Take Joy

Hi friends! It's Monday again and time for a new sketch over at Mojo Monday.  This week has some fun skewed panels and lots of layers, perfect for playing with pretty papers. After 7 weeks of respiratory infection, I'm so DONE with winter, and thought I'd bring a little spring to my studio, even if it's still trying to snow outside.

I pulled out some super fabulous plaid papers and the Petals & Wings stamp set and got to work, cutting each layer and matting with white.  If you like measurements, here's what I used... the largest designer paper panel is 2.5" x 4.5" the vertical rectangle is 2.25" x 3.25" and the square is 2.25" x 2.25"  My aqua horizontal piece is 1" x 5.5". The card base is embossed with a polka dot embossing folder and I wrapped a bit of white linen thread in a bow and accented with a dew drop.

The butterflies and sentiment from Petals & Wings are stamped directly onto patterned paper and I cut with the coordinating Wings & Petals Die Set.  I stamped the antennae onto a piece of white cardstock cut with the circle die from the Springtime Stitches die set, then layered it all together, finishing off with some black pearls for the butterfly bodies.

If  you're like me and wishing to bring a little spring to your crafting, Verve has a fabulous little Wishing for Spring sale going on right now.  30% off a whole bunch of springtime classics.

Mojo Monday 486 Card Sketch

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulously creative start to your week. For a little more inspiration, be sure to hop on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers are sharing today.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Petals & Wings (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Perfectly Plaid (Lawn Fawn), white (Neenah)
Ink: onyx black (Versafine)
Accessories: Wings & Petals Die Set, Springtime Stitches Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), linen thread, dew drop, flatback pearls, dots embossing folder (QuicKutz)

Birthday Star

Hi friends! It's Monday again and time for another Mojo Monday sketch challenge. My card this week is the one I made for Mark's birthday.

I started with the Birthday Bash set, stamping the cake image onto a tag cut from the Flourished Tag Die Set.  I then paper pieced the center of the cake and colored the rest with Copic markers.  I stenciled some dots down the side of the tag and then stamped a few stars and cut them out to scatter around the cake.

I stamped the birthday sentiment on the green polka dot panel, then cut some stars with the Starry Die  and inked them up, adding a bit of an outline with a marker.  The soft sky layer is lightly stamped tone on tone with two of the star stamps from the set, then I finished with some twine and a bow accented with a metallic star.  A super fun masculine card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you have a fantastically creative week.  If you're shopping today, our Weekend Free Shipping promo for US orders over $30 is still on through the end of today.

Mojo Monday 485 Card Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Birthday Bash (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Breeze Lost and Found TWO (MME), early espresso, soft sky, crumb cake (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: antique linen, ground espresso (Ranger Distress), espresso (Altenew), Copics
Accessories: Flourished Tag Die Set, Starry Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), dot fade layering stencil (Tim Holtz), stars and swirls embossing folder (Sizzix), twine (Hemptique), metallic star (MME), stickles (Ranger)

Anniversary Hearts

Hi friends! It's time for a new challenge over at The Card Concept. As soon as I saw the heart in the photo, I knew I wanted to make some primitive hearts with shabby papers and golden touches.

The glitter really caught the camera in the photo, but is a bit more subdued in real life. My card is mostly vintage/shabby with a bit of mixed-media thrown in for good measure. I started by cutting the Primitive Hearts die (pretty sure this is my all time favorite Sizzix die) from chipboard and from a couple of coordinating papers in the Archivist line.  I collaged the papers onto the chipboard, then distressed with antique linen and ground espresso inks.  I wanted a little something more, so I pulled out some Mica flakes and a glue stick and added them to the hearts.  Next I smudged on some antique bronze distress paint and then added a little more definition to the outer edges with a stabilo brown pencil and smudged with my fingers.

