A Year of Joy

Hi friends! Welcome to another week! I had to take a short break from shabby chic cards to make a birthday card for my Dad. We had a joint birthday/Valentine celebration for him and hubby yesterday, since their birthdays are Feb. 14 and 15.  My Dad loved this card. He just turned 75 and it was fun to see the delight in his eyes as he paraded the card around to everyone to show them the "special" card I'd made. I think that right there is why I love cardmaking so much.. the delight it brings to the recipient.

Anyhow, I recently found a local artist that makes handmade watercolors and I had to give them a try. I love supporting handmade and local and these watercolors are such a treat. Packaged so sweetly and super fun to play with, with rich, creamy pigments. I may have *had to* help hubby out with my Valentine's present by ordering some more for myself from her etsy shop over the weekend!  LOL

I started by stamping the balloons from Birthday Bash in archival ink, then watercoloring with the two aquas. I like to keep colors simple for my dad, since he is red/green color blind.  I then made some rough masks for the balloon sections and splattered the two blues and the yellow over the whole panel.  Next I stamped the sentiment from Cake & Candles on the side and then accented with a bit of baker's twine. Next I watercolored two little wood confetti stars, then coated them with nuvo drops and layered together to accent the string.  A bit of black behind the side adds a bit of interest and also hides that my watercolor paper and card base aren't quite the same color of white. (twitch, twitch)

And there you have it, a simple and quick masculine birthday card.  Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a fabulous start to your week.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Birthday Bash, Cake & Candles (Verve Stamps)
Paper: watercolor distress cardstock (Ranger), white (Neenah), basic black (SU!)
Ink: letter-it black archival (Ranger), Wild & Free watercolor collection (Designs by Rachel Beth)
Accessories: baker's twine, wood veneer confetti stars, nuvo drops, paper distresser

Enjoy Today

Hi friends! I'm popping in today with a little watercolor card I made with the August Verve release. Continuing in my watercolor all the things mode, I plopped some watercolors from the Pastel Dreams watercolor confections palette onto watercolor paper to make the background.

Next I plopped some pinks from the same palette onto another piece of watercolor paper and embossed the flowers from Bloom Brighter (3 small flowers and one larger one with leaves) in white, making sure to stamp the flower with the leaves so it would be in a white space.  Then I watercolored the leaves with a paintbrush, using a green from a different prima watercolor palette.  I cut the stamped images with the coordinating Blooming Die Set.

The sentiment is from Cake & Candles and I stamped it onto a Stitched Pennants die cut, then layered them all together and accented the center with a bumpy rhinestone.  The final touch was some Nuvo jewel drops. This was my first time adding them directly on the card like this, and well, I think I need some practice! My drops definitely have lots of "character". {grin}

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous day.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Bloom Brighter, Cake & Candles (Verve Stamps)
Paper: watercolor paper (Creatology)
Ink: Versamark, Pastel Dreams Watercolor Confections, The Classics Watercolor Confections (Prima)
Accessories: Blooming Die Set, Stitched Pennants Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Sea Breeze Jewel Drops (Nuvo), white embossing powder (JudiKins), adhesive rhinestone bump (Bead Landing)

Day 3 AnniVERVEsary Spotlight Hops

Hi friends! We're back with Day 3 of our 10th Anni-VERVE-sary release! I've been so inspired by the fabulous samples everyone's been sharing, and we're back with another day of hopping! Hooray!

I'm the first stop on today's blog hop so settle in and let's get HOPPING! Verve is releasing 4 new sets and 2 die sets on Monday, August 28. The Divas and our very special Guest Diva, Kelly Lunceford, are joined by two more talented former Divas for today's hop. Michelle Woerner and Tosha Leyendekker. Both these gals are phenomenal designers with the sweetest hearts. I'm so excited to be hopping alongside of them again!

Today's feature is on the Cake & Candles stamp set. It's only fitting for our 10th Anni-VERVE-sary release to have a birthday set, right? This one is another fusion of new and classic Verve, with the re-appearance of the so very popular Happy Birthday and Birthday To You plain janes, as well as a fun Dr. Seuss quote from our 1st Anni-VERVE-sary commemorative set, Beautiful You. I added in a new cupcake and a few new sentiments that I frequently find myself writing inside birthday cards. Oh and a special request for a happy cake and candles stamp for Moe.

