Our Greatest Glory

Hi friends! I hope you're having a fabulous week so far. Mine is flying right by, just flitting from one activity/appointment/event to another. I'm looking forward to the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, for sure!

Today I'm popping in with one more mixed media card I made for the Pink Diva Inspirations Challenge.  I had lots of fun with this card, directly sponging on worn lipstick, seedless preserves and picked raspberry distress oxides and spritzing and drying.  I then dabbed some bubble gum pink Dylusions paint on with a baby wipe until I got the look I was going for.  I splattered with some white India ink, then embossed the quote from Learning to Sail directly onto the panel in white.

The hot air balloon is from the Hope Lifts set, and I stamped it in black on white cardstock twice, cutting one image with the coordinating Lifted Hope die set, then fussy cutting just the balloon to color with copics and pop up.  I finished with some distressed edges and a trail of rhinestone stars.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising EVERY time we fall. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Learning to Sail, Hope Lifts (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white (Neenah)
Ink: archival black, picked raspberry, worn lipstick, seedless preserves distress oxide (Ranger), Copic markers, Versamark (Tsukineko), white India ink, bubble gum pink Dylusions paint (Ranger)
Accessories: Lifted Hope die set (A Cut Above by VERVE), white embossing powder, paper distresser, rhinestone star adhesive strip

Life is But a Dream

Hi friends! I'm popping in today with a quick card I made the other day.  Thanks to Lydia, I recently got a palette of Daniel Smith watercolors. After initially swatching them out, I felt compelled to rearrange them in rainbow order and re-swatch.  As I was doing this, I couldn't bear to waste any of the beautiful color, so cleaned my brush on a piece of watercolor paper in between each color.  I loved the way my clean-up page turned out, so decided to use it as is for the background for my card.

The butterflies are from the Butterfly Grace set, and I embossed them in white onto sections of the purples and blues from my clean-up paper, then cut out with the coordinating Graceful Butterflies Die Set.  I accented each butterfly with a bit more of the purple and teal watercolors, then added a simple, yet fitting sentiment from the Learning to Sail stamp set.  Easy peasy!

Well, that's all from me today.  I've been playing a lot with my new watercolors and also a bit of experimenting with my gelli plate this week, but they haven't made it onto any projects yet.  How about you, what have you been working on?

Enabler's List
Stamps: Butterfly Grace, Learning to Sail (Verve Stamps)
Paper: kids watercolor paper (Michaels)
Ink: watercolors (Daniel Smith), Versamark, onxy black (Versafine)
Accessories: Graceful Butterflies Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), white detail embossing powder (Judikins), paper distresser

Life Could Be a Dream Sweetheart

Hi friends! It's Friday again and time for a brand new sketch over at Viva la Verve! I'm your hostess this week and somehow I scheduled both the Mojo Monday sketch and Viva la Verve sketch for this week to have a triple panel background, even though I created the sketches a couple months apart. One of these days, someone should tell my right brain what my left brain is doing! {grin}  So y'all are going to be really good at triple panel backgrounds now, right? After all, it's a great way to use up scraps!

For my card, I wanted to use a little nautical kit I got from Tuesday Morning for 99 cents that's been sitting on my desk calling my name.So I pulled out an old favorite stamp set, Learning to Sail, paper piecing the ship's sails and then coloring with copics, adding a bit of frothy waves with frosted lace stickles.  I added a doily to mat the circle, then simply cut some nautical papers for my background and horizontal panel.  Super simple, but I really like the breezy feel to it.

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

Viva la Verve August Sketch 1

Enabler's List

Stamps: Learning to Sail (Verve Stamps)

Papers: (MAMBI), paper doily, white cardstock

Ink: archival black (Ranger), copic markers

Accessories: stitched circles stax (MFT), frosted lace stickles (Ranger)

Rising

Hi friends!  It's the 5th of the month and that means it's time for the Divas to put on a little hop to breathe new life into previously released Verve sets and dies.  I'm the first stop along the hop and I thought I'd let you know that there's a PRIZE up for grabs! Leave a little shout out in the comment section of each blog as you hop about to be entered in a drawing for a $30 gift certificate to Verve Stamps! Check out all the details and prize info over at the Verve Blog.

This month we're also saying a fond farewell to Jen del Muro, as this is her last hop as a Verve Diva. She's been a part of the Verve team almost from the very beginning and although I'm sad to see her go, I'm so excited to see the things she has up her sleeve for the stamping world!

