Woodgrain Coffee Buzz

Hi friends! It's a brand new month of Mojo Monday and that means this week is contest week.  Play along for your chance to win some Verve of your very own.  We have a new release coming up on the 20th of this month and a huge restocking order around that time as well, so there should be lots of new goodies to choose from.

I drew the sketch from the card I posted last week for the Card Concept challenge.  I loved the way it flowed and thought it would be fun to give it another go.  For today's card I pulled out a bag of pre-stamped items that never made it onto cards and decided to play only with scraps.

The bees from The Buzz had already been embossed in gold on so saffron and cut with the coordinating The Buzz Die Set.  The honeycomb in the background had been stamped in delightful dijon on the same color paper and also cut with The Buzz Die Set.  I love the what's the buzz sentiment and embossed it on a scrap of woodgrain paper, then decided it totally needed some coffee.

So I embossed the cup from the Coffee set in gold on a scrap of paper, then watercolored with Gansai Tambai markers and fussy cut because I couldn't find my die set.  I added a Flourished Trim die cut from crackled gold paper, then decided the cup needed some steam, so embossed the steam stamp in gold on vellum and then tucked behind.  I layered everything together and thought it needed something else, so found a little vintage circle tag that had been stamped on one side and rejected.  So I embossed the little bee in gold, accented his wings with a white gel pen, and added it to my collage of elements.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Mojo Monday 446

Enabler's List
Stamps: The Buzz, Coffee (Verve Stamps)
Paper: dp scraps, crumb cake, so saffron, delightful dijon (SU!)
Ink: versamark, real brush watercolor markers (Gansai Tambi), amber distress ink (Ranger)
Accessories: The Buzz Die Set, Flourished Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), vintage tag (SU!), gold detail embossing powder

Feeling a Little Square

Hi friends, I'm popping in today with a quick little card I made with leftovers and scraps that were on my desk.  There hasn't been much crafting for me lately, I guess I've been feeling like a little square that's supposed to go in a round hole, but can't quite figure out how to go about it!  Every day or so I go sit in the studio for about 5-10 minutes with the intention of stamping and then no motivation comes and I move along.  I've come to know this cycle, and it usually ends up with a wonderful creative outpouring afterwards, but struggling through the "meh" is a bit difficult, and always makes me second guess whether or not I'll ever be creative again.  However, this card came together so easily... especially since all the stamping was done previously! LOL

I had stamped the honeycomb circles and sponged them, as well as cut the bee from The Buzz out with the coordinating The Buzz Die Set.  The sentiment is from the same sent, with the mine portion coming from Twitterpated.  I stamped these all for a Mojo Monday card earlier this month and then decided I wanted them on cream cardstock instead of white, so set these to the side until today.  I matted the circles with some gold vellum pinking circle diecuts and then did a split background of so saffron and strawberry slush, embossed with the chicken wire embossing folder.

Super quick and a fun little valentine! I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enabler's List
Stamps: The Buzz, Twitterpated (Verve Stamps)
Paper: strawberry slush, so saffron (SU!), white (Neenah), gold vellum
Ink: so saffron, blushing bride (SU!), tattered rose distress ink (Ranger), black archival
Accessories: The Buzz Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), classic circles and pinking circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), chicken wire embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Bee Mine

Hi friends! Nice to see you on a Monday!  It's been a while since I have had a Mojo Monday card ready for Monday, but thanks to a fun sleepover at Nana and Papa's for the boys, I had a chance to play along this weekend.

I've had this bee set running through my mind lately, so decided to pull it out and make a Valentine's card.  I used the honeycomb stamp in blushing bride ink for a subtle background on my circles.  Next I stamped the BE sentiment from The Buzz in black, then masked off parts of the be mine sentiment from Twitterpated to stamp just the mine below it.  The bee from The Buzz set is stamped in black, then cut with the coordinating die from the The Buzz Die Set.  Papers are from the Love Me line by My Mind's Eye and I shabbied up the edges and accented with a bit of glass glitter and pearls.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulous start to your week!

