Gerber Delight

No more, guessing which room we get to go to in February for the Verve Inspiration Sketches. Amber has chosen dining rooms - how fun :D 

I selected this delightful dining room picture because I just loved the open, airy feel to it and the colours were delightful.  My eye was drawn to the orange flowers on the pillows, the gerber daisies and the paned windows in the background (if you click on the picture it will enlarge so you can see it better).  That lead me to make my own flowers, which I then mounted on little white squares.  Since turquoise is fabulous with orange, I mounted the flowered squares on to a turquoise panel to create my "window" effect (as you can tell, I'm not too good at lining the squares up or cutting them equally - ugh!!) and then layered that panel on to a celery panel.  What a fun, dynamic combination of colours!

The horizontal center panel gave me a bit of grief, as it took me forever to find a sentiment that would fit this small panel.  In addition, since this is a funky kind of card, it needed a script that wasn't too "formal or proper" LOL!   Thankfully, Embrace Life came to the rescue!  I stamped it in chocolate chip, matted it on orange to tie in with the flowers and added a brown half pearl on each side of it for a bit of dimension.  To finish things off, I matted the main image panel on white and popped it up for a bit of dimension and visible layering.  Love how this fun, funky card turned out :D  It will be perfect to send to a friend who needs to be reminded to embrace life, enjoy life and seize each day.

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone.  I'll be spending a good part of this weekend doing week three of Science Fair project work with my kids!  This weekend the kids get to finish collecting data from their experiments, typing it into tables on Word, and collecting background information on their topics.  From there, all they need to do is lay out their display boards and practice their presentation speeches.  The end is near - yeah!!






What's In It?
Stamps:  Embrace Life
Paper:  Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip
Ink:  Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  Marvy Flower Punch, 1/4" Hole Punch, Brown Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Pink Elephant for Baby

I love this sketch by Karen and have been wanting to use it all week.  Today I carved out a bit of time and had some fun :D  I was heavily influence by Kristina's lovely card using this sketch.  The striped DP she used reminded me of some striped DP I had, and I loved the way she did the end of her sentiment panel.  The apron lace border punch was a gift for my birthday and I was going to use it on this card no matter what, but yes, it is the same as hers too.  Consider yourself cased, Kristina :D

Since I recently made a Wild About You baby boy card, so I thought it would be a good idea to have a baby girl card on hand too.  Wild About You is my favorite baby set and this time I used the elephant as the green was a bit strong and I needed some more pink to tone it down.  I popped up her ear and coloured in her eye with a black fine tipped sharpie so it would stand out.  Some Swiss Dots, a pink ribbon and a button with a bow finished things off.  I was toying with putting a bow on her trunk or at the top of her ear but felt I needed the wide ribbon on the that panel or the card would feel a bit empty.  Guess I'll have to save those ideas for another time.

Thanks for  joining me today.  Back next with Amber's new inspiration room for the February Verve Sketch Challenges.  Can't wait to see which room Amber takes us to next :D

What's In It?
Stamps:  Wild About You (SU), Short and Sweet (SU) 
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Pretty in Pink, Making Memories Simply Fabulous DP 
Ink:  Positively Pink 
Accessories: Apron Lace Punch, Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, 5/8" Pink Grossgrain Ribbon, Pink Button, Twine, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

Cherry Blossoms in Winter

This week's sketch by Mercy was a wonderful opportunity to use this set I haven't inked up yet!  Just love all the options you have with this set and since my prior post talked about cherry tree blossoms in spring making me happy, I had to carry the theme over :D

This is a pretty straight forward card.  Each flower is popped up and has a little bling to the middle.  I debated about having or not having a bird in the tree and ended up not adding it in - maybe next time :D  The flower border is a Martha Stewart punch I got for my birthday and the center of each border flower also got blinged (think I just made that word up LOL!).  Not sure if it is overkill, but it looked too plain without it so the bling stayed.  I tried various embossing folders for the white background panel and finally settled on scoring it at half inch intervals with my Scor-Pal to add a bit of "oomph" and dimension to that layer.  I finished things off with some ribbon along the bottom.

