Beachy Birthday and a HOP

Hi friends!  It's the 5th of the month, and that means I'm kicking off the July Diva Inspirations Hop!  I just love seeing what each of the designers chooses to use from the Verve archives.  So pull up a chair and your favorite treat and lets go to the hop!!!

There's a little prize hidden along today's hop, so be sure to leave some comment love as you hop about to the blogs listed at the bottom of this post.  For all the blog hop prize detail and deadlines, head on over to the Verve Blog.

When I was strolling through the craft store a month or so ago, this Key Lime Collection by BoBunny literally screamed my name from across the aisle.  {grin}  It was instant love... retro, masculine and colorful and it immediately made me think of our Relax set.  So that was the inspiration I started with for a masculine birthday card I need this month.  I wanted a beachy feel so I paired the colorful papers with soft sky and crumb cake.  The surfboards from Relax are stamped onto patterned paper and then cut out.  I stamped the wave onto soft sky, then cut out and layered behind the flag, which is simply a section of the background paper.  I just loved the Live Love Surf text on the paper, so I made sure to cut the flag so it would stand out.  I wrapped a little twine around it  for emphasis, then added some Frosted Lace stickles to both the waves and the twine.

The soft sky banner is stamped in Soft Sky with the solid accent from Relax, then over stamped in white ink with the matching outlined accent for a frosty look.  Not sure if it shows in the picture, but it's pretty cool in real life.  I added to large jumbo eyelets to the top and tied some twine around them for a little interest.   The sentiment is from the Borderline set and stamped onto cream paper which I spritzed with a pool party marker and the air art tool.  Lots of distressing to the edges of everything, and you can see a bit of the embossed Rays texture fades peeking out  on the crumb cake layer.

The layout of the card is my masculine take on this week's Mojo Monday sketch.  Have you been playing along with the Mojo Monday 300 celebration?  There are oodles of prizes to be won and you have until Sunday night to get your entries in, so don't delay!

Alrighty, I've probably talked your ear off enough.  Time to hit the next stop on the hop... the amazing Amy Kolling!

	1. Julee	7. Sankari
	2. Amy	8. Sarah
	3. Anya	9. Sony
	4. Betty	10. Susan
	5. Jessica	11. Tiffany
	6. Karen

Enabler's List
Stamps:  Relax, Borderline (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Key Lime Collection (BoBunny), crumb cake, soft sky (SU!), cream
Ink: Soft Sky, Pool Party (SU!), Jasmine (Mix'd Media), black
Accesories:  Classic Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), jumbo eyelets, Frosted Lace Stickles (Ranger), paper distresser, Rays Texture Fades (Tim Holtz), linen thread, air art tool (SU!)