Havana Birthday Wishes

Hi friends! I hope the week is treating you right so far. It's a busy one around here with Teacher Appreciation week activities, the school spring performance and separate Mother's Day celebrations in the boys' classrooms. All super fun things, but juggling everything is becoming quite the balancing act.

I snuck in a little craft time yesterday to finish a card that's been half done for about a week. I had colored the floral cup from the new Favorite Mom digi with copic markers and cut with a stitched circle die.  The flowers from the same digi were also colored and fussy cut.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my coloring matched some of the papers in the beautiful new Havana collection from Prima.

I layered these pieces on a small white doily die cut, then stamped and embossed the birthday sentiment from the Sentimental Wishes stamp set on a Lacey Frames die cut. This is layered onto an even larger doily die cut, then I accented with some white Nuvo drops. 

To tie in the colors of the paper a bit more, I added some sponging around the pink and aqua papers with distress ink, then finished off with a white taffeta double bow.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Sentimental Wishes, Favorite Mom DIGITAL Set (Verve - now from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper: Havana 6 x 6 (Prima), white (Neenah)
Ink: laser printer, Versamark, spun sugar, tumbled glass (Ranger Distress), white gel pen
Accessories: Lacey Frames Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), stitched circles stax (MFT), doily dies (QuicKutz), taffeta ribbon (SU!), white Nuvo drops (Tonic), black embossing powder (Judikins)

Going to Be Okay

Hi friends! I'm back again with another shabby card using the Lavender collection from Prima.  And its another take on the April Viva la Verve sketch. Deadline for linking up is May 4, so there's still plenty of time for you to get inky and link up for a chance to win! I hope you'll play along!

Lately I've been loosely challenging myself to use as much up of my paper when I pull something out of a pad. So this card started with leftovers from yesterday's card and the other Lavender scraps in my stash.  I stamped and embossed the sentiment from Hope Lifts directly on a piece of patterned paper and cut with a stitched circle die.  I matted this with a lacey circle die cut from Spellbinders.  Next I arranged my layers to fulfill the sketch, cutting a Lacey Frames die cut for the second circle.  I then set to work on the butterfly from Hope Lifts.

I already had one butterfly embossed in white, watercolored, and then cut with the Butterfly Dreams set laying on my desk from a previous project. So I stamped the butterfly from Hope Lifts again on watercolor paper, embossed in white and cut with the coordinating Lifted Hope die set. Next I watercolored with pugnacious purple and plum tuckered out shimmerz products.  The white was a bit for my antiqued card. I recently picked up some vintage collage medium on clearance, so decided to give it a go over the embossed butterflies to age things a bit.  I finished off with lots of distressed edges and a little paper flower in the center of the butterfly.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Hope Lifts (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Lavender (Prima), crumb cake (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: early espresso (SU!), antique lace distress (Ranger), Plum Tuckered Out Vibez, Pugnacious Purple Inklingz (Shimmerz)
Accessories: Lifted Hope, Lacey Frames and Butterfly Dreams die sets (A Cut Above by VERVE), white embossing powder, paper flower, circle dies (Spellbinders), corner rounder, paper distresser, Vintage collage medium (Ranger)

April Verve Spotlight Hops Day 4

Hi friends! It's RELEASE DAY 😊 and we have a very special final day of hopping to share with you! We've combined our release hop with the kickoff to our April Diva Inspirations challenge. The theme this month is yellow, so get ready for a little handmade sunshine coming your way!  And don't forget to leave a little comment love for the Divas as you hop about, because today's prize is for the entire April release!  Woohoo!

I'm the first stop on the Day 4 April New Release Spotlight Hop & Diva Inspirations challenge, so if you didn't arrive here from another hop spot you're in the perfect place to jump right in! All of the stamps and dies you've been seeing are available in the shop right now!  Go ahead, check them out.... I'll wait! If you missed our earlier hops, you can click here for my Day One,  Day Two and Day Three posts.  Deadline for our blog hop prize drawing is April 15.

Today's featured focus is designer's choice combined with our April inspiration, so you might just sneak a peek at a whole bunch of must-haves! Check out all the challenge details on the Verve blog today, then play along for a chance to win in our monthly challenge drawing! We hope you'll play along with us!

Now, if you hadn't noticed from my cards lately, I love me some sunny yellow! Especially when it seems like spring just wants to elude us! I'm all about creating my own sunshine, so I'm willing spring to come and stay with our Welcome Spring Sale this month! 😁 When you're done hopping, be sure to hit the Verve shop to check out the sale and the new products. All of our new releases are 15% off. Or double your savings by purchasing the Buy it All Bundle at a 30% discount.

I have two cards to share today. The first card started with the cross from Risen Savior and the inspiration color of yellow. I knew I wanted it behind this sentiment, so cut an oval die to fit, then stamped the cross and the sentiment. I then put the die back over the die cut to sponge some squeezed lemonade around the edges and finished off with an air art tool with a brown marker for a few ink splatters.

Next I moved on to the background. I added a thin layer of gesso to watercolor paper, then painted on some dylusions paint with a baby wipe.  I added some squeezed lemonade distress oxide to the mix and then let things dry.  The yellow had become a bit brighter than I wanted, so I scraped some heavy gesso in places, then used a script stencil to apply some light paste to the background.  I love how it turned out.



From there I went to work on the scalloped piece, attaching the larger scallop border die cut from the Lacey Trim Duo die set to a rose red rectangle panel and then covering with some pretty paper from the Eastertime collection by Authentique.  I covered the seam with a few layers of baker's twine, tied in a bow, then accented with a paper flower.

