Wild Thing Mojo

Hi friends!  It's the start of another week and that means it's time for a new Mojo Monday sketch!  This week's sketch is a simple one, so you can dress it up or dress it down as you wish.  I originally had a really frilly circle card in my head for this sketch, but when I sat down to stamp I was inspired by a few different things.

First up was this fabulous Zoology paper by BoBunny.  I've got a bit of a soft spot in my heart for animal prints.  Not for clothing, mind you - but accessories, you bet ya!  I've got a lovely zebra striped purse that I get compliments on everywhere I go, plus I recently became the proud owner of these fabulous little Hello Kitty zebra slippers!  Can you say purrrrrrr?  {grin}  They definitely make this Hello Kitty lover's heart sing!

Next up, I was inspired to use the Wild Thing set after seeing some of the adorable samples by Colleen Schaan in the new Copic Coloring Guide.  It's always been one of my favorite sentiments, and when I saw her use it with a couple different jungle creatures, I couldn't wait to pull out this adorable little giraffe from To the Moon.  I colored him with Copics and paper pieced his scarf, stamping the Wild Thing sentiment at the bottom of the square and rounding opposite edges.  For my embellishments, I chose to add a few free flying kites, accented with gold pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty and some baker's twine.  Best of all, the whole card was done in less than 30 minutes and I was able to spend Sunday afternoon with family!  Hooray!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a fabulous start to your week and find a little time to get your Mojo on amidst all the busy-ness of life!

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Wild Thing, To the Moon (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Zoology (BoBunny), Basic Black (SU!), Cream (Neenah)
Ink: Jet Black Archival, Vintage Photo Distress (Ranger), Copic markers
Accessories:  Dotted Wave punch (EK Success), baker's twine (SU!), shiny gold pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty), diamond glaze (Judikins), Corner Chomper (WRMK)  

Blooming and Growing

Happy Friday, friends!  Do you have big plans for the weekend?  My plan is no work, all play!  LOL  That never happens, but a girl can always dream, right?  Speaking of dreams, every time I close my eyes for the past couple weeks, I see an art journal page in my mind.  It's predominantly oatmeal with lots of texture, bits of yellow sponging, and some black and cream accents.  So imagine my delight when I was strolling through the craft store the other day and came across the Authentique: Blissful line in this exact color combination?  Heavenly, I tell ya!  And while it's not the art journal page I've been dreaming about, I had a blast making my sample card for this week's Viva la Verve! sketch, brought to you by the talented Teresa Kline.

I flipped the sketch horizontally since the stamped sentiment didn't look nearly as cool stamped up the side as it did in my head!  LOL  Mainly I just played around with my new paper, making my own flower embellishment with the Floral Circles Die Set and stamps from the Bloom & Grow Set.  The leaves were cut out with the Elegant Leaves Die, then I stamped with the coordinating leaf stamp in Crumb Cake, then added stitch accents with a pen and lightly shaded with some stampin' pastels for a softer look.

I just love this bloom and grow sentiment.  Maybe it's because I feel like I'm blooming and growing.  Mark and I have made some really positive lifestyle changes and I am beginning to feel healthier, more energetic and a whole lot better about myself.  And while we've lost quite a bit of weight in the past weeks, it really hadn't sunk in how much change was happening in my body.  But this week we finally had some warmer weather, and I pulled out my shorts from last year, and they're huge!  As in I had to buy shorts that were 4 sizes smaller huge.  Now one of those sizes probably came off over the past year, but 5 weeks ago, I was 3 sizes bigger than I am today.  Crazy and so exciting!  And no, there's no crazy pill or diet or magic wand.  It's just that age old principle... burn more calories than you consume.  We're eating healthy, well-balanced meals regularly with whole foods, limiting processed high calorie foods, taking supplements for proper nutrition and working out.  But 98% of it has just been changing the way we eat.  It's truly amazing.  Mark's mantra has been that 4 weeks are going to go by no matter what.  At the end you can either feel the same way as you do today, or you can make some changes and feel better.    I vote for change!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulous weekend.  If you have some time, be sure to play along with Viva la Verve!  All four of the June sketches are posted and there's even a printable pdf of  the June VLV Sketchbook.  You have until next Thursday to get your entries in for a chance to win our next release!  Viva la Verve!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Bloom & Grow (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Blissful (Authentique), Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Crumb Cake (SU!)
Ink: Crumb Cake (SU!), Scattered Straw Distress, Jet Black Archival (Ranger)
Accessories:  Floral Circles Die Set, Elegant Leaves Die (A Cut Above by Verve), Labels 19 Nestabilities (Spellbinders), button, black wrinkled ribbon (May Arts), sewing machine, border punch (EK Success), Corner Chomper (WRMK)

I'm So Glad

Happy Wednesday, friends! Yesterday was my father-in-law's birthday, so I thought I'd share another masculine card I made this weekend. This one uses stamps from Father Figure and Deconstructed Sketch #6.  I just loved this sketch and have so many more ideas to test out with it.

