Fringe Party

Hi friends!  It's the first Friday of a new month of Viva la Verve sketches, and that means I'm kicking things off with this week's fun new sketch!

In addition to the sketch, I also had a couple other challenges in mind when I was making this card. Verve's inspiration challenge theme this month is Celebrate, so I went all party hardy on this one.  And I also used the DTGD15fattire7 challenge on Splitcoaststampers.  {The Dare to Get Dirty challenges are open to SCS fan club members, so we're supposed to keep the details over in the DTGD forum.}

I started by cutting the Flourished Tag die from white cardstock and stamping the circle pattern border from Deco Borders down the side.  I chose rainbow colors from my set of Zig Clean Color brush markers, then sponged around the edges of the tag with tumbled glass ink.  I hand trimmed a black mat for the tag, then hand sketched a soft little sketchy frame.  The flower is the Fringe Flower plain jane and I colored it with the same colors of markers, fussy cut and then added a bit of sparkle with glossy glaze and glitter. I've always loved this flower and it's one of the stamps that's 50% off during our Anni-VERVE-sary sale this month.

The tag at the bottom is from the Flag It Die Set and is sponged with tumbled glass and also has a little sketchy frame, and I finished off with some enamel dots.  My favorite part of the card is that embossed background.  It's made with the Woven Next Level embossing folder from American Crafts.  And it's A-MAZING!  {grin}  So much texture and depth.  They are large folders (6 x 6) I think and because they're so deeply etched you need a different sandwich.  On my Big Shot I used the main platform without tabs, the folder and then a cutting plate on top.  Crazy beautiful.  I sponged around the edges to match the rest of the card and I was finished.

Viva la Verve August Week 1 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Deco Borders, Fringe Flower Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white, black, MME scrap
Ink: black archival, tumbled glass distress (Ranger), black pen (Micron), Kuretake Clean Color Brush pens (Zig)
Accessories: Flourished Tag Die Set, Flag It Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Woven Next Level embossing folder (American Crafts), glossy glaze, glitter, enamel dots

Golden Wishes Day 2 Blog Hop

Hi friends!  We're back at it with Day 2 of Verve's June New Release Blog Hops. I sure enjoyed hopping along yesterday and can't wait to see what the Divas have cooked up for today.

I'm the first stop along today's hop, so settle in for some fun as we shine our sneaky spotlights on the new Deco Borders set that will release this Friday!  We're giving the set away to a random commenter along today's hop, so be sure to leave a little shout out as you hop about!  :)

This set is one of two illustrated by Chaitali Narla this release.  She had another BIG release last week with the birth of a new baby girl, so was unable to hop along with us today.  It's been great fun working with her (she's the NICEST person on the planet!)  and having her illustrate for Verve this past year, but sadly this is her last release with Verve.  We wish her much success in motherhood and in all of her future creative endeavors!

As soon as I saw Chaitali's concept for this set, I thought of elegant clean & simple cards.  And I must say, my card for today turned out just like I pictured it would!  (Love it when that happens!)

My parents are celebrating their 50th anniversary next month and so I went with a golden theme for my card, embossing the sconce border in gold on white cardstock and then the Best Wishes sentiment on a vellum circle.  The butterflies are cut from shiny cold and vellum using the new Butterfly Dreams Die Set we'll be peeking later this week.  I added a bit of gold cardstock to the top and bottom, then added a few score lines and was done.  Easy peasy!

Now that I'm looking at it, I'm wondering if Best Wishes is an okay sentiment for a golden anniversary?  I know it's great for weddings, but best wishes on the next 50?  LOL  What do you think?  Maybe I'll swap it out with the Anniversary Wishes sentiment from On Occasion that has a similar font treatment. Either way, I love the way the card turned out so beautifully without much effort.

I hope you've enjoyed today's spotlight! If you want to see more of this set from me, I have another card on the Verve Blog today.

Next up on the hop is the fabulous Stacey!

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 today for a little more about our new products, an introduction of our fabulous special guests, and all the prize info and deadlines!

1. Julee 6. Marisa 2. Stacey 7. Charmaine 3. Teresa 8. Andrea 4. Amber 9. Shantaie 5. Laurie

Enabler's List
Stamps: Deco Borders (releasing 6/19 from Verve Stamps)
Paper: white, shiny gold, vellum
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Butterfly Dreams Die Set  (A Cut Above by VERVE), gold embossing powder (Judikins), scor-pal