Thanks for popping in today.  I hope you have a wonderful day :D





What's In It?
Stamps: Season Of Friendship
Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Mellow Moss
Ink: Positively Pink, Mellow Moss, Creamy Caramel
Accessories:  Scor-Pal, Bling, Martha Steward Border Punch, 1/4" Spring Moss Gross Grain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Happy 101 Award

Trish ever so graciously gave me this award.  You can visit her wonderfully named blog, Encourage Joy and leave her a little love.   The timing of receiving this award was perfect, as I didn't get a chance to get to Mercy's sketch yesterday - thanks, Trish :D

As a recipient of this award you are to list ten things that make you happy and pass it on to five other bloggers.  I am a cup half full type of person so keeping to ten things that make me happy could be hard LOL!  Let's see how I do...

1.  My wonderful family - immediate and extended.

2.  Where we live - great neighbourhood, school, and area.

3.  The beautiful nature that surrounds us here in British Columbia.

• being able to see snow capped mountains and the ocean in the same view
• the lovely green that remains all year round -- there is a positive side to all the rain we get LOL!
• the cherry trees when they bloom in the Spring (just don't park under one of them or you'll have cherry blossom petals blowing out of your vents for weeks -- don't ask me how I know!)
• the amazing landscaping and beauty of Butchart Gardens (Victoria, BC)
  
• a cobweb dotted with dew
• flowers as they bud and bloom in my garden
  
• the changing leaves in the Fall 
• A freshly fallen blanket of snow that glistens like millions of diamonds in the sunshine and outlines the branches of deciduous trees and the quiet the snow brings.
• told you this would be hard for me....had to sneak a few extras under this answer ;o)  
  

4.  A purring cat in my lap.

5.  Seeing my kids grow up and succeed in their endeavors yet be young enough that they still love to snuggle with me.

6.  Spring, when everything starts to bud and bloom after a long winter, because it reminds me of how each and every day I have is a gift and an opportunity for new growth and new beginnings in my life.

7.  The unsolicited hugs and "I love you, Mommy" statements from my kids and being able to treasure these and other special moments in my heart.

8.  Playing sports and working out - though they have been neglected more than they should be! 

9.   Helping and encouraging others.

10. Making cards :D

I think I'm closer to twenty, and could probably keep going to fifty, but I still have to pass this award on to five others LOL!  The five ladies I have chosen to forward this award to are:

Maureen - who was my very first comment and continues to be a wonderful encouragement
Vicki - who's work inspires me
Kathy - who I've enjoyed getting to know a bit more recently
Kristina - who is the sweetest thing and whose work is amazing
Christine - who blesses me by sharing her life on her blog

Back next with Mercy's sketch card.  Have a great day :D

Heart Flowers and Butterflies

This week's Mojo Monday sketch gave us an option of a round or square card - how fun :D  I was going to go with a round card, but opted to go with the square one as I had tripped across these wonderful heart flowers on SCS and wanted to try them.  I'll have to see if I can find the link to the card I saw them on and add it once I do.

The flowers are really easy to make.  You just punch out three hearts and score each one down the middle and fold.  Then you glue one half of the heart to the left side of the middle heart and one half side of another heart to the right side of the middle heart - make sense?  This leaves you with two outside "flaps" which are used to glue them to your paper.    I just love the dimension they have :D  I added three black butterflies with half pearls for the corner element and finished things off with a red ribbon bow with a black button to tie in with the butterflies.  The white panel behind the main image is scored at 1/2 inch intervals for a bit of texture on the panel.  If time permits, I'll give the round sketch a try too :D

Thanks for dropping in today!!




What's In It?
Stamps:  Hero Arts Mini Flowers
Paper:  Basic Black, Real Red
Ink:  Garden Green
Accessories:  Scor-Pal, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Marvy Heart Punch, Red 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Black Button, 1/4" White Satin Ribbon, Half Pearls

Thankful Serenity

Amber has provided us with another wonderful Verve sketch this week.  I sure wish I could do the same!  I'm sketch challenged and very thankful for those who post sketches :D

I fell in love with the black and white foyer with the green ferns.  As you may or may not know, I love white space, I love black and white cards, and I love the colour green!  Needless to say, I was a happy camper, I mean stamper!  Celery was my green of choice and it looks amazing with the white and black.  I was smiling the whole time I was making the card I liked the combination so much - I know, simple things for simple minds LOL!

