Plain Jane Mojo

This is the first card I've been able to make all week!!  It's been a crazy busy week so it was wonderful to get a bit of down time and work with this week's Mojo Monday sketch.  As usual, Julee has come up with another wonderful sketch.  I started out in one direction and ended up in a totally different place LOL!  I had my heart set on using  SU's Great Friend set and ended up using a Verve Plain Jane instead.  No worries because I just love the Plain Janes.  The verses are many of my favorites and I just love the fonts Julee used for them. In this case I chose Psalm 46:10, first of all because it fit the circle I had already punched out and second of all because it was a very fitting verse for me after a very busy week.  I can sometimes and depending on the time of year, often get so caught up in getting through my "to do" list and seeing if I can squeeze one more thing into my schedule or out of my day that I neglect one of the most important things I need to do:  to be still before God and allow Him to fill me.  It was a wonderful reminder, especially in lieu of the business of the Christmas Christmas season that will be upon us before we know it.

Sorry, I went on a tangent there.  Back to the card.  My trusty Swiss Dots embossing folder gave the white panel some texture, and I used some SU Hostess Gift DSP for the two larger panels.  Then I got a bit stuck with what to do with the small square panel, especially since I did such a drastic shift from my original concept of having an image in the circle and the sentiment on the small panel.  I tried various butterflies, flowers and flower combinations, and finally selected this fun little flower.  I think a large prima may have been a better choice, but I didn't have any so option "B" had to fit the bill for now.   A half pearl on the flower and some white ribbon finished things off. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and sorry for my lack of posting.  I have Mercy's sketch and this week's Verve sketch to catch up on so I'll be back with more hopefully sooner than later :D

What's In It?
Stamps:  Psalm 46:10 (Verve)
Paper:  Regal Rose, SU DSP, Blue 
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Foler, Marvy Circle and Scallope Circle Punches, Marvy Flower Punch, 1/4" White Grossgrain Ribbon, Silver Half Pearl, Dimensionals

Distressed Snowman

This is the sketch for week three of October's Verve Sketch With A Twist.  The twist for this week was to use fabric on your card.  When I first saw that I was pretty intimidated so I opted to focus on the Verve Release Sketches instead while I pondered what to do with this sketch.  My first thought was to "cheat" and use either my Canvas or Linen background stamp!  However, I did manage to find a bit of fabric in the house which I think was a scrap piece of fabric my daughter got from my mom so she could use it for a project.  So, now I didn't have an excuse to not use real fabric on the card!!  Bonus is it is a fine corduroy and an almost perfect match to some paper I have that is between Bordering Blue and Brocade Blue!

I sewed the material on to a piece of white card stock with a Mini Sew I got years ago and don't use much.  As you can tell by my very crooked lines, there is a reason I don't sew LOL!  I then used my Canvas background stamp for the main panel and mounted the sewn one on to it so I'm wondering if Amber will give me bonus points for using two "fabrics" on my card :D  I pulled out one of my favorite little snowmen and mounted him on navy card stock.  Since my sewing lines were so bad, I decided to make this a distressed card LOL!  I roughed up all the edges, used black for my circle portion of the card for a bit of pop, added some silver brads and some silver twine with a bow to finish things off.  These twists are good for stretching me and stretch me it did!  This is so far from my normal style I'm not sure I'm too fond of it, but I must say it is growing on me.  Good news is, I've now completed this months' Verve Sketches and get put into the draw to win the next release.  In the event I don't win again.....at least I have another month of wonderful sketches to work with.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great Monday.




What's In It?
Stamps:  Stampendous, Canvass Background Stamp
Paper: Brocade Blue, Black
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  Nesties Scalloped Circles, Silver Brads, Silver Cording, Blue Courdoroy Fabric, Distressing Tool, Pencil Crayons, Stickles, Dimensionals

I Love Fluttering By

This is week four for October's Verve Sketch With A Twist Challenges.  This week, Amber went easy on us and there is no twist.  The gates were wide open regarding what you wanted to do with the sketch.  The minute I saw this sketch I thought of one of my favorite Verve Stamp Sets, Fluttering By.  I just can't get enough of these butterflies.  I pulled out of some pretty bright DP with lots of colours to choose from and  settled on matting it with orange.  The butterflies are stamped in Orchid Opulence.  I wanted green gems for the middle but didn't have any so I punched out a 1/4" circle from Wild Wasabi and used clear dew drops on top to get the green look.  Then I pulled out some pink 1" satin ribbon to run along the bottom and finished things off with my $1.50 flower punch from Mikes for flowers the top right corner to balance things off.

