More Gift Card Holders and a WINNER

Hi Everybody!  Happy Tuesday!  First off I want to announce the winner of my blog candy from last week.  Jasmin from Wildflower Scraps come on down!  You're the winner of the four Tim Holtz Texture Fades embossing folders!  Shoot me an email with your shipping address and I'll get them on their way to you.


So I'm back today with a few more gift card holders using Kelleigh's Designer Label Shapes cutting files.  I just loved how the first ones turned out, so I had to make some more!  These ones are more "Vervey" and sophisticated, and identical, because if you've got a good thing going on, why change it?  LOL

I'm just love this Holly Jolly paper by My Mind's Eye, so I used it for the pocket, then used some Bazzill paper and Early Espresso to cut the other pieces, resizing the Designer Label Shape to make a little sentiment piece as well as the holder base.  The aqua cardstock was embossed with the Kassie's Brocade Cuttlebug embossing folder to continue the elegant feel of the paper.

For the sentiment piece, I stamped the medium snowflake from Glad Tidings off the two corners, then added the Holiday Joy sentiment from Holiday Phrases in the center and accented each "o" with a jade ice flatback pearl from Pizzazz Aplenty.  For the pocket, I used a little thin espresso taffeta, then wrapped a little silver cording around and tied two little jingle bells in a bow to finish it off.

Okay, that's a wrap for me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous rest of the day!

Christmas Roses

Happy Monday!  Did y'all have a great weekend?  I'm back with this week's Mojo Monday card.  It's a round or square week and since I hadn't done a circle card for a while, I pulled out my circle nestabilities and got to work.

The patterned papers are from the October Afternoon Modern Homemaker pad, the plaids and stripes just called my name!  I knew I wanted to play with the Sizzix 3D Flower die I rediscovered in my stamp room, so I started by making some real red roses with the die.  For the larger circle, I stamped the wreath from Glad Tidings, then cut out with Nestabilities and colored with Copics.  I embossed the Christmas Blessings setniment from the same set in red, then added a little antique linen ink around the edges to soften the look.I added a little cherry blossom to my roses and a portion of a crystal heart stem to complete my embellishment cluster.  To finish off, I added some thin gold cording from Pizzazz Aplenty around the edges of my circle, then accented the berries and scallops with liquid pearls.

Okay, that's all on the card front.  Today's the last day of our Thanksgiving sale at Verve, so if you haven't already, be sure to check out the deals before they're gone.  We've also got a release this Friday, so look for some sneak peeks Thursday and Friday.  In the meantime, the girls are continuing with their Triple Play Project Parade, so check out the Verve blog for the next installment!

Joyful Gift Card Holders & Blog Candy

Hi peeps!  Happy Friday!  I thought I'd pop in and change up the scenery a bit.  Are you having a fabulous start to the holiday season?   I've taken advantage of quite a few little online sales, but I am not one to leave my house on a perfectly good morning that I could sleep in!!!  Speaking of online sales, Verve has all stamps on sale through Monday! Yay!

The other night I got some quality time in the studio and decided to dust off my Cricut Expression and some cutting files and get to work some pocket gift card holders that could double as tree ornaments or gift tags.  Since trios are the name of the game with this month's Verve Project Parade, I made three little holders.

The idea for this project started when I saw a gift card tag tutorial over on the Hybrid Chick blog.  I loved the idea, and thought it would be really fun to translate the concept with a cute shape that didn't require me to measure and cut angles!  :)  So I downloaded Kelleigh's Designer Label Shapes cutting files and used shape #5.  To make the tag, I cut two of the exact size the label comes into the Sure Cuts a Lot program as (3.48" x 4.15", one on cardstock, the other on patterned paper).  Then I resized the shape, adding .2 to the dimensions of each side (3.68" x 4.35")  and cut a cardstock mat for it.

Then I simply took the patterned paper piece (everything shown uses the Everybody Loves Christmas collection by Echo Park) and cut  and cut across the third ridge.  For the cardstock shape, I ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Candy Stripes embossing folder, then layered the patterned paper over the cardstock shape and secured the three sides with 1/8" scor-tape to form a pocket.  {Note:  I used the thin tape to make sure I'd have enough room for my gift card to slide into the pocket.}  For this holder, I added a Rosette from patterned paper, accented with a circle stamped with the medium snowflake from Glad Tidings and a sentiment from Holiday Phrases.  I added some May Arts Twill ribbon, a swarovski rhinestone from Pizzazz Aplenty and then layered the whole thing on a pink pirouette mat.  The hole is punched with a crop-a dile and I added some baker's twine and accented the paper with liquid pearls to finish it off.

For this second holder, I stamped the Joy sentiment from Glad Tidings on a circle, then added some real red polka dot ribbon, ruffled and a big bow to accent.  And again, there's a little bit of liquid pearl goodness added for accent.

