Wild Raspberry Round or Square

Hey there, everyone! It's the start of another week!
Monday morning means there's a new Mojo Monday sketch to play with. This one was submitted by Teresa Kline as a round sketch, but I decided to interpret it as round or square, in case anyone doesn't have the supplies for round cards. I really haven't made many round cards, so I was a little nervous when I started my card. However Mr. Mojo smiled upon me and it turned out to be one of my favorite cards ever!



The paper is from the Wild Raspberry collection by K & Company and I designed everything around the beautiful you sentiment in Celebrating You. I added some sweet paper blossoms in the corner, and a Martha Stewart punched butterfly in the bottom corner. The pearl borders are from Michael's, then I finished off with some Gold liquid pearls on each scallop. I had so much fun making this card, that I had to try another with the square version of the sketch and my leftover supplies.



This one uses the Valentine BE MINE sentiment from Heart's Desire, stamped in Baja Breeze. I punched out the little hearts, then stamped them with the little heart cluster from Heart's desire and added a little scallop border to the bottom of the panel. A little vintage lace trim and a red prima rose finish off the card.

I hope you have fun with our round or square challenge this week. It's also the first day of the Project Parade over on the Verve Blog. Head on over there to see what I created to kick off the parade!

Flowers in Distress

Hey everyone! TGIF! Today I have a card to share using the Viva la Verve January Week 4 At Home with Verve sketch & inspiration challenge. Wowee! Now there's a mouthful! Anyhow, I've been hyping the challenges all month and can you believe this is the first time I've gotten to play along? Check out the Viva la Verve! area in our forum later this morning for Amber's sketch and the other inspiration photos for the week.

As soon as I saw the inspiration photos for this week, I knew exactly which one I would use. I have candle holders in these exact colors in my front room, and I was totally loving the distressed darker edges of the flowers and wanted to see if I could re-create it with Copics and ink.

So I pulled out Love's Flower (big surprise - I'm having a hard time giving equal playing time to my stamps this month!) and set to work stamping the large flower 3 times, then coloring with Copic markers and cutting out. Next I shaded the edges of each flower with Riding Hood Red, So Saffron and Bermuda Bay ink and then attempted to achieve the darker edges by sponging on some Vintage Photo Distress ink. Each center is accented with Stickles in a matching color, then I set them aside to dry. To go with the distressed look, I chose Kraft as my neutral and sponged an oval with Vintage Phot then matted on a Riding Hood Red scallop oval, accented with gold liquid pearls.

Next up, I created the caribbean and saffron panels by stamping my own background with one of the square pendants from Accent Notes. I thought the little "feet" of the coat hangers in the photo kind of looked like the little triangle thingy from Accent Notes, so I stamped that in between each square to fill out the pattern, then inked with the same color ink and some Vintage Photo. The kraft panel is debossed with the Textile embossing folder and Vintage Photo, then I finished off with a red sentiment from Accent Notes, some liquid pearls and a bow.

That's it for me today. Hope y'all have a fabulous weekend!

Sketchy Love

Happy Thursday! Today I have a card I made using yesterdays sketch challenge over on Splitcoaststampers {SC264}. I haven't gotten to play in many challenges lately, so as soon as I finished work yesterday I ran up to my studio and did a little stamping.


The card is pretty straightforward. The sentiment and flowers are all from the Love's Flower set, stamped in A Muse black ink and then colored with Copics. I added a few little pearls to the centers of the flowers, then matted with Basic Gray cardstock. The pattern paper is from the Addicted to You digital kit by Madame Wing. I bought the kit for the adorable robots, but LOVE the papers too!

To finish things off, I added a sheer eggshell bow and tied a little sweet blossom flower around the center, adding a little glitz with some Stardust Stickles.

My Toys:
Stamps: Love's Flower (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Addicted to You Digital Kit (Madame Wing), Basic Gray cardstock (SU!)
Ink: A Muse Black ink, Copic Markers
Accessories: pearls, paper flower (Zva Creative), ribbon, Stardust Stickles

Fabulous Wanderlust

Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope your week is going great so far. I've been busily packing orders, but thought I'd pop in to share another card I made for our recent release. This card uses the Love's Flower set and I paired it with digi papers from the Wanderlust Paper Pack by Quirky Twerp.


