April Verve Spotlight Hops Day 4

Hi friends! It's RELEASE DAY 😊 and we have a very special final day of hopping to share with you! We've combined our release hop with the kickoff to our April Diva Inspirations challenge. The theme this month is yellow, so get ready for a little handmade sunshine coming your way!  And don't forget to leave a little comment love for the Divas as you hop about, because today's prize is for the entire April release!  Woohoo!

I'm the first stop on the Day 4 April New Release Spotlight Hop & Diva Inspirations challenge, so if you didn't arrive here from another hop spot you're in the perfect place to jump right in! All of the stamps and dies you've been seeing are available in the shop right now!  Go ahead, check them out.... I'll wait! If you missed our earlier hops, you can click here for my Day One,  Day Two and Day Three posts.  Deadline for our blog hop prize drawing is April 15.

Today's featured focus is designer's choice combined with our April inspiration, so you might just sneak a peek at a whole bunch of must-haves! Check out all the challenge details on the Verve blog today, then play along for a chance to win in our monthly challenge drawing! We hope you'll play along with us!

Now, if you hadn't noticed from my cards lately, I love me some sunny yellow! Especially when it seems like spring just wants to elude us! I'm all about creating my own sunshine, so I'm willing spring to come and stay with our Welcome Spring Sale this month! 😁 When you're done hopping, be sure to hit the Verve shop to check out the sale and the new products. All of our new releases are 15% off. Or double your savings by purchasing the Buy it All Bundle at a 30% discount.

I have two cards to share today. The first card started with the cross from Risen Savior and the inspiration color of yellow. I knew I wanted it behind this sentiment, so cut an oval die to fit, then stamped the cross and the sentiment. I then put the die back over the die cut to sponge some squeezed lemonade around the edges and finished off with an air art tool with a brown marker for a few ink splatters.

Next I moved on to the background. I added a thin layer of gesso to watercolor paper, then painted on some dylusions paint with a baby wipe.  I added some squeezed lemonade distress oxide to the mix and then let things dry.  The yellow had become a bit brighter than I wanted, so I scraped some heavy gesso in places, then used a script stencil to apply some light paste to the background.  I love how it turned out.



From there I went to work on the scalloped piece, attaching the larger scallop border die cut from the Lacey Trim Duo die set to a rose red rectangle panel and then covering with some pretty paper from the Eastertime collection by Authentique.  I covered the seam with a few layers of baker's twine, tied in a bow, then accented with a paper flower.

For my second card, I kept with the mixed media style, having fun with light paste, gesso, stencils and texture paste to create the tag. Next I stamped a flower from the previously released Bloom Brighter set twice, colored with Copics and cut with the coordinating Blooming die set.  I added the leaves, also cut with the same die set and then stamped the thinking of  you sentiment from Sentimental Wishes onto a Lacey Frames die cut circle.  To finish the tag section, I added a flourish die cut, some glitter to the center of the flowers and a wrinkled seam binding bow a the top.

For the rest of the card, I used a doily, a piece of smoky slate to tie in the other grays in the card and a card base embossed with the chicken wire embossing folder. My final touches were a couple rounded corners and the two border dies from the Lacey Trim Duo die set layered on top of the card for a fun, elegant edge.

That's all for me, next on the hop is our super duper fabulous Guest Diva, Michele!

Want to win some shiny new Verve? Today's prize is a BIG one. We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win our ENTIRE new release! The April 2018 Release Collection includes Risen Savior, Hope Lifts, Sentimental Wishes, and the Lifted Hope, Lacey Frames and Lacey Trim Duo die sets. So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Comment deadline for the blog hop prize drawing is April 15.

