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Razzleberrry Ornaments

Just a quick little post today because life seems to be busy, busy, busier than ever. The sketch is the SCS sketch challenge from a few weeks ago {SC250}, only I couldn't show the card to you then because the stamps were top secret. LOL! Sounds like I live some sort of exciting spy life or something. Hahahaha! Anyhow, now that Holly Jolly is released here's my card! The ornaments were stamped with Rich Razzleberry, punched out, then coated with a mixture of diamond glaze and glitter before popping up on dimensionals.


What's in it?
Stamps: Holly Jolly (Verve)
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Vellum, Cottage Wall DSP (SU!)
Ink: Rich Razzleberry (SU!), Copic markers
Accessories: 3/4" circle punch, Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grosgrain (SU!), glitter, diamond glaze, Snowflakes embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Scallop rectangles & squares (Nestabilities), clear embossing powder

O Christmas Tree Centerpiece

Hey peeps! Happy Thursday! It's new release day over at The Digichick, and I've got a little hybrid project and a card to share with you. New Digichick releases are 20% off on Thursday and Friday, so if you see something you like, be sure to pick it up and save some moulah! Speaking of sales, all fall & winter stamp sets at Verve are on sale right now, too!


As soon as I saw Mari's DIY Banner template I totally saw a Christmas tree. So I just had to download it and test it out. The templates print two banners to a sheet (8.5 x 11"), and I printed 3 banners to make my tree centerpiece. I loved these fabulous papers from the Sienna Papers pack by Roben-Marie, so I clipped them to my template and printed out. To put it all together, I scored along the outer triangle lines of each banner, then just glued the scallops of each banner together with sticky strip.


Then to dress up my tree, I added Moss Oregon Rain Drops to each scallop with a little Diamond Glaze and a small star punched from Brushed Gold cardstock to the top of the tree. And since a Christmas tree just isn't the same without an ornament, I created a removable paper ornament to go along with it. I centered the Nestabilities 9 over one of the fun designs in the Sienna Papers that looked oranemnty, then cut out, sponged the edges with Shabby Shutters and Green Galore ink, then embossed the O Christmas Tree sentiment in the center with gold. This piece is matted with brushed gold cardstock, then I set a jumbo eyelet and looped some gold ribbon through it to finish the ornament.


I also made a little matching card with the some coordinating Sienna Papers and Mercy's Tuesday sketch #45. The ornaments are from the Holly Jolly set and I stamped them and paper pieced them. They punch out with a 1-3/8" and 3/4" circle punch, eliminating the need to do tedious masking! Yay! The sentiment is from Blessed Christmas and is embossed in gold.

Weekend Wreath

Happy Wednesday! First off, I need to announce the winner from our Believe Blog Hop. The mystery gift certificate was hidden on Jackie's post and our random winner is Tracy of Tracy's Happy Place! Congrats Tracy! Shoot an email to contests@vervestamps.com to claim your prize.

Okay, next up is a little card I made with one of Beate's weekend sketches from a few weeks back {WSC102}. I adore making long cards, so I've been holding onto this sketch until I had time to play! I pulled out the O Christmas Tree set because I wanted to do a little coloring and decided on this wreath. I stamped on pearlized white cardstock with Versafine Onyx Black and then colored with Copics and added a little sponging with So Saffron once I cut the circle out. The rectangle panel is some SU! dsp and I stamped the small Merry Christmas sentiment in the corner. Next up, I embossed the So Saffron layer with the Snowflakes Cuttlebug folder, then added Real Red mats, some red and white striped May Arts Ribbon, some rhinestone bling and a Kraft card base. I just love the happy red and yellow combo for a Christmas card. It makes me smile.

What's In It?
Stamps: O Christmas Tree (Verve)
Paper: Real Red, So Saffron, Kraft, The Write Stuff DSP (SU!) Pearlized White (Paper Accents)
Ink: So Saffron (SU!), Onyx Black (Versafine), Copic Markers
Accessories: Classic Circles (Nestabilities), Snowflakes (Cuttlebug), ribbon (May Arts), bling (Kaiser Craft)

Winter's Butterflies

Hi there! Happy Tuesday! Today I have a little card that was inspired by a couple of challenges around the blogosphere. First off, it started out as my Viva la Verve! card for this week, but it's a bit of a stretch to say it finished as that! But the inspiration was definitely there, so thanks Amber!