When I was cruising around ShopKo the other day, I saw a display of metallic water bottles that were navy, green, aqua and teal and filed it away as a fun color combo to try.  Here I pulled out Night of Navy, Pear Pizzazz, Not Quite Navy and Baja Breeze and used my new Tim Holtz Tattered Banners die for the strips.  Each is stamped with the "I'm so glad you're my" sentiment and I used the same stamp, but split the sentiment up onto two lines to use on a Wide Oval punch that was first stamped with the oval frame from Dad's Day.  The Dad sentiment is stamped in Not quite Navy, and I added a little divider of twine above and below it, then stamped the dotted border stamp onto a leftover piece from the Tattered Ribbons Die, inked up the edges and added a little distressing to make it look "manly".

No time for chitchat today, so much to do!  I hope you have a fabulous day!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Father Figure, Dad's Day (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Night of Navy, Pear Pizzazz, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso (SU!), Cream
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Pear Pizazz (SU!), Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories:  Lime Divine Twine (TCP), Wide Oval Punch (SU!), Crop-a-dile, paper distresser, Tattered Banners die (Tim Holtz)

Hope Is the Thing

Hi friends!  Today I've got my second ever art journal page to share with you.  It's one I needed to make after a very rough day.  You know those days when no matter how hard you try to shine, it just feels like the world keeps putting a big snuffer over your teeny little spark of hope?  Yep, it was one of THOSE days.  And I needed to make sure that spark of hope stayed strong, so I hit the studio with some paint, ink, stencils, a magazine clipping and the Hope Perches Plain Jane.

It's amazing how therapeutic creating can be.  I felt that these forces of light and darkness were warring within me, and wanted to show that struggle within the colors, so focused on a predominantly light, uplifting green and blue combo, with a patch of dark blue India ink over on the left side.  I also wanted to show the rise of hope within, so I added some vine stenciling up the side of the page, with patches of hope (stamped onto a vintage book page) spread all around.  Isn't the stenciling cool?  I've had stencils collecting dust in the closet for years, but always thought they were kind of boring.  Then I recently started watching some videos from Journal Artista, as well as from Christy Tomlinson that made me re-think these little tools and now I'm having SO MUCH FUN playing around with them.  I love rediscovering something I thought was ordinary and finding it was so much more!

Okay, back to the page.  Most importantly, I wanted to show a brightness coming out of the darkness, so added a stencil of a branch in white over the darkest part of the page.  Because even through our darkest times, we grow, and sometimes even FLOURISH.

I came across and E. E. Cummings quote a few weeks ago that has really captivated my thoughts lately.  It goes like this...


"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being could fight; and keep fighting."

Isn't that great?  It sums up how I feel and inspires me to keep fighting those voices that keep telling me I need to be something other than exactly who I am.  No pretenses, no excuses.  Just me.  I hope you find a little inspiration today to beat to your own drum and marvel in the wonder that is you!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Hope Perches Plain Jane, Bountiful Backgrounds (Verve Stamps)
Paper: bird and nest image from magazine article, 9 x 10 Sketch Journal, vintage book page
Ink: Coffee Archival Ink (Ranger), Bombay India Inks, Golden heavy body acrylics, Kaisercraft Craft paint, Big Brush PITT pen (Faber Castell)
Accessories: Gesso (ProArt), vine stencil (Prima), branch and flower stencil (Delta), ModPodge

Father's Day Mojo

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and that means it's time for another Mojo Monday sketch.  This week's sketch is fairly simple, with room for embellishment, but clean enough for either a masculine or feminine style.  I used the sketch and the Dad's Day and Happy Phrases sets to make this Father's Day card for my father-in-law.

