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Shabby Be Mine

Hi friends!  It's tall & skinny week at Mojo Monday, and Teresa designed a super fun sketch for us. As I've been reorganizing my room, I've rediscovered quite a few treasures, so took the opportunity to play with some long lost shabby chic supplies.


The paper is from a Making Memories line from a few years ago that is my all time favorite Valentine line. The papers do most of the work, but I had to squeeze a little bit of stamping in, so embossed some hearts from the Heart's Desire set at the top and bottom of my vellum heart.  I added some Melissa Frances glass glitter, a little stitching, a heart stick pin and a bit of linen thread for embellishment.  Most layers are sponged with antique linen and frayed burlap distress ink.

Finished card size is 3.5 x 5.5", which means it will still fit in a regular A2 envelope, even with that sweet little mini library clip hanging off the side!

My craft room/office is almost done.  I still need to swap the contents of filing cabinets so that I have work files by my computer and cardstock by my stamping area, but other than that I'm feeling pretty good and making this card was such a fun experience!  I knew where everything was, and had a much better idea of the items at my disposal as I've touched almost everything in the room at least once in the last two weeks!  Now if I could just find more time in my schedule to be able to stamp more than once a week when the grandparents are here.  {grin}

I hope you have a wonderfully fantastic start to your week.  I've got sick kiddos and a sick husband, so lots of mommy-ing to do this week for me.

Mojo Monday 382
Enabler's List
Stamps:  Heart's Desire (Verve Stamps)
Paper: J'adore (Making Memories), cream (Neenah)
Ink: antique linen, frayed burlap (Ranger Distress), versamark, Copic markers
Accessories:  J'adore Love Tickets (Making Memories, glass glitter (Melissa Frances), Heart & Arrow die (QuicKutz), linen thread and mini library clip (SU!), white embossing powder

Hey There Cupcake

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for a new sketch over on the Mojo Monday Blog.  Teresa is helping out this month and came up with this sweet little sketch.

My craft room is in total chaos right now.  I have a T-shaped desk and use one side for my computer/design work and the other for stamping and mixed media.  Last week I got the crazy idea to swap sides, thinking it would be a quick way to mix things up and maybe get my mojo going again.  Well, let's just say the project is QUITE a bit bigger than I anticipated!  Countless hours later and I'm almost able to walk on the floor without stepping on anything again.  ALMOST.


So, my card today had to be simple, quick and able to be made in a 6" square swath of desk I had cleared for myself!  {grin}  I grabbed some scraps from my pile, since all paper pads have been banished to the spare room until I can sort through them.  My dies weren't available, but I did find a very old Creative Memories circle cutter for the circle, then pulled out the Cupcakes set and stamped the sentiment and a cupcake to cut out and pop over the top.  Found a roll of ribbon hidden at the bottom of the closet and tied it around the cream card base and I was done.  Easy peasy!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope to finish up my craft room this week, so I can move on to creating again!  Hope you have a wonderful week!

Mojo Monday 381
Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Cupcakes (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  scraps of DP, cream
Ink: night of navy, daffodil delight (SU!)
Accessories: clear embossing powder (JudiKins), Circle Cutting System (Creative Memories), ribbon (SU!)

Mixed Thank You

Hi friends!  It's another Monday and time for a new Mojo Monday sketch.  I've been overwhelmed with work and life lately, so Teresa is kindly stepping in for the next few weeks with new Mojo Monday sketches to give me a chance to catch my breath.


This week's layout is clean and simple and perfect for dressing up or down. I saw the simple lines of the sketch and then I sat down at my very messy desk, still scattered with products from an art journaling session last week.  And the little tiny rebel voice inside me said I needed to mess up those clean lines with some mixed-media grunge!  {grin}  So that's just what I did!

I chose Sweet Treats, one of the love themed sets that's on sale for 30% off this month for my image and sentiment, then added a little background stamping with the distressed polka dots from Better Together.  A tube of texture paste was still sitting out, so I grabbed it and a stencil and added a bit of texture on the barely banana and pool party panels.  I stamped the basic gray panel with the same heart swirl I used above and below the sentiment, then grunged up each layer with black soot distress ink and a distressing tool. The white layer is embossed with a Stampin' Up! folder and I dripped some watered down coastal cabana ink on it, then rubbed it lightly with some black soot ink.  I finished off with some little rhinestone embellishments.



In other news... if you missed it over the weekend, Verve is sponsoring this week's StampNation Birthday Bash.  There's a chance to win a free one month membership to StampNation over on the Verve Blog, along with a sweet little birthday card I made using these same colors.  For all the details about the Bash, head on over to Catherine Pooler's blog.

Okay, that's all from me.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulously awesome day!

