Stronger Every Day

Nineteen years ago today I married my best friend and the love of my life. Together we have laughed some and cried some and at times even cried so hard we burst into laughter while we built our life together. And a business. And a home. And a family.  So much to be thankful for... all because two people fell in love.

My card today is the anniversary card I made for him. I was attempting to do Maremi's Small Art 10 minute challenge, but one of my little loves is home sick and needed me to come look at his creation and to hold him and to get him more water... and I just kept getting interrupted.  So when I hit the 10 minute mark and wasn't quite finished, I decided to make it a 19 minute card... one minute for each of our 19 years.

The base is white card stock scraped with heavy body gesso and then I sprinkled a little Lindy's Magicals powder on and spritzed with water.  The heart shape was made with a stencil I made with the negative of the Primitive Hearts Die Set from Sizzix. I painted inside the small heart with white gesso, then went around it with black oil pastel and smudged with my finger.  I added some Stabilo black pencil all around and then wiped with a baby wipe, wiping over the white areas of the panel as well, to make the grey background.  Next I placed the stencil on again and did another layer of white gesso and then added some magicals and spritzed with water with the stencil still on.

Next I took a stencil of the bigger heart from the die set and placed it around the heart and outlined with a black stabilo pencil and smudged inward to make the outer ring around the heart. I cut the smallest heart from Tim Holtz tissue paper and used 3D gloss gel to add to the center of the heart. Then I used a stylus and some gesso to make the dots around the edges of the heart.

 I added some of the same tissue paper to diagonal corners of the panel with 3D gloss.  Next I stamped a sentiment from the Stronger Love set that I re-arranged with a little masking in archival black ink to fit the card.  I then sprinkled some white gesso and some gesso mixed with black ink around the card for a splatter effect.  A few distressed edges and the card was done.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Stronger Love (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white cardsotck
Ink: Sassy Saphire (Lindy's Magicals, Drop Dead Diva Collection), archival black (Ranger), basic black reinker (SU!), heavy body gesso, black oil pastel (Prima), Stabilo marks all pencil
Accessories: Primitive Hearts Die (Sizzix), Postale Tissue Wrap (Tim Holtz Ideaology)

Masculine Mojo

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for a new Mojo Monday sketch!  This week's sketch is by Carole and is one of those that you can dress up or dress down for any occasion.  I was in the mood to make a masculine card (which rarely ever happens) when I sat down at my desk, probably because I just loved these Timeless 8.5 x 11 papers I found on my last trip to Michael's.  I mean really... what's not to love about kraft and black and all sorts of vintage patterns?  Done deal.  {grin}

Anyhow, I decided to go with a rounded square instead of a circle for my main panel, because the circles just seemed a little too feminine for what I had in mind.  I pulled out the Stronger Love set, and embossed the sentiment in white on the graph pattern paper, then colored with a Copic marker to give it a little definition and some not so white coloring.  The little tab is a Tim Holtz die cut, which I embossed a little heart from the heart swirls in the set, then outlined the tab with a pencil.  I also embossed the bigger heart in white on black, and colored with a Copic.  The ribbon is Graphic 45 and was white before I stained it with a combination of antique linen and vintage photo inks.  The border strip is the Pennant Trim Die and I outlined the black with a pencil as well.  Finished off with some mini gears as embellishment and some chevron embossing on the card base.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulous start to your week.  Be sure to head on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what all the other gals did with the sketch!  And if you haven't already, be sure to checkout the No Matter What Blog Hop for a chance to win some new Verve.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Stronger Love (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Timeless (Recollections), Black, Cream
Ink: Embossing Ink, Black Soot, Antique Linen, Vintage Photot (Ranger), Copic markers
Accessories: Pennant Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Tiny Tabs & Tags die and mini gears (Tim Holtz), ribbon (Graphic 45), corner chomper, chevron embossing folder (SU!)

Who I Am

Hi friends! I can't believe another week has gone by! I still haven't had any new time in the studio, but that's because I've been designing stamps. {grin} So I'm just popping in to change up the scenery to this card I made a few weeks back for Verve's release.

