Easy Living Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Hi friends! The Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop kicks off this morning and runs through June 30, with tons of prizes up for grabs from 76 fabulous Super Sponsors, including Verve. The sponsored prize from Verve is the upcoming July Release Collection, filled with all sorts of coffee loving stampy goodness! Our release isn't until July 10, but head on over to the Verve Blog today for a sneaky peek. Then pull out your own coffee (or tea or cocoa) stamps and add a little sip of summer to the official blog hop link up for a chance to win!

I started my little sip of summer with distress inks and a scribble stencil.  I had fun blending inks and sipping my iced americano thinking of the afternoon summer sun at the pool. When I was done, the background just seemed to pretty too cover up, so I grabbed the summer time and the living is easy sentiment from Get Together and stamped it onto a die cut vellum circle.  Next I stamped the trio of tea cups from One Cup and sponged with the same trio of colors, just masking off cup with washi tape to do some easy blending.  I then added in little bits of washi for a little texture on the cups and filled in the tag and handle openings with a white sharpie paint pen.  I fussy cut and added in the corner.

Next I sponged the little butterfly from the Graceful Butterflies Die Set with coordinating inks, added a bit of the same washi tape and die cut to add here and there on my project.  A thin black mat to set things off and I was finished.

Alrighty, for another little sip of summer from me, be sure to head on over to the Verve Blog today. And if you feel like doing a little retail therapy, the Verve shop has our summer treats on sale.  Plus you can use gift code  SCL2017 through June 30 to receive an extra 20% off your order!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Get Together, One Cup (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white, black, vellum
Ink: spiced marmalade, scattered straw, tumbled glass (Ranger), onyx black (Versafine), white pain pen (Sharpie)
Accessories: Graceful Butterflies Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), stitched circles dies (MFT), washi tape, scribbles stencil (Brett Weldele for Stampers Anonymous)

Holiday Cheer

Hi friends! It's Friday and I'm squeezing in one more card for the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. This one uses the limited time free digi from Verve.

I started with a soft sky base, stamping the stripey cup from Get Together randomly tone on tone and then filling in with the larger snowflake from Jolly Jingle.  Next I cut a panel of white at an angle and stamped randomly with the snowflake.  I wanted to fill in with the smaller snowflake from the set, but couldn't find it, so pulled out a snowflake from Holiday Treats to fill in.  I added a strip of foil washi across this panel and then lined each border with baker's twine.

The ornament portion is created by cutting the digi sentiment with the Vintage Oval Die. I then cut two more vintage ovals from black and offset just a little on the top and bottom for a makeshift mat.  Once they were all glued together, I punched a hole with my neglected Crop-a-dile and tied on some baker's twine.  I finished by coloring the digi cup image with Copic markers and hand cutting to pop up over the sentiment.  The Cuppa Joe die set actually fits this image, but I couldn't find mine on my chaotic desk, so did it the old fashioned way!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful start to the weekend!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Jolly Jingles, Get Together, Holiday Treats, My Cup to Yours digital set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: soft sky, basic black (SU!), white (Neenah)
Ink: soft sky, pool party (SU!), laser printer, Copic markers
Accessories: Vintage Oval Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), foil tape (Recollections)

Getting Together

Hi friends!  Happy Tuesday!  I'm back with another card for the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. And I'm being a little sneaky with another peek at another new set releasing from Verve this Saturday, October 1.

After strolling through some of the cards on the Coffee Lovers hop, I was inspired to do a little chalkboard focal point.  I even remembered a pad of chalkboard cardstock I picked up a while back on clearance at JoAnn's, so pulled it out and embossed the sentiment from Get Together in white.  And here comes the sneaky part... That little laurel is from a soon to be released set called Autumn Blessings.  Swoon.  I love it.  I colored it in with colored pencils, then decided it needed a few berries to complete the chalkboard effect, so penciled in some berries and outlined with a white gel pen.