{Personal side note: At the beginning of this year, I made the very hard decision to step down from all my non-Verve design work. I adore The Cat's Pajamas, the digichick and Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs and will continue to use their products (and you should try them if you haven't ... the women behind these fabulous businesses are top-notch people with integrity and heart), but I was finding the need to simplify my "have-to's" so I could make time for more "get-to" stamping. You know what I mean?}

Anyhow, as soon as I saw the color palette in these digi papers, I just had to purchase and download them to paper piece the large flower in the new Love's Flower set. It's also a fabulous palette for shabby chic creations, a style I totally admire and hope to get a little better at! Practice makes perfect, right? :)

Okay, on with the card. I stamped the flower four times. Once on white cardstock, twice on the coral colored paper and once on the green paper. Then I just cut out, sponged the outer edges with old olive and cameo coral ink (this gives a lot of dimension without a lot of effort), then layered on the white cardstock image with dimensionals. I finished off the focal piece with a button center tied with linen thread.

The rest of the layers are all cut from the digi papers and I used the Floral Lace Martha Stewart punch. This is the third card I used it on, and it now will not work. I've tried all the little waxed paper and aluminum foil tricks. It's not stuck, it just won't press down to punch the cardstock. GRRRR! The MS punches have the cutest designs but are made with such poor workmanship. This is the fourth punch I've had this happen on. I've been repurchasing the punches because I love the designs, but no more! Hear that, Martha? LOL

Anyhow, for embellishment I added a little vintage lace trim, along with some pearls from Michael's. Then I finished off with a button tag embellishment, stamped with the fabulous {just the way you are} sentiment from Love's Flower.

Okay, back to the grind. Have a fantastic day!

My Toys:
Stamps: Love's Flower (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Wanderlust Paper Pack (Quirky Twerp)
Ink: Black, Coral, Soft Sky, Old Olive
Accessories: Floral lace punch (Martha Stewart), vintage lace trim, buttons, linen thread, Nestabilities tag die, mini pearls, dimensional foam, Stardust Stickles

Just a Note

It's Monday again already! And that means it's time for another Mojo Monday sketch. This week the fabulous Mary Fish stepped in for me with a gorgeous little sketch, so that I could keep working on shipping orders. I did take a little break to take the sketch for a little test drive and I love how it turned out.


I wanted to use the new Accent Notes set because I'm just in love with it right now. I stamped the square pendant in the center of the oval in Old Olive, then stamped the swooshes twice in Rose Red. I colored the center in with a Copic marker then stamped and colored the square one more time, stamped the tiny flower from Love's Flower in the center and punched out with a 1/2" circle punch to pop up in the center. I sponged a little pink pirouette around the edges and then started in on my other layers.

Both the rose red and the pink pirouette panel are stamped with the same square pendant and tiny flower in rose red. I added some old olive mats and then embossed the just a note sentiment from Accent Notes in white over on the side. I finished off with some liquid pearls, some tiny pink pearls, a ribbon and some little paper flowers covered in Stickles.

That's all for now, folks! Have a fabulous Monday!

Crazy for You

Hi everyone! Happy Saturday! I had such a great time at our release party last night! It was so nice to chat with y'all! And if you missed our whirlwind of a chat, you can check out all the new releases on our website.


Today's card is kind of a smorgasbord of new releases. I love to mix and match, so I started by making my own DP with one of the square pendants from Accent Notes in So Saffron on Barely Banana. I then stamped the stacked heart in between each square in rose red and the double heart (both heart images from Love Monkey) in the center of each square with black and colored with a Copic marker.

Next I cut a circle with a black scalloped mat and embossed the I'm crazy about you sentiment from Love Monkey in black, then randomly stamped the stacked heart around it for a little tone-on-tone interest. For my main panel, I KNEW I wanted to use the little heart clusters from Heart's Desire with the monkey, and I thought it would work well in a heart shape... and it did! The hearts are cut with Nestabilities, and I sponged a little So Saffron ink around the edges. My little love monkey is stamped in the center and I added the double heart to his belly and some heart clusters around him and colored with Copics. Then I finished it all off with a suede knotted bow and tucked a couple litte sweet blossoms in there for accent.

