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Je t'adore Mojo

Happy Monday!  It's the beginning of a new week, and it's time for a Round or Square Mojo Sketch {Mojo176}.  This week's sketch was submitted by Mary Fish and I loved the different possibilities for embellishing that sweet little curve.  Check out the Mojo Monday blog for this week's sketch and some super fun samples from the design team.  I hope you'll play along!

For my card, I wanted to play with a few new goodies.  I knew I was going to be all mopey about seeing all the new stuff from the CHA sneak peeks, so I planned ahead and put a few little orders in so I'd have brand new stuff to play with over the weekend!   So I knew I wanted to use the new Sweet Buttons Embosslit from the SU! mini, some of this Je t'adore paper by Making Memories and a sweet little Sentiments Flag die from Lil' Inker Designs.  I love the size of it and that the tails are even every time!  Yay!

I started by tracing a curve using a button jar I had on my desk on the back side of the patterned paper.  I then placed my circle die over it so the curve was positioned where I wanted it and cut the circle, then trimmed along the traced line and glued to a full circle of the pink dotted paper.  Before I glued the circle onto my scallop base, I used the Lots of Hearts punch to punch the heart trio.  Then I forgot about the punch outs by the time I went to glue down my circle, and ran tape across the under layer.  Not to worry, I decided to fix my little blunder by making them stripey hearts with a little silver glass glitter and some pink liquid pearls!

The buttons are done with the Sweet buttons embosslit and I stitched a little scrappers floss through each of the button holes.  Next up I made a fan by cutting a 1.5" x 6" strip of patterned paper, scoring at 1/4" intervals down the length of it, then accordion folding and fanning out.  I embellished the edges with some red rhinestone strips and added a prima flower that was sitting on my desk.  Up in the corner I pulled out a mini library clip to tack on a little Je t'adore coordinating ticket and then finished with a little sentiment flag, using the Lil' Inkers die and a stamped sentiment from Love Notes.

There you have it!  My curve had a bit more character before I covered it all up, but I think it still works!  :)  I used Grand Nestabilities in my Grand Calibur machine, so the finished size of this card  is a larger 5.25" in diameter.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a fabulous start to your week, and I'll be back tomorrow with a very special post!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Love Notes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Je t'adore (Making Memories), Cherry Cobbler (SU!)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories: Scor-pal, rhinestones, prima, Je t'adore Love Tickets (Making Memories), Sweet Buttons Embosslits, Mini Library Clips, Lots of Hearts Punch and Silver Glass Gliter (SU!), Scrapper's Floss (Karen Foster), Sentiments Flag Die (Lil' Inkers Designs), liquid pearls, Grand Nestabilities Circles and Scallop Circles (Spellbinders)

Sweet Little Baby Boat

Sweet little baby..... boat??  That's what my hubby, Mark, said when he saw today's card.  Usually he has great comments, but last night, not so much.  LOL  I do admit that the card is nothing like the one I had in my head when I sat down to stamp, but that's what's so fun about stamping... you never know where you'll end up!

I had intended a totally sweet, mostly white card, but I came across these Alphabet Soup papers in my stash and wanted to play with the Stacking Stars die from MFT.  Then I think watching Steven Tyler on American Idol kind of influenced my inner rockstar, and away I went!  :)  I wonder if his mother dressed him in baby blue?  LOL  I love the little sail boat from Text Objects and decided to pair it with the frame and sentiment from To the Moon.  For the frame, I punched out the center with a super jumbo marvy square punch, then colored the bit of edging with Copic markers and layered over my paper pieced sail boat with dimensional tape.  Love the look of it.

For the starry piece, I hand cut a little shape for the base, then just layered on stars cut with the star die, and added a german glass glitter star behind it all.  The twine is Midnight Silver Baker's Metallic Twine from Pizzazz Aplenty.  Love it!