Mojo Monday 431 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: The Buzz, Twitterpated (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Love Me (My Mind's Eye), cream (Neenah)
Ink: blushing bride, so saffron (SU!), tattered rose, antique linen distress, black archival (Ranger)
Accessories: The Buzz Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), classic circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), glass glitter, pearls, paper distresser, paper piercer

Be Joyful

Hi friends!  It's Monday again and time for another Mojo Monday sketch.  This week's sketch is an easy one that can be dressed up or down for all sorts of options.

I started with the Celebrate inspiration challenge in mind, so pulled out spun sugar and worn lipstick distress ink, smooshed it onto watercolor paper and spritzed to get a lovely pink.  Once that was dry, I used the Gothic layering stencil to sponge on more worn lipstick ink for a fun background, finishing the background by sponging with worn lipstick and distressing the edges and flicking a few water droplets.

On another piece of the smooshed paper, I embossed the Be and Joyful sentiments  as well as the large bee from The Buzz set in silver.  The bee is cut with the coordinating The Buzz Die Set , then I added some glossy glaze and a dusting of glitter to the wings for ultimate sparkle.  

My circle element is a bit abstract today... a little nest of metallic silver thread behind the scrap of silver polka dot vellum.  I scraped a bit of watered down white paint over the vellum, then scribbled some glue along the edges and sprinkled on some silver glitter.  I finished off with some sparkling rhinestone flourishes.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulous start to your week!

Enabler's List

Mojo Monday 412 Sketch

Stamps: The Buzz (Verve Stamps)

Paper: watercolor distress paper (Tim Holtz), silver foil vellum (SU!)

Ink: worn lipstick, spun sugar (Ranger Distress), versamark, white paint

Accessories: The Buzz Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), silver detail embossing powder (Ranger), Gothic layering stencil (Tim Holtz), glitter, glossy glaze, silver thread, rhinestone flourishes

One of a Kind

Hi friends!  Welcome to August!  Today I'm sharing a card for one of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges over on Splitcoaststampers. They start today and run for one week and there are lots of prizes, including some from Verve.

I made a fun little square card, stamping the 4.25" tip top taupe base with the honeycomb image from The Buzz, then I added the BE and You-tiful stamps in the corner, with a few teeny bees fluttering around.

Next I started on my focal point, a little doodle I did to test out my new Kuretake watercolors.  After I finished water coloring the flower, I did a wash of the pearly watercolor, but it didn't turn out the way I expected, so I pulled out some stencils to rescue the project.  First I used scattered straw with a honeycomb stencil, then tumbled glass with the dots stencil.  I distressed the edges with tip top taupe and black soot, then splattered some watered down black soot on top.

The mat is baja breeze, sponged with the same colors and then I added black liquid pearl accents.  I finished off by adding some white liquid gel pen accents to the bees.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Enabler's List
Stamps: The Buzz (Verve Stamps)
Paper: tip top taupe, baja breeze (SU!), white
Ink: tiptop taupe (SU!), black soot, tumbled glass, scattered straw (Ranger Distress) watercolors, black micron pen, (Kuretake), white gel pen
Accessories: stitched circles stax (MFT), liquid pearls, honeycomb and dot fade layering stencils (Tim Holtz)

Coffee Buzz

Hi friends!  It's Friday and time for another Viva la Verve Sketch.  This is the final sketch in our July series, so be sure to link up your entries by next Thursday for a chance to win our $100 Verve gift voucher prize drawing!  This week's fun sketch is from Jen!

I originally planned to do a card with soft pastel scraps, stitch them together and go all shabby chic. But when I sat down to stamp all I could think about was coffee and the first pad I pulled out was this World Traveler collection of papers, so my theme was set.