This is another one of the cards made on my clean & {sort of} simple kick.  I'm just loving white space lately.  The sentiment from Stronger Love inspired me to keep things a bit on the masculine side for a just because card for Mark.  We've had an extremely rough 6 months adjusting to life with difficult infant twins, a new house, a new job and basically nothing familiar in our lives but each other.  He's been such a support to me, but some days I can just tell he needs a little pick me up, so that was the inspiration for this card.  I fussy cut around the sentiment, "I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you" and highlighted the scripted letters with a distress ink marker.  The scroll is stamped with the Scroll Plain Jane and cut with the Scroll Die and I added some of the heart trails from Stronger Love, then stamped, colored and cut out the hearts to pop up over the scroll.  The three little pennants are made by layering the tails of the Arrow Die over the Pennant Trim Die for a perfect mat.  The main layer is embossed with a striped embossing folder and I added some Tim Holtz film strip ribbon, some back twill and a Tim Holtz metal charm as accents.  Although you can't tell in the photo, the charm says JOURNEY, and seemed like the perfect embellishment for the occasion.

I hope you have a fantastic day as we head into the weekend!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Stronger Love, Scroll Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: paper scraps (Graphic 45), Basic Black (SU!), Cream
Ink: Black, Pumice Stone, Broken China, Tumbled Glass (Ranger)
Accessories: Pennant Trim Die, Scroll Die, Arrow Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Film Strip Ribbon, Philosophy Charms, Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), black twill, black scrapper's floss (Karen Foster), blender pen, Stripes embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Corner Rounder

Life With You - AVS Day 6 Hop

Hi friends!  Happy Tuesday.  It's already Day 6 of our Anni-VERVE-sary Spotlight Hops!!!  The Divas are back at it again bringing you more delicious sneak peeks of the sets and dies that are releasing on Friday night, August 24.  I'm the start of today's show, so let's get to it!!!   

Oh yeah, did I mention there's a prize?  Leave a little comment love on each of the posts on today's hop list (see below) and you just might be the lucky winner of the stamps and dies we're featuring today... Stronger Love, the Scroll Plain Jane and the Scroll Die!  Head on over to the Verve Blog for all the details and a little back story on today's showcased stamps.

My card once again started out as a clean & simple concept, but this time I got side-tracked in mixed-media land.  I started with a 4" square and I masked off about a 1/2" border with masking tape, then stamped the love sentiment from Stronger Love repeatedly in Baja Breeze.  Next I removed the tape and scored at 1/4" and 1/2" on all four sides.  I pulled out my Martha Stewart fringe scissors and snipped the fringe to the first score line.  Then I pulled out a black gelato and baby wipes and made a fun little mess.  This piece is matted on a Basic Gray mat, and I wrapped some aqua baker's twine around the edges to give it a frame look.

Next up I cut a Wavy Hearts die cut from a scrap of DP, then hand cut a black mat for it and inked up with some more gelatos and baby wipes.  The Scroll Plain Jane is stamped onto the coordinating Scroll Die and I stamped the three individual words, life with and you from the Stronger Love set inside of it.  It's colored with a Pumice Stone distress marker, water and a watercolor brush.  The finished card size is 4.25" square (plus a little wiggle room for my skewed panels)!


I can't wait to see what the rest of the Divas came up with, so I'm going to grab a cup of coffee and hop about!  Want to join me?  Next up is our resident tractor driving Diva 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

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Enabler's List
Stamps: sneak preview of Stronger Love, Scroll Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: paper scraps (Graphic 45) Basic Gray, Basic Black (SU!), Cream
Ink: Baja Breeze (SU!), Black, Black Gelato (Faber Castell), Pumice Stone Distress (Ranger)
Accessories:  Wavy Hearts Die Set, sneak preview of Scroll Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Fringe Scissors (Martha Stewart), Always Aqua Baker's Twine (Pizzazz Aplenty), baby wipes, paper distresser