Patina Celebration and a Hop

Hi friends!  Happy Saturday!  The Divas are hopping today with our July Release Retrospective Hop.  It's a chance to share another little look at our new stamps now that you've had a little time to order them and get them in your hands.  I'm the start of the hop, so let's get started!  As usual there's a $40 gift voucher to Verve for a lucky commenter, so be sure to give a shout out to the girls as you hop along.  And don't forget to head on over to the Verve Blog today for all the details and to see how you could win our entire next release!

I've been loving the look of patina lately, and wanted to try recreating the look with a new to me embossing folder I picked up at Jo-Anns.   So that's where the inspiration for the card started... that and the fact Verve is turning 7 on August 1 and I thought it would be fun to make a Verve-y celebration card.

I wanted my background to have lots of texture, so I decided to glue some old pieces of a sewing pattern to cream cardstock.  Next I scraped a layer of white gesso over the panel with an old gift card.  I didn't want a completely white background, though, so I spritzed it all with water and dabbed off some so that it was still coated, but more transparent.  I zapped it with a heat gun to dry.

Next I pulled out the henna embossing folder and coated the side that would be touching the front of the panel with peacock feathers distress ink and then ran it through my BigShot.  I passed it through three times because I wanted to make sure I got a great impression through all the layers and texture I'd already added. Unfortunately, my camera died at this portion of the card and I don't have any photos of the rest of the process.

Once I pulled out my embossed panel, I sponged evergreen bough over the uninked parts.  That was a little lighter than I was looking for, so I pulled out forest moss and applied over the same area.  Next I came back in with walnut stain around the edges and swirled here and there for effect.  I finished off with just a hint of antique bronze distress stain.  Although by this point in the card you can't see too much of the original sewing pattern peeking through, the wrinkles the tissue makes on the paper add so much texture and depth, almost like a crackle effect.  Love the way it turned out!

Next I started on the flowers.  I stamped the flower from Happy Place four times in coffee archival ink and then used distress markers in coordinating colors and a waterbrush to color the flowers.  I cut two out completely and then two have just the center portions cut out, so I could pop them up for some dimension.  I sponged around the edges of all of them with walnut stain distress ink and accented with sequins from a new sequin collection coming to Verve in August.  The sentiment is from Moments Remembered and stamped onto a piece of vellum in archival ink.  Then I sponged distress inks in the three color I was using on the back of the vellum and around the edges.  I tucked this pennant behind the flowers and then cut some Sprightly Sprigs from always artichoke, sponged with the varying inks and then arranged behind the flowers.  I finished off with some more new sequins and a few distressed edges.

Alrighty, that's all from me.  Hop on over to Stacey's blog to see what eye candy she has in store for you!

1. Julee	10. Jen
2. Stacey	11. Sheri {Guest}
3. Maureen	12. Andrea
4. Chaitali	13. Amber
5. Marisa	14. Christyne
6. Teresa	15. Sarah
7. Kay {Guest}	16. Anya
8. Janelle	17. Betty
9. Charmaine

ETA:  Laurie wasn't able to post today due to an injury.

And just a little reminder about my birthday weekend discount:

Enabler's List
Stamps: Happy Place, Moments Remembered (Verve Stamps)
Paper: always artichoke, early espresso, vellum (SU!), sewing pattern, cream
Ink: coffee archival, peacock feathers, evergreen bough, forest moss, walnut stain distress inks, antique bronze distress stain (Ranger)
Accessories: Sprightly Sprigs Die Set (A Cut Above by Verve), sequins (Verve), paper distresser, Henna embossing folder (Darice)

Hello Birthday Girl

It's my birthday, it's my birthday! {grin}  I just love birthdays because they're all about starting fresh.  And even though it meant never having cupcakes at school for my birthday (first world problems, right?), I really like having my birthday in July.  It's the perfect time for a new start!  And the sun is almost always shining.  In fact, it was 104 degrees when I was born... a year or two ago!  {grin}

Anyhow, since it's Friday, it's also time for a new Viva la Verve! sketch and that was the inspiration for my card today.   Everything except the so saffron smile panel and the card base came from my scrap pile.  The flower from Happy Place had been previously stamped, colored, cut and glittered, but didn't make it onto a card.  I layered it onto a piece of so saffron cardstock that I stamped tone on tone with the smile sentiment from Happy Place.  A little scrap of paper makes a fun photo corner and this layer is matted with black.

Next I pulled out a few scraps of paper and a doily from my scrap pile and layered them together, inking the edges lightly with black soot.  The soft sky piece is embossed with a Tides embossing folder, then I added some ribbon, thread and a button to finish things off.  Finished card size is 3.75" x 5.5"

In honor of my birthday, this weekend I've got a little gift code for the Verve Store for all of you! Enter BDAY20 in the Gift Code box at the bottom of the Verve shopping cart and click apply to receive 20% off your order placed July 25 through 28.  (Fine print:  Excludes new releases. Cannot be combined with other gift codes or vouchers.  Not valid on previous purchases or out of stock merchandise.) 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Be sure to pop in tomorrow for a special blog hop with the Divas and a chance to win prizes!

Viva la Verve July Week 4

Enabler's List
Stamps: Happy Place (Verve Stamps)
Paper: basic black, so saffron, soft sky (SU!), paper doily, dp scraps
Ink: so saffron (SU!), black, copic markers, black soot (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Happy Doodles Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), wood embellishment (freckled fawn), ribbon (SU!), thread, stardust stickles, button

Deconstructed Robot

Hi friends!  Happy Tuesday.  Today I have a fun little 2 year birthday card for one of the boys' friends.  His party was construction themed, so I decided to make a little construction bot for his card and this week's Deconstructed Sketch (flipped on its side) seemed like the perfect jumping off point.

I started by stamping this robot from Birthday Bots, then coloring with Copic markers.  I punched three coordinating mickey mouse ears for balloons, then popped them up on different levels of dimensionals and drew in the strings.  The yellow one is colored with copics, the smoky slate and basic grey ones are just cardstock wiped around the edges with pewter distress stain.  Because even robots love Mickey Mouse, right?  The silver piece is smoky slate cardstock embossed with a clockworks embossing folder then rubbed with the pewter distress stain.  The other layer is basic grey and I embossed the turning and the 2 from Geared Up in silver, then added a few sprinkles of Metal Mix Sequins.

The party was a blast and the boys actually ate cake for the first time ever.  They've refused it every time we've offered until Saturday.  It was chocolate and messy and I'm pretty sure the sugar content was enough to fuel them for a month!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Have a great day!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Birthday Bots, Geared Up (Verve Stamps)
Paper: basic gray, smoky slate (SU!), white
Ink: black, copic markers, pewter distress stain (Ranger)
Accessories: Metal Mix Sequins (Verve), silver embossing powder (Ranger), mickey mouse punch (EK Success), clockworks embossing folder (Cuttlebug)