This is the post that never ends...

It just goes on and on my friends! :) First I'll show you the card I finally made for this week's Mojo Monday sketch. It uses the new Hero Arts Cupcake set I got at Archiver's the other day. An entire set devoted to cupcakes - what could be better? I just loved the Seize the Cupcake sentiment and since Kim enabled me by pulling out 2 entire bins of new stamps from the backroom, I had to go a little crazy and buy a few new sets.

So here's the scoop on the card. It's made for a friend who has a birthday approaching and one of my goals for 2008 is to be better at keeping a schedule, including getting things in the mail so they'll be on time for friends and family. So, I started by cutting and embossing a circle and coordinating Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink mats with my Nestabilities dies I then stamped the cupcake in Versafine Onyx Black and colored with my new Copic markers. I added a few shimmers with a clear Spica Glitter pen and then finished off with Cotton Candy Stickles. For the side half circles I simply punched a Stampin Up scallop circle and 1 3/8" circle punch, layered and cut in half. The designer paper is from the American Crafts a la Mode collection. I stamped the sentiment on pretty in pink, used the 1 3/8" circle punch to curve just one end and then used a Hodgepodge Hardware d-ring to tie on a few coordinating ribbons from my stash. To finish I added a little more Cotton Candy Stickles accents to ... well, EVERYTHING! After all, life is better when it sparkles, right?

I've been having an awesome time the past few days with my brother and his wife who are visiting from California. We finally got our new HD drive and receiver all hooked up and have been enjoying cinema quality movies from the comfort of our own couch. I did take a little break from my movie watching today to set up one of my absolutely favorite Christmas gifts this year - a photo studio in a box, complete with lighting! I'm so incredibly behind on showing you all the incredible cards I've been receiving that I grabbed a big pile of stuff and started taking pictures to test out the new studio. Just fabulous! I can't believe how much of a difference the right amount of lighting and backdrops make. Hopefully this means a big bad goodbye to all the dark photos I've been taking lately! Woohoo! So in no particular order, here's a run down of my recent happy mail. I know I'm missing some, so I'll have to hunt them down and show you another time.

The first one is from the E. F. Hutton of blogging herself, Allison {Stampin' When I Can}. I just love this fabo Sprinkle card - just too much fun. Thanks Allison!

The next card is from Alma {Dancing in Pajamas}, the genius behind The Cat's Pajamas. This card is a total knockout in person. My fledgling photography skills haven't mastered acetate yet, but this is one styling card. Thanks for the card and wonderful gift, Alma!

The next card is just stunning and is from Colleen {Distinctive Touches}. I think this is the polished stone technique, but I could be wrong. It's absolutely gorgeous, and just takes your breath away. Thanks Colleen for sending such a beauty my way!

This Cosmobella card is from Jen {I Heart 2 Stamp} and totally makes me smile. I absolutely love the martini charm, the fun colors, and the bazzil bling paper just shimmers. Thanks for brightening my day with this gem of a card, Jen!

I was ELFed by one of my favorite peeps - Karrie {Burnin' Rubber}! She totally surprised me with this awesome bag of loot! There's the cutest little Gel-a-Tins stamp set EVER, in a little keychain case with a polka dot dress, purse and a couple sentiment stamps. CA-UTE! Plus a huge candy cane (which I ate the top off before I got the photo taken) and a fabulous treat bag (which I totally CASED for some of my homemade gifts for relatives). Oh, and she sent some yummylicious treats for Katie and some sheer blossoms with the cutest little tag. And some great little (Memory Box?) elf images and a fabulous Hero Arts snowflake stamp that I know just what I'm going to use it on. Thanks for my FANTASTIC package, Karrie! You made me feel so special.

The next card is from Laura F. {Scrapnextras} Isn't it gorgeous? She made it with some of the paper I sent as a RAK for winning one of the Mojo challenges. She wanted to use a J for Julee and I love how she incorporated it into the enjoy. Just a beautiful card, thanks so much, Laura!


The next card is from Lisa {Caffeine Induced Musings}, and I forgot to take a photo of the loot she sent me, but it included some oh so yummy (and almost gone!) chocolate covered espresso beans and a sampling of the Bali Breeze and Ginger Blossoms papers that will be in the new SU! catalog. They are SO gorgeous I'm afraid to use them until I know I have more on the way. LOL! Well, I'll probably give in and cut into one this weekend sometime. Anyways, thanks for the loot and the great card Lisa, I love it all!

The last two cards are from Lila {Lila's Creative Corner}. The first one she gave me a while back and I just got around to photographing. It's just gorgeous and uses the Starlight Starbright set. It came with some other rockstar bling and some liquid pearls that have already been put to good use. The second card is just gorgeous in person. The texture of the fabriano cards are just so scrumptious and the shading on the bird is lovely. Just gorgeous. I'm so blessed to have such talented friends that spoil me with their fabulous cards. Thanks so much Lila!

Whew! That was a long one! If you're still reading, you should win an award! LOL! If you haven't been there already, be sure and check out Amy's {Heartfelt Greetings} blog for some Verve candy! Peace Out, peeps!