It is a pretty bright card, but I quite like it.  Makes me think of Spring now that the rains are beginning here on the West Coast again :(   We had such an amazing summer it is hard getting used to the rain again.  However, without the rain, we wouldn't have all the wonderful greenery around us all year round, so I can't complain :D

Thanks for popping in and have a fabulous day.

What's In It?
Stamps:  Fluttering By (Verve)
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Pink Passion,  Flower DP (can't find who it's by, sorry)
Ink:  Orchid Opulence
Accessories:  Dew Drops, Mini Flower Punch from Mike's, 1/8" and 1/4" Circle Punches, 1" Pink Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Flowers for Mercy

I'm waaaay late with Mercy's Tuesday sketch this week due to all the Verve Release Sketch Challenges.  Sorry, Mercy....you weren't forgotten,  just delayed :)

I found some left over Making Memories Pink Small Dots DP and went from there.  After trying several different stamps, things just weren't working for me so I decided to try punches instead.  I recently got a Martha Stewart Leaf punch and wanted to use it so of course I had to go with flowers -- bonus :)  My creative gene was not cooperating in the least (think it was overwhelmed by all the amazing samples the Verve Divas were showing us at the Verve Release Party last night) so I opted for more of a monochromatic look to simplify things.  The flowers were the easy part.  The leaves.....well, that was a whole different story!  I think I need to take a leaf arranging course --anyone offering lessons LOL!!!  I must have spent half an hour moving the leaves around and trying to make them look natural and not like they were just shoved in randomly.  The hanging leaves helped, but I'm still not totally sold on my arrangement or the card for that matter.....  However, I really do need to get other things done today so I had to be happy with what I had.  Some half pearls in the corners and some wonderful Celery coloured ribbon I found in none other than the Michael's ribbon bin finished things off. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!!



What's In It?
Paper: Making Memories, Pretty in Pink, Rose Romance, Certainly Celery
Accessories:  Scalloped Oval and Oval Nestabilities, SU Flower Punches, Martha Stewart Leaf Punch, 1/4" Circle Punch, Half Pearls, 1" Celery Grossgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Ruffled Verve

This is the final Verve Release Sketch and it was a wonderful one to work with. I had originally planned to used "Dasher" but a few others beat me to the punch so I dug through my stamps and found this Stampendous Ruffled Poppy I have always loved.  I embossed it in black and matted it with pink and black.  It looked a bit bare so I pierced the corners and put a black Tiny Twinkles in the corners.  I used my all time favorite Embossing Folder Swiss Dots for the white panels and added some Making Memories Small Polka Dots DP.  Martha Stewart came through with the border punch and I finished things off with some black sheer ribbon.  Then I looked at the sketch and realized I had omitted the panel under the ribbon - ugh!!!  So I added a strip of white to the bottom and changed the black sheer ribbon to black satin ribbon for a bit more "weight" as the sheer was too "light" once I added the white strip.  Gotta love it when it's an easy fix LOL!

I have now completed all the Verve Release Sketches and am ready to party at the Verve Release Party this Friday night.  Come and join us if you have some time.  Julee always comes up with wonderful new sets and the Divas create some amazing sample cards using the new sets that you can drool over.  Plus, the new sets are available in the Verve Store immediately following the release party. 

I hope to have some time this weekend to catch up on this week's Mojo sketch as well as Mercy's sketch.   It's been a crazy busy month as I'm doing overflow work for my husband's office in addition to my regular  before and after school daycare work and running my kids to and from activities etc.  Consequently, stamping time has been cut short....said sticking my lower lip out and pouting LOL!  Wish there were more hours in a day!

