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hope dream fly

Hi friends!  Another week has flown by and it's time for the last March Viva la Verve sketch.  Get your sketch card entries linked up by next Thursday to be entered in our $100 Verve Stamps gift voucher giveaway.  This week's sketch is a sweet and simple layout from Anya.



I was on my way to an appointment yesterday when I had this idea to pair the Gown Die and the wings from Wings of Love.  I just couldn't wait to get home to test it out!  I pulled out some distress paints, stamper's big brush pens and pan pastels for my color mediums, then got to work grunging things up.

The dress is cut with the Gown Die from Pool Party cardstock.  I stamped over the die cut in Versamark with the coordinating stamp from Masquerade and then used Pan Pastels to color it in, adding white gel pen accents to the bottom and bodice.  The wings are from the Wings of Love  set, and are stamped on a manila tag, then colored with a white gelato, a white big brush pen and white gel pen accents.  The background is done with scattered straw and tumbled glass distress pains, then accented with some big brush pens to get a glow effect.  The hope. dream. fly sentiments are also from Wings of Love and I used the same background technique, also adding in some distressed polka dots with the background strip from Better Together and the white big brush pen.  I matted this with black, continuing with the distressed polka dot theme, then tied it together with some baker's twine.
The cream card base is done with distress paints and the same background stamp.

Was pretty much thinking of myself as I made this card. I  needed a little reminder to hope and dream and fly, as I'm beyond tired from the cough and fatigue that the pneumonia is still bringing. There's only so long a mom and business owner can be sick without consequences, and I'm pretty sure I've reached the limit.  Now it's time to fly.  {grin}

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hope you have a wonderful start to your weekend!

VLV March Week 4 Sketch
Enabler's List
Stamps: Wings of Love, Masquerade, Better Together (Verve Stamps)
Paper: pool party, basic black (SU!), manila tag (Ranger), cream (Neenah)
Ink: archival black ink, scattered straw and tumbled glass distress paing (Ranger), Pan Pastels, Stamper's big brush pens in white, dark sepia, sanguine and cobalt green, white Gelato (Faber-Castell)
Accessories:  Gown Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), baker's twine

Love Life

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for a new Mojo Monday sketch.  This week is a fun one from Wanda that you can easily dress up or down to suit your mood.


Unfortunately I'm still unable to shake my sickness.  Coughing and wheezing seem to be my new all-day companions,   In a rare period of no coughing yesterday I sat down to make a card.  It started with hot gluing one cream flower down in the corner, and that  felt so invigorating that  I just had to keep adding more and more until ALL. THE. THINGS. ended up on my card.  Seriously, I had to make myself stop before the card toppled over!

The sentiment is a favorite from the More than Love stamp set and I edged the circle with a bit of vintage lace trim and added some glass glitter randomly around the edges.  Each layer is sponged with antique linen and vintage photo and distressed lightly with a paper distresser.  The cream flower was a bit too stark, so I colored it with some tattered rose distress stain and adirondack gold paint.  More glass glitter coated a couple of paper leaves I had in the stash and I added tons of paper flowers and glass embellishments a well.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a wonderful start to your week!

Mojo Monday 390 Sketch
Enabler's List
Stamps: More than Love (Verve)
Paper: Miss Caroline (MME), cream (Neenah)
Ink: vintage photo, antique linen, walnut stain (Ranger Distress ink), tattered rose distress stain, Adirondack gold pain dauber
Accessories:  Classic circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), lace trim, paper flowers, glass vines, paper leaves, glass glitter, pearl stick pin, paper distresser

Much Joy

Hi friends!  It's Friday and time for another Viva la Verve challenge!  This week's lovely sketch is from the brilliant mind of Stacey.


I'm still down and under with pneumonia.  I keep waiting for the day I wake up and feel half good instead of fully miserable.  Today I feel half better than yesterday, so that's a step in the right direction, right?  My part-time nanny didn't have school today, so offered to come some extra hours. That meant I got a little stamping time in the morning before I feel so miserably exhausted I can't do anything but lay down and try not to cough.

For the sketch, I pulled out the Peaceful Medallions set.  I've been watching some old youtube videos and was reminded of the poppin' pastels technique, so did that hear with Versamark ink and Pan Pastels.  The blue layer started out white and the brown layers were crumb cake, then I just stamped randomly in Versamark ink and rubbed lightly with the pan pastels.  Love the end result.  I shabbied up the layers with a bit of distressing, then added a resist chipboard star, colored with pan pastels and lightly glittered.

That's all for me.  Hope you have a wonderful start to your weekend!  And as my boys happily said this morning...  bye by winterday, hello springday!

VLV March 2015 Week 3
Enabler's List
Stamps: Peaceful Medallions (Verve)
Paper: white, crumb cake (SU!), paper doily
Ink: brown sugar, soft sky (SU!), VersaMark, pan pastels
Accessories:  Stormy Skies Ribbon Collection (Verve), resist chipboard star (Heidi Swapp), thread, glitter

Shamrockin Mojo

Hi friends!  It's Mojo Monday time again and it's another simple-ish layout from me that you can dress up or down as you wish.