Well, that's all I have time for today, folks.  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Text Objects, To the Moon (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Alphabet Soup (My Mind's Eye), Black, White
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, copic markers
Accessories:  Stacking Stars, Open Scallop Border (MFT Die-namics), Wave die (TCP CutUps), large star punch (SU!), german glass glitter star (Frost it Pink), star rhinestone, silver pearl and Midnight Silver Baker's Twine (Pizzazz Aplenty), Super Jumbo Square Punch (Marvy)

Happy Birthday Claire

It's a special day!  My friend, Claire (owner of Waltzingmouse Stamps), is celebrating her birthday today!  To show her just a wee bit of love, some of her friends are throwing her a birthday blog waltz!  Claire is just the sweetest, classiest gal (and a very talented designer) and I'm so glad to call her friend.  Happy Birthday Claire!  I hope your special day and the year to come are truly blessed!

If you just happened by my blog then you won't want to miss any of this celebration!  Head on over to the Waltzingmouse Blog to get started!  For those of you arriving from Alice's blog...you are on the right track!

For my card for Claire, I picked some stylish new Lush papers by KaiserCraft that totally reminded me of Claire's style and pulled out a few of my Waltzingmouse favorites.  I started by embossing the frame from Holiday Labels No. 14 in basic gray ink, then adding the sentiment from Frame-It and a little accent below it from the Holiday Labels set.  For the background, I added a little text-style background from Text-It then embellished with a little prima flower, Sabrina trim, rhinestones, and some skeleton leaves from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Okay, next up on the waltz is the talented Anya! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Holiday Labels No. 14, Frame-It, Text-It (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Papers: Lush (KaiserCraft), Basic Gray, Ivory
Ink: Basic Gray
Accessories: Labels 14 Nestabilities (Spellbinders), pink rhinestones, Sabrina trim, skeleton leaves (Pizzazz Aplenty), prima flower, paper distresser

Valentine Wishes

Happy Tuesday!  Today I have a quick little card I made using Amber's January Week 1 Viva la Verve! sketch.  I love long cards, and thought the different panels on the sketch would be the perfect chance to break out the new Je t'adore papers from Making Memories.

The card itself is actually pretty simple and didn't take long at all.  I just cut the patterned paper, inked with some Vintage Photo ink, then stamped the Valentine Wishes sentiment from Love Notes directly on a Pink Paislee Artisan Element, then accented with some cranberry pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.  That seemed a bit too easy, so I made a little paper rosette out of a strip of the remaining polka dot print, then accented with a glitter heart and a maya road trinket pin.  I finished off with a little Stardust Stickles on the edge of the rosette and was done!

Don't forget, you have until Thursday night {1/27} to get your entries in for our January Viva la Verve! challenge.  One random participant will win Verve's next release!!!  There are only four sketches this month and Verve stamps aren't required, so get your stamp on!  :)

Week 1 Sketch Week 2 Sketch Week 3 Sketch Week 4 Sketch
JAN Week 1
{12/31/10}
JAN Week 2
{1/7/11}
JAN Week 3
{1/14/11}
JAN Week 4
{1/21/11}

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Love Notes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Je t'adore (Making Memories), cream
Ink: Vintage Photo (Ranger), Early Espresso Craft pad (SU!)
Accessories:  Scor-pal, trinket pin (Maya Road), glitter heart, Artisan Elements - Ornaments (Pink Paislee), cranberry flatback pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty)

Blessed

Welcome to another week!  Did y'all have a great weekend!  I'm pleased to say I got everything I set out to do this weekend done, (including tearing down the Christmas decorations) as well as starting a new jigsaw puzzle, reading and even a little stamping!  I'm energized and ready to take on whatever comes my way this week!!  And since it's Monday again, it's time for another Mojo Monday sketch!  It's week 175, can you believe it???  This week's sketch was inspired by the Aqua Love Notes card I made a few weeks ago for the Verve release.  I just loved how this card fell together and thought it would make a fun sketch.  The layers themselves are pretty simple, but you can dress it up or down with embellishments.  And you know me... I dressed mine UP!  LOL

I've been craving these Paper Reverie papers from Making Memories every since I saw peeks of them several months ago.  Last weekend, I finally found some at Emma's Paperie and just had to let my fingers do the clicking!  LOL  The papers were so classy, I decided I wanted to make a really elegant card to go with them.  I picked out the Just for You set (on sale through the end of the month), because I've been seeing it quite a bit out in blogland and was just itching to get it inky again.