For the third holder, I simply tied some May Arts striped ribbon around it, then added some red jingle bells with some silver cording.  The sentiment from Holiday Phrases is added on a piece of vellum and I accented with a shiny silver pearl from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Okay, I hope you've enjoyed these fun little gift card holders!  I had a blast making them, and it makes me feel not quite as lame when I take the easy way out and just give gift cards instead of braving the mall!

So if you've read all the way to here, you must want to know what the blog candy is.  I recently saw these Texture Fades at the store and had to have them only to find out that I had had them on backorder with another company and they shipped that same day!  Oops!  So I'm offering up the extras to one of you for your crafting pleasure.  Just leave  me a comment on this post by Monday night (11/29), and I'll pick a random winner to receive these four embossing folders!

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic weekend!
-Julee

Special People

Hi there!  It's Monday again and that means it's time for a new sketch over on the Mojo Monday blog!  This week's sketch was inspired by this card that I made when I was at Laurie's a few weeks back.  It's rare that I do the same layout more than once, but I really liked how the card turned out, especially the diagonal ribbon element, so I thought it would be fun to give it another go as this week's sketch.


This time around I was going for a shabby chic feel with a touch of elegance, something the recipient of this card does oh-so-well.  I had the hardest time photographing my finished card, though.  It looks so much "dirtier" around the edges in the photo than in real life.  It's a lot softer in person, with just a hint of aged edges and a whole lot more sparkle!  :)

 
I pulled out one of my favorite sets from 2010, Feel the Sun and paired it with the new Vintage Oval Frame  and coordinating Vintage Oval Die.  The patterned paper is from the Webster's Pages Wonderfall and Vintage Vogue collection, and I added some ivory cardstock embossed with the Kassie's Brocade cuttlebug folder, then inked with some mulled lavendar distress ink.  The ribbon is from May Arts and I added a couple open roses from Wild Orchid Crafts.  Then added some glitter around the Vintage Oval frame and on the roses, finishing off with some distressed edges and a few pearl accents from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Okay, that's all from me this fine Monday morning!  Be sure to hop over to the Verve Blog each day this week to see what the Divas have cooked up for our Triple Play Project Parade.

Painted Snowflake

Happy Thursday!  Today I'm sharing a card I made for this week's Viva la Verve! challenge.  I was in a playful mood, so I pulled out some white acrylic paint, added a little bit of water and painted it directly on the snowflake from Glad Tidings and stamped onto basic gray cardstock.  {Note:  if you're stamping with paint, be sure to have water and a scrubber handy, so you can immediately clean your stamp, otherwise the paint will dry and its no fun trying to get dried paint out of the little crevices.}  Then I just brushed a little of the whitewash mixture on the edges of the square for a snowy looking edge.

For the pear pizazz panel, I arranged about seven of the sentiments from Glad Tidings on a long acrylic block and stamped it in pear pizazz as a background, filling in open areas on the sides with the small snowflake from the set.  The white background is embossed with a holiday Cuttlebug folder I rediscovered in the great studio clean-up last weekend.  For accent, I added some green lace trim, a Making Memories pearl cluster, then tied on some bells with 1mm silver cording from Pizzazz Aplenty and accented my circle with some shiny silver pearls.

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

Christmas Anthology

Happy Wednesday!  Last time I was at the craft store, a couple gals were talking amongst themselves about the Parisian Anthology paper that's clear embossed and you can ink up with distress inks.  I bought this paper as soon as I could get my hands on it and promptly forgot about it, so those gals jogged my memory and when I was organizing this weekend I set it aside to play with.

I lightly sponged the page with Tumbled Glass distress ink for a very soft look, then grabbed one of the Parisian Anthology Notes and a ticket from the Ticket Roll (yes, I did buy all that and still forgot I had it!!!).  I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment pieces from Merry Wishes on the little note, then stamped one of the berry sprigs on the ticket.  I added some black mats and the bottom black layer is embossed with the script Cuttlebug folder, but I couldn't get it to show in the photo.  The berries are painted with some Viva Decor gloss gel and I finished off with lace trim, and then I tied a bit of twine around a scrap of real read stitched ribbon and two little jingle bells and tied it all in a bow.

Oh, and before I go... a bit of news!  Today's the start of Verve's Winter Project Parade!  This month's theme is "Triple Play" and the Divas will be sharing some fabulous trios with you over on the Verve Blog the next few weeks.  We'd love for you to play along and one lucky participant will win our entire January release and get to be our January Guest Diva!!!  Verve stamps are NOT required, so please play along!  All the challenge details and the entry linking form are posted {HERE}.  And there's also a hidden prize on one of the parade posts, so be sure to leave some comment love for the girls.  Sankari's kicking the parade off this morning, so be sure to head on over to the Verve Blog.