The second challenge was the Embellish the Cure color challenge to use pink, grey and bling. I hadn't had a chance to ink up my Frosty Flakes set yet and I've been dying to use this sentiment from Christmas in the Air, so I just went with it.

I started by stamping the snowflakes in different sizes in Pretty in Pink and Melon Mambo, then sponging the edges and matting with Melon Mambo and Basic Gray cardstock. Next I stamped the sentiment in Melon Mambo on a Labels 8 cut out and sponged the inner edges. After that it was a matter of blinging it up with a Darice pink butterfly, part of a prima bling flourish for the butterfly trail and some Jessie James snowflake crystals to dress up my frosty flakes. I finished off with a few knotted bows of basic gray taffeta and a white card base.

Okay, that's all folks. Be sure to hop on over the Verve Blog to check out our spotlight on Jessie Rone!

Peace on Earth

Hi everyone! Happy Monday! Did y'all have a good weekend? We had a super fun time at the Verve Release Party on Friday night and have spent the weekend packing orders. If you haven't yet, you can check out all the new releases HERE. Oh, and there's a little spotlight on Guest Diva Betty Wright over on the Verve blog today, so be sure to check that out, too!

Since it's Monday, that also means it's time for another Mojo sketch {Mojo110}. I love to make square cards, so each month I try to squeeze in at least one square layout. This week was a super fun one, I think! Hope you like it! I wanted a rustic, old world feel to my card, so I started with some Wonderland papers by Cosmo Cricket. I embossed the peace on earth sentiment from Star of Wonder with Copper detail embossing powder, then cut out with Classic Circle Nestabilities. The red panel is embossed with the Cuttlebug Ice Crystal Combo embossing folder and the main background is embossed withe the Snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder. Then I sanded the embossing, distressed the edges, sewed onto Chocolate mats and inked up the edges with some Vintage Photo Ranger Distress ink.

Next up I decided to substitute a snowflake for the small rectangle panel. During release week, I was inspired by several cards for our challenges where stampers had layered beautiful diecuts and I wanted to give it a go. I cut the Cuttlebug Ice Crystal Combo die in chocolate chip and vellum, then layered some Snowflakes Sizzlet diecuts cut with Wonderland Scraps and accented them with Frosted Lakes Stickles and a crystal snowflake in the center. I finished off with some brown snowflake ribbon I picked up at Michael's, some Jolee's swarovski crystals and a couple EK Success photo corner punches.

What's In It?
Stamps: Star of Wonder (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Wonderland (Cosmo Cricket), Chocolate Chip, Vellum (SU!)
Ink: Versamark, Vintage Photo (Ranger)
Accessories: Classic Circles (Nestabilities), Janome sewing machine, swarovski crystals (Jolee's), Ice Crystal Combo, Snowflakes embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Snowflakes 5-8 Sizzlets (Sizzix), pape distresser, Copper embossing powder, sanding block, ribbon (Michael's), crystal snowflake (Jesse James), photo corner punch (EK Success)

Believe Blog Hop

Welcome to the Verve Believe Blog Hop! Today we’re hopping for the Cure, sharing projects from a new set Verve released last night called Believe. This set was designed in honor of breast cancer awareness and Verve is donating $10 from the sale of every Believe set to the Susan G Komen For the Cure foundation. We believe that we can make a difference. We believe that each day should be celebrated, each moment cherished and that every little thing we can do in the fight to find a cure matters.


With the current state of the economy, charitable giving has been at a low this year, and I felt the need to find a way to raise money for a cause dear to my heart and the hearts of many women... breast cancer awareness. So, I designed Believe, a set focused around strength, hope and courage - the three things I would wish to give any woman battling this ugly disease. You get stamps with purpose and meaning and the foundation gets funding they desperately need to keep up the fight to find the cure.


