Every One of My Thoughts

Hi friends! It's Monday again, and time for a brand new Mojo Monday sketch.  This week, I went with a simple sketch that leaves lots of room for interpretation. Hope you like it!

I've been swatching out my watercolor palettes as a way to relax after some very crazy days at our house. Two five year olds at once is A LOT of 5 year olds. {grin} Since I loved how my clean-up paper worked on my Life Is But A Dream card, I decided to do the same thing as I finally swatched out The Classics Prima Watercolor Confections palette I got for Christmas. I did a bit more working across each color than on my previous card, so I could have some solid color blocks, then sprinkled some water on the whole panel.  Interestingly enough, the only color that lifted any with the sprinkles was the aqua, but I just loved how it turned out.  Isn't this rainbow palette just lovely?  It also includes, pink, white, brown, grey, and black, which are saved for other projects.

I just love the you're in every one of my thoughts today sentiment from the Always On My Mind set. It seems to speak my heart and is a favorite to send to friends just because or who are going through something. I'm also thinking of making some little lunch notes up with it to tuck in the boys lunches. I stamped it directly on the card base, then added three strips of washi tape towards the bottom of the card.  To this I added a resist chipboard butterfly that I quickly watercolored with a rainbow look.  I finished off by accenting the body with black pearls.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you were inspired. To see some more takes on this week's sketch, head on over to the Mojo Monday blog and check out what the design team is sharing today.

If you like measurements, here's what I used to draw up the sketch.

Mojo Monday 498 Card Sketch

Card base: 4.25" x 5.5"

Layer 1: 2.5" x 5.25"

Layer 2: 3 strips of washi or 0.5" strips at lengths of 2.5", 3" and 2.25"

Layer 3: large die cut, embellishment or  1.75" circle

Enabler's List

Stamps: Always on My Mind (Verve Stamps)

Paper: kids watercolor paper (Michaels)

Ink: onyx black (Versafine), The Classics Watercolor Confections (Prima)

Accessories: resist chipboard butterfly (Teresa Collins), black flatback pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty)

Every Thought

Hi friends! It's Monday again and time for a new Mojo Monday sketch! I kept things simple, but flipped the sketch for my card today.  I'll have another card with the sketch not flipped to share later this week for our monthly Diva Inspirations Hop.

Continuing with our Anni-VERVE-sary celebration this month, I pulled out another old favorite set and got to work with this sweet sentiment from Always on My Mind.  The papers were scraps on my desk from the Travel MAMBI kit I used earlier and I embellished with some silver thread, a sparkly star and some ribbon.  Easy peasy!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful week. If you have time be sure to head on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers have cooked up with this sketch.

Enabler's List

Mojo Monday 460

Stamps: Always on My Mind (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Travel kit (MAMBI), white
Ink: black archival (Ranger)
Accessories: glitter star (Recollections), silver thread, ribbon (SU!), stars & swirls embossing folder (Sizzix), stitched circles STAX (MFT)

Always On My Mind

Hi friend!  Happy Monday.  It's time for another Mojo Monday sketch and for my card I decided to participate in the Pink Critters Hope You Can Cling To challenge on SCS.

I thought it would be fun to put the bird from  Making a Statement, on the head of the elephant from To the Moon and pair it with the sentiment "you're always on my mind" from the Always on My Mind set.  It just makes me giggle thinking about that little birdie sitting on his head - always on his mind! {grin}  I embossed the scallop frame from Making a Statement in metallic bronze on black cardstock and cut with the Rounded Scallop Frame Die.  Some patterned paper and some ruffled ribbon finish things off.

I hope you have a fantastic day.  Be sure to stop by the Mojo Monday blog to check out the design team samples using this week's sketch.

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Making a Statement, To the Moon, Always on My Mind (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Uncommon (Authentique), Hometown Summer (Pink Paislee), black, white
Ink: Pink Pirouette (SU!), Black
Accessories:  Rounded Scallop Frame Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), circle and photo corner punches (SU!), rhinestone, liquid pearls, ribbon

Be Strong Card Journaling

Hi friends!  Today I've got a little mixed-media meets card making project to share.  When I showed it to Mark, he called it card journaling  (art journaling on a card), which made me giggle, but it's a good description of what it is.  I'm really excited, but also a bit nervous to start art journaling, so I decided to break down my first few attempts in a size and format I'm familiar with.  Here I used the small butterfly and flourish images from Blue Skies and a sentiment from the coordinating Always on My Mind set.