I cut the strips of paper randomly, then pieced them together and glued onto a 4 x 5.25" piece of cardstock, sponging each panel with tip top taupe.  The sentiment is from The Buzz and I added the coffee cup from Get Together above, then paper pieced it in coordinating papers.  The steam is from the Coffee set and I stamped it on tip top taupe, then colored with a copic and a white gel pen.  After a little stamp surgery, I used one of the coffee beans from the Coffee set to randomly stamp around my background, then finished off my stitched circle with a black mat and black liquid pearl accents.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a wonderful start to your weekend!

VLV July 2015 Week 5 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Coffee, Get Together, The Buzz (Verve Stamps)
Paper: World Traveler (Teresa Collins), tip top taupe, basic black (SU!)
Ink: tip top taupe (SU!), black, Copic markers, white gel pen
Accessories: Stitched Circles Stax (MFT)

Wild and Perfect Bees

Hi friends!  I had a little time to myself last night and decided to do a little stamping.  Some of Verve's out of stock dies arrived back in stock yesterday, and after packaging them up, I was inspired to pull out The Buzz Die Set and make some colorful bees to go with the All things are possible sentiment in The Buzz.  The Splitcoast Wild and Perfect Sky color challenge was the perfect jumping off point, so I pulled out some perfect plum, soft sky and wild wasabi and got right to work.

I started by stamping the bee in soft sky, then perfect plum, then wild wasabi on coordinating card stock and then cutting with the bee in The Buzz Die Set.  Next I stamped the sentiment in archival black on white card stock, then stenciled over it with the same inks first with the doily layering stencil and then with the gothic layering stencil.  I then placed two stitched circle dies together and taped them down so I could cut a circle frame and the inner circle.  I offset these a bit, then popped up the colorful bees around the edges.  I finished off with a white embossed layer using the chicken wire embossing folder.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Enabler's List
Stamps: The Buzz (Verve Stamps)
Paper: soft sky, perfect plum, wild wasabi (SU!), white (neenah)
Ink: soft sky, perfect plum, wild wasabi (SU!), archival black (Ranger)
Accessories: The Buzz Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), stitched circle stax (MFT), chicken wire embossing folder (Cuttlebug), doily and gothic layering stencils (Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous)

Possibilities

Hi friends!  It's the first Monday of the month and that means it's time to kick off our Mojo Monday contest week.  Play along with this week's sketch for a chance to win a stamp set of your choice from Verve!  We add another winner for every 50 entries, so enter as many times as you like to improve your chances!

We had a great big, busy weekend.  We hosted a big 4th of July barbecue on Saturday and then headed to my sister's house yesterday to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary.  It was great to visit with friends of my parents that I hadn't seen since I graduated high school and was a super special day. Today my little ones are off to their first day of pre-school. So for my card today, I picked a sentiment that kind of summed up how I was feeling....  so many possibilities surrounding me with actually having time to truly devote to Verve and my own creative life.  Overwhelming optimism and heartbreaking sadness are at war in my head space right now and I'm pretty sure this is going to be a roller coaster of a week for me.

All of the stamps are from the The Buzz set.  I stamped the sentiment on a stitched circle and matted with black. Then I randomly stamped my own DIY paper with the big and small bee images from the set, coloring the bee stripes with a copic marker and then sponging each layer with antique linen.  The designer paper is from My Mind's Eye and I cut the bee with the coordinating The Buzz Die Set.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Be sure to head on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers have cooked up with today's sketch.  Have a great start to your week!

Mojo Monday 405 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: The Buzz (Verve Stamps)
Paper: basic black (SU!), cream (Neenah), Lost & Found Antique (MME)
Ink: black archival, antique linen distress (Ranger), copic marker
Accessories: The Buzz Die Set ( A Cut Above by VERVE), stitched circles stax (MFT), embossing folder (Darice)

Gracious Words

Hi friends!  It's finally Friday and time for the final June Viva la Verve sketch.  Be sure to link up your cards before Thursday, July 2 to be entered in our $100 Verve voucher prize drawing!  This week's hostess is the lovely Amber Hight with a fun layered sketch.

