Flowers of Hope

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for a new Mojo Monday sketch!  This week is a round or square option and the sketch is designed by me.  You might recognize it as a slightly modified version of the No Matter What card I posted a while back.

I had the Stormy Skies ribbon collection (it's back in stock and on sale through 1/31) out on my desk and I loved the look of this light blue and grey together, so decided to go with that color scheme for my card.  Hope Blooms was in the pile of stamps I put on my desk earlier this year that I wanted to pull out and use more.  I just love the shabby flower in it.  So I stamped the 3 sizes of flower in black and embossed with black ink, then colored using a Stormy Sky distress marker and a water brush.  Each layer is hand cut, curled just a bit, sponged with a little Stormy sky distress ink and layered on dimensionals.  I also added just a hint of glossy glaze around the petals and dusted on some Dazzling Diamonds.

The sentiment is stamped on a white square and I stamped the medium flower around it in Stormy Skies ink.  It was a bit darker than I wanted so I blended a little with a water brush and then whitewashed over the flowers with a mixture of white paint and water.  This softened it up a bit, then I grunged it up with some Pumice Stone ink and a paper distresser.  The mat and partial Pennant Trim are cut from a shiny silver paper, but I used the same white washed mixture to tone it down just a bit.  The two seam binding ribbons are layered behind and I made a double bow for the corner.  The medium layer you can't really see very well in the photo, but it's a piece of vellum punched with a border and embossed with the same folder as the background of the card.  I lightly sponged it with the Stormy Sky ink and sponged the card base with Pumice Stone for a little differentiation.  A bit more distressing and some glitter and I was done.

Well, that's all on the card front.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulous start to your week.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Hope Blooms (Verve Stamps)
Paper: White, silver, vellum
Ink: Black Soot, Stormy Skies and Pumice Stone Distress (Ranger), White acrylic paint
Accessories: Pennant Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Stormy Skies ribbon collection (Verve Stamps), Curlique embossing folder (Sizzix), Stripes & scallops border punch (American Crafts), glossy glaze, dazzling diamonds glitter, distressing tool.
 

Snowy Grace

Hi friends!  Happy Friday.  This has been one of those weeks that was all work and no play.  And even though my work is usually play, this week work was WORK.  {wink}  After staring at numbers and rate charts all week, I decided it was definitely time to make something pretty.  Charmaine's CAS Viva la Verve Week 5 sketch seemed like the perfect jumping off point.

I was feeling a little wilted from the week and wanting to get artsy, so I pulled out a Donna Downey stencil I ordered a while back and some Gelatos.  I had intended to follow the sketch to a T, I mean really... there's not much there to change, but once I saw how my hollyhocks turned out, I couldn't bear to stamp over them, so I moved the sentiment to the top of the card.  It's the Grace plain jane and I stamped it in black ink first, then embossed over the top of it in white slightly offset to give a little depth.  The paper is brown paper bag, I just love how natural it looks.

The nitty gritty how to:  I taped my stencil down to a 4 x 5.25" piece of brown paper bag then went over the hollyhocks with first a pink gelato and then a coral gelato.  Next I blended as much as I could with my finger (with the stencil still on - be sure it's taped down really well so it doesn't slide), then went over it again for some more blending with a baby wipe.  At this point I used a pencil to outline the stems on the stencil, then pulled off the stencil and freehand outlined the hollyhocks (this makes up for any sliding of the stencil).  Next I added some white paint to t flowers.  I love the Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint that come in little bottles like Stickles.  So easy to apply! Next I blended the white paint with a slightly wet paint brush and let it dry for a minute.  Another quick run-through with pencil to outline anything that was covered up with the white paint and I was ready to distress.  I use a Tonic Distressing Tool to distress the edges of my paper. The trick is to not make it look uniform. Don't be afraid of ripping the paper. Use varying pressure as you work your way around the edges. If your paper isn't curling very much, spritz it with a little water and let it dry about 30 seconds, then try distressing again.  I did a soft little border around the paper bag panel with a white gelato to soften up the contrast and account for any of my whites not matching.  Then it's just glued to a card base and I finished with a little linen thread and a rhinestone.

That's a lot of typing for a 20 minute card!  LOL  It really was simple, though, and I can totally see myself making a bunch of these just changing up the colors and sentiment as a card set for gift giving.