I absolutely loved the process of making this card.  I got all sorts of messy, stepped outside of my comfort zone and added my own handwriting (which is something I rarely do because I think it's too imperfect).  After I finished I actually carried the card around with me for several hours!!  I felt such a feeling of accomplishment... like I'd just taken the first step to becoming the artist I want to be.  I felt my own opinion of my artistic-ness (if that's a word) rise a few notches... and that hasn't happened in a very long time.  Oh what a feeling!  And over a week later, I still have a sense of pride when I look at this card.  I think that's how we should feel every day!  Like we're learning and growing and trying new things and stretching ourselves so we're ready to take on the things we dream about accomplishing.  It all starts with one small step!  Dream it, DO it!  {grin}

The Making Of:
This was mainly me just playing around with new products to see what they do.  I've now learned a few techniques that would have blended my colors a bit better (like blending the pastels with a wet paintbrush instead of my dry finger!), but I've always taken the dive in and read directions only if it doesn't work the first time approach. {grin}  I started by painting some Gesso on kraft paper, then sketching the heart.  I added color to everything but the heart with Neocolor 2 wax pastels and Shiva paintstiks and just blended them with my fingers.  Next I added the color to the heart and embossed the sentiment from Always on My Mind with black archival ink and clear detail embossing powder. 

To add a little texture, I ran just the corner of my page through my paper crimper, then scraped on a little light molding paste over parts of the crimping and the long edge of the card and colored over the dried paste with a Shiva paintstik.  The butterflies were then embossed and colored with Copics and I added a few of the flourishes from Blue Skies with Versamark and clear embossing powder.  I finished off with a verse that was on my heart down the side and some doodling under each of the butterflies.  Oh, and I re-outlined that heart to make it stand out more, then roughed up the edges, mounted on black and then on a kraft card base to finish it all off.

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Blue Skies, Always on My Mind (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Basic Black (SU!)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, VersaMark, Shiva Artist Painstiks, Neocolor 2 Wax Pastels
Accessories:  paper corrugator (Marvy Uchida), Clear Detail Embossing Powder (Judikins), Gesso (ProArt), Light Modeling Paste (Golden), paper distresser (Tonic), Black journaling pen

Missing You

Happy Thursday!  I'm just popping in with a quick little card I made from scraps left over from my color throwdown card.

The scraps laying on my desk just called my name, and so I fiddled with them for a couple minutes until I arrived at a layout I liked, then just matted them all in black and added to a Baja Breeze layer embossed with a Tim Holtz Texture Fades folder.  The chipboard star was already covered, but didn't get used on my other card.  I stamped the flourish from Blue Skies on the star in Regal Rose, then on the Celery layer in the background and in black on the real red DP.  The sentiment is from Always on My Mind and to accessorize I just added some thin polka dot ribbon and a couple black buttons. And there you have it, my scrappy little 20 minute card!  Hope you're having a fabulous day!  My big box of Stampin' Up! stuff with all the new colors just arrived, so I can't wait to dive in!

---

What's In It?
Stamps: Always on My Mind, Blue Skies (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Prints Palette DP, Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Basic Black (SU!)
Ink: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose (SU!), Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories: Chipboard star (Bazzill), polka dot ribbon, buttons, Stardust Stickles, Dot Matrix Texture Fades (Tim Holtz)

Dreams Come True

Happy Thursday!  If you haven't already heard, they're celebrating throwdown 100 over at the Color Throwdown this week and there are LOTS of prizes to be had, including some new Verve!  So head on over to their blog to play along and find out how to get yourself in the running for some stampy goodness! 

For my card, I pulled out each of the four colors of cardstock and PLAYED!  I didn't have a plan, a sketch or even a stamp set in mind... just stamping for the sheer joy of stamping.  How fun is that?!  :)  I loved how the colors looked all lined up on my desk, so decided to layer them together with a curvy border punch by EK Success.  On the celery layer, I stamped the hanging star from Always on My Mind, then painted them with a little Smooch luminescent pearlized top coat.  Next I covered a Bazzill chipboard star with some older baja breeze designer paper and ruffled up some white lacey ribbon, then tied it all together with a button and some cherry Divine Twine (love this stuff!)

The sentiment also comes from Always on My Mind and is stamped in Real Red and punched out with the curvy label punch, then I trimmed a thin mat of real red behind it, popped it up on dimensionals and added some cluster pearls to finish off the dreamy look I was going for.  Okay, that's it from me this fine Thursday.  Hope you can find some time to play along this week!  Have a fantastic day!

