Deconstructed Coffee

Hi friends!  Happy Saturday!  It's a happy one for me, since Verve's restocking order FINALLY arrived and I'm swimming with stamps that need to be packaged!  44 products back in stock and 20% off, including our Coffee and One Cup sets!  Hooray!  :)

Today I'm sharing another coffee themed card for the Spring Coffee Lover's Blog Hop.  I just love aqua and yellow together and they definitely make me think of spring.  I used this week's Deconstructed Sketch for my jumping off point, then added the ribbon and coffee cup accent at the end.

Lot's of tone on tone stamping on the smoky slate, pool party, so saffron and basic black layers with the cups from Delightful & Delicious.  Also added some white gel pen accents.  The focal cup is stamped in black, colored with Copics and fussy cut to layer over some circle die cuts.  Added a bit of wide striped ribbon behind and then finished off with a couple washi tape corners and liquid pearl accents.  I added some Coffee Word Die cuts to compete the card and then skewed it a bit on the card base for a whimsical feel.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Delightful & Delicious (Verve Stamps)
Paper: pool party, so saffron, smoky slate, basic black (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: pool party, so saffron, smoky slate (SU!) jasmine (Mix'd Media Inx), black
Accessories: Coffee Word Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Classic circle and pinking circle nestabilities (Spellbinders), wide striped ribbon (SU!), liquid pearls (Ranger), washi tape

Viva la Coffee

Hi friends!  Today is the start of the Coffee Lover's Blog Hop and Verve is sponsoring a prize. Head on over to the Verve Blog today to see a sneaky peek at a new set and die releasing next week and then go get your coffee, tea or cocoa stamps out and link up for a chance to win.

The hop starts today and runs until Friday, March 6th at 11:55 pm pacific. You must link up a newly created spring-y themed coffee, tea &/or cocoa project over on the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog post in order to be eligible for any of the sponsored prizes. Winners of sponsored prizes will be picked by random draw and announced on the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog on Sunday, March 8.

Click here for the full list of Super Sponsors and Flash Sponsors.

I must confess I had a different card all set to share with you today and when I sat down to type my post at 11:45pm I saw that it's Friday (it's been a week folks.  A WEEK.  Sick kiddos, migraines, tendinitis, taxes, vendor issues, you name it!).  And since Friday means a new Viva la Verve sketch I took a quick peek at the sketch, then dashed to my stamp corner to make a card lickety split.  I now see that I didn't take a long enough glance, since I ended up putting my stripes the wrong direction, but hey... another 15 minute card is done!  And that means I have another coffee creation to share with you later.

The making of:

The coffee mug is from the Delightful & Delicious  set.  I stamped it in black, then colored with Copic markers and added a little white gel pen highlight.  Next I added some washi tape strips to designer paper to ground my Coffee Word Die cuts in pear pizzazz, so saffron and groovy guava.  I added a couple rounded corners, some black matting and finished off with ribbon from the Polka Dot Basics Ribbon Collection.  Easy peasy!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Our extremely delayed February restocking shipment is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so if you've been waiting on a Verve set that said it would be back in stock in February, the wait is almost over.  Check back on Saturday and they'll hopefully be here and part of our 20% off all stamps sale!

Viva la Verve Feb Week 4

Enabler's List
Stamps: Delightful & Delicious (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Hello Spring (WRMK), basic black, pear pizzazz, so saffron, groovy guava (SU!), white
Ink: black, copic markers, white gel pen
Accessories:  Coffee Word Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Polka Dot Basics Ribbon Collection (Verve), washi tape, corner rounder

Good Times Mojo

Hi friends!  It's already the last week of the month and time for a tall & skinny Mojo Monday sketch. I've had next to no time to stamp lately, so I took a very simple 15 minute approach to this week's sketch.

The stamps are from the Great Friend set.  I embossed the three sizes of flower in white on designer paper, then hand cut and layered with dimensionals.  I added a little greenery cut with the Sprightly Sprigs Die Set, then added the sentiment on a layer of designer paper and finished off with some washi tape accents.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fantastic start to your week!

