OCC Birthday

Welcome to the weekend! Woohooo! It's Saturday morning, and that means it's time for another challenge over at Our Creative Corner. Be sure to check out the OCC Blog for all the challenge details and to see the fabulous cards all the OCC girls made this week. I've had so much fun playing along as their Guest Designer this month. What a fun experience!

This week, Dawn challenged us to create a birthday card. And since The Cat's Pajamas just released two oh-so-marvelous birthday sets yesterday, I knew exactly what stamps I wanted to use! Aren't these little penguins adorable? Cupcakes, streamers, penguins in party hats, a magic wand... what more could you ask for in a stamp set? Alma has totally captured pure birthday delight with this release! All of the stamps on this card are available in the clearly swanky Smells Like Cake set, or individually as wood mounted rubber stamps.

I stamped the Lighting the Cupcake stamp with Adirondack Pitch Black and then colored with Copic markers. Next I stamped the Birthday Scrawl sentiment and used a corner rounder for the edges, to make it a little tab below the image. Next I cut the mats and the strip of patterned paper from papers in the BasicGrey Eva collection. Next I stamped the Streamers stamp down the side of the card base and colored with Copic markers. The scallop border is made with the Fiskars threading water border punch and I died some cheap white satin ribbon from Michael's $1 bin with a Copic marker to match. I finished off with some Angels Wings Shimmerz and some Crystal Effects on the image, and then three tiny clear rhinestones below the sentiment.

It's Friday!!!

Does everyone have big plans for the long weekend? We're planning on getting a bunch of projects done around the house, which will hopefully result in me reclaiming my front room, which has been taken over by boxes and boxes of verve packaging, stamps, etc. And I'm hoping to finally get the last two pieces of furniture put together to complete my studio makeover project we started months ago.

Oh, before I forget... The Cat's Pajamas released two absolutely adorable birthday sets today! These sets are totally fun to stamp with, and I'll definitely have a card to show you tomorrow using the adorable little penguins with party hats. Who can resist an animal in a party hat??? It just makes me smile! Anyhow, be sure to head on over and pick up these fab new sets before they're all gone!

My card today is another inspired from this month's Verve Project Parade. It also was my first attempt at the faux embossing technique that was this week's Technique Lover's challenge on SCS. I really liked this technique and was pleased as punch when my Whisper White craft ink actually decided to cooperate. (We have a love-hate relationship!) LOL I started by stamping the circle frame from Fairy Tales on Purely Pomegranate in Whisper White Craft ink. I then stamped the same image slightly offset in Purely Pomegranate and then trimmed around the image. I stamped the sentiment, "Life is in the Little Things" on some Pretty in Pink Prints DSP and then punched out with a 1 3/8" circle punch. Next I had the idea to use the pretty little flourishes included in Fairy Tales as butterfly trails, so I pulled out my Petals & Stems set for the small polka butterfly. I stamped the butterfly twice in Purely Pomegranate on the pink prints DSP and then trimmed out. Next I took a piece of Sahara Sand and stamped the flourish in opposite corners, as well as the little butterfly in Rich Cocoa Memento ink. Next I used the circle stamp and stamped it twice off the corners in each of the other corners, for a nice little decoration. I stamped the whole panel with Linen in Saharaa Sand ink and then sponged the edges with Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip ink. Next I just popped up my pretty pink butterflies over the cocoa butterflies, added a few little pearls to their bodies, and then wrapped a piece of Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon around the middle of the card. I added three more pearls to each side of the ribbon and popped up the circle sentiment panel in the center. I finished off with a 4.25" square chocolate chip card base.

Oil of Joy

Happy Thursday everyone! Thursday means it's time for a new Meet the Verve Divas challenge and I'm bowing my hot seat throne to Michelle Woerner. Michelle's our newest Diva and also a current Dirty Girl with talent galore, so be sure to go chat with her and find out all the details of her challenge --> over at the Verve forum <--. And as usual, there's a prize involved!

Her challenge is to find some "unloved" stamping stuff in your stash and put it to good use. Well, I must confess, I've been a bad stamp designer and I still haven't had a chance to stamp with some of the Plain Jane scripture stamps that just released. So I picked the Isaiah 61:3 stamp to use for this challenge. This is one of my favorite verses that has gotten me through a lot of dark times in my life. It says, "Give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

Rounding out my collection of unused stuff is: 1. Ambrosia BasicGrey DP that I have picked up and lovingly "petted" every day for 2 weeks and then put down because it's too pretty to part with. LOL! 2. These Creating Keepsake flowers that have been in the drawer for at LEAST 2 years, if not longer and still unopened. 3. The scallop embossing border from Cuttlebug Frills that I got about a month ago with a bunch of other Cuttlebug folders and just haven't gotten around to using. 4. This yellow-orange cardstock I bought probably 3 years ago from my LSS, back before I switched to SU!

