Cyber Tea and Cookies

Hi friends! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. We enjoyed lots of holiday time with family and taught the boys to play Monopoly. Such precious memories.

We've all been still struggling through our colds, so lots of tea with honey has been in order. My boys really love tea. We make them an herbal gingerbread spice tea and add a touch of honey. And on the side, there always needs to be three Nyakers gingersnap cookies. They'll call you on it if they're missing one. Haha!

Anyhow, so our many tea and cookies moments had me thinking of the I just want to sip tea and eat Christmas cookies sentiment from the Santa & Coffee DIGITAL Set.  The printable pdf file have a few of the fully built sentiment options on it, but the individual png and jpeg files included in the digi have the building parts as well, so you could substitute your type of drink or activity to customize the sentiment in a number of ways. The cookie and tea cup images are from the Holiday Sweets DIGITAL Set.  I colored them with copics and fussy cut each one, adding a bit of brown sponging around the cookies and some glitter sprinkles to the centers.

I wanted to make my sentiment reminiscent of a ginger cookie, so cut it in a circle, and matted with a crumb cake scalloped circle die cut.  I sponged with a bit of gathered twigs to give that brown around the edges feel of a baked cookie. 

My papers are from the Merry Merry collection by pebbles and the skewed panels are 2 x 3.5" long and then matted with crumb cake.  I added a bit of ribbon and some more sponging to finish off the card.

It's Cyber Monday and all of Verve's stamps, dies and digis are on sale right now!

Hop on over to the shop to pick up some deals!

30 - 60% off all physical stamps, dies and sequins

70% off retiring products

30% off our NEW line of DIGITAL Stamps

Enabler's List

Stamps: Santa & Coffee DIGITAL, Holiday Sweets DIGITAL (Verve Stamps)

Paper: Merry Merry (Pebbles), crumb cake (SU!), white (Neenah)

Ink: gathered twigs distress ink (Ranger), laser printer, Copic markers

Accessories: circle dies, ribbon (SU!), glass glitter, morning dew Nuvo drops

Simply Sweet Christmas Inspiration Hop

My sweet friend, Lesley, invited me to join in with her and The Challenge Design Team for her first ever Simply Sweet Christmas Inspiration Hop. The hop is an inspiration blog hop focusing on LAST MINUTE SIMPLE YET SWEET Christmas cards or tags. There's sure to be a lot of fabulous inspiration along the way so let's get started.  

If you came from Claire's lovely post, then you're in the perfect spot for a little more inspiration.  If you're just happening by, head on over to Lesley's blog post to start from the beginning and enter in her little hop giveaway.  I have a little giveaway too, so be sure to read to the end of this post. :)

If you know me, you know that simple isn't really my forte. Sweet I can do, but simple is tricky.  I do try to tone things down for the holidays and I hope that today's cards can qualify as simple.  I just couldn't stop with the ribbon and the snowflakes, but these cards could easily be adapted with a small die cut snowflake and no ribbon. :)

I don't care for mass production, but I do often make a group of similar cards in one go. With little ones around I get lots of little "pockets of time", but not a lot of time all at once to create. I've found one of the best ways to be productive is to either print out a digital set or stamp a bunch of images on one page. Then I color them while the boys are putting on their jammies. Then maybe the next time I'll come in and die cut and/or fussy cut the images.  Another time I might pop in and add some glitter or Nuvo drops and cut some scraps of patterned paper. Here's what my Good Cheer DIGITAL looked like after my prep process. 

Don't you just love that sign? I keep it on my desk because it makes this textbook procrastinator smile every time.

When I do get to settle in for a longer crafting session with the pieces already prepped, it's just a matter of layout and embellishments and it seems like everything falls into place a little faster. 

Here I went with a similar layout for all three cards, using some scraps I had from some Doodlebug and Echo Park Christmas paper pads. My patterned paper strip is 1.5" x 5.25" and my circle die cuts are 2.5" and 1.75".  The coffee cups are cut with the coordinating Happiness in a Cup Die Set.

I used a dry embossing folder on a 4 x 5.25" white panel to add some texture and then finished with some snowflake embellishments and ribbon, all on an A2 card base.

Thanks for hopping along! Next stop is the super sweet and talented Kelly Lunceford!

Come hop along and be sure to visit each blog. 

There is a lot of inspiration to get your creative juices flowing!

Lesley Croghan

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman  (You are here!)

Kelly Lunceford

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

Enabler's List

Stamps: Good Cheer DIGITAL Set (Verve)

Paper: 'Tis the Season (Echo Park), North Pole and Home for the Holidays (Doodlebug), white

Ink: laser printer, Copic markers

Accessories: Happiness in a Cup Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), stitched circles STAX (MFT), Season's Greetings embossing folder (Cuttlebug), wood snowflake (Recollections), flatback pearl, ribbon

I am also offering a randomly drawn prize of the Good Cheer DIGITAL Set and the Happiness in a Cup Die Set I used for today's cards, as well as a little variety pack of handmade cards from my stash. I will send them to one random winner. 

In order to qualify to win please...

Leave a comment on my blog telling me about your favorite Christmas or holiday tradition.

The Giveaway Contest closes at 8pm Mountain on Saturday, December 2nd.

Here to Stay is the New Bird

Hi friends! It's Monday again and the start of a holiday week. It seems it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without our whole family fighting a respiratory illness. All my boys are home sick today and get Wednesday through Friday off anyway, so it's a super short week for me. I'm hoping we'll all recuperate enough by Thursday to do the turkey dinner trot to both families' events. :)

I wandered into my studio yesterday afternoon and played a bit with the new Good Cheer DIGITAL Set. I had visions of making a slew of cards, but only had enough energy to finish up this one. This little new bird totally makes me smile, so I had to start with him.