A Sketchy Set

Hi everyone! Hope y'all had a Happy Christmas and are enjoying your new goodies. I plan to spend some time today playing with my new Copic markers! Yep, hubby surprised me with a set of 36 Copics to play with. Hooray! Now I just need to learn how to color like a pro. I also got a ribbon iron, some books I've been wanting to read, enough iTunes dollars to feed my audiophile addiction for a few months and hubby and I got a combo present of a HD DVD player for our XBox 360 and a new receiver so we can see all our favorite movies in their crystal clear high def surround sound glory. I know, we're a couple of geeks, but at least we're geeky together! LOL :)

I thought I'd show you the card set I made my Grandma for Christmas. I had a whopping 45 minutes to complete this before we had to leave, so they're rather simple, but I like the way they turned out. Sorry the pictures are so dark, I was in quite a hurry to take them before I wrapped them up. The sketch is Jen's Sketch for You to Try from last Saturday.

I started by stamping the flower from Artfully Asian on some watercolor paper I got from Archiver's with a coupon on my last trip. I then lightly traced all the lines with a light gray Tombow marker and colored with Eggplant Envy and Certainly Celery reinkers and an aquapainter. I matted the image on Elegant Eggplant. I then stamped the circle frame from the rubber version of Wonderful Wishes in Pale Plum on the watercolor paper and then stamped the sentiment from the clear set Wonderful Wishes Remixed inside the frame. I punched out with a 1 1/4" circle punch and matted on a 1 3/8" Elegant Eggplant circle punch. The designer paper was from the Enchante paper pack, which I ran through the Cuttlebug with the Textile embossing folder. I then matted on Elegant Eggplant and tied a purple May Arts ribbon around the panel. I made a set of 4, using a coordinating pattern of paper for 2 of them. I think Grandma liked them, so that's what's really important.

Oh, and if you haven't already, be sure to check out Laurie's blog, Charmaine's blog, Bethany's blog and Shannan's blog for some Verve candy!

Mojo Monday Week #17

Hey, peeps! Thanks for all your kind comments on DH's post. Isn't he the sweetest? I already had a Mojo Sketch drawn up for y'all (though I still haven't found time to make a sample with it). And since Karrie thinks she might not have any sketches to do during her vacation, I thought I'd pop on with another Mojo Monday sketch. So if you've got time, be sure and link me up in the comments so I can take a look at your gorgeous creation. If you upload to SCS, use keyword MOJO17.

Since I don't have a sample card, I'll show you this ornament I whipped up for Mark's grandma the other day. She loves birds, so I knew I wanted to make a bird ornament. I really wanted to make one of those acrylic block ornaments I've been seeing on everyone's blogs, but I didn't have the materials needed and had no time to go shopping. So I pulled open my good old drawer full of "alterables" and found an old pack of microscope slides that I thought would work. So I cut a white chipboard coaster down to the size of the slides and stamped on both sides with the Autumn Leaves bird stamp and swirls and then added the Joy sentiment from Verve Visual's Wonderful Wishes Remixed. Next I colored the image with Spica glitter pens, used a crop-a-dile to punch a hole in each piece and then sandwiched the coaster between two microscope slides. Next I ran 1/4" Terrrifically Tacky Tape (1/8" would have been better, but I couldn't find my roll of the thin stuff!) around all four edges to hold the pieces together. I then placed some clear beads from my jewelry making stash all around the edges. To secure it and to cover any parts of the tacky tape that were still tacky, I dipped the edges in Irridescent Ice and heat embossed. To finish I just added a May Arts ribbon through the punched holes and voila!

I've been busy, busy, busy the past week. My brother is in from out of town and we've had either a holiday party or family function to either attend or prepare for just about every second of every day since Thursday. And being that special mix of overcommitter and procrastinator that I am, I still have at least 10 homemade gifts to make by 5:30pm tonight for our Christmas Eve celebration with my family. So this girl better get on up to her studio and start stamping! :)

Oh, and if you want some Verve candy, be sure and check out...
Kim's blog
Jen's blog
Shannan's blog

And here's the slide show with last week's mojolicious entries.

NOTE: If you get a message that says no photos found, please hit the refresh button on your browser or the F5 function key on your keyboard, and hopefully it will reload with the pictures!

Taking a holiday break

Dear Readers,

Thanks so much for continuing to check out Julee's latest projects and witty writings (okay, I'm biased) over the last year! I know that she has had a lot of fun, and loves to read your comments and dream up new sketches for you to try out and new color schemes to use for her blog. Her artistic soul thrives with the challenge of creating each new masterpiece. Sometimes, if I'm really lucky, she even allows me to take a peek before she photographs and posts them.

I just wanted to let you all know that I gave her "permission" (and yes, I'm using air quotes here because she pretty much just does what she wants and I'm not a controlling sort of a guy) to take a short break from her daily posting through the holiday season. So, it is possible (brace yourself) that you won't hear from her (on this blog) until after New Year's.

Of course, she may just wind up having an inspiration strike her and be unable to stop herself from producing a fabulous new creation, photographing it, and posting it with some suitable prose. In the event this doesn't happen, I just wanted to let you all know that everything is OK. I promise she isn't injured or lost. She hasn't stopped wanting to post. She is just taking a very short break so she can play hooky with me this holiday season (I took off work through New Year's).

So, get ready to join Julee in her latest Poetic Artistry adventures for a fabulous 2008!!!

Have a safe and joyous holiday season with your loved ones.