DAY 4 Hop List 1. Julee 5. Laurie 2. Michele (Guest) 6. Marisa 3. Betty 7. Maureen 4. Charmaine 8. Teresa

Enabler's List
He Lives card
Stamps: Risen Savior (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Eastertime (Authentique), rose red, crumb cake (SU!), white (Neenah), watercolor distress paper (Tim Holtz)
Ink: pure sunshine, lemon zest dylusions paint (Ranger), squeezed lemonade, black archival, scattered straw (Ranger)
Accessories: Lacey Trim Duo die set (A Cut Above by VERVE), oval dies, bakers twine, script stencil, paper flower, light paste (Prima), gesso

Thinking of You card
Stamps: Sentimental Wishes, Bloom Brighter  (Verve Stamps)
Paper: smoky slate (SU!), white (Neenah), tag (Paper Accents)
Ink: pure graphite, forest glades (Altenew), Dragonfly blue color bloom spray (Prima), white india ink (Bombay), Copic markers

Accessories: Lacey Frames Die Set, Lacey Trim Duo Die Set, Blooming die set (A Cut Above by VERVE), flourish die (Recollections), doily, chicken wire embossing folder, dot stencil, light paste, gesso, glitter glue, seam binding, corner rounder

April Verve Spotlight Hops Day 3

Hi friends! We're back with another day of hopping counting down to our new release tomorrow. I hope you'll hop along with us to see the inspiration the Divas are sharing.  Leave a little comment love for them as you hop about for  a chance to win some shiny new Verve!

I'm the first stop on the Day 3 April New Release Spotlight Hop, so if you didn't arrive here from another hop spot you're in the perfect place to jump right in! All of the stamps and dies you've been seeing will be available in the Verve shop tomorrow morning (4/10/18)! Just one more sleep until new Verve! If you missed our earlier hops, you can click here for my Day One and Day Two posts.

Today the Divas and our special guest, Michele Greenwood, are featuring the new Sentimental Wishes stamp set and the Lacey Frames and Lacey Trim Duo die sets. Yesterday I wrote about a little wishlist in my head for stamps I'd like to have. I've been struggling over the past couple years trying to balance life and work and health and kiddos and stamping hasn't been the creative refuge it once was for me. So in one of my creative lulls I sat down and asked myself what I didn't have that I would like to stamp with.

Small sentiments came to mind first and foremost. They've always been a favorite of mine to add to a card, tag or treat packaging. With the retirement of many of our earlier sets, the smaller sentiments were missing from the Verve catalog. So Sentimental Wishes fills that hole, with 21 new sentiments all sized at about 1" wide to fit your smaller punches and dies.

And to make things even easier, I designed the Lacey Frames die set with a scalloped square and circle that will frame these fun sentiments beautifully. Hooray!

For today's card, I was super excited to pair this set with the Karen Burniston Coffee Cup Pop-Up die set I recently ordered. It's no secret that I love coffee and since I love to give gift cards, this seemed like the perfect die set for me!

I knew I wanted a cup on the front of the card as well as the pop up inside, so I cut two sets of everything I wanted to use. Next I worked on layering it all together, adding a bit of sponging along the outer edges of the cup for some dimension.

The sentiments I chose from Sentimental Wishes were just for you on the card front and thanks a latte inside with the Starbucks gift card. I had a tough time deciding whether or not to go with the coffee break sentiment on the front, but in the end decided on just for you and will just have to make another one soon! 😉  I stamped both sentiments on soft sky circles, then layered onto the circle from the Lacey Frames die set. I just love the look!


The pop-up feature is so cool.  Here's what it looks like when you open the card. Isn't that sip stopper so cute?

To tie in the soft sky accents, I stamped the heart from the set randomly down the right side of the card front and in a line down the inside of the card as well.  I added little border accents with the smaller border from the Lacey Trim Duo die set. A few stickers and some patterned paper and I was finished.

That's all for me, next on the hop is our super duper fabulous Guest Diva, Michele!

Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win today's featured products! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog post today for the full hop list, prize details and a little more on this fun new set.

Day 3 Hop List 1. Julee 5. Laurie 2. Michele (Guest) 6. Marisa 3. Betty 7. Maureen 4. Charmaine 8. Teresa

Enabler's List
Stamps: Sentimental Wishes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Saucy (Authentique), soft sky, crumb cake, early espresso, basic black (SU!), white (Neenah)
Ink: jet black (Altenew), pumice stone distress (Ranger), soft sky (SU!)
Accessories: Lacey Frames  Lacey Trim Duo  (A Cut Above by VERVE), Coffee Cup Pop-Up die set (Karen Burniston), black dew drops (Nuvo), puffy stickers

April Verve Spotlight Hops Day 2

Hi friends! We're back with another day of hopping counting down to our new release on April 10. I hope you'll hop along with us to see the eye candy the Divas are sharing. Leave a little comment love for them as you hop about for  a chance to win some shiny new Verve!

