Scripture Medley 4 Spotlight Hop

ETA: If you're here looking for my OCTOBER release Day 1 spotlight hop, click here.  Made a little boo-boo in the hop list links and caught it late!


Welcome to Verve's Anni-VERVE-sary Spotlight Hops! There's a new Verve release just around the corner and for the next couple of days we'll be shining our creative spotlights on the new Verve sets and dies releasing this Friday, August 26!  I'm the first stop on today's hop, so why not settle in for a fresh little dose of inspiration?

Today we're sharing inspiration featuring the new Scripture Medley 4 compilation.  Our plain jane line of stamps is retiring, and this compilation includes 7 previous plain janes and two verses from the retired Everlasting Life stamp set. Check out the Verve Blog post today for more on this set and a little bit about our fabulous Guest Divas, Autumn Clark and Hillary Harris!

Since it's Anni-VERVE-sary, I decided to make my card for today in Verve's signature colors... aqua and brown.  I used the Psalm 94:18 verse , embossing it  on a stitched circle die cut and adding a bit of distressing with a stencil and some distress ink.  There are a handful of the Psalm 94:18 plain janes left in the store, but once they're gone this verse will only be available in the  Scripture Medley 4 set.

The flowers are from the previously released Great Friend set, and colored with copics.  One exciting part of this release is a new die set that coordinates with flowers in a new set as well as the beloved Great Friend set. A die for Great Friend has been our most requested product, and I'm super happy that I was able to make it work for a new set as well! Here I used the smallest flower in the set and cut it with the Great Kindness Die Set. The leaves are also part of the die set and I added a few details with a marker.  A bit of white paint, stenciling, and some embossed chicken wire gives it a fun distressed, mixed-media flair.  I finished off with  just a bit of twine behind the flowers and some liquid pearl accents on the flower center.  If you recognize the layout, it's the current sketch by Maureen for Viva la Verve!

Okay, that's all from me today.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Next up on today's hop is the fabulous Stacey!

Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random comment winner on one of the hop spots below to win today's featured product! So be sure to leave a little comment 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. Charmaine 2. Stacey 8. Laurie 3. Maureen 9. Teresa 4. Marisa 10. Christyne 5. Hillary (Guest) 11. Autumn (Guest) 6. Betty

Enabler's List 
Stamps: Great Friend, Scripture Medley 4 (Verve Stamps)
Paper: early espresso (SU!), cream (Neenah), dp scrap
Ink: Kelly Purkey Coffee & Donuts ink (Hero Arts), antique linen, (Ranger Distress), copic markers, white acrylic paint
Accessories: Great Kindness Die Set, (A Cut Above by VERVE), chicken wire embossing folder (Cuttlebug), linen thread (TCP), dot fade stencil (Tim Holtz), liquid pearls (Ranger), stitched circles stax (MFT), classic circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

Whitewashed Strength

Hi friends!  Julee here with the first Mojo Monday sketch of a new month and that means it's contest week! For every 50 entries, we give away a Verve set of your choice to a random participant.  So play often to increase your chances!  There's even some new Verve on the horizon later this month to choose from!  Hooray!

 For today's card I had a much crisper look in mind, but sometimes art is messy, you know?  I got all of the layers done and was going to smudge just a smidge of white paint around the edges of the smoky slate layer before I glued it to the card base.  But when I went to open the paint, the entire bottle dumped out on the bottom half of the card, my desk and my pants. Doh!  I hurried and wiped it off with baby wipes as best as I could, giving a white washed effect, then sprinkled some glitter on the dryng paint and distessed the edges of my layers before finishing up.

Guess I'm kind of telling you the story backwards today.  LOL  Anyhow, the flowers are from the Great Friend set, and I stamped them on white cardstock, colored with prismacolors and gamsol and fussy cut.  The scripture is the Psalm 19:14 Plain Jane and I stamped the leaves from Great Friend around the panel in pumice stone, then colored with prismacolor pencils.  That smoky slate layer is embossed with the Chicken Wire folder and then I wrapped some silver thread around the panel several times, tied the bows and finished off with a little rhinestone embellishment.

