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Just Because

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I have a just because card to share.  The grandparents were over last weekend, which meant I had a little time Sunday afternoon to just play in my studio and this is what came out of that session.


The stamps are from the Great Friend set and I cut the flowers by hand, then popped up on dimensionals and added some glass glitter and a metal flower embellishment for some interest.  The rusty layer is stamped with the solid flower in Rusty Hinge for a bit of texture, then I added the Just Because sentiment on a little hand cut sentiment flag.  A bit of distressing, some wrinkled ribbon and a couple triple pearl stick pins and the card was done.

Okay, it's back to babies for me.  Hope you have a fantastic day and thanks so much for stopping by to say hi!


Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Great Friend (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  On the Bright Side - Two (MME), Basic Gray (SU!), white
Ink: Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Rusty Hinge (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: wrinkled ribbon (Prairie Bird Boutique), triple pearl stick pins (Maya Road), metal flower embellishment (Making Memories), glass glitter (SU!), paper distresser

Look Out World

Hi friends!  Another weekend flew by and it's Monday morning again and that means it's time for a new Mojo Monday sketch.  This week is a round or square option and the sketch is designed by... ME! {grin}

My card for today is for a friend who's having a baby girl soon and hates pink.  I still included a little hot pink in there, but thought the green, black and grey in this Amy Tangerine paper gave it a funky, artsy look instead of the traditional baby pastel.  Unfortunately {due to the unpredictability of life with twins}, the card was only half finished when it was time to leave for the shower, so I had to grab a traditional card from my stash and figure I'll save this one for after the baby arrives.

The stamps are all from the To the Moon set.  The elephant is paper pieced onto DP.  I whitewashed the grey patterned paper with watered down white paint to dull the pattern a bit and make the shape of the elephant stand out more.  The background for the elephant is painted with a mixture of white paint and India ink, then I added the clouds with white paint and glopped (yep, that's the technical term) on some Glass Bead Gel to give it some texture.

The base of the card is cut with the Grand Big Scalloped Circles Nestabilities and I doodled a frame with a white gel pen and accented each joint with a teardrop pearl from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Okay, that's all folks!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a fabulously inspired week!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: To the Moon (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Amy Tangerine Sketchbook (American Crafts), Basic Black (SU!), white
Ink: Black Soot (Ranger Distress), white gel pen
Accessories:  Grand Big Scalloped Circles, Grand Classic Circles, Classic Circles and Classic Squares Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Glass Bead Gel (Golden), White acrylic paint (Claudine Hellmuth STUDIO), India Ink (Dr. Bombay), teardrop pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty), polka dot ribbon (May Arts)

Make the World Special

Hi friends!  Happy Friday!  The end of the week always means a new Viva la Verve! sketch and this week's sketch is designed by my fabulous friend, Teresa.  It's the last sketch of the month, so you have until next Thursday (6/28) to finish all four June sketches to be eligible for our prize drawing!


For my card I started by picking up one of my new paper pads from last week's shopping excursion.  I loved the colors in this Howdy Doody paper, so based my card around that.  I flipped the sketch upside down, but otherwise stayed pretty true to it.  The sentiment from Feel the Sun is stamped onto a Tagged Rectangle die cut and I pieced the flower together, stamping directly on the patterned paper and then shading with Distress Ink markers and a waterbrush.  The horizontal piece is crimped in my paper crimper and then clipped on with a mini library clip.

I embellished with a little linen thread, randomly coated with glossy glaze and sprinkled with champagne glass glitter.  A little scallop trim border on eithre end of my large panel and some Topaz czech rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty finish things off.

That's all from me today!  I hope you have a fabulous weekend.  We've got a busy one planned with a trip to meet up with our trainer at the gym, a baby shower for some dear friends and a birthday celebration for my father-in-law.  Hooray for our new nanny who is making it possible to crawl back into the land of the living from time to time. {grin}


Enabler's List:
Stamps: Feel the Sun (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Howdy Doody Miss Caroline (My Mind's Eye), Early Espresso (SU!), Cream
Ink: Coffee Archival, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, Barn Door, Spiced Marigold, Bundled Sage and Forest Moss Distress Markers (Ranger)
Accessories:  Tagged Rectangle Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Scallop Trim border punch, mini library clip, Champagne Glass Glitter (SU!), Paper Crimper (EK Success), linen thread (TCP), Smoked Topaz Czech Rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty), Glossy Accents (Ranger), sewing machine)


Canvas Father's Day

Hi friends! Today I'm sharing the card I made my Dad for Father's Day. I recently picked up a pack of sticky back canvas, and wanted to give it a go with distress inks. I just love the look of the canvas once it's inked!