As I moved things around in my studio to make room for the new blinds to get installed, I came across this Good Day Sunshine Boy paper from My Mind's Eye and thought it would be perfect for a masculine card.  The aqua paper is the same print as the polka dot star, I just ran it through the Cuttlebug with the SU! lattice embossing folder and sponged the edges with Vintage Photo ink.  The oval frame from Dad's Day is hand trimmed and I punched out the inner section with the SU! wide oval punch and popped up.  The sentiment from Happy Phrases is stamped onto a Charming Banner Die and I embellished with some really cool nailheads from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Not a lot of chitchat from me today.  Mark is patiently waiting on me to finish up, so I've got to run.  I hope you have a fantabulous start to your week!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Dad's Day, Happy Phrases (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Good Day Sunshine - Boy (MME), Early Espresso (SU!), Cream
Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler (SU!), Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress
Accessories: Charming Banner Die (A Cut Above by Verve), Silver Checked Nailheads (Pizzazz Aplenty), Small Star punch, Wide Oval punch, Circle Punches,  Lattice embossing folder (SU!)

Birthday Pinwheel

Hey friends!  Happy Friday!  It's time for another Viva la Verve sketch, and this week Sankari's got a fabulous one for you.  I went with a summer theme to double as a card for the current Get Your Diva On challenge.  Deadline to play along with the GYDO challenge and have a chance to win a Guest Diva spot is this Sunday night.  Check out all the details on this thread in our forum.

When I think of summer, I think of birthdays.  My own is in late July, but the "birthday season" officially kicks off this weekend with my mom and father-in-law and then just picks up speed all through the next two months.  I can't believe how many birthday cards I need in the next 30 days.  So when I sat down to stamp, I wanted a really fun, summery birthday card and this Splash paper from Echo Park totally fit the bill.  Nothing too major here, just had fun using lots of toys and dies I hadn't used in a while.

Today we're getting the new blinds I ordered a while back installed!  Hooray!  The blinds we currently have in my studio get so much sun and are of the cheapest material ever, so they're literally cracking and disintegrating.  One wrong touch and they crumble!  So needless to say I'm ecstatic that the new blinds are finally here!

Well, I better get a move on.  There's lots to do before the weekend is officially here.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulously creative day!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Birthday Phrases (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Splash (Echo Park), White
Ink: Black (TCP Studios)
Accessories: Pinwheel Die and Sentiment Flags Die (Lil' Inker Designs), Icing and Big Scallop CutUps (The Cat's Pajamas), Jumbo Bracket Label and 1"Circle punch (EK Success), lace trim (Webster's Pages), Teardrop Rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty), glass glitter (SU!), flower (Prima), Rays Texture Fades (Tim Holtz), Stickles

She Was Artistic

Hi peeps!  It's Tuesday, and I'm popping in with my very first art journal page that I mentioned last week.  This one uses watercolor crayons, pan pastels, decoupage, paint, india ink and liquid pearls.

I've been taking the She Had Three Hearts art journaling workshop from Christy Tomlinson.  The class is technically over, but because of my crazy schedule I'm just starting the week 2 videos.  They are so informative, covering so many different forms of mediums, doodling, techniques, etc.  You get to go at your own pace, and the videos and curriculum are available for  three months, so it's perfect for people with busy schedules like mine.  This class runs again in late July, so if you've been wanting to know what art journaling is all about, but are unsure what to do and what types of products to get, this is a great jumping off point.

The class title is She Had Three Hearts and it comes from an old Chinese proverb that a woman has three hearts... the one she shares with the world, the one she shares with her family and the one she shares with only herself.  One of the exercises was to ask friends and family what words they would use to describe you.  I asked Mark and at the top of his list were the words loyal (how sweet) and artistic, so that was the inspiration for this page.  I started by laying down some color with Neocolor II Watercolor crayons, then blending with water.  I added some Faber Castell Gelatos for some richer color, drawing and coloring in the red heart, then doodling around it with a Faber Castell Pitt pen.  Since I love music, I wanted to incorporate it as one of the hearts in the page, so I cut a primitive heart from music sheet paper, inked it with vintage photo ink and wrote the word artsy on it, then cut the phrase "and she was" from an old book and added it over the two hearts.  I tried to paint little dots around my heart, but it wasn't turning out as I planned, so I went to my old standby... liquid pearls!!! Here's a little close-up of the detail on the page...

The flourishes on the right side are stamped with paint with a foam stamp I found in the dollar bin at Michael's.  When I was looking for the sheet music, I found a scrap of dictionary paper from some packaging I had saved that just happened to have the word loyal on it!  I couldn't believe it, so I ripped off that section, laid it down with some decoupage and highlighted the definition, then added some pan pastels and watercolor crayons around the edges.  A few scribbled words to finish the journaling and some background stamping with the polka dot background from Bountiful Backgrounds and I was done with my very first page.