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

Mojo Monday 418 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Great Friend, Psalm 19:14 Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: smoky slate, basic gray (SU!), white
Ink: pumice stone (ranger distress), black, prismacolor pencils, white picket fence distress paint (Ranger)
Accessories: chicken wire embossing folder (Sizzix), silver thread, rhinestone embellishment, glossy glaze, glitter, Gamsol

Good Times Mojo

Hi friends!  It's already the last week of the month and time for a tall & skinny Mojo Monday sketch. I've had next to no time to stamp lately, so I took a very simple 15 minute approach to this week's sketch.

The stamps are from the Great Friend set.  I embossed the three sizes of flower in white on designer paper, then hand cut and layered with dimensionals.  I added a little greenery cut with the Sprightly Sprigs Die Set, then added the sentiment on a layer of designer paper and finished off with some washi tape accents.

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

Mojo Monday 386

Enabler's List
Stamps: Great Friend (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Dolled Up (MME), Smply Spring (WRMK), pear pizzazz, basic black (SU!), cream
Ink: Versamark, black
Accessories:  Sprightly Sprigs Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), washi tape, white embossing powder

Diva Dare Wedding Style

Hi friends!  It's my day over on the Verve Blog to wrap up this month's Pile on the Sweetness August Diva Dare. Be sure to head on over there and leave some comments on the Diva posts for a chance to win. And you have until Wednesday to get you Dare creation in for another chance to win! 

This month's dare pays tribute to Diva Andrea (Ewen Style), and Diva Christyne (Stampin' with Sugar).  Both Divas are known for the wonderful way they can add layer upon layer on a card.  So what we're daring you to create this month is a card using lots of layers.   

My take on layering included a whole lot of handcut flowers.  I know, I'm a little weird, but I actually love to cut out stamped images by hand.  It's really stress relieving, so when our power went out for 6 hours last week I had to pull out a favorite Verve set, Great Friend, and stamp and cut to my heart's content!

I just loved how the flowers looked on their own when I layered them together, so decided to heck with the card layers, there was plenty of dimension just with my flower cluster.  {grin}  So I kept the layout clean (if not simple) with a smoky slate background, a wedding wishes sentiment from  Love Story and accents of seam binding from the  Stormy Skies Collection and a big bling flourish and some liquid pearls.  A classy and elegant card for some friends of ours who got married over the weekend.

Supply List
Stamps: Great Friend, Love Story (Verve Stamps)
Paper: smoky slate, basic black (SU!), white (Neenah)
Ink: black
Accessories:  Stormy Skies Collection (Verve), Zva Creative rhinestone swirls, Onyx liquid Pearls (Ranger)

Mojo Flashback

If you're looking for my Diva Inspirations Blog Hop card, click HERE.

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for a new month of Mojo Monday!  This week is contest week, which means Verve is sponsoring prizes for up to 7 winners, so be sure to squeeze in a little crafty time this week to play along with my sketch!

This week's sketch was inspired by this card I made a while back.  I love the way it turned out and although I had every intention of making a new card for today, life as a mom to twins kind of took over and I ran out of time.  So look at this flashback with new eyes and if you want to read about how it was made, check out this post.

And big news... we've got 2 new faces joining the Mojo design team!  Be sure to hop on over to Marisa Ritzen and Wanda Cullen's blogs to wish them a warm welcome to the Mojo Monday team!  I just know you'll love seeing their fun takes on the sketches each week. I know I will!!!

In other news, this month is Verve's 5th Anni-VERVE-sary and we're kicking things off with a big sale!