Well, that's all from me today!  I hope you have a fantastic weekend and if you get a chance, be sure to give the VLV sketch a try.  This is the final sketch for January, so you have until Thursday to get all your cards done for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to Verve.  And I happen to know for a fact that there's some yummy new Verve releasing at the end of February that a gift certificate would totally come in handy for!  {wink}

Enabler's List
Stamps: Grace Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  brown paper bag, white cardstock
Ink: Black, Versarmark, white, pink and coral Gelatos (Faber-Castell), blank canvas studio paint (Claudine Hellmuth), pencil
Accessories: Hollyhock Stencil (Donna Downey), linen thread, rhinestone, white embossing powder, Tonic Distressing Tool (Ranger)

My Valentine

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for another Mojo Monday sketch to jumpstart your week.  This week we've got another CAS sketch from Carole Burrage, and I had so many ideas running through my head when I sat down to stamp.  I hope I find a little time this week to execute some of the other ones, because I loved how this quick little valentine came together.

I pulled out the new No Matter What set from Verve and this scrumptious seam binding from the Truly Madly Deeply Ribbon Collection (now back in stock!  Yay!).  It's a great match with Primose Petals, so I stamped the heart cluster and the sentiment on cream squares in Primrose, then sponged the edges with the same color ink.  The inner heart is stamped again and cut out, then popped up on top for some dimension and I added a bit of glossy glaze and a dusting of dazzling diamonds glitter.  The heart paper is from the Secret Crush Pink Paislee pad and I hand cut around the hearts for the border strip, then accented with some heart rhinestones.  I'm loving grey lately... especially pink and grey, so I matted with grey and wrapped my ribbon around it.  Used that heart embossing folder that I love again and added a few rounded corners to finish things off.  Easy peasy and under 20 minutes.  {I'm starting to get the hang of this quick crafting thing!}

Well, it's a 3 day weekend for Mark, so after spending the other 2 days finishing up some much needed baby proofing projects, today we're taking the boys to their grandparents and having a fun outing together.  Thanks so much for stopping by today... I hope you have a fantastic start to your week!

Enabler's List
Stamps: No Matter What (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Secret Crush (Pink Paislee), Basic Gray (SU!), Cream
Ink: Primrose Petals (SU!)
Accessories:  Truly Madly Deeply Ribbon Collection (Verve Stamps), rhinestone hearts (Recollections), Dazzling Diamonds glitter (SU!), Glossy Glaze (Ranger), heart embossing folder (Sizzix)

Krafty Valentine

Hi friends!  Happy Friday!  Do you have exciting plans for the weekend?  Absolutely nothing planned here, but that means there just might be a little time at some point I can sneak away to do a little crafting!

I snuck away from the boys the other day and made another 30 minutes or less card.  This one timed in at 21 minutes and that was with a good 3 minutes of searching for the heart embossing folder!  When I was at Michael's spending my Christmas gift cards last week, I happened across a Recollections pad of Valentine's paper that has both white and kraft based papers in it.  Talk about love!  It just jumped into my cart! {grin}

I was inspired by the pad to try a little white and kraft combo.  I usually choose one or the other, but was really digging the contrast of the white on the kraft.  Pulled out a little Island Indigo to match one of the ribbons in the Stormy Skies Ribbon Collection and got to stamping with the new No Matter What set.  The sentiment is stamped in Island Indigo on a Tiny Sweet Scallop die cut and I stamped the single heart repeatedly on both scallop edges, then filled in with a little Glossy Accents for an epoxy look.  The heart is stamped in Mix'd Media Inx and embossed, then I paper pieced the center heart with a scrap of paper and added a little more glossy accents.  The base is crumb cake and embossed with a Sizzix folder.  Super fun and the colors seem just a bit sassy.  Love it!

Okay, better get on with my work day.  Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Enabler's List
Stamps: No Matter What (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Love (Recollections), Crumb Cake, Island Indigo (SU!), White
Ink: Island Indigo, Crumb Cake (SU!), Mix'd Media Inx
Accessories:  Tiny Sweet Scallop Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Stormy Skies Ribbon Collection (Verve Stamps), Scallop edge punch (SU!), embossing folder (Sizzix), clear embossing powder (JudiKins), glossy accents (Ranger), corner chomper

Lots of Love

Hi friends!  Happy Tuesday.  Today I have another one of those little freestyle collage cards I threw together in 30 minutes or less.  I'm kind of really liking this style, especially since it's getting me to use up more of the scraps I have hanging out on my desk!