The cups are from the Get Together stamp set and stamped onto a background created with Lindy's Magical powders.  I hand cut them, and slit a hole in one with an X-acto knife to tuck in a trio of leaves/feathers (also from the new Autumn Blessings stamp set).  The leaves are cut out with the coordinating Autumn Thanks Die Set and I made another set to tuck behind the kindness die cut (from the Great Kindness Die Set.  A few scraps of designer paper (don't you just love that swirly leaf one?) and my card was finished.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hope you have a cup always full kind of day!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Get Together, Autumn Blessings (Verve Stamps)
Paper: chalkboard cardstock, designer paper scraps
Ink: coral, (SU!), Lindys Magical Powders (Lindy's Stamp Gang), watercolor pencils (Prima), white gel pen
Accessories: Autumn Thanks Die Set, Great Kindness Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), white embossing powder, paper distresser

Coffee Notes

Hi friends!  Happy Saturday!  I'm back with another card for the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. The past few Fridays I've made a point to work in a little mixed media in the afternoon. This is the result of yesterday's experiments.

Did you know when you mix tiptop taupe, cajun craze, white and some aqua paint you end up with a beautiful purplish pink?  Kind of fun to see how colors mix when you're too impatient to hit things with a heat gun in between layers. {grin}  Anyhow I started with a bit of heavy gesso on some Fabriano watercolor paper, then used a leftover piece of cardstock cut with a Tim Holtz die as a stencil to add whipped spackle to it.  For those of you who asked last time I used this, it's a super light, creamier version of spackling (the kind you use to fix holes on your walls), that's a lot like light modeling paste or texture paste.  It's great for stenciling, adding dimension and because it's so light, dries relatively quickly.

So after that was dry, I swiped some tiptop taupe and cajun craze inks onto my craft mat and then did a little watercolor wash over the top first with tip top taupe and then with cajun craze.  Next I scraped on some aqua paint, then went back in with some heavy gesso and a palette knife to scrape a bit of white space back in.

I found a 7 Gypsies ticket in my stash, and loved how there was just enough room to stamp the word Coffee as every one of the notes.  I added the is happiness in a cup sentiment from the One Cup sentiment, embossed in copper on vellum, then layered this over the ticket, adding a bit of tissue tape and a library clip to attach it.

From some of the excess of the aqua panel, I stamped the cup from Get Together in early espresso and cut with the coordinating Cup for All Seasons.  A bit of antique linen softened the edges up just a bit.

For the cream panel, I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, then sponged with antique linen.  I scraped aqua paint and some of the leftover cajun craze and tip top taupe inks over it, then finished with a bit of heavy gesso.  I tied a linen thread bow around this panel, accenting with a vintage brad.  To finish off, I added some wood veneer leaves from Stampin' Up.  I may have bought a quintillion of these a couple years ago and was so happy to have rediscovered them in the closet yesterday.  I watercolored them with the leftover inks on my craft mat, then added just a bit of detailing to the solid leaf with a cajun craze marker.  A tiptop taupe card base and a bunch of distressed edges finished things off.

Alrighty, that's my card in a rather long nutshell.  If you're still reading, thanks so much for hanging out with me today! I hope you're enjoying all the coffee loving cards along the hop.  Have a fabulous weekend!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Coffee, Get Together, One Cup (Verve Stamps)
Paper: tip top taupe (SU!), cream (Neenah), watercolor paper (Fabriano)
Ink: cajun craze, tip top taupe, early espresso (SU!), antique linen (Ranger Distress), Versamark, aqua acrylic paint, heavy gesso
Accessories: Cup for All Seasons (A Cut Above by VERVE), Mixed Media dies, tissue tape (Tim Holtz), linen thread, mini library clip, leaf wood veneer, vintage brad (SU!), ticket (7 Gypsies), Diamonds in the Rough embossing folder (Cuttlebug), paper distresser, copper embossing powder, whipped spackle (Faber Castell)

Hopping By With Coffee

Hi friends! It's Monday again and time for a brand new Mojo Monday sketch.  I snuck a little coffee into my spring card today to play along with the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

I knew I wanted my bunny to be holding a cup of coffee, so I started by watercoloring the bunny from Hip Hop Bunnies and the plain to go cup from Get Together.  I stamped one of the little butterflies on the java jacket, then used an X-acto knife to cut around the bunnies paws to tuck the to go cup underneath.  I used the bow die from the Bunny Hop Die Set to cut the stamped bow from matching plaid paper.  The background layer is stamped randomly with the coffee stain stamp from Better with You in crumbcake and I finished off with the hopping by to say hi sentiment from Hip Hop Bunnies.