So that means you can pick up the stamps I used on today's card at a great price!  Want to see some more stamps you just might NEED to add to your cart?  Check out the inspiration on our August Diva Inspirations Hop for some fabulous design team projects using Verve stamps and dies.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Great Friend (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  On the Bright Side - Two (MME), Basic Gray (SU!), white
Ink: Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Rusty Hinge (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: wrinkled ribbon (Prairie Bird Boutique), triple pearl stick pins (Maya Road), metal flower embellishment (Making Memories), glass glitter (SU!), paper distresser

Just Because

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I have a just because card to share.  The grandparents were over last weekend, which meant I had a little time Sunday afternoon to just play in my studio and this is what came out of that session.

The stamps are from the Great Friend set and I cut the flowers by hand, then popped up on dimensionals and added some glass glitter and a metal flower embellishment for some interest.  The rusty layer is stamped with the solid flower in Rusty Hinge for a bit of texture, then I added the Just Because sentiment on a little hand cut sentiment flag.  A bit of distressing, some wrinkled ribbon and a couple triple pearl stick pins and the card was done.

Okay, it's back to babies for me.  Hope you have a fantastic day and thanks so much for stopping by to say hi!


Enabler's List:
Stamps:  Great Friend (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  On the Bright Side - Two (MME), Basic Gray (SU!), white
Ink: Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Rusty Hinge (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: wrinkled ribbon (Prairie Bird Boutique), triple pearl stick pins (Maya Road), metal flower embellishment (Making Memories), glass glitter (SU!), paper distresser

Hope

It's Monday morning and that means it's time for another Mojo Monday sketch!  Be sure to check the Mojo blog for this week's sketch and a peek at all the samples from the design team.

I fell in love with this Salt Air paper from Cosmo Cricket the moment I saw it in a preview and couldn't wait to order it.  It's just so happy and colorful.  I chose the leaf sprig from Great Friend to coordinate with the paper, and made my own background for the Jeremiah 29:11 verse using daffodil delight and peach parfait ink.  The edges are sponged with Vintage Photo ink and I used a QuicKutz Nesting Label for the shape.

I gave an honest effort at reconnecting with my estranged sewing machine, but don't look too closely - it wasn't a happy reunion for either of us!  {grin}  For the diagonal ribbon, I wrapped some yummy fibers from a new Etsy shop I tried out .. bluehollow. Then added a tag using the Embossed Oval Die stamped with the Hope sentiment from Richly Blessed.  For accent I added some orange rhinestones and a triple pearl stick pin from Pizzazz Aplenty, as well as a metal photo corner from my stash.

Well, I'm on day 8 of my no-good, very-bad cold, which after seeming to zap the very life from me this last week, has now left me with out a voice and a healthy dose of excruciating ear pain.  So I'm hoping to get in to see the doctor today, then it looks like another day of hanging out in bed.  Hope y'all are staying healthy!


Oh, and it's the start of a new Get Your Diva On challenge over in our forum today!  Check out what Tosh's challenge is and play along for a chance to be a Verve Guest Diva!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Great Friend, Jeremiah 29:11, Richly Blessed (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Salt Air (Cosmo Cricket), Cream, Early Espresso
Ink: daffodil delight, peach parfait, early espresso (SU!), Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories:  Embossed Oval Die (Verve), Nesting Label (QuicKutz), sewing machine, orange rhinestones and triple pearl stick pin (Pizzazz Aplenty), washer (Tim Holtz), fiber (bluehollow), photo corner (WRMK)

For the Birthday Girl

Hi everyone.  This week has been a rough one for me.  My grandmother passed away, so I've been laying low, trying to process things.  And so I missed a very special birthday yesterday... my best friend, Laurie's!  I actually made the card earlier this week and squeaked it in under the wire for the February SFYTT challenge.  Jen's sketch got my creative juices going and I only strayed a little when making this little number for Laurie!

Laurie loves leafy designs... like crazy love... so I stamped the basic gray, cherry cobbler and basic black layers with the leafy sprigs (embossing the black on black, which is something Laurie does and I always think it looks amazing!).

Next I went for the flower.  I stamped all three sizes of the line art flower from Great Friend on white, then cut out, sponged with a bit of Pumice Stone, curled the edges and layered on dimensionals.  Then I added a little German glass glitter, a prima flower center and a nice coating of glitter/diamond glaze mixture on everything.  It's so super sparkly in real life!