I hadn't had a chance to use the Proverbs 16:24 plain jane, so I decided it would be fun to use the honeycomb stamp from The Buzz as my four circles.  I stamped them in hello honey ink and then cut with the coordinating The Buzz Die Set.  (Sorry, the dies sold out quickly, but there are more on the way in a few weeks.)  I love this verse because it is so true.  I can't even count the number of times kind, gracious words have changed my day and lifted my spirits.  I'm the kind of person that still rehashes conversations from when I was 12 in my head, so I know firsthand how powerful the spoken word can be.  I try my best to think before I speak and endeavor to make my words full of grace and kindness.  This stamp is a great reminder of that.

To play on the word theme, I decided to use some dsp from the First Edition pack, lightly scraping it with gesso, then sponging scattered straw and fossilized amber distress inks over a hexagon stencil to do the background.  I did the same technique on another square and stamped the Proverbs 16:24 verse in Archival Black ink.  I cut a black frame using two pinking circles dies for the underlying circle, then added several small bee stamps from The Buzz to both the background and the sentiment panel and colored with a marker and a white gel pen.

I wanted that busy feeling of buzzing around the beehive, so I added some enamel dots here and there, then finished off with the big bee from The Buzz stamped onto the dbook paper, then cut with the coordinating die.  Lots of distressed edges lend a shabby feel and the finished card size is 5.5" square.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a wonderful start to the weekend.  It's supposed to be the start of a heat wave around here with temperatures in the 108-109 range this weekend.  I'm thinking we'll be spending some time in our subdivision pool with the boys!  {grin}

Viva la Verve June Week 4 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: The Buzz, Proverbs 16:24 (Verve Stamps)
Paper: First Edition DSP, hello honey, basic black (SU!), cream (Neenah)
Ink: hello honey (SU!), black archival, fossilized amber, vintage photo, gathered twigs distress (Ranger), white gel pen
Accessories: The Buzz Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), enamel dots, pinking circles nestabilities (Spellbinders), honeycomb stencil (Tim Holtz), gesso

A Good One Day 6 Post Release Hop

Hi friends!  Welcome to Day 6 of our June New Release Spotlight Hops!

This release week has been so much fun, thanks for hopping along with us!  Today is the final day of our spotlight hops and today's theme is Diva's Choice.  Always a favorite, this is the day we all get to choose which set or sets to use and have some fun.  So grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in for one more fabulous first look at our newly released stamps & dies.  I'm the first stop along today's hop and today's prize is a doozy... the ENTIRE release!!!  So be sure to leave a little shout out as you hop about to be entered in our prize drawing!

One of my favorite stamps in the whole release is the honeycomb in The Buzz.  I really wanted to go for a realistic honeycomb look, so got out a few mixed-media supplies and just played.

For the background, I started by stamping the honeycomb pattern all over the crumb cake panel, connecting the pieces in parts and leaving a few openings here and there.  Next I cut a honeycomb die cut using The Buzz Die Set and used this as a stencil to add some modeling paste to the centers of the honeycombs randomly across the panel.  While the modeling paste was drying, I pulled out some book paper and created a little scroll by rolling each end down and gluing, leaving enough room to stamp the sentiment I wanted to use from Sparkly Dreams.  I spread on a bit of gesso over the book paper and once it dried I stamped the Lincoln quote in archival black.

Next I stamped the large bee and two small bees on cream cardstock. The large bee is cut with the coordinating die from The Buzz Die Set and I fussy cut the two smaller bees.  I colored them, then added a bit of glossy glaze to the large bee and set aside to dry.  Then I moved back to my honeycomb panel, where the modeling paste was mostly dry (I'm so impatient).  I sponged on fossilized amber and then sponged vintage photo and gather twigs ink randomly all over the panel, distressing the edges.

I then glued the scroll down to the honeycomb panel and used some Stamper's Big Brush pens to add shading and dimension to the scroll.  I stamped a honeycomb with fossilized amber on cream, then sponged all around with fossilized amber and cut with the coordinating die.  I layered this under my big glossy bee, then added the two little bees and finished off by distressing the crumb cake card base.

