My Happy Place and a Blog Hop

Hi friends!  Here we are at Day 3 of our new release blog hops and that means we're just 1 sleep away from new Verve!  Hooray!  I'm the start of the hop, so settle in and get comfy for another hop through Divaland! And since we love to give our Verve away, be sure to leave a little shout out in the comments as you hop about for a chance to win today's featured products!

In the spotlight today is a set called Happy Place, illustrated by me.  I was so inspired when I was working with Chaitali's illustrations to get them ready for our manufacturer that I snuck a tiny bit of time out to just play around.  Those peacock wings were just calling out to be a whimsical little butterfly and I loved the look of the feathery images so much, I created a fun multi-petaled flower.  And I threw in a few doodled flowers, adding in touches of the petals for leaves in order to tie all the designs together.

Mark is always the first person to see my designs and a few releases ago he told me that he always reads the sentiments as if they were written about him.  So when I sat down to choose sentiments for this set, I just had to include the next to you is my happy place sentiment just for him.  As soon as he read it on the set, he looked up and said, "So TRUE!".  {sigh}

Anyhow, on with the card.  Another crumb cake creation (although I think I hit my last sheet so the streak might not continue for very long).  I started with my favorite image from Happy Place, the flower duo, embossing it in black onto crumb cake and then cutting with the coordinating Happy Doodles Die Set.  Next I pulled out the cloud and grass cut-ups from The Cat's Pajamas to create a little scene.  I cut one grass diagonally from lucky limeade paper and then did another one and cut off just the portion I wanted to layer over the bottom grass.  Next I stamped the big flower and the sprig of feathery leaves randomly all over to give the grass some texture and depth.  I cut the clouds down to just two, sponged the bottoms lightly with soft sky and then tucked them behind the flowers.  The flowers are colored with prismacolor pencils and then highlighted with a white gel pen.

The sentiment is stamped onto a kraft panel, sponged with walnut stain ink and then I finished with a pink polka dot bow from the Pastel Polka Ribbon Collection.

Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win today's featured products! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs along the way to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for a full set reveal and all the prize info and deadlines!

Okay, next up on the hop is the talented Stacey!
Oh and by the way it's her birthday, so be sure to give her an extra little shout out!

Today's Prize: Happy Place, 2 Corinthians 12:9 (illustrated by Julee Tilman)
and Happy Doodles Die Set 

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

Enabler's List
Stamps: Happy Place (releasing 7/11/14 from Verve Stamps)
Paper: crumb cake, lucky limeade (SU!), white
Ink: lucky limeade, soft sky (SU!), black, prismacolor pencils
Accessories: Happy Doodles Die Set (A Cut Above by Verve), Pastel Polka Ribbon Collection (Verve), Cloud Border and Grass CutUps (TCP)