes! :)

Hybrid Thursday!

Happy Thursday! Today I have a cute little hybrid card I made with one of the templates included in Kelleigh Ratzlaff's new Baby Themed Shaped Cards template set. The Digichick designers released 21 baby themed kits and templates today {6/11} and as with every Digichick new release all new products are 20% off on release day!

And even with all those baby choices, I chose to work with a couple of kits that weren't baby themed! My card uses the {No Longer} Flowerless kit by Pamela Donnis. I {heart} this kit and I'm sure you'll be seeing lots of it. The colors, the papers, and the doodled flowers are gorgeous and I especially love the story behind the kit. {Read about it here}

I started by clipping some of the pink paper onto the rattle shaped template. I also printed another soft pink patterned paper from the kit in the margin as well as several copies of one of the doodled flowers from the Flowerless kit in two different sizes.

I stamped the girl bunny from Practically Perfect in A Muse black dye ink and then colored with Copic markers. I stamped again on the pink paper I printed in the margins, and paper pieced the tummy, paws and her little bow. I cut her out with Classic Circle Nestabilites and then matted on a Rose Red Scallop Circle Nestabilities die cut. Next I accented this piece with Petal Pink liquid pearls on the scallops, some rhinestones for her necklace and bow and a few of the printed flowers cut out and adhered to the outer edge of the circle.

For the bottom of the rattle I used the Welcome Baby sentiment from Practically Perfect, punched out with a 1" circle punch and matted on a Rose Red Classic Circles Nestabilities die cut. I added another little printed and cut out flower here to balance out the card, then finished off with a pink taffeta bow and some Stardust Stickles for a little sparkle.

Best Dad Ever

Happy Tuesday! Today I have a little Father's Day card to share with you. I started by stamping the word montage from Protector in Bordering Blue on Bordering Blue card stock. I chose bordering blue because it reminds me of the color of my dad's eyes. I also try to stay away from red and green, since my dad is color blind and I always wonder how horrific my card might look to him if I use those colors. LOL


Next I pulled out the stripey stars from the Seeing Stars set and stamped them on cream cardstock with Night of Navy ink. The large stars are punched out with the SU! large star punch. The two smaller stars I cut by hand. I arranged them in an arc formation, popping up the two small stars, then adding double thickness of dimensionals to the center star. For the little banner, I pulled out the dot border strip from Father Figure, stamped in Night of Navy and then trimmed. I added a couple hand cut tails and used a ruler and a Night of Navy marker to extend the lines on the banner tails.

Next I pulled out Dad's Day and stamped the oval and then the Best Dad Ever sentiment in Navy Blue and punched out with the SU! large oval punch. To finish off the front, I used the ticket corner punch and added some twine. All cream panels are sponged with first Antique Linen and then Tea Dye Ranger Distress ink.

Since this card will be given away soon, I went ahead and finished the inside too, using some of the same elements from the front of the card and the Father's Day Plain Jane and a Fiskars border punch for the curvy border.

All of these sets and most of our masculine sets are 10% off during our It's a Guy Thing Project Parade. For more inspiration for masculine projects, check out the project parade posts going on now through June 19 on the Verve Blog.

Monday Monday

Hey everyone! I can't believe it's already Monday again. The weekend just flew by! As always, there's a new Mojo Monday sketch posted this morning, so be sure to check it out, along with the fun samples by the Mojo Design Team.



Today's sample features the new Happy Camper set and Nightie Alphabet from the Cat's Pajamas. I also used the love ya heart from the Be Still My Beating Heart set. It's kind of straight forward, since I was trying to keep it masculine, so I'll just leave you with the recipe.

Oh, and for those of you who saw the picture in my last post and asked about how I store my Copics, I use these clear storage cases. Each case holds 12 markers (they have cases that hold more markers, too) and I stand the cases on their side. My desk has several little cubbies across the hutch, and I can fit 3 of these storage cases in each cubby.