That's a wrap for me!  Thanks so much for taking the time to hop along with me this week.  I've thoroughly enjoyed every comment and am so grateful for the opportunity to share my stamps and my cards with you.  If you're interested, I have a simple masculine just-in-time for Father's Day card on the Verve Blog today, too.  Have a fantastic weekend!

Next up on the hop is the fabulous Stacey!

1. Julee 7. Charmaine 2. Stacey 8. Christyne 3. Teresa 9. Maureen 4. Amber 10. Amy 5. Laurie 11. Janelle 6. Marisa

Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win our ENTIRE June 2015 Release! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the shopping and prize info and deadlines!



Enabler's List
Stamps: The Buzz, Sparkly Dreams (Verve Stamps)
Paper: crumb cake, cream, book paper
Ink: fossilized amber, vintage photo, gathered twigs distress, black archival (Ranger), stampers big brush pens (Faber-Castell)
Accessories: The Buzz Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE),paper distresser, glossy glaze, gesso, modeling paste, glitter

The Buzz Day 4 Hop

Hi friends!  We're back at it with Day 4 of Verve's June New Release Blog Hops. I sure enjoyed hopping along yesterday and can't wait to see what the Divas have buzzing today.

I'm the first stop along today's hop, so settle in for some fun as we shine our sneaky spotlights on the new The Buzz set and coordinating The Buzz Die Set that will release this Friday! We're giving today's featured products away to a random commenter along today's hop, so be sure to leave a little shout out as you hop about!  :)

I have been the most excited about this set since I illustrated it. The past 6 months have been really hard on me, with only a few meager hours each week to work and the rest spent with twin toddlers. One day a while back, Mark came home and told me to just go upstairs while he took over twin duty. And so I did.  I illustrated the bee in this set during that hour and it was just the spark I needed to motivate myself to get back to the drawing board, so to speak.

For today's card I went mixed-media and made a Father's Day card for Mark.  The background is done by dropping some Bombay Dr. Ph. Martin's india inks on watercolor cardstock, spritzing with water and then letting it drip.  I added some strips of Tim Holtz tissue tape randomly for some interest, lightly coloring with some distress inks and a waterbrush.  Then I stamped a border from the Deco Borders set at the bottom.  The bees and honeycomb images are stamped on black with Versamark and then embossed in gold and cut with the coordinating The Buzz Die set.  I had to add two bees, one for each of our boys!  I splashed some more ink on a scrap of paper for my Happy Father's Day sentiment, then finished off with lots of distressed edges and a wood chip pennant that I colored with a black marks all pencil.

If you want to see these dies in action, I have a short rambling of a video (in which I use ENTIRELY too much washi tape!) over on the Verve Blog today with a tip about aligning dies that don't have alignment holes. None of our dies this release have alignment holes.  Many of them are open dies, so it's easy to see through to your stamped image to line up, but a couple have little or no border and this trick helps line them up beautifully!

Next up on the hop is the fabulous Stacey!

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 today for a little more about our new products, an introduction of our fabulous special guests, and all the prize info and deadlines!

1. Julee 7. Charmaine 2. Stacey 8. Andrea 3. Teresa 9. Christyne 4. Amber 10. Maureen 5. Laurie 11. Shantaie 6. Marisa

Enabler's List
Stamps: The Buzz, Deco Borders (releasing 6/19 from Verve Stamps)
Paper: basic black (SU!), watercolor distress cardstock (Tim Holtz)
Ink: black archival, spiced marmalade, wild honey distress (Ranger), VersaMark (Tsukineko), Tangerine and Yellow Bombay India Inks (Dr. Ph. Martins)
Accessories: The Buzz Die Set (releasing 6/19 from Verve), tissue tape (Tim Holtz), gold embossing powder (Judikins), wood veneer (Evalicious)