Merry Christmas Everyone

Just wanted to wish you a blessed Christmas as you celebrate the birth of Christ, God's gift to the world, with family and friends.  May the peace, love, joy and hope presented to us that very first Christmas night touch and fill your heart in new ways, and may 2010 be a year in which some of the desires of your heart are fulfilled. 

In addition, I want to take a moment to thank every one of you who pops by to visit my little bit of blog land.  I have had so much fun starting this blog.  I love learning new things, and it's been wonderful learning about something in cyber world.  Built in bonus: it keeps the gray matter hopping and hopefully has me somewhere near where my kids are at in their knowledge of computers LOL!  However, even more so, I have enjoyed meeting and getting to know those of you who come by to say hi :D  Thank you for all your encouraging comments, they make my day (((hugs)))!!


Not sure when I'll be able to post next as we are hosting Christmas this year and things will be busy with family around.  However, as soon as things settle down and our guest room (aka my stamping room) no longer has people residing in it, I'll be in there like a dirty shirt!!

Christmas blessings to you all!!

Spring Mojo

What a fun Mojo Sketch Julee came up with this week. Just perfect for squeezing in a card before Christmas.

With all the news and pictures on blogs of the snow that has fallen on the East Coast, plus vivid memories of the huge dump of snow we got last Christmas, I decided to think Spring!  I pulled out this cute set and my Michael's $1.50 mini  flower punch and went to work with this colour combo that just makes me happy :)    Lots of flowers plus some butterflies and I managed to bring a tiny bit of Spring into my craft room :D  Thankfully, the Apron Lace punch I ordered on line for my birthday in January (gotta take advantage of the sales while they are happening) hasn't arrived yet or you know what I'd be very tempted to do LOL!!  My Threading Water punch worked wonderfully instead.

The sentiment had to have a soft feel to it to match the rest of the card so I pulled out SU's Think Happy Thoughts.  The sentiment stamped and punched easily, but when it came to centering the flower in the sentiment circle, I couldn't do it for the life of me - ugh.  I gave up after three tries so just pretend it's nice and centered, okay?!

The white space needed a little something so I tried various scoring patterns and finally settled on two lines a quarter inch apart on the top and bottom of the white panels.  Unfortunately, my far from professional photography skills could only get the top set to show up, but I promise you they are also on the bottom :D  Something was still missing, so I added a bow at the bottom of the sentiment ribbon for a bit of "umph" and  finished things off with a few brown half pearls on the butterflies and the center of my "centered" sentiment flower LOL.  Presto, Spring had sprung!

Thanks or taking a few minutes during this very busy time of year to visit!  Hang in there, only a few more sleeps and all your business and hard work will be rewarded by big smiles and thank yous.

 What's In It?
Stamps:  Sweet Dreams (SU), Think Happy Thoughts (SU)
Paper:  Mellow Moss, Cameo Coral, So Saffron
Ink:  Mellow Moss, Cameo Coral
Accessories:  Threading Water Punck, Michael's Mini $1.50 Flower Punch, 1/8" circle punch, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, Brown Half Pearls, 5/8" Saffron Satin Ribbon, Scor-Pal, Dimensionals

My B & Es Continue....

Amber has come up a wonderful sketch to wrap up 2009.  It's hard to believe we have had a year of Verve sketches with twists!  I must admit, it is nice not to have to worry about a twist this month because with all that is going on in December, my little brain is on overload and I'm sure I would be making four and five cards per sketch due to forgetting to add the twist LOL!

I am bowing my head in shame today as I succumbed to another pressie B & E last night....  This is so unlike me - honest!!  Let me explain.  The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this sketch was to use a heart for one of the panels.  Since I was wrapping pressies with the kids yesterday afternoon, I was reminded of what I had purchased for myself from my family (gotta love being able to buy for yourself as just about everything I got was on sale or bought with a coupon :D) and the heart Nesties were included.  When my kids had maxed out their pressie wrapping attention span, I used the Nesties for this card.  I must say, they are a lot more challenging to get into than the MS border punch was, and I'm thankful the hard, plastic packaging they come in isn't totally sealed all the way around or I wouldn't have been able to get them out.  I giggled with glee while using them as they were so perfect for the card (I'm desperately trying to justify my errant ways, aren't I :D).  However, getting them back into their packaging and arranging them back into "nested" form was much harder than I'd bargained for LOL!  Guess it serves me right!!  I'm not sure where this evil little habit is coming from (maybe it's because I enjoyed watching Russell on Survivor and was totally miffed he didn't win the million dollars!), but everything is now wrapped and under the tree so I know I won't be doing any more pressie B & Es.  At least that is my story and I'm sticking to it....at least trying to stick to it as my birthday is in January and I have a few more Nesties coming my way...just kidding LOL!