For those of you who are interested, I'm using a 5.5 x 8" Strathmore Visual Journal.  I thought I had bought the mixed-media version, but I ended up with the watercolor version, which has a bit more texture and thickness to the page, so it was kind of fun to see how the different mediums worked on it.  I actually enjoyed it more than the smooth paper I used for the next page I made.  But that's for another day, since I've got to run to an appointment now!

Hope you enjoyed a first peek at my art journaling.  Have a fabulous day!


Enabler's List:
Stamps: Bountiful Backgrounds (Verve), flourish foam stamp (Michael's)
Paper:  vintage dictionary and sheet music pages, Strathmore Visual Journal - Watercolor
Ink: Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Jet Black Archival Ranger ink, Faber Castell Gelatos, Neo Watercolor II crayons, PanPastels, Claudine Hellmuth paint, Faber Castell Pitt Pen Brush marker
Accessories: liquid pearls, Primitive Heart die (Sizzix), ModPodge, Gesso

Sunny Yellow Joy

Happy Monday!  It's the start of a new week, and that means that it's time for a new Mojo Monday sketch!  This week's sketch was designed by Debbie Carriere and I just loved the feminine lines to it, so went with a really girly card using the Hope Blooms set.  Be sure to check out the Mojo Monday blog for this week's sketch and inspiration from the Mojo Design Team!

My Mojo card also doubles for the Get Your Diva On challenge that's starting today!  Play along this week for a chance to be a future Guest Diva!  Laurie is our hostess with the mostess and she's challenging you to Bring on the Summer, Sunshine, and Blue Skies.  Check out the challenge thread in our forum for all the details on how to enter. Deadline for entry is Sunday, June 19 at 9pm Mountain.

This paper totally made me think of sunshine, and after five days with a constant migraine I needed a little sunshine yesterday.  And some time in the studio definitely improved my outlook.  It's so amazing to me just how therapeutic picking out pretty papers and embellishments can be.  I found this paper in a pile of paper pads that had already been forgotten, even thought I've probably only used it once.  I love the bright, happy colors... yellow, green, red and pink.  I've always loved these colors.  When I was young (around 5) I had a sweet pale yellow tank top that had a tiny bit of scallop trim around the collar and arm straps, and the word JOY screen printed in big red, green and pink letters.  I LOVED that tank top.  Loved, loved, loved.  And if my mom would have let me, I'm sure I would have worn it every single day of the summer.  Even then, color made me HAPPY.  And this card totally reminds me of that tank top... just like a sun-drenched day of pure happiness.  I hope you find a bit of sunshine today, whether it's the real kind or the paper variety!

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Hope Blooms (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Emma's Shoppe (Crate Paper), Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi (SU!), Ivory
Ink: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Coffee Archival (Ranger), Rose Red, Wild Wasabi (SU!)
Accessories:  Floral Circles Die Set (A Cut Above by Verve), Leaves die (Sizzix), Eyelet border punch (SU!), Classic and Petite Scallop Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), pink pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty), liquid pearls (Ranger), Lemon Yellow Stickles (Ranger), sewing machine, ruffled ribbon, corner rounder

Let Freedom Ring

Happy Friday, friends!  Friday makes me happy for so many reasons, not the least of which is that it means I'll soon have two whole days to spend with my best friend and husband, Mark!  Another reason to love Fridays, is that a new Viva la Verve! sketch is here!  This week's hostess is Andrea and she has a rockin' sketch for y'all.  I took a few liberties with my card using this month's featured set, American Hero (40% off this month!), but the inspiration is still there, and that's all that matters.  {grin}  So get your stamp on and come play with us each Friday in June and you just might win a bundle of Verve goodies! 

In between appointments yesterday, I took a little stroll into our local craft store and found this gorgeous  Liberty paper pad by Bo Bunny.  I love me some Americana, so I wasn't home more than a few minutes before this paper was getting inky on my stamp desk!  When I showed Mark the card he thought it was so cool and asked what style it was.  I said my own.  LOL  That's so me... never wanting to put a label on anything.  (Nobody puts Baby in a corner!)  {grin} 

Anyhow, this card was just pure fun.  I was thinking about freedom the whole time I made it.  Not just the freedom I have as an American, but the freedom to live my own life and make my own choices.  The freedom to do something about the things I don't like about my life and the freedom to say "take a hike" to the things that aren't working.  The freedom to walk and breathe and enjoy the sunshine.  The freedom to work in an industry I absolutely love.  The freedom to have a voice and share my art and become who I want to be.  There's a quote by George Elliot that says, "It's never too late to be what you might have been."  To me that speaks of freedom.  The power to change...a hope for the future.  I hope all of you find a little bit of freedom to bask in today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!


