Postcard Valentine

Happy Friday!  It's time for another Viva la Verve! challenge and this week's sketch was designed by Teresa Kline.  As soon as I saw the little envelope shape on the sketch, I remembered a cute little postcard die that I picked up on clearance at the craft store a few months ago.  I couldn't wait to dig it out and give it a go!

I wanted a vintage valentine look to go along with the miniature postcard die, so I picked out this kraft-based Love paper from American Crafts.  I stamped a heart and an XOXO from the Love Notes set on my postcard to dress it up.  Next up, I made a little rosette with the designer paper, then stamped the heart and sentiment from Love Notes and cut out with the Jotted Heart Die (both on sale right now!) and layered together.  Keeping with the miniature theme, I embellished with a mini library clip, mini staples and some mini rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty.

That's all for me.  I hope you get a chance to play along with Viva la Verve this week.  And just a little reminder that it's a contest week over at Mojo Monday - so be sure to get your entries in by Sunday night.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a fabulous weekend! 

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Love Notes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Love Collection (American Crafts), Crumb Cake, Real Red (SU!)
Ink: Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress), Real Red (SU!)
Accessories: Jotted Heart Die (Verve Stamps), Postcard 2x2 Die (QuicKutz), mini paper clip (SU!), Martha Stewart border punch, Hero Arts stickers, glimmer twill ribbon (Taylored Expressions), 2mm red flatback rhinestones (Pizzazz Aplenty), mini staples, Rosette Die (Tim Holtz)

Flora and Fauna Love

Happy Thursday!  How's your week going?  I see a bright light at the end of the tunnel I've been working through the past few weeks and things are looking up!  I spent an entire day in the deep torture chamber that is Quickbooks and I came out the other side victorious!  Hip hip hooray!

To celebrate my victory, I decided to spend a little time getting inky last night.  The SCS sketch {SC316} was calling my name along with this Flora & Fauna Ledger paper I picked up on my last trip to the craft store.  The pad is spiral bound, and I just love the way I could cut my panel to use those torn spirals.  I rounded the corners of the panel to make it look like a mini notebook page, then stamped the lined heart from Love Notes on it as well as the trio of hearts.  On another scrap of the ledger paper I stamped the XOXO sentiment three times and a few more hearts, then cut in a flag shape and hand-stitched to my card using the Sew Easy hem piercer as a guide for my stitch marks.  Next up, I stamped the medium heart on Cherry Cobbler and cut out, then accented with two cranberry pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.

For the LOVE panel, I decided to dress up my ledger paper by repeatedly stamping the Love sentiment across it, then filling in the heart with the coordinating heart stamp in cherry cobbler.  The top panel is cherry cobbler, embossed with a heart background and all of the edges are inked up with some Early Espresso ink.  I finished off with some Stardust Stickles on the outer edge of my lined heart and a seam binding bow with a little mulberry flower attached to the center.

Funny story about x's and o's.  I was married before I knew there was a meaning behind XOXO.  I always just read the letters... ex-oh-ex-oh and had absolutely no idea why people wrote it at the end of their letters!!!  {sheepish grin}  When Mark finally explained that it meant hugs and kisses I laughed out loud and spent quite some time trying to determine which letter is the hug and which one is the kiss.  I'm still not sure I have them straight!  Funny these things we grow up with that everyone just assumes you understand.

Okay, I've probably rambled on enough for one day... time for the enabling portion of this post...

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Love Notes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Brenda Walton Flora & Fauna Ledger Designer Paper Pad (K & Company), Cherry Cobbler (SU!)
Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler (SU!)
Accessories: Stardust Stickles (Ranger), corner rounder, Sew Easy piercer, Sew Easy head attachment (hem), needle, thread (We R Memory Keepers), cranberry pearls, 10mm open rose (Pizzazz Aplenty), cherry cobbler seam binding (SU!), Valentine Set #4 embossing folder (Sizzix)

Polka Dot Simplicity

Happy Tuesday!  Today I have a clean and simple (CAS) card to share.  When I was creating with the newest Verve Stamps release I couldn't get this idea out of my head.  I stepped it up a bit from my original plan to have just a one layer card and color the elephant, but it was so much fun adding a little dimension to him.  I think it still totally qualifies as CAS though!

All of the stamps used here are from the new To the Moon set.  I stamped the frame and hanger directly on the card base, then stamped the elephant in the frame.  Next I stamped the elephant a couple more times on some SU! Naturals DSP paper and some pink pirouette cardstock (for the ears) and pieced her on with dimensionals.  The Happy new baby sentiment is stamped onto a modern label punch and I tied it on with some ribbon, a little silver cording and a pink button.  My final embellishment was a tiny silver pearl from Pizzazz Aplenty as the nail hanging my picture frame up!  So fun!