Okay, on with the deets on the card. I first embossed the border on the yellow-orange cardstock and then stamped the large solid Serenity flower three times across the top of the card in Summer Sun. Next I cut a piece of the Ambrosia paper and a BasicGrey mat and glued it to the card. I inked up the Isaiah 61:3 with Tangerine Tango and then inked over the top and bottom portions with Versafine Smokey Gray, leaving just "the oil of joy for mourning" in Tangerine before stamping on an embossed Classic Nestabilities rectangle. I matted this with a Basic Gray scalloped rectangle and then added the CK flowers with a pewter deco brad. To add that hint of sparkle I love, I added some Stardust Stickles to the top flower and then painted a light coat of Beeswax Shimmerz on the background Serenity flowers.

Embrace Peace

Well, this morning I woke up and realized I didn't have anything to show you. Well, I have about 10 cards, but none I can show you right now. So I moseyed on into my stamp room and fumbled around for a bit... and this is the card that was born.

I started with this week's Sketch Challenge on SCS, and decided I needed to use more of the Bella Rose samples Lisa sent. So I pulled out my Nestabilities long rectangles and cut and embossed the white rectangle and then cut a Scallop rectangle mat from the chocolate Bella Rose paper. I stamped the long stemmed flower from Embrace Life three times in Memento Rich Cocoa and then the grasses stamp for a little greenery. The image is colored with Copic markers and then I used a Sepia Copic Multiliner to make little dotted details around parts of the image for interest. I took a Copic marker and colored up to the embossed edge for a nice little pink border around the image panel. Then I added some Stardust Stickles to the flowers and white dots to the scallops with my white Signo gel pen.

The sentiment is a 1" circle colored with a Copic marker and then I stamped the Peace sentiment from Wonderful Wishes in the center and added some dots with the brown multiliner. I added a small Page Pebble over the sentiment and then attached it to some Styled Silver and tied it to the card with chocolate polytwill. The corners are done with a fiskars corner punch, and then I added some dots to each scallop.

A SFYTT card and Mojo WINNERS

Happy Tuesday! Before I get to the winners of this month's Mojo Madness Contest, I'm going to share a card I made this weekend. This one uses Jen del Muro's super fun sketch for you to try from this Saturday and I finally got to play with some of my new BasicGrey paper pads! Yay!

The two patterned papers on this card come from the Offbeat BasicGrey pad. Isn't it yummy? I thought the designs in the paper went well with this Pod Branch stamp from Savvy Stamps that I picked up on clearance the other day. I cut the ovals with my Petite Ovals Nestabilities and then stamped the branch in Soft Sky and then in Memento Rich Cocoa (stamping once on scratch paper first to achieve a softer brown). The sentiment is from the Fairy Tales set by Verve. I finished the card off with three pewter deco brads from Jo-Ann's and some stardust stickles on the pods.

Okay, so on with the Mojo winners!
A big congrats to:

Janette of Stampin with Style. This coffee card is delicious. I love all the piercings, the bling, and the gorgeous papers and colors.







Wendy of It's All About Stamping with this fall beauty. I really love all the extra details on this card, including the multicolored sentiments across the top and bottom, the dimension on the images and the paper pierced corners.



Congrats Janette and Wendy, email me your address and your choice of stamp sets and I'll get your prizes in the mail. Thanks everyone for playing! Before you go, be sure to check out all of the mojolicious entries in the slideshow below.


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!

Mojo Monday Week #50

Happy Monday Everyone! It's already time for another Mojo Monday sketch. This week's sketch has a scalloped circle, but if you don't have scallops, feel free to just use a regular circle. If you don't have a small oval, feel free to substitute a rectangle.

I've decided to make a few changes to Mojo Monday, since I'm getting busier and busier all the time. Most everything will stay the same, but starting this week, I'll only be doing slide shows of all the entries on Mojo Madness Contest weeks. During regular Mojo Monday weeks, I'll just be providing a new sketch, but not a slideshow of the previous week's entries.

To play along, just make a card using the provided sketch and leave a comment on this post with a link to a photo of your creation. There is no time limit - you can play any week at any time. If you happen to upload to SCS, please use keyword Mojo50 so we can see everyone's mojoliciousness all in one happy place.

You still have until Noon Mountain time today to get in your entries for Mojo Madness #49. I'll have the contest slide show and my two top winners for you in tomorrow's post.

This week's sample card features two of the newly released Verve sets: Cupcake Affair and a sentiment from Artful Elegance. I stamped the cupcake top and bottom in Memento Chocolate Chip. I then stamped the solid frosting in Barely Banana, highlighted with a Buttercup Copic marker and then overstamped again with the Barely Banana to make the colors blend without having to do all that coloring. :) I painted a little Beeswax Shimmerz on the frosting and the flowers, then stamped the dotted frosting ring in Barely Banana and used it as a guide for my Liquid Pearls accents. This panel is cut and embossed with Classic Circle Nestabilities and matted on Chocolate Chip. The scallop circle is Barely Banana and I went around the edges with a Buttercup Copic marker for a little variation in color, then dotted each scallop with some liquid pearls.

The background is some Bojo We R Memory Keepers paper that's been in my stash forever and I embossed it with the distressed lines Cuttlebug folder. The dotted chocolate paper is from the Bella Rose Collection. The sentiment from Artful Elegance is stamped on Barely Banana and I lightly added a dotted border around the oval with a Copic marker. The hardware is We R Memory Keepers and the ribbon is vanilla taffeta.