The image is from Abundant Blessings and I stamped it repeatedly with Coffee Archival ink.  Next I sponged and blended inks onto the canvas in Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Scattered Straw, Mellow Moss and Peeled Paint, as well as a little Brushed Corduroy on the edges.  Next I shaded the image using Distress Ink markers.  The sentiment is from the Dad's Day set and I stamped it on a Ribbon Banner Die, then ran the top and bottom through my paper crimper and sponged with distress ink.  The card base is embossed with the Cracked Texture Fades folder and I finished off with a little burlap and a clip.

Enabler's List:Stamps: Abundant Blessings, Dad's Day (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Cream, Crumb Cake (SU!), Sticky Back Canvas (Claudine Hellmuth)
Ink: Coffee Archival, Brushed Corduroy, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Scattered Straw, Mellow Moss and Peeled Paint Distress (Ranger)
Accessories: Ribbon Banner Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Cracked Texture Fades, metal clip (Tim Holtz), paper crimper, corner rounder, burlap

Birthday Balloons

Hi friends!  The weekend flew by and it's Monday morning again already.  And that means it's time for a new sketch over on the Mojo Monday blog.  This week's sketch was designed by Mary Fish.  My father-in-law's birthday is this week, so I took the opportunity to make a masculine birthday card.


For the squares on the sketch, I chose to use sentiments from Super Dad and Birthday Bash.  The balloons are from Birthday Bash and I paper pieced them onto the Simple Stories Aweso{ME} paper (which I whitewashed with a little watered down butter cream paint to subdue the pattern so the balloons would pop).  The twill is stained with distress stains and the background is core'dinations cardstock embossed with a Tim Holtz texture fades embossing folder and then sanded with a nail file.

Well, that's all for today.  I hope you have a fabulous start to your week.  Be sure to head on over to the  Mojo Monday blog to see the inspiration from the rest of the design team using this sketch!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Birthday Bash, Super Dad (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Aweso{ME} (Simple Stories), Tim Holtz Distress Forest Moss (Core'dinations), Cream
Ink: Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen, Forest Moss Distress, Coffee Archival (Ranger)
Accessories: mini library clip (SU!), twill, buttercream craft paint, paper distresser, Tim Holtz Gridlock Texture Fades (Sizzix)

Mixed Media Thanks

Hi friends!  Happy Friday!  Today I have a card to share using the June Week 3 Viva la Verve sketch designed by Janelle.  Normally the last sketch of the month is Clean and Simple, but this month the girls had to do a swaperoo due to scheduling conflicts, so this week is our CAS sketch for June.  Which you might not be able to tell from my card!  LOL  I totally forgot until I was gluing the last piece down that this was CAS week.  And I even had a perfect plan for it, just forgot when I sat down to stamp.  Some days a girl just wants to get INKY, ya know?


So this is another mixed-media styled card.  The color inspiration came from my new favorite t-shirt (which is in the wash right now, or I'd show you a pic).  I used distress inks and stains for most of the background effects, adding some ivory craft paint when needed and giving a little texture with some of the stamps from Making a Statement.  Oh and I added a little white burlap behind the die cuts and embossed the background piece with the Lattice Squares folder.  My focal piece uses the Classy Label Die, Embossed Oval Die, and theLoopy Blooms Die Set. The center flower is colored with distress ink markers and a water brush, then accented with Stardust stickles.

The ribbon is some wrinkled seam binding that I added distress stains to, then inked and painted a Studio Calico wood veneer butterfly for the center of it and added some flatback pearls and a triple pearl stickpin from Pizzazz Aplenty.  The sentiment is from Making a Statement, but I did a little masking to stamp it on one line instead of two.