I stamped the circle frame in black, then cut out with classic circle Nestabilities.  Next I cut a smaller circle, and using the die as a stencil, sponged some Sahara Sand ink in the center, then over stamped with the I'm so blessed to have you in my life sentiment.  I added a black scallop circle mat, dressed up with liquid pearl accents.  The border strip is from MFT and I dressed it up with 3 up and 2 down of the teardrop rhinestones  and some silver gray pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.  My final embellishments were a couple Maya Road trinket pins and some Vanilla seam binding ribbon.  Then I just distressed the edges of my main patterned paper, added a black mat and finished off with a cream base.  The card only took about 20 minutes from start to finish, and most of that was just hem hawing about which embellishments to use!

So that's it for me today.  Be sure to check out the fabulous cards from the rest of the Mojo team over on the Mojo Monday blog.  Plus, it's the start of the final week of our Baby Love Diva Dare, so check out the Verve Blog for the next installment and play along for a chance at some prizes!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Just for You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Paper Reverie Noir (Making Memories), Black, Cream
Ink: Black, Sahara Sand (SU!)
Accessories:  Circle & Scallop Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Little Open Scallop Strip die (MFT Die-namics), liquid pearls (Ranger), Vanilla seam binding (SU!), trinket pin (Maya Road), paper distresser, teardrop rhinestones, silver gray flatback pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty)

The Nicest Place

Hey y'all! Happy Saturday! Today I've got a just for the fun of it card for you. This one's wild and crazy and full of {heart}! I was completely smitten the minute I saw this new Love Letters set from The Cat's Pajamas! I've got a bit of a thing for postage stamps. Maybe it's having to explain to everyone I meet that I design stamps (not the postage kind), but I love the idea of a stamp of a stamp! And being given all the pieces and parts to design them myself... heaven!

Yesterday my order from TCP arrived in my mailbox, so as soon as work was over I headed up to do a little stamping! My only plan at the outset was to have fun using as many new goodies as possible and to use this month's Sketch For You To Try by Jen del Muro. This year her Saturday sketch has become a monthly sketch, with super cool sponsors and prizes. This month's sponsor is TCP, so I just had to bust out my brand new TCP for it! I took a little poetic license here and there, but I think you can still see the bones of the sketch there if you look hard enough! Right???   :)

To start, I cut a rectangle and started stamping my heart out with the Love Letters set. I'm pretty sure I used all but about 2 stamps from the set creating my little collage of love stamps. WAY too much fun! I also got the fabulous new Heart Trio die and had to give it a go, adding two layers of it as my "circle" in the sketch, then clipping the innermost heart on with a mini paper clip and a sentiment from the Ewe Complete Me set.  Isn't it just the sweetest... Together is the nicest place to be{sigh}  I stamped the little postmark stamp all over the kraft background, then used some fun little Love Birds paper by Fancy Pants for the horizontal and vertical panels.  There's a little bit of the apron border die in there too, although most of it is covered up.  That fabulous little trim up top is some pretty Sabrina Trim from Pizzazz Aplenty and I added some red flatback rhinestones to the gathered part to spice it up!  Some liquid pearl accents squiggled on the heart, a little cherry Divine Twine and a whole lot of distressing finished off this little number.

I think today's card was more than a little inspired by my new coffee mug.  What do you think?  Love this mug!!!  I'm hoping to get some more time in my studio this weekend, plus finally take down the Christmas decorations.  {I know, we're kind of late, but our artificial tree turned out so pretty this year that I haven't wanted to take it down! }  What's on your list this weekend?   I hope you enjoy yourself, whatever you do! And remember that together is the nicest place to be!