For my project, I decided to make a little box and card for a cancer survivor. The Wave Box template that Kelleigh just released was the perfect start. I used {No Longer} Flowerless digi papers to print the box template, then stamped the pink ribbon on a circle and the Survivor sentiment across the bottom. The box is 3 x 5" and I plan to fill it with little index cards of my favorite encouraging verses and quotes.

And since a gift is never complete without a card, I made a little matching 3x5 card to give with the box. I stamped the survivor sentiment diagonally as a background on the cream piece cut with the Labels 4 Nestabiliities, then stamped the Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting quote in the center. A black background with pink ribbon, embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and a little flower embellishment finished it off.

Thanks for hopping by! Next up on the hop is Charmaine! Oh, and we’ve got a special gift hidden along our hop for one lucky commenter, so if you see something you really love, give a little shout out and you just might win a $30 gift certificate to Verve! We'll be picking a random winner on Tuesday morning. And just in case Blogger decides not to play nice and post the pre-scheduled posts the girls have prepared, here's the master list so you can keep on hopping.

1. Julee - you are HERE! :)
2. Charmaine
3. Jackie
4. Tosh
5. Mercy
6. Jen T.
7. Lynda
8. Teresa
9. Laurie
10. Amber
11. Sankari
12. Susan
13. Jen d.
14. Betty
15. Jessie

Happy Holidays

Happy Friday! Tonight's the night! Our release party kicks off at 9 PM Eastern on the party thread in our forum tonight (10/23). And today, the Divas are previewing the final two sets being released - O Christmas Tree and Frosty Flakes - over on the Verve Blog.



My sample for today uses O Christmas Tree and the final sketch in our October Release Week Challenges. You have until 6PM Eastern to get your entries in, so times a ticking! I stamped the poinsettia wreath in A Muse Black and colored with Copic markers. The Happy Holidays sentiment is stamped in the center, then I cut and sponged using Square Nestabilities. The paper is from the Oh Joy line by Cosmo Cricket. I embossed the cream panel with the Petals a Plenty embossing folder and added a red and gold bow.

Okay, I've got lots to do to prep for the release. I hope you have a fantastic day and I "see ya" tonight. And be sure to tune in tomorrow (Saturday, 10/24) for a special blog hop! Catch ya on the flip side!

Christmas in the Air

Hey everyone! Happy Thursday - wow, is it just me, or has this week been flying by? Mark comes home tonight, and I'm SOOOOOO excited to see him again. And tomorrow night is our release party! Today the Divas are peeking two new whimsical holiday sets called Christmas in the Air and Holly Jolly that will release this Friday night. Be sure to check out the Verve Blog today for their fantastic samples and a chance to win!


My card for today uses Christmas in the Air. I stamped the swirly line on a top note die cut, then the tree and one of the snowflakes at the end of the line to form a snowy hill.I paper pieced the tree with some Figgy Pudding DP and and randomly stamped the smallest snow flake in Versamark and embossed with clear. Next I colored the snowflakes with a Copic Marker, added some pearls to the center and some rhinestones to the tree, and sponged Soft Sky around the edges. I layered a Riding Hood Red top note dry embossed with Snowflakes behind it, and some coordinating DP behind that with a small scallop edge in Riding Hood Red. The base of the card is 5.5" square from Soft Sky cardstock that I embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.

The dashing through the snow sentiment is stamped onto a Petite Oval, sponged with soft sky ink and matted with riding hood red. I added a little trail of ribbon folds with some fabulous May Arts striped ribbon (doesn't it just scream Christmas? I love it!) Then I stamped a snowflake one more time, colored with Copics, cut out and embellished my sentiment piece with it. The final touch was a little frosted Lace Stickles for the snow.

