Cheer to You and Yours

Hi friends! I'm popping in with a fun little holiday card today. The sentiment is from the limited time free My Cup To Your digital and the sweet little stockings are cut with the Winter Friends Die Set.

The Diva Inspirations challenge this month had me thinking of this sweet St. Nick paper from a few years back. All the different styled stockings are so cute, so I dug the collection out and aged the panel a bit with three shades of distress ink and then blended a Prima oil pastel around the edges. The stockings are cut from coordinating paper and then again from white paper for the cuffs. I cut off just the cuff part and glued it over the top, then sketched in the design of the stockings with a marker, scraping on a bit of gesso to lighten up the cuff, then clipping on with mini library clips so they would look like they're hanging from the lines on the paper.

The sentiment is a mixture of two digis from the My Cup To Yours set. I'm really drawn to this holiday cheer sentiment and just keep using it!  I cut out the holiday cheer portion and then hand trimmed the banner from the other holiday cheer sentiment to pop up underneath.

If you want to play along with our Diva Inspirations challenge, please do. I love peeking at everyone's creations!  There are no rules, and you can take the inspiration any direction you like.

Enabler's List
Stamps: My Cup to Yours digital set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Saint Nick (FancyPants), white
Ink: antique linen, brushed corduroy, ground espresso (Ranger Distress), Oil pastels (Prima), laser printer, gesso
Accessories: Winter Friends Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), mini library clips (SU!)

Mojo Christmas Joy

Hi friends! It's the first Monday of a new month and that means it's contest time over at Mojo Monday.  Play along for a chance to win a Verve set of your choosing.  I chose a classic and simple sketch for this busy time of year. I hope it inspires you to get a little crafting done this week.

It's also our last Mojo sketch of 2016, as the design team is on holiday break through the end of the year. We hope you have the happiest of holidays.

For my card, I used this sweet little reindeer from Jolly Jingles that's been sitting on my desk for a little while.  He's stamped a few different times and fussy cut and popped up in pieces and colored up with Copic markers. I added just a hint of sparkle to his antlers, and cut the bottom most layer out with the coordinating die from the Winter Friends Die Set.

He's hanging out on a deckled rectangle die cut that I sponged with antique linen distress ink.  My horizontal piece is a piece of my favorite striped ribbon from May Arts, threaded through a big wooden snow flake and tied in a knotted bow.  I stamped the Christmas Joy sentiment from Beyond Measure onto the edge of an old dictionary page, then cut out and tucked behind the snowflake, accenting with a teeny star rhinestone.  The background papers are from the Christmas Basics paper pad by recollections and I used a Flourished Trim Die as the divider.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful week. If you've got a moment, be sure to head on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers are sharing today.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Jolly Jingles, Beyond Measure (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Christmas Basics (Recollections)
Ink: onyx black (Versafine), cherry cobbler (SU!), antique linen (Ranger Distress), markers (Copic)
Accessories: Winter Friends Die Set, Flourished Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), wooden snowflake sticker (Recollections), striped ribbon (May Arts), stardust stickles (Ranger), deckled rectangles nestabilities (Spellbinders), tiny nail art star rhinestone

Verve Release Day Spotlight Hop

Hi friends! It's release day at Verve and that means the sets we've been previewing this week are all available right not in the Verve shop!  Hooray!  And to celebrate the release, we're putting on another blog hop with a chance to win the whole release just for commenting.  I'm the first stop along the hop, so let's get to it.

This is one of my favorite cards I've made in a while.  I just love how that green spray looks with all the neutrals. I started by scraping heavy gesso onto a piece of cardstock.  I made sure it was really uneven, because I wanted a lot of texture.  When it was dry, I sprayed with dirty martini dylusions spray and then some water to cover my background.

Next I stamped the reindeer from Jolly Jingles, coloring with Copic markers and cutting with the coordinating Winter Friends Die Set. He looked really good next to a scrap of designer paper I had on my desk, so I cut that with a stitched circle die and embossed the sentiment from Beyond Measure in white.  I needed a little detail to stand out, so I just lightly went around it with a copic marker for a shadowing effect.  Next I stamped the greenery from Beyond Measure  in pear pizzazz ink and then cut with the coordinating Christmas Spirit Die Set.  I colored the greenery with a blender pen, then added a bit of sparkle to the leaves and antlers with some Nuvo Crystal Drops.

Now that everything was dry, I layered my circle and elements together and decided the background needed a few snowflakes.  I stamped them around and embossed in white.  My finishing touches were some distressed edges and a bit of seam binding, twine and rusty jingle bells.

Okay, thanks so much for hopping along with us this week!  I've so enjoyed reading your sweet comments.

Next up on the hop is the fabulous Lee Ann Barrett.

Want to win some shiny new Verve? Today's prize is a BIG one. We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win our ENTIRE new 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 the full hop list and all the prize info and deadlines!