Sorry, I digressed.  A little confession does wonders for the soul LOL!  Back to the card.  I found these fun DPs in my Costco DP Pack and matched them up with some lovely cream linen card stock.  Of course, my Swiss Dots embossing folder had to come out -- I'm really falling off the band wagon on this card! -- and I used one of my all time favorite sentiments from Wordsworth in the heart.  However, there was a lot of white space left in the heart so out came this cute stamp from Verve ( I'm not sure what you call this - a filligree?  Can anyone enlighten me?) in the "corners" of the heart and added a touch of bling at the base of each one for a little pop.  Finished things off with some brads and sheer burgundy ribbon.  Happy with how this turned out and must say the B & E was worth the final product - despite the shame of it all!!

Hope your Christmas preparations are well in hand.  I can't believe how under control things are at our house this year - it's such a wonderful place to be in!!  It takes all the stress out of the Season and allows me to enjoy it all the more.  The kids and I are are thrilled to have daddy all to ourselves for the next two weeks as he is on vacation, and I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing Princess and the Frog as a family tomorrow.

Thanks for popping in for a visit and letting me know you've been here.  Your comments are always so encouraging (((hugs))).   Have a blessed day.





What's In It?
Stamps:  Wordsworth, Verve
Paper:  Costco DP Pack, Cream Linen
Ink:  Baroque Burgundy
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Heart Nesties, Brads, Sheer Burgundy Ribbon, Bling, Dimensionals

River Rock and Flowers

 

How things can change in a day.  Yesterday we had four inches of snow and today, it is basically all gone as it poured rain all through the night and it is up to 7C (46F) already.  Gotta love West Coast  snowfalls: here today, gone tomorrow!

I had two ideas in mind when I first saw this sketch, one being a focal sentiment and the other a focal floral (try saying that a few times quickly LOL!).  As you can see, the focal floral won out.  This Penny Black image has been a long time favorite of mine and I never tire of using it.  I decided to go with Black, River Rock and Cream because I wanted to stamp the flower image in black, and this lovely colour combination worked like a charm.  I used my Nesties for the ovals and had to stamp my  main image a few times because it isn't easy to get a good image on linen paper due to the texture it has.  However, after really inking up my stamp, attempt number three was successful LOL!   I used Itty Bitty Backgrounds for the River Rock panels for a subtle pattern as I didn't want to take away from the main image.  Wrapped things up (no pun intended LOL) with some sheer black ribbon and a sentiment.

Hope you are closer to being ready for Christmas :D  Have a fabulous day!

What's In It?

Stamps:  Penny Black, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (SU), Warmest Regards 

Paper:  Black, River Rock, Cream Linen

Ink:  Black

Accessories:  Oval and Scalloped Oval Nesties, 5/8" Sheer Black Ribbon, Dimensionals

Snowing Mojo

I veered off the sketch a bit here as a few others beat me to the punch using a snowflake.  I still wanted to use one so I opted to go with a square to change things up a bit LOL!   I just had to use a snowflake because we got four inches of snow last night.  One of my favorite things is to wake up to a blanket of freshly fallen snow and just enjoy the beauty of it.  I just love the sight of the deciduous trees with their branches outlined in snow contrasting against the pine trees with snow on their branches.  I also enjoy the quiet a snowfall brings.  It mutes sound so nicely!! You can't even  hear the cars driving down the road :D  Needless to say the kids are bouncing off the walls and went to school fully geared up with sleds in hand so they can go sledding down the hill at recess and lunch time.  To see the joy on their faces just warms my heart :D  May have to have a few races down the hill with them after school - what can I say, I'm a kid at heart!!

I based my card around this wonderful ribbon from Mike's ribbon bin. I  think I got ten rolls of the stuff and just as many in the blue and brown LOL!  The snowflake is a Cuttllebug die with some bling in the middle for some zip.  I crimped the brown panel to add more dimension and used the Swiss Dots embossing folder for the main panel as well as the scalloped square panel.  My "enabling excuse"  is it looks like snow and therefore I just HAD to use it LOL!   Finished the card off by adding a sentiment tag.  It's  hard to see, but there are pink snowflakes on the tag and a bit of bling in the center of one of them.  I fiddled with how to attach the tag for a while and finally settled on just adding a brad and gluing it on :D

That's it for today.   Hope you have a wonderful day!