The circle screamed sentiment so I flipped through my Verve Plain Jane verses and chose 1 Chronicles 16:34.   This is such a wonderful verse, as is this verse's worship chorus.  I've been  humming it all morning long :D  I used my diamond embossing folder to pick up the checkered floor in the foyer and scored the white panel in lieu of the railing on the stairs.  A Serenity silhouette image (this is still one of my all time favorite Verve sets) over the sentiment and three black half pearls to finish things off .  No birthday goodies on this card, but they will be showing up shortly, I promise LOL!

My family spoiled me by getting me forty roses for my birthday yesterday:  ten orange red tipped ones from my hubby, ten yellow ones from my son, ten white pink tipped ones from my daughter and ten orange ones from the cat LOL!  We have a wonderful, local, family run rose wholesaler who has the most fabulous, high quality roses at amazingly low prices.

So glad you were able to stop in today.   I hope you have a fabulous weekend! Mine will be a busy one with our going over to my mom's for a family birthday lunch (chicken and dumplings with a sour cream and caraway sauce - yum!!) and then the rest of the weekend I get to help the kids with the experiment portion of their Science Fair projects.  That way they have next weekend to write up their findings and set up their display boards and the following week to practice their presentation speeches.  Yeah, we're half way there LOL!






What's In It?
Stamps: 1 Chronicles 16:34, Serenity (Verve)
Paper: Black, Certainly Celery, White
Ink: Certainly Celery
Accessories:  Diamonds In The Rough Embossing Folder, Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesties, Scor-Pal, 5/8" Satin Celery Ribbon, Black Half Pearls, DImensionals

Tulips for Karen

I managed to squeeze in Karen's Sunday sketch today even though it's a busy day.  I figured there was no better way to celebrate one's birthday than to stamp LOL!  I can't wait to get my birthday pressies tonite at dinner time as I know I have a bunch of stamping things (pre-purchased by none other than yours truly :D) and I'll be itching to use them as soon as I can!

This sketch had me a bit ruffled when I first saw it because of all the different panels.  What can I say, I'm a straight forward kind of stamper and when you toss in all these panels I get a bit overwhelmed.  However, I persevered and managed to come up with a card for the sketch.

With the mild weather we've been having lately (10C plus during the day - that's about 45F) it does NOT bode well for the Olympic events on the mountains as the snow is melting!  However, we still have a few weeks and anything can happen.  In the meantime, the snow making machines are running overtime at night to try to keep the snow base.  However, the warmer temperatures do make it feel like the beginning of Spring so I dug out this whimsical tulip stamp.  I just love tulips!!  The year I lived in The Netherlands I don't think I went a week without having a bouquet of them in the apartment!  Now I have wait patiently (not!) for the ones in my garden to grow and bloom.

I based my card around this DP from my Costco pack.  Loving the celery, pink and blue together and will definitely use this colour combo again!  I popped up the flower heads for some dimension and even though you can't see it too well, there is some sparkle on the tulips.  The card needed some pop, so I added a sentiment, the black button to balance it off and I was good to go :D  Not my favorite creation, but it will have to do for today.

Thanks for visiting today!  Hope you have a great day!


What's In It?
Stamps:  Garden Whimsy
Paper: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Cool Caribbean, Costco DP Pack 
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Bliss Blue, Pretty in Pink
Accessories:  SU Scalloped Border Punch, 5/8" White Gross Grain Ribbon, Button, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Raffies for Baby

This week's sketch by Mercy was another wonderful one to work with. Her sketches are so flexible and you can adapt them in so many ways (large panel, smaller one, flip it etc.)  that I just love them!!   

For this week's sketch I found a scrap of this wonderful DP.  It screamed "baby" to me and with Wild About You still on my desk (my New Year's resolution isn't going so well LOL!), it was a match made in heaven.

I wanted to use the elephant but felt the raffie worked better due to the spots on it matching the spots on the DP.  Of course, any time there are circles or dots, I have to add some Swiss Dots to tie in  -- sorry!  I think I need to freeze this embossing folder in a block of ice just like they suggest to people who have an issue using their credit card too much!  The rest of the card came together wonderfully (yeah a card that took  me under an hour to make!) and I finished it off with a bow on the giraffe's neck and some blue bling to fill in the empty space in the corner of the image panel.

