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A Year in Review - Part 2

I hope you enjoyed part one of my year in review!  Today I'm back sharing my favorites from July to December.  Enjoy and have a safe and happy new year!

July - Much Appreciated
Verve products:  Words Cannot Express
 

August - Perk Up
Verve products:  Better With You, Sweet Scallop Tag (stamp), Sweet Scallop Tag Die



September - Happiness
Verve products:  Happiness Found


October - Hometown Thanks
Verve products: Bloom & Grow, Tag Time, Curvy Bookplate Die, Floral Circles Die Set, Elegant Leaves Die


November - Snowflake Tidings
Verve products:  Glad Tidings, Love Story, Snowflake Tidings Die Set, Lovely Marquee Die



December - Just Because
Verve products: Fluttering By



Thanks so much for following along this year!  As a little reminder, Verve's Good Buy 2011 Sale ends tonight (12/31), so it's your last chance to get some seriously good buys!  All of the Verve stamps & dies you've seen today are on sale!



A Year in Review - Part 1

I thought I'd pop in and take a little trip down memory lane to a few of my favorite cards from 2011.  Today I'm sharing my favorites from January to June and tomorrow I'll be back with the last half of the year.  Enjoy!

January - Luxe Thanks
Verve products:  Sweet Treats, Classy Label Die and Embossed Oval Die
 

February - Courage
Verve products:  Blue Skies



March - For the Birthday Girl
Verve products:  Great Friend, Birthday Bash 


April - Feel Better
Verve products:  Wild Flower Plain Jane, Hope Blooms, Bloom & GrowElegant Leaves Die, Floral Circles Die Set, Classy Label Die


May - Corrugated Love
Verve products:  Text Objects, Charming Oval Die Set



June - Let Freedom Ring
Verve products:  American Hero


I'll be back tomorrow with part two.  Our Good Buy 2011 Sale ends Saturday, so be sure to check it out if you haven't yet!  All of the Verve stamps & dies you've seen today are on sale!



I Thought of You

Hi Friends! Happy Thursday! Today I'm popping in with another card I made a while back, but never shared. This one I made for a guest designer spot I was doing, but at the time I thought it wasn't "fancy" enough, so made a different card for the post and this card got forgotten.


The leafy background image is from New Mercies (30% during this week's sale) is stamped in Pear Pizzazz, and then I over-stamped the two sizes of flowers from the same set, then stamped the flowers again onto designer paper and pieced them over the stamped stems.  The sentiment is from Small Phrases (also 30% off) and is stamped onto newsprint paper, then punched out with a circle punch and layered onto a petite scallop circle.  I used a little border punch along the bottom panel, and highlighted with liquid pearls.  A little distressing, a black bow and some rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty finished it off.

Thanks for all your kind comments throughout the year and during my blogging break.  Mark and I are enjoying putting everything in its place in our new home.  So far our holiday break has been exhausting and very emotional.  I'm having a tough time processing all the change that's coming our way in 2012 and am so very sad to see this childless chapter in my life coming to an end.  And so very guilty to have these feelings when so many friends and family are struggling so hard to have a baby.  I'm sure the pregnancy hormones are magnifying this whirlwind of emotions, but please say a little prayer of peace and comfort for me if you think about it.

Enabler's List:
Stamps: New Mercies, Small Phrases (Verve Stamps)
Paper: designer paper (SU!), Black, Cream
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Black, Antique Linen
Accessories:  border & circle punch, triple punch pack (SU!), ribbon (May Arts), Petite Scallop Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty), distressing tool

Love BIG

Hi friends! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! The past couple weeks have just flown by for us with the move to our new house and all the holiday festivities.  We've got our main living areas (kitchen, living room, master bedroom & bath) unpacked, but are still surrounded by boxes for the rest of the house, including my studio.  Hopefully someday I'll stamp again.  {grin}

In the meantime, I thought I'd pop in and share this card I made a while ago, but never posted because I wanted to take a new photo of it.  That new photo never happened, but hopefully you can imagine that all the pinks match on this little card.


We're having our annual end of year sale over at Verve, so all the stamps you see here are on sale 10 - 50% off through December 31!  Plus use the SHOPHOP gift code in your cart at checkout to receive an additional 10% off your order!  Woohoo!  Here I used Tag Time (which is currently a whopping 50% off!) for the graph lined tag, the circle background on the primitive heart and the love and big sentiments.  The small heart from Sip & Savor (also 50% off) is used around the leafy sprig from Sunny Days (30% off) and also as a little background inside the circles on the primitive heart.  I used the coordinating Tagged Rectangle Die (10% off) to cut out my tag and the From the Heart Die Set (30% off) to frame my stamped heart from Better With You (30% off).  I accented with stickles, some rhinestones and a bit of twine to finish it off.