Hope you're having a fantastic week so far.  I'm deep in the middle of trying to finish up a few accounting projects.  I'm so glad we get second chances in life, because there is no way I would have enjoyed being the accountant I studied to be in college!  LOL  Are any of you in the same field you studied?  Enquiring minds want to know.  :)

For a little more eye candy, be sure to check out the Verve Blog today for the next installment in our Baby Love Diva Dare series.  We're having a prize for a random commenter as well as a participant, so come play along!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: To the Moon (Verve)
Paper: White, Pink Pirouette, Naturals DSP (SU!)
Ink: Black
Accessories: Silver pearl (Pizzazz Aplenty), Modern Label Punch (SU!), silver cording, button, May Arts ribbon

Valentine Mojo

Happy Monday! It's time for the newest sketch over at Mojo Monday!  This week's sketch {Mojo 174} was drawn from this card I made for Verve's latest release.  Be sure to head on over to the Mojo blog for the sketch and to see what the design team (including our 2 newest Mojo makers) made!

There's nothing too difficult here, just stamped the lined heart and the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment from Love Notes on patterned paper, cut out and layered on a Jotted heart die black cardstock mat.  The two little hearts are cut with an SU! punch, then inked lightly with a little black soot ink.  I accented the heart with a little Fruit Punch stickles and added a double bow across my panel.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  The Diva's will be sharing their Diva Dare creations over on the Verve Blog each day this week, so I hope you'll tune in and maybe even play along!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Love Notes (SU!)
Paper: Crush Collection (Bo Bunny), Black
Ink: Black
Accessories: Jotted Heart Die (Verve), Scallop Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders), clear detail embossing powder, Fruit Punch stickles, Lots of Hearts punch (SU!), Liquid Pearls, May Arts Ribbon, corner rounder

Congrats!

Happy Friday!  Today I've got a little card to show you using this week's Viva la Verve! sketch. Tosh is the hostess this week, and she gave us a super fun tilty sketch that totally inspired me.

The other night, Mark was working on some hobby stuff and I needed to clear a space for him in my studio.  While I was cleaning up, I rediscovered this paper I ordered a few months ago and had never cut into.  I thought it would be perfect for my idea to add a little Flower Soft fur to the bear in the To the Moon set.  After coloring and cutting out the bear and papers, I added some vanilla ribbon ruffles, then found this fun star ribbon in my stash and decided it would be a perfect addition.  That gave me the idea for a little balloon, so I cut one of the stars from the ribbon, glued onto a german glass glitter star, then added a little linen thread for the balloon string.  I finished off with a few little buttons, because I've suddenly decided they're cool again!  LOL

That's all from me today!  Be sure to check out the sketch over in our forum.  And Laurie's kicking off our first Diva Dare challenge over on the Verve Blog!  Check it out and play along!!!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: To the Moon (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Grandma's Attic (TPC Studios), Choice Buttercream (Taylored Espressions), Early Espresso (SU!)
Ink: Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress), Early Espresso (SU!), Copic markers
Accessories: German glass glitter star (Frost it Pink), square punch for sentiment flag (EK Success), vintage brads (Recollections), buttons, linen thread (TCP), vanilla seam binding ribbon (SU!), star ribbon (Making Memories), ultra fine sand Flower Soft

Valentine Kites

Happy Thursday!  Today I have a whimsical little card to share with you.  Last weekend a few goodies I had ordered during after Christmas sales arrived and I headed up to the studio just to play! 

 

I've been trying to use a little old with everything new lately, so for this card I decided to pair the BasicGrey Manila Basics paper with some BoBunny and Graphic 45 papers.  The lined heart from the Love Notes set is embossed onto vellum in Antique Linen, then I embossed the Valentine sentiment in Early Espresso and edged it with Copper Stickles.  The striped aqua heart is cut with the Jotted Heart Die.  The kites are from the To the Moon set, and I popped the top halves of them up with dimensionals and coated with a mixture of glitter and diamond glaze.   The smaller heart is clear embossed with one of the hearts from the Love Notes set, then cut out and popped over the rounded banner in coordinating papers.  I also die cut a little aqua border and accented with some turquoise pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.  Next I added a few little buttons and a pink frosted pearl and a bit of May Arts ribbon to finish it off.


