Going Crazy For Verve Challenges

When I first saw this Verve sketch the circle part threw me off a bit. However, once I got to working on the card, it wasn't as bad as I'd made it out to be.

I combined the sketch with this week's Crazy 4 Challenges colour combo. So many wonderful Fall colour combinations out there right now - love it :)


I couldn't wait to use the flower from the Kind Words set as I have neglected it in lieu of the flowers from Dream Big and Great friend which I have been using so often.  Now it was this darling flower's time to shine :)  I used one of the leaves from the Dream Big set to create a flower bed and added some black half pearls to the flowers to make them Black Eyed Susans :)  A few more black accents and my card was done like dinner.  Four down and one to go.

Foot is feeling much better today so I better get to the last sketch today as I won't have the excuse of  not being able to do much so the foot can heal LOL!

Have a fabulous day :)





What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Kind Words, Dream Big
Paper:  Basic Black, Old Olive, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Kraft
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Accessories:  Circle Nesties, Stampin' Up! Scalloped Edge Punch, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Black Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Inkspirations A La Verve

The good news is I've completed three of the five Verve release sketches -- said doing a happy dance.  The bad news is I ended up with extra stamping time today due to a middle of the night injury - ugh!  I got up to go to the bathroom, and unbeknown to me, my leg was asleep, so when I went to take a step it totally gave way under me.  Result, one very badly sprained foot - double ugh!!  A total inconvenience, to say the least!  So, here I sit, with an ice pack on my foot and my leg elevated typing this post.

I paired this sketch with this week's Inkspirations Colour Challenge.  This is such a yummy colour combination!  I am really getting into Not Quite Navy these days and loving it :)  Couldn't stay away from me new Verve flowers for long LOL!  Out came my Dream Big set - just love this flower and the script of the sentiment.  I had a great score at a local dollar store this week too!  They had all sorts of little packages of buttons for $1.25 and I took one of each of the colours options :)  The button on this card is one of them - a pretty close match to Night of Navy.

I think the next two sketches are going to give me some grief....hopefully not too badly LOL!  I'll be back when I have mastered one of them! Have a fabulous day and thanks for dropping by :)




What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Dream Big
Paper:  Night of Navy, Old Olive, Real Red
Ink:  Old Olive, Real Red, Black
Accessories:  Diamonds In The Rough Embossing Folder, Crimper, SU Scalloped Oval and Large Oval Punches, Button, Glue Dot, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

World Card Making Day Pumpkin

Julee over at Verve Stamps is providing us with some wonderful pre-release sketches to work on (release party is on Friday, October 8th on the Verve forum at SCS).  With the sketches come the chance to win some free Verve so no need to ask me twice if I want to participate LOL!

I combined the first sketch with this week's Curtain Call colour challenge.  Just love the fall colours Stacey came up with, and when I saw the mustard, I decided to make my very first punched pumpkin.  I have seen these around SCS and blogs for a few years now and have always wanted to make one.

Since the square was on the smaller size, I used the large oval punch for the job.  Five punches and some assembly of ovals later, and I had my very first pumpkin :)  I cut out a stem and curled some thin strips of Old Olive for the vines.  Darn vines took longer to curl and make than the card as the paper kept ripping!  Some mustard coloured ribbon from one of my Michael's ribbon bin diving adventures finished things off nicely.  Yes, I do check that darn bin (my polite name for the bin LOL!) every time I'm in there.  Now if they would just leave a "discard bin" from my prior visit out it would make life so much easier LOL!

Just noticed my poor little pumpkin hasn't been sponged, but that will have to wait until the next one I make as I am on a mission to get four more sketches done.   Off to work on the next one!  See you soon :)




What's In It?
Paper:  Recollections DP, Stampin' Up! Old Olive DSP, Vanilla, More Mustard, Sahara Sand
Accessories:  Scalloped Square Nesties, Stampin' Up Large Oval Punch, Double Sided Tape, 1" Mustard Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Color Throwdown A La Verve

This is my second post of the day as I'm making good progress on the Verve sketches :)  I combined the second Verve release sketch with this week's Color Throwdown.  I just love fall colours (happy sigh...) and and this one reminded me of the colours of the maple trees on our street.

I created the background panel using the leaf image from Stampin' Up's Season of Friendship set and this wonderful Plain Jane was the prefect sentiment for a Thanksgiving themed card, especially since next weekend is Thanksgiving up here in Canada.

Since the leaves had dots on them I used my Swiss Dots embossing folder on the vanilla panel to tie things together and added this yummy red, satin ribbon for a pop of color.  A few half pearls on the sentiment panel and I was good to go.