Enabler's List:
Stamps:  American Hero (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Liberty (BoBunny), Crumb Cake (SU!), Cream
Ink: Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress), Poppy Parade, Night of Navy (SU!)
Accessories: Primitive Stars (Sizzix), Star rhinestones (Recollections), 1" circle punch (EK Success), twine, polka dot EF (Cuttlebug), Corner Chomper (WRMK), paper distresser (Tonic)

Look Out World

Hi there, friends!  How's your week?  I've had a crazy one so far, which means there hasn't been any stamping time. I do however have a CARS (clean & relatively simple) card I made a couple weeks ago with Debbie's Mojo 192 sketch that I never shared.

I just love the look out WORLD sentiment from To the Moon.  It's so full of hope and optimism.  The sentiment  perfectly describes how I feel right now.  I've been faced with a few challenges recently that have my head spinning a bit.  In fact, all I really want to do is curl into a ball on my bed and cry.  But I know that's not going to make anything better, so I've decided to do everything in my power to change the things I can.  I am a very determined person and I've got my sights on a pain-free, drug-free, long, healthy life.... so look out world!

Yesterday, my chiropractor and I were talking about focus.  He said that if you want something, first believe that you can achieve it, then line up your actions on that belief and focus your attention and thoughts on it, and you will eventually achieve it.  If you're not achieving the goals you set for yourself, take a look at what you're focusing on and what your actions have been, and you might see that you're sabotaging yourself.  I've definitely aligned and re-aligned my actions and thoughts over the past few weeks and can't wait to see where it takes me!

Okay, that's probably enough rambling for one day.  I did make my very first art journal page this weekend.  Do y'all want to see it?  I'm a little nervous because it's a lot different than what I normally post here, but if you're interested, I'll share it this week.  Have a fabulous day!

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  To the Moon (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  White, Black, Worn Lipstick (Coredinations)
Ink: Worn Lipstick (Ranger Distress), Jet Black Archival (Ranger), watercolor pencils (Faber-Castell)
Accesories:  Charming Oval Die Set (A Cut Above by Verve), Aquapainter, Petite Scallop Circles, Classic Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Wavy Edge Punch, Photo Corner Punch (EK Success), hearts embossing folder (Sizzix), liquid pearls (Ranger), black taffeta (SU!)

Thrifty Mojo

Happy Monday peeps!  It's the first Monday of the month, so that means it's contest time over on the Mojo Monday blog!  Play along with this week's sketch for a chance to win some shiny new Verve!

This was a super fun and quick card to make, and one of my favorite layouts in a while.  It's clean enough to work well for masculine or feminine cards.  Plus, if you're like me, you've got a plethora of pretty patterned papers (like the alliteration there?  LOL) piling up in your craft room and this sketch lets you USE it!  The paper I used today was actually some Thrifty Finds digi paper I printed out over a month ago and haven't had a chance to use yet.  I just love the colors and patterns in it and they look so pretty lined up in 1" strips like that.  The flower is made from all three sizes from the Hope Blooms set cut out with the Floral Circles Die Set and I split the sentiment up onto two sentiment flags.

Today's life lesson is a practical one.  If you've got an iPhone, sync it regularly and enable data wipe and auto lock with a passcode.  Mark's iPhone was stolen yesterday when we were at the gym and luckily he had those features enabled so all of his work emails and data are safe from the thief.  Unfortunately, he's out a phone, plus all of his contacts and appointments, since he hadn't synced it in quite a while.  You hope you never have to use those features, but they sure do give peace of mind when you need them!  Okay, that's all for my public service announcement.  I've got a mile long list of things to get done, so I better move along.  Have a little fun with paper this week, and if you've got time be sure to play around with this week's mojo sketch!  Have a fantastic day!

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Hope Blooms (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Thrifty Finds digital papers (Mari Koegelenberg), Early Espresso, cream
Ink:  Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress), Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Copic markers
Accessories:  Floral Circles Die Set (A Cut Above by Verve), Sentiment Flags die (Lil' Inker Designs), wavy edge border and 1"circle punch (EK Success), mat pack, air art tool, baja breeze seam binding (SU!)

Tropical Birthday Wishes

Happy Friday, peeps! It's the start of a new month of Viva la Verve! and Amber has a fun square sketch for us this week! I haven't had much time in the studio this week (I do wave to it every morning, though! {grin}), so last night when Mark was playing Xbox with his buddies, I snuck up to the studio and couldn't wait to get some color on!

