Have a Happy Day

I think in my 10 years of designing stamps, this sentiment from the Be Blessed set is one of my all-time favorites. Who wouldn't want a big old wish for a happy day in their mailbox? Do you mail a lot of cards? Sadly, I do not. I fully intend to, and usually have a recipient in mind for the cards I make. But sometimes writing the words, finding an envelope to fit, and figuring out the postage for my very bulky cards is just more than my little overwhelmed heart can handle. But it certainly brightens my day when I receive a card in the mail, so I'm trying to make an effort to send more out.

As I mentioned in my last post, my boys were CRAZY yesterday. I don't deal well with conflict, and these boys have this eternal struggle with each other that could put Cain and Abel to shame. Or at least Jacob and Esau. After a day of listening to their not-so-civil war, and arbitrating fragile peace treaty infringements,  I was more than ready to relinquish them to their Dad for some basketball and Risk in the evening. I headed up the stairs and surprised myself by deciding to forgo the book and a rocking chair that had been calling my name and headed instead to my stamp room to make a card filled with happy using the August Viva la Verve sketch.

The sketch is perfect for using up patterned paper, so I sifted through the stacks of 6 x 6 pads in my cupboard until I came across a very thin one. It only had 4 papers left in it! Such a rarity that I would have used up all but a few papers from a single pad. So I just had to work on using those remaining papers, and this is the card that ensued.

I added a little antique linen and vintage photo ink to all the layers to make them stand out. The three strips are taped together and then I embossed the sentiment from Be Blessed in early espresso.  The flowers are from the Button Best stamp set, and I stamped them directly on patterned paper in abandoned coral and then cut with the Petal Points Die Set.  I added some Sprightly Sprigs die cuts in early espresso and finished off with some chocolate liquid pearls and a bumpy rhinestone for the flower center.

I hope you'll play along with this month's Viva la Verve sketch. I'm so enjoying seeing the cards in the link up.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantabulous weekend.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Be Blessed, Button Best (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Howdy Doody (My Mind's Eye), early espresso, cream
Ink: vintage photo, antique linen distress (Ranger), early espresso (SU!)
Accessories: Petal Points Die Set, Sprightly Sprigs Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), clear embossing powder (Judikins), adhesive bump rhinestone (Recollections), chocolate liquid pearls (Ranger)

AnniVERVEsary Viva la Verve

Hi friends! It's the 10th Anni-VERVE-sary of Verve and I thought it would be the perfect time to start dipping my feet back into some Verve challenges. We're starting out with a month long Viva la Verve sketch and I'm hoping to get a regular challenge schedule back in full swing by September. Yay!

For my card, I started with this little sketch I doodled out in a notebook, which has now become this month's Viva la Verve sketch. In a recent cleaning of my studio, I came across this pad of Typecast papers and just had to use it to make a fun birthday card.

I just eyeballed it while making my card, but my three strips came out to be about .75" wide by 3.5" long.  I stamped the Birthday Wishes sentiment from the Cake & Candles set that will be releasing later this month on the pink strip, then matted this panel with black.

The wishing you a year of joy sentiment comes from the same set and is stamped onto a patterned paper stitched circle die cut and matted with other circle die cuts.  I finished off with a rolled flower from my stash, a couple of leaves cut from the Sprightly Sprigs Die Set.  A sprinkling of rhinestones in the corner completes the card.

I hope you'll come celebrate our 10th Anni-VERVE-sary and link up your sketch creations to our link up this month. One lucky participant will win a $40 gift voucher to the Verve shop, which will come in handy with our relase of 4 fabulous new sets at the end of August!

If you're in the mood to shop this month, be sure to check out our Anni-VERVE-sary sale. Our coffee loving July release is 20% off, while everything else in the shop is 30% off!

VLV August 2017

Enabler's List
Stamps: Cake & Candles (releasing 8/28/17 from Verve)
Paper: Typecast (American Crafts), basic black, regal rose (SU!)
Ink: onyx black (Versafine)
Accessories: Sprightly Sprigs Die Set, stitched circles stax (MFT), circles and pinking circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), rolled rose (Recollections), rhinestones, Nuvo crystal drops (Tonic)