Two down and three to go LOL!  Back tomorrow with my next card.




What's In It?
Stamps: (SU) Season of Friendship, (Verve) Plain Jane 
Paper:  Old Olive, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie
Ink:  Old Olive, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories:  Oval and Scalloped Oval Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, 5/8" Red Satin Ribbon, Half Pearls, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

Curtain Call Act 49

I just love the colours Stacey chose for this week's Curtain Call challenge.  However, when I got to trying to put them together, they gave me the gears!  I must have tried fifteen different sketches to no avail - ugh.  Thankfully, this wonderful OCC sketch came to the rescue!  I used it on this week's Color Dare challenge and loved it and am loving it all the more now LOL!

I dug into my sloooooowly dwindling Costco DP pack and came up with this DP. I must admit, I have shied away from this striped pattern for a long time, but it worked wonderfully for me today.  My SU ornament punch and coordinating stamps arrived yesterday, and since it is a crime to leave new rubbah unattended lest it feel unloved, I made sure it got some love :)   

I stamped the ornament image in red ink on red card stock and outlined the image on the ornament with a white gel pen.  Why you ask?  Okay, even if you don't care, I'll tell you LOL!  I didn't like the white outline around the ornament when I stamped it in red ink on vanilla card stock and then punched it out.  I wanted a dark red image and the paper gave it to me better than a stamped image.  Some half pearls added a bit of "oomph" to the ornament and the embossing folders added some texture.  A ribbon and a button and another Christmas card is done :)

I'm thankful our glorious weather is still here because that means I get to watch my son's soccer game tomorrow in the warm sunshine - oh happy, joy, joy LOL!   Soon enough we will be dressed in mittens, scarves, rain gear etc. in order to watch the games so cheers to warm weather and sunshine :)

Thanks for visiting today and have a fabulous weekend!





What's In It?
Stamps: (SU) Delightful Decorations
Paper:  Basic Black, Linen Vanillaa, Sahara Sand, Real Red, Costco DP
Ink:  Real Red
Accessories:  Snowflakes and Swiss Dots Embossing Folders, Nesties Label 4, SU Ornament Punch, White Gel Pen, Half Pearls, 5/8" Brown Satin Ribbon, Red Button, Twine, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

ColorQ's First Anniversary

This card is in celebration of ColorQ's first anniversary.  The twist is you have to use this sketch and one of the past year's color challenges to make a card.

I chose the very first ColorQ challenge as it had green and pinks, which screamed flowers to me!  I know some of you must be getting tired of these Verve flowers, but I just can't put them down!!  I'll try to branch out, I promise LOL!

I didn't have any DP that matched the colours so I used my French Script background stamp to create a pattern.  The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory.

We have another fabulous sunny day here.  The leaves are starting to turn some beautiful colours, which just makes my heart sing :)  Even the cat is friskier than normal LOL!  I'm off to enjoy a big walk in the sunshine because the rain will be coming soon enough!  Have a fabulous day :)




What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Dream Big, Because of You, (SU) French Script
Paper:  Basic Greg, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive
Ink:  VersaMark, Black
Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Martha Stewart Leaf Punch, 5/8" Pink Satin Ribbon, Button, Glue Dot, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

ColorQing My Mojo

Since I'm really enjoying (aka addicted to) making circle cards lately, I chose to go with the round version of this week's Mojo sketch.  For some reason, a snowflake came to mind when I saw the circle in the sketch!  Not sure why because we are having simply glorious weather right now!!  Warm temps and lots of sunshine - a fabulous last kick at summer :) 

Since there were going to be snowflakes involved, and I didn't want to use my same old boring go to colour combo of navy, brocade blue and silver, so I decided to browse through some colour challenges to see if I could find something that spoke to me.  I ended up settling on this ColorQ mix as it looked like a fun colour combination to use on a snowflake card.