That's it for me! Hope y'all have a fabulous weekend!

All You Need is Love

Da da da da da. All you need is love.... Hi everyone! Happy Friday! And doubly happy because tonight from 9-11PM Eastern is our Release Party over in the Verve forum. Be there or be square! LOL

I spent yesterday evening stuffing stamps, then all night working on getting the website ready and now it's almost 5:00 am and I'm typing up my blog post and hoping to get a few hours of shut eye before my sister comes to help me package more stamps! So I'd suggest you grab a cup of joe, because the sleepier I am the chattier I get! LOL

I have a couple of things to show you today. The first is a sneak peek of the final set, called Love's Flower. This set was inspired by two awesome quotes Jen del Muro and Jackie Pedro submitted. Jen picked a John Lennon quote with the idea that it would be a great quote for wedding cards. And Jackie picked a John Lennon quote wrapped inside a Charles M Schulz (the Peanuts creator) quote. I love them both! And of course I had to throw in a few flowery things and all-around sentiments to round out the set.

My project was completely inspired by the Peanuts quote and also counts for Sankari's 3D Challenge. I knew I wanted to make a little holder for a big ole' chocolate bar. And I must have been truly inspired because I even designed my own little box for it! Now, those of you who've been around my blog for the past few years know that I'm not one of those crafty people who are engineering boxes and things in my sleep. I totally try to leave all those measurements to the talented people who create templates and share them with the rest of the world. But I don't remember seeing a template like what I wanted, so I set out to make my own box. Now it's not rocket science and I'm sure I'm not the first person to think it up, but it's functional and I like it.

Anyhow, I'm a little too tired to go into the specifics of the box making, but if you want me to, I can do that at a later date. I started by inking up just the top half of the Peanuts quote and embossing it with Chocolate Chip ink on a Labels 6 Nestabilities die cut, then cut in half. Next I sponged around the inside edges with some Tattered Rose distress ink, then stamped the flower silhouette in chocolate chip on kraft cardstock and added a strip of cardstock embossed with the Vines Sizzix folder and finished off with an epoxy button from the Artsy.Licious line by Chatterbox.

For the inside I stamped the other half of the sentiment in chocolate chip and then tucked in a Valentine's Hershey Chocolate Bar. The pocket is about 1/2" thick, so it could handle some of the thicker candies like Reese's peanut butter cups, Twix bars, etc.

Okay, on to the coordinating card, which is a long card to fit Tosh's Any Shape But A2 Challenge. There's something in my cardmaking genes that always has to make a matching card when I make a gift box. Since I still had some sentiments from the Regal Heart Digi sitting on my desk, I decided to use the Happy Valentine's Day one. I cut and embossed it with long rectangles and matted with the long scallop rectangle nestabilities. The cardstock is from the Tropical American Crafts collection. I lined the two pieces up, taped together in back, then stamped the row of hearts from Thankful Hearts across the top and bottom with Worn Lipstick distress ink. The bottom border is punched with a Martha Stewart punch (Floral Lace). I then stamped that row of hearts repeatedly on a scrap of the coral paper and then punched out the hearts with an SU! punch. I finished off with a little vintage lace trim and a couple rhinestones to disguise the seam of the two papers.

Okay, I'm ready for a catnap. Hope to see y'all tonight! :)

In Love with Turquoise

Happy Thursday! Oh my, that means the Verve release is only a day away! I'm busily trying to finish all those little behind the scenes details for release and thinking I'm way behind where I normally am at this point in a release. Anyone have a day or so they could lend me? LOL!

Well, I did sneak in a little time to play so I have a sneak peek of Heart's Desire to share with you today. The Divas are also sneaking this set over on the Verve Blog so hop on over for some fabulous eye candy and a chance to win!