What's In It?

Stamps: Savvy

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Cuttlebug Snowflake Die, Crimper, Ribbon, McGill Label Punch, SU Scalloped Border Punch, Crystal Brad, Brad, Dimensionals

Verve Thank You

It was wonderful to have another square sketch to work with.  I always enjoy making square cards and quite often find them easier to "balance" than your standard A2 size.  I had the Bethlehem image I used on my last card in mind, but realized it was too big for this sketch unless I made a 6 x 6 card.  Since I have no envelopes for that size card, it was a no go.  Instead, I opted to make a sentiment card so I could use more of my new Verve stamps :D

Back to the Costco DP pack I went and found this lovely rose paper which unfortunately gets quite covered up on the card. The DP matched up fabulously with Always Artichoke and Rose Red - score :D  I  really wanted to use some of my new Verve flourishes on either end of the sentiment, but my panel was too short to fit them in so I just layered the sentiment instead.  I finished things off with some lovely, sheer, yellow ribbon and brown half pearls on the sentiment and on the bottom left corner of the card to balance off the bow.

That's it for today.  Enjoy your weekend and hope you are getting closer to being ready for Christmas.





What's In It?
Stamps:  Verve
Paper:  Always Artichoke, Red Rose, Tan, Costco DP
Ink:  Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  Scalloped Circle Nesties, Brown Half Pearls, 5/8" Sheer Yellow Ribbon, Dimensionals

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

Though things are crazy busy right now with all the kids' school activities and Christmas prep (thankfully I'm almost done - just need to wrap pressies and bake a few cookies), it is a joy to be able to sit down and enjoy making a card with one Mercy's wonderful sketches :D   Added bonus: a square card which would fit the image I had in mind perfectly!! 

I bought this wonderful little stamp last year on sale after Christmas and since it got accidentally "misfiled" with some non-Christmas stamps, so I just found it today!  I just love this image because it reminds me of all I hold near and dear to my heart when I celebrate Christmas.  Dawn reminded me that this card also qualifies for this week's Way To Use It Challenge - to have a card inspired by a Christmas song.  Thus, this is my Oh Little Town of Bethlehem card :D

I figured since I skipped out using DP on my last two cards I should get back to it, so I flipped through my Costco DP Pack and found this perfect DP!!  Unfortunately, the main image panel covers most of it up, but if you look in the bottom right hand corner you will see a palm tree.  I was almost giddy as it tied in wonderfully with the palm trees and on the stamp and I loved the soft colours.  The card stock I used is not SU colours but close imitations of Cool Caribbean and Blush Blossom.  Will definitely be using this combo again!

The card is pretty straight forward.  I added some bling to the center of the star though it is hard to see in the picture :(   It shines so nicely in real life, but it's dark outside today and with my limited picture taking abilities, it just wouldn't shine for me -- the little stinker!  I made a tab to fill in the white space on the left side of the image, punched a hole, ran some ribbon through it and used some raffia to tie a bow.  A button just didn't work with the image so I added a brad, like the three at the top of the card, to the center of the raffia bow for a little something.  I love this simple little card and will be making a few more to send out as Christmas cards.

Thanks for taking a peek today.  Truly appreciate as I know everyone is very busy at this time of year.  Have a wonderful day and see you soon :D

What's In It?

Stamps:  Elzybells Art Stamps

Paper: Cool Caribbean, Blush Blossom, Costco DP Pack

Ink:  Close to Cocoa

Accessories:  1" and 3/4" circle punches, Slot Punch, Ribbon, Raffia, Brads, Bling, Dimensionals

Mojo Brain Burner

When my "one creative gene" first saw all the circles in this sketch, it ran for the hills and my mind went blank LOL!  However, after taking a few deep breaths and calming down a bit, I laughed when I remembered Amber's comment to Woodwinds on a Verve Sketch challenge that had circles. She told her to: "Embrace the circles. Make them your friend."   So, I took it to heart and immediately realized I had the perfect stamp for this sketch!  Nothing other than my brand new Verve wreath stamp from the release I won - score!! One part down and now on to the rest.