Two neutrals were a bit tricky at first, but a bit of fiddling and I think it worked out okay.  However, now that I look at my card, I should have added a white mat between the gray and vanilla layers and maybe embossed the vanilla layer as it looks a pit plain...darn hindsight LOL!  May have to go back and rework it a bit :)

A morning meeting and then off to go mow my lawn -- one of the drawbacks of having such warm, sunny weather this late in the Fall!  Also a great chance to clean out the garden for winter.  Thanks for dropping in today, it's always appreciated and sure helps knowing I'm not just talking to myself out here in blog land LOL!  Have a fabulous day :)




What's In It?
Stamps: Memory Box
Paper:  Basic Grey, Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla, White
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Marvy Snowflake Punch, Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Bling, Dimensionals

Color Dare 78

Color Dare 78

Daffodil Delight

Chocolate Chip

Very Vanilla

After getting my butt kicked by last week's colours it was wonderful to be able to play with this week's colours LOL!   Wonderful Fall colours, and where there is Chocolate Chip, I am a happy stamper :)

Out came my October Afternoon DP and to work I went.  I used an OCC sketch that I've been wanting to get to for a while now.  I paired it with, you guessed it, some more of my new Verve!  This sentiment is so wonderful, even though it turned out a bit blurry in the picture - UGH!  It says "May your life be like a wild flower growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day" -- how true!  I over stamped the sentiment with a flower from Verve's Kind Words set  and finished things off with a bow and some half pearls.  Looking at it now, I am very tempted to go back and emboss or put some score lines on the cream panel as it seems a bit plain.  Will have to see what I come up with.

Until then, the rest of the Team has lots of inspiration for you.  You can check out their creations here:

• Glenda Wyatt at Paper, Scissors, Rocks 
• Heater Prince at Princess Scrapper Stamper
• Joan Jeffery at JJ's Creations
• Melissa Hubert at My Paper Obsession
• Nance Lempinen-Leedy at Canopy Crafts
• Riley Fitzgerald at Stampin' With Riley  (our leader)

We'd love you to join us!  Simply create a card using this week's colours and add your card to InLinkz on the The Colour Dare Blog.  If  you are uploading to a public gallery, please make sure to use the keyword CD78.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog, as well as noting two honorable mentions. 

What's In It?

Stamps:  (Verve) Kind Words, Feel The Sun

Paper:  So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, October Afternoon DP, Cream Linen

Ink:  So Saffron, Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, 5/8" Brown Satin Ribbon, Button, Twine, Glue Dot, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Butterflies, Flowers and Dots Oh My

This is Verve's last September challenge and I was in the mood for some bold colours today so this inspiration picture was perfect :)  In addition, I found some ribbon during one of my Micheal's ribbon bin diving adventures that was a perfect match so I was good to go! 

I succumbed to not only one dotted embossing folder but two!  Swiss Dots, my go to embossing folder, and Seeing Spots the large circle embossing folder.  Yes.....my addiction is getting worse LOL!  Not only that, but I also have butterflies and flowers (in the ribbon) on the card.  Happy sigh.....LOL!   Now the ever present waiting and hoping to see your name selected as the winner of the entire next Verve release :)

In the mean time, I get to enjoy wearing my ColorQueen crown for the week as this card was selected as last week's ColorQ winner.  My day just keeps getting better :)

Back tomorrow with my Color Dare card.  I'm much happier with this week's card as I'm still suffering from the butt kicking last week's colours gave me LOL!  Enjoy your day :)




What's In It?
Stamps:  (SU) Flight of the Butterfly, Amuse
Paper:  Going Grey, Basic Black, Real Red
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  Swiss Dots and Seeing Spots Embossing Folders, SU Butterfly Punch, 5/8" Ribbon from Micheal's, Black Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Fabulous Just The Way You Are

What a fun CAS sketch, and a great one to be able to create a background panel with.

Since my Verve stamps were still out on my desk, I just had to use them again LOL!  This is my all time favorite release by Julee and I am still madly in love with all these fabulous Verve flowers (just in case you hadn't noticed) as well as the wonderful sentiments that go with the sets.

Out came Great Friend, and I used the smallest flower outline image to make the background panel using last week's Curtain Call colours as they are fabulous flower colours.  I mated the flower panel in black and carried it over to the black scallops down the side (love those PTI scallop dies!).  I embossed the white background panel with the Nat embossing folder Kathy Jones sent me (still loving it,  Kathy - thanks again!) and the sentiment is from Love's Bloom (another fabulous Verve font).  I scalloped the ends of the sentiment panel so they tied in with the side scallops, added some black half pearls on a few of the flowers and finished things off with a red butterfly for a pop of colour.

Have another idea peculating in my mind for this layout and hope to be able to get to it today :)  However, my craft room desperately needs some clean up first - oh the chores one must do in order to be able to stamp LOL!   Have a fabulous day!




What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Great Friend and Love's Bloom
Paper:  Black, White
Ink:  Lovely Lilac, Only Orange, Real Red, Old Olive
Accessories:  PTI Large Scalloped Die, Scalloped Scissors, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Half pearls, Nat Embossing Folder, Dimensionals