That's it for now!  Thanks for stopping by :D

What's In It?
Stamps: Stampendous Ruffled Bloom 
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Black, Making Memories Small Pink Polka Dot DP 
Accessories: Black Embossing Powder, Taylor's Twinkles, Paper Piercing Kit, 5/8" Black Satin Ribbon, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Dimensionals

Heart Flourishes

Sorry about the dark picture....my camera is broken and I'm having to improvise with my daughter's.... best I could do today under cloudy, dark conditions - ugh!  Shipping it off today and if all goes well I'll get it back in three weeks all fixed.  If not I have a new, top priority Christmas gift LOL!

This sketch had me worried when I first saw it as I am a bit anal and that off  centre panel sent me for a tail spin LOL. However, as I thought pondering what to use for this sketch, I realized I had a wonderful Hero Arts heart flourish background stamp I bought last year and have never used (hanging my head in shame...).  I just love hearts, and the hearts combined with the flourish on this stamp just makes me happy :D  

Silver embossing was the first thing that came to mind for this and then I decided to go with sparkly silver embossing powder for some extra glitter.  I wanted the stamp to be the focal image so I made a very small sentiment using my nesties. Finished things off with some sheer, silver ribbon and I was good to go.  I toyed with embossing the background panel but couldn't find out that worked so I opted not to use one as it detracted from the main image.

Four Verve sketches down and just one to go!!  Thanks so much for stopping by (((hugs))) and have a wonderful day!




What's In It?
Stamps:  Hero Arts, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Paper:  Silver 
Accessories:  Sparkly Silver Embossing Powder, Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesties, 5/8" Sheer Silver Ribbon, Dimensionals

Loving Blush Blossom

Here is sketch #4 of the Verve Release Challenge Sketches.  I just love this sketch - Julee has so many wonderful ones that I keep a binder with all of them in it.  They are always so balanced and appealing to the eye.

I just LOVED the colour challenge on the OCC Blog of Blush Blossom, Sage Shadow, Soft Suede and Handsome Hunter and wanted to try it out.  I am a colour short for the challenge :( but love the colours I managed to use here.  I also pulled out my severely neglected Weathered background stamp.  I have always loved this stamp, but ever since I got my Cuttlebug.the embossing folders have pulled rank over my BG stamps...

I pulled out this wonderful flower image from Close As A Memory for this sketch, added some butterflies around the flowers, some brads on the right hand side to balance things off and crimped the horizontal strip for some dimension as having just ribbon or paper just didn't fit what I was looking for.  I'm happy with the result and KNOW I'm going to use this colour combo a lot as I just love it.

As a side note, sorry about the date on the picture!  My camera died yesterday!!!  If it is the issue I think it is, Canon will service and replace the part for free -- keeping my toes and fingers crossed that this is the case!!  In the meantime, I have had to use my daughter's camera and I forgot to turn off the date before I took the picture.  Pressed for time so this will have to do for now.  I'll re-shoot and re-post once I get some time.

Three down and two to go!!  Can't wait for the release party - Julee always has wonderful new stamps to enjoy and the best part is Christmas is coming and some unsuspecting family member or relative will no doubt be getting me some Verve for Christmas LOL!

Abundant blessings and thanks for stopping by :D



What's In It?
Stamps:  Close As A Memory, Weathered Background Stamp
Paper:  Blush Blossom, Sage Shadow, Really Rust
Ink:  Sage Shadow, Blush Blossom
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches, Jumbo Eyelet, Sage 1/4" grossgrain ribbon, Raffia, Crimper, Brads, Half Pearls, Dimensionals.

Heartfelt Verve

This is sketch #3 from the Verve Release Challenges.  I pulled out my very neglected "Heartfelt Thanks" set and matched it up with this DP from - yes, you guessed it, my Costco DP pack!  I just love this flower and my eyeballed 2-step stamping worked like a charm this time round - score LOL!!  I used Creamy Caramel for the leaves and stem (felt strange not using green!) and Rose Romance for the flower.  I did use Creamy Caramel for the flower center but it doesn't really show up too well.  Was hoping Taylor had some Tiny Twinkies to match, but no such luck and I didn't have any brown beads so I left it as is.  I added two brads to fill in the space at the bottom of the flower panel and then used some pink ribbon from Mike's across the bottom.