I'm going to make this short and sweet as both Mark and I have come down with pneumonia and just being at the computer is making me pretty shaky.  I did a little watercolor background for the sentiment with distress inks, then stamped the shamrocks from  Lucky You and cut them out with the Shamrock Die Set.  A bit of washi tape and some rhinestones finish things off.

Hope you're having a great start to your week.  I'm hoping my meds will start to kick some of this horrible coughing and lethargy and the healing will begin this week.  Alrighty, back to the couch!  :)

Enabler's List
Mojo Monday 389 Sketch
Stamps: Lucky You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: paddington (7 Gypsies), watercolor paper (Ranger), basic black (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: peeled paint, mowed lawn distress inks, black archival ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Shamrock Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), rhinestones, washi tape, string bling, air art tool

Viva la Yellow

Hi friends! It's Friday again and time for a brand new sketch over at the VLV Sketches blog. Our St. Patrick's Day princess, Moe, is this week's hostess and she has a super fun sketch for us!

My little family (including myself) has been super sick this week.  The kind of sickness that you don't think can get worse and then it does.  So we've had multiple trips to the doctor for the boys and us and pretty much time has stood still while the world spins madly on.  No one i showing signs of getting over it yet, so I think there's a long weekend in front of us.  At this point we're just hoping none of us ends up hospitalized.


Unable to lay down because of the terrible coughing attacks, last night I sat down at my stamping desk to try my hand at this week's sketch.  I wanted some bright and cheery colors, so embossed the small flowers from Surely Goodness onto watercolor paper, then wiped with distress inks and spritzed with water for an easy watercolor effect.  They're cut with the coordinating  Goodness Flowers Die Set.  I cut the Classy Label from so saffron paper, then wiped with a bit of the excess water from one the flowers I didn't use.  Next I stamped the it is well sentiment on the label.  My black and saffron layers are embossed with a music embossing folder and I added a bit of wide striped ribbon, rhinestones and a white doily to finish things off.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a wonderful, healthy weekend!

VLV March Week 2 Sketch
Enabler's List
Stamps: Surely Goodness (Verve Stamps)
Paper: basic blak, so saffron (SU!), watercolor paper (Ranger), white (Neenah)
Ink: festive berries, barn door, dried marigold (Ranger Distress), Versamark, Black
Accessories:  Goodness Flowers Die Set, Classy Label Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), wide striped ribbon (SU!), paper doily, music embossing folder, rhinestones, clear embossing powder

If All Else Fails

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for a new Mojo Monday sketch!  Wanda designed this week's super fun sketch.  Be sure to hop over and give her a shout out!


I made a simple card, as I'm pretty much dead on my feet after having my son Kellan spend a night in pediatric ICU, then two more nights on the pediatric ward for an acute asthma attack.  I'm hoping at his followup visit today they say we can taper the breathing treatments we've been doing every 4 hours round the clock since we came home on Saturday.  It's been a super stressful week to say the least, especially trying to pull off a release while I was in the hospital. Thank goodness for wifi and an in hospital Starbucks!!!  And today is Kellan and Trevor's 3rd birthday!  So glad he didn't have to spend it in the hospital!

Anyhow, chocolate was one of my go-to's this past week, so I thought this  If all else fails, there is chocolate sentiment  from the Chocolate set was fitting.  I had already stamped, colored and cut out the chocolate bar image from a previous project, then decided to pop in onto a circle cut from a Starbucks java jacket.  The sentiment is stamped on pool party and I also stamped the dripping chocolate on the circle, then on my main layer and lined them up.  The background is embossed with a Tim Holtz embossing folder and I lightly colored it with Pan Pastels.

Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks so much to everyone who said a little prayer for Kellan this past week.  It is much appreciated.

If you haven't checked out the new Verve release yet, head on over...


Mojo Monday 388
Enabler's List
Stamps: Chocolate (Verve Stamps)
Paper: pool party, crumb cake, early espresso (SU!), cream (Neenah), java jacket (Starbucks)
Ink: early espresso (SU!), copic markers, pan pastels
Accessories: classic circles nestabilites (Spellbinders), Rays Texture Fades (Ranger by Tim Holtz), embossing powder

Chocolate Spotlight Hop

Welcome to Verve's New Release Spotlight Hop! Verve is releasing a brand new set, coordinating word die and a couple of shaker mixes today, and the new goodies are available right now in the Verve store! I'm the first stop on the hop, so let's get to it!