I'm the first stop on the Day 2 April New Release Spotlight Hop, so if you didn't hop here from somewhere along the hop, you're in the perfect place to jump right in! All of the stamps and dies you'll be seeing over the next few days will be available in the Verve shop on Tuesday, April 10. If you missed yesterday's hop, click here for my Day ONE post.

Today the Divas and our special guest, Michele Greenwood, are featuring the new Hope Lifts stamp set and the coordinating Lifted Hope die set. The design for this set has been floating around my head for a while. Whenever I read a blog post about someone facing a health or other tough challenge, the sentiments in this set are some of the things that go through my head. You know the... "I wish I had a stamp for that..." type of moments in life? Luckily, since I have my own stamp company, I can sometimes make my wishes (well at least the stamp related ones!) come true. 😉

So maybe, like, me, you've been wishing for a hot air balloon stamp with a matching die. Or maybe you wished that the butterfly in Sparkly Dreams was just a teeny bit larger and easier to color?  Or maybe you could just use a little word of hope for a friend going through a difficult time? Well, this is the set for you!

Since I used the butterfly image for my Viva la Verve card on Friday, I decided to start with the hot air balloon image from Hope Lifts for today's card. I simply stamped it and cut with the coordinating Lifted Hope die set and started coloring with Copics.

Next I pulled out some shimmerz sprays and did a watercolor wash on a piece of watercolor paper.  I embossed the hope things start looking up sentiment in white.  At this point I decided that the Copic colors I chose didn't quite match my wash, so I used some of the leftover ink to watercolor over the Copics.  I then used a little white india ink to add in some white highlights, then coated the whole thing with wink of stella.

I chose a tall card layout to reinforce the looking up sentiment.  A piece of patterned paper, a taffeta bow and some shiny sequins finish things off.

That's all for me, next on the hop is our super duper fabulous Guest Diva, Michele!

Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win today's featured products! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog post today for the full hop list, prize details and a little more on this fun new set.

Day 2 Hop List 1. Julee 5. Laurie 2. Michele (Guest) 6. Marisa 3. Betty 7. Maureen 4. Charmaine 8. Teresa

Enabler's List
Stamps: Hope Lifts (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Perfectly Plaid Winter (Lawn Fawn), watercolor pad (Prima), white (Neenah)
Ink: Jet black (Altenew), copics markers, jenni b bleu and palm reader Vibez, ride the tide creameez (Shimmerz), versamark, white india ink (Bombay), wink of stella clear glitter pen
Accessories: Lifted Hope die set (A Cut Above by VERVE), ribbon (SU!), white embossing powder, paper distresser, sequins

April Verve Spotlight Hops Day 1

Hi friends! I'm so happy to finally be kicking off a new stamp release blog hop today! We've got three new sets and coordinating dies to share with you over the next few days leading up to our new release on April 10. I hope you'll hop along with us for a fresh dose of inspiration and a chance to win some shiny new Verve!

I'm the first stop on today's April New Release Spotlight Hops, so if you didn't hop here from somewhere along the hop, you're in the perfect place to jump right in! All of the stamps and dies you'll be seeing over the next few days will be available in the Verve shop on Tuesday, April 10.

Today the Divas and our special guest, Michele Greenwood, (hop on over to the Verve Blog today to read her little mini interview) are featuring the new Risen Savior  set. If you've been following my blog lately, you've seen a few sneaks of this set in action already. I decided to release it when it came in without much fanfare so those who wanted to get a copy before Easter could. Now our release is finally here and we can give it the shoutout it deserves!

I just love egg wreaths and each year just can't wait for St. Patrick's Day to be done so I can hang mine on my door! I have all sorts of plans for these sweet speckled eggs and that old rugged cross image! This has been a super fun set to design with and I've found myself humming hymns all day long as I've worked on this release!

My card for today features the Risen Savior set and a word die that's in the Lifted Hope die set that we'll be spotlighting in a couple days.  I had this vision in my head of this bright, glowing light coming from the empty tomb, so started with a mixed media background of yellows with shimmerz products and some stencils.

Next I stamped the cross in brown on a stitched rectangle die cut and added the leafy sprigs in green on either side and colored in a little dirt.  I then set the die cut back inside the stencil and sponged yellow ink around the inside.