What's In It?
Stamps: Christmas in the Air
Paper: Soft Sky, Riding Hood Red (SU!), Figgy Pudding (BasicGrey)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine, VersaMark, Soft Sky (SU!)
Accessories: Ribbon (May Arts), Top Note Die and scallop edge punch (SU!), Petite Ovals (Nestabilities), pearls (Zva Creative), Frosted Lace Stickles, rhinestones, Swiss Dots (Cuttlebug)

Blessed Christmas

It's another day of Sneak Previews and the Divas are peeking two new holiday sets, Blessed Christmas and Star of Wonder, over on the Verve Blog today. Check it out for some gorgeous cards and a chance to win.


My card for today uses the Blessed Christmas set and the VSOCT09C sketch from the October Release Week Challenges. I embossed the cross image on pearlized white in detail gold, then colored with Copic Markers. I then trimmed out the cross and layered it on an embossed Labels 4 Nestabilities shape and then matted again with another white Labels 4 shape. I also embossed the little bow in gold, colored with Copics and then trimmed and adhered to the center of the cross. The patterned paper is from the Gingercake collection by Memory Box, and I added a gold edged bow and embossed the sentiment in gold for a little simple elegance.

Celebrate this Life

Hey Everyone! Happy Tuesday! It's the first day of sneak peeks and today we're sharing a special new set called Believe that I designed in honor of breast cancer awareness. $10 from the sale of every Believe set will be donated to the Susan G Komen for the Cure fund. Head on over to the Verve Blog for more eye candy, another card from me, and a chance to win this set. And you might check out some of the other Divas' blogs for some unofficial sneak peeks. I know Jackie's got a gorgeous one up today.


My card for today uses the VSOCT09B sketch challenge. I stamped three of the flowers on Pink Pirouette cardstock, embossed in white. I then cut them out, layered on dimensionals and added Stardust Stickles for sparkle. The stem is stamped on a Top Note in Old Navy and rolled in Always Artichoke. The sentiment is stamped on a Labels 3 Nestabilies die cut. I stamped the old olive background randomly with the stem flourish and then layered the top note on the Old Olive piece and ran through the Cuttlebug with the script embossing folder. Then I just tied a knot with some pink and green ribbons.

Hope you have a fantastic day! Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, Monday

Guess what? It's release week at Verve again! We've got a series of sketch challenges over in our forum where you can win prizes, and the sneak previews of our newest sets will kick off Tuesday on the Verve Blog. Our release party is this Friday night (10/23) over in our SCS forum.

I'm going to *try* to keep this short, since I'm super sick. I really think there should be some rule against getting sick right before a release, especially if your husband is out of town the whole week at a conference. So I'm just sitting here with the cat and my box of tissues, looking a lot like Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones' Diary singing "All By Myself"! LOL


Anyhow, on with the cards. I have two today. The first one uses the first sketch in the release week challenges. The image and sentiment are from the Winter Mittens Digi Stamp Set we're offering as a free download this week. When I'm designing stamps for a release, there are always images or sentiments that get cut due to space or flow issues. To celebrate our release and give you a little flavor of what's coming, we decided to release a couple of these images as a digi stamp set during release week only. I printed mine on Neenah white cardstock, then colored with copic markers. I cut and embossed with a square Nestabilities die, then sponged some pink onto the inner edges and used the edge of the pink as a guide for my stitched edging. The DP is from a BasicGrey pack and everything is matted with Always Artichoke. The pink pirouette background is embossed with the Snowflakes Cuttlebug folder.



My second card is today's Mojo Monday sketch. This card was actually part of the card set I did for my post on The Hybrid Chick a few weeks ago. Every once in a while I like a card so much that I make it into a sketch. I intended to make a new one for today, but the sickness kind of put a damper on all but the most important stuff. So here goes. The papers are from the fabulous Every Life Has a Story (Chapter 1) collab by The Digichick Designers. The stamps are from the Starstruck set.