OCC Warmest Thanks

Happy Saturday! It's time for another Our Creative Corner challenge, and this week's a color challenge I'm sure you'll love. I had such fun playing along as this month's Guest Designer again this week. Be sure to check out the OCC Blog for all the challenge details.

I started by stamping the flower from Beautiful You in Memento Rich Cocoa ink and then coloring with Copic markers. I then stamped the flower again and just cut out the top four swirls and the center. I glued down the center with regular adhesive and put small pieces of pop dots on the end of each of the four trimmed swirls, to make them pop up. Next I highlighted all the swirls in the flower with a Diamond Glaze and glitter mixture. Then I took one of the cool stamps from the Inkadinkado Foliage Trails set and stamped around the outer edges of the panel, as well as across a piece of Ruby Red cardstock.

The sentiment is from the Artful Elegance set, and I inked up the top section with Ruby Red and the bottom with Rich Cocoa and stamped on a Nestabilities tag. (It's actually a key hole looking tag from the Tags 5 collection, but I oriented it under the flower panel so it looks like just a little miniature of the top panel.) I also stamped just the corners with the fall foliage stamp, then inked both panels with Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip inks. The Ruby Red strip I stamped earlier is matted on Chocolate Chip and I pierced holes across the top and bottom edges, then tied a knotted bow of chocolate chip polytwill across the panel. The olive panel is from the SU! Bali Breeze DSP pack and I added some antique copper brads (lifting the concept of one big and one small brad as an accent from JanTink's cool cards of late). I finished off by matting everything on a chocolate chip card base.

Okay, hope y'all have a no-stress fun-filled weekend!

Girl Meets Chocolate

Hi everyone! It's time for another Verve Project Parade on the Verve Blog. Jen del Muro is kicking off the parade today with a totally AWESOME project that you're not going to want to miss. The challenge this month is a pink & brown color challenge inspired by this yummylicious ad from my favorite coffee shop... Tully's Coffee. The Verve Divas will be strutting their stuff with this inspiration piece each weekday through September 5. We'd love for you to play along... and there's even a prize involved (hint...free stamps)! Check out this post on the Verve Blog for all the details.

So now it's my turn to show you what I cooked up with this sketch. I went on a little shopping spree the other day while Mark was getting a massage and happened into the craft store next to the massage place where they were having 50% off clearance on tons of stamps!!! Like a kid in a candy store, I tell you! Among my many treasures, I found this gorgeous Penny Black Sun Caressed stamp there which has been on my wishlist for quite some time. I thought it would look so pretty in pinks and browns, so I decided to use it for my Project Parade piece.

I started with the MTVD07 sketch I posted yesterday, since I felt a little guilty about not following the sketch quite right. I stamped the Sun Caressed stamp in Rich Cocoa Memento ink and then colored with Copic markers. I matted this panel with a Purely Pomegranate Long Scallop Rectangle cut with Nestabilities. The little accents on the side are EK Success flower punches I punched from a piece of Regal Rose cardstock stamped with the square scroll background from Grateful Elegance in Purely Pomegranate ink. The background of the card is also Regal Rose stamped with the same square scroll background in Regal Rose. I added pearls to each of the flowers, a pink taffeta bow, and the thank you sentiment punched out and matted with SU! 1 1/4", 1 3/8", and scallop circle punches. A few little doodles with a brown Copic multiliner, some pink taffeta ribbon, and some Diamond Glaze and Dazzling Diamonds mixture to highlight the flowers and the card was finished.

Hope y'all have a fantastic weekend! I'll be back tomorrow to share my really cool Guest Designer card for Our Creative Corner.

Another Diva Challenge

Hey everyone! Happy Thursday! Sorry there's just been static coming from the ole blog most of this week. I've been a little under the weather and trying to recuperate from many weeks of sleep deprivation leading up to our Anni-VERVE-sary release. I've done a little stamping, but nothing I could show you until today.

I'm the hostess with the mostess this week over on the Verve forum for the Meet the Divas Challenge. My challenge is... you guessed it... a SKETCH challenge! Big surprise there, huh? Sketches are my favorite kind of challenge, so I figured I'd draw up another one and see what y'all do with it. Check out the challenge details, including how to win $15 in Verve Bucks --> HERE <--.

As you can see, I did a bit of flipflopping for my sample card, since I had my heart set on using the silhouette from Serenity stamped just so. The silhouettes are stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink on Kraft paper and then I sponged the edges of the panel with Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip ink. This is matted on a chocolate chip Nestabilities long rectangle that I chopped off to meet the edge of the card. For my 5 little decorations, I set 5 antique copper eyelets and then added some Kaiser craft pearls to the center of each one. The You Make a Difference sentiment is my favorite from the new set, Fairy Tales. I stamped it, then punched it out, sponged the edges and drew a dotted border around the edges. It is matted on an SU! scallop circle, embossed with the Forest Branches Cuttlebug folder. The background of the card is the last little scrap of Baja Breeze that Lisa sent me. I embossed it with the Distressed lines folder and then matted on a Chocolate Chip card base.