Enabler's List
Stamps:  Love Letters, Ewe Complete Me (The Cat's Pajamas)
Paper: Love Birds (Fancy Pants), brown paper bag cardstock (Paper Accents), Cherry Cobbler (SU!)
Ink: Fired Brick, Vintage Photo, Black Soot (Ranger Distress)
Accessories:  Heart Trio, Stamp Trio and Apron border CutUps and Cherry Divine Twine (TCP), liquid pearls (Ranger), mini paper clip (Tim Holtz), Sabrina trim and red rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty), Distrezz-it-All (Zutter),

Wild Thing

Happy Friday!!! Today I've got a little card for you using this week's Viva la Verve! sketch. It's the last one of the month, so if you haven't started yet, get your stamping shoes on and get with it for a chance to win the next Verve release! To make it easy on you, I've even created a PDF with all of this month's sketches. Check it out on this week's VLV challenge thread, hosted by Sankari!
My card started out with this little monkey from To the Moon.  He's always getting into mischief, so I decided to give him a little grin and a kite tied to his tail.  I stamped him a couple times onto brown paper bag cardstock, then paper pieced him for a little 3D action.  These new papers from the So Cute collection by Prima were just screaming for a monkey card, so I had to use them!  I love the little Wild Thing sentiment in the Swirling Hearts set, so I stamped that on the circle, then decided to use just the "you make my heart sing" portion of the sentiment from our older Wild Thing set.  I trimmed it into a narrow banner and layered it across my woodgrain paper.  Since Sankari designed the sketch, I just had to pull out some liquid pearls for my scallops, and decided to add a few little hand drawn dots around the inner circle as well.  I finished off with some peridot rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty, as well as a ribbon, button and some glossy accents on the kite and bug spots.
 
That's all for me today!  I hope you'll play along with Viva la Verve!  I always love seeing everyone's creations!  And for a little eye candy, be sure to check out the next installment of the Baby Love Diva Dare going on over on the Verve Blog! Thanks for stopping by and have a FABULOUS weekend!
 
Enabler's List
Stamps: To the Moon, Swirling Hearts, Wild Thing (Verve Stamps)
Paper: So Cute (Prima), Early Espresso (SU!)
Ink: Early Espresso, Black, Soft Sky (SU!)
Accessories: circle and scallop circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), peridot rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty), grosgrain ribbon, buttons, Scrappers Floss, open scallop border die (MFT Die-namics)

Flora and Fauna Love

Happy Thursday!  How's your week going?  I see a bright light at the end of the tunnel I've been working through the past few weeks and things are looking up!  I spent an entire day in the deep torture chamber that is Quickbooks and I came out the other side victorious!  Hip hip hooray!

To celebrate my victory, I decided to spend a little time getting inky last night.  The SCS sketch {SC316} was calling my name along with this Flora & Fauna Ledger paper I picked up on my last trip to the craft store.  The pad is spiral bound, and I just love the way I could cut my panel to use those torn spirals.  I rounded the corners of the panel to make it look like a mini notebook page, then stamped the lined heart from Love Notes on it as well as the trio of hearts.  On another scrap of the ledger paper I stamped the XOXO sentiment three times and a few more hearts, then cut in a flag shape and hand-stitched to my card using the Sew Easy hem piercer as a guide for my stitch marks.  Next up, I stamped the medium heart on Cherry Cobbler and cut out, then accented with two cranberry pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.

For the LOVE panel, I decided to dress up my ledger paper by repeatedly stamping the Love sentiment across it, then filling in the heart with the coordinating heart stamp in cherry cobbler.  The top panel is cherry cobbler, embossed with a heart background and all of the edges are inked up with some Early Espresso ink.  I finished off with some Stardust Stickles on the outer edge of my lined heart and a seam binding bow with a little mulberry flower attached to the center.

Funny story about x's and o's.  I was married before I knew there was a meaning behind XOXO.  I always just read the letters... ex-oh-ex-oh and had absolutely no idea why people wrote it at the end of their letters!!!  {sheepish grin}  When Mark finally explained that it meant hugs and kisses I laughed out loud and spent quite some time trying to determine which letter is the hug and which one is the kiss.  I'm still not sure I have them straight!  Funny these things we grow up with that everyone just assumes you understand.

Okay, I've probably rambled on enough for one day... time for the enabling portion of this post...