 Keeping in line with my desire to avoid having to make multiple DPs work together, I opted to go with solids.  Boring, I know, but with a busy day ahead one can only do so much, and battling it out with DPs just wasn't high on my to do list today LOL!  Some day, I know DPs and I will be good friends and I will wonder why I ever had "issues" with it, but today just wasn't the day to make friends :D  Can you tell DPs and I have a love/hate relationship LOL!   I love how it looks on cards, but just hate how hard it is to get more than one pattern of DP to work for me on a card.  I am getting better.... slowly....and am living the adage of  "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"  Think an order of SU DP packs are in my near future as the papers all coordinate so nicely.  Hmm.....think I just came up with a nice birthday gift to myself, especially with Sale-A-Bration coming up and all.  Sorry, I'm rambling!!

Back to the card!  When in doubt of what to do, I tend to fall back on some tried and true colour combinations.  This time round I fell back on a favorite colour combo of mine: black, pink and white.  I succumbed to Swiss Dots yet again, but it fit the sketch so nicely I just had to use it.  Nesties were used for the circles and the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder for the pink panels as it tied in with the swirls in the wreath.  I added hot pink half pearls to the wreath and under the sentiment and then tied it all together with a matching ribbon.  I thought I was all done until I looked at the sketch again and realized the bottom portion of the card had a horizontal panel that needed to be different- ugh!!  I wanted to keep it all white so I tried a few different embossing folders but none worked.  In the end I pulled out my Scor-Pal and made my own by just scoring lines every quarter inch.  So after all my initial stressing out, it really wasn't all that bad a sketch to work with and I'm happy with how the card turned out.  Goes to show you, these sketch challenges are a great way to stretch yourself.

Thanks for "listening" to my ramblings about DP and for stopping by today.  Mercy's sketch is up next.  Have a great day :D






What's In It?
Stamps:  Verve
Paper:  Black, White, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose
Ink: Black, Pixie Pink
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, D'Vine Swirls Embossing Folder, Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, 5/8" Pink Satin Ribbon, Pink Half Pearls, Scor-Pal, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches, Dimensionals.

Verve Wedding

This sketch had me thinking for a while as it screamed DP.  However, my "one creative gene" was on strike this morning after a busy weekend decorating the house for Christmas and wanted nothing to do with DPs and having to get them to work together!  Consequently, I opted for white on white -- a bit of a cop out, but much easier on my brain LOL!

I decided to make a medallion to add some zip to the card.  I punched  the first medallion out of white and then added 1/4" on to the  silver layer and punched it out.  Just love the multiple layer effect.  Since I was going for a wedding card, I pulled out SU's Elegant Greetings because I just love the script.  I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark and embossed it with ultra fine embossing powder.   As you can tell, I'm miserably failing my Swiss Dots Anonymous class LOL!  I tried other embossing folders, honest, but this one won out.  The embossed paper was matted on white so it had a "border" and  was then arranged according to the sketch.  The medallion went in the middle and I ran some sheer silver ribbon through it to finish things off.

The best news of the weekend was the return of my camera - yeah!! Canon fixed it for free as it was an issue some of the PowerShots were having.  Gotta love great service!!  Now all I have to do is find a spot in the house where I can take decent pictures at this time of year!  As you can tell, I still haven't found it..  All the more reason to build a photo box over the Christmas break!

That's it for today.  Back tomorrow with the Mojo Monday sketch.  Thanks for stopping in!

What's In It?
Stamps:  Elegant Greetings
Paper:  White, Silver
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, SU Scalloped Border Punch, 5/8" sheer silver ribbon, Dimensionals

Cheep Talking Mercy

Another wonderful sketch by Mercy.  Believe it or not the first thing that came to mind was not a butterfly LOL!  The Butterflies Anonymous meetings must be working :D

I decided to use Cheep Talk for this card in celebration of the glorious sunshine outside today!  My card was influenced by Vicki's wonderful card seen here.  I loved the striped paper she used and the white panel.  My DP is from Making Memories and the green stripe in it matched Wild Wasabi perfectly - score!  I succumbed to the Swiss Dots folder for a bit of dimension on the white panel.and added a tiny strip of scalloped Certainly Celery on the left side to tie in with the branch colour.  Some celery ribbon and two brads finished things off.  I forgot to add the sentiment to the image before I matted it (I usually do this because that way if you goof up you only have to redo part of it) and in my haste to get the card done I smudged it - ugh!!  I really didn't want a redo so I rescued it by using my white gel pen to "cover up" some of the smudge.  It's not perfect, but it will do for now LOL!