Mojo Monday 386

Enabler's List
Stamps: Great Friend (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Dolled Up (MME), Smply Spring (WRMK), pear pizzazz, basic black (SU!), cream
Ink: Versamark, black
Accessories:  Sprightly Sprigs Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), washi tape, white embossing powder

Sunshine Shaker

Hi friends!  It's Friday again, and that means it's time for another Viva la Verve sketch.  This week's hostess is Stacey and she has a sweet and fun sketch for us this week.

I adapted the sketch to fit my papers, since I loved the fringe of flowers around the edges of this My Mind's Eye paper.  Made another sequin shaker because the boys like to shake them so much!  {grin}

The sentiment is from Doodled Occasions and I stamped it and then highlighted the sunshine portion with a Copic marker.  The shaker is made using the Rounded Scallop Frame Die and the Rounded Rectangle Die, then filling with sequins from the Pastel Sequin Mix.  I accented with some liquid pearls and layered a couple banners from the Banner Bundle Die Set behind the shaker.  Finished off with some twine and distressed edges.

Short and sweet today.  I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Viva la Verve FEB Week 3

Enabler's List
Stamps:  Doodled Occasions  (Verve)
Paper: Dolled Up (MME), so saffron (SU!), cream (Neenah), acetate
Ink: black, copic marker
Accessories:  Rounded Scallop Frame Die, Rounded Rectangle Die, Banner Bundle Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Pastel Sequin Mix (Verve), liquid pearls (Ranger), divine twine, paper distresser

Sunny and Bright

Hi friends!  I'm a little late with my Mojo Monday card today, but it's still Monday, right?  {grin}  It was a crazy weekend with Valentine's and Mark's birthday and the boys deciding to start waking up each night screaming at 2am and 4am and 5am and ...  I'm sure you get the idea.

Anyhow, needless to say when I sat down to stamp this morning, I needed a little bit of bright and sunny in my life, so I picked a melon mambo and so saffron color combo and the  Lean on Me  set and got to work.

I made my own patterned paper using tone on tone stamping with flowers from the set for the so saffron and melon mambo layers.  The flower stamp is stamped in melon mambo, then I colored with Copics and finished with a little flicking using a Melon Mambo marker.  It's cut with the coordinating Pointed Flowers Die Set and I added some leaves with the Sprightly Sprigs Die Set.  Some distressing on all the edges, a bit of pen detail around the edges, then an embossed background and some enamel dots finish things off.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a wonderful start to your week!

Mojo Monday 385

Enabler's List
Stamps: Lean on Me (Verve Stamps)
Paper: melon mambo, so saffron, basic black (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: melon mambo, so saffron (SU!), black, Copic markers, Micron black pen
Accessories:  Pointed Flowers Die Set, Sprightly Sprigs Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), wide striped ribbon (SU!), enamel dots, classic circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), Chicken wire embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Be My Valentine

Hi friends!  It's Friday and that means it's time for a new sketch over on the Viva la Verve Sketches Blog.  Charmaine is our hostess this week with a super fun sketch.

For my card, I pulled out my pile of paper scraps I'm determined to whittle down and the No Matter What set.  I even made a little sequin shaker card!  I never really liked shakers when they were popular about 6 years ago, but the sequins have lured me in this go round.  It might be because the boys love to give the cards a good shake!  :)

I started by making the shaker with acetate and circle dies, then filling with red and gold sequins from the Holiday Sequin Mix.  I added some liquid pearls around the circle for a fun little accent.  The sentiment is from No Matter What and I masked the two parts of the phrase to make it a single line sentiment to fit the flag.  Next I layered my papers, inking the edges with walnut stain distress ink.  I layered everything together, added a taffeta bow to the top and finished off with a heart cut with the Heart Quartet Die and lined with liquid pearls.

This one also qualifies for the Vivacious Valentine inspiration challenge still going on.  So if you're a procrastinating stamper like me, make it a two-fer-one challenge entry!  {grin}

I hope you'll play along this week.  Be sure to head on over to the VLV Sketches blog to see what the other gals did with the sketch!

Have a fantastic Friday!