Be sure to come visit me on the Meet the Verve Divas thread this week! I'll be checking in and answering questions as often as I can.

Mojo Monday Week #49 - Mojo Madness

Well, it's not the first Monday in August, but it is time for a long overdue Mojo Madness Contest! To participate, just make a card using this sketch and leave a comment on this post with a link to your project by Monday, August 25 at Noon Mountain Time (There's a clock on the sidebar with the official Poetic Artistry time). Once all the entries are in, I'll pick the TWO entries that I think are the mojo-est of them all. Those two winners will each receive their choice of ANY Verve stamp set! Winners will be announced on Tuesday, August 26. Sound like fun? Well, let's get started! If you upload your cards to SCS, please use keyword Mojo49 (no space between Mojo and 49) so we can see them in one place. As always, you can use any stamps or products your heart desires.

Okay, here's my sample card for this week. It also doubles as the current Meet the Verve Divas challenge Charmaine is hosting on the Verve forum. Her challenge is to make a black, white and a splash of color card. Check out this thread for all the details (there's free Verve Bucks involved, so head on over!) All stamps are from the Grateful Elegance set, and I cut out and popped up the largest one in the center for a little dimension. The rectangles are done with the Long Rectangles Nestabilities dies. The yellow paper is Tres Jolie by My Mind's Eye and the black and white paper is from SEI. The sentiment is punched out with a 1.25" circle punch and matted with a 1 3/8" circle punch. I embossed the top of the card with a Cuttlebug embossing border and then added a few little rhinestones for sparkle.

OCC Together

Happy Saturday! I've been having so much fun playing along with the Our Creative Corner gals this month. This week Dawn gave us a fun sketch to work with. So if you're having Anni-VERVE-sary sketch withdrawals, check out Our Creative Corner to play along! :)

I didn't really have a plan when I started this card. All I knew was that any of my large embellishments are still packed away in a pile of boxes, so the embellishment in the corner would have to be a homemade one. Then I started to think about what long stamps I had that I could use on the main panel and I instantly knew where I was headed. I stamped the "Together, the perfect way to spend a lifetime" sentiment from Anniversary Birds on a scrap of Crate paper in Rich Cocoa Memento and then pierced holes all around the panel and sponged the edges with Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink. Next I punched the decorative border with one of the new Fiskars border punches (sorry, I threw away the packaging so I can't remember the name of it!) For my embellishment I pulled out an EK Success folk heart punch and punched a piece of Tres Jolie paper by My Minds Eye. I then stamped the background from Grateful Elegance on the heart and matted on french roast paper, hand trimming the mat. I wanted a little bit of glitz, so I covered the heart with a mixture of Diamond Glaze and glitter and set aside to dry. The background is more Tres Jolie paper that is sponged with Antique Linen and then embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile folder. I finished the card off with a brown satin ribbon.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

Birthday Bubbles

This week's TCP Tuesday challenge is to make a birthday card. Well, I rarely turn down a chance to put Sprinkle in a party hat, so I was all over this challenge. Doesn't she just make you smile?

I've been lovin' on Tangerine Tango lately, and I reached for it again today. I started by stamping the Argyle stamp on white cardstock (using my Stamp-a-majig to line it up). Next I stamped Big Sprinkle and L'il Party Hat with Brilliance Black because I was told it worked well with Copics. Well, not for me - it smeared and bled, so I ended up having to go over most of the lines again with a detail black pen. Next I stamped the Bubbles all around the image and then colored with Copics. I stamped Happy Birthday in an Oval nestabilities tag and stamped the bubbles around this panel as well. I highlighted all the bubbles with a mixture of Dazzling Diamonds and Stampendous Ultrafine glitter and then also added some dots of glitter mixture in the Argyle background. The striped paper is from the DCWV All Dressed Up stack and the card base is Paper Accents cardstock.

Okay, back to shipping orders. I just needed a little stamping break for sanity! :)
Have a great day!

Verve Release Day!

I had so much fun last night at our first ever release party! Thanks to everyone who participated! All six new sets plus 5 Plain Jane scripture stamps are available in the Verve Store now.

Here are the final two cards I made with the Anni-VERVE-sary sketches, but never had a chance to show you. The first is Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch #8 and uses the new Joshua 24:15 stamp as well as Notes of Prayer and Grateful Elegance for the small border across the Baja Breeze strip. I used classic oval nestabilities and a Cuttlebug embossing border. The paper is from the Ashville Scenic Paper Route collection. It has some awesome color matches for Baja Breeze and Tango Tangerine.

The second card was for Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch #9 and features the 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 stamp. It also uses the square background stamp from Grateful Elegance. The card is pretty straightforward. Designer paper is Ashville Scenic Route Paper again and is embossed with the Argyle cuttlebug folder. I finished off with three little pearls I colored with a Copic marker.

Cupcake Affair Preview

Wow! Is it really already the day before the release? Those 12 days of sketches just flew right by! This is going to be pretty short because I have tons to do to finish the website before tonight.