For my card, I took my inspiration from Amber's color challenge to use turquoise, gray and black. I was reading the other day that turquoise was chosen as the Pantone Color of the Year for 2010 and I'm excited to see what the design world does with my favorite color this year! Go turquoise! LOL

I stamped the viney heart image from Heart's Desire in A Muse Black ink (my favorite ink for Copics) and gave it some turquoise glory with Copic markers. I then stamped the funky love sentiment in the center and cut out with Square Nestabilities, lightly sponging around the inner edges with Soft Sky ink. For my base layer, I did some direct to paper stamping, starting with basic gray cardstock and randomly stamping the duo of cupid's arrows and one of the whispy heart flourishes all over in black and basic gray. I added a cross panel of some old SU! designer paper punched with the Martha Stewart loop punch border and then finished off with some ribbon, some beads and a turquoise heart pin. Oh, and because my Stickles bottles were feeling neglected lately, I added a little Broken China Distress Stickles to the two little hearts.

Sage Accents

Hooray for Wednesday! Today the Divas are peeking a new set called Accent Notes over on the Verve blog, and it's in the same vein as the Thankful Accents set we released in November. You'll see some familiar elements, along with some great background builders, another fun circular frame and a few sweet sentiments.

Although I'm a huge COLLECTOR of patterned paper, my first love is creating my own DP with stamps, and I've been finding myself getting back to classic cardmaking lately with just stamps, cardstock, ink and a few beloved embellishments. So I started my card with a sage shadow panel and stamped one of the square pendants from Accent Notes in Sage Shadow all across the panel. Next I pulled out the flower from another set releasing later this week (Love's Flower) and stamped it in chocolate chip in the spaces between each pendant. Once that was finished, I sponged with chocolate chip ink, rounded two corners and matted with chocolate chip.

I thought this printed ribbon I got from Michael's went really well with the motif, so I tied it around the panels and then got to work on my stamped panel. {Okay, so it looks like my bow is having a bad hair day. It's like those driver's license pictures where you swear you're looking good and then they click the button and you're stuck with a Medusa mug shot for another 4 years!} LOL Anyhow, I stamped the circular frame in chocolate chip, then colored with a sage shadow marker and added some chocolate pearls for accent. The thinking of you sentiment is stamped in the center and then I layered on petite scallop circles in sage shadow and chocolate chip. To finish off, I tucked a little Making Memories Shimmer Chipboard Flourish under my circles to qualify for Michelle's Release Week challenge to use chipboard on a project.

Regal Heart Digi

Happy Tuesday! I spent almost all of yesterday with my arch-nemesis, Quickbooks, trying to get my monthly and quarterly taxes out of the way before release takes over. At least once a month I thank the heavens above that I didn't pursue that career in accounting I thought I wanted back in college! LOL An artist's life for me! :)

Over on the Verve Blog today, the Divas are peeking 2 new sets that will release on Friday. Their samples are AMAZING as always, so hop on over for a peek and a chance to win!



So where's my sneak peek? Well, I just realized that I haven't taken a photo of it yet, and since it's after 2 AM when I'm writing this, I'm just going to go with something that's already ready to upload and save it for later. {Rolling with the punches and all!} :) So today's card features the free Regal Hearts Digi stamp set that's available now through Friday. Both the heart and sentiment are printed on regular white cardstock. I used the PDF version and colored both hearts, then cut one out to pop up for some dimension. The heart is then covered with a glitter/red re-inker/diamond glaze mixture.

I got some new Nesties for Christmas, so I had to break in the Lattice pendant and borders (for the little accents around the sentiment). I added some black ribbon to hold everything in place and then added some tiny little red rhinestones for accent. The base panel is embossed with a new Sizzix embossing folder from the Floral Flourishes & Vines set. I {heart} it!

Okay, hope you have an awesome day! Don't forget the Release Week Challenges going on!

Be the Star

Hi everyone! Happy Monday! The weekend flew by and it's already time for another Mojo Monday sketch. For this week's sketch I pulled from the archives and based the sketch on this little card I made about a year ago.

When I sat down to make a new sample for this week, nothing happened. I sat at my desk and was less than inspired. So I took my new Cricut out of it's box, filed some papers I had just purchased, fussed with my ribbons, sorted through a bunch of embellishments and papers to pull out everything that might inspire me for Valentine's day, and then sat back at the desk still without any inspiration.