Sweet Little Francesca

Hi y'all! Yesterday my order from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps arrived in the mail, so I had to squeeze in a little time this morning to ink up Francesca. Isn't she cute? I just love her and the way she looks like she just stepped out of a Lemony Snicket book. And that pile of cupcakes she's holding? I was sold! Basically, just say the word cupcake and I'm sold! {grin}



Anyhow, I inked her up with A Muse black ink, then colored in with Copics. I actually thought to take a pic of the markers I used for once (yep, patting myself on the back, here! LOL). I always feel like I struggle when I color, but I'm pretty happy with how Francesca turned out. I paper pieced the little skirt of her dress, then cut out with one of the bjillion Labels dies from Spellbinders (seriously, could they not come up with better names - who can remember the numbers? I think it's #8, but I refuse to go look it up!) and sponged a little Bordering Blue ink around the edges.

Behind her, I cut two more labels out of Blush Blossom and Real Red cardstock, then glued together and embossed with the Moroccan Screen Cuttlebug folder. The green panel is a scrap of October Afternoon dp and I added a bow with a circle tag stamped with the you're so sweet sentiment from the Sweet Valentine set. A few little rhinestones and some glitter glue for shimmery highlights and I was done. Oh yeah, I embossed the white card base with a Sizzix embossing folder from the Wedding set.

A Cup of Q & A

Hey, everyone! Happy Tuesday! I've been busily stamping in my newly organized space, but most of it I can't show you... yet. But here's a little card I made last night while I was waiting for hubby to get off the phone. I'll just give the recipe, since it seems pretty much a straight shooter of a card. Then I'll answer some of the questions that were asked yesterday about my studio post.



What's In It?
Stamps: A Cup of Live (Verve)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Regal Rose, Sage Shadow (SU!)
Ink: Regal Rose (SU!), Antique Linen, Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress). Copics
Accessories: hardware (WRMK), ribbon (May Arts), corner punch (Fiskars), circle punches (SU!), white gel pen

Q: Are you a cleaner-upper as soon as you're done crafting, or do you work in the cyclone mess that papercrafting can't help but produce?

A: I am definitely not much of a cleaner-upper when it comes to crafting. When I have a clean room like this, I'll try to clean up after every session for a while. Then at signs of the first stamping crisis (probably next week's release) that tidiness will go out the window, and the chaos will take over. I find a lot of inspiration from colors, scraps and whatnot that happen to hang out on my desk, so I guess it's not all bad. I do usually take a couple minutes each night to tidy up before I go to bed, in case I'm hit with the stamping bug when I wake up.

Q: Where's Katie? I don't see a "cat space" designated there!

A: I've given up on trying to mind-read what Katie will claim as "her" spot. She's kind of finicky and if you think she'll go there, she won't. There is a chair under the L of my desk that has a microfiber seat that she's known to hang out on, but for the most part she just sits in the doorway so none shall pass!


Q: Where/how do you store your Verve stamps?

A: Okay, this is what works for me. Since I use my Verve Stamps the most I want them close at hand. So, I have a binder that sits on my desk (like the one Maria outlined {HERE} that holds my smaller sets. Mine is not nearly as pretty as Maria's, but hey, it's functional! :) Then the second drawer down next to my chair houses the larger sets.

For the plain janes and 2 x 3 sets I use Business Card binder pages.



For the 4 x 3 sets, I cut a 4 x 6 sheet of cardstock, then applied two little pieces of velcro to the cardstock, and the matching loops to the back of the acetate on the 4 x 3 sets, so they fit two to a pocket in the 4 x 6 binder pages without sliding around.



My 4 x 6 sets go in the 4 x 6 with business card holder pages, so I could get 3 to a page.



And then, it's not very pretty, but my 4 x 8 sets and 6 x 8 sets go in the drawer. I pull these out the most, so it just made sense to keep them accessible. I also have a little bin in there for the freebie stamps and a lot of room to grow. ;)



Q: Is this where you and Mr. Verve are during the release parties?

A: No, this room is strictly my stamping oasis. We have an office downstairs where both Mark and I have computer desks (mine takes up about 3/4 of the room, and his is in a tiny little corner). The office is where I design the stamps, store the inventory, ship orders and host release parties. :)

Q: Where did you buy that great photo box or did you make it?