My sentiment caused me issues...First of all, it is crooked- ugh!!  Plus, I actually had a few black dots at the end of the sentiment where I accidentally scuffed the paper before stamping the sentiment - double ugh!  I cheated by using my white gel pen to colour over the spots and I think it did a pretty good job of hiding my boo-boo :D

That's it for now.  Two down, three to go :D  Thanks for stopping by, I always love the company :D




What's It It?
Stamps:  Heartfelt Thanks, Savvy
Paper: Costco DP Pack, Rose Romance
Ink:  Rose Romance, Creamy Caramel
Accessories:  Brads, 5/8" Pink Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Hugs and Kisses a la Verve

It's time for another Verve Release party so that means lots of wonderful sketch challenges and a chance to win some Verve goodies :D  Check out this thread for all the details.

This is sketch #1 of this release and I just love it.  In my continuing challenge of wading through my Costco DP packs, I pulled out this Hugs and Kisses DP.  I have tried this DP many a time, but it just hasn't worked with anything to date so this time I was determined to use it!  I paired it up with white for a soft feel to the card and then pulled out this Art Impressions heart stamp which I just love.  The matching love sentiment was an obvious selection for the sentiment and I finished things off with some white sheer ribbon tied in a bow.  I enjoyed using "non- traditional" colours for the heart (Creamy Caramel LOL!) and am quite happy with how this turned out as I can use it for a wedding, an anniversary or a Valentine's Day card.

It's going to be a busy week with the Verve sketches and most likely a few late nights to get them all done, so I'll be posting a lot this week :D   Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back soon!



What's In It?
Stamps:  Art Impressions
Paper:  Costco DP Pack
Ink: Creamy Caramel
Accessories:  Sheer 5/8" white ribbon, Marvy Scalloped Punch, Dimensionals

Mojo Take Two

I wasn't one hundred percent sold on my first mojo card (see previous post) even though it is growing on me, so decided to go back and use my original idea.  I just love the script of this sentiment and it is a wonderful "stand along" sentiment due to its size.  I dug into my Costco DP again and found this lovely paper - even though I've covered most of it up LOL!  Layered things up and then the sentiment had so much white space that I added a corner tab and ran my navy ribbon (sorry it looks black in the picture) across the panel instead along the bottom as per the sketch (hope that's okay, Julee :D).  To finish things off, I added some silver brads along the side.

I think this would be a wonderful masculine card to have in my stash. May even duplicate it a few times as I don't often take the time to make masculine cards.  Maybe that's because my husband says men don't care about cards -- says he who has kept his birthday and Valentine's accordion panel cards I made him LOL!  I'm not sure if that is their proper name, but they are the ones Sharon Johnston made for Christmas last year. Check her blog here - they are super fun to make and well worth the time.

Thanks for stopping by. 







What's In It?
Stamps:  All Year Cheer I
Paper:  Costco DP, Night of Navy, Bordering Blue
Accessories:  Silver Brads, 1/4" navy grossgrain ribbon, SU Punch, Dimensionals

Meowing Mojo

I think the turkey kidnapped my "one creative gene" this week as things are just not firing or flowing properly.  I think I should have gone with my first idea on this one.  I may very well do another one for this as I'm not sold on this card.  I actually found this image already coloured in my "use some other time" pile.  I just love these cats.  They were coloured off the paw print DP behind them.  In hindsight, I find this DP just a bit too busy for them, but after fiddling far to long with everything is used it anyway (told you it was that type of week LOL).

I tried four different coloured ribbons across the bottom and finally settled on brown.  I pierced around the image to give it a bit more "umph" and then added two brads in the top right corner to balance off the bow.  Not my best. Not my worst.  Hopefully things will turn around by Friday for the Verve Sketch With a Twist!

Thanks for stopping by!!