Normally when this happens I just leave and do something else. I've found it's better not to push things when I just don't feel like stamping. But this was my ONE chance to get some stamping done before I start in on all the new release prep for our release this Friday. So I plugged on, thinking that my mojo card could be the warm-up and then I'd miraculously be inspired to stamp. Well, not so much, but luckily I do have a few sneak peeks I made a week or so ago that will give you something new to look at this week.

On a positive note, I did get a mojo card made, though! :) While sifting through papers, I found a BasicGrey Eva pad that didn't even look like it had ever been used. Poor thing! So I ripped into it, loving the bright cheery greens, pinks & purples. I pulled out one of my fave Verve sets... Starstruck and voila -- a card was born!

Okay that's enough rambling for one Monday morning, be sure to check out our VERVE SCS forum today for all the details on our Release Week Challenges and a very special free digi available this week only!

Saturday Catch Up

Happy Saturday, everyone! I plan on spending some quality time in my studio today making sneak peeks for next week's Verve release. {In between a trip to the movies with friends to see Avatar in IMAX 3D} But since I haven't posted anything stampy lately, I thought I'd share a few holiday cards I made for The Cat's Pajamas that I just didn't find time to post in December.

Uses: Penguin Christmas

Uses: Shine Bright and Coolvetica

Uses: Give a Little

Uses: Shine Bright

Uses: Shine Bright

Uses: Shine Bright

Viva la Verve!

Hey everyone! I haven't done any new stamping, but I did create this today...



If you haven't heard, we made a fresh new start with the Viva la Verve! challenges this year. Mostly it's the same...

• Amber still posts a new fabulous sketch each week


• There's still a twist - but it's a fresh new take on the twist.


• You can still win an entire Verve Stamps release by participating in all the challenges for the month!

So really it's the same with a fresh new take on the twists. Every month this year we'll walk through a different room and every week Amber will bring you some inspiration pictures of different rooms. You can use these inspiration pictures in any way you want--a color combo, a texture, a style, anything your heart desires!

So using the weekly sketches, you'll create an inspired card based on one of the photos Amber provides. She'll also allow your own room to be your inspiration! Of course the only stipulation to this is that you must use the room we're walking-through for that month. Verve Stamps are NOT required, so play along with whatever you have and maybe you'll win some Verve of your very own!

I'm so excited about this new theme and it's already brought out some AMAZING cards for the first week's entries. This month's theme is foyers & entryways and here's the link to the Week 1 January sketch & beautiful inspiration photos. And, yes, that picture in the ad is actually of my very own entryway. It's just inside the front door, and my favorite part of the house (right before you hit the cardboard jungle of boxes that are always coming and going for Verve!). :) Here's a close-up, just don't look too close for dust and paw prints! The hello kitty figurine was sent to me from Amber - I just ADORE it! And the card and table runner were gifts from my dear friend, Shirley!



Okay, that's a wrap for today. If you haven't played along with Viva la Verve!, I sure hope you will. You have the entire month to submit your entries, so if you're busy one week, just make it up the next!

I'm already looking forward to the sketch and inspiration photos Amber will be posting tomorrow! Viva la Verve! :)

Krafty Birthday Wishes

Woohoo! It's Wednesday! I'm not sure why I'm so excited about that, but I am. :) Maybe it's because I'm finally shipping orders from Dec. 31, which means I'll soon be able to do my year-end inventory and officially put 2009 behind me. Oh, and the 12+ hour days of non-stop shipping will be a nice thing to take a break from, too! ;)


Today's card uses a couple oldies but goodies from Verve. The flowers are from the Fancy Florals set and I stamped them directly on the Life Stories DP, cut them out, layered them and embellished with a pearl flower center from the Clear & Pearl Gem Collection by Making Memories. The sentiment is from the Wishful Elegance set and is embossed with Purely Pomegranate ink and detail clear embossing powder. I added a bit of lace trim {thanks Laurie!!} and did my usual trick of sponging everything in sight with Vintage Photo distress ink. I finished off with some paper piercing around the edges and liquid pearl accents on the scalloped circle.

Okay, that's a wrap. Now I'm headed back for another ride on the shipping train. :) See ya later!