Viva la Verve Feb Week 2

Enabler's List
Stamps: No Matter What (Verve Stamps)
Paper: scraps (SU! & MME), acetate, cream (Neenah)
Ink: walnut stain distress ink, black archival ink (Ranger)
Accessories:Heart Quartet Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Holiday Sequin Mix (Verve), Classic Circles Nestabilities (Spellbiners), liquid pearls (Ranger), taffeta ribbon (SU!)

Love Balloon

Hi friends!  It's the beginning of a brand-new week and that means it's time for a new Mojo Monday sketch.  It's probably just a lack of time and loving the feeling of accomplishment I get from a quick crafting session, but I've really been drawn to simpler layouts lately.  So this week's sketch has super clean lines and is a super go-to kind of layout.

My card uses leftovers from my Diva Inspirations Hop card.  My absolute favorite candy is the heart shaped cherry Charms suckers that only come out at Valentine's.  I just love them and get a little bit giddy when I find them in a store.  (They're a lot harder to find than they used to be!)  So that  was the inspiration I started with for my card.  I had previously cut a heart from book paper with the Wavy Hearts Die Set and it didn't get used, so I pulled it out, scraped it with a little gesso and stamped the heart from Chevron Love with worn lipstick distress ink.  I then glued it to a cardstock cutout of the same heart to give it a bit of thickness, then sponged the edges with worn lipstick distress ink.  The word LOVE was stamped by masking off the upper and lower sections of the with love from me to you stamp.  I added in some highlights with a white gel pen.

For the balloon strings, I used up some of the leftover hearts I had from cutting the border for my last card using the Scalloped Trim Trio Die Set.  I also used the scalloped circle trim from the set as my border across my card, I just left the circles in the scallops for a solid border.  The trim and mat are from glimmer cardstock.  I just HAD to have this when it came out and am now determined to use it! {grin}

I added a little bow to my balloon with some silver cording, then added three scored lines to my white panel, since I didn't think it needed anything else after all that sparkle!

That's all from me today!  I hope you have a fantastic start to your Valentine's week!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Chevron Love (Verve Stamps)
Paper: designer paper scraps, glimmer cardstock (SU!), white (Neenah), book paper
Ink: worn lipstick distress ink, black Archival (Ranger)
Accessories: Scalloped Trim Trio Die Set, Wavy Hearts Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), silver cording, gesso

Bare Bones Birthday

Click here for my Diva Inspirations Blog Hop post.

Well, February is going strong and that means it's time for a new month of sketches over on the Viva la Verve sketches blog.  The Verve Divas post a new sketch every Friday and you have the entire month to link up.  At the end of the month we draw a name from all the participants to win a $100 shopping spree to the Verve online store!  Sound like fun?

This week's sketch is a clean one that allows for dressing up or dressing down to fit your style and mood.  I needed a masculine card, so went with a bare bones approach to the sketch. {grin}

The papers are all from the Cowboy My Mind's Eye pad and I distressed them a bit by sponging old paper and fraye4d burlap ink on all the edges.  The sentiment is from the Small Packages set, stamped in early espresso.  Then I die cut some starts with the Starry Die in both the stripey paper and some early espresso card stock.  I layered them together (the largest star is matted with an SU! star punch) and scattered them around for a little fun 

That's all from me this fine Friday morning.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend and if you find a little time, be sure to come play along with our sketch!

Viva la Verve Feb Week 1

Enabler's List

Stamps: Small Packages (Verve Stamps)

Paper: Cowboy (MME), early espresso (SU!), cream (Neenah)

Ink: old paper, vintage photo distresss ink (Ranger), early espresso (S!U)

Accessories:  Starry Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), classic circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), large star punch (SU!)

Vivacious Valentine Challenge and Hop

Hi friends!  After a short break in January, the Divas are back with their monthly Diva Inspirations Hop & Challenge!  This month's challenge is super lovely and just perfect for the season! There are two ways to win Verve prizes... comment on the design team's blog posts to see their take on the inspiration, then go get inky and/or link up your take on the challenge to be eligible in our prize drawings!  Be sure to head on over to the Verve Blog for all the challenge and giveaway details.

I'm the kickoff for today's hop, so settle in and let's get to hopping!