For my card I used a sentiment from the newly released No Matter What set, along with some die cuts using the From the Heart Die Set.  The papers are all scraps are from the sunshine card I made last week.  I added a few little heart rhinestones and some washi tape.  A big scallop square die and some SU! oval punches and a mini binder clip finish things off.

Hope you're having a fabulous week!  I had some much needed free time yesterday and was able to get caught up on about a month's worth of the tv show Parenthood.  Oh my word, is this season intense!  I've been balling my eyes out.  Still a couple more episodes to be caught up with the rest of the world.  It was just so fun to not have any screaming or whining and not to have to do any toy refereeing (the twins don't share well and it's a bit like breaking up a hockey fight... fists are flying, legs are flying, toys are flying.., both Mark and I have been stabbed in the eye multiple times with teethers... and we can say from experience that there are definitely a GREAT DEAL of things in life that are better than being stabbed in the eye with a sharp stick!).   Okay, not sure how I got on that tangent, but it's time for me to skee-daddle.  {grin}

Enabler's List
Stamps:  No Matter What (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Soho Garden (American Crafts), random scraps, Cream
Ink: Black
Accessories:  From the Heart Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), washi tape (Prima), paper crimper (Fiskars), oval punches & mini library clip (SU!), Big Scallop Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders), heart rhinestones (Recollections)

Masculine Mojo

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for a new Mojo Monday sketch!  This week's sketch is by Carole and is one of those that you can dress up or dress down for any occasion.  I was in the mood to make a masculine card (which rarely ever happens) when I sat down at my desk, probably because I just loved these Timeless 8.5 x 11 papers I found on my last trip to Michael's.  I mean really... what's not to love about kraft and black and all sorts of vintage patterns?  Done deal.  {grin}

Anyhow, I decided to go with a rounded square instead of a circle for my main panel, because the circles just seemed a little too feminine for what I had in mind.  I pulled out the Stronger Love set, and embossed the sentiment in white on the graph pattern paper, then colored with a Copic marker to give it a little definition and some not so white coloring.  The little tab is a Tim Holtz die cut, which I embossed a little heart from the heart swirls in the set, then outlined the tab with a pencil.  I also embossed the bigger heart in white on black, and colored with a Copic.  The ribbon is Graphic 45 and was white before I stained it with a combination of antique linen and vintage photo inks.  The border strip is the Pennant Trim Die and I outlined the black with a pencil as well.  Finished off with some mini gears as embellishment and some chevron embossing on the card base.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulous start to your week.  Be sure to head on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what all the other gals did with the sketch!  And if you haven't already, be sure to checkout the No Matter What Blog Hop for a chance to win some new Verve.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Stronger Love (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Timeless (Recollections), Black, Cream
Ink: Embossing Ink, Black Soot, Antique Linen, Vintage Photot (Ranger), Copic markers
Accessories: Pennant Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Tiny Tabs & Tags die and mini gears (Tim Holtz), ribbon (Graphic 45), corner chomper, chevron embossing folder (SU!)

Hopping With Love

Welcome to Verve's No Matter What Hop!  I'm the first stop on the hop today, so if you're just popping in you're in the perfect place for a little inspiration! There are prizes to be had, so be sure to read to the bottom of the post for prize info and the hop list!

Today we're releasing a lovely little set called No Matter What that you might have spied during Verve's Thanksgiving weekend sale. It's officially available for sale now, along with three brand new color collections of seam binding ribbon! Yep, as I was picking out ribbons for Christmas gifts, I just couldn't resist buying some for the store!  I just love me some ribbon!  {teehee}

Little did I know when I said we'd release NO MATTER WHAT that I (and my twin boys and hubby) would come down with the flu the day before the release.  I powered on through and {hopefully} the website is working and my posts behave according to schedule.  {grin}  For this card I stamped the heart flower image from No Matter What on patterned paper, then colored with Ranger Distress markers.  The sentiment is punched out with circle punches and I added some rhinestones.  The distressing is done with a grey gelato and a waterbrush.  I finished off with a ribbon in the corner using some of the scrumptious new seam binding from the Truly Madly Deeply Ribbon Collection.  Everything came together so quickly and I just love how it turned out.
 
Well that's all on the card front, but there's a bit more news.  As we're saying hello to a few new products today, we also say goodbye to a couple dear designers. This is our final hop with Amy and Tosh as part of the Divahood, so be sure to let them know how much their AMAZING Verve creations have inspired you.  I know I've learned so much from these gals in the past few years.  They have such enormous talent and strength of character and I consider myself blessed to know them.  They are truly beautiful inside and out and will be missed around the Verve-o-sphere.