For my second card, I kept with the mixed media style, having fun with light paste, gesso, stencils and texture paste to create the tag. Next I stamped a flower from the previously released Bloom Brighter set twice, colored with Copics and cut with the coordinating Blooming die set.  I added the leaves, also cut with the same die set and then stamped the thinking of  you sentiment from Sentimental Wishes onto a Lacey Frames die cut circle.  To finish the tag section, I added a flourish die cut, some glitter to the center of the flowers and a wrinkled seam binding bow a the top.

For the rest of the card, I used a doily, a piece of smoky slate to tie in the other grays in the card and a card base embossed with the chicken wire embossing folder. My final touches were a couple rounded corners and the two border dies from the Lacey Trim Duo die set layered on top of the card for a fun, elegant edge.

That's all for me, next on the hop is our super duper fabulous Guest Diva, Michele!

Want to win some shiny new Verve? Today's prize is a BIG one. We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win our ENTIRE new release! The April 2018 Release Collection includes Risen Savior, Hope Lifts, Sentimental Wishes, and the Lifted Hope, Lacey Frames and Lacey Trim Duo die sets. So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Comment deadline for the blog hop prize drawing is April 15.

DAY 4 Hop List 1. Julee 5. Laurie 2. Michele (Guest) 6. Marisa 3. Betty 7. Maureen 4. Charmaine 8. Teresa

Enabler's List
He Lives card
Stamps: Risen Savior (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Eastertime (Authentique), rose red, crumb cake (SU!), white (Neenah), watercolor distress paper (Tim Holtz)
Ink: pure sunshine, lemon zest dylusions paint (Ranger), squeezed lemonade, black archival, scattered straw (Ranger)
Accessories: Lacey Trim Duo die set (A Cut Above by VERVE), oval dies, bakers twine, script stencil, paper flower, light paste (Prima), gesso

Thinking of You card
Stamps: Sentimental Wishes, Bloom Brighter  (Verve Stamps)
Paper: smoky slate (SU!), white (Neenah), tag (Paper Accents)
Ink: pure graphite, forest glades (Altenew), Dragonfly blue color bloom spray (Prima), white india ink (Bombay), Copic markers

Accessories: Lacey Frames Die Set, Lacey Trim Duo Die Set, Blooming die set (A Cut Above by VERVE), flourish die (Recollections), doily, chicken wire embossing folder, dot stencil, light paste, gesso, glitter glue, seam binding, corner rounder

April Verve Spotlight Hops Day 3

Hi friends! We're back with another day of hopping counting down to our new release tomorrow. I hope you'll hop along with us to see the inspiration the Divas are sharing.  Leave a little comment love for them as you hop about for  a chance to win some shiny new Verve!

I'm the first stop on the Day 3 April New Release Spotlight Hop, so if you didn't arrive here from another hop spot you're in the perfect place to jump right in! All of the stamps and dies you've been seeing will be available in the Verve shop tomorrow morning (4/10/18)! Just one more sleep until new Verve! If you missed our earlier hops, you can click here for my Day One and Day Two posts.

Today the Divas and our special guest, Michele Greenwood, are featuring the new Sentimental Wishes stamp set and the Lacey Frames and Lacey Trim Duo die sets. Yesterday I wrote about a little wishlist in my head for stamps I'd like to have. I've been struggling over the past couple years trying to balance life and work and health and kiddos and stamping hasn't been the creative refuge it once was for me. So in one of my creative lulls I sat down and asked myself what I didn't have that I would like to stamp with.

Small sentiments came to mind first and foremost. They've always been a favorite of mine to add to a card, tag or treat packaging. With the retirement of many of our earlier sets, the smaller sentiments were missing from the Verve catalog. So Sentimental Wishes fills that hole, with 21 new sentiments all sized at about 1" wide to fit your smaller punches and dies.

And to make things even easier, I designed the Lacey Frames die set with a scalloped square and circle that will frame these fun sentiments beautifully. Hooray!

For today's card, I was super excited to pair this set with the Karen Burniston Coffee Cup Pop-Up die set I recently ordered. It's no secret that I love coffee and since I love to give gift cards, this seemed like the perfect die set for me!

I knew I wanted a cup on the front of the card as well as the pop up inside, so I cut two sets of everything I wanted to use. Next I worked on layering it all together, adding a bit of sponging along the outer edges of the cup for some dimension.

The sentiments I chose from Sentimental Wishes were just for you on the card front and thanks a latte inside with the Starbucks gift card. I had a tough time deciding whether or not to go with the coffee break sentiment on the front, but in the end decided on just for you and will just have to make another one soon! 😉  I stamped both sentiments on soft sky circles, then layered onto the circle from the Lacey Frames die set. I just love the look!


The pop-up feature is so cool.  Here's what it looks like when you open the card. Isn't that sip stopper so cute?

To tie in the soft sky accents, I stamped the heart from the set randomly down the right side of the card front and in a line down the inside of the card as well.  I added little border accents with the smaller border from the Lacey Trim Duo die set. A few stickers and some patterned paper and I was finished.

That's all for me, next on the hop is our super duper fabulous Guest Diva, Michele!

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 post today for the full hop list, prize details and a little more on this fun new set.

Day 3 Hop List 1. Julee 5. Laurie 2. Michele (Guest) 6. Marisa 3. Betty 7. Maureen 4. Charmaine 8. Teresa

Enabler's List
Stamps: Sentimental Wishes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Saucy (Authentique), soft sky, crumb cake, early espresso, basic black (SU!), white (Neenah)
Ink: jet black (Altenew), pumice stone distress (Ranger), soft sky (SU!)
Accessories: Lacey Frames  Lacey Trim Duo  (A Cut Above by VERVE), Coffee Cup Pop-Up die set (Karen Burniston), black dew drops (Nuvo), puffy stickers