The Brave Thing To Do

Hi friends! There are so many thoughts swirling through my head today. The boys have finished Montessori school and summer is officially here and Verve closes for good this weekend. I don't deal well with transitions and usually avoid them at all costs and now there are transitions going on in pretty much every part of my life all at once! Ack!

One of my favorite movies is You've Got Mail and I always cry when Kathleen closes her shop. ALWAYS, always, always. I'm not sure I can bring myself to watch this movie right now, but I do remember a wonderful little scene that makes my heart feel a bit lighter today.

"Closing the store is the BRAVE thing to do...I know you don't feel it right now, you feel like a big, fat failure... but, YOU'RE NOT! You are marching into the unknown armed with.... nothing."  

Big, fat failure. How is it that we always see our failures so much clearer than our successes? One of my reasons for closing Verve is that overwhelming everyday feeling of failing at juggling being both a Mom and a business owner. Both are exceedingly tough, very rewarding, full-time jobs that are exhausting in their own right. I'm a very private, self-sufficient perfectionist, and I have a ridiculously hard time asking for help when I need it. RIDICULOUSLY hard. Crazy stuff like not sleeping and having intense panic attacks just to send an email to ask someone to be a guest designer. Crazy, right? Silently suffering through panic attacks, depression and heartbroken, soul wrenching emotions have been my companions the past few years of trying to balance a creative business and motherhood and it's time to lighten the load. So I do consider it the BRAVE thing to do to close my shop when I could continue going through the motions for many more years. I am marching into the unknown armed with nothing but my faith, my family and 11 years of memories from running a very loved business created from my heart. Seems like a lot more than nothing, don't you think?

I had intended to make a card for today, but the boys wanted me to play Monopoly Star Wars, and War and read Darth Vader and Son, and take them bowling and watch The Empire Strikes Back (sensing a theme?) yesterday and I just couldn't say no on their first day of summer break.  So I'm just highlighting a few cards from times gone by using the three sets that are still left in the shop.  All remaining stamps and dies are 75% off and Saturday is the final day!

This card uses sentiments from Geared Up and a robot image from Birthday Bots, but you could easily just substitute the robot in Geared Up to make the card. I added some Mickey Mouse punched shapes and drew in some balloon strings by hand for accent. I absolutely love using the numbers in this set for birthday cards. And the gears images make for an easy randomly stamped masculine card or steam punk background.

This card uses the Twitterpated stamp set. Love the sweet little butterfly, which I colored and then coated with glossy accents and a sprinkling of glitter. The sentiments are perfect for adding to a heart die cut or making a little sentiment banner. Such a sweet little set and I'm especially fond of the Hearts & Swirls frame in the set.

And finally, here's a favorite card I made with the Pinecone Christmas stamp set. No fancy coloring here, just embossing in gold on cream cardstock and layering with some circle die cuts.  Classy and elegant, this is one of my favorite Christmas sets. I also love the card below, where I used the pine branches and pinecone images and my MISTI for a watercolored stamping effect.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and listening to my rambling heart. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Card Concept 49 Poppies and Lace

Hi friends! Today's the kickoff to the next Card Concept challenge, and there's a beauty of an inspiration pic this week.  Love the colors, love the blooms... the ideas are still coming!

I pulled my inspiration from the colors and flowers. I started by selecting papers, then cutting several sizes from each color with the Build a Poppy Die Set.  I then stamped each layer with the coordinating stamp from Poppy Birthday.  To add a bit of depth to each layer I sponged the edges of each flower and leaf with brushed corduroy distress ink, then layered together on dimensionals.  Each flower center is embossed with copper embossing powder, to pull in the copper embossing I did on the sentiment panel.

The sentiment frame is from Twitterpated, embossed and then cut out with the Hearts & Swirls Frame Die.  I added a bit of lace to add to the shabby feel, then distressed the edges of my papers to finish off.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you're inspired to play along.  For some more inspiration, head on over to The Card Concept blog today to see what the other designer's came up with.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Poppy Birthday, Twitterpated (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Howdy Doody (MME), Patina Basics (Bazzill), lucky limeade (SU!), cream (Neenah), vellum
Ink: calypso coral, peach parfait, daffodil delight, lucky limeade (SU!), versamark, brushed corduroy (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Build a Poppy Die Set, Hearts & Swirls Frame Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), copper embossing powder (Recollections), paper distresser, lace trim

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

Crazy Love

Hi friends!  I'm here today with my card for this week's Mojo Monday 430 sketch challenge.  I'm a day late... my motivation to create seem to be on holiday at the moment, and my days have been filled to the brim with other priorities. Anyhow, this morning after the kids left for school, I decided it was time to darken the door of the studio for the first time in a while.

I randomly picked out a paper pad from my basket, which happened to be this ephemera style Lille collection from 7 Gypsies.  I loved the crazy love wording down the paper, so decided to incorporate that into the sketch.  Since I had loaded up the Ranger CHA demos on YouTube to watch while I was stamping, the distressed look was a natural way to go for the card. (And speaking of crazy love and Ranger CHA demos... I cannot wait for the Distress Crayons!)

I inked the papers in antique linen and then vintage photo.  I cut the bigger heart from the  Wavy Hearts Die Set from both a doily and crumb cake and layered them together to give it a little weight. I then sponged on fired brick and vintage photo inks and some bronze distress stain.  I finished off with a smudging of stamper's big brush pen around the edges and sketched a frame quickly with a ball point pen.

The i'm yours is a sentiment from Twitterpated, and is stamped in archival coffee ink then embossed in clear.  I also stamped the small butterfly in coffee and colored with barn door, then cut with the coordinating All Aflutter Die Set.  I added the three hearts and valentine sentiment to a little banner, then finished off with some glossy glaze and glitter on the butterfly.

I tried to stay pretty rugged (with the exception of the glitter... and the doily!  LOL), since this is my card for Mark this year.  I think he'll like it, even with a bit of sparkle.  :)

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

Mojo Monday 430 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Twitterpated (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Lille (7 Gypsies), Crumbcake (SU!), doily
Ink: coffee archival, antique linen, vintage photo, barn door, tarnished brass (Ranger Distress), stamper's big brush pen (Faber Castell), waterbrush
Accessories: Wavy Hearts Die Set, All Aflutter Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), glossy glaze, glitter, clear embossing powder