Have a fabulous day and thanks for sharing a part of your day with me.  I greatly appreciate it :D




What's In It?
Stamps:  Cheap Talk
Paper:  Making Memories, Wild Wasabi, Rose Romance, Certainly Celery
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Pixie Pink, Apricot Appeal
Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, SU Scalloped Border Punch, 1/4" Celery Grossgrain Ribbon, Brads, Dimensionals

Butterflies and Swiss Dots Anonymous Here I Come...

 

I just love the Mojo sketch this week.  Square cards are so much fun to make I really should make more.  The first thing that popped into my mind was to use a butterfly or several butterflies in the circle.  I apologize in advance as I have been overdoing it on the butterfly front lately!!  I'm blaming it on the torrential downpours we've had over the past three weeks (though today is gloriously sunny - finally!) for my desire to use butterflies as they remind me of sping.  I promise to sign up for a Butterflies Anonymous meeting along with a Swiss Dots Anonymous meeting LOL!  

When I think of butterflies I think of soft colours or bright colours.  In this case, I went to one of my "go to" colour combinations: Rose Romance, So Saffron and Certainly Celery.  Out flew (no pun intended LOL) my Verve Fluttering By set (may have to get a second one as a back up because I'm going to wear this one out!) as well as my Swiss Dots embossing folder (backup folder needed here too LOL!).  I used my scalloped circle and circle nesties and added the butterfly.  The butterfly is actually stamped in Apricot Appeal as the Saffron wasn't quite the right colour.  Some Swiss Dots to pick up the polka dot theme of the butterfly, some bling for the butterfly trail and bows on the sentiment called it a card.

Thanks for keeping me company today :D  Up next, Mercy's sketch..




What's In It?
Stamps:  Fluttering By (Verve), Savvy (Sentiment)
Paper:  So Saffron, Rose Romance, Certainly Celery
Ink:  Apricot Appeal, Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Bling, 1/8" Pink Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals 

Gift Certificate

The fifth and final Verve release challenge was to make a gift card holder.   I chose to make this gift card holder.  The timing couldn't be any more perfect as I will need a few of these for Christmas.  I found this wonderful little Studio G Christmas set at Michael's the other day and just feel in love with the tree image.  They are stamped in silver and though it is hard to see in the picture (oh where art thou light box LOL!) I added some glittery "snow" at the base of each three.  The DP is a scrap I had in my stash and I paired it up with navy and brocade blue.  The main panel was popped up on dimensionals so I could run some sheer, silver ribbon under it and tie a bow to keep it tightly closed. Now all I have to do is wait and see if I am a Verve winner :D  One can never have enough Verve!

Thanks for popping in and have a fabulous day :D





What's In It?
Stamps:  Studio G
Paper:  Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, unknown DP
Ink:  Silver, Black
Accessories:  Glue Pen and Dazzelling Diamonds, 5/8" Sheer, Silver Ribbon. Dimensionals, Word Window Punch, 1 3/8" circle punch.

Heart Pizza

The fourth Verve Release challenge was to make a mini pizza box. These are so fun to work with!  I was originally going to go with a Christmas theme but then came across this funky DP I got last year and decided to change directions.  This will be perfect to use for my daughter on Valentine's Day.

The box itself is very easy to make.  You start with a 6" x 11" piece of paper.  Score the 6 inch side at 1" and 5" inches and then rotate it to the 11 inch side and score at 1, 5, 6 and 10 inches.   Then you cut the horizontal score lines of the middle square on each side as well as one of the score lines on the top squares so you can fold it into the pizza box.  The tutorial for the pizza box can be found here.  From there, you can have fun decorating your box however you wish.  Just make sure you decorate before you assemble the box -- I almost goofed on this part (it was late and I was tired) but thankfully I clued in before it was too late LOL!