What's In It?
Stamps: Magenta 

Paper: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Paw Print DP (sorry can't find who made it)

 Accessories:  Brown Satin Ribbon, Paper Piercing Kit, Brads, Dimensionals

Merc y's Tuesday Sketch #43

I'm having to catch up on challenges this week as my stamp room (aka our guest room) was occupied all weekend.  My in-laws stayed with us for Thanksgiving and it was so good to see them.  I am truly blessed to have an amazing MIL and FIL.  My kids love them to death too so it is always a special treat to have them stay with us.  The other bonus that comes with their staying with us is my craft area is very tidy right now LOL!  I'm going to do all I can to keep it that way too.   A few posts back I mentioned my daughter and I have made a deal.  I  will keep my stamp area clean and she will keep her room clean.  It's a wonderful way to help us both and justifiably isn't me telling her to keep her space clean when mine is a mess.  It will be interesting to see how we make out! 

Mercy's sketch this week was another wonderful one.  During my craft room cleaning frenzy, I stumbled upon many stamps that have been rather unloved for some time.  I decided I needed to pull out this wonderful Hero Arts stamp. I've always loved this stamp - many fun flowers and vase shapes.  I coloured the image with Twinkling H2Os and had a few issues along the way.....started colouring too soon and my black outline smudged a bit on one flower, I slipped outside the the lines on a leaf (that will teach me for being lazy and not embossing the image first!), the "water" in the vases didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, then my image was too small for the regular size card so I had to make it a square card instead and after I posted it I realized my squares were on the wrong sides --aaaahh!!  Sorry for messing up on your sketch, Mercy!  My bad and I'll do better next time, I promise!  In the mean time I'll play the victim and blame my issues on eating too much turkey this Thanksgiving weekend LOL! 

Have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by :D



What's In It?
Stamps: Hero Arts
Paper: Black and White
Ink:  Black
Accessories: Twinkling H2Os, Ribbon, Dimensionals

Verve October Sketch #2

I am stuffed and wonderfully content after having a marvelous Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends.  My DH put on a fabulous meal -- he is the chef in our family and I'm the sues chef and clean up girl!  He made turkey and ham plus we had yams, cranberry, buns, a jellied salad, vegies and cherry or pumpkin pie for dessert.  Needless to say, I was empathizing with the turkey and how it feels when it gets stuffed LOL!  I am also very glad to get back to stamping as my stamproom (aka our guest room) as it is now uninhabited LOL!

Amber put together another wonderful sketch for us this week's Verve Sketch With A Twist.  The twist this week was to make a card that didn't have orange or brown in it -- she's tired of seeing it so often lately and it's a great way to change things up from the Thanksgiving/Fall colour mode.

So, with no brown and orange, I jumped at the chance to use pink, grey and white. I just love these colours together as they make such a soft colour palet.  I started off wanting to try using a medallion as I have never done one before.  I punched it out and everything and then realized we had a horizontal strip to deal with and it just didn't work with the medallion as it took away from it too much.  So, I  opted to make a scalloped square instead and pulled out my Polka Dots and Paisley set as I just love this flower.  I added a half pearl at the base of each flower, crimped my gray panel for a bit more texture and dimension (my poor neglected crimper wanted to come out and play lol!), added some sheer white ribbon with a bow and three silver brads.  The card was still missing something as I felt it was a bit "bottom heavy" so I added a line of piercing along the top to balance things off.

Thanks so much for stopping by :D  I'm now off to work out and burn off some of the extra calories I consumed this weekend LOL!



What's In It?
Stamps:  Polka Dots and Paisley
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Going Grey
Ink: Going Grey, Regal Rose
Accessories:  Silver Brads, Crimper, Half Pearls, SU Scalloped Border Punch, Sheer White Ribbon, Paper Piercing Kit, Dimensionals

Thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :D.  Sorry I don't have a card to post today, but it is Canadian Thanksgiving and it's been a busy week/weekend getting ready for it (we hosted).  I just love this holiday!  It is a great way to focus on what is really important -- looking at ALL you have to be thankful for!!!  It is so easy to look at what you don't have or focus on your "wants" when in reality there is so much we already have.  

That being said, to follow is a short list of some of the things I am thankful for (otherwise you'd be reading my list for hours LOL as I am thankful for SO many things in my life).