Fall To Christmas

As I was meandering through blogland the other day, I came across this week's Fall-To Layout and since I hadn't dusted off my Top Note die in quite a while, decided to give it a go.  The card is simple and elegant, using scraps from the mojo card I had made just before this and only took a little over 5 minutes to make.  Bonus!

The sentiment from Richly Blessed is embossed in gold directly on the Holly Jolly My Mind's Eye paper and I embossed the cross from the same set in gold, then cut out and layered over the top note and some lace trimming.  The background for the card is embossed with the SU! Victorian Wallpaper folder, then I added a few shiny gold pearl accents from Pizzazz Aplenty to finish out the card.  So simple.

Okay, that's all for today.  Short and sweet!  :)  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Holiday JOY

Happy Monday!  It's time for a new sketch over at the Mojo Monday blog, and this week it's got a tilted panel!  Tilted panels just make me swoon!!!  Love 'em!!!  Anyhow, I spent some time this weekend restoring a little bit {and I stress the little bit} of order to the chaos of my stamp room.  And then I STAMPED!!!  I'm always a little nervous to get back into stamping after taking a break because I never know if the mojo is going to show up or not.  But I was pleasantly surprised by how easily this card came together yesterday afternoon.

I found the papers (the Holly Jolly Collection by My Mind's Eye) at the bottom of a stack of paper I bought a few months ago and the shimmery chipboard piece was an embellishment from a kit club package that I hadn't ever opened. {Shame on me!}  It's amazing the "treasures" I find when I do a bit of cleaning!!!  LOL  I stamped the snowflake/poinsettia image from Merry Wishes and embossed it in black, then painted with a mixture of diamond glaze and Cherry Cobbler reinker and a pinch of glitter.  I trimmed it out and popped up on a classic circle, embossed with a BasicGrey/Sizzix folder.  I added a fiskars border punch (found behind the desk, when I did a little re-arranging), then embossed the sentiment from Holiday Phrases in white directly on the patterned paper.  I finished off with some green pleated ribbon and a couple white flatback pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Okay, that's all from my craft room today.  I hope you have a fantastic day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Bountiful Pumpkins

Happy Friday!  I'm back with another card from my stash since I still haven't braved my stamp room.  Before I got sick, I started a bit of reorganization to get all my holiday papers and embellishments moved into one area.  (Yay!)  However, I didn't finish and the room is in total chaos making me want to just keep on walking when I pass by!  LOL  I peeked in this morning, shuddered, and then in the corner of my eye saw this card that I made when I was at Laurie's that I haven't shown here yet.  So it was off to photograph, leaving the mess for another day.

This card uses a clean and simple layout that I really love, but my card has a bit more flair than a typical CAS card.  I stamped two of the pumpkins from Bountiful Harvest overlapping on Ivory cardstock, then stamped them again on some rusty patterned paper, then cut out and paper pieced over the original stamped image.  I wanted a bit of glow, so I sponged Scattered Straw all around, then lightly inked the corners with Cajun Craze.  The smaller pumpkin is added on a dimensional, to give a bit of depth and I hand trimmed a little ground for them from Espresso cardstock.  The old olive layer is punched with an EK Success border and I used a couple of the leftover punches to add some vines coming out from my mini pumpkin patch.  A little twine wrapped around the panel adds a little country charm.  Next I stamped the Happy Harvest sentiment from Bountiful Harvest and scored a couple lines up top and bottom on my Naturals card base, adding some sponged edges. Finally, I stamped and cut out two Old Olive pumpkin leaves, highlighted with Diamond Stickles and added two little orange rhinestones up in the corner.

Well, that made me totally homesick for Laurie's always organized and cheery stamp room!  Hopefully I'll get mine whipped back into shape this weekend and be back stamping next week.  Thanks for stopping by and all your well wishes.  I'm still not 100%, but definitely feeling better.  Have yourself a FABULOUS weekend!

Holiday Treats

Wow!  Is it Thursday already?  This week has just flown by.  I'm feeling a bit better, but still haven't felt much like stamping this week.  So I thought I'd just pop in and change up the scenery to a couple quick projects I made for the last Verve release but haven't shown here yet.

First up is this fun little treat bag & tag.  First I punched a 1-3/8" circle punch on some Webster's Pages paper, then cut the tag out using the Sweet Scallop Die.  Next I stamped one of the snowflakes from Glad Tidings in Cherry Cobbler on white chipboard and used the die to cut it out.  I layered the negative shape of 1.25" circle punch between the patterned paper tag and the chipboard tag, then glued them all together.  Next up, I embossed the sentiment (also from Glad Tidings) in white, then tied around a bag of chocolates with some gold ribbon.  My final accent was a gorgeous and super sparkly 4mm crystal clear swarovski rhinestone from Pizzazz Aplenty.