I covered the top of my box with the DP and then cut out a scalloped circle with my Nesties and ran it through the Swiss Dots embossing folder for some texture (plus it matched the dots in the DP -- any excuse to use this EF I say LOL!).   From there I punched out a heart with my Marvy heart punch, stamped the sentiment on the heart, added a silver half pearl on the dot of the "i" and finished it off with a big, pink bow.  The edges of my pizza box were decorated with the Martha Stewart Heart Border Punch.  I couldn't get a good angle of the box showing more than one side, so you'll have to believe me when I tell you it goes all the way around the box LOL!  There you have it, all ready to be filled with something special and fun on Valentine's :D

Four challenges down and just one to go -  the gift card.  This will be perfect as I need one for my mom for Christmas.  Have a great evening and see you tomorrow with my gift card and if I get lucky, my Mojo card.






What's In It?
Stamps:  A Happy Heart
Paper:  Real Red, Doodlebug Design DP
Ink:  Real Red, Pink Passion
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Heart Border Punch, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Marvy Heart Punch, Silver Half Pearl, Pink Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Verve Release Challenge #3

Challenge #3 for the Verve Release this weekend was a V-E-R-V-E challenge.  We had to use an embellishment that begins with one of the Verve word letters. For example:  V - Velvet Ribbon, E - Embossing Powder, R - Ribbon / Rhinestones, V - Vellum, E - Eyelets.  I did two "E's": dry embossing (snowflake embossing folder) and regular embossing.(paw prints with clear embossing powder).  I totally forgot about the twist part but lucky for me it worked out - phew.

This card is for my daughter's teacher of last year.  He is a wonderful teacher and my daughter had an amazing year with him so we wanted to remember him as a family this year. He owns an Irish Terrier so the Penny Black image is perfect!  My Twinkling H2O painting of the image is pathetic (oh how I wish I had the budget for some Copics!) but I'm sure he will appreciate the card none-the-less.  I kept is very basic so it wouldn't be too "foofey".

I double dipped on this card because it also qualifies for this week's Verve Sketch With A Twist.  Amber is being extremely kind to us this month and not adding any twists -- just the sketches to work with so our creativity can run rampant (not that my little "one creative gene" ever does, but it is a wonderful option LOL!)

I'll be back shortly with challenge #4 - the Pizza Box :D  See you soon.



What's In It?
Stamps:  Penny Black, PSX (paw print), Dollar Store Sentiment
Paper:  Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black
Accessories:  Twinkling H2Os, Aqua Brush, Snowflakes Embossing Folder, Clear Embossing Powder, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Marvy Snowflake Punch, Half Pearl, Paper Piercer, Dimensionals

All My Favorites

 

This is the sketch for Challenge #2 over at the Verve Blog for this week's release.  The "twist" was the card had to have a thank you theme.  I decided to use ribbon and bows for the horizontal strips to soften things up a bit. I wanted dimension on the top portion of the sketch so I pulled out one of my  all time favorite Verve sets  Fluttering By.  Of course that automatically leads me to my all time favorite embossing folder, Swiss Dots. I almost forgot the "thankful" twist  to this sketch, and thankfully (no pun intended LOL) another favorite set of mine, Fancy Flexible Phrases, had a small enough font for me to be able to squeeze the sentiment in between  the butterfly and the ribbon - phew!  I used a large silver half pearls for the center of the bows and the medium sized ones for the butterfly's body.  A n easy, CAS card.

Have a great day!  I'm off to do some more of the challenges.

What's In It?
Stamps:  Fluttering By (Verve), Fancy Flexible Phrases (SU)
Paper:  Pretty in Pink, White
Ink:  Eggplant Envy
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Scalloped Scissors, 5/8" Sheer Silver Ribbon, Silver Half Pearls

Priceless Verve

The first challenge for tonite's Verve release is a colour challenge.   You have to use Black, White, Olive and Turquoise on our card.   You can check out this challenge plus all the other ones on the Verve Blog.   You will have until 10:00 p.m Mountain Time on Monday, November 30th to complete the challenges and submit them and by doing so you qualify to win some Verve :D  In addition, Julee is giving some sneak peaks of the new sets and at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time there will be a blog hop to boot!  Nothing better than a Verve day :D  The new sets look amazing!!!  Needless to say I'm giddy beyond belief at having won this entire release and can't wait to see them all never mind having them show up in my mailbox!!  Thank you once again Julee for your amazing generosity with opportunities to win some Verve!!