Thanks for spending a bit of your day with me today and I hope you have a great one :D




What's In It?
Stamps:  Wild About You (SU)
Paper: So Saffron, Cool Caribbean, Unknown DP
Ink:  Bliss Blue
Accessories: Threading Water Punch, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, 1/8" Hole Punch, 1/4" yellow ribbon, Blue Bling, Dimensionals

Lacey Hearts and Bling

It is so strange not having a sketch to post with my card LOL!  I am very sketch challenged and therefore thrive on the abundance of sketches that various teams, blogs, companies put out.  I have tons saved on  my computer as well as lot of them printed off in a binder for reference.  However, this card actually came together all on its own.  I had punched out the heart medallion a while back to see what it looked like and found it sitting on my desk yesterday so I used it as my starting point.  This is going to be my daughter's Valentine's Day card as she is "all girl" unlike her athletic, competitive mother LOL!   I fiddled with what to put in the heart for the longest time -- like about 30 minutes worth - ugh!   In a fit of frustration, I finally walked away from it and came back a while later with a better attitude and was able to settle on the flower.

Days like today usually occur when I'm low on sleep and the old brain isn't firing the way it should.  My son got up around 3:00 a.m. and came running into our room scared by the sounds the overnight wind storm was making.  We had up to 70 mph wind gusts hitting the mainland that night.  Trees were falling all over the place, power outages galore and you could feel the house shake in the gusts every once in a while.  Don't blame the little guy for being scared!  However, sleeping in his bed with him is not always a sleep conducive experience!  He is a cuddly little guy which makes it rather hard to sleep when you have someone plastered against you in a twin bed along with the five teddy bears he sleeps with!  Add in his flips and flops and the cat who was beyond delighted to have someone up at night and a bed party to join in on (he got the end of the bed LOL!) and you can begin to appreciate why I was up for about an hour and a half.  Nothing like hearing your hubby snoring away in your bed while you are trying to share a bed with a boy, a cat, five teddy bears and just about everyone else in the house LOL!  Never a dull moment :D  That being said, I didn't get to crawl back into my bed until about 4:30 a.m. and since my body does not do well on low amounts of sleep or interrupted sleep, I'm paying for it today.  In all reality, I actually treasure these moments because I know one day I won't be able to ease his fears by simply crawling into his bed with him.  They truly do grow up waaaay too quickly!! 

Thanks for popping in.  I'll be back next with Mercy's Tuesday Sketch.  Have a great day :D





What's In It?
Paper: Rose Romance, Pretty In Pink
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Heart Border Punch, Marvy Heart Punch, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Rhinestones, Mini Flower Punch from Michael's, 5/8" Sheer Silver Ribbon, Dimensionals

Roaring Mojo

I spent a good part of yesterday putting together a light box.  It has been on my "To Do" List forever and I finally got it done.  I'm just testing it out today so bear with me as I learn how to use the thing!  It seems SO strange not to have our back yard and our neighbours' back yards in the background LOL!  The picture seems a bit dark to me too, so I think I need some stronger light bulbs as Photoshop didn't fix the issue either.  This will definitely be a trial and error exercise for a few days and if anyone has any tips, I'm all ears :D 

Today's guest Mojo Monday sketch designer is Mary Fish.  She has an amazing blog and I just love her work. Check out her blog if you have a moment, you won't be disappointed. 

When I first say this sketch, I was going to use a sentiment in the oval, but decided to go with an image instead.  I dug through my stamps and found my Wild About You set.  I just LOVE this set.  Each animal  has a personality of its own and they are just too darn cute!!  I settled on the lion because I need to make a Valentine's Day card for my little guy.  He is my happy kid, always smiling and he definitely enjoys life to the fullest.

I stamped the lion image twice and used the second image to cut out his head so I could pop it up.  I embossed the Saffron panel with my Hearts embossing folder and clear embossed the paw prints on the rust panel.  This is actually a dog print stamp, but I think it works just fine :D  I matted things with Chocolate Chip and then added the little bird on the lion as he was just to plain looking up there all by himself.  FInished things off with a bit of brown satin ribbon and I now have a card for my "little lion" LOL!

Thanks for popping in today and I hope you have a great week!