For the little horizontal strip, I used an SU! border punch, stamped the For You sentiment from Great Friend across it three times, then added some German glass glitter, red rhinestones and some of that polka dot ribbon I love so much.  And since Laurie got me hooked on those tiny library clips, I had to add the sentiment circle (from Birthday Bash) with a silver library clip, then accented with a couple star trinket pins, because Laurie's such a star!

Okay, that's all from me.  Have a fabulous weekend!  And here's a refresher of what's going on in Verveland...
March Diva Inspiration Hop: Deadline to comment is Saturday night
Verve Fan Hop: Deadline to link up your creation is noon (Mountain) on Saturday
Verve Fan Hop Commenting:  Commenting is open until Sunday night
Viva la Verve! March Week 2:  Charmaine's this week's hostess

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Great Friend, Birthday Bash (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Basic Gray, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler (SU!), Natural White (Neenah)
Ink: Basic Gray, Cherry Cobbler (SU!), Pumice Stone (Ranger Distress), Frost VersaMark
Accessories: circle punches, glass glitter, mini library clip, eyelet border punch (SU!), star stick pins (Maya Road), diamond glaze and glitter mixture, flower center (prima), rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty), paper distresser (Tonic), polka dot ribbon, file folder die

Sweet and Simple Gift Card Set

Happy Monday!  Did y'all have a Merry Christmas?   It seems like I've been busy every spare moment of the past several weeks and I'm looking forward to a few days of downtime this week before we head into the new year.  There's a new Mojo Monday sketch over on the blog today, so hop on over there to check it out and play along!  I didn't have time to make a sample, but I'm hoping to get to it later in the week.

We've also kicked off our year end clearance sale at Verve!  Everything's either 15%, 35% or 50% off December 26 - 31!

Today, in lieu of a Mojo Monday card, I'm sharing a clean & simple little gift card set I made my Grandma for Christmas.  It was fun to pull out some older stamps and just create!

The cards themselves are fairly simple.  For the first design I stamped the larger butterfly from Blue Skies on a trimmed down fabriano note card, then another butterfly on some K & Company patterned paper, to cut out and pop up. 

The second design uses The flower from Great Friend, which I also cut one layer to pop up, then accented the butterflies and flower centers with a mixture of diamond glaze and glitter.  The sentiment on each card is Birthday Blessings, from the Blessings set.  The plum layers are all embossed with the damask embossing folder, then matted on ivory cardstock and accented with a bit of ribbon.  I didn't take a photo of it, but I used the Happy Birthday plain jane for the inside of each card.

For the box, I just adhered a piece of embossed patterned paper to a crystal clear card box with Zip Dry.  Next I stamped the Sweet Scallop Tag Frame in Perfect Plum, then cut out with the Sweet Scallop Die.  The to/from sentiment is from Glad Tidings and I added the small butterfly from the Blue Skies set to finish off the tag.  Then tied it on with some May Arts ribbon, silver cording and a small little flower.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a fantastic start to your week!

Everything Beautiful

Welcome to Tuesday!  I had planned to have this ready to post earlier, but my epic clutziness struck again. Last night I decided to do a bit of tidying up and in the process of moving a bottle of red wine to a "safer" location, I dropped it.  So strategically in fact that it oozed under the refrigerator AND the stove, ruined an area rug and we spent the next 1.5 hours moving said appliances and scrubbing the tile!  Not exactly the way I wanted to go about getting a new area rug for the kitchen, but I did want a new one!  (there's always a silver lining!  teehee)   Anyhow, the moral of this story is don't have red wine in your home!  LOL   ;-)  I'm not a fan anyway, it's Mark's thing.  :)

Okay, so you're probably here to see a card.  You've been duly warned that you'd be seeing this color combo again, so here it is.  I seem to be in an "embrace the white space" phase, which is pretty atypical for me, but I'm really loving it!  For this card I paired the smallest solid flower in Great Friend with a sneaky peeky of one of the new plain janes releasing Friday.  This one is Ecclesiastes 3:11 Plain Jane and I just love this verse.