 
So... want to know about the prizes for this hop? We're picking THREE mystery blogs from today's hop to select a random commenter to win No Matter What plus one of our three new collections of ribbon! So be sure to give a litle shout out in the comment section as you hop around to each blog on the list. Winners will be drawn from all of the comments on the mystery blogs. Check out the Verve Blog for all the prize details and deadlines.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Next up on the hop is Laurie!!!

1. Julee 7. Amy 2. Laurie 8. Andrea 3. Maureen 9. Betty 4. Teresa 10. Charmaine 5. Tosh 11. Janelle 6. Amber 12. Jen d.

Enabler's List
Stamps: No Matter What (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Secret Crush (Pink Paislee), Basic Gray (SU!)
Ink: Black, Distress Markers (Ranger), gelato (Faber Castell)
Accessories:  Truly Madly Deeply Ribbon Collection (Verve Stamps), Pennant Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), stripes & scallops knock out punch (American Crafts), circle punches (SU!), rhinestones, Tiny Attacher, paper distresser (Tim Holtz)

Sunshine for My Soul

Hi friends! Happy Tuesday! One of the things I've chosen to focus a little more on in my life is time management. I thought I was a pretty good time manager until two little souls showed up to prove how wrong I was. Now I'm trying to make peace with the fact that my time is no longer my own. So instead of focusing on all the things I can't do, I'm trying to focus on the things I CAN. Even if it's just in short little micro-bursts. {I'm the type of gal that likes to finish something when I start it, so it's a bit of mind shift to try to break projects up into more manageable tasks.} However, one of the things I want to do more is get into the studio. I'm a creative gal and my soul starts to wilt a bit if I spend too much time without a creative outlet.

So today, as soon as the nanny got here for my work day, I set aside 30 minutes to make a card. Now, that's not enough for a typical card of mine, but I recently read a bit about the freestyle collage style where you combine things that on their own wouldn't work together, but together they work.  I thought that was something I could do in about a half hour.

So here is my 30 minutes or less card... I used the Doodled Occasions set, because I just love the sentiment... you are sunshine for my soul. A few scraps from the Soho Garden collection were on my desk, so I went with those, added in some washi tape and some rosette lace. The sunshine is stamped on a scrap of pattern paper, then punched with a circle punch. I slit in between each ray with my scissors than rounded out the shorter rays. The face is paper pieced on top and I added a bit of glossy accents to both the sun and the sunshine portion of the sentiment to give it the look of an epoxy sticker. A library clip and a few little rhinestones finish things off. Don't you just love that little blue heart? It's actually from a nail art kit I saw at Claire's around Christmas time. (I totally got drawn in to the store by a HUGE Hello Kitty display!) The rhinestones were 50% off and I knew they'd be so fun to add to cards. I was right! {grin}

Okay, I have to get back to my work day, then a dentist appointment, so I better skeeeee-daddle. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a fabulous day!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Doodled Occasions (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Soho Garden (American Crafts), scraps
Ink: Black
Accessories: circle punch, petite and petite scallop ovals Nestabilities (Spellbinders), tiny attacher (Tim Holtz), library clip (SU!), washi tapes, rhinestones (Claire's Boutique), embossing folder (Sizzix), corner chomper

Being Awesome

Hi friends!  I read this Robert Frost quote the other day that said, “In three words I can sum up everything I know about life... it goes on."  That's so true, isn't it?  Even when it seems like your part of the world has stopped spinning, everything else just moves on.  That's pretty much how I felt about 2012 and now I feel like I'm watching a merry go round spinning and trying to figure out how to jump back on without causing bodily harm to myself!  {grin}  That doesn't really have anything at all to do with my card today, but it popped into my head when I started to type... "It's Monday again and time for another Mojo Monday."

There were a couple people who really helped me out this past year, so that was what was on my mind when I started making my mojo card for this week.  (Oh, it's a contest week, by the way, so be sure to play along for a chance to win some Verve!)  And after my last card, I decided to actually read a tutorial about the chalkboard technique and so I had to try it out again, embossing FIRST this time (which is way less messy than my original attempt!  LOL)  Happy Hello was another set on my mental list of sets to use, so I pulled it out and thought it would be perfect for the center circle in the sketch.  Anyway, how great is that sentiment?  Thanks for being awesome!  (I might be JUST A LITTLE biased!)