1. Julee	7. Charmaine
2. Lee Ann (Guest)	8. Betty
3. Lynn (Guest)	9. Maureen
4. Tenia(Guest)	10. Teresa
5. Marisa	11. Christyne
6. Laurie

Enabler's List
Stamps: Jolly Jingles, Beyond Measure (Verve Stamps)
Paper: dp scrap (Teresa Collins), white
Ink: dirty martini spray (Dylusions), Pear pizzazz ink (SU!), black (Versafine), copic markers, versamark
Accessories: Winter Friends Die Set, Christmas Spirit Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), stitched circles (MFT), heavy gesso (Prima), Nuvo Crystal Drops (Tonic), jingle bells, seam binding, white embossing powder

Stocking Card Concept

This is my second post for the day. 
Click here to view my Day 1 New Release Spotlight Blog Hop Post

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Hi friends! It's time for a brand new Card Concept challenge to inspire you!  I loved the inspiration graphic, as I've been wishing for a typewriter that looks like this one for many years.  Aqua and pink are such a lovely combination, I'm sure there will be a feast of fabulous creations in the lineup this challenge!

It's also sneaky peek week at Verve, so I just *had* to use the new Jolly Jingles set we're peeking today. The Sweet Peppermint line from Prima just arrived and was the perfect start to this mixed media collage style Christmas card.

I started by collaging three different torn strips of patterned paper onto a 4 x 5.25" piece of cardstock with matte medium.  I added a few bits of washit tape here and there and then fingerpainted on some gesso to blend them all together.  Next I cut the bingo card and the let there be peace on earth panels from patterned paper, distressing the edges and adding a bit of gesso as well.

The stocking is from the soon to be released Jolly Jingles stamp set and I stamped it on the aqua paper, then painted the top portion with gesso and dumped on a bit of glitter, then when it was dry cut with the coordinating die from the Winter Friends Die Set.  To tie in the typewriter image I stamped the stockings were hung sentiment (also from Jolly Jingles) on vellum, then tore the sides down to the size I needed.  I layered everything together, using a fun clothespin embellishment I recently picked up at Tuesday Morning, adding some Nuvo crystal drops for a bit of shimmer.  To my collage, I added some random snowflakes and flowers, all brushed with gesso and sprinkled with glitter.  To finish off, I added the merry christmas sentiment, stamped with some typewriter font Pegz stamp (also a find at Tuesday Morning).

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure to hop on over to The Card Concept blog to see what the other designers have cooked up to inspire you today.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Jolly Jingles (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Sweet Peppermint (Prima), white, vellum
Ink: black (Versafine), gesso
Accessories: Winter Friends Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), clothespin (American Crafts), flowers (Petaloo), snowflake wood veneer, snowflake chipboard, washi tape, Nuvo crystal drops (Tonic)

Jolly Jingles Day 1 Hop

Hi friends! Welcome to the first day of our November Release Spotlight Hops! Over the next three days the Divas and our November Guests will be sharing their first looks at two brand new sets and coordinating die sets that are releasing this Friday, November 4. Each day we're running a comment prize drawing to win the new products, so be sure to give a little shout out for each of the projects as you hop about. I'm the first stop along today's hop, so let's get to hopping.

Today's featured set is Jolly Jingles, a whimsical little holiday set perfect for little tags, gift card holders and cards.  I seriously had so much fun stamping with this set and the coordinating Winter Friends Die Set and it was hard to decide which project to share today!  I settled on this sweet little trio of gift card holders.

I love to gift cards for the holidays in little stamped creations and the images in this set were just screaming to be added to some fun little kraft envelopes I found hidden away in a drawer.  I stamped each image in black Versafine, then colored with Copics (or in the case of the trees just paper pieced with designer paper. I added bits of designer paper here and there and a smattering of the sweet little snowflakes in the set for background.

I did sneak in a little sentiment from tomorrow's set on the tree gift holder, but everything else is from Jolly Jingles.  Don't you just love those stockings?  Perfect for little elves!

Okay, that's all from me today.  I hope you have a fabulous time hopping along!  Next up on the hop is one of our three fabulous Guest Divas this month, Lee Ann Barrett.  Be sure to head on over to the Verve Blog today to read a little bit more about our guests!

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!

1. Julee	7. Charmaine
2. Lee Ann (Guest)	8. Betty
3. Lynn (Guest)	9. Maureen
4. Tenia (Guest)	10. Teresa
5. Marisa	11. Christyne
6. Laurie

Enabler's List
Stamps: Jolly Jingles (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Christmas Basics (DCWV), white (neenah), vellum (SU!), kraft envelopes (Maya Road)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Copic markers, crumb cake, soft sky, garden green (SU!)
Accessories: Winter Friends Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), ghost snowflakes (Heidi Swapp), pierced squares stax (MFT), star circle die (Spellbinders)