I did a little rock-n-roll technique on the flowers, first in Peach Parfait, then around the edges in Cajun Craze and stamped on opposite corners of my sentiment square.  The centers are given a little glitz with some Stardust Stickles.  The vertical panels are just coordinating cardstock stamped with the same flower, then I layered everything over an ivory piece of cardstock, embossed with the Swirls #2 folder by Sizzix.  My finishing touch was a little stitched poly peach parfait ribbon.

I used the VSWCMD1 sketch from Verve's World Card Making Day - Release Week Challenges for this one.  Head on over to the Verve Blog to check out all 5 sketches and read about how to win some prizes!  And be sure to check back tomorrow for the first of the official New Release Spotlights!  Thanks for stopping by!

Sunburst Mojo

Hi everyone!  Welcome to another week!  It's the last Monday of the month, so that means it's my favorite time over at Mojo Monday... round or square sketch week!  I just love making non-traditional sized cards.  For those of you who wonder, I usually keep the sizes of my circle and square cards 4.25" and under so they fit in regular A2 envelopes.  For circle cards, the largest scallop circle Nestabilities are just under 4.25", so they're just perfect.  My Mojo158 sample card for today features the Great Friend set from Verve.

There are several ways to make circle cards, but I prefer the easel back style.  It's super simple to do, too!  Just cut two cardstock circles, then take the back one and score a straight line between the top 3 scallops (you can do more if you want, but that's how many I do).  Apply glue above the score line  (I use something strong like sticky strip or Zip Dry, so it won't come apart)  and then just align the scallops on the two pieces and glue.  Here's a little photo of the back side for a visual. 

The paper is from the Olivia collection by Bo Bunny. I cut the shapes for the sketch, then stitched a little ribbon to ruffle and run across my two horizontal panels.  Next up I used the slight embossed line around my DP circle as a guide to make a dotted frame around the edge with an early espresso marker.  This circle is matted with a groovy guava circle embossed with swiss dots and sponged with groovy guava.  For the flower accent, I stamped the medium and small outline flowers from Great Friend onto patterned paper, cut out and layered, then embossed one more small flower on vellum, rubbed it with some groovy guava ink and layered on top to soften the effect a little.

That sunburst in the flower center is an absolutely gorgeous embellishment from Pizzazz Aplenty.  I just love how sparkly it is - Mark even commented on its coolness factor, so that's saying something!  :)  Then I just finished off the card with the for you sentiment from Great Friend stamped in early espresso and three little 3mm clear rhinestones, also from Pizzazz Aplenty.

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

Good Times

Happy Wednesday!  Today I've got a simple little card using the Great Friend set.  The card has been sitting on my desk for a couple days while I decided whether or not I liked it. I'm still a little on the fence about it, just because it doesn't feel like my normal style.  But sometimes it's fun to just get outside your own little box, color outside the lines, ya know?

So, here's the lowdown...  I cut a piece of Paddington paper by 7 Gypsies, then punched a little bracket border along the bottom and matted with black.  I stamped the flowers from Great Friend on white cardstock, then colored with Copic markers and cut out.  I painted a little crystal effects around the edges then dipped in some waterfall glitter.  The sentiment is stamped on a Labels 14 Nestabilities die cut and I added a little ruffled black seam binding ribbon up top.  My finishing touches were some 2mm, 3mm and 4mm turquoise pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.  I love how you can get multiple sizes in the same color!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day!

Vintage Autumn Wishes

Happy Friday!  Today I'm sharing a little autumn goodness I cooked up with the leaf stamps from Great Friend and a sentiment from Harvest Blessings.