-Julee's DH (a.k.a. Mr. Shadowcatcher)
I'm pretty sure she uses the D in DH for Darling...at least most of the time. :-)

Happy Anniversary to ME!

I didn't have much time for stamping yesterday, but I did make a matching nugget tin for the snowflake card I posted the other day. All the supplies are the same as for the card. I used 8 Reese's Minis and 4 Hershey's Nuggets, to give it a snug fit. Oh, who am I kidding? I used four Nuggets because I ate too many of the Reese's and didn't have enough to finish the tin! LOL! Oh well, it still worked. I used Avery labels to cover the nuggets and used the 1 1/4" punches matted on the the 1 3/8" punch to make tops for the Reese's. I covered the inside of the tin, but of course didn't remember to take a picture of the inside and this one's already in the mail. I finished off with some ribbon around the outer edge of the tin and tied some silver cord and added a Cuttlebug tag stamped with the Holiday Wishes sentiment from Wonderful Wishes Remixed.

Today is my 10th wedding anniversary! I am so blessed to have found the one person who is both the love of my life and my best friend. Sharing our lives and love these past ten years has only made life sweeter and more precious. Just knowing hubby has made me a better person. I can't wait to see what the next 10 years hold. To celebrate, DH took the day off and we'll be spending the whole day doing all our favorite things and finish off the day with a fabulous dinner at a local Fondue restaurant! Hooray! Hope all of you get some time to enjoy your loved ones today. Have a fabulous day!

Tin Ingredients:
Stamps: Winter Wonder, Wonderful Wishes Remixed ( Verve Visual)
Paper: Basic Gray, Soft Sky, Black, White
Ink: Soft Sky, Basic Gray, Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Liquid Pearls, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches, Snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder, Silver cord, ribbon, Cuttlebug Mini Tags die

I've Got Chills...

I've got chills...they're multiplying. Yep, I've got that nasty the weather has turned cold, there's too much to do before Christmas, why not add some good old fashioned sickness into the mix feeling. Chills, sneezing, coughing, sniffling, that's what yesterday consisted of. I did pull myself away from the couch long enough to make this card for today's SCS sketch challenge. Even though it feels to me like the bottom right corner is nekked, I faithfully stuck to the sketch. :)

The two snowflake stamps I used are from the Verve Visual Winter Wonder set. I stamped the medium sized snowflake in Versafine Onyx Black and then punched out with a 1 1/4" circle punch. I then stamped the smaller snowflake all around the edges in Basic Gray (stamped off once for a softer look). I then matted these circles on a 1 3/8" black circle. The two back circles are punched from Basic Gray and are stamped with the snowflakes in the same color of ink. I then randomly stamped the medium and small snowflake on white paper using Versafine Onyx Black and Basic Gray stamped off once.

For the sentiment panel I used the Holiday Wishes sentiment from the Verve Visual Wonderful Wishes Remixed set and then stamped around the outer edges with the smaller snowflake. I then sponged lightly around each of the white panels with Soft Sky. The larger white panel is matted on Basic Gray and then Black. The ribbon is attached to the sentiment with a d-ring from the Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware kit. The Soft Sky layer is embossed with the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder and then matted on a Basic Gray card base. For the finishing touch, I highlighted the snowflakes with dots of liquid pearls. I just love the look of the liquid pearls - thanks, Lila, for giving me a new obsession! LOL!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Winter Wonder, Wonderful Wishes Remixed ( Verve Visual)
Paper: Basic Gray, Soft Sky, Black, White
Ink: Soft Sky, Basic Gray, Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware, Liquid Pearls, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches, Snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder

Mojo Monday Week #16

Guess what? It's Monday again, and I've got another sketch to help kick the week off with some major mojo. I hope you have some fun with this one. My poll from last week about judging Mojo Monday was almost even between those who want judging and those who do not think a winner is necessary. So, I've decided to do a compromise. I will continue to post Mojo sketches each Monday and will post a slideshow of all the entries each week. However, I will only have a sketch with a prize and winner once a month (the first Monday of each month). The prize that will be up for grabs will be posted when the sketch is posted, so you'll know that it is a prize week. The next Mojo Monday that will be a contest will be posted January 7. All other weeks I will just post a slide show of all the entries without naming a winner. How does that sound? Everyone on board? So if you make a card using this week's sketch, link me up in the comments by Sunday, December 23 at 10PM Mountain Time (Midnight Eastern) to be included in the slide show. If you upload to SCS, please use Mojo15 as the keyword.

My sample card for this sketch is nothing like what I set out to create. Do you ever have days like that? I based my color and paper selection on some ribbon I had that was a perfect match for True Thyme. Of course, once I had the card almost done, I went searching for the ribbon, and it is nowhere to be found. So I had to take a different approach than my original idea, and ended up pulling out the Undu and trying several different combinations for the bottom strip until I finally decided to just use the same ribbon on top and bottom.