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Love Notes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Brenda Walton Flora & Fauna Ledger Designer Paper Pad (K & Company), Cherry Cobbler (SU!)
Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler (SU!)
Accessories: Stardust Stickles (Ranger), corner rounder, Sew Easy piercer, Sew Easy head attachment (hem), needle, thread (We R Memory Keepers), cranberry pearls, 10mm open rose (Pizzazz Aplenty), cherry cobbler seam binding (SU!), Valentine Set #4 embossing folder (Sizzix)

Polka Dot Simplicity

Happy Tuesday!  Today I have a clean and simple (CAS) card to share.  When I was creating with the newest Verve Stamps release I couldn't get this idea out of my head.  I stepped it up a bit from my original plan to have just a one layer card and color the elephant, but it was so much fun adding a little dimension to him.  I think it still totally qualifies as CAS though!


All of the stamps used here are from the new To the Moon set.  I stamped the frame and hanger directly on the card base, then stamped the elephant in the frame.  Next I stamped the elephant a couple more times on some SU! Naturals DSP paper and some pink pirouette cardstock (for the ears) and pieced her on with dimensionals.  The Happy new baby sentiment is stamped onto a modern label punch and I tied it on with some ribbon, a little silver cording and a pink button.  My final embellishment was a tiny silver pearl from Pizzazz Aplenty as the nail hanging my picture frame up!  So fun!

Hope you're having a fantastic week so far.  I'm deep in the middle of trying to finish up a few accounting projects.  I'm so glad we get second chances in life, because there is no way I would have enjoyed being the accountant I studied to be in college!  LOL  Are any of you in the same field you studied?  Enquiring minds want to know.  :)

For a little more eye candy, be sure to check out the Verve Blog today for the next installment in our Baby Love Diva Dare series.  We're having a prize for a random commenter as well as a participant, so come play along!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: To the Moon (Verve)
Paper: White, Pink Pirouette, Naturals DSP (SU!)
Ink: Black
Accessories: Silver pearl (Pizzazz Aplenty), Modern Label Punch (SU!), silver cording, button, May Arts ribbon

Valentine Mojo

Happy Monday! It's time for the newest sketch over at Mojo Monday!  This week's sketch {Mojo 174} was drawn from this card I made for Verve's latest release.  Be sure to head on over to the Mojo blog for the sketch and to see what the design team (including our 2 newest Mojo makers) made!

There's nothing too difficult here, just stamped the lined heart and the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment from Love Notes on patterned paper, cut out and layered on a Jotted heart die black cardstock mat.  The two little hearts are cut with an SU! punch, then inked lightly with a little black soot ink.  I accented the heart with a little Fruit Punch stickles and added a double bow across my panel.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  The Diva's will be sharing their Diva Dare creations over on the Verve Blog each day this week, so I hope you'll tune in and maybe even play along!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Love Notes (SU!)
Paper: Crush Collection (Bo Bunny), Black
Ink: Black
Accessories:
Jotted Heart Die (Verve), Scallop Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders), clear detail embossing powder, Fruit Punch stickles, Lots of Hearts punch (SU!), Liquid Pearls, May Arts Ribbon, corner rounder

Congrats!

Happy Friday!  Today I've got a little card to show you using this week's Viva la Verve! sketch. Tosh is the hostess this week, and she gave us a super fun tilty sketch that totally inspired me.

The other night, Mark was working on some hobby stuff and I needed to clear a space for him in my studio.  While I was cleaning up, I rediscovered this paper I ordered a few months ago and had never cut into.  I thought it would be perfect for my idea to add a little Flower Soft fur to the bear in the To the Moon set.  After coloring and cutting out the bear and papers, I added some vanilla ribbon ruffles, then found this fun star ribbon in my stash and decided it would be a perfect addition.  That gave me the idea for a little balloon, so I cut one of the stars from the ribbon, glued onto a german glass glitter star, then added a little linen thread for the balloon string.  I finished off with a few little buttons, because I've suddenly decided they're cool again!  LOL

That's all from me today!  Be sure to check out the sketch over in our forum.  And Laurie's kicking off our first Diva Dare challenge over on the Verve Blog!  Check it out and play along!!!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: To the Moon (Verve Stamps)
Paper:
Grandma's Attic (TPC Studios), Choice Buttercream (Taylored Espressions), Early Espresso (SU!)
Ink: Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress), Early Espresso (SU!), Copic markers
Accessories: German glass glitter star (Frost it Pink), square punch for sentiment flag (EK Success), vintage brads (Recollections), buttons, linen thread (TCP), vanilla seam binding ribbon (SU!), star ribbon (Making Memories), ultra fine sand Flower Soft

Valentine Kites

Happy Thursday!  Today I have a whimsical little card to share with you.  Last weekend a few goodies I had ordered during after Christmas sales arrived and I headed up to the studio just to play! 