Ever since I designed Great Friend, I had an idea to use these leaves for a fallish background, so I pulled out some colors that I thought said fall...  cajun craze, cherry cobbler, and peach parfait.  First I stamped the three sizes of leaves randomly on a square of ivory, then sponged the edges with crumb cake and spritzed with a mini mister of water for an aged effect.  Next I cut a Labels 10 shape and left it in the die to mask off the edges while I stamped the leaves and sentiment, then used a Cajun Craze marker to outline the inner edge of the die.  For a little aging, I pulled out my air art tool and squirted a little crumb cake splatter on it, then inked up the edges and matted on a Cajun Craze mat.

The background is embossed with the regal flourishes texture fade from Tim Holtz, and I added a little sponged crumb cake and a curled edge to complete the look.  And to add just a bit of bling, I finished off with a trio of gold octagonal nailheads from Pizzazz Aplenty on opposite edges of the square.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Hello Yellow

Happy Tuesday!  Today I have a fun little card using two of the newest Verve sets, Happy Hello and Great Friend.  For my pretty clean & simple layout, I was inspired to use a column of circles like Amy Sheffer did on her gorgeous card. 

The papers are printed from the ABC's & 123's digi papers by Sugarplum Paperie and embossed with the notebook Tim Holtz Texture Fade folder.  For the circle strip I simply stamped the circle frame from Happy Hello five times, adding a hello sentiment in alternating colors, then punched out with a 1.25" circle punch and taped together in a strip, cutting either end off after adhering it to my papers.

The flowers from Great Friend are stamped on pearlized cream paper in cherry cobbler, then cut out and layered adding some loops of green ribbon for leaves.  For the flower center I used 2mm, 3mm and 4mm chocolate pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.  Check it out in the closeup - I really like the mixture of sizes!  The card felt a little off balance, so I pulled out my new Labels 14 Nestabilities and cut just a portion of the shape for a little bracket/border thingy.  I finished off with one rounded corner and a cherry cobbler mat on an ivory card base.

Okay, that's all from me today!  Lots to do to catch up from the long weekend!  Hope you have a splendid day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Colorful

Happy Tuesday!  I've been feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and today, so I'm just going to post a little card from my stash.  This one uses last week's SCS color challenge - {CC285} pacific point, rich razzleberry and old olive, with a dessert option of adding doilies.  I had recently downloaded these Doily Shapes from the Cutting Files, and wanted to give it a go, so I sat down to try to tame these wild colors.

I started by cutting the doilies out on textured pacific point with my Cricut and SCAL software.  Next I added a white Marvy Mega scallop circle punch in between the two layer of doilies and used the Happy Hello set for the circle frame and sentiment in the center.  I made the background paper myself using the flowers and leaves from the new Great Friend set and some pacific point, rich razzleberry and old olive inks.  To dress things up, I added a scallop border, some hotfix rhinestones and a bit of rich razzleberry polka dot grosgrain.

And there you have it - a bit bolder than I normally go, but it's always fun to change things up a bit and get a fresh perspective on stamping!  :)  Hope you have a fabulous day - it's back to the couch for me.

Vintage Mojo

Happy Monday!  It's the beginning of another week and time for another Mojo Monday sketch.  Since it's the last sketch of August, it's a round or square week!  I hope you'll play along, it's always fun to see everyone's non-traditional cards!

This week's sketch was inspired by this little butterfly card I made a while back.  I liked the layout, but yesterday when I went to make a new card with the sketch I felt like stepping outside the lines a bit.  Shocking, I know!  LOL  I never like to make the same card twice, so I started by flipping the sketch, trading the circle for a flower and using the greenery as the photo corner element.  I think it turned out kinda neat!

I had some Lost & Found My Mind's Eye paper scraps on my desk from an earlier card and pulled out some Life is Good Echo Park paper scraps to add to it.  The flower, sentiment and greenery are from the new Great Friend Set.  The flower is stamped onto the newsprint lost & found paper, then cut out and layered.  Next I stamped the leafy sprig on ivory in Wild Wasabi, then cut out and layered behind the flower on top of the notebook paper from the Blue Skies set.  The sentiment is also stamped in Wild Wasabi and I added a cute little Tim Holtz mini paper clip for accent.