Super fun and a pretty quick layout for this week's Mojo Monday challenge.  I hope you'll play along.

Enabler's List

Mojo Monday 440 Sketch

Stamps: Hip Hop Bunnies, Get Together, Better with You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Perfectly Plaid (Lawn Fawn), crumb cake (SU!), water color paper
Ink: crumb cake (SU!), black, Hair & skin watercolor pencils (Prima Marketing)
Accessories: Bunny Hop Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), stitched circles stax (MFT), ribbon (SU!)

Very Merry Mojo

Hi friends!  It's Monday again already (don't the weekends just fly by?) and time for a brand new Mojo Monday sketch.  This will be our last sketch of 2015, as the Mojo team will be on holiday the last two weeks of December.

For my card, I used the Cup of Kindness digital set.  I cut the merry Christmas sentiment using the Flourished Tag Die Set, then hand cut a mat for it by tracing around the edge of the die and hand cutting.  I sponged with antique linen ink for a vintage look.  The to go cups are colored with Copic markers and cut out and the poinsettia is from the Pinecone Christmas set.  I embossed in gold, then cut with the coordinating Poinsettia Pinecones Die Set and colored with Copics.  I did stamp some more cups on the soft sky layer, but they were a little brighter than I wanted, so I added some texture paste with a stencil for a snowy feel.

This card is also for both the Cup of Kindness inspiration challenge and the Holiday Coffee Lovers Bloghop.  I just love seeing all the coffee, tea and cocoa cards around the blog-o-sphere!  Check out the Coffee Lovers master hop post for all the details!  Hope you have a super creative start to your week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Monday 428 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Cup of Kindness digital set, Pinecone Christmas, Get Together (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Holiday Style dp (October Afternoon), soft sky, pumice stone (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: Versamark, antique linen (Ranger), Copic markers, pool party (SU!), laser printer
Accessories: Flourished Tag Die Set, Poinsettia Pinecones Die Set (A Cut ABove by VERVE), seam binding and polka dot ribbon (SU!), linen thread (TCP), jingle bells, dot fade stencil, texture paste, rhinestones

Rustic Fall Coffee

Hi friends!  Happy October! I'm back again today with another card for the Fall Coffee Lover's Bloghop.  The layout is a Mojo sketch from a couple weeks ago that I didn't get a chance to make a card for.

I started by stamping the cup from Get Together on patterned paper and fussy cutting.  Next I stamped the steam from the Coffee set on vellum and hand cut, making a slit in the coffee to tuck the steam into.  The tag is cut with the Flourished Tag Die Set and I cut a vellum one as well to mute the papers just a bit and make the coffee cup take center stage.  I added some seam binding from the Autumn Elements Collection to the top, then distressed my designer paper layers with vintage photo ink and added to a cream card base.  The sentiment is from the Harvest Blessings set and I added a little leaf I had previously stamped, glazed and glittered.

I hope you've been enjoying my coffee kick lately.  I'm also linking this up to the Autumn Lovelies Diva Inspiration Challenge. There are still a few more days to enter... the challenge ends on October 5. I'll be back tomorrow with the kick-off to a new month of Viva la Verve sketches! Hope to see you again tomorrow! :)

Mojo Monday 415 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Harvest Blessings, Coffee, Get Together (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Night and Fall (Recollections), cream, vellum
Ink: black, vintage photo, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Autumn Elements Ribbon Collection (Verve), Flourished Tag Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), corner rounder, glossy glaze, glitter

Autumn Wishes

Hi friends!  It's Friday again and time for a brand new sketch over on the Viva la Verve blog.  Stacey is our hostess with the mostess this week, with a super fun sketch that you can dress up or down to suit your mood.