A: My photo studio was a gift from a friend a couple years ago and came with the lights and a small little tripod. You can do a search for portable photo studios at Amazon or Google and find a whole range of affordable (and not so affordable!) options. Since I have a large stain on the white cloth, I just ordered a new tent from OBN and can't wait for it to arrive.

My Studio

Hey everyone! Happy Monday! Be sure to head on over to the Mojo Blog today for the newest sketch. I didn't get any new stamping done this weekend, but I did re-organize my studio. No before pictures, but the important part is the afters, right?



So here's the tour. As you step in from the doorway, directly to your left is this bookcase filled with stuff. Once I get through Phase 2 and attack the closet to flush out all of the accumulated stuff from prior hobbies (beading, cross-stitch, quilting, felt ornaments, tole painting, and an entire dresser full of wood mounted stamps I never use) everything in this bookcase, plus everything on top of my hutch will be moved into the closet.



Moving along that wall, is my desk. I have an L desk unit that I just love, because I like to sprawl out. Plus, when people come over to stamp, (okay, this doesn't happen very often, but when it does...) they can use the long part of the L. I ordered the desk from RC Willey and it's done in a cape code finish with beadboard backing. Love it! And the hutch is absolutely perfect for storing my Copics, Stickles and a ton of other little things I like to have at my fingertips. Items I use a lot, like adhesives, embellishments and acrylic blocks are stored in plastic storage drawers (most from Target or Wal-Mart) on the desktop.



Moving around the room, in the corner I have a tall stand that I set my Punches and More organizer on to hold the punches I use most. Next up, when I purchased my furniture last year it would have put me way over budget to buy the matching pieces for the desk, so I chose a similar line (but about $200 cheaper per piece) from the Christopher Lowell Shore Collection to finish out my storage. The first is a lateral file. The top drawer stores all my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug accessories. The bottom drawer stores all of my Stampin' Up! cardstock. The little organizer unit on top I bought this weekend for $30 at the Craft Warehouse to house my old In Color SU! and Ranger Distress ink pads, plus some other odds and ends. Unfortunately the dowel for the ribbon rack is humongous and none of my ribbon fits on it, so I need to make a trip to home depot to get a new dowel. My Cuttlebug lives on the lateral file, along with the Mini Clip It Up! that I store cut lengths of ribbon in plastic bags with.

Next to the lateral file is a rolling file unit that stores my non-SU! cardstock and other odds and ends and also is the home for my most beloved crafting object... the Hello Kitty Big Shot!



Next up is the Making Memories embellishment center I got for Christmas and we finally hung this weekend! Really, we're both so busy working all the time that the little household projects just pile up. This unit houses a bunch of spool ribbons, as well as a collection of prima flowers. I just love to see all the pretty colors lined up. In the corner is another Shore collection bookcase, where I store my SU! sets and on the bottom shelf, photo boxes sorted by company with wood mounted stamps from The Cat's Pajamas, Hero Arts, A Muse, Stampendous, Inkadinkado and Penny Black. There are also a few more flowers waiting for the right jars to go into the embellishment center.



Next to that bookcase is a low slung bookcase where I store 12 x 12 and 6 x 6 paper pads (anything loose or in bags are in the plastic storage drawers above my hutch that will eventually go into the closet), plus some other odds and ends. I also have the original Clip it Up with additional tier, to hold other clear and unmounted stamps. In the center is my current photo studio, but I'm ordering a different one, since this one has a huge stain where I set a brown candle and the heat from the lights melted onto the white cloth.

Next to that is my tripod and you can see just a tiny bit of the over-the-door shoe organizer I store my Marvy and other punches in. So there you have it - a little peek into where I do my creating. It's not perfect, but it works for me with the space I have right now and I'm happy! :)

Challenges, Challenges

Hi everyone! Happy Thursday! Yesterday I took a little time to stamp just for the fun of it. I've been having really bad headaches that are worsened by computer work, so thought I might try a little stamping therapy. And since I didn't have a real plan for my stamping, I decided to check out a few of the SCS challenges, since I hadn't played in a while.