Okay, now to the card!  I dug through my DPs and this is the only DP I had with turquoise. in it. The green is more a celery but it worked nicely with the Olive so I used it.   Mercy's sketch from this week came to the rescue and I pulled out one of my favorite sets, Priceless, to use with the sketch.  A little black half pearl on the butterfly and some sheer black ribbon finished things off.  The white space at the top of the card was not sitting well with me and nothing I tried seemed to work, so after fiddling with what to do for way too long, I decided to pierce around the image.  One challenge down and a few to go LOL!   Sorry about another dark picture.  The weather just isn't cooperating around here!  I think it is time to make a photo box  -- maybe over Christmas break -- as I'm hating all these dark pictures!!  Thanks for bearing with me :D

To all my American readers and friends, hope you are having a fabulous Thanksgiving long weekend.  I'll be back with more Verve challenges as soon as I can get them done :D

What's In It?

Stamps:  Priceless (SU)

Paper: Black, White, Old Olive, MOD DP

Ink:  Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise

Accessories:  Threading Water Punch, 5/8" Sheer Black Ribbon, Black Half Pearl, Dimensionals

Flowers for Mercy

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who live over the border!!   In Canada our Thanksgiving is in early October and I just love taking some time to reflect on all that I am thankful for.  Today, I am thankful for every one of you who takes a few minutes out of your day to come and visit me in my little corner of blog land (((hugs))). Enjoy some great food and Black Friday shopping (if you dare head out) for me :D

On to the card.  I managed to squeeze in some stamping time in after my son's field trip, and Mercy's Tuesday Sketch was next on my list.  I started  digging through my horizontal stamps to see which image I'd use when  flowers surrounding a sentiment came to mind.  I just love flowers .  They just make me happy, and after two weeks of being pounded by heavy rain, I needed a pick me up so flowers it was.

 

Out came my little Mary flower punch and to work I went.  As you can tell from the picture, I need some flower arranging classes as my flowers aren't exactly lined up -- blaming it on my love of "free from " arrangements (when in fact the truth is my eyes are starting to suffer from that aging thing and my up close vision isn't what it used to be LOL!).  I added orange centers to the flowers  so they would tie in with the orange trim.  Now I do have a little confession to make....I purchased this Martha Stewart Arched Lattice punch about a month ago for one of my family members to give to me for Christmas and it was screaming to be used today because it matched the flowers so nicely.  So....I dug through my  Christmas stash, opened the packaging veeeeery carefully, punched the orange card stock and then repackaged it and put it back in my stash -- good thing nobody is home LOL!   I scored the green panel on my Scor-Pal for a bit of dimension since my white panel had no embossing on it and added the brads because a little something was needed. 

That's it for today.  Have a great day / Thanksgiving and take a few minutes to think about all you have to be thankful for - it is medicine for the soul :D

What's In It?
Stamps:  Penny Black
Paper:  Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Arched Lattice Punch, Scor-Pal, Brads, Marvy Flower Punch, 1/4" circle punch, dimensionals

Baroque Mojo

This week's Mojo sketch is one you can do all sorts of wonderful things with :D  I had a few other ideas in my head but opted to go with this one as I wanted to make a medallion and I haven't used Baroque Motifs forever.  Sorry about the dark picture, we are paying for our wonderful summer full of sunshine right now...nothing but rain, rain and more rain....at least no more wind storms for now!

As you can tell, my black ink isn't what it should be because in my utter stupidity, I accidentally re-inked it with Elegant Eggplant  instead of black!! I was re-inking a bunch of my ink pads and you and fill in the rest -- BIG "L" on my forehead right now LOL!  I sponged as much off as I could and almost ran it under the tap to get it all out but opted not to otherwise I would have no black ink pad to work with.  Guess what I'll be re-ordering soon!!  Good news is my little guy went back to school today and is feeling much better.  He was driving me nuts by the end of yesterday as his energy level soared and mine didn't keep up :D  Oh to be able to tap into his energy - I'd make millions!!

Sorry, I regressed.  Back to the card!  I opted to go with B & W since the old mojo isn't quite awake and functioning today and this way I don't have to think too much LOL!.  The medallion was fun to make and I popped it up on the card.  The sentiment was disappearing on the card so I added some silver half pearls under it to bring it some attention and added the rest of the half pearls to balance things off and give the card some pop.

Thanks so much for dropping by.  Hoping to get to Mercy's sketch tomorrow if I have time after driving for my son's ice skating field trip.  Have a fabulous day (((hugs))).





What's In It?
Stamps:  Baroque Motifs (SU)
Paper: Black and White
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  SU Scalloped Border Punch, Black 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Silver Half Pearls, Dimensionals