Okay, that's the end of my short little break.  Time to go feed Kellan.  Since Trevor stole the limelight the other day, here's a little pic of Kellan yesterday. He was all smiles and giggles until the camera came out, and then the serious face came to stay.  LOL  One of these days we'll catch a smile on camera.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a fantastic weekend.  I'm hoping to hit the greenbelt at some point and test out my brand new bike that I got for Mother's Day and still haven't had a chance to ride!  Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Making a Statement (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Cream, Basic Gray (SU!)
Ink: Broken China, Spiced Marmalade, Pumice Stone (Ranger Distress), Basic Gray (SU!)
Accessories:  Classy Label DieEmbossed Oval Die, Loopy Blooms Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), wrinkled seam binding ribbon (Prairie Bird Boutique), Lattice Squares embossing folder (SU!), Wood Veneer Butterflies (Studio Calico), white burlap, Stardust Stickles (Ranger), dark chocolate flatback pearls, triple pearl stick pin (Pizzazz Aplenty)

Shabby Birthday

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I'm sharing a card I made a few weeks back for my sister in law's birthday.  It was actually the inspiration for this week's Mojo Monday 245 sketch, but due to my "sleep-deprived-twin-brain" I totally forgot I'd made it until I was looking through my photo folder last night!  Doh!  As I was doing the sketch again on Monday I kept thinking it seemed awfully familiar, but I never did figure it out!  LOL


Anyhow, I went shabby chic to match these fun Pretty in Pink papers from Glitz.  The stamps are from the  Small Celebrations set.  I stamped the circle frame directly onto a Nestabilities circle die cut, then embossed and stamped the sentiment in the center in Rose Red.  The papers are inked up on the edges and I added a few rounded corners and a flower/hat pin/ribbon embellishment.  I accidentally cut the card smaller than I wanted it after I had punched the border on the edge, so I added a little rose red cardstock to finish it off.

Okay, that's all folks!  Hope you have a super fantastic day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Small Celebrations (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Pretty in Pink (Glitz), Early Espresso, Rose Red, Crumb Cake (SU!)
Ink: Early Espresso, Rose Red (SU!), Vintage Photo, Brushed Corduroy (Ranger)
Accessories: Classic and Scallop Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), flower (Prima), Triple pearl stick pin (PIzzazz Aplenty), clear embossing powder (JudiKins), Liquid Pearls (Ranger), Seam binding ribbon (SU!), dotted wave edge punch (EK Success), Swiss Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug), corner chomper (WRMK)

One

Hi friends!  It seems like the weekend just flew by and here it is Monday afternoon already!  I had every intention of making a Mojo Monday card this weekend, but Mark and I went out for an all day adventure on Saturday while the grandparents watched the twins and then yesterday was spent interviewing nannies so I can try to get back to working a few hours a week.  It looks like we found a great one, and she'll be starting next week.  Hooray!

Anyhow, at the boys' 3 month check-up last Friday the doctor prescribed some medicine to help with their acid reflux and I think it's definitely working as they've been content and happy almost the entire day and they've even napped a few times!  That gave me some precious moments to sneak off and make a card using this week's Mojo Monday 245 sketch designed by...  ME!  {grin}


As part of our all day excursion on Saturday (which was all about cheering me up since I've been so blue), I got to go to 3 different craft stores and bought all sorts of new paper, painting supplies and embellishments.  This On the Sunny Side paper has been out a little while and I've been just a bit envious every time I saw someone use it, since I didn't have it.  So it was the first thing out of my new treasures I wanted to use.  Everything on the card is pretty clean, which is a little different than my usual distressed style, but I liked the cheerful look of the straight edges mixed with all the curves.  The sentiment is the new One Day plain jane stamped in Poppy Parade, and the butterflies are cut with the All Aflutter Die Set and stamped with the coordinating stamp in Twitterpated and the All Aflutter plain jane.  I added a #1 sticker, which I colored with markers and clipped with a mini library clip, then accented the butterflies with some red rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Okay, that's all on the card front.  Here's a photo of Trevor taking a short nap this afternoon in his new monkey hat.  Who knew hats with ears could be so cute?  {grin}



Enabler's List:
Stamps: One Day Plain Jane, All Aflutter Plain Jane, Twitterpated (Verve Stamps)
Paper: On the Sunny Side (My Mind's Eye), Basic Gray (SU!), cream
Ink: Poppy Parade, So Saffron (SU!), pencil
Accessories: All Aflutter Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Classic & Pinking Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), tiny attacher (Tim Holtz), Poppy Parade twill, mini library clip (SU!), red flatback rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty), number sticker (Heidi Grace), corner chomper (WRMK)

