Looking Up Card Concept

Hi friends! A new challenge kicks off at The Card Concept today.  We're welcoming some fabulous designers to our team, so head on over to give them a shout out and see what everyone came up with for this dreamy inspiration.

I loved those white flowers and had the idea to make a mixed media background and make little white dots of paint all over it.  So I painted a background on watercolor paper using broken china, spiced marmalade and worn lipstick Distress Oxides.  I spritzed with water and dried and reapplied until I was happy with the effect, then used some collage medium to adhere a piece of printed tissue paper to the front.

I had some make-up applicators that kind of look like q-tips that I came across in my craft closet, so thought they would be perfect to add some white gesso dots with.  I taped three of the q-tips together and then dipped in gesso and pounced all over my paper.  It wasn't as distinct as I was hoping for, but I like the cloudy, dreamy look it achieved, and didn't want to cover up all that pretty color with white!

I then used the spiced marmalade and worn lipstick to make another background to stamp and emboss the flowers from  Brighter Days in white on.  The inner flower is cut with the coordinating Scalloped Flowers Die Set and the outer flower is fussy cut.  I layered these on dimensional foam, then cut some white flowers using the Sprightly Sprigs Die Set.  I scraped a little gesso on these with the q-tips and dusted with glitter before layering over a big nest of thread.

The sentiment is also from  Brighter Days and embossed in broken china onto vellum.  I roughed up the edges, then stitched to my background before layering everything together and adding to my distressed card base.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulously upward looking kind of day!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Brighter Days (Verve Stamps)
Paper: watercolor paper, vellum, white
Ink: broken china, spiced marmalade, worn lipstick Distress Oxide Inks (Ranger), Versamark
Accessories: Scalloped Flowers Die Set, Sprightly Sprigs Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), sewing machine, glitter, gesso, tissue paper (Ideaology), thread

Happy Anni-VERVE-sary to ME!

Hi friends!  Six years ago today the Verve website went live and we sold our very first stamp!  I had no idea how my little side business would change my life.  I often tell people I didn't intend to start a business... it just happened to me.  I opened my shop with the intention of just selling crafty things I liked and hopefully earning a little money to offset the major spend that my papercrafting was turning into.  Something to do on the side while I figured out what to do with my life, ya  know?

Somewhere along the way to our store opening I had the idea to design a little stamp set and see if anybody wanted it.  Just a few little phrases to fit my favorite punch.  And then another set for all occasion cards... the Fancy Florals set.  Soon, stamps were the main part of my business and in 6 months Verve had switched to clear stamps, and phased out papers and ribbons and such so I could focus my time on bringing new stamps to life!

Oh my!  How my life has been richly blessed by this business.  Verve has flourished beyond my wildest dreams and largely because of Verve, we were able to move into an incredibly beautiful brand new house only a few short months prior to the arrival of our twins.  And our lives are forever changed.  Definitely a charmed life.

The past year and half has brought many challenges to our family. There have been job changes and pay cuts and vendor issues and depression and little time or energy  to devote to Verve.  And even though I know I am very blessed, I often feel that I have completely failed at the end of the day.  One of those failures is the fact that for the first time in Verve's 6 years, we won't have a stamp release in August.

But we're still going to celebrate with a HUGE SALE!  All Verve stamps and dies are on sale 10 - 50% off this month!  And there should be new stamps and dies in September AND October.  And then, hopefully on a much more regular basis! Because good things are going to happen!  Just like my shabby little card says.  {grin}

So thanks for supporting Verve and for sticking around this little blog that doesn't get near the attention it used to.  I'm blaming it all on these three boys... I mean, really, they're pretty distracting, don't ya think?

Enabler's List
Stamps: Brighter Days (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Prairie Chic (BoBunny), Blushing Bride (SU!), White (Neenah)
Ink: Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Flag It Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), vintage lace trim, pearl, Regal Flourishes Texture Fades (Tim Holtz)

Much Happiness

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I've got a card to share using this week's September Week 4 VLV sketch by Janelle.  I thought the half round panel would be perfect to use a paper doily, so I pulled one out and went all shabby chic!