The challenge this month is Vivacious Valentine

I loved that little xoxo at the bottom of the inspiration photo and thought it would be fun to make a little shaker pocket, so that's where I started.  The xoxo are cut from glimmer cardstock with the Vintage Market alpha die from Tim Holtz (a rediscovery in my latest reorganization).  I ran them through my Xyron create a sticker machine, then cut a piece of white card stock the size I wanted my pocket.  I embossed this piece with hearts, then  inked some spun sugar and worn lipstick distress ink directly onto an acrylic block, spritzed with water and applied over the dry embossed paper.  I then stuck my xoxo letters to the paper and cut a piece of acetate to cover the piece.  Pulled out my sewing machine and stitched three sides, then stuffed in some sequins from the Pink Sparkle Mix and Signature Sequin Mix, as well as a couple hearts cut with the Heart Quartet Die and sewed up my little shaker. 

Next I stamped the with love from me to you sentiment from Chevron Love on a piece of acetate in Archival black and added a couple glitter hearts cuts with the Heart Quartet Die for accent.  This is layered over a piece of white cardstock which I embossed with a different heart folder and then splattered a bit of watered down worn lipstick ink.  I added a little border to my scrap of designer paper using a piece of glimmer cardstock cut with the heart trim from the Scalloped Trim Trio Die Set Set. Finished off by accenting my xoxo pocket with a few of the leftover hearts from the die and glued it all together.  Super fun!

That's all from me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Next up on the hop is Amy!

Need a little inspiration? Check out the blogs linked below to see what the other Divas did with the challenge! It's sure to be a treat, and speaking of treats, we've got a prize for one lucky commenter along the hop! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the prize info and deadlines!

	1. Julee	8. Sarah
	2. Amy	9. Susan
	3. Anya	10. Marisa
	4. Betty	11. Maureen
	5. Jen	12. Stacey
	6. Karen	13. Verve Blog
	7. Sankari

Enabler's List
Stamps: Chevron Love (Verve Stamps)
Paper: glimmer paper (SU!), dp scrap, white, acetate, book paper
Ink: worn lipstick, spun sugar distress ink, Archival Black (Ranger)
Accessories: Heart Quartet Die, Scalloped Trim Trio Die Set (A Cut Above by Verve), Signature Sequin Mix, Pink Sparkle Mix , Signature Sequin Mix (Verve), sewing machine, Vintage Market die (Tim Holtz Alterations), embossing folders (Sizzix), Xyron create a sticker machine

Watercolor Valentine

Hi friends!  It's already the first Monday of February, which means it's time for contest week at Mojo Monday!  Play along with this week's sketch for a chance to win a stamp set of your choice from Verve.  You can enter as many times as you like and the more entries we have, the more winners we choose!  Hope to see your take on the sketch in the linkup!

I flipped the sketch horizontally to fit the images and sentiment I wanted to use.  I've been having a bit of fun with watercolors in my art journal lately, so decided to use a few watercolor techniques on this card.  The heart from More than Love is inked in the center with worn lipstick distress ink, then around the edges with fired brick.  I cut it out with the coordinating Wavy Hearts Die Set, then used a water brush to color in the larger heart.

For the sentiment panel, I loaded up an acrylic block with some worn lipstick and fired brick distress ink, then spritzed with some water and applied to watercolor paper.  Then once that was dry, I dripped a bit of water droplets on  it, to add to the effect.  Stamped the happy valentine's day sentiment in archival black ink, then lightly rubbed the edges of the panel with worn lipstick ink and lightly distressed the edges.

The black panel is embossed with an embossing folder that I rubbed with a white gelato, then ran through the machine and used a water brush to blend a bit.  I added the banners from watercolor paper, embossed with hearts and then colored with some of the leftover worn lipstick and  fired brick ink and a water brush.  Finished with a hand cut vellum banner stamped with the be mine sentiment.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fantastic start to your week!

Mojo Monday 383

Enabler's List
Stamps: More than Love (Verve)
Paper: watercolor card stock (Ranger), basic black (SU!), cream (Neenah), vellum
Ink: worn lipstick, fired brick distress ink and black archival ink (Ranger), gelato (Faber-Castell)
Accessories: Wavy Hearts Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), sewing machine, heart embossing folders (Sizzix), water brush, paper distresser