This first card is for the SC249 sketch challenge on SCS. I liked the simple layout and thought it would be perfect to feature the sentiment from Swan Song. The sentiment is stamped in black, then I stamped the bamboo branch all around in old olive. I shaded around the panel with mellow moss, old olive and always artichoke, then matted on Kraft. For a background panel, I stamped the Leaves plain jane in whisper white on Not Quite Navy and also matted with Kraft. I finished off with a horizontal band of old olive, embossed with the Organic Flourishes Cuttlebug border and punched with the Martha Stewart half spiral punch.



For the second card, I combined the Fall-to Layout #62 with this week's SCS Color Challenge of using mellow moss, white and kraft {CC239}. I embossed the sentiments from Wishing You in white on Mellow Moss, then did some background stamping with the Starstruck set in Mellow Moss. I stamped the same images in whisper white on Kraft for the other part of the card. Then it was just a matter of using my Embossed Curves punch and adding a ribbon and a little beaded pin for accent.

Encouraging Words

I'm on deck for the Verve Project Parade today, so hop on over to the Verve Blog to check out my Encouraging Words Card Candy. Then play along for a chance to win some Verve!


Project uses the Starstruck and Dare to Be You stamp sets.

Inspired Swan

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today I have a card to share that I made for this week's Viva la Verve! challenge. It's a fun little sketch, and Amber's {twist} is shabby chic. Speaking of Amber, she's up to bat today on the Verve Project Parade, so be sure to check out her adorable card!



I actually envisioned the card with distressed edges when I started, but then switched to scallops somewhere along the way. (Kind of hard to distress scallops, LOL!) So here's how the crafting went... I started by stamping the circle border stamp from Just for You in Sage Shadow on a Nestabilities circle. Next I sponged the inside of the circle with Blush Blossom and then embossed the swan from Swan Song in the center. Little Miss Swan was embossed two more times on white cardstock, then cut out and pieced together with dimensionals.

I pulled out my new Victoria Cuttlebug embossing folder and embossed both the white background panel and the sage shadow circle. For my rectangle panel, I grabbed one of the Organic Flourish Cuttlebug borders, embossed it and then lightly inked with a pink VersaMagic chalk ink pad. Everything is matted with sage shadow and then Kraft cardstock, which is sponged with a hint of chocolate chip. For the horizontal strip on the sketch, I chose to use this delicate blush lace wrap from Fancy Pants, and then added a frilly little bow. (For a great bow-tying video tutorial, be sure to check out Carolina's blog). To add a little elegance, I added some liquid pearls to all the scallops.

The sentiment panel uses the dotted border and sentiment from Thoughtful Florals and is punched out with the Word Window punch and then matted with the Modern Label punch.

What's in It?
Stamps: Swan Song, Just for You, Thoughtful Florals (Verve)
Paper: Sage Shadow, Kraft, White (SU!)
Ink: Sage Shadow, Blush Blossom, Chocolate Chip (SU!), pink (VersaMagic Chalk)
Accessories: Classic & Scallop Circles & Long Scallop Rectangles (Nestabilities), Word window punch, Modern Label Punch (SU!), White Opal Liquid Pearls (Ranger), adhesive pearl (Hero Arts), Lace Wraps (Fancy Pants), Victoria and Organic Flourish folders (Cuttlebug)

Mojo Thanks

Hey everyone, happy Monday!!! Can I say that, or is it like having a way too-caffeinated Starbucks employee trying to chitchat with you before you've been caffeinated??? LOL I got to stamp this weekend in honor of World Card Making Day, so it was a really good weekend for me. To see the cards I made, you can check out my SCS gallery, as I probably won't be posting them here.


Today's the first Monday in October, so it's time for a Mojo Monday contest. There's several chances to win Verve Stamps by playing along with this week's sketch {Mojo107}, so be sure to hop on over to the Mojo Blog to see the sketch and get inspired! For my card, I pulled out a couple older sets. The sentiment is from Fancy Florals and the flower is from the Everlasting Life sets. I embossed them with Craft Chocolate Chip ink and clear EP directly on the designer paper. My papers are from the Ooo La La Collection by My Mind's Eye. Don't you just love those huge polka dots? They make me smile! I cut my rectangles and circles with Nestabilities and layered with dimensionals.

