Have a Happy Day

I think in my 10 years of designing stamps, this sentiment from the Be Blessed set is one of my all-time favorites. Who wouldn't want a big old wish for a happy day in their mailbox? Do you mail a lot of cards? Sadly, I do not. I fully intend to, and usually have a recipient in mind for the cards I make. But sometimes writing the words, finding an envelope to fit, and figuring out the postage for my very bulky cards is just more than my little overwhelmed heart can handle. But it certainly brightens my day when I receive a card in the mail, so I'm trying to make an effort to send more out.

As I mentioned in my last post, my boys were CRAZY yesterday. I don't deal well with conflict, and these boys have this eternal struggle with each other that could put Cain and Abel to shame. Or at least Jacob and Esau. After a day of listening to their not-so-civil war, and arbitrating fragile peace treaty infringements,  I was more than ready to relinquish them to their Dad for some basketball and Risk in the evening. I headed up the stairs and surprised myself by deciding to forgo the book and a rocking chair that had been calling my name and headed instead to my stamp room to make a card filled with happy using the August Viva la Verve sketch.

The sketch is perfect for using up patterned paper, so I sifted through the stacks of 6 x 6 pads in my cupboard until I came across a very thin one. It only had 4 papers left in it! Such a rarity that I would have used up all but a few papers from a single pad. So I just had to work on using those remaining papers, and this is the card that ensued.

I added a little antique linen and vintage photo ink to all the layers to make them stand out. The three strips are taped together and then I embossed the sentiment from Be Blessed in early espresso.  The flowers are from the Button Best stamp set, and I stamped them directly on patterned paper in abandoned coral and then cut with the Petal Points Die Set.  I added some Sprightly Sprigs die cuts in early espresso and finished off with some chocolate liquid pearls and a bumpy rhinestone for the flower center.

I hope you'll play along with this month's Viva la Verve sketch. I'm so enjoying seeing the cards in the link up.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantabulous weekend.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Be Blessed, Button Best (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Howdy Doody (My Mind's Eye), early espresso, cream
Ink: vintage photo, antique linen distress (Ranger), early espresso (SU!)
Accessories: Petal Points Die Set, Sprightly Sprigs Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), clear embossing powder (Judikins), adhesive bump rhinestone (Recollections), chocolate liquid pearls (Ranger)

All You Do Mojo

Hi friends! It's the first Monday of a new month and that means it's contest time at Mojo Monday. We hope you'll play along for a chance to win a Verve stamp set. We add another winner for every 50 entries and you can enter as many cards as you like. Hope to see you in the linky!

I went with simple shapes for this week's sketch. Lately I've been suffering from terrible neck and shoulder pain, with a few migraines sprinkled in, for good measure. For the most part, it's keeping me out of the stamp room and curled up on the couch, even with a healthy dose of muscle relaxants. So I knew I needed an easy sketch that I could let the patterned paper do most of the work for. {grin}  I pulled out a pretty paper pad by Julie Nutting and got to work.  Each panel is sponged with antique linen and vintage photo and matted with black cardstock.  The sentiment is from the Button Best stamp set, which I though would be perfect for one of the boys' teachers, since this is teacher appreciation week at their school. I fussy cut a couple of the flowers from the paper for embellishment and finished off with a seam binding bow.  If you like to have dimensions, here's what I used to draw up the sketch ...

Card Base: 4.25 x 5.5"

Layer 1: 4" x 5.25"

Layer 2: 3" x 3"

Layer 3: 1.75" x 4"

Layer 4: 2.25" x 2.25"

Layer 5: 2.5" x 1"

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you have a fabulously inspired week. For more inspiration with this sketch, head on over to Mojo Monday to see what the other designers are sharing today.

Enabler's List

Mojo Monday 495 Sketch

Stamps: Button Best (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Julie Nutting Belle Vie (Photo Play), black, cream
Ink: antique linen, vintage photo (Ranger Distress), Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories: seam binding, damask embossing folder (Darice)

Relax and Rewind Part 1

Hi friends!  I had a wonderful Christmas with family and got some really fabulous crafty things to use.  But there hasn't been any time to play with any of it yet and I have a busy week ahead, so I thought I'd pop in with a few of my favorite cards from this year.  Oh, and a quick little note that Verve's year end sale is on and all in stock stamps & dies are 40% off.  :)

Here are my January through April rewinds...

Stamps:  Heart's Desire (Verve Stamps)
Post Link: Shabby Be Mine

Stamps: Lean on Me (Verve Stamps)
Post Link: Sunny and Bright

Stamps: Lucky You (Verve Stamps)
Post Link: Shamrockin Mojo

Stamps: Button Best, Psalm 94:18 plain jane (Verve Stamps)
Post Link: Aqua Sunshine

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a super creative week!