Mojo Monday 380
Enabler's List
Stamps: Sweet TreatsBetter Together (Verve Stamps)
Paper: pool party, barely banana, basic gray (SU!), white
Ink: coastal cabana, so saffron (SU!), black soot (Ranger Distress), Copic marker
Accessories: texture paste, embossing folder (SU!), paper distresser, rhinestones, stencil (crafter's workshop)

Good Times Inspiration

Hi friends! I'm popping in today with a little art journaling to change up the scenery.

This is the first year in many where I didn't write resolutions, pick a word of the year or do any of those fun make this year count activities.  I spent 8 hours of December 31 in a hospital waiting room, then went home and took care of my 3 boys.  Then I woke up the next morning and packed orders and counted thousands of stamps and dies and took care of my 3 boys.  And again the next day. And the next day. And it's a week later and I'm just beginning to come up for air.

I started using an Erin Condren Life Planner in November.  But it hasn't been opened since the week before Christmas.  Life is hectic.  Life is messy. Life sprawls all over the place and doesn't fit neatly into little boxes in a spiral bound planner.  And life doesn't seem to ever go as planned, which makes a mess in all those little boxes. And when life is so busy and every spare minute counts, there's no time to plan. So right now for 2015 I'm just winging it. And that's okay.  I think.  ;)

The one thing I did plan on this year was Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesdays.  My goal is just to watch them all, but I'm hoping I can participate as well.  So last night once the boys were asleep and Mark was happily playing xbox, I snuck into my studio and watched the video AND did a page. Well... after I braved the closet to find the inspiration journal I had purchased a year ago and never used!


As I was digging through said closet, I found a book of vellum sayings from years gone by that had the phrase "These are good times so don't forget to smile and enjoy yourself".  I thought it was the perfect mantra for me at this point in my life, so I set it aside.  Once I watched the video and saw there was a word going down the side of Donna's page, I just had to do my own version with the word SMILE and use the vellum quote I had found.  Because I need to remember that these ARE good times.  They sure don't seem like it most days... but every day I see little glimpses of how magical the world is through a toddler's eyes. How lovely to experience everything new.  To discover Christmas and chocolate and laugh hysterically at the sound of the words mashed potatoes.


So that was what was going on in my head as I created.  Went with my favorite paint color... cobalt teal and added some shading with walnut stain distress ink, then used some faber-castell Pitt pens and a baby wipe to do most of the black, with just a bit of graphite pencil added in as well.  The hearts are die cut from music sheet paper and the butterfly tag was found in a package tucked into the inspiration journal.  Serendipity! All in all, super fun and a great start to a new journal.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Seasons Givings Hop Winners

Hi friends!  I'm popping in today with the winners for my blog giveaways for the Seasons Givings Blog Hop.  Thanks so much for leaving all the sweet comments, they've been a bright spot in this past week!  I've been nursing my hubby who just had shoulder surgery, taking care of the boys and spending every spare minute in between packing and shipping orders from Verve's year end sale. I'm happy to say I am completely caught up with orders as of noon today!  Thanks to everyone who ordered this past week, I hope you enjoy your new goodies!

Okay, on with the lucky winners...



Package includes TwitterpatedCalendar CountdownWings of LoveNo Matter WhatFlourished Trim Die and From the Heart Die Set from Verve Stamps and the Teresa Collins Something Wonderful collection: 12x12 papers & stickers, brads, wood chips, buttons, ephemera and washi tape



Holly aka Toy
$50 Gift Code to the Verve Stamps online store.
Congrats Shaugn and Holly!
Shoot me an email at info@vervestamps.com to claim your prize!

Thanks a Bunch

Hi friends!  It's the first Monday of a new month and that means it's prize giveaway time over on the Mojo Monday blog.  Play along with this week's sketch for a chance to win a stamp set of your choice from Verve!  We'll have a winner for every 50 entries, so feel free to let the mojo flow and link up as many cards as you can create with the sketch.

Mark had surgery on his shoulder last week and I have been in nurse mode and mom mode and packing and shipping for Verve mode, which left no time for card making mode. So for my sample card, I quickly threw together some scraps of paper with an already stamped, colored and cut out image that was sitting on my desk.


The stamps are from the Framed Lilies set, and were stamped in early espresso, then water colored with distress markers and a water brush.  I dripped a bit of watered down ink for the splatters.  The ribbon for the bow is from the Signature Ribbon Collection and I matted most of the layers with early espresso card stock.  A bit of ink distressing (for a short video on my distressing and the card that inspired this week's sketch click here) finishes things off.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I'm taking Mark to physical therapy and then have a ton of orders to pack.  Verve's sale technically ended last night, but it will probably be this evening before I have a chance to start changing out the website, if you still want to sneak an order in.  :)

Mojo Monday 379
Enabler's List
Stamps: Framed Lilies (Verve Stamps)
Paper: crumb cake, early espresso (SU!), designer paper scraps, cream (Neenah)
Ink: early espresso (SU!), distress markers & inks (Ranger)
Accessories: Signature Ribbon Collection (Verve), James embossing folder (Cuttlebug), stardust stickles (Ranger), water brush