I used one of the same papers as the vertical panel, inking with the same colors of distress ink and embossing the anniversary sentiment from  Love Everlasting in copper in the corner.  I distressed the edges just a bit and layered on a piece of espresso cardstock that I accented with a column of liquid pearls.  The card base is kraft cardstock which I stenciled first with a Prima stencil in ground espresso, then with a doily stencil in antique brass distress paint.  I love the look it gave, really tying in with the papers I had chosen.  The cheesecloth gives an extra little punch of shabby and also softens things up a bit.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  For more inspiration, head on over to The Card Concept blog to see what the other designers are sharing today.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Love Everlasting (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Archivist (Prima), early espresso, crumb cake (SU!), chipboard
Ink: antique linen, tattered rose, ground espresso distress ink, antiqued bronze distress paint (Ranger), versamark
Accessories: Primitive Hearts Bigz Die (Sizzix), Frantage Copper Lux Mix (Stampendous), liquid pearls (Ranger), copper embossing powder, cheesecloth,

A Valentine Birthday

Hi friends!  It's Valentine's Day, which also means it's my Dad's birthday and Mark's birthday tomorrow.  So right in the midst of all the lovey dovey pink and red heart stamping, I always have to switch gears and remember how to make a masculine card.

Today I'm sharing the card I made for my Dad and gave to him this past weekend. It's my masculine take on this week's Mojo Monday 484 sketch.  I can't seem to start a masculine card without thinking of the Birthday Bash set, so that's just where I went.  I knew the little birthday sentiment would fit perfectly in one of the squares and had visions of balloons and stars popping out. My dad is red/green color blind so I always try to stick with blues and browns, although a little green snuck in there.

The papers are from a My Mind's Eye paper collection and I sponged them with antique linen and ground espresso distress inks, then matted with early espresso cardstock.  I stamped the balloons and stars on designer paper and fussy cut, sponging along the edges.  I then layered my pieces together and stamped the balloon image on the card base, then on the designer paper panel and lined them up and pieced the balloons onto the image.  I finished off with some glossy accents and a sprinkling of glitter.

Since I can't let Mr. Verve's birthday go unheralded, we've got a little promo code going on in the Verve shop today and tomorrow.  Use gift code LOVE15 at checkout for an additional 15% off your purchase.

Hope you have a day filled with love and laughter!


Enabler's List
Stamps: Birthday Bash (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Breeze Lost and Found TWO (MME), early espresso, soft sky (SU!)
Ink: antique linen, ground espresso distress (Ranger), espresso Altenew)
Accessories: glossy accents, glitter, grosgrain ribbon

Pastel Love

Hi friends! It's Monday again and time for another Mojo Monday sketch. I hope you'll play along with this fun sketch that's perfect for using up scraps of paper.

I had this new to me paper pad on my desk and fell in love with this particular pattern, so used it for my squares, matting them with bits of gold wrapping paper.  The Love sentiment from Love Notes is embossed onto the larger square in gold along with a bunch of trailing hearts on the different layers.  I finished off with a couple paper flowers and a seam binding bow.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous start to your week.  For more inspiration with this sketch, hop on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers are sharing today.

Mojo Monday 484 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Love Notes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Tea Party (Craft Smith), white (Neenah), gold wrapping paper
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: gold detail embossing powder (JudiKins), flowers (Recollections), seam binding

Beautiful Soul

Hi friends! It's the first Monday of a new month and that means it's contest time at Mojo Monday! Play along for your chance to win some Verve of your very own.

This was one of those sketches that came together from scraps on my desk. I loved the way they laid together, so quickly drew up a sketch from them before gluing it all down.  I recently picked up these gold edges flowers at Michaels and had to use them, so decided to add the sentiment from Beautiful Things embossed in gold.  The flower from the set is stamped in mountain mist and then I used copics to lightly color it in.  I love the look of a partial flower stamped off the edges.  I tied the gold ribbon in a bow after gluing things down, then used a hot glue gun to sandwich it between the two roses.  Such a fun card to make.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  For a little more inspiration with the sketch, head on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers are sharing today.