I used the same technique for this second tag, this time substituting one of the berry sprigs from Merry Wishes for the center.  I used the Sweet Scallop Tag stamped with Sage Shadow in combination with the Sweet Scallop Die, then traced around the outer edges of the die to hand cut the cherry cobbler mat.  The berries are painted with some Viva Decor gloss gel and the embossed sentiment is from Holiday Phrases.  More Webster's Pages paper was used to cover the top of the 3x3 clear box.  To finish I filled the box with York Peppermint Patties and tied on the tag with some Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon.

Hope you're having a super creative week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Missing Mojo

Welcome to a brand new week! I've been under the weather so I don't have a new card to share with you.  I do have a couple things I'd like to mention, though.  First off, there's a new Mojo Monday sketch today.  This week's sketch was inspired by this card I posted here a couple weeks back showcasing the new Glad Tidings set and Sweet Scallop Die.  I had every intention of making a brand new card with the modifications I made to the sketch, but even a box of brand new goodies from Emma's Paperie couldn't lure me and my sickness away from the couch this weekend.  :(

I'm actually still feeling pretty rotten, so I'm planning a day of one of my favorite sick day entertainment options - the BBC Production of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice.  Speaking of Pride & Prejudice, this past Saturday was the 100th Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge and they're putting on a big bash!  This week's inspiration is Pride & Prejudice and there are PRIZES up for grabs!  You could win some Verve or some other stampy goodness by playing along! You've got TWO WEEKS to play, so head on over to their official challenge post for all the details!  They even have some helpful ideas for those of us who are inspiration challenge challenged.  :-)

Okay, thanks so much for stopping by today!  I'm going to console my sick little self with 6 hours of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett in Blu-Ray High Definition, then hopefully later this week play along with this fun challenge!

Christmas Greetings

Happy Thursday!  This week is just soaring by and I still haven't had a chance to stamp, so I'm just going to change up the scenery with this card from my stash.  This is actually the card that inspired this week's Mojo163 sketch.  It's a contest week, so be sure to play along for a chance to win some Verve!

It uses the sweet Teeny Trees set from Waltzingmouse Stamps and was made during one of my clean and simple ivory card base phases.  The dry embossing folder on the ivory as well as the cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon is from the SU! mini catalog and I used Long Rectangle Nestabilities and accented each scallop with a white gel pen.  Both the greeting and the star garland are embossed in white and I added a sweet little bird below my tree.  The finishing touch was a 6mm gold star rhinestone from Pizzazz Aplenty above the tree.

I hope you're having a fabulous week!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

So Grateful

Happy Tuesday!  I've been busy packaging stamps and shipping orders, so there hasn't been any stamping time for me in the past several days.  Luckily, I still have a few projects I made when I was hanging out at Laurie's to show you.  As you might be able to tell from the dreamy photo and doily, Laurie took this photo for me.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a personal photographer around to take pictures for you?  I'd love that!!! 

This card uses one of my favorite sentiments from the Bountiful Harvest set.  I stamped it on a Labels 14 die cut, then added some sponging and a thin mat.  The paper is some Fancy Pants Christmas paper I found on our trip to Missoula and the Old Olive is embossed with a QuicKutz embossing folder and distressed with a paper distresser.  The flower is from an SU! die I discovered in Laurie's stash and the leaves are a punch bunch punch.  I finished off with some fancy black ribbon, a button in the center of the flower and three little black rhinestones on the sentiment.

That's all for today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you find a little time for creativity today!

Mojo Winter Wishes

Happy Monday!!!  It's the first Monday of a brand new month and that means it's time for a contest over at Mojo Monday!  Play along with us this week for a chance to win your choice of any Verve stamp set.  We'll have up to SIX winners, so don't be shy!  :)

For this week's sketch, I chose a simple layout that makes for an easy card - exactly what I'm looking for with the holidays quickly approaching and my having less free time than ever before!  For my card, I pulled out the brand new Merry Wishes set to work with.  First I cut the ivory rectangle and a black mat, then I masked off the edges of the rectangle with removable tape and randomly stamped the two sizes of berry sprigs in black ink, then colored with Copics and added some Frosted Lace Stickles.  The sentiment is embossed in white on a Labels 16 Nestabilities die cut, then trimmed to fit my rectangle.  The long scallop rectangle is accented with a little white opal liquid pearls for a festive look.

The pretty paper is from the Cottage Christmas line by Imaginisce and I tied a shimmery black bow and dangled a couple Tim Holtz Baubles pearls that Tosh gave me when we were in Missoula.  Super simple, but I love how it turned out!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a splendiferous day!