So, here's the skinny on the making of this card:  I embossed the circle and sentiment on black cardstock with Versamark ink and white embossing powder, then shadow stamped over it with Jasmine Mix'd Media Inx and rubbed a little extra ink on with my finger.  Punched this out with a 1-3/8" circle punch then matted on a Scalloped Flowers die cut.  The papers are from the Soho Garden collection and I colored the flowers on the paper and some of the book paper with prismacolor pencils and gamsol (oh, I also highlighted the word thanks in the sentiment as well), then distressed with white and black inks and a distressing tool.  I used the same chalkboard effect to stamp the polka dot border from Bountiful Backgrounds on the black cardstock.  I used a bit of the paper I had colored to cover a wood veneer butterfly, then accented with rhinestones.  The background is Sahara Sand, since white and cream were both just not right.  I distressed it with blacks and whites, embossed with an SU! folder and then randomly stamped some of the polka dot border around the edges.  A double layer of ribbon and lots of distressed edges finished things off.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  If you haven't yet, be sure to check out the Verve Diva Inspirations Hop post from yesterday.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Happy Hello, Bountiful Backgrounds (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Soho Garden (American Crafts), Basic Black, Sahara Sand (Ranger)
Ink: Versamark, Jasmine, Black (Mix'd Media Inx), Prismacolor pencils
Accessories:  Scalloped Flowers Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), tiny attacher, paper distresser (Tim Holtz), embossing folder, circle punch (SU!), ribbons, white embossing powder, wood veneer butterfly (Studio Calico), rhinestones, gamsol, decoupage

Enjoy the Journey and a Blog Hop

Hi friends!  Happy January!  I can't believe it's the 5th of the month and this is the first chance I've had to blog.  Nothing has gone according to plan this week and so I'm giving myself a pass for this past week and my 2013 officially starts.... NOW!  {grin}  Let the fun begin!  And speaking of fun... it's the 5th of the month, which means it's time for our monthly Diva Inspirations Hop!

I'm kicking off this choo-choo train, so you're all ready to go!  Just hop around to the list below to see some Verve-alicious eye candy using some oldies but goodies.  Leave a little comment on each blog and we'll draw a winner from one of the blogs' comments to win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve store!  Sound good?  All the prize details and info are on the Verve Stamps Blog today.  Okay, let's hop to it...

I've been filling in for Katrina this past week, shipping orders from our big year-end sale, and as I was packing orders, I rediscovered so many sets that I wanted to play with.  I'm hoping to spend a lot more time in my studio this year, and so I made a mental list of stamp sets I wanted to dust off.  First on the list was Bountiful Backgrounds.  I haven't used it in forever, but I LOVE it!  I love the sentiments, I love the backgrounds.  I'm totally going to keep this one out on my desk!  I paired it with Wings of Love.

I love the chalkboard technique I've been seeing on cards lately and wanted to give it a go.  Only when I sat down at my desk, I realized, I've just looked at cards, never really read how it's done.  So I went with the flow and used some white Mix'd Media ink, white embossing powder and basic grey ink to achieve the effect.  I then colored a little with a soft pink colored pencil to give it a rosy glow and added glossy accents to the wings on the heart as well as the journey part of the sentiment.   The stripes & dot background stamp from Bountiful Backgrounds is stamped in Pool Party and I stamped some hearts along the sides with stamps from the Wings of Love kit.  A couple layers of the Pennant Trim Die, some taffeta ribbon and some grey pearls finish things off.

That's all from me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Be sure to head on over to Bettys blog for the next bit of Verve inspiration! Here's the hop list...

	1. Julee	6. Amber
	2. Betty	7. Andrea
	3. Sankari	8. Charmaine
	4. Sony	9. Maureen
	5. Susan	10. Teresa

Enabler's List
Stamps: Bountiful Backgrounds, Wings of Love (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Secret Crush (Pink Paislee), Pool Party, Basic Gray (SU!)
Ink: Jasmine (Mix'd Media Inx), Basic Gray, Going Gray, Pool Party (SU!), Prismacolor pencils
Accessories:  Pennant Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), taffeta ribbon and cheveron embossing folder (SU!), pearls, corner rounder, Glossy & Crackle Accents (Ranger), Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), opaque white embossing powder (JudiKins)