I started by randomly stamping the snowflakes from Winter Wonder on Pearlized Cream cardstock in True Thyme, Cranberry Crisp and Marigold Morning. Next I pulled out the Peace word from the Wonderful Wishes Remixed set and stamped it among the snowflakes in Cranberry Crisp. Although you probably can't tell in the photo, all layers of the Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme cardstock have been stamped in the same color ink with the Linen background stamp. Next I cut a square of pearlized Cream and a mat of Cranberry Crisp with my Classic Squares Nestabilities dies. I stamped the Wishing You sentiment in True Thyme and then stamped Peace in Cranberry Crisp. I love the new clear version of Wonderful Wishes. Having the words split up from the Wishing You sentiment makes it so easy to do two toned sentiments, and since they're clear it's a breeze to line them up properly. And it makes it so much easier to cut your dies or punches out first and then stamp your sentiment exactly where you want it.

The My Mind's Eye paper is embossed with the Textile embossing folder. (If you haven't noticed, this folder is my all-time favorite). I wish Cuttlebug would come out with more embossing folders that look good regardless of whether your card is vertical or horizontal. Anyway, I lightly rubbed the embossing with my Colorbox Chalk ink in Chestnut Roan. I finished it off with some May Arts ribbon from my stash. Okay, I'm done rambling, now. ;) Hope you have a great day!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Winter Wonder, Wonderful Wishes Remixed (Verve Visual) Linen (Stampin Up!)
Paper: Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme (SU!), Pearlized Cream (Paper Accents), Festive Collection (My Mind’s Eye)
Ink: Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme, Creamy Caramel (SU!). Chestnut Roan (Colorbox Chalk)
Accessories: Ribbon (May Arts), Textile Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), Classic Square Dies (Nestabilities)

Mojo Monday Week #15 Winner

Congratulations to Laurie, winner of Mojo Monday Week #15! I absolutely love all the stamping on this card, and that ribbon feature is just fabulous! Who could resist a card with that much gorgeous ribbon on it? :) Congrats, Laurie - email me your address and I'll send you out a RAK.

And here's the slide show with all this week's mojolicious entries.


NOTE: If you get a message that says no photos found, please hit the refresh button on your browser or the F5 function key on your keyboard, and hopefully it will reload with the pictures!

Shadowboxing

Hey everyone! One of my favorite types of cards to make is a shadowbox card. They're so easy, but they always seem to impress, AND they fit in a regular envelope! Woohoo - what could be better. I hadn't made one in a while, and I really wanted to show off this beautiful K & Co Peppermint Twist paper I got at Target, so I pulled out my dusty (ahem, I mean trusty) Scor-Pal and my circle Nestabilities and got to work.

The first card I made uses a snowflake and sentiment from Verve Visual's Winter Wonder set and a coordinating circle frame from the Seasonal Circles set. To make a shadow box card, you first cut two pieces of cardstock to 4.25 x 5.5". Next I marked the center of the card and cut a circle out of the piece I wanted to be the front of my card. To mat the circle, I just chose a slightly smaller circle die to cut out of black paper and glued the negative of the cutout behind the circle in the card front. Next I pulled out my Scor-Pal and scored at 1/2" and 1" from each end on both pieces of cardstock. Then I lined up the two pieces and stamped through the hole, so I knew the image would be in the center when I glue the pieces together. For this card, I used Soft Sky for the snowflake and Versafine Onyx Black for the circle frame. Next I used some Terrifically tacky tape to secure ribbon on both sides of the front card in between the inner score lines. I then folded the along the score lines and secured the two pieces together along the two outer edges. To add a little interest, I punched along each edge with a corner rounder punch(with the guide removed) to make a scallop edge on both sides of the card. I used my Crop-a-dile for the holes in each scallop and then outlined them with a black glaze marker. The sentiment is stamped in Versafine Onyx black and punched out with the SU small oval punch and layered onto a black large oval punch with holes pierced around the edges. I finished off with a black velvet bow on the side and some bling and a pearl center for the snowflake.

The second card is pretty much the same, except I used Skating Sprinkle from the Kitty Christmas set by The Cat's Pajamas. I added some dots around the circle with a black glaze pen to give it a little personality and a single velvet blow on the edge of the circle. I colored Sprinkle with Soft Sky ink and a blender pen and added some Stardust Stickles to all her fluffy outerwear. The sentiment is one of my favorite TCP stamps, Meowy Christmas.

Okay, that's all for today peeps. Be sure to check out Allison's blog for some really cool Blog Candy! And the Verve Design Team has another fabulous project scheduled for posting over on the Verve Blog today. Did you see Jen's ornament from yesterday? Adorable!

Birthday Time

I made a few new cards yesterday, but my camera batteries are dead, so I decided to show y'all the card I made Kim last week for her birthday. Since I know she loves cats and the color purple, I definitely had to pull out some of my The Cat's Pajamas stamps and this Studio 8 paper. And who better than Sprinkle with a L'il Party Hat to get the party groove on?

The sketch was one of Lauren's from a couple weeks ago. She's been talking about giving our small images more playing time and has a couple great sketches to make the little guys pack a big punch. Unfortunately you can't see all the sparkle, shimmer and personality this card has in real life, but you can imagine. :)

I started by stamping Big Sprinkle in Versafine Onyx Black on Pearlized White cardstock and punching the image out with a 1 1/4" circle punch. I layered onto a 1 3/8" Cool Caribbean circle punch and then on an Elegant Eggplant SU! scallop circle punch. Next I stamped L'il Party Hat, colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol and then cut out and glued onto Sprinkles head. I added some Hero Arts turquoise bling to each scallop and a tiny little rhinestone to the tip of Sprinkle's Hat. The sentiment is also from The Cat's Pajamas and is stamped in Elegant Eggplant on some Studio 8 paper from the Snowflake Collection. Next I stamped the Medium Circle Snowflake randomly on the lavendar piece and then added Stardust Stickles to the center of each circle. The dotted paper is from the Studio 8 Snowflake Collection and is embossed with the dots Cuttlebug folder. I finished off by layering everything onto a Cool Caribbean base and tying on some American Crafts ribbon.