Today's card uses Anni-VERVE-sary sketch #12 as well as a new set called Cupcake Affair. To see more cupcakey goodness, stroll on over to the Verve Blog today. I also used Artful Elegance for the scroll border and the sentiment. The punches for the cupcake image are the SU! 1.25", 1 3/8" and scallop punch. I added some Bazzill pearl brads down the side and some of the yummy 1/4" chocolate chip grosgrain I can stop hoarding now that SU! brought it back into this fall's catalog! Hooray!

Okay, I hope you'll all join me tonight (Tuesday, August 12) on our SCS forum for the first EVER Verve Release party! The fun starts at 9PM Central (10 PM Eastern, 8 PM Mountain, 7 PM Pacific, 6 PM Alaska and 4 PM Hawaii-Aleutian. Hopefully I did my math right on those last two!)

Notes of Prayer and Artful Elegance Preview

Happy Monday!!! I hope everyone had a great weekend. If you're looking for Mojo Monday, it's been postponed until next Monday in lieu of the daily Anni-VERVE-sary sketches I've been posting on the Verve forum. There's still time to play along, so don't be shy! :)

Today's card uses Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch #11. I ended up making a long card to accommodate the images I chose. My finished card is 3.5" x 6.5". The cross and the sentiment come from the new Notes of Prayer set and the rest of the images come from the Artful Elegance set. Both sets will be available from Verve this Wednesday.

Everything is pretty straightforward on this card. I used the long swirl background stamp to stamp the Kraft layer, and both Pretty in Pink layers. The cross is stamped on a square cut with Nestabilities and then I used a circle stamp from Artful Elegance to stamp just a quarter circle in each corner of the square. The sentiment is stamped on a 1 3/8" circle punch. I added some pink taffeta, some Stardust Stickles and some Stampendous bling stickers I found in my stash.

Be sure to check out the Verve Blog today for more previews of Notes of Prayer and Artful Elegance. And don't forget the first ever Verve Release party will be taking place on our forum on Tuesday starting at 9 PM Central time.

Fairy Tales Preview

Happy Sunday! Hope y'all are having a great weekend. Things around here are all abuzz, with the Verve release coming up in just a few short days. The Verve Divas are previewing one of the August 13 releases, a set called Fairy Tales, today on the Verve Blog, so I stole a pocket of time this morning to duck into my studio and make a preview card with this set. The layout uses Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch #10.

I started knowing I wanted to use the big swirly circle frame to make my own patterned paper, so I stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black all over a piec of white cardstock. Next I pulled in some red accents by stamping one of the flourishes in each of the circles with Versafine Crimson Red. Next I used a pinstrip paper from the All Dressed up DCWV paper pack for the bottom half of the card background. A strip of white cardstock with a black mat became my divider and then I took three rectangles of Riding Hood Red and stamped the flourish about 6 times on each piece to make a nice background. For the image panel I stamped one of my favorite sentiments from this set...Life is Beautiful in black and then stamped th two mirror image flourishes in Crimson Red for a little accent.

To complete the card I punched a 1" circle of Riding Hood Red and a 1.25" circle of black, matted them together and cut in half to place on opposite corners of the card. I added some Liquid pearls all around the outer edge of the half circles. In the top circle I punched a horizontal slot and added a cream taffeta knotted bow and in the bottom half circle, I stamped one of the flourishes.

Okay, that's it for today. Remember Mojo Monday has been postponed for another week, in lieu of the daily Anni-VERVE-sary sketches. There's a link to a PDF of all the Anni-VERVE-sary sketches in -->this thread<--.

Grateful Elegance Preview

Happy Saturday! Don't you just love Saturday mornings? It's like you've got the whole weekend to look forward to. So many possibilities. If you've got a little stamping time, be sure to check out Our Creative Corner for all the details about this week's challenge. And since I'm the lucky guest playing along with the OCC Girls this month, today's creation is for this week's challenge.

Part of the challenge Dawn issued was to have no more than 4 layers on your card. Well, if any of you have been following the Anni-VERVE-sary sketches over on our forum, you'll know this one changed the challenge to a CHALLENGE for me! But seriously, I LOVE a good challenge - a challenge that makes you stretch out of your comfort zone and create something you wouldn't normally create, but just might love all the same! :)

So I pulled out one of the new Verve sets releasing on August 13, called Grateful Elegance. It's a set of 7 stamps, including some background elements I'm really excited about. I stamped the square swirly background stamp two times across a sheet of Close to Cocoa in Chocolate Chip. Next I took a strip of Soft Sky and embossed the top and bottom with the dotted strip from the With Love Cuttlebug folder set. Then I stamped the swirly border stamp in the center of the strip in Soft Sky. I added the thank you sentiment in the corner in chocolate Chip and then cut and embossed a white circle and coordinating scallop mat with my Nestabilities Classic Circles set. I then stamped the larger flower in the set in the center of the circle in Memento Rich Cocoa and colored with a Copic marker. To finish off I sponged all around the Cocoa panel with Chocolate Chip ink and then painted on a mixture of Dazzling Diamonds and Diamond Glaze to highlight the flower and accent each of the diamonds in the background and border images.