That's all from my little corner of the world.  We're spending the day with my brother and his wife who are visiting from California, so I better wrap things up and get ready.  Hope you have a fabulous day and thanks so much for stopping by!  Since I haven't stamped recently, I don't have a new Mojo Monday card for you, but be sure to check out the Mojo Monday blog for this week's sketch and samples from the design team!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Tag Time, Sip & Savor, Sunny Days, Better With You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: DCWV, Black, Melon Mambo
Ink: Melon Mambo, Black, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo
Accessories:  Tagged Rectangle Die, From the Heart Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Primitive Hearts die (Sizzix), small circle punch (SU!), rhinestones, twine, embossing folder

Christmas Mojo

Hi friends!  Boy, do I have a super busy week ahead.  This afternoon we close on our new house and we're scheduled to move in this Friday, so I'm typing this surrounded by boxes and packing supplies!  My studio is completely packed, so this is probably the last card you'll see around here for quite a while.  This will be our 10th move in 14 years together, so I should be a pro, but I must say it's been difficult trying to find the energy to pack being pregnant with twins.  It seems like I need a nap after every single box - even if I'm just supervising!  LOL 


Anyhow, it's Mojo Monday, and this week's sketch is a fun one from Debbie Carriere.  Be sure to check out the Mojo blog to see the other designer's takes on this sketch. My take is actually a card and gift in one.  The main circle panel is actually a handmade detachable magnet.  To make it, I simply cut a circle from music sheet paper and from chipboard and glued together.  I inked the edges of the music sheet with Antique Linen distress ink, then adhered an exotic butterfly diecut in black to the center of the piece.  I colored the insides of the die cut with a Copic marker then covered the entire surface with a coat of Diamond Glaze.  While it was still wet, I sprinkled champagne glass glitter over the top, then set it out to dry for a couple hours.  I came back and did a second coat of Diamond Glaze, to make it thicker and make the glitter appear to float, then let it dry overnight and matted with a black scallop circle and attached a magnet to the back.


Here's what the card looks like when the magnet is taken away.  I completed it with an image from Bright Spirits so it wouldn't look blank once the magnet was removed.  The opposing magnet is hidden underneath the image panel, so it all looks like magic.  {grin}  The fancy tag piece is embossed in black with the same heart image and the patterned papers are from the World Traveler collection.

Okay, that's all from me!  If you don't hear from me before then, have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!  Thanks so much for reading my blog!

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Bright Spirits (Verve Stamps)  
Paper: World Traveler (Teresa Collins), Black, Cream, chipboard
Ink: Black, Antique Linen (Ranger Distress), Copic markers
Accessories:  Mini Exotic Butterflies (TCP), Fleur de lis Squares, Classic Circles, Scallop Circles and Fancy Tags Two Nestabilities (Spellbinders), embossing folder (Sizzix), Champagne glass glitter (SU!), black embossing powder, Diamond Glaze (JudiKins), magnets (BasicGrey)

Gift Cards Galore

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I've got a little gift packaging to share with you.  When I saw Alma's new Gift Card Envie CutUps, I immediately had to order one.  After all, it's the purrrrrfect size to fit a gift card, and the die both cuts and scores in one pass through the die cut machine, so they're a breeze to put together!  I love giving (and receiving... grin!) gift cards, as well as dressing them up a bit, so the recipient still knows I was thinking of them.


The front two envelopes are done with double-sided designer paper and the back two are done with regular cardstock.  All stamps are from the J*lly H*liday set by The Cat's Pajamas.  The sentiment flags are all hand cut to custom fit the stamps.


For this first envelope, I stamped the sentiment, added the ornament (colored with Copics), then used the Snowflake CutUps as a wreath.  The holly is cut with circle punches then layered onto the die cut and accented with a little Stickles and some Bubble Pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.

The next envelope is pretty similar, but I used some rusty jingle bells and some chocolate toffee metallic dream string to accent the snowflake die and colored the jingle bell stamp to look a little rusty as well.  A little stardust stickles on the snowflake gives it just the right amount of sparkle.

Next up, I used some cherry cobbler cardstock for this one.  To dry emboss the envelope, I simply folded the two side flaps underneath to fit the envelope in my embossing folder, then ran it through the Cuttlebug.  This will end up with the two flaps de-bossed, but they are almost entirely covered up by the other flaps when you finish assembling your envelope, so it's not noticeable at all.  Here I layered two of the snowflake cutups together for a nice fluffy wreath, then accented with red flatback pearls and stardust stickles.