My card uses this week's Viva la Verve! April Week 2 sketch and the Learning to Sail set.  I stamped the sentiment on cream cardstock, then stamped the sun and banner on yellow paper from the Park Bench collection.  The banner is cut out and popped up over the sentimetn and I hand cut the sun image and pieced onto the same stamped image layered onto the Frosty Snowflakes Die Set.  A little Antique Linen sponging around the edges and some black washi tape and sequin accents finish things off.  Oh and a bit of stickles and rhinestones for sparkle!

As a bonus to our hop this month we've got a WHOLE lot (as in almost 100) of sets & dies marked down 30%, to clear a little room for our next release. Check it out on our SALE PAGE (you'll also find our latest release sprinkled in there and marked down 10%). Okay, enough on the side note... time to hop along to the next stop....  Amy Kolling!

	1. Julee {me}	7. Sankari
	2. Amy	8. Sarah
	3. Anya	9. Sony
	4. Jen d.	10. Susan
	5. Jessica	11. Tiffany
	6. Karen

Enabler's List
Stamps:  Learning to Sail (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Park Bench (Fancy Pants), Cream, Black
Ink: Black, Antique Linen (Ranger)
Accessories:  Frosty Snowflakes Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), washi tape, corner chomper, sequins, rhinestones, stickles

Sailing - AVS Hops Day 7

Hi friends!  Happy Wednesday.  It's Day 7 of our Anni-VERVE-sary Spotlight Hops and we're on the verge of some new VERVE!  (Yes, Marisa, that's a nod toward your Kindle Fire auto-correct that keeps replacing Verve with verge!)  {grin}  There's a lot of delicious eye candy to see today as the Divas showcase more scrumptious new stamps and dies.  Are you ready?  Let's go to the HOP!!!

Did I mention we're giving away a prize?  Leave a little comment love on each of today's hop posts (see full list below) and you just might be the lucky winner of: Learning to Sail and the Flourished Trim Die!  Head on over to the Verve Blog for all the details and a little back story on today's featured products.

Well, I think I finally ended up with a CAS card, or as close as I'm going to get!  {grin}  I've been trying all week, but kept getting distracted by all the toys in my studio that I haven't had a chance to play with for so long.  I knew I wanted to use the cloud technique I used in my Day 1 card with the sailboat image from Learning to Sail, so that's where I started.  The boat is stamped onto a Classic Square Nestabilities die cut, with the bottom of the water lined up with the embossed edge of the square.  I then masked off the edges from the embossed square outward and used a Scalloped Flower die cut to sponge Soft Sky ink directly onto the image.  I wanted to get lots of clouds and some darker areas of ink so that it really looked like a storm could be coming.  After that, I pulled the masking tape off, outlined the border of the embossed square then paper pieced and colored the sailboat image.

The waves are colored with a Tumbled Glass Distress marker and a waterbrush, then I filled them in with Frosted Lace stickles and a pinch of polar white flowersoft.  The waves on the base of the card are made by using half of the negative left over from cutting the  Flourished Trim Die.  I used it as a mask and inked up just the bottom section of my card.  The title sentiment from Learning to Sail is stamped directly on the card base and I paper pieced the banner portion to match the sails on the boat.  I finished off with a scallop rectangle mat for the image and a fun twirly ribbon treatment in the corner.

I'm getting so EXCITED for Friday!  We'll be revealing all the sets in their full glory at our Release Party this Friday night from 9-11PM Eastern.  Are YOU going to be there?  You've still got a few days to hop and participate in our Anni-VERVE-sary festivities in the hopes of winning some of these new sets and dies we've been sneaking!  A recap of all the ways to win is in the first post on our Release Party Thread.

Okay, time to move along... I can't wait to see what the rest of the Divas came up with, so I'm going to grab a mocha and hop on down the list!  Want to join me?  Next up is the always inspiring, Laurie!

1. Julee 8. Andrea 2. Laurie S. 9. Charmaine 3. Maureen 10. Janelle 4. Teresa 11. Betty 5. Tosh 12. Christyne {Guest} 6. Amber 13. Laurie W. {Guest} 7. Amy 14. Jen S. {Guest}

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Enabler's List
Stamps: sneak preview of Learning to Sail (Verve Stamps)
Paper: paper scraps (MME), White, Black
Ink: Soft Sky (SU!), Black, Distress Markers (Ranger)
Accessories:  sneak preview of Flourished Trim Die and Scalloped Flower Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Classic and Scallop Squares Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Polar White FlowerSoft, Frosted Lace Stickles, Glossy Glaze, ribbon