Enabler's List:

Stamps: Love Notes, To the Moon (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Crush (Bo Bunny), Manila Basics (BasicGrey), Once Upon a Springtime (Graphic 45), Brown Bag (Paper Accents)
Ink: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Jotted Heart Die (Verve Stamps), buttons, pearls & rhinestones and iridescent cording (Pizzazz Aplenty), Little Open Scallop Strip and Rounded Banner Tio (Die-namics by MFT), Copper Stickles, detail embossing powder, Diamond Glaze, glitter, May Arts ribbon

Swirling Circle

Hi everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  Did y'all check out the awesome Verve cards on our after-party post yesterday?  If you did, you might have seen this little favorite of mine...

I recently got a Grand Cailibur die cut machine specifically so I could make some larger circle cards.  I really like making circle cards, but find the small canvas a little confining at times.  This card uses the smallest dies of the Grand Circles and Scallop Circles and the outer scallop is about 4.75" in diameter.  Just perfect to layer some heart nestabilities inside, cut with a little Be Mine paper from Echo park.  The be mine sentiment and the oval frame are from the Swirling Hearts set and I used the Vintage Oval die to cut it out, then added a 1.25" circle of basic gray cardstock in the center and layered the modern label punched sentiment over it.  I embellished with a chipboard heart, a couple fun buttons, some liquid pearls and a wrinkled ribbon bow.  Super fun!

Well, I haven't had a spare minute in what seems like a month and my to-do list is still a mile high so I better get to work.  Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope your day is fantabulous!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Swirling Hearts (Verve)
Paper: Be Mine (Echo Park), Melon Mambo, Basic Gray (SU!)
Ink: Basic Gray, Melon Mambo (SU!)
Accessories: Vintage Oval Die (Verve), Circles and Scallop Circles Grand Nestabilities, Heart and Scallop Heart Nestabilities (Spellbinders), buttons, Sweet Talk Chipboard heart (MMBI), liquid pearls (Ranger), linen thread, Curlique & Hearts embossing folder (Sizzix), wrinkled ribbon

Luxe Thanks

Happy Friday!  This week has just flown by!  Thanks everyone for your sweet comments on our New Release Hops!  If you haven't had a chance to comment on everything yet, you can find the master hop lists for all three days by clicking {HERE}.  The deadline for comments to be entered in our drawings is tonight {1/7/11} at 6PM Mountain.  I hope you'll find a little time to drop by for our ReLeAsE pArTy tonight,which starts at 7PM Mountain.  The design team gallery is overflowing with fabulous samples from the Divas, and I know they have some previews to show you tonight that you haven't seen yet!  And speaking of previews, how about another from me???

Since today is Friday, that means there's a new sketch over in our Viva la Verve! forum.  This week's sketch is from Charmaine and is just so much fun!  I took a few liberties, but you can still see the inspiration is there.  I bought this gorgeous Prima butterfly a while ago because it was so lovely and I planned on making a project for Christmas with it, but Christmas has come and gone and I couldn't wait another year to use it, so out of the package it flew!

I used the new Sweet Treats set for the label and sentiment.  The label is embossed with Early Espresso Craft ink on Creamy Caramel and then aged with some Antique Linen and Vintage Photo ink, after cutting out with Verve's new Classy Label Die.  The sentiment was embossed in gold on some Lost & Found paper and cut with the new Embossed Oval Die. The papers are all from that gorgeous Lost & Found collection by My Mind's Eye and I distressed the edges and inked them up, embossing the main red panel with the damask texture fade from Tim Holtz.  I added a little ruffled cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon under a panel cut with the Apron border die from TCP, then finished off with a few dark gold pearls.

Okay, that's all from me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope to chat with you tonight!  :)

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

Happy Thursday!  Today’s the final day in our New Release Spotlight Hops and we’re shining our Verve spotlight on a new set called To the Moon and a couple coordinating Plain Jane singles.I’m the first stop along the hop, so be sure to check out the master hop list at the bottom of the post.  One lucky commenter on one of the hop spots today will win today’s featured stamps!  Hooray!

My card for today features the To the Moon set and the new Jotted Heart Die.  The I love you to the moon and back sentiment in this set has a trio of stars or hearts to mix and match with it.  I added the stars and accented them with some silver Stickles.  The sentiment is stamped on a Vintage Oval diecut and lightly sponged with marina mist ink.