---

What's In It?
Stamps: Always on My Mind (Verve)
Paper: Real Red, Cetainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Regal Rose (SU!), white
Ink: Certainly Celery, Real Red (SU!)
Accessories: EK Success border punch, pearl clusters, Bazzill chipboard star, cherry Divine Twine (TCP), Smooch Pearlized Luminescent Top Coat, button and curvy label punch (SU!), lace trim

Hang in there

Happy Tuesday!  After the long weekend, it's definitely been a Monday on a Tuesday at my house today.  So much to do, so little motivation to actually do it.  LOL!  So, in good procrastinating form, I'm popping in here to post a card!  :)  Verve's featured set this month is Love Monkey, and it's on sale 40% off through the end of  July!  I think he's got the perfect whimsical personality to pair with our new sets, Blue Skies and Always on My Mind.  So for my card, I combined all three.

I started by stamping the notebook image from Blue Skies, then stamping the Love Monkey upside down on the paper and again on white cardstock to color, cut out, and pop up.  Next I stamped the hang in there sentiment from Always on My Mind in real red, and then decided to add the little hanging heart to look like it's coming from his tail.  For the background paper, I just stamped the small butterfly from Blue Skies repeatedly in chocolate chip craft ink and then embossed in clear.  For a little oomph, I painted each butterfly with a mixture of diamond glaze and one drop of real red re-inker for some uber-glossy butterflies.  I finished off with some of my favorite striped ribbon from May Arts, and voila!  A card was born!  :)

Hope you have a fantastically creative day, and that Monday skipped your household entirely this week!  :)

---

What's In It?
Stamps: Love Monkey, Blue Skies, Always on My Mind (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, white (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft, Real Red (SU!), Antique Linen (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: diamond glaze, striped ribbon (May Arts)

Every One of My Thoughts

It's Tuesday!  And today I have a fun little card for you using the newly released Always on My Mind set.  I just love this sentiment.  It's the perfect thing to send when you want someone know they're on your heart.  I went clean and simple (well, at least for me!  LOL), for this card.

I started by stamping the sentiment on a Labels 10 Nestabilities cut out, then using the next size up Labels 10 to sponge some Tumbled Glass ink onto the Kraft cardstock and as a stencil to make the little dotted frame.  I stamped the flower from this set sideways on the Kraft, then stamped again twice to color and pop up on dimensionals.  The white layer is embossed with the Notebook Texture Fades from Tim Hotlz and I added a little bit of American Crafts ribbon to ground my skewed panel.  To finish thing off, I added some Oregon Rain Drops to the Labels 10 and center of each flower.

That's my card in a nutshell.  :)  Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a fabulous Tuesday, filled with sunshine and creativity.  Oh, and be sure to hop over to the Verve Blog today to see who our lucky blog hopper was!

---

What's In It?
Stamps: Always On My Mind (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Kraft, White
Ink: Black Soot, Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories: ribbon (American Crafts), brads, Labels 10 Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Oregon Rain Drops (Pink Hedgehog), notebook paper Texture Fades (Tim Holtz)

Wishing Star

Hey peeps! I can't believe it's Thursday already. I've been working every spare minute for the past couple weeks, but tonight Mark and I get to take a break and go hang out at the Shakespeare Festival, eat lemon cake {my favorite}, and enjoy a play. Can't wait! :)

So it's Day 2 of our New Release Spotlights, and the Divas are peeking a set called Always On My Mind  over on the Verve Blog.  This set has 7 encouraging/missing you sentiments and 3 little whimsical elements, all designed to coordinate well with the other sets in this release.

For my card I chose the "wishing you were here" sentiment and the hanging star, stamped on an EK Success punch. I filled the center of the star with liquid glue, then added some turquoise Martha Stewart micro beads and some glitter.  I had so much fun with the micro beads, that I decided to add a strip down the side of my card as well. The papers are all from BoBunny and I used the blossoms Nestabilities, with a little Texture Fades embossing. I accented the Fountain Fun corner punch and the black mat with a white gel pen, then added a few little black pearls and some ribbon.

Okay, that's all for now. Be sure to check out the Verve Blog for some fabulous eye candy and a chance to win today's set.

---

What's in it?
Stamps: Always on My Mind (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Bo Bunny, Black, Bermuda Bay
Ink: Bermuda Bay
Accessories: Blossoms Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Bracket label punch, fountain fun corner punch (EK Success), 2 way glue pen, glitter, micro beads (Martha Stewart), black pearls (Kaisercraft), white gel pen, Textured Fades embossing folder (Tim Holtz)