Okay, I've been spoiled with some great happy mail lately, and haven't been very good about posting it to share the wealth. So here's a few of the cards I've received recently...

The first beauty is from Bethany. I love the sparkles on the steam, and the soft blue ink on the embossing. Oh, and the sentiment down the side is so cool, too. Just beautiful. Thanks, Bethany!

The second card is from Shannan. She used some a Fabriano card I sent her since I'm too chicken and too bad of a watercolorer to use the ones I bought. I love the colors and the sparkle. Just lovely! Thanks, Shannan!


The next card is from Amy and it came with some of her awesome caramel corn. This stuff rocks, peeps! Yummylicious! And the card is gorgeous, so sparkly and trendy and totally up my alley. I love the colors, and there are little snowflakes of something sparkly. Totally cool. Thanks, Amy!

The next card is from my challenge stalking friend Silvia (stampinsilvia on SCS). She enabled me with a few nugget tins I've been dying to get my hands on and sent this sweet little card. It's got this really cool opening, where you pull out the word window punch and the top panel folds up and the next panel folds down. Took me a minute to figure it out, but I love it...and my tins! Thanks Silvia!

The final card for today is from Shirley and is her baby announcement. The pic of her new little baby is so precious I wish I could just drive up and see her right now! Hope everything's going okay with baby, Shirley! Thanks for the card and photo!

Boho Blossoms

My MFT order came yesterday, and my heart went pitter patter as soon as I opened the box! I've been dreaming about Boho Blossoms for a while, and now that I've held it in my inky fingers, I'm totally smitten! The stamps are just so gorgeous, and making this card was the most fun I've had stamping in a long time!

My card uses this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I started by stamping the solid flower with Purely Pomegranate ink on Pretty in Pink and cutting out. I then stamped the outline flower using the same ink and cardstock, cut out, and layered behind the solid flower using pop dots. For the third layer, I punched a Marvy Giga Scallop punch of Pretty in Pink and stamped the tiny little flower stamp in each scallop all the way around. I sponged the edges with Pretty in Pink ink for a little variation in shade, and then lightly swiped the very edges of each scallop with black chalk ink.

The pomegranate rectangle is cut with Rectangle Nestabilities dies and is stamped in Versafine Onyx black with the outline heart stamp four times, for a really cool background. This layer is matted on a black scallop rectangle. The Basic Gray and Pretty in Pink layers are embossed with the Textile embossing folder and then swiped with Plumeria VersaMagic ink and Black colorbox chalk ink. For the half circles in each corner, I cut circles using my Circle Nestability dies and then cut them in half. I stamped the tiny little flower stamp in a ring around the edges of the Pretty in Pink layer and then added the Verve Visual Heartfelt Phrases sentiment to the bottom 1/2 circle. The ribbon is from Michael's and the rhinestone brads are Creating Keepsakes. I finished off with a few Stardust Stickles accents and a tiny pink bead in the center of the focal flower. If I could pinpoint a style that defines me, this is it. I'm not sure what you would call it, but this card is totally "me". Ah.... the feeling of total stamping bliss! :)

Hopefully everyone's having a great week so far. Be sure and check out the Verve Visual blog today to see what creation Shannan has cooked up for you.

Mojo Monday Week #15

Happy Monday everyone! Today's a big day for me. The six new Verve Visual photopolymer sets release today. Man, have I second guessed myself a thousand times on whether or not to go clear. But after many sleepless nights, and countless hours spent analyzing all the data and information I feel I've come to my decision using sound business sense and that it's the best thing for Verve's future. And the minute the samples of these clear sets reached my little stamping fingers, I knew I had made the right choice. They're the bomb, baby! So Verve is going clear! If you want to read a few of the reasons why (I promise I won't bore you with the exhaustive pro & con list I made), check out the new FAQ page at the Verve Store.

So I have a new Mojo Sketch for you. This week's sketch is based on this sample card I made earlier this week at Lila's. After I finished it I thought it was a little boring, so I added a few things to the sketch, but haven't had time to make another sample yet. Hope you like it. The card uses a sentiment from the new Family Phrases set, which I stamped four times (once in each corner) and then connected with dots to make a frame. The paper is from the Classical Garden Collection and Chocolate Delicious Desserts Collection. The giraffe is from the SU! In the Wild set and is stamped in Chocolate Chip, and his spots are covered in green bling. I sponged the edges of the panel and then distressed. To finish I added a touch of taffeta ribbon.

So, you know the drill. If you make a card, link me up in the comments of this post, so I can take a look at your mojolicious creations. If you upload to SCS, please use keyword MOJO15. I will select a winner to RAK from all of the entries submitted by 10PM Mountain Time (12 ET) on Sunday December 16. If you haven't already, be sure to vote for how you think the mojo winner should be decided each week. There's a poll on the sidebar.