My ribbon is from last year's Alpine Originals by SU! (I think it's on clearance right now if you want some.) It took me almost a year and several fabulous cards by Teresa, to inspire me to take it out of it's wrapper, but now I'm HOOKED! It's so cozy! To dress up my paper and flower, I added a little mixture of Diamond Glaze and glitter, then finished off with some chocolate pearls.

Okay, that's all the chit chat about my card. In other news, the Verve Project Parade starts today, so hop on over to find out all the details on this month's theme and see Jen del Muro's project.

Happy World Card Making Day!

Happy Saturday! Today I have a special post over on The Hybrid Chick for Stamp Week. And in honor of World Card Making Day, I made a set of 4 cards, a little correspondence box to package them in and a jar topper for a matching gifty, all using the new Starstruck set and the awesome new Every Life Has a Story, Chapter 1 Collab from the Digichick Designers. Hop on over to check them all out - I spent FOREVER typing up the post, so I'm hoping you enjoy it! Here's a peek at the whole shebang...



Oh, and be sure to check out the World Card Making Day Challenges over on Splitcoast today! Verve is sponsoring a challenge this afternoon, and there'll be a few chances to win some Verve sets! Have a stampy good weekend!

Perfect Pumpkin

Happy Friday! Today I'm participating in another blog hop with the creative team over at Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs. Kelleigh just released some adorable new templates yesterday, including the one I'm going to show you today. Plus she's giving the Perfect Pumpkin template away (see the preview - that's my sample pumpkin!) to one lucky blog hopper, so be sure to check out the rest of the stops on the hop listed at the end of this post and then head on over to Kelleigh's blog to enter to win!



For my pumpkin project, I started out by clipping some paper from the Hot, Hot, Hot! Collab by the Digichick Designers to the Perfect Pumpkin template then printing out. Then I cut out and scored according to the directions. The top template has a slit to the center which helps to make it puffy instead of flat. I knew I wanted to stick a stem through there, so before I assembled everything I punched a center hole with a hole punch. Next I wrapped 1/2 of a small lollipop stick with felt ribbon, then grabbed a couple large prima flowers in orange and green for my leaves. I punched a hole in the center of the flowers to be able to stick the stem through, then stuffed the flower/stem combo in the hole and assembled the top with sticky adhesive. It needed a little glitz, so I coated the orange flower with some Diamond Stickles and then stuffed a Shimmer Flourish chipboard in the slit to complete the look.
For the tag, I used a Marvy Extra Jumbo Tag punch and punched a hole for ribbon up top. For the bottom, I used the Martha Stewart half spiral punch, then stamped the sentiment and leaves from Harvest Blessings and sponged with Vintage Photo distress ink.

Okay, that's all for today! Be sure to check out the other fun projects from Kelleigh's team...
Kelleigh
Tracy
Julie
Juli
Christy
Dana
Sunghee
Laura
LuAnn

Indian Summer

Hi everyone! I'm back with another quick little card I made with this week's Crazy 4Challenges sketch. {C4C4} I still had some Indian Summer scraps on my desk left over from my mojo card, so decided to use them up! The sentiment is from the Just for You set and is stamped in Rich Razzleberry and then I used my Rectangle Nestabilities as a stencil to sponge Tattered Rose Distress ink around the edges. It's matted with a scallop rectangle and I added a little organza bow. Oh, and I used the Victoria Cuttlebug folder to emboss the pretty papers. And for the final touch, a hint of stickles to a ccent some of the leaves on the paper.



What's in It?
Stamps: Just for You (Verve)
Paper: Indian Summer (BasicGrey), Rich Razzleberry (SU!)
Ink: Rich Razzleberry (SU!), Tattered Rose Distress (Ranger)
Accessories: Scallop & Classic Rectangles (Nestabilities), Daimond Stickles (Ranger), Victoria embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Organza ribbon (Michael's)