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)