I found a little scrap of fabric in my stash and cut it out with the Jotted Heart die, frayed the edges, then stitched to a cardstock heart and inked the edges with Marina Mist.  As I mentioned yesterday, my sewing machine and I are not friends, and my stitching was so terrible I decided to cover it up with silver stickles!  LOL

I had the glitter star in my stash and added a button and some silver cording to it, then decided I wanted some more glitzy stars, so I used the SU! small star punch and also stamped and cut out the moon from the set and covered with German glass glitter to match.  I finished off with some silvery ribbon and a background embossed with the Swirls & Stars embossing folder from Sizzix.

Okay, here’s the hop list for today!  Happy hopping!

1. Julee{ME!} 8. Debbie 2. Charmaine 9. Sankari 3. Amber 10. Andrea 4 .Amy 11. Tosh 5. Laurie 12. Piali 6. Teresa 13. Maureen 7. Jackie

Aqua Love Notes and a Hop

Happy Wednesday!  And welcome to day two of Verve's January New Release Spotlight Hops!  Today we're sneaking a dozen or so peeks at a new set called Love Notes that will release this Friday night.  If you've already been hopping, you're halfway through, if not check out the master list of hops below.  And don't forget to leave a little comment love as you hop around for a chance to win Love Notes for your very own!

And here's the first card I made with Love Notes.  Most of you know that I love aqua, so even though there are piles and piles of Valentine papers on my desk, I reached for this aqua scrap of paper from the Fine and Dandy collection by My Mind's Eye.  My sewing machine and I are not on speaking terms right now, so I did a little faux stitching, adding some ticket corners with an SU! punch.  The jotted heart stamp is from Love Notes and I cut it out with the coordinating Jotted Heart Die, then colored the frame part with a Copic marker, accented with Stardust Stickles and then inked lightly with basic gray ink for a little weathered effect.  Oh, and somewhere in there, I stamped the fancy Love sentiment in the center of the heart.

That cool little border strip is the Icing die from TCP.  I accented the die cut with a few black pearls and some super cool teardrop rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty, and layered over my patterned paper.  The background paper is from the SU! Naturals DSP pack and I embossed it with the Valentine Set #4 embossing folder from Sizzix, then sanded it lightly to highlight it.  I finished off with some scrumptious wrinkled ribbon and a Maya Road stick pin.

Okay, that's all from me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the hop!!!

1. Laurie 7. Charmaine 2. Tosh 8. Amber 3. Piali 9. Sankari 4.Teresa 10. Debbie 5 .Amy 11. Jackie 6. Julee {ME!} 12. Andrea

Sweet Trio - Verve Spotlight Hop

Happy Tuesday!  Today is the first day of Verve's New Release Spotlight Hops and we're starting things off with a bang! Our previews today includes three new dies and two sets.   For the full list of hops and prize info, be sure to read to the bottom of this post! 

This cute little trio of tags showcases two new sets, Sweet Treats and Swirling Hearts that coordinate with our existing A Cut Above dies as well as a couple of new dies!  I stamped the swirly tag from Sweet Treats on white card stock in regal rose, real red and melon mambo, then cut out with the Sweet Scallop Tag Die.

The center of the stamped tag has an opening to stamp a sentiment, but I chose to just punch a 1.25" circle in coordinating cardstock as a background for a little sentiment tag.  The smaller sentiments are from the Swirling Hearts set and will all work with your smaller punches and dies.  On the first two tags, I've used the Stampin! Up! modern label punch for the sentiment, then layered some Martha Stewart felt hearts and accented with pearls and rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty.  The sweet treats sentiment is from the Sweet Treats set, and I hand cut the little flag, drawing in a thin little frame.  I finished each tag off with a little baker's twine.  Such a simple project, but so fun to make!

The Prize Info:  Okay, since a new release is definitely something to celebrate, we've hidden a prize along the hop today!  One lucky commenter on one of the Day 1 Hop Spots will win today's featured stamps and dies... Swirling Hearts, Sweet Treats, Classy Label Die, Jotted Heart Die and the Embossed Oval Die!  So be sure to leave a little comment love for the Divas, so you can be one of the first to get these yummy new toys!  Comment deadline is 6PM Mountain on Friday, January 7.  Winners will be announced at our ReLeAsE pArTy that night! 

If you've already been hopping along, I'm the caboose, and thanks so much for hopping along with us today!  And if you've just happened along, be sure to check out the list of hops below. 

1. Andrea 7. Debbie 2. Sankari 8. Amber 3. Jackie 9. Charmaine 4. Teresa 10. Laurie 5. Piali 11. Julee {That's ME!} 6. Tosh

We'll see you tomorrow with the Day 2 Spotlight Hop!