For this final envelope, I embossed the cream card stock with a Tim Holtz snowflake embossing folder, then lightly inked with Antique Linen distress ink.  The snowflake cutups is cut out in cream, then I swiped my Versamark pad over the whole die cut and embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder.  The snowflake stamps are stamped in Early Espresso, and then stamped again with Versamark and embossed with Iridescent Ice.  I accented each with a smoked topaz Czech rhinestone for some extra sparkle.


Last, but not least, a few of my gift cards were generic and didn't have the amount on them, so I pulled out the Nightie alphabet set from The Cat's Pajamas and made some little tags for the gift cards.  I then just used circle punches to cut them out in coordinating colors and attached with mini paper clips from Tim Holtz.

Whew!  That was a long post.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed making these little gift card holders.  I know the recipients are going to love them!  Have a fantastic day and thanks so much for stopping by!

Enabler's List:

Stamps: J*lly H*liday, Nightie alphabet set (The Cat's Pajamas)
Paper: DP from My Mind's Eye, Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi, Sage Shadow, Cherry Cobbler (SU!), Natural White Classic Crest (TCP)
Ink: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress), Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler (SU!), VersaMark, Copic markers
Accessories:  Gift Card Envie CutUps and Snowflake CutUps (TCP), rusty jingle bells (Frost It Pink), embossing folders (Sizzix), Stardust Stickles (Ranger), Bubble Pearls, smoked topaz Czech rhinestone, red flatback pearls, chocolate toffee metallic dream string (Pizzazz Aplenty), Iridescent Ice embossing powder (SU!)

Unto Us

Hi friends!  Happy Monday!  It's time for another Mojo sketch to jumpstart your week and since it's the first Monday of the month it's CONTEST time!  Woohoo!  We've got some Verve prizes up for grab, so be sure to sneak a little stamping time in this week to play along with our challenge!


I just love this Lost & Found Christmas paper and decided to go with an elegant feel for this traditional Christmas card.  A little gold embossing always seems to up the elegance factor, so I embossed both the sentiment from Richly Blessed and the Curvy Cross plain jane in gold detail embossing powder.  The cross is cut out with the Cross Die Set and I added some layers of shimmer gold cardstock cut with scallop Nestabilities for even more shimmery goodness.  The background is embossed with a Snowflakes embossing folder and I finished off with a seam binding bow and some shiny gold pearls.  All in all, it was a super quick card to make, and I know my parents (who I had in mind when I made it) will love it.

Hope you have a fabulous start to your week.  Be sure to check out the Mojo Monday blog to see what the rest of the design team came up with for the sketch, then play along for a chance to win some prizes!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Richly Blessed, Curvy Cross Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Lost & Found Christmas (My Mind's Eye), Shimmer Gold Cardstock (Pizzazz Aplenty), Cream
Ink: VersaMark, Antique Linen (Ranger)
Accessories: Cross Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Classic & Scallop Ovals & Rectangles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Snowflakes Alterations embossing folder (Tim Holtz), Detail Gold embossing powder (Judikins), Dove seam binding ribbon (TCP), shiny gold flatback pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty)

Just Because

Hi friends!  Happy Friday!  I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week, but it's still flown by.  Seems like there are just too many things to do with our new house nearing completion.  Our final walkthrough is a week from today, so we're getting close!  Yay!


Today I'm sharing a card I made using the December Stamp of the Month, Fluttering By.  This little set is one of my all-time favorites, and it's 40% off during the month of December!  As I was sorting through my studio earlier this week, I set aside a few scraps that caught my eye, so when I sat down to stamp, these papers were at the ready.  The background is actually made from three different script and ledger paper scraps that I pieced together with tape, then sponged and embossed to give a cohesive look to them.

The butterfly from Fluttering By is embossed onto ledger paper, and also onto the floral paper and then cut out and popped up.  I accented its body with some dark chocolate flatback pearls and then added some resin butterflies above the sentiment.  A few die cuts, a scrap of ribbon and a triple pearl stick pin finish things off.

And since many of you have been asking, here's a photo from our new house.  Please ignore the dust - construction is such a messy process!  LOL


This is our kitchen/island area, complete with alder stained cabinets and granite countertops.  I just love the blacksplash and tile we chose.  Here's  a little close-up...


Okay, that's all from me.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend!  If you're looking for a little something small for a gift, don't miss Verve's Stocking Stuffer Sale...


Enabler's List:
Stamps: Fluttering By (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Early Espresso (SU!), cream, scraps from Crate Paper and K & Co
Ink: Early Espresso (SU!), Antique Linen, Walnut Stain (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Fishtail Banner and Vintage Flourish Die-namics (MFT), ribbon, triple pearl stick pin, dark chocolate flatback pearls and resin butterflies (Pizzazz Aplenty), Corner Chomper, Sizzix embossing folder, fine detail clear embossing powder (JudiKins), mat pack and paper piercer (SU!)