What's In It?
Stamps:  Wild About You (SU), Santa Rosa 
Paper:  So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla, Really Rust
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, More Mustard
Accessories:  Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesties, Heart Embossing Folder, Clear Embossing Powder, Word Window Punch, 5/8" Brown Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Picture Inpiration

I got a chance to get this week's Verve's inspiration challenge done yesterday because this weekend I need to get my kids going on their Science Fair projects.  I really do wish our school would do Science Fair every other year like a lot of schools do, but our principal has opted to make this a yearly event so it's that time of year and we are at it again.  I must admit, it is not always my favorite time of year, but the kids really do get into it and it is wonderful seeing them learn about things, document their findings, set up their display boards and get their "shpeel" all ready so they can present their project to the judges.  Thankfully we have settled on their projects (that can take forever sometimes!!) so we can dive right in.

I chose this picture as my inspiration piece for this week's Verve Sketch.  I loved the row of pictures and all the white.  Such lovely, soft colours. Since I was going with the picture theme, I had to flip the sketch in order to accommodate three flowers across the card.  They are matted on to pink paper as there is some pink in the pictures, then layered on to Blush Blossom -- well not "the" Blush Blossom, but a colour that is very close to it which I found somewhere in my travels.  I kept a lot of white space and scored my white panel as per the cabinets below the pictures.  The card needed a bit of zip so I added a brad to the center of each flower and a brown button to the middle of the bow to balance off the brads in the flowers.

I'm really starting to get into this button thing.  I know.....I'm waaaaay behind the trend, but I have never been the trendy type so it takes me a while to get on the bandwagon.  Unfortunately, that sometimes means by the time I get into the trend, it may be on its way out LOL!  Hopefully this won't happen with buttons for a while :D 

That's it for this week.  Have a fabulous weekend, and I'll be back next week with Julee's Mojo Monday sketch.

What's In It?
Stamps: Short and Sweet
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Blush Blossom
Ink: Black
Accessories:  SU Lace Border Punch, Marvy Flower Punch, Scor-Pal, Brads, 5/8" White Satin Ribbon, Button, 1/4" Pink Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Chipboard, Oh No!

As usual, I just LOVE Mercy's sketch this week.  Perfect timing too as I need to create a card using chipboard for one of the Verve Release Challenges.  When I read the chipboard challenge, I came to a grinding halt.  I must admit I have never used chipboard in my life and thus don't own any.  So, necessity, the mother of invention, came to the rescue once again LOL!  I emptied a cereal box into a storage container, cut my box up into manageable pieces (we buy the jumbo cereal boxes at Costco LOL!) and brought it into my stamp area.

Loving hearts the way I do, I pulled out my heart Nesties once again and punched a heart out of the cereal box.  I then covered it with VersaMark and added sparkly, silver embossing powder over top, heat set it and I had my decorated "chipboard" heart.  Since the heart was silver, I went with a monochromatic pink card.  I just love monochromatic cards.  So soft on the eyes and it is a no brainer when it comes to picking the colours LOL!

I pulled out my heart embossing folder for the main, white panel and ran it through the Cuttlebug twice so I could get the embossing all the way across the panel.  Then I matted the silver heart with a scalloped Pretty in Pink heart and pulled out Regal Rose and Rose Red for my other two panels.  Popped the heart and the heart panel up on some dimensionals (I have a great dollar store in the area that sells two sheets of them for $1.25 and they stick but good!), added my pink ribbon and finished things off with some pink bling and a button on the bow.  I wasn't sold on the button on the bow, and even tried to remove it, but the glue dot wouldn't let it go LOL!

I put the card aside and when I picked it up today to take a picture of it something was still missing, so I decided to added a tag.  I have always loved (no pun intended!) this tag stamp.  I tried various tag colours and finally settled on Rose Red to balance off the Rose Red panel on the left side of the card.  I also became thankful for the glue dot I was cursing at yesterday because I was able to stick the ribbon that held the tag to the glue dot and didn't have to fiddle with how tie the tag on to the bow with the button.  Little joys in life :D

I must confess I actually had fun with my "imitation chipboard".  I just may have to check out the chipboard section in my local scrap booking store next time I'm in as covering it with DP would be a fun thing to try too.  Always something new to try in the wonderful world of stamping -- love it!!