I had already printed the Good Cheer DIGITAL set out on cardstock with my laser printer and colored with Copics, so it was just a matter of cutting out the images.  I used circle dies for the sentiment and holly and decided to fussy cut the birdie.  A couple pieces of a patterned paper layered over a white dry embossed panel completes the layout and I tucked in a partial glitter snowflake and topped it off with a sweet little bow.

Here's what the printable PDF of the Good Cheer digi looks like printed (coloring for display purposes only - I colored these on the couch while the boys were watching football). The sentiments in this set were so fun to design - I just love the whimsical look to them. And bonus... all digis are on sale through the end of the month and we now have 8 sets to choose from!

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

Enabler's List
Stamps: Good Cheer DIGITAL Set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white (Neenah), North Pole and Home for the Holidays (Doodlebug)
Ink: laser printer, Copic markers
Accessories: stitched circles STAX (MFT), Season's Greetings embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Christmas Ribbon (American Crafts), snowflake (Recollections)

Let Your Heart Be Light

Hi friends! Long time no post! Life has been very hectic around here with a prolonged sickness the past couple of months. Seems like one or all of us has been sick since September. Between official school days off and sick days for the boys, I think one or both boys has been home with me more than at school in the past 2 months. I'm happy to be able to stay with them, but it certainly does make running a business very difficult.

Since I've been playing nursemaid, I missed my holiday manufacturing deadlines.  So I've decided to do an all digital holiday release this year. Today there are 5 new DIGITAL sets in the shop, along with the re-release of a couple of our Christmas digis from the past.

Today I'm sharing a card made with the November Viva la Verve sketch and the Winter Peace DIGITAL Set. I tried to evoke the quiet stillness of a snowy day in the font choices and imagery, and am so excited for all the elegant cards to come with this set. I can't wait to foil that deer image!

Here's a photo of the printable PDF of the Winter Peace DIGITAL set. I printed it on white cardstock with my laser printer and colored the images with Copics, adding a bit of Nuvo glitter drops to the flower centers before cutting out.  The larger flower fits the die in our Autumn Thanks Die Set.

For my card, I've hand trimmed the smaller flower. I'm totally obsessed with my Minc machine, now that I've finally plugged it in, so just had to foil the let your heart be light sentiment in silver to add a little elegance to this modern card. The foiling is so hard to photograph, but is such an easy way to class up a card!

I layered a couple different papers then added some grosgrain ribbon to replace the wide horizontal strip in the sketch.

So as I mentioned, there are a BUNCH of new digis in the shop today. And all of our digis are on sale through the end of the month. So shop, print and craft away!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Winter Peace DIGITAL Set (Verve)
Paper: Holly Jolly (Bella Blvd), Bundle of Joy (Echo Park), white
Ink: laser printer, Copic markers
Accessories: Nuvo glitter drops (Tonic), stitched rectangle die (Cottage Cutz), grosgrain ribbon (SU!), polka dot embossing folder (QuicKutz), Minc machine, Silver reactive foil (Heidi Swapp)

Other Links
November Viva la Verve Sketch
Autumn Thanks Die Set

Shabby Viva la Verve

Hi friends! It's the first Friday in November and that means it's time for a brand new Viva la Verve sketch. This month's sketch has lots of straight lines for those of you who like them, and it's easy to dress up or down depending on your style.

I went a little shabby for my sample card, so more is more! I get lot of requests for sketch measurements, and I've kind of shied away from doing it for a couple of reasons.  1. I don't like to measure things. Unless I'm making a treat box where measurements are imperative, I just wing it.  2. I don't want anyone to feel they have to make their card the same way I did. The sketches are open to interpretation so that you can make the sketch fit the images and stamps you want to use, not the other way around. However, I'm trying out adding the measurements to the sketch image this month.  Let me know if you like to have them.  If not, there's no reason for me to have to measure each month. {grin}

My card started with this stamped panel that was in my leftovers bin from a previous stamping session. The Psalm 34:18 verse and the flower from Scripture Medley 5 were embossed in early espresso ink with clear embossing powder.  I decided to go for an autumn feel to the card, so colored the flower with copics and then sponged the edges with distress ink.

Next I started on the background. I stenciled a leaf stencil (quite messily, if I do say so myself) with modeling paste. I got a new craft mat a while ago which I absolutely love, but unfortunately washi tape won't stay stuck to it, so my stencil slipped a bunch. I sprayed with some Lindy's sprays, then sponged with distress oxide inks until I had a nice warm background.  A piece of vintage lace is wrapped around this layer as my horizontal panel, then I just layered some scraps of Amber Moon paper behind the sentiment and added a bunch of upholstery thread.  The finishing touch was a metal embellishment in the corner.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a splendidly creative November. We'd love to have you play along with the sketch this month. Verve stamps aren't required, but there is a monthly prize up for grabs!  Play as long as often as you like. I love to see what you create!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Scripture Medley 5 (Verve Stamps)
Paper: amber moon (Prima Marketing), cream (Neenah)
Ink: antique photo, vintage photo, walnut stain, wild honey, fossilized amber distress and oxide inks (Ranger), spray ink (Lindy's Stamp Gang), early espresso (SU!)
Accessories: leaf stencil (Carta Bella), upholstery thread, embossing powder, metal embellishment (The Funkie Junkie Boutique), modeling paste (Prima Marketing), vintage lace trim, paper distresser

Other Links
November 2017 Viva la Verve Sketch
Best Ever Craft Mat by Ken Oliver (Amazon)