Okay, be sure to check out the Verve Blog today for another one of my cards and the scoop on the sale going on at Verve. And then check back there all this week for new projects from the Design Team.

Mojo Monday Week #14 Winner

Congratulations to Julie, winner of Mojo Monday Week #14! I loved the creative way she turned the image panel into a secret hideaway for a gift card. So clever, and the card is just mojolicious! So congrats, Julie - email me your choice of one of the four new Verve Visual Phrase sets (Flirty Phrases, Uplifting Phrases, Family Phrases or Heartfelt Phrases)that release today.

And here's the slide show with all this week's mojolicious entries. I tell you, I have so much fun checking out all your cards every week. The judging is getting to be so hard, though! If you have a sec, please check out the poll on the sidebar and give me your input on whether or not I should keep judging. I'll be back soon with Mojo Monday #15.



NOTE: If you get a message that says no photos found, please hit the refresh button on your browser or the F5 function key on your keyboard, and hopefully it will reload with the pictures!

Glitzy Bella

Hey everyone! How's your weekend going so far? I decided to change up the color scheme a bit on the blog. It's kind of like furniture, every once in a while I get an itch for a new look, and the old one's got to go. So right now my favorite color combination is Basic Gray and Pretty in Pink, so I incorporated that into my blog colors. What do ya think?

Yesterday Shannan asked me to do a sample card for the Bella-da-Ball challenge she was hosting last night. The challenge was to add, add, add as much stuff as you could to a card and still keep it pretty. LOL! I've been in a pretty simple mood lately, so I wasn't sure if I could rise to the challenge. But there was something really freeing about being able to just bling it up to my heart's content without worrying if the card was too busy. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, and more importantly, stamping was FUN again! :) Yay! So, if y'all want to give it a try, you have until Sunday to do the challenge and upload your card to SCS. Check out this thread for the details.

I started by stamping Rockabella and coloring her guitar and face with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Next I colored her hair with a Spica glitter pen. Then I used my Quickie Glue Pen and added two different colors of Martha Stewart glitter for her pants, shirt and guitar strings. Next I used a black glaze pen to make a dotted border around the image. For the background I just took some Taken with Teal stamps and randomly stamped some star images in Taken with Teal and Versafine Onyx Black. The star images are from the Starlight Starbright Remixed clear set releasing on Monday. I punched holes in one end of my Taken with Teal strip and tied 6 different kinds of ribbon through each hole. Next I glued to a black card base and punched holes and set silver eyelets down the end with my crop-a-dile. The dots along the top and bottom edge of the card are made with Liquid Pearls (Thanks Lila!) and the rhinestone star in the corner is from a DCWV bling set Lila gave me as well. I layered five different primas on top of one another and glitzed them up with some Stardust Stickles. The chipboard star is from the BasicGrey Chipboard hardware set and is covered with K & Company paper from the Margot collection. I embossed the Superstar that's what you are saying in white (so, so easy to do, since the new set is clear and I could see exactly where it was going on the chipboard) and then added a few more dots of liquid pearls. The final touch was three star jewels I got in the jewelry section at JoAnn's the other day.

Be sure and check out the Verve Visual blog this weekend for more sneak peeks of the new sets.

Precious Little One

Hello? Is anyone out there? Just checking. :)Seems like things have been slow, slow, slow in blog land lately. Everyone must be in that crazy holiday frenzy to do more things than they they can possibly get done in a 3 week period. Things are pretty calm around my house. Mark and I have made a pact this year to keep things simple. We're limiting our spending on gifts and trying to focus on the things that really matter this season. And for simplicity's sake, we aren't even going to add ornaments to our tree. It looks so pretty all lit up with it's white lights in our Asian-themed front room, that I just don't want to think about dragging out all the ornaments, decorating, cleaning up the boxes and then taking it all down in a few weeks again. It seems like it would detract from the calm and soothing vibe the room usually has. So simplicity is the word this season.

And in keeping with my simplicity pact, here's a simple little baby card I made over at Lila's yesterday. Even though it's pretty simple, I just love how it turned out. The DP is from the Crate Paper Baby Bee Collection. I absolutely love this paper. It's adorable and perfect whether the baby is a boy or a girl. And many of the papers can be used for non-baby cards, too. So versatile! So, I started with two strips of DP with a band of Celery grosgrain ribbon on the seam. Next I stamped the baby rattle from a Michael's $1 set and the precious little one sentiment from Verve Visual's Family Phrases. Below the sentiment I stamped a star stamp included in the Starlight Starbright Remixed photopolymer set releasing on December 10th. I added a little D ring clamp from the Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware set and tied a little May Arts ribbon and grosgrain ribbon through. To finish I added just a hint of Stardust Stickles to the rattle and then matted everything on a Certainly Celery card base. See, I told ya it was simple! :)

Verve Visual update:
Family Phrases, along with three other phrase sets will release on December 10. These sets will all be photopolymer (clear), making them perfect for easy positioning. In addition, Verve will be re-releasing slightly different photopolymer versions of Wonderful Wishes and Starlight Starbright. So, there's lots of excitement going on next week. Lila and Kim will be showing you some samples using the new sets this weekend on the Verve Visual blog, so be sure to check it out.

And don't forget to squeeze in time for this week's Mojo challenge for the opportunity to win one of the new Verve Visual phrases sets!