I'm in full steam coffee drinking mode now that school's in session and the air is turning crisp.  So when I sat down to make today's card, the first thing on my mind was the coffee cup from the Get Together set.  I stamped it directly on two different patterns of paper, fussy cut, then slit a teeny line in the coffee section to tuck in the steam from the Coffee set that I stamped onto vellum, fussy cut and added some white gel pen accents.  I added a panel of vellum for the sentiment (from Harvest Blessings), to mute the patterned paper below it, then added a bunch of Harvest Gold sequins and some gold thread. I seriously just had to walk away because I kept adding things!

At the end I stamped the houndstooth leaf in cajun crazy, fussy cut then covered with a coat of glossy glaze and glitter.  The background is embossed with leaves and then lightly sponged with vintage photo ink.

That's all for today!  I hope you have a fantastic weekend! If you have a little free time, be sure to play along with our Autumn Lovelies inspiration challenge.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

VLV September Week 3 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Harvest Blessings, Get Together, Coffee (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Night and Fall (Recollections), soft sky, basic black (SU!), vellum
Ink: black, cajun craze (SU!), vintage photo distress (Ranger), white gel pen (Signo)
Accessories: Harvest Gold Sequin Mix, corner rounder, Leaves embossing folder (Darice), gold thread

Coffee Buzz

Hi friends!  It's Friday and time for another Viva la Verve Sketch.  This is the final sketch in our July series, so be sure to link up your entries by next Thursday for a chance to win our $100 Verve gift voucher prize drawing!  This week's fun sketch is from Jen!

I originally planned to do a card with soft pastel scraps, stitch them together and go all shabby chic. But when I sat down to stamp all I could think about was coffee and the first pad I pulled out was this World Traveler collection of papers, so my theme was set.

I cut the strips of paper randomly, then pieced them together and glued onto a 4 x 5.25" piece of cardstock, sponging each panel with tip top taupe.  The sentiment is from The Buzz and I added the coffee cup from Get Together above, then paper pieced it in coordinating papers.  The steam is from the Coffee set and I stamped it on tip top taupe, then colored with a copic and a white gel pen.  After a little stamp surgery, I used one of the coffee beans from the Coffee set to randomly stamp around my background, then finished off my stitched circle with a black mat and black liquid pearl accents.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a wonderful start to your weekend!

VLV July 2015 Week 5 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Coffee, Get Together, The Buzz (Verve Stamps)
Paper: World Traveler (Teresa Collins), tip top taupe, basic black (SU!)
Ink: tip top taupe (SU!), black, Copic markers, white gel pen
Accessories: Stitched Circles Stax (MFT)

Listen to Your Soul

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for a brand new Mojo Monday sketch.  This week is tall and skinny, which always makes me giddy with the possibilities of hanging something off the edge of a card and still fitting it in an envelope.  {grin}

As I was flipping through paper pads to find something to work with, I came across this paper that says listen to your soul.  I absolutely felt inspired, as this is something I need to remind myself often. I find myself listening to all the voices running through my head about what other people might think of what I do or say, instead of following that soul fire inside of me that I should know by now will guide me true.  As I was thinking of soul fire, it made me think of that awesome steam Chaitali illustrated for the Coffee set, so in an instant I knew I had to make a coffee card.  {grin}

So I started by cutting that strip of paper for my horizontal strip, then adding some pumpkin pie butterflies from the  Get Together set.  I then stamped the cup from  Get Together on white, paper pieced with some aqua star paper and then stamped the steam from the Coffee set over the top and colored with Copics.  My layers are all sponged with pumice stone, then I matted with smoky slate and added some platinum liquid pearls.  The butterfly is cut with the new Butterfly Dreams Die Set and I added a few aqua rhinestones for the body.  My finished card size is 3.5" x 5.5" (plus a touch of an overhanging butterfly).

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you have a chance to listen to your soul and enjoy this coming week.

Mojo Monday 404 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Get Together, Coffee (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Be Amazing (MME), smoky slate (SU!), white (neenah)
Ink: pumpkin pie (SU!), pumice stone distress, black archival (Ranger), Copic markers
Accessories:  Butterfly Dreams Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), classic circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), platinum liquid pearls (Ranger), rhinestones, bracket border punch (Fiskars)