I've been trying to use a little old with everything new lately, so for this card I decided to pair the BasicGrey Manila Basics paper with some BoBunny and Graphic 45 papers.  The lined heart from the Love Notes set is embossed onto vellum in Antique Linen, then I embossed the Valentine sentiment in Early Espresso and edged it with Copper Stickles.  The striped aqua heart is cut with the Jotted Heart Die.  The kites are from the To the Moon set, and I popped the top halves of them up with dimensionals and coated with a mixture of glitter and diamond glaze.   The smaller heart is clear embossed with one of the hearts from the Love Notes set, then cut out and popped over the rounded banner in coordinating papers.  I also die cut a little aqua border and accented with some turquoise pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.  Next I added a few little buttons and a pink frosted pearl and a bit of May Arts ribbon to finish it off.


Enabler's List:
Stamps: Love Notes, To the Moon (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Crush (Bo Bunny), Manila Basics (BasicGrey), Once Upon a Springtime (Graphic 45), Brown Bag (Paper Accents)
Ink: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Jotted Heart Die (Verve Stamps), buttons, pearls & rhinestones and iridescent cording (Pizzazz Aplenty), Little Open Scallop Strip and Rounded Banner Tio (Die-namics by MFT), Copper Stickles, detail embossing powder, Diamond Glaze, glitter, May Arts ribbon

Swirling Circle

Hi everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  Did y'all check out the awesome Verve cards on our after-party post yesterday?  If you did, you might have seen this little favorite of mine...

I recently got a Grand Cailibur die cut machine specifically so I could make some larger circle cards.  I really like making circle cards, but find the small canvas a little confining at times.  This card uses the smallest dies of the Grand Circles and Scallop Circles and the outer scallop is about 4.75" in diameter.  Just perfect to layer some heart nestabilities inside, cut with a little Be Mine paper from Echo park.  The be mine sentiment and the oval frame are from the Swirling Hearts set and I used the Vintage Oval die to cut it out, then added a 1.25" circle of basic gray cardstock in the center and layered the modern label punched sentiment over it.  I embellished with a chipboard heart, a couple fun buttons, some liquid pearls and a wrinkled ribbon bow.  Super fun!

Well, I haven't had a spare minute in what seems like a month and my to-do list is still a mile high so I better get to work.  Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope your day is fantabulous!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Swirling Hearts (Verve)
Paper: Be Mine (Echo Park), Melon Mambo, Basic Gray (SU!)
Ink: Basic Gray, Melon Mambo (SU!)
Accessories: Vintage Oval Die (Verve), Circles and Scallop Circles Grand Nestabilities, Heart and Scallop Heart Nestabilities (Spellbinders), buttons, Sweet Talk Chipboard heart (MMBI), liquid pearls (Ranger), linen thread, Curlique & Hearts embossing folder (Sizzix), wrinkled ribbon

Just for You

Happy Monday!  The Verve release party last Friday night was a total blast and all of our new stamps and dies are now available in the Verve store!  One of my favorite parts of each release is seeing all the amazing Diva samples at the release party. I know because of the party time many of you can't attend, so be sure to check out the After-Party post on the Verve Blog today with some of our favorite Diva creations from this release!

Here's one of my samples from this release that just happens to be the Mojo Monday 173 sketch!  I loved how this layout came together when I was playing in the studio, and decided to turn it into this week's sketch.  The stamps are from the newly released Sweet Treats set and I used the coordinating Classy Label and Embossed Oval dies.  So much to do this week, so I'll just leave you with the Enablers-R-Us list. {grin}  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous day!