I'm all about color right now. I've been watching video after video about art journaling, and it all starts by laying down some color. There is such a story that can be told with color, whether it's creating a scene or simply evoking emotion. I've been a little bit mopey lately, and when I get that way the best way to get myself out of a funk is to go create with some funky and fun colors. So that's what I did. Here I was trying to capture that amazing feeling of the ocean on a warm, sunny day. I live in a land-locked state and have only been to the ocean a few times in my life. The first time I saw the ocean, it captured my soul. Blue that went on forever, power and grace and beauty all rolled into one. I was sure that I had never been closer to touching the face of God. That day my soul stopped... and listened... and rested. And I decided in that moment that someday I would live by the sea and have morning devotions with the waves spraying around me. And so I continue pushing myself harder and harder, running a company by myself, getting up and working day after day, rain or shine, through pain and sorrow, so that one day my dream will become reality and I'll be writing you from my cottage by the sea. Dream it. Share it. Do it.

The Making Of:
I knew I wanted some island brights to go with the Happy Days set, so I used Shiva paintstiks to paint the oval and the bottom border. I colored the flowers with Copics, then chose pumpkin pie for the side pieces. I was afraid with all the orange and black it would look too Halloween-y, so I painted a little Gesso on the black mat and a few swooshes on the orange panels after stamping them with the polka dots from Bountiful Backgrounds. The birthday sentiment is cut out with the Charming Banner Die Set and I masked off the Mother's Day so just the WISHES stamped from a sentiment in Love Deepens. I finished off with a die cut edge, some doodling and some glitter glaze.

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Happy Days, Bountiful Backgrounds, Love Deepens (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  White, Black, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Jet Black Archival (Ranger), Iridescent Tropical Artist Painstiks (Shiva), Copic markers
Accessories:  Charming Banner Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Petite Ovals Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Polka Dot ef (Cuttlebug), midnight scrapper's floss (Karen Foster), Pinking border CutUps (TCP), Gesso (ProArt), black flatback rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty), diamond glaze, glitter

June Diva Inspirations Hop

Happy June!  It's the first day of a new month and that means I'm hopping along with the Divas to bring you some Verve inspiration.  There's a $30 Verve gift certificate up for grabs to a random commenter along the hop, so be sure to give a little love as you hop around.  The master hop list is at the bottom of this post.

We're featuring two stamp sets this month at 40% off...  Dad's Day and  American Hero.  Plus all sorts of stamps for the men in your life are on sale as well.  I used a sentiment from Dad's Day here and made a little scene with the palm tree from Relax.  I tore the "sand" from crumb cake paper, then added some pastels and spritzed with an air art tool.  The sky is done with pastels and I stamped the flourish in Versamark and rubbed pastels over it as well.

This card is on the simple side, but that's kind of how I usually go with masculine cards.  Mark (in his completely unbiased opinion) said it is one of his absolute favorite cards ever, so I must have captured my target audience!  LOL  I haven't had much creative time the past few weeks and it felt really good to get my hands dirty.

I don't really have any words of wisdom today, other than my new motto... just do what you can do.  I bit off way more than I could chew yesterday with two doctor appointments and a website reset, plus needing to make a card and write the two posts for this hop.  In the past I would have stayed up until the wee hours making a much more elaborate card, creating way more graphics for the website and generally just overdoing it.  Instead, I'm just going to let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.  Whisper words of wisdom... let it be.

So whatever is weighing you down today... let it be.  And take a little time to hop around the Divasphere...

1. Julee 9. Andrea 2. Betty 10. Sankari 3. Dawn 11. Maureen 4. Jen d. 12. Teresa 5. Jen T. 13. Tosh 6. Lynda 14. Amy 7. Shannan 15. Charmaine 8. Susan 16. Amber

We've hidden a little mystery prize on one of today's hop spots, so be sure to leave a little comment love as you hop around for a chance to win!
Comment Deadline: 11:59pm Mountain, June 5
Prize: $30 gift certificate to Verve

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Relax, Dad's Day (Verve Stamps)
Paper: White, Black, Crumb Cake
Ink: Coffee Archival (Ranger), Copic Markers, Burnt Sienna and Turquoise Tint PAN Pastels, Crumb Cake Marker, Pitt Journaling Pen, Versamark
Accessories:  Jumbo Eyelets (SU!), black scrapper's floss, Crop-a-dile