The stamps are from the Brighter Days set, stamped onto some old sheet music that I coated with antique mod podge , then used some sprays to fingerpaint over the little scroll.  The flower is stamped onto Blushing Bride card stock, then hand cut and layered.  I added some vintage lace trim and a few ribbons from my box of scraps.  The paper is the Peaceful collection from Authentique and I accented the polka dots with some pink bling.  At the very end, I thought it needed a little sparkle, so I sprayed what I thought was Shine Mr. Huey spray, but it ended up being opaque white.  A baby wipe got most of it, but it left kind of a dirty chalkboard effect on half of the card!  Oh well!  That's the way the crafting crumbles!  {grin}

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a fantastic day!

Enabler's List:

Stamps:Brighter Days (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Peaceful (Authentique), Blushing Bride (SU!), vintage sheet music, paper doily
Ink: Black Archival (Ranger), Blushing Bride (SU!), Mr. Huey sprays (Studio Calico)
Accessories:  Vintage lace trims, rhinestones and pearls, ribbon, paper distresser, Antique modpodge, liquid pearls.

Wishy Washi Mojo

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and with the last Mojo sketch of the month, that means it's round or square week.  This week's sketch was based on this little number I made a while back.  I had fun re-inventing the sketch for today's sample card.

The past few weeks I've been on a washi tape spending spree.  I spend way too much time perusing Etsy on my iPad while the boys are feeding.  Which means there's a steady stream of crafty goodness arriving in my mailbox.  {grin}  When I sat down to stamp, I was inspired by this fun artistic collage washi that had just arrived.  I loved the colors and the different patterns, so I used the same roll and randomly placed pieces on the embossed background panel, as well as layering strips over the square piece for a fun collage background.  The stamps are from the Brighter Days set and I added a  bit of doodling, beige paint and some ink distressing to match the feel of the tape.  A scrap of bloomers ribbon is my side embellishment and I added leaves stamped with the Dream Big set and cut with the Dreamy Leaves Die Set.

I hope you have a fantastic start to your week and are able to squeeze in a little creative time of your own!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Brighter Days, Dream Big (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Cream, Early Espresso, Groovy Guava (SU!), vintage sheet music
Ink: Early Espresso, Groovy Guava (SU!), Archival Black, Walnut Stain Distress Stains (Ranger), Claudine Hellmuth paint, Micron permanent black pen
Accessories:   Dreamy Leaves Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Classic and Scallop Squares and Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Washi Tape (PrettyTape on Etsy), sprockets embossing folder (Cuttlebug), bloomers trim (Webster's Pages), burlap, distress stickles (Ranger)

Mixed Media Mojo

Hi friends!  Happy Saturday!  I stole a little time when I should have been sleeping last night to sneak into my studio and get inky.  I've been excited for this week's mojo 259 sketch since I designed it and was a little downhearted that I was unable to get a sample done for it all week.  So, I headed into the studio with every intention of making a clean & simple card.

However, once I sat down I saw that my September Scarlet Lime mixed media kit had arrived and I hadn't opened the box yet.  I fell in love with the Glitz paper pad as soon as I opened the kit and just had to change directions and "go for it" with the mixed media style!  It's nothing like I thought it would be, but was a whole lot of fun. I guess that's what I love about mixed media.  It's always a surprise how it will turn out.   I'm particularly loving the way the background ended up.  In the beginning that was a cream piece of cardstock, but I kept adding layers of paint and stains and doodles and it really turned out fun.

The sentiment and flower is from the Brighter Days set.  And I added a little portion of the Pennant Trim Die over on the side.  The "stitching" framing the sentiment panel is one of the border stamps in the Borderline set.  I hand cut the layers of flowers and popped them on dimensionals.  The leaves are hand cut and doodled with a white gel pen and I added some fun punched pieces from my stash.