Enabler's List:
Stamps: Sweet Treats (Verve)
Paper: Heart Attack (We R Memory Keepers), White, Riding Hood Red (SU!)
Ink: Black, Riding Hood Red (SU!)
Accessories: Classy Label Die, Embossed Oval Die (Verve), Felt hearts (Martha Stewart), Riding Hood Red taffeta (SU!), turquoise frosted flatback pearls, organza jeweled butterfly (Pizzazz Aplenty), Curlique and Hearts embossing set (Sizzix)

Luxe Thanks

Happy Friday!  This week has just flown by!  Thanks everyone for your sweet comments on our New Release Hops!  If you haven't had a chance to comment on everything yet, you can find the master hop lists for all three days by clicking {HERE}.  The deadline for comments to be entered in our drawings is tonight {1/7/11} at 6PM Mountain.  I hope you'll find a little time to drop by for our ReLeAsE pArTy tonight,which starts at 7PM Mountain.  The design team gallery is overflowing with fabulous samples from the Divas, and I know they have some previews to show you tonight that you haven't seen yet!  And speaking of previews, how about another from me???


Since today is Friday, that means there's a new sketch over in our Viva la Verve! forum.  This week's sketch is from Charmaine and is just so much fun!  I took a few liberties, but you can still see the inspiration is there.  I bought this gorgeous Prima butterfly a while ago because it was so lovely and I planned on making a project for Christmas with it, but Christmas has come and gone and I couldn't wait another year to use it, so out of the package it flew!

I used the new Sweet Treats set for the label and sentiment.  The label is embossed with Early Espresso Craft ink on Creamy Caramel and then aged with some Antique Linen and Vintage Photo ink, after cutting out with Verve's new Classy Label Die.  The sentiment was embossed in gold on some Lost & Found paper and cut with the new Embossed Oval Die. The papers are all from that gorgeous Lost & Found collection by My Mind's Eye and I distressed the edges and inked them up, embossing the main red panel with the damask texture fade from Tim Holtz.  I added a little ruffled cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon under a panel cut with the Apron border die from TCP, then finished off with a few dark gold pearls.

Okay, that's all from me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope to chat with you tonight!  :)

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

Happy Thursday!  Today’s the final day in our New Release Spotlight Hops and we’re shining our Verve spotlight on a new set called To the Moon and a couple coordinating Plain Jane singles.I’m the first stop along the hop, so be sure to check out the master hop list at the bottom of the post.  One lucky commenter on one of the hop spots today will win today’s featured stamps!  Hooray!


My card for today features the To the Moon set and the new Jotted Heart Die.  The I love you to the moon and back sentiment in this set has a trio of stars or hearts to mix and match with it.  I added the stars and accented them with some silver Stickles.  The sentiment is stamped on a Vintage Oval diecut and lightly sponged with marina mist ink.

I found a little scrap of fabric in my stash and cut it out with the Jotted Heart die, frayed the edges, then stitched to a cardstock heart and inked the edges with Marina Mist.  As I mentioned yesterday, my sewing machine and I are not friends, and my stitching was so terrible I decided to cover it up with silver stickles!  LOL

I had the glitter star in my stash and added a button and some silver cording to it, then decided I wanted some more glitzy stars, so I used the SU! small star punch and also stamped and cut out the moon from the set and covered with German glass glitter to match.  I finished off with some silvery ribbon and a background embossed with the Swirls & Stars embossing folder from Sizzix.

Okay, here’s the hop list for today!  Happy hopping!

1. Julee{ME!} 8. Debbie
2. Charmaine 9. Sankari
3. Amber 10. Andrea
4 .Amy 11. Tosh
5. Laurie 12. Piali
6. Teresa 13. Maureen
7. Jackie

Aqua Love Notes and a Hop

Happy Wednesday!  And welcome to day two of Verve's January New Release Spotlight Hops!  Today we're sneaking a dozen or so peeks at a new set called Love Notes that will release this Friday night.  If you've already been hopping, you're halfway through, if not check out the master list of hops below.  And don't forget to leave a little comment love as you hop around for a chance to win Love Notes for your very own!