What's In It?
Stamps: Happy Camper, Nightie, Be Still My Beating Heart (TCP)
Paper: Cardstock (Bazzill), Girl Friday DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Crimson Red (Versafine), Old Paper (Ranger Distress), Black (A Muse)
Accessories: Petite Ovals (Nestabilities), Great Outdoors Trims (TCP), Textile folder (Cuttlebug), Copics

Saturday Morning Mojo

Happy Saturday! This morning I woke up and stumbled into my studio determined to organize things a bit. I got an awesome new organizer for my Stickles, so I had to make a little room on my desk. I saw an ad in a magazine for the Glitter Stairs and since I've been searching for a while for something to display all my pretty Stickles bottles, this looked perfect. It even stores them upside down so they don't get all clogged up. I ordered on Sunday night and it was here Wednesday morning!!! That was super fast, especially since they said there might be a 2 week wait. Here they are all lined up above my Copics on the hutch of my desk. Aren't they pretty? Now I need to order another one for my liquid pearls. It's a sickness, I tell ya! LOL




After re-arranging a bit, I found this little accordian flower I had made earlier this week following Kelly's tutorial. I loved how it turned out and thought it would go perfectly with this week's mojo sketch {Mojo89}, so I pulled together a super simple card (well, simple because the whole accordian piece was already done and pre-glittered!) All I did was cut some pieces of coordinating Girl Friday papers by Cosmo Cricket, add a butterfly from Beautiful Kindness and accent with pearls, Orange Peel Stickles and a bit of vanilla taffeta. Easy peasy.



What's in it?
Stamps: Circular Sayings, Beautiful Kindness (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Tangerine Tango (SU!), Girl Friday DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories: Classic Scallop Squares (Nestabilities), Orange Peel Stickles (Ranger), Circle punches, vanilla taffeta (SU!), pearls (Kaiser Craft), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart)

Viva la PETALS!

Happy Friday! Today's card uses this week's Viva la Verve! sketch. Amber went easy on y'all with the twist this week - you just have to use something new. For some reason there's never a problem finding something new around here!



Last weekend I finally found and bought the Sunburst Fiskars border punch that I've been wanting for quite some time. So I decided to use it on this card. Where, you ask? Well, the card somehow got away from me and now that I'm finished you can't even see the punch! LOL Oh well, guess I'll just have to stamp some more to show off the punch!

The main reason you can't see the border punch is that I decided to flip the rectangle, since I woke up with this verse in my head this morning and really wanted to use it on my card. I stamped two of the flowers from Petals & Stems on a classic cream scallop rectangle and then sponged the edges with Old Paper and Vintage Photo ink. Next I stamped the Psalm 51:10 plain jane in Chocolate Chip Craft ink on cardstock vellum and heat embossed. To secure it over my stamped panel, I pulled out my nemesis - the sewing machine. Thankfully it only took 1 try to get it right, instead of the 4 or 5 sewing mishaps I usually have!

I stamped a few more of the flowers in Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss {for the centers} and then layered them and popped them up on different levels of dimensionals. The centers are accented with some green dew drops. The paper is my new fave from Cosmo Cricket - Early Bird. I finished with some double edged polka dot ribbon.

Then, I couldn't leave it alone. Not sure why, but I decided to add liquid pearls all around the scallop rectangle (as if there wasn't already enough polka dots going on to drive you dotty!) and THEN I decided since there wasn't any sparkle, I needed to try some Pearl Glimmer Mist. So I coated the card with a healthy dose and called it quits!

Okay, that's all on the card front. The Verve Project Parade kicked-off today with a brand new theme and chances to win some new Verve! There's even a gift certificate hidden somewhere during our 2 week parade that one lucky person will win just for commenting, so be sure to give the girls some love for the amazing projects they share! We'd love for you to play along with us! Check out this post for all the details!

What's in it?
Stamps: Petals & Stems, Psalm 51:10 (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, vellum cardstock (SU!), Classic Cream (Neenah), Early Bird DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss (SU!), Old Paper, Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Classic Scallop Rectangles (SU!), dew drops, Liquid pearls, double edge polka dot ribbon (Taylored Expressions), Sunburst border punch (Fiskars), sewing machine, Pearl glimmer mist, clear embossing powder (SU!)


Hope you have a fabulously creative weekend! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Flight of Fancy

Happy Thursday! Today I have a card to share with you using digi papers from the Flight of Fancy kit. As soon as I saw this adorable little kit, I just knew it would be the perfect pairing for my hot air balloons. Isn't that cloud paper just dreamy?

For my card, I stamped the hot air balloon from Up, Up and Away directly on the cloud paper and then again on the red paper and the basket portion on the cream paper from the kit, then pieced these sections onto the stamped balloon. The circles are cut with the Classic Circles Nestabilities and I stamped the clouds and popped them up over the circle, sprucing them up with some diamond glaze/glitter mixture. I used the dotted wave EK success punch for the top border, with a few pearls for accent. The label is cut with Nestabilities and stamped with the Congrats sentiment from Practically Perfect. I finished off with a riding hood red taffeta bow.