You Rock My World

Hey, peeps! I'm back with another sneak peek at a sentiment from one of the Verve Visual photopolymer sets releasing next week. Each set includes 5 new phrases with an upbeat message that work well with the word window punch, are small enough for use with ATC's and fit in all the nooks and crannies of your cards. So far you've seen a sentiment from Flirty Phrases, Heartfelt Phrases and Uplifting Phrases. Today I'll show you another one from Uplifting Phrases and tomorrow hopefully I'll have something to show you using a stamp from the fourth phrase set.

This sketch is one Lauren posted on her blog last Saturday. I really like the layout - I don't think it's one I would have thought of on my own, but it's got great lines and lots of possibilities. And while hubby watched Shrek the Third on our recently repaired TV (hooray, it's finally fixed!), I sat at the dining room table making a couple cards and laughing my head off at Donkey and Puss in Boots switching bodies. Absolutely hilarious! I'm only showing you one card today, because the other one has to stay a secret until the person receives it. :)

The paper on this card is from the Studio 8 Snowflake Collection. I absolutely loved the color combo on the polka dot paper, so I decided to use it as my inspiration. I stamped the Frog Princess from The Cat's Pajamas on Pearlized White Cardstock and colored with Spica Glitter pens. I then punched out with a 1.25" circle punch and matted on a Cool Caribbean 1 3/8" circle punch and an Elegant Eggplant SU! scallop punch. I stamped the you rock my world sentiment from Verve Visual's Uplifting Phrases in Elegant Eggplant, matted the papers with Elegant Eggplant cardstock and then added sparkle with some aqua rhinestones and some Stardust Stickles. To finish off I tied a knotted bow of grosgrain ribbon around one panel, embossed the dotted paper with the dots Cuttlebug embossing folder and matted on a Cool Caribbean card base.

Okay, that's it for today, peeps. I'm supposed to meet up with Lila and Kim to do some stamping later today, so I've got another fun day ahead of me! :)

Holiday Cards

Here is one of the designs of Christmas cards I made when my sister came over to stamp the other day. I really hate mass production and can only bear to make about 4 of any one card before I get bored. If I really like how it turned out, I sometimes change up the colors, so I can make more than four and still keep my sanity :) So I started with Cool Caribbean and then moved on to Pretty in Pink. I'm thinking about possibly doing a set of plum ones for my purple loving friends, too. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. They're fairly simple, but still classy - exactly what I look for in a Christmas card design.

The stamps are all from the Inkadinkado Holiday Swirls set. I stamped the Happy Holidays stamp first in black on Pearlized White Cardstock, then randomly stamped the swirly snowflakes around the edges of the sentiment panel in Pretty in Pink and also on the Pretty in Pink background layer. I then sponged Pretty in Pink all around the edges of the sentiment panel, matted on black card stock and tied a knotted bow of May Arts Wrinkled Black ribbon around the panel. To finish, I ran the pink cardstock through the Cuttlebug with the snowflake embossing folder and then matted on a black card base. The Cool Caribbean cards are exactly the same, except I used some scraps of Cream card stock instead of white and I used May Arts Black Gold Edged Sheer ribbon. And I didn't think to use the Cuttlebug until I started in on the pink cards. I really like how the embossing looks, though.

I really love pastels when used with black or brown, but really don't care for them otherwise. Kind of funny how we all have our color dos and don'ts. Anyway, when I use a black card base, I just cut an insert from copy paper to 8.25" x 5.25" and fold in half. That way I can easily stamp the inside sentiment and sign the insert without worrying about it not lying flat because of the ribbon. Then once I've signed it, I just glue it down at the fold with some repositionable glue stick. Pretty slick, huh?


So how are y'all coming on this week's mojo challenge? The angle cuts aren't scaring y'all off, are they? Remember the winner this week gets one of the new Verve Visual stamp sets that will be releasing next week. So go ahead and kick that mojo into high gear, peeps! :)

Fabulous Scrap Stash

Hey there everyone! Today's card is a sneak peek at another Verve Visual set releasing this month, Uplifting Phrases. It also is Jen's Sketch For You To Try from a week ago, and I tried my hand at Amy's Scrap Stash blindfold paper picking. I was amazingly lucky when I pulled these three patterned papers out of my scrap drawer with my eyes closed. Considering the eclectic mix of papers I have, it could have been really scary. I forgot to take a picture of the papers before, but here's my card. The background paper is from Junkitz (Salsa collection, I think), the polka dot paper is BasicGrey Blush and the teal paper is K & Company. Everything is matted on black and I used my Rectangle Nestabilities for the image panel and mat.

I love this funky layout from Jen. Perfect for using patterned paper, and ultra cool. The stamping on the card is rather simple, the butterfly image is from Inkadinkado, which I colored with a Taken With Teal watercolor crayon and an aquapainter. The sentiment says you're fabulous and is from the Verve Visual Uplifting Phrases set. I added just a hint of Aqua Stickles to the butterfly wings for some sparkle and then added brads on each side of the horizontal panel and a dotted border on the top and bottom edges with a black glaze pen. Although this isn't my usual style, I really love how these "mismatched" papers work together. It was a super fun card to make and I love the end result. Thanks for the inspiration to step out of my comfort zone, Amy! If y'all haven't checked out the magic Amy performs with patterned paper, you really should. She does a regular Saturday feature on her blog where she pulls paper out blindly and incorporates into the most beautiful projects.