1. First and foremost, I am thankful for having Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.  Life wouldn't be worth living without Him in my life!
2. I'm thankful for my wonderful family  - my husband and kids who bring me such joy and provide me with many wonderful  memories to store in my heart :D
3. I'm thankful for my mother and the way she gives so freely and loves to help so many around her.
4. I'm thankful for my wonderful in-laws.  Yes, I love them to bits, really!! and am so thankful for them all. I am truly blessed with a great extended family.
5. I'm thankful for my health and being able to do all I want to do.
6. I'm thankful for the beautiful part of the world I live in.  Living on the coast and having mountains and the ocean in the same area is amazing.  Heck you could ski half a day and then go wind surfing or sailing the other half if you wanted to!
7. I'm thankful for the beauty of nature in this area - from the majestic snow capped mountains you can see near by, to the wild bunnies and birds in our back yard to the changing leaves at this time of year and a lot more in between!
8. I'm thankful for the wonderful school my kids go to and the teachers they have this year.
9. I'm thankful for all my friends who will tell me what I "need to hear" and not just what I "want to hear" and who love me warts and all.
10. I'm thankful for the hard times in my life that build my character, strength and faith in God.  I'm not always thankful for them while I'm going  through them, of course, but afterwards when I have a chance to reflect back and think about what I've learned by going through them, I am often amazed at how I have grown as a person because of them and can in turn walk beside and help someone who is going through what I went through.
11. I'm thankful for the wonderful world of SCS and blog land.  The information, tutorials, fabulous cards, and opportunity to expand your card making skills is endless in these venues!  They have trained, stretched, challenged and strengthened my "one creative gene" to levels I NEVER thought it could grow to.  My card making skills have improved ten fold and my one creative gene is getting stronger and stronger every day :D
12. I'm thankful for those of you who come and visit my little corner of Blog Land (((hugs))).    I appreciate each and every visit and comment you leave.  A short year ago I never would have imagined myself having a blog never mind anyone coming to visit it.  Thank you for joining me in my card making journey :D  I look forward to the year ahead and sharing it with you!  

Blessings to all of you and I'll make sure to eat some turkey and yams for you - yummmm.  DH is a gourmet chef (lucky I am!!!) and we always have an amazing meal :D  I, on the other hand, am a great sues chef and cleaner upper, but I don't mind in the least as my meal wouldn't be anywhere near as good as his LOL!

I will post as soon as I can as my craft room/guest room is being occupied at the moment.  Good part is I had to clean up my craft area and it is very neat and tidy now versus the "looks like a bomb went off" version it often looks like!!  I made a deal with my daughter - I'll keep my craft area clean and she has to keep her room clean.  It's going to be a challenge for both of us, but a good one to keep us both on our toes LOL!  Anyway, our company will be leaving today and my craft room/guest room will be occupied by me shortly thereafter so I'll be posting this week's Verve sketch with a Twist, Mojo Monday sketch and Mercy's Tuesday sketch as soon as I can get them done.

Thanks for stopping by :D

Thoughts and Prayers

Mercy came up with another wonderful sketch on Tuesday.  I love her simple layouts because you can go CAS (clean and simple) or dress them up as much as you want.  Since I was a bit pressed for time today (my mom is having her cataract surgery today and I had to drive her in and  do some post op. things for her),  I went CAS.  However, based on the time I spent fiddling with the circle portion of the sketch due to trying different embossing folders and papers, I may as well have gone to multi-layered!  Creation time ended up being the same LOL!

Anyway, I have always LOVED lots of white space on my cards and therefore, have always just LOVED Silke Ledlow (aka Sparklegirl on SCS) cards. Check out her blog or her SCS Gallery for some amazing eye candy!! She is the "Quuen of White Space"!!  In addition, their "simplicity" is deceiving as it takes real talent to balance things so well and make such striking cards.  I tried a "Silke card" and this is what I came up with.  Just love this image and thought of it right away for this sketch.  As you may have noticed, I don't have sketch markers so some of my flowers have a tinge of Old Olive to them :(   so I added the silver half pearls to the middle of them to spice them up a bit.  Once my card was all put together, something was "missing" so I added scallops along the bottom and a strip of green to balance things off.  All in all, I'm happy with my creation and even the plain circle portion of it LOL! 