Most of the layers are sponged with Pumice Stone distress ink and I curled a couple corners, distressed the edges and added a little vintage lace trim.  My final little accents were some Black Stardust Stickles and some new little 4mm peridot rhinestones to accent the flowers on the paper and a gorgeous green with gold rimstone for the flower center, both from Pizzazz Aplenty.

This card also qualifies for the Something Old, Something New Project Parade Challenge to use a new set with an older set.  Be sure to head on over to the Verve Blog today for the next installment in our parade, then play along with us for a chance to win some Verve!

Okay, that's it from me this fine Monday morning!  Hope you have a fabulous start to your week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Our Refuge

Hey everybody!  It's finally Friday, and that means we'll be partying over in the Verve forum tonight at 8PM Eastern!  I'm so excited to reveal the new sets and chat with all my Verve-alicious friends!  Stop by for a little while, or stay for the whole shebang... whatever fits your schedule.  With 10 reveals (8 new sets, a free set and a plain jane) things are sure to be hopping!

If you're hoping to win a little Verve, deadline for comments on our New Release Spotlights as well as entries for the Anni-VERVE-sary sketch challenges are due by 6PM ET tonight (8/20).  Okay, enough with the announcements, let's get to some eye candy...

My card for today features the plain jane from this release, Psalm 46:1, the frame and an accent from Fabulous You and the small open flower from Great Friend.   Just a regular hodgepodge of sets - you know me and my mixing and matching!  :)  I started by stamping the frame in black on kraft cardstock, then matting with black cardstock and using a 1/4" corner rounder.  The Psalm 46:1 verse, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." is embossed in white inside the stamped frame, then I stamped the Great Friend  flower in black on white cardstock and lightly shaded with Copic markers to match the little prima flower center.  The pinstripe paper is from the Neutrals Patterns by SU! and I stamped the coordinating accent from Fabulous You on either side to draw the eye into the verse.

I pulled out a little blush blossom and embossed it with a new Sizzix embossing folder, then added a new EK Success border punch to the top and some lace to the bottom, finishing off with some pearl accents.  Okay, I've still got miles to go before I sleep, so I'm signing off.  Hope to see you at the release tonight!  :)

Just Because

Happy Thursday! Today's the final day of the Verve New Release Spotlights and we've saved one of my favorites from the new sets for last... Great Friend.  Be sure to check out the full hop list at the bottom of this post and leave a little love for the Divas as you hop around the blogosphere for a chance to win this set! 
 

For my sample card, I used the flowers in Great Friend both as a focal point and to create a stamped background.  This set has three sizes of bold and solid flower images, perfect for layering, which I did with the bold images for my focal point.  Each is trimmed out, layered on dimensionals and I added a few leafy sprigs (also from this set) behind it.  For the background, I stamped several of the small and medium outline flowers in basic gray ink, then filled in the smaller flowers with the solid flower inked in Peach Parfait.    This card was my inspiration for Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch AVS2010E.  {You still have until Friday at 6PM Eastern to get your sketch cards in for a chance to win some new Verve!  Click that sketch link above for all the details!} 

Okay, on with the card... I layered some SU! poly twill ribbon in pear pizazz and peach parfait each direction, then made a sentiment strip by embossing the Just Because sentiment from Great Friend onto vellum cardstock, then sponging with Peach Parfait and layering onto vanilla cardstock.  My final touch was a Basic Gray mat, some rounded corners and a few Stardust Stickles highlights on the flower center.

That's all from me today.  Time to check out the final peeks on the Diva blogs...

1. Laurie	8. Teresa
2. Amy	9. Jen T.
3. Michelle	10. Tosh
4. Mercy	11. Julee
5. Susan	12. Jackie
6. Maureen	13. Lynda
7. Sankari

Be sure to leave some comments along the way for a chance to win!