The speckled eggs are stamped in brown and then colored with Copics and fussy cut to add a little interest to the card. I just love these eggs and I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of them on future creations! For the hope banner, I die cut the hope word die from white cardstock and some cardboard packaging. Then I sponged yellow inks onto the white cardstock and layered the two pieces together with a smidge of an offset, to set it off.  I layered this onto a strip of vellum, sponged with distress inks and added it to my card.

That's all for me, next on the hop is our super duper fabulous Guest Diva, Michele!

Check out the Verve Blog post today for the full hop list, prize details, a mini interview with Michele, and a little more on this fun new set.

Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win today's featured products! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances!

Day 1 Hop List 1. Julee 5. Marisa 2. Michele (Guest) 6. Maureen 3. Betty 7. Teresa 4. Charmaine

Enabler's List
Stamps: Risen Savior (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white (Neenah), vellum, cardboard packaging
Ink: glorious day, egg noggin' (Shimmerz), squeezed lemonade, scattered straw, antique linen, wild honey, gathered twigs distress inks (Ranger), Coffee archival (Ranger), forest glades (Altenew)
Accessories: Lifted Hope die set (A Cut Above by VERVE), stitched rectangles dies, layering stencils (Tim Holtz)

Lifted Spirits Viva la Verve

Hi friends! It's the first Fri-yay of a new month and that means it's time for me to host a new sketch challenge over at Viva la Verve! This week's sketch has lots of layers, but you can dress it up or dress it down as you like. I hope you can play along with us! I love seeing the linky fill up with so many lovely cards to take a peek at throughout the month.

My sample card is also a sneaky peek at a new set we'll be releasing on April 10th. Our new release spotlight blog hops start tomorrow (4/7), so be sure to tune in for a chance to win some shiny new Verve! And for some early peeks, click on over today to the Viva la Verve blog to see a bunch of sneaky peek samples from the Divas using the April VLV sketch.

For my card, I started with the butterfly from the new Hope Lifts stamp set. It's similar, but a bit larger than the butterfly in our previously released Sparkly Dreams set (which was briefly retired due to a lost artwork file, but I'm happy to say the lost has been found and it's back among our offerings!). I embossed the butterfly in white once on white cardstock and once on vellum. Next I colored with watercolor pencils and blended with a wink of stella pen.  Then I cut the white cardstock butterfly out with the coordinating Lifted Hope Die Set. The vellum butterfly was cut with the butterfly die that has no antennae from the Butterfly Dreams Die Set. The image in Hope Lifts is larger than this previously released die, so it cuts off parts of the stamped image, but it makes for a perfect layered dimension to this image. I then cut the antennae from the same Butterfly Dreams die set out of smoky slate and then layered together with some grey pearls.

Next I worked on the sentiment panel, using a cereal box stencil I made with a smaller circle die to mask off a circle die cut and then do a watercolor wash with some Prima color bloom spray.  Once this was dry, I embossed the sentiment from Hope Lifts in white over the watercolor.  This is matted on a big pinking circle from so saffron. I liked how this gave the look of a sun, so added some embossed clouds to the background panel, then some embossed stripes for the rounded square panel.

The vertical panel is embossed with polka dots, then I used the same spray ink for the background and added on a new border die from the Lacey Trim Duo die set.

Alright, there you have it! Thanks so much for stopping by today! It's sure to be a busy weekend for me with daily blog hops and the boys' first ever flag football practice and game on Saturday. They're totally pumped for it, though. I'm just praying for no injuries! {grin}

Enabler's List
Stamps: Hope Lifts (Verve Stamps)
Paper: smoky slate, so saffron (SU!), white (Neenah), vellum
Ink: dragonfly blue color bloom spray, Scenic Route watercolor pencils (Prima), wink of stella glitter pen, versamark
Accessories: Lifted Hope Die Set, Butterfly Dreams Die Set, Lacey Trim Duo Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), clouds, stripe and polka dot embossing folders, pinking circles, classic circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), corner rounder, pearls

Last Minute Easter Treats

Hi y'all! It's the last day of spring break here and boy am I ready to get back to a normal routine! I had envisioned quiet afternoons crafting with the boys, reading tons of books and playing board games. What I got was one boy with a secondary infection from strep, civil war, utter chaos, and a whole lot less patience than I started the week with! Haha! #lifewithboys

I made this little prototype of a quick Easter treat bag last week, planning to make more with bigger tags and some other variations to share on the blog this week. But instead I didn't step foot in my craft room all week and I ate all but a few of the chocolates! {sheepish grin}  I'm a sucker for Dove chocolates, but I did have a couple little helpers, too!