Thanks so much for popping by.  It's always appreciated :)



What's In It?
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Real Red 
Ink: Old Olive, Real Red
 Accessories: Nesties Circles, SU Scalloped Border Punch, Silver Brads, Silver Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Mojo Butterflies

I love Monday's because that means a new Mojo sketch by Julee.  This week's sketch is much more up m alley than last weeks LOL.  It is also the first week of the month so it's challenge time and up to 7 lucky ladies can win $24 of Verve Cash!  I "need" some of that cash as my Verve Wish  List is long!  So....as per the Verve Sketch With A Twist monthly challenge prize opportunity, my motto for this sketch is"  "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again" :D

I had two things pop into my head when I saw this sketch. The first one was to use one of my all time favorite Verve sets Fluttering By.  Just LOVE those butterflies.  My other idea was to use Serenity, one of my other favorite Verve sets.  I opted for the butterflies this time and may just have to make a second card using the Serenity stems if I have time later this week.  I actually didn't use any Costco DP Pack paper this time, but rather some DP I picked up at a LSS and matted it with Regal Rose.  The scalloped circle and circle was made by using my Nesties and the little flowers were made by my trusty Michael's $1.50 mini flower punch.  Can't tell you how many times I've used that punch.  Use it so much I actually bought a second one to make sure I had a back up once my first one wears out/breaks.  I was in a dilemma regarding whether to use or not use the antenae on the butterflies.  They fill in space nicely but I was short on time and one has to be very careful when cutting them out so I opted to omit them.  Instead, I added silver half pearls to the butterfly's body as well as to the flower centers.  Finished things off by using Regal Rose 5/8" gross grain ribbon with 1/4" pink gross grain over top to break up all the Regal Rose in the area.  All in all, I'm happy with my mojo card - but them these butterflies always make me smile :D

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Love having visitors as it keeps me company over here in my little corner of blog land :D   Have a fabulous day.  Back tomorrow with Mercy's sketch card.



What's In It?
Stamps:  Fluttering By (Verve)

Paper:  Karen Neuburger DP, Regal Rose, Rose Red

Ink:  Rose Red
Accessories:  Nesties scalloped circle and circle dies, Michael's $1.50 mini flower punch, Swiss Dots embossing folder, silver half pearls, 5/8" regal rose gross grain ribbon, pink 1/4" gross grain ribbon

Shabby Chic??

Today is Friday and that means it's time for a new Verve Sketch With A Twist.  I didn't win September's draw for the entire next release so...."If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"  Not a huge burden, as I just love the sketches Amber puts out and the twists are always good for a challenge.

Speaking of challenges, this week's twist was to make a "Shabby Chic" card using this sketch.  I had NO idea what "shabby chic" meant or looked like, other than Amber's brief description on the Verve Challenge Thread, so I Googled (love that word :D) shabby chic to see what came up.  There were lots of wonderful pictures to help me get acquainted with the term.  Basically, from what I can tell, it involves LOTS of white, mostly soft colours (pastels), roses play a big part, some vintage items are thrown in, as well as some lace -- not my style by any means, but always good to learn something new.
I opted to use this bedroom picture, from this site, for inspiration for my card.  I focused on the roses and all the white as well as a touch of blue from the night table.  I used the Martha Stewart lace punch for the "foofy part" and distressed the top of that panel with my distressing tool.  Then I crumpled up the white vertical panel, ran it through my crimper, recrumpled it and flattened it out to get a distressed look, matted it with Pretty in Pink and used sheer green ribbon with a bow for a bit more "foof" LOL!  I used the Textile embossing folder for the Victorian part and added some piercing to the two scalloped circles for a bit more texture.  The card was off balance so I added two silver brads - not sure if they qualify...maybe I should hammer them to rough them up a bit.  So there you have it, my very first (and most likely my last) attempt at Shabby Chic LOL!  I have NO clue if this is what Amber was looking for, hopefully it passes!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend :D





What's In It?
Stamps:  Roses In Winter (SU)
Paper: Pretty in Pink (SU). Regal Rose (SU), Rose Red (SU), Blue
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Sage Shadow, Mint Medley
Accessories: Marvy Scalloped circle and circle punches, Crimper, Textile embossing Folder, Martha Steward Lace Border Punch, Silver Brads, Sheer green ribbon, Dimensionals, Paper Piercing Kit