My first card today combines a sentiment from the new Chocolate set with the coffee beans stamps from our Coffee set and the Coffee Word Die.  Awhile ago I saw someone use a pencil eraser around a die cut heart to make a fun stamped heart, so I decided to try it with coffee beans and the Wavy Hearts Die Set.  I taped down the heart die cut then stamped over the edges of it in a few different colors, then pulled the die cut up.  Next I cut the Wavy Heart in black and embossed the sentiment from Chocolate in white, dusting the edges with white ink too for a chalkboard effect.  I layered a pool party and a basic black diecut of the Coffee Word Die below then added a handcut butterfly from the designer paper I used. Perfect for spring and for the Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop!

For my next project, I made a fun little chocolate bar treat box using the keep calm and eat sentiment from Chocolate, combined with the new Chocolate Word Die.  I cut the word die from patterned paper and then coated with a thick layer of glossy glaze for an almost enamel look in real life. The arrow is a piece of resist chipboard that I sponged with distress inks.



That's all from me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Next up on the hop is...  Amber!



Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win the new release! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for a little more about our new products and all the prize info!
Day 1 Hop List
1. Julee7. Laurie
2. Amber8. Marisa
3. Andrea9. Maureen
4. Chaitali10. Stacey
5. Charmaine11. Teresa
6. Christyne


Birthday Rerun and a Diva Inspirations Hop

Hi friends!  Welcome to Verve's March Diva Inspirations Hop!  I'm the first stop on the hop, so settle in and let's get hopping!

There are two ways to win Verve prizes: (1) comment on the design team's blog hop posts (linked below) to see their take on the inspiration and (2) go get inky and link up your take on the challenge to be eligible in our prize drawings!

Our March challenge is B is for Birthday...

Don't be caught short - make a fabulous birthday card to keep in your stash or give away! Use the inspiration graphic as a starting point, or head off in your own direction - just show us your birthday creations!

Click here to link up your challenge entries

Challenge deadline: Thursday, Mar. 19.
Prize: $40 gift voucher to the Verve online store!


So if you're reading this, it means that my little Kellan was admitted to the hospital with a respiratory virus and I was unable to make a card. (I'm prescheduling this Tuesday night in case I don't make it home Wednesday). And I really wanted to make a card, since Kellan and Trevor turn 3 next Monday and I haven't stamped anything for them yet.  But alas, trying to comfort my sweet boy takes precedence. So I'm sharing a little re-run that happens to totally fit this month's challenge.


From my original post:  I used the Small Packages set and coordinating Cupcake Frame Die Set from Verve.  The coastal cabana layer is stamped randomly with the small cupcake stamp and then accented with stardust stickles.  I embossed the belated sentiment directly onto patterned paper, then stamped the from all of us sentiment on blushing bride and hand trimmed as a banner.  The star is a resist chipboard star that I sponged with pool party and coastal cabana inks and then around the edge with black ink.  I stamped and cut out one cupcake with the die, then colored it with Copics and accented with stardust stickles.  The only other accent was a big crystal star stick pin, that I stuck through my layers to hold everything together.

Need a little inspiration? Check out the blogs linked below to see what the other Divas did with the challenge! It's sure to be a treat, and speaking of treats, we've got a prize for one lucky commenter along the hop! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the prize info and deadlines!

1. Julee 7. Sankari
2. Amy 8. Sarah
3. Anya 9. Susan
4. Betty 10. Marisa
5. Jen 11. Maureen
6. Karen 12. Stacey

More than Chocolate

Hi friends!  Another week has flown by and it's already time for a new Mojo Monday sketch!  And since it's the first week of a brand new month, than means there are prizes up for grabs if you play along with this week's Mojo Monday sketch!


My card is a sneak peek at the brand new Chocolate set and word die that will be releasing this Friday from Verve. {For another sneak peek card click here.}  I made the card I'm sharing today a couple weeks ago for Mark's birthday, since he used to tease me about my love affair with chocolate. I wrote "and that's a whole lot" as the inside sentiment.   {grin}

The I love you more than sentiment is stamped inside the shaker which I made with classic and pinking circle nestabilities and some sequins from the Signature Sequin Mix.  I accented with a bit of liquid pearls around the circle, then die cut the Chocolate Word Die and layered it below.  The chocolate hearts are embossed tone on tone on chocolate chip cardstock, then hand trimmed and I stamped and embossed the dripping chocolate border stamp tone on tone as well.  I finished off with a hearts embossed card base, a few rounded corners and some lightly sponged edges.

In other news, Verve's restocking shipment arrived over the weekend, so I've added 44 out of stock products back into inventory and extended our 20% off all stamps sale through March 15!  Hooray!



Mojo Monday 387
Enabler's List
Stamps: Chocolate (releasing from Verve 3/16/15)
Paper: dp scraps, Chocolate Chip (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: chocolate chip (SU!), vintage photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories:  Chocolate Word Die  (releasing from Verve 3/16/15), Signature Sequin Mix (Verve), classic & pinking circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), clear embossing powder (Judikins), hearts embossing folder (Sizzix), corner rounder, liquid pearls