But if you're scrambling for something to make quickly, and don't have boys that think going to the store is like asking them to take a bath in boiling hot acid, here's how I made them.

1. Cut a length of 2" x 4.5" piece of cardstock (adjust length for more or less eggs)
2. Score 1/4" from the edge on both long sides and fold up to create tray
3. Optionally cut a 1.5" x 4.5" piece of patterned paper and adhere to the inside of tray
4. Add your chocolates and tuck inside a 2" x 9" cello bag
5. Tie closed and embellish as desired.

For my embellishment, I chose a tag using a sentiment from the new Risen Savior stamp set. I stamped with bermuda bay on vellum and embossed with clear embossing powder, then cut with a circle punch.  I layered this onto a Lacey Frame die cut (available in our 4/10 release), then used a crop-a-dile to punch a hole in both and thread the seam binding through and tited a bow.  I finished off with a yellow paper flower.

Easy peasy! Hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Risen Savior (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Eastertime (Authentique), soft sky (SU!), vellum
Ink: soft sky, bermuda bay (SU!)
Accessories: Lacey Frames Die Set (coming 4/10 from A Cut Above by VERVE), circle punch, clear embossing powder, ribbon, upholstery thread, prima flower, crop-a-dile, 2 x 9 cello bag

How Sweet the Sound

Hi friends! I'm here today with another card using the just released Risen Savior stamp set. I've had visions of shabby chic cards in my head ever since I stocked up on all the new Prima papers earlier this year. And the egg garland  in Risen Savior was just asking for a shabby treatment when I sat down to stamp yesterday.

I stamped the egg garland image in coffee archival ink, then colored with Copic markers and fussy cut. Next I went over the speckles with a glue pen and heat embossed with some midnight bronze embossing powder. I absolutely love this color of embossing powder, and since it's got a bit of mica in it, it leaves a shimmery dusting wherever it's sprinkled, which looks fabulous on these eggs.

The sentiment from the Risen Savior set is embossed on vellum, then cut with a stitched rectangle die. I glued this to a piece of patterned paper, then added some distressing all around the edges.  I fussy cut one of the winged creatures from the background paper, adding a few Copic highlights to tie in the pinks of the card, then finished off with a bit of lace.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have an amazing day.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Risen Savior (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Cherrry Blossom (Prima), vellum, cream
Ink: antique linen, pumice stone distress, coffee archival (Ranger), Versamark, Copic markers
Accessories: stitched rectangle dies, vintage lace, midnight bronze embossing powder (Lindy's), paper distresser

He is Risen

Hi friends! I'm happy to say there's a new Verve stamp set in the store today!  Hooray! The Risen Savior set is officially part of our upcoming April release, but I've added it to the store early since Easter is just around the corner! And since all of our stamps are on sale this month, you can pick it up at 30% off! Double hooray!

My card uses the March Viva la Verve sketch and you can even sneak a peek at a border die set that's coming in the April release. I pulled out some St. Tropez papers by Prima for this shabby chic card and used a piece of ephemera also from the St. Tropez collection. It had a bit of wording in the center, so I covered that with gesso and then stamped the sentiment from Risen Savior in the center.  Lots of distressing, a bit of seam binding and upholstery thread, and a pretty paper flower finish things off.

I've been wanting a new Easter stamp set for some time, but these early Easters keep sneaking up on me. This year, I just decided to move forward even if the manufacturing timelines were cutting things close. Hope you enjoy this inspirational set. I have lots of ideas running through my head... just hope I can make time for them all!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Risen Savior (Verve Stamps)
Paper: St. Tropez (Prima), crumb cake (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: antique linen, vintage photo distresss (Ranger), Coffee Archival (Ranger)
Accessories: Lacey Trim Duo Die Set (releasing April 2018 from A Cut Above by VERVE), St. Tropez ephemera (Prima), gesso, upholstery thread, flower and leaf (Prima), seam binding, paper distresser