For my sneak peek today, I did a little watercolor plopping. A few weeks back I watched an Ali Brown video on this technique. In the video she mentions that your brush really matters for this technique. I nodded my head, looked at the price of large paintbrushes on Amazon, then decided my largest brush from my stash would work just fine. And the results were TERRIBLE.  LOL Like seriously... size really matters!  Then last weekend on a trip to Michaels I saw a round #12 brush on clearance and a lightbulb went off. It's pretty huge, and that's why it works... it can hold a ton of water! I brought it home and now I want to plop watercolor on all the things! Seriously fun, and the results have been wonderful every time. Here I used the blues and greens from the Pastel Dreams watercolor confections palette. Such a dreamy, ethereal look, don't ya think?

I first did the background for the sentiment, then did a card panel as well. I die cut the stitched circle from the previously released Springtime Stitches Die Set out of the card panel so it would match perfectly, knowing I would be covering up the hole with the sentiment panel. The sentiment from Cake & Candles is stamped in black, then I added some black rhinestone stars for accent.

The cupcake from the set is stamped onto the stiched circle die cut, then matted and accented with a touch of crystal glitter drops.  I finished offf with some baker's twine and a small sunburst rhinestone (another find in the beading section at Michael's). Super fun, but still relatively simple to make, and the colors and styling would work for a girl or guy. Bonus!

I've got another fun card with this set over on the Verve blog today, so don't forget to hop on over there for a little more inspiration!  If you already know you want the whole release, be sure to get in on the 30% off Buy It All Bundle pre-order.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Happy hopping!

Next up on the hop is Maureen.

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! Leave a little shout out in the comments section on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for the full hop list, a little more about our new products and all the prize info and deadlines!

1. Julee 7. Lesley 2. Maureen 8. Christyne 3. Betty 9. Laurie 4. Charmaine 10. Kelly (Guest) 5. Marisa 11. Michelle W. (Alumni) 6. Tosha L.(Alumni)

Enabler's List
Stamps: Cake & Candles (Verve Stamps)
Paper: watercolor paper (Creatology), basic black (SU!)
Ink: onyx black (Versafine), Pastel Dreams Watercolor Confections (Prima)
Accessories: Springtime Stitches Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), classic circle die (Spellbinders), rhinestone stars, baker's twine, Nuvo crystal glitter drops (Tonic), sunburst sticker gem (Darice)

AnniVERVEsary Viva la Verve

Hi friends! It's the 10th Anni-VERVE-sary of Verve and I thought it would be the perfect time to start dipping my feet back into some Verve challenges. We're starting out with a month long Viva la Verve sketch and I'm hoping to get a regular challenge schedule back in full swing by September. Yay!

For my card, I started with this little sketch I doodled out in a notebook, which has now become this month's Viva la Verve sketch. In a recent cleaning of my studio, I came across this pad of Typecast papers and just had to use it to make a fun birthday card.

I just eyeballed it while making my card, but my three strips came out to be about .75" wide by 3.5" long.  I stamped the Birthday Wishes sentiment from the Cake & Candles set that will be releasing later this month on the pink strip, then matted this panel with black.

The wishing you a year of joy sentiment comes from the same set and is stamped onto a patterned paper stitched circle die cut and matted with other circle die cuts.  I finished off with a rolled flower from my stash, a couple of leaves cut from the Sprightly Sprigs Die Set.  A sprinkling of rhinestones in the corner completes the card.

I hope you'll come celebrate our 10th Anni-VERVE-sary and link up your sketch creations to our link up this month. One lucky participant will win a $40 gift voucher to the Verve shop, which will come in handy with our relase of 4 fabulous new sets at the end of August!

If you're in the mood to shop this month, be sure to check out our Anni-VERVE-sary sale. Our coffee loving July release is 20% off, while everything else in the shop is 30% off!

VLV August 2017

Enabler's List
Stamps: Cake & Candles (releasing 8/28/17 from Verve)
Paper: Typecast (American Crafts), basic black, regal rose (SU!)
Ink: onyx black (Versafine)
Accessories: Sprightly Sprigs Die Set, stitched circles stax (MFT), circles and pinking circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), rolled rose (Recollections), rhinestones, Nuvo crystal drops (Tonic)