Okay, a few Verve things to mention and then heigh-ho heigh-ho it's off to package stamps I go. :) The Anni-VERVE-sary sketches are still going strong, and we're on the 9th day of sketches already! I haven't had a lot of stamping time as the Verve release inches closer and closer, so I haven't made samples the last two days, but be sure to check out the forum to see all the sketches and play along! Oh, and if you want to see some totally rockin' cards made with Grateful Elegance head on over to the Verve Blog today for a little looksie!

Butterfly Pleasures

Happy Thursday! That means it's time for another Meet The Verve Divas challenge over on the Verve forum. This week the hostess with the mostess is Amy Sheffer, and she's got a wonderful challenge cooked up for this week. Be sure to make her earn her keep by peppering her with all those burning questions you might have. ;)

My card today fits Amy's challenge, as well as uses Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch #7. Wow! Are we already on Day 7? That means it's less than a week until the Verve release!!!! :) Woohoo! You're going to love the new sets we have for you, and you'll start seeing some sneak peeks starting Saturday on the Verve Blog.

For my card, I pulled out Fluttering By and Floral Whimsy. My inspiration was this yummy Making Memories Floral Ledger paper I've been hoarding for several months now. I stamped the Fluttering By butterfly and the small butterfly from Floral Whimsy on a piece of Classic Cream and then stamped the sentiment and the small butterfly again on another piece of Classic Cream. Then I pulled out my trusty sponge and inked the edges of both pieces with Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip inks. Next I stamped the two small butterflies on the pink DP and the large butterfly on the magenta DP and trimmed out and popped them all up over the plain stamped images. I used the stamp with two little dots from Floral Whimsy to decorate one of the butterflies, and then added it to each corner on both panels, for a little decoration. The butterfly trail and a few little areas around the wings are pierced with a paper piercer and the two different mats are punched with the diamonds and treading water border punches by Fiskars. To finish, I added a chocolate taffeta bow and some pearls I colored with a Copic marker.

Songbird

Happy Wednesday! Today I'm sharing with you the card I made with Anni-VERVE-sary sketch #6. <<--Click that link over there to view the sketch and get the skinny on how you can win free Verve stamps! As part of the birthday loot DH got me on my shopping spree to Archiver's I picked up this exclusively Archiver's stamp set called Silhouette Songbirds. It's manufactured by Stampendous and has all sorts of lovely birds and swirls. Since it hadn't gotten inky yet, I thought I'd pull it out and show it a little lovin'. ;)

I started by embossing and cutting a circle and coordinating scallop circle mat with my Nestabilities. Next I grabbed this beautiful Making Memories paper, and decided on a pink & black color combo. I stamped the bird and swirl image once in the circle in Regal Rose and then again on white cardstock in black ink. I then cut out just the bird and popped him up over the stamped image. I colored in the little accents on his wing with a Copic marker and then thoroughly doused the rest of him with Black Diamond Stickles. Next I added a few little pink rhinestones to the swirls and set the circle aside to let the Stickles dry. I cut a 1" strip from the dp and matted with black, cut in half and then stamped one of the swirls stamps in black on the two strips. For a little more fun, I drew in some dots on the swirls, and then added two black brads on each end. I finished with a sentiment from Heartfelt Phrases in the corner, and then realized that's where the photo corners were supposed to go. Oops! So I swapped the photo corners (made with the Fiskars Something Old, Something New Squeeze Corner punch) to the other side. The main panel is matted with black and then glued to a Regal Rose card base.

Tall & Skinny Smiles

Happy Tuesday! Can you believe it's already Day 5 of the Anni-VERVE-sary celebration? Seems like the days are just flying by. Today I have a twofer for you. The sketch can also double as Laurie's Tall & Skinny Meet the Diva Challenge for yet another way to earn free Verve stamps! Woohoo! Check out her thread on the forum for all the details, the keyword and the deadline for her challenge.

So my sample is for Anni-VERVE-sary sketch #5 and for some variety I thought I'd throw in a little different shape to the sketch, so this card is tall & skinny. I usually do tall & skinny cards with a 6.5" x 7" piece of cardstock, folded in two at 3.5" on the 7" side. I use this size because it fits in those short envelopes you send bills in. I started with this Junkitz Salsa paper in mind, and decided to throw in some black for contrast. The flower bunch from Floral Whimsy was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on white cardstock and then I brayered over it with Soft Sky ink and then sponged the edges with Cool Caribbean. I stamped the flower bunch again on white, colored the petals in with Copic markers and then cut out and popped up over the brayered stamped image. I added some white dots with a Signo white gel pen and then the smile sentiment from All About You. The rest of the card was pretty simple, just layering patterned paper and black mats. I used the SU! slit punch for the scalloped border, added some Kaiser Craft rhinestones to each scallop and then tied on some black and celery grosgrain ribbons. The decorative corners are made with a Fiskars Something Old, Something New Corner Squeeze Punch I got at Michael's. After I punched two corners on a piece of cardstock, I just cut two perpendicular lines on the outer edges of each design, to form a right angle that I could then adhere to each corner. I finished off the card with some Stardust Stickles on the flowers for that little bit o' sparkle I love!