I hope you're having a fabulous weekend so far!  From the sound of things, the twins are done napping, so I better mosey on back to mommyland.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Brighter Days, Borderline (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Cashmere Dame (Glitz), cream, Black
Ink: Archival Black, white gel pen, black micron pen, acrylic paints, distress stains, golden heavy body acrylics, gelatos (Faber Castell)
Accessories:  Pennant Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), photo corner and punch pack (SU!), classic Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), enamel accents, liquid pearls (Ranger), rhinestones

Looking UP - AVS Hop Day 5

Hi friends!  It's Monday morning and that means it's time for a new Mojo Monday sketch.  This week's sketch was designed by Teresa Kline.  I've flipped the sketch horizontally for my card.  Head on over to the Mojo Monday blog for all sorts of inspiration to jumpstart your creativity this week.

It's also Day 5 of our Anni-VERVE-sary Spotlight Hops and today the Divas are showcasing a set called Brighter Days, along with the coordinating Scalloped Flowers Die Set and Arrow Die, which will all be available following our release party on Friday night (8/24).  Hop along and leave some comment love on each of the blogs on the list and you just might win the sets and dies featured today!  Who wouldn't love a little new Verve?!  {grin}  Check out the Verve Blog for the full hop list, all the prize info and a little back story on today's stamps.

My card uses all three of today's featured products, plus another peek at the Flourished Trim and Pennant Trim dies.  I like to play with flowers with a lot of petals and layers, so these flowers are right up my alley.  For this card, I chose to use only stamps (no patterned paper) and one color of ink.  So everything is stamped in Cherry Cobbler and then I just used a colorless blender pen to fill in each of the flowers.  I love the different depths of color it creates on different colors of cardstock.  Here I used cream and Pretty in Pink.  The arrow shape has a pennant tail, so I decided to decorate my Pennant Trim border by stamping the end of the arrow on each pennant and coloring with a blender pen.  Then I had to stamp the full arrow and cut out with the Arrow Die to pop up next to my sentiment.  The pink and white layers of the flower add-on are cut with the Scalloped Flower Die Set.  I hand cut the smallest flower center to give a little more dimension, then coated with glassy glaze and a sprinkling of glitter.

I layered my borders, including my favorite dotted edge border punch, which I think looks great with the Pennant Trim Die and Flourished Trim Die.  I finished off with a ruffled ribbon treatment, a vintage button ad some liquid pearl accents.

Not sure if you noticed the little bit of "character" built into my card, but on my way from my studio to take the photo, one of the twins had a meltdown and I had to set the card down on the kitchen counter to go calm him down.  And sometime between then and when I picked the card up again it got splashed with water from the kitchen sink, so there's a little water spot on the T in "things".  In my life before twins, I would have remade the card, but the new there's-never-enough-time-in the-day-me is saying it's "good enough".   {grin}

There's lots to see today, so I'll stop rambling.  Now it's time to head on over to Laurie's blog to see her fabulous spin on these new products!  

1. Julee 8. Andrea 2. Laurie S. 9. Charmaine 3. Maureen 10. Janelle 4. Teresa 11. Betty 5. Tosh 12. Christyne {Guest} 6. Amber 13. Laurie W. {Guest} 7. Amy

Enabler's List
Stamps:  sneak preview of Brighter Days (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Pretty in Pink (SU!), Cream
Ink: Cherry Cobbler (SU!) Colorless Blender Pen (Dove)
Accessories:  sneak preview of Scalloped Flowers Die Set, Arrow Die, Pennant Trim Die, Flourished Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Dotted Edge punch (EK Success), Classic Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), seam binding ribbon (SU!), button (MME), liquid pearls (Ranger), Candy Cane embossing folder (Cuttlebug), corner rounder, glassy glaze (Ranger), glitter

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 Love the peeks you've been seeing and want a chance to win the whole release?

Create a new card using Verve Stamps Post your card to your blog or gallery Include a link to the Verve store in your write up Link your card using the entry form HERE

One lucky participant from all the entries will win our entire new release of products! That's over $300 worth of stamps and dies! You may enter as many times as you like, and feel free to link any new* Verve challenge cards, but each entry must be a different card, use Verve Stamps, be posted in a separate post, and include a link to Verve. *Only new cards posted August 16 through August 24, 2012 are eligible.

Deadline to link your cards is 5PM Eastern on Friday, August 24. The winner will be announced at our release party that night (you don't need to be present to win)!