Grace

Hi friends!  Happy Saturday!  Today I'm sharing a mixed media card I made yesterday.  We've had some long power outages around here lately, so yesterday the power company was upgrading the equipment on our street to make things more reliable.  Which meant another 3 hour power outage, so while the boys were taking a rare nap I stole away to the studio and got my fingers dirty!  {grin}

ETA:  I didn't think the earlier photo did this card justice, so I've updated it with one taken in my usual photo setup.  {grin}


I started with the June Week 2 Viva la Verve sketch turned on its side.  As usual, I made a few tweaks, but the basic bones of the sketch are there.   The background is made with the Doily stencil by Christy Tomlinson and some ink spray and paint.  The big scallop border is a sticker from Crate Paper that came in my Scarlet Lime Mixed Media kit (along with the Doily Stencil) a few months ago.  I added a little burlap for the curved panel on the sketch, then substituted butterflies (using the All Aflutter Die Set) for the circles, since it seemed to symbolize being changed, just like the quote.  The vertical panel is several layers of washi tape overlapping each other, then stained with a Faber Castell PITT pen.  I finished with some dark chocolate flatback pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty for the butterfly's body.

Not my usual photo set up, but if I waited to drag that all out it would probably be another couple weeks before this got posted and I wanted to cross something off my list this morning.  {grin}  Since I took the photo directly on my work desk after I made the card, here's another photo including my supplies.


Enabler's List: 
Stamps: Grace Plain Jane
Paper: cream, kraft
Ink: Jet Black Archival, Brushed Corduroy Distress (Ranger), PITT pens (Faber-Castell)
Accessories: All Aflutter Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE),Doily Stencil (Christy Tomlinson Designs), Mister Huey's Leaf Green (Studio Calico), Cobalt Teal Soft Body Acrylic (Liquitex), Traditional Tan Acrylic (Claudine Hellmuth), Pearl Acrylic Dabber (Adirondack by Ranger), paper crimper, corner chomper, border stickers (Crate Paper), flatback pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty), washi tape

One Day at a Time

Hi friends!  Happy Tuesday!  It’s the 5th of the month and that means it’s time for our Diva Inspirations hop.  Along with the hop this month, we have two brand new plain janes to debut, so hop along to see a mixture of old and new and maybe even win a prize!  If you just happened by, head over to the Verve Blog for the full hop list and to start from the beginning.  If you came from Jen Tapler's blog, then you're on the right track!


The two plain janes we’re releasing today started out just as word art I wanted to use in my art journal.  But the more I thought about them, the more I wanted them in stamp form.  The first few months with twins have been challenging to say the least and the phrase one day at a time has taken on new meaning for me.  In the first couple months with the twins I couldn’t handle thinking beyond one day without sobbing.  To get through each day I just had to focus on one hour at a time… anything else was just too overwhelming.  I couldn’t see a future for myself.  But as the boys have started sleeping a little more, the hours have stretched to days and now I’m happy to say I’m able to look forward about a week without becoming too overwhelmed.  And anytime I get too scared about how much my life has changed in such a short time, I try to remember this little phrase...  one day at a time.  That’s all I can do.

So my first art journaling session since last fall had to be centered on this One Day plain jane.  In the wee hours of the morning when I’m feeding the boys, I plan out art journal pages in my head.  This was one of those planned out pages.  I was so excited to try finger painting instead of using a brush - it was so freeing!  For the background, I used medium body acrylics, and then cut pieces of cardstock to form the flower petals.  To the left is a little close up of the flower which is finger painted with acrylic paints and white and black gesso and I hand doodled the stem.

For a little texture, I used a doily stencil in the corner with a little light molding paste, then spritzed with some Mr. Huey spray after it had dried.  I added a little more texture with the graph stamp from the Making a Statement set.  The One Day sentiment is stamped onto copy paper, glued behind the flower and then taped on with washi tape.  I finished with a little air art tool to make the white not so stark.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Be sure to check out all the prize details and the June sale info over on the Verve Blog.  Next up on the hop is the uber talented and super sweet Sankari!


Enabler's List:
Stamps: One Day Plain Jane, Making a Statement (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Watercolor 140 lb Visual Journal (Strathmore), copy paper
Ink: Medium Body Acrylics (Liquitex), Black Archival (Ranger), Black Gesso (Golden)
Accessories: Doily stencil (Christy Tomlinson), Light Molding Paste (Liquitex), Air art tool (SU!), washi tape (Recollections)