Okay, I've got the Mojo Week #48 slide show ready. Before you leave, be sure to check out all 97 of last week's mojolicious entries in the slideshow below.


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!

Life is better when it SPARKLES

Happy Monday everyone!

If you're here for Mojo Monday, it's been postponed for two weeks until August 18, while our Anni-VERVE-sary celebration and next release is going on. I'll return to regularly scheduled Mojo Monday's on August 18, and it will be the contest week that was originally scheduled for this week. But never fear, you can still get your sketch fix, even without Mojo Monday! I've created and will be posting DAILY sketch challenges on the Verve forum through August 12, so come play along!

Today's card uses Anni-VERVE-sary sketch #4. I went with paper from the same Daisy D's pad I used on yesterdays card. My main image is from Thankful Blossoms and believe it or not, the flower was originally on white card stock with brown ink. I colored it with Copic markers, and then kept adding more and more Orange Peel Stickles to it until it ended up supah sparkly! To get the layered, dimensional look on the flower, I just cut both edges of the four solid petals all the way to the center and added pop dots below just these petals, while gluing the rest of the flower down flat. It gives the same effect as if I'd stamped two flowers and cut out different pieces, but is 1/2 the work! :)

The background for the floral image was reverse embossed with the Textile Cuttlebug folder using Pumpkin Pie ink. I pierced holes in the bottom in a swiss dot pattern and then added some poly twill to the top. The sentiment uses SU! circle punches and the Life is better when it Sparkles sentiment from Starlight Starbright. To match the sentiment I added orange bling all over the place to embellish the card. Both the stripey and the horizontal strip of aqua paper are embossed with the Distressed Lines Cuttlebug folder. I used the ticket corner punch for the corners, some Marvy square punches cut in half for the triangles and then matted everything on a Bazzill card base.

I don't have the slide show ready from last week's entries, because I haven't had a chance to finish looking at every one's beautiful cards. I like to comment on each and every one of your cards, but as the number of participants have grown it's taking more and more time for me to view them all. That's a good thing - I love to see your cards! ;) Just bear with me, as the next few weeks will be really busy with the Anni-VERVE-sary celebration and release, but I'll try to finish viewing all the cards right away and post the show as soon as I can.

If You Need Me

Happy Sunday! Today's the third day of Anni-VERVE-sary sketches over on the Verve forum. I've had this adorable little Inkadinkado bird stamp for a few weeks now and it still hadn't seen ink. So I decided to pull it out and give it some lovin'. I stamped the Duet image first in Rich Cocoa Memento ink and then cut out and embossed with a Nestabilities square die. I then colored with Copic markers. When I was done, I thought the image needed just a bit more movement and whimsy so I added some little dots in various places around the image. This square is matted on a Ruby Red square stamped with Crimson Red Versafine ink with the Tiled Scallop Backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms. I used the same background for the "awning" of the card, using a corner rounder for the scallop edge. I stamped the double lined squares from Asian Flair and punched out with a 1" square punch, then matted on more of the ruby red scalloped tile scraps. Next I added some square deco brads Laurie sent me in the center of the squares, colored the center squares with Orange Peel stickles, and then colored the outer squares with Copic markers for a multicolored look. The patterned paper is from Daisy D's and I stamped the I'm here if you need me sentiment from Here For You in the corner. To finish, I colored some Kaiser Craft pearls with a Copic marker to match the colors in the card, then adhered them in the corner, added a knotted bow of May Arts ribbon and a little extra stickles on the bird and flower image.

OCC Smile

I was so excited when Dawn asked me to play along with the gals at Our Creative Corner for her sketch challenge. If you don't already know about Our Creative Corner, you need to check them out because they have the most awesome challenges every week and super talented designers. It's like opening a big ole bag of eye candy checking out their post every Saturday morning! I was truly honored they chose me to play along!

So this week, the challenge is hosted by Dawn and she gave us a ROCKIN' sketch. This was a seriously fun card to make, so be sure to click here to see the sketch and get all the challenge details.

I started my card knowing i wanted to use the flower from Thankful Blossoms in the center. So I stamped the flower two times on Classic Cream cardstock in Rich Cocoa Memento ink. Next I cut out one full flower, and then just the four solid colored petals on the other and sponged both pieces with creamy caramel, close to cocoa and chocolate chip. I popped up the ends of each of the 4 petal flower on pop dots to give it dimension and then secured the two pieces together with a decorative brad. Next I cut and embossed a Baja Breeze circle and matching chocolate chip scalloped mat. I used a copic marker to make a border around the embossed line on the circle for a little darker shade and then put the circle through the Cuttlebug with the D'Vine swirls folder. I put this all on the chocolate scallop circle and added some Liquid pearls to each scallop and set it aside to dry.

