Mojo Meditations

Happy Monday, everyone! This is going to be a long post, so grab a cup of coffee and settle in! :) Today is the beginning of our sneak peeks leading up to the Verve Release Party this Friday at 8PM Eastern! We've got lots of fun sets and party favors, as well as a special series of Looking For Love Release Week challenges starting today over in the Verve SCS Forum. :)

Today is also the first Mojo sketch over in it's new home. Be sure to check out the Mojo Monday Sketch Blog for this week's sketch (It's a CONTEST week!!!) and while you're there, start your week off with a little Monday morning inspiration from the talented Mojo Makers!

My sample card for this week's sketch also doubles as a sample for the first of four Verve release challenges. Today's challenge is a color challenge. Be sure to check out -->this post on our SCS Forum<-- for all the details. Today's Verve Sneak Peek is of a new set called Meditations (available Jan 10th). It includes a scripture verse and several flowers that coordinate with the big flower in the Beautiful You set. I'm still trying to make it through my thank you cards, so I chose to pair the flowers from this new set with some stamps from Grateful Elegance.

I started by stamping each flower in Riding Hood Red on white card stock and then embossing with clear embossing powder. Next I colored in the centers with Copic Markers and trimmed one small flower out with scissors. I then added some sponging with Blush Blossom and Riding Hood Red around the edges and matted with Riding Hood Red cardstock. For a little sparkle, I painted some glitter/Diamond Glaze mixture onto each flower then set aside to dry. For the horizontal strip, I pulled out a piece of Blush Blossom cardstock and stamped the scroll strip from Grateful Elegance in Riding Hood Red. I colored each diamond in with Copics, then added a little bit of the glitter/Diamond Glaze mixture. The edging is done with the Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch and I matted with Red Riding Hood. The sentiment is also from Grateful Elegance and is punched with Petite Ovals Nestabilities and then sponged with Blush Blossom and matted with Riding Hood Red. I added the small flower cut-out on a pop dot for some added dimension.

The ribbon holder is just a half of a 1" and 1.25" circle punches, punched with the horizontal slot punch, then layered onto the image panel and punched again so the hole goes through all layers. I added a little bit of riding hood red taffeta for accent. The base layer is Kraft cuttlebugged with the Textile embossing folder and then matted with Riding Hood Red.

And since one of my creative goals this year is to actually mail out my cards, I'm going to try to make it a point to finish and photograph the insides of my cards whenever possible, so they're ready to write in and send out. Since I used a white card base I went simple inside with direct to cardstock stamping of the flowers and the sentiment from Thankful Blossoms in Riding Hood Red.

Okay, if you're still with me, you've just earned yourself another cup of coffee! And you know me and release weeks.... I love to give free stamps, so don't forget to stop by Mojo Monday, the Verve Blog and the Verve Forum to see what you could win!