Mojo Monday 483

Enabler's List
Stamps: Beautiful Things (Verve Stamps)
Paper: soft sky, basic gray (SU!), designer paper scraps, gold (Recollections), white (Neenah)
Ink: mountain mist (Altenew), Versamark, Copic markers, white pencil
Accessories: Stitched Circles Stax (MFT), pinking circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), flowers (Recollections), gold ribbon, faded dot embossing folder (Sizzix), gold embossing powder

A Beautiful Day

Hi friends! Welcome to another Friday.  I'm still coughing and have spent most of the week in bed, but I'm less sick than a week ago, so I think that's progress. And the boys were able to attend school a few days this week, so hopefully we're all on the mend. In the midst of all our sickness, there was one very beautiful day this week.

Just before Christmas Mark's doctor found a few concerning lumps in his neck and the possibility of cancer was quite probable. It gave a bittersweet taste to our holiday season as we had to wait until the middle of January for biopsy, and instead of visions of sugarplums, we had all sorts of what-ifs dancing through our heads. The biopsy results came in this week, and after all that waiting and wondering I'm glad to report the lumps are benign.  Hooray! Life is so very fleeting and I know there are so many who do not get the good report we did.  And this month of waiting has impressed upon my heart how difficult those inner battles we face that no one sees can be.  It is true that a little kindness, however small, is never wasted.

My card started with this kindness sentiment from Kindness Matters in mind and I just had to play along with the Card Concept challenge again.  I really love the current challenge graphic and went shabby chic/mixed media again.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of designer paper, then smudged some pearlized paste all around it.  The flower started out white and I spritzed it with Dylusions spray, then added some gesso, some pearlized paste and some glitter to give it a fun textured look.  The skeleton leaves were from my stash and I tucked a bit of linen thread behind it.  The background is cream cardstock, embossed with a hearts embossing folder. I colored the hearts with a distress crayon and smudged, then added a bit more of the pearlized paste to tie everything together.  A bit of vintage lace at the top of my stamped panel separates the layers and I finished off with some distressed edges.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a fabulous start to your weekend.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Kindness Matters (Verve Stamps)
Paper: cream, designer paper (7 gypsies)
Ink: espresso (Altenew), dylusions spray, distress crayons (Ranger)
Accessories: flower (Prima), gesso, pearlized paste (Recollections), glitter, vintage lace, skeleton leaves, hearts embossing folder (Sizzix), linen thread, paper distresser

Forever My Always

Hi friends!  It's the start of a new challenge over at The Card Concept and this one is all about love and romance.  It's uch a beautiful inspiration photo to get your creativity jump started. And as you can see mine definitely jumped into lovey dovey romantic mode.  {grin}

My card is a fusion of the shabby chic and mixed media styles. I started with the card base, stamping the heart from Love Everlasting in sand dunes lightly all over the panel.  The inspiration photo reminded me of the flowery heart. Next I scraped a layer of gesso over the stamping to lighten things up, then watercolored the flowers and leaves with Prima Metallic Accents. Another layer of gesso and then some distress inks sponged on.  I layered some Tim Holtz tissue tape over this and then scribbled some crackle accents all over the panel and heat set.  I dripped on some tattered rose and antique linen distress paints and scraped around until I was happy with the look.  I finished off the background with some distress inks in tattered rose, antique linen and vintage photo.

The heart is stamped in coral berry ink and cut with the coordinating Everlasting Heart Die Set.  I stamped the sentiment on a vellum piece cut with the Stitched Pennants Die Set, then layered up some shabby flowers, vintage lace, some glass hearts and a bit of twine to finish this lovey dovey card off.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous start to your month. For a little more inspiration for this challenge, be sure to head on over to The Card Concept blog to see what the other designers are sharing.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Love Everlasting (Verve Stamps)
Paper: cream (Neenah), vellum
Ink: coral berry, sand dunes, chocolate, espresso (Altenew), tattered rose, antique linen, vintage photo distress inks (Ranger), Metallic Accents watercolors (Prima)
Accessories: Everlasting Heart Die Set, Stitched Pennants Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), flowers (Prima), glass hearts, linen thread, rhinestone, gesso (Prima), crackle accents (Ranger), tissue tape (Tim Holtz), tattered rose and antique linen distress paints (Ranger)