What's in it?
Stamps: Up, Up & Away, Practically Perfect (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Flight of Fancy Mini Kit (Elise's Pieces Designs)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Markers
Accessories: Diamond Glaze/glitter mixture, dotted wave punch (EK Success), pearl flatbacks, Riding Hood Red Taffeta (SU!), Labels & Classic Circles (Nestabilities)

Happy Flamenca

Hiya friends! Today I have another Ketto card to share with you. When I was working on my Ketto set the other day I stamped out all of my new little Kettos to color later and well, later actually came! Isn't Flamenca Ketto just darling? I love her little dress and had to go with one of my favorite "happy" color combos... aqua and orange. So, after coloring Flamenca, I cut her out with Classic Squares Nestabilities and matted on Tangerine Tango and a Cool Caribbean Scallop Square.



On my shopping trip this weekend, I got this little dotted wave border punch by EK Success. I just love the curviness of it and thought it would make an interesting layout to leave some of the white space of the card base showing to make those waves stand out. The polka dot dp is from the Bloom & Grow collection by My Mind's Eye and the sentiment is from the Fairy Tales set. It's punched out with the large oval punch and matted on the scallop oval punch. I finished off with some little pearl clusters in the corners and some glitter/crystal effects accents on her dress.

Hope you have a super happy day!

What's in it?
Stamps: Flamenca Ketto (Stamping Bella), Fairy Tales (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Cool Caribbean, Tangerine Tango (SU!), Bloom & Grow (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Classic & Scallop Squares (Nestabilities), Dotted Wave punch (EK Success), Large Oval & Scallop oval punch (SU!), pearl clusters

Fabulous Little Gifty

Happy Tuesday! Today I have a little gift packaging I whipped up last night. I started with the Sassy Purse #2 template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff. I printed the lines only version on the back of some Penny Lane dp by My Mind's Eye, then cut scored and assembled. I used another dp from the Penny Lane Collection for the handles and attached them with Styled Vanilla hodgepodge. The trim around the bottom is from Fancy Pants (love those little pop poms).

For the stamping part of the project, I used the Beautiful Kindness set and stamped the sentiment in Baja Breeze and the butterfly in Regal Rose. I then pieced another butterfly on top and added some dimensionals to make the wings flutter. The circle is cut with Classic Nestabilities and I used the die as a stencil to spong Pink Pirouette ink in the inner circle. This is matted on a baja breeze scallop circle and I finished off with some liquid pearls on each scallop.

This large version of the sassy purse #2 template holds three little Bath & Body Works travel size bottles perfectly and I thought the little ensemble would make a fabulous little shower or hostess gift.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday! Did y'all have a good weekend? I actually took a day off this weekend and we saw a movie, went to the bookstore, and went on a shopping spree at the local craft stores! I got quite a few fun new punches and doo-dads I hope to get to play with soon. Now that the weekend is over, it's time for the new mojo sketch. This week is a contest week, so be sure to play along. We'll have up to 7 winners chosen from all the entries! Check out the Mojo Monday blog for the sketch, the fabulous samples from the design team and all the contest deets.



My sample card uses the new Happy Camper set by The Cat's Pajamas. Those of you who've been reading my blog for a while know that owls kind of give me the creeps. That hasn't changed, but when I saw this little guy in the set, I just knew he had to be sitting on a log singing a little song. The leafy trim, ribbon and the buttons are all from the cool new Great Outdoors Trims & Buttons that Alma just added at TCP. The background paper is embossed with the D'Vine Swirls cuttlebug folder and then lightly sanded.

What's In It?
Stamps: Happy Camper (TCP)
Paper: Cardstock (Paper Accents), DP (Cosmo Cricket & Lasting Impressions)
Ink: Black Dye ink (A Muse), Copics
Accessories: Classic Circles & Squares (Nestabilities), Great Outdoors Trims & Buttons (TCP), D'Vine Swirls (Cuttlebug), Stardust Stickles (Ranger)

Okay, that's it for today, peeps! Thanks for stopping by. Oh and be sure to hop on over to the Verve Blog to congratulate the newest member of the Verve Divas on her first day!