Mojo Monday Week #14

And it's Monday, AGAIN! Boy, the weekend's just fly by, don't they? Last night we had hubby's parents over to help us drag the 7.5 foot pre-strung Christmas tree out of the garage and set it up. I think pre-lit trees are one of the best inventions, no tangled mess of lights, no trying to find the burnt out bulb, just plug it in and go! And best of all, no sniffly noses, since I'm allergic to almost all evergreens. The tree still isn't decorated, but at least it's lit and something to smile at every time I come down the stairs.

I found a little time this weekend to do a little stamping, and refresh my creative juices. This weeks' Mojo sketch is one I've been mulling over in my mind for a little while now. I know some of you get a little scared when you see triangles and other non-traditional cuts, but this one's easy, peasy. Whatever width your inside layer is, just make a square that width and cut diagonally from corner to corner, then just glue your triangles in opposite corners, leaving a diagonal strip through the middle. On my sample card my inner layer is 4" x 5.25", so I cut a 4" square and then sliced in half diagonally. So give it a try, and link me up in the comments to enter. If you upload your card to SCS, please use keyword MOJO14, so we can all see your cards throughout the week. One mojolicious entry will be picked from all cards entered by Sunday, December 9 at 10PM Mountain time to receive one of the four new clear phrase sets from Verve Visual that will be releasing later this month. So go forth and create. Well hopefully you'll stick around long enough to read about my card - then go create! ;)

It seems like the holidays always leave me missing the people who won't be here to share them with me. Not only those who are far away, but those who have taken their journey heavenward. There's always those ornaments or special decorations that remind me of Christmases past, and this little Christmas Fairie stamp from Rubber Romance just looked so pensive, I just had to pair her with the miss you like crazy sentiment in the soon to be released Verve Visual Heartfelt Phrases set. She's stamped with Ancient Page Coal Black on Pearlized White Cardstock and colored with Prismacolor pencils, gamsol and Spica Glitter pens. I then matted on Basic Gray cardstock and tied a little knotted bow of May Arts ribbon down the side of the image panel. The DP layers are from a K & Company mat stack and are embossed with the Snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder and then sanded lightly to accent them. The whole card is on a Basic Gray card base.

Okay, that's it for today peeps. My sis is coming over this morning to make Christmas cards, so I've got a "me" day scheduled. Woohoo! Check back tomorrow for a sneak peek at another of the new sets, combined with my attempt at an Amy Westerman style scrap stash card. And if you haven't already, be sure to check out the post below this one to see last Week's mojo entries and winner. Have a fabulous day!

Mojo Monday Week #13 Winner

Congratulations to Tanis, winner of Mojo Monday Week #13. This card just speaks to me. I love it's classic lines, matting and color scheme, with just a hint of trendy fun with the ribbon tabs and brads. Great card, Tanis - email me your snail mail address and I'll send you a RAK!

And here's the slide show with all this week's mojolicious entries. I tell you, I have so much fun checking out all your cards every week. The judging is very hard, and I almost always have to enlist the help of hubby to narrow it down to just one card that screams mojo the loudest. Keep creating, peeps, you're all amazing! :) I'll be back soon with Mojo Monday #14.



NOTE: If you get a message that says no photos found, please hit the refresh button on your browser or the F5 function key on your keyboard, and hopefully it will reload with the pictures!

Two Little Lovebirds

Hey everyone! I'm back with a sweet little card I made today. I wanted to show y'all a sneak peek from the Flirty Phrases set that will be releasing this month from Verve. I've always wanted a stamp that said "two little lovebirds", so I had to make one! LOL! I think this is one of my hubby's favorite stamps from the new releases, he grins each time he sees this sentiment.

The birds and tree branch are from a new set called Cheery Birds from the Clearly Archiver's Collection by Hero Arts. (ETA: This set is one of 30 sets Hero Arts made exclusively for Archiver's, so it can only be purchased at an Archiver's store.) I stamped the two birdies and the branch in Versafine Sepia Brown and colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I then stamped the two little lovebirds stamp from Flirty Phrases right below the branch image, which was so EASY to do, because the new sets are clear. Yep, you heard me right, the Verve sets being released this month are all photopolymer clear sets! Next I embossed the rectangle around the birds and sentiment using my Nestabilities Rectangles and then matted on a Chocolate Chip scallop rectangle. The DP is Soft Sky Prints paper from SU! which Lisa so kindly sent me a few sheets of a while back and I've been hoarding (Hi Lisa!). I could kick myself that I was too busy moping around to remember to pull an order together to get a bunch of these Prints packs during the November SU! sale. And now it's December, can you believe it? Blink and it will be New Year's!

Anywho, I added some 5/8" grosgrain chocolate chip ribbon across the background paper and a chocolate chip mat and then glued some little homemade embellishments on with Diamond Glaze. They are simply some spacer beads from my jewelry making stash which I glued adhesive rhinestones to and added to the card. I really wanted some pearls, but couldn't find where I had stashed them. I like how this card turned out. Kind of simpler than my usual card, but its fun to try new styles every now and again. And those birdies are just so cute, that they needed to take center stage.