And here's the first card I made with Love Notes.  Most of you know that I love aqua, so even though there are piles and piles of Valentine papers on my desk, I reached for this aqua scrap of paper from the Fine and Dandy collection by My Mind's Eye.  My sewing machine and I are not on speaking terms right now, so I did a little faux stitching, adding some ticket corners with an SU! punch.  The jotted heart stamp is from Love Notes and I cut it out with the coordinating Jotted Heart Die, then colored the frame part with a Copic marker, accented with Stardust Stickles and then inked lightly with basic gray ink for a little weathered effect.  Oh, and somewhere in there, I stamped the fancy Love sentiment in the center of the heart.

That cool little border strip is the Icing die from TCP.  I accented the die cut with a few black pearls and some super cool teardrop rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty, and layered over my patterned paper.  The background paper is from the SU! Naturals DSP pack and I embossed it with the Valentine Set #4 embossing folder from Sizzix, then sanded it lightly to highlight it.  I finished off with some scrumptious wrinkled ribbon and a Maya Road stick pin.

Okay, that's all from me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the hop!!!

1. Laurie 7. Charmaine
2. Tosh 8. Amber
3. Piali 9. Sankari
4.Teresa 10. Debbie
5 .Amy 11. Jackie
6. Julee {ME!} 12. Andrea

Sweet Trio - Verve Spotlight Hop

Happy Tuesday!  Today is the first day of Verve's New Release Spotlight Hops and we're starting things off with a bang! Our previews today includes three new dies and two sets.   For the full list of hops and prize info, be sure to read to the bottom of this post! 

This cute little trio of tags showcases two new sets, Sweet Treats and Swirling Hearts that coordinate with our existing A Cut Above dies as well as a couple of new dies!  I stamped the swirly tag from Sweet Treats on white card stock in regal rose, real red and melon mambo, then cut out with the Sweet Scallop Tag Die.

The center of the stamped tag has an opening to stamp a sentiment, but I chose to just punch a 1.25" circle in coordinating cardstock as a background for a little sentiment tag.  The smaller sentiments are from the Swirling Hearts set and will all work with your smaller punches and dies.  On the first two tags, I've used the Stampin! Up! modern label punch for the sentiment, then layered some Martha Stewart felt hearts and accented with pearls and rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty.  The sweet treats sentiment is from the Sweet Treats set, and I hand cut the little flag, drawing in a thin little frame.  I finished each tag off with a little baker's twine.  Such a simple project, but so fun to make!

The Prize Info:  Okay, since a new release is definitely something to celebrate, we've hidden a prize along the hop today!  One lucky commenter on one of the Day 1 Hop Spots will win today's featured stamps and dies... Swirling Hearts, Sweet Treats, Classy Label Die, Jotted Heart Die and the Embossed Oval Die!  So be sure to leave a little comment love for the Divas, so you can be one of the first to get these yummy new toys!  Comment deadline is 6PM Mountain on Friday, January 7.  Winners will be announced at our ReLeAsE pArTy that night! 

If you've already been hopping along, I'm the caboose, and thanks so much for hopping along with us today!  And if you've just happened along, be sure to check out the list of hops below. 


1. Andrea 7. Debbie
2. Sankari 8. Amber
3. Jackie 9. Charmaine
4. Teresa 10. Laurie
5. Piali 11. Julee {That's ME!}
6. Tosh
We'll see you tomorrow with the Day 2 Spotlight Hop!

Shabby Mojo Thanks

Happy Monday and Happy 2011!  It's the first Monday of the month and that means it's a contest week over at Mojo Monday!  Play along for a chance to win some new Verve!  And speaking of new Verve....  we've got a release coming up this Friday night!!!  Check back tomorrow for the start of our New Release Spotlight Hops!

This week's mojo sketch {Mojo172} has a fun modern flair to it, but when I sat down to stamp I was feeling all shabby chic.  Maybe it was the fun Graphic 45 and My Mind's Eye papers sitting out on my desk, or just how much I love distressing.  Either way, this was the first time I'd stamped in a while and it was like a breath of fresh air for my soul!  The stamps are from one of my all-time favorite sets, Thankful Accents and I accented the circle frame with some sweet little pale pink pearl accents from Pizzazz Aplenty.

That's all for today!  Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to hop on over to the Mojo Monday blog to check out the sketch and all the fab cards from the rest of the Mojo design team!