What's In It?
Stamps: Fancy Florals, Wishful Elegance (Verve)
Paper: Life Stories Collection (My Mind's Eye), Purely Pomegranate (SU!), Kraft (Prism)
Ink: Purely Pomegranate (SU!), Vintage Photo Distress (Ranger)
Accessories: Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), paper piercer, Clear & Pear Gem Collection (Making Memories), sponge, lace trim

Sugar Rush

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I have a little thank you card I made with more of the Sugar Rush dp from BasicGrey. I just love the funky fresh combos in this paper. The snail image is from the Hearts and Flowers set and the thanks is built with the Babydoll alphabet, both from The Cat's Pajamas.



I stamped the snail image twice, once on white cardstock and colored with Copics. The second time was on the orange dp and I paper pieced the flower, then poked a hole through the center to add a little Sweet Blossoms paper rose. I finished off with a little Snickerdoodle Smooch to give the snail shell a little shimmer. The curves are made with the Embossed Curves punch from EK Success and I tied it up with a May Arts gingham bow.

What's In It?
Stamps: Hearts & Flowers, Babydoll alpha (The Cat's Pajamas)
Paper: Sugar Rush DP (BasicGrey), Pink Pirouette, Almost Amethyst, Basic Gray (SU!)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Copic markers
Accessories: paper rose (Zva Creative), Snickerdoodle Smooch, Embossed Curves punch (EK Success), gingham ribbon (May Arts)

Mojo of Many Colors

Hey everyone! Happy Monday! Thanks to my sweet husband helping me retrace my steps over the past week, I found my camera cord! Hooray! It apparently got scooped away with a bunch of other techy stuff in an attempt to make room on my desk for more orders. Anyhow, it's back and here's my first mojo card of 2010.



Last week I was wondering where on earth I was going to find some mojo, as shipping orders doesn't really put me in the creative mood. Luckily, Teresa came to my rescue (I totally {heart} that girl!) with a fabulous sketch so I could keep on shipping! So be sure to check out the Mojo Monday blog for Teresa's sketch and some inspiration from the DT. It's a contest week, so that means we've got prizes to be won!

Well, Teresa's sketch looked so fun, I had to take a sanity break from shipping to give it a go. I'm already so sick of dreary snow and rain and grey overcast skies, so I grabbed the new Sugar Rush paper pad by BasicGrey and took my inspiration from the wild & wacky color combinations in the paper. Mercy's gorgeous card last week using Fancy Florals made me want to play with it, so I stamped the different sizes (the smallest one is from the coordinating Thoughtful Florals set) on designer paper, cut out and layered. The sentiment is also from Fancy Florals and I cut it with Circle Nestabilities and added some liquid pearls to the Melon Mambo scallops. The border punch is a new-to-me Martha Stewart I got on my Christmas stocking shopping spree. Stockings were always a big thing in our family, but hubby's family didn't do stockings so he doesn't always remember, so now I usually help him out by buying a bunch of little goodies for my own stocking! LOL

Okay, that's it for me today. I've got shipping, shipping and more shipping on the horizon. We finished up orders placed through Dec. 28 last night, so I'm starting on Dec. 29 today. Hope you have a fabulous day!

Everybody's Doing It

I actually took a little sanity break from the non-stop shipping process yesterday and have some new stuff to show you. However in the excitement of Christmas, I unplugged my camera cable from my computer to plug in my new Kindle (love it by the way) and now I can't find the camera cable anywhere! So instead of something new, I'm following the lead of many other bloggers and posting a year in pictures of some of my favorite creations from 2009.

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

Okay, hope you enjoyed that little look back at 2009. I realized after picking all those favorites that I'm a very cyclical stamper. One month I have 5-10 favorites and the next it was hard to pick even one that I liked. Then the next month it's back to 5-10 favorites. It was that way the whole year long! I guess it's just the natural ebb and flow and probably most of those dry spots were due to me spending my energy designing new stamps instead of creating new cards. :)

And FYI - I actually made a mojo card for tomorrow morning, but it might be MIA if I don't find my camera cord! Send me lots of "good finding" wishes! LOL