Next I pulled out my Creative Memories wavy cutter, dusted it off and cut a wavy piece of vellum cardstock and a bit larger piece of Baja Breeze. I then used my Copic marker to make a darker border on the baja breeze that sticks out behind the vellum overlay. I stamped the smaller flower from Thankful blossoms randomly on the vellum piece. This is glued on top of a piece of classic cream that was embossed with swirls and sponged with caramel, cocoa and chocolate. I added some Kaiser Craft colored pearls to each of the flowers on the vellum and a photo corner from We R Memory Makers. To finish off with a sentiment I cut and embossed a small Nestabilities tag in Baja Breeze, outlined with a copic marker, stamped just the Smile from one of the Thankful Blossoms sentiments in the tag and then added a little chocolate taffeta knot.

Whew! It sounds more difficult than it really was. Some cards have more steps, but are a lot of fun to make, so they seem like a breeze. This was one of those! :) Hope you have an awesome Saturday, peeps!

In The Groove

Hey everyone! Today's the second day of the Anni-VERVE-sary sketches over on the Verve forum. If you haven't checked it out, you should, because we're giving a huge prize pack to one lucky person who completes all the sketches. Plus, we've got other random prizes up our sleeves, so be sure to make a little time to play!

Today's Anni-VERVE-sary sketch is for a square card. I knew for this card I wanted to use this sentiment, so I based the rest of my card on it. I picked colors that seemed to say "groovy" to me - So Saffron, Groovy Guava and Purely Pomegranate and stamped the flower from Feeling Groovy in alternating colors. Next I colored the flowers with Copics and then cuttlebugged the stamped layer with another "groovy" item - my neglected Paisley embossing folder. For the image panel I stamped the sentiment in Purely Pomegranate and matted on Groovy Guava. I then punched a 7/8" So Saffron Square and a 1" pomegranate square, cut on the diagonal and matted together behind the image panel. Next I used my horizontal slot punch to make a little slide for the ribbon then tied the ribbon around the whole shebang. I accented with a Feeling Groovy flower which I cut out, colored with Copics and then embellished with Stardust Stickles and a Kaiser pearl. My sketch called for a trio of something in the bottom right corner, but I felt a little rebellious and moved it up to my sentiment panel to balance out the flower. Everything is matted on a Purely Pomegranate card base cut with a scallop square Nestabilities die.

Okay, I have another pretty cool card to show you today, but it's coming a little later. ;)

A New Month, A New Year for VERVE

Wow! I can't believe a year ago I was launching Verve with a tiny little red rubber set called Thoughtful Phrases. Look at us now! The time has gone by so quickly and I feel so blessed that my little venture has been so rewarding. I absolutely love designing stamps and finally feel like I've found that thing I want to do "when I grow up". LOL Anyhow, our one year Anni-VERVE-sary celebration kicks off today in the Verve forum, with sketches, and previews and prizes... oh my!

So, since I have two exciting things I was responsible for posting today, I have two cards to show you. The first is for Day 1 of our 12 Days of Anni-VERVE-sary sketches. For all the details on this challenge and for the sketch, click here. This card is totally my style. Layers galore! My inspirationwas this gorgeous olive argyle ribbon I got on my Archiver's shopping spree. It made me think of my new Argyle Cuttlebug folder, and since I was on a roll, I also pulled out my old Prints Pack from 2 years ago and found the Celery Argyle patterned paper. Stamps used are Serenity and Wonderful Wishes. The top "awning" was made using the Threading Water border punch by Fiskars and the side triangles were made using a 1" square that I cut in 1/2 from corner to corner. To finish off the card with a little sparkle, I added some Angel Wings Shimmerz.

The second card is a preview of a very special Verve set that releases on August 13. To read about the set, click here. Everyone on our design team contributed a saying to this set, and they'll be previewing their chosen saying over in the Verve forum through August 12. And twelve lucky people will win this set just by commenting on the daily threads the gals post, so be sure to check out the forum regularly!

The quote I chose is from The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. This excerpt has a lot of meaning for me. Looking back at life a year ago, I can see very clearly those two roads diverging in front of me. I did choose the road less traveled, and it has absolutely changed my life. Every now and then I look back with a twinge of remorse, especially when I see so many of my friends finding stamping success on fabulous design teams and knowing that that's one of those roads I didn't take. But it's by far eclipsed by the feeling I get when I see a card someone made with Verve Stamps that's going to a person who really needs it. To make a difference in the lives of others is something I've always dreamed of, and Verve allows me to do that. So thanks for letting me share my work with y'all.

Okay, sorry about all the sappiness - it's 5 AM and I still haven't slept yet. For this card, I stamped the sentiment, and cut out and embossed with Nestabilites Rectangles. Next I stamped the flower from Beautiful You, colored with Copic markers and then cut out. To play on the wood theme in the quote, I used the Forest Branches cuttlebug folder to emboss the Ginger Blossom paper. Everything is matted with Basic Gray and then dotted with a Signo white gel pen. I added some dew drops, some Shimmerz on the flower, and a vanilla taffeta knotted bow before gluing everything to a Cameo Coral card base. This card measures 3.5" by 6.5", making it fit Laurie's "Tall & Skinny" Challenge for this week's Meet The Verve Divas challenge. There's a prize for some lucky participant, so be sure to check out the challenge! :)