With this card, I am now done with all the Verve challenges - yeah!!  They are always so much fun.  The only down side is catching up on all the things I have put on hold for a few days so I could get them all done LOL!  Hope you can join us at the release party on Friday.  Have a blessed day!!





What's In It?
Stamps: None
Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Rose Romance, Rose Red
Ink:VersaMark
Accessories:  Scalloped Heart and Heart Nesties, Heart Embossing Folder, Silver Embossing Powder, 5/8" Pink Satin Ribbon, Dimensinals

Cupcakes and Scallops

Today my one creative gene and I am jumping for joy because we found out we were selected as one of the winners of this month's Mojo Monday sketch challenge!! You can see my card and post here.  With the win comes $24 in Verve Bucks to be able to gleefully spend at the Verve Store.  With the new release coming out this Friday, I can't wait to see what new goodies Julee has in store for us and what I can add to my Verve collection.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would win one of these sketch challenges.  There are SO many wonderfully talented stampers out there, I am just happy to be able to make a card with each week's sketch.  Thank you, Julee!!!  What a wonderful, early birthday pressie!  And to all of you who have so graciously left me congratulatory messages, thank you (((hugs))).  It's been a truly amazing day :D

Now back to reality LOL!  This is another Verve Release Challenge card.  For this challenge, we had to make a card that was anything but a regular A2 sized card (5 1/2" x 4 1/4").  I have always wanted to make a circular card and since I have some circle Nesties now, I decided to give it a go.  Apparently there is some technique involved in getting the scallops to line up right because when I stand my card up it is a bit off center.  Think I just have to pay attention to where the scallops line up when I'm running it through the Cuttlebug.  Will have to experiment with this so my next one isn't lopsided LOL!

When I thought of making a circular card, this cute little cupcake stamp I found in the Mike's $1.50 bin came to mind.  Yes, we have to pay $1.50 up here in Canada - ugh!  Rotten border LOL!  Sorry, I regressed :D  After trying a few colour combos I settled on this one.  I really did try to resist using my Swiss Dots embossing folder but it took me down yet again and shone in all its glory on the green panel to give it some dimension.  I added some red bling for the cherry on top, some smaller red bling to the flower centers on the cupcake wrapper, and finished things off with two little bows on the side of the card.

I think I'm in love with circular cards now LOL!  Such a wonderful change up from A2 sized cards.  That's why I just love these challenges, they make you get out of your comfort zone and try something new!  Now just one more Verve challenge to go!!  Have a blessed day and thanks again for all your encouraging words yesterday and today (((hugs))).




What's In It?
Stamps:  Michael's $1.50 stamp, (SU) Short and Sweet  
Paper: Garden Green, Real Red 
Ink: Garden Green, Real Red, Lovely Lilac 
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, 1/4" Lilac Grossgrain Ribbon, SU Word Window Punch, Red Bling

Valentine's Treat Box

One of the Verve Release Challenges is to make a treat box of some sort.  I followed the link on this challenge's thread and found a wonderful little heart shaped treat holder template.  You can find it here if you are interested.

It caught my eye since I just love hearts and with Valentine's Day but a month away, it would be a perfect "trial run" for something I could make all my after school daycare kids as a little Valentine's Day gift.

I printed the template on to white card stock, cut it out, and used my Scalloped Heart Nesties to cut out the red base and the heart Nesties to do the DP.  I added the sentiment and a red bow on the front and finished things off with a ribbon handle.  The treats for this template actually don't show up as there is a little flap that covers them about 3/4 of the way up the heart.  Guess you could alter the template by making the sides go up further and not adding the "lid",  but since I am not much of a 3-D item maker, I kept to the template :D  Simple things for simple minds I say LOL!

Just one more Verve challenge to go and I'm all done :D  That is, except for keeping my fingers and toes crossed to be one of the lucky winners at the release party.  If you aren't busy this Friday night, come on over and join the fun on this thread.  The Divas always have amazing samples using the stamps from the new release and there are lots of wonderful people to chat with, as well as new friends to meet :D

That's it for now.  Back soon with another challenge.





What's In It?
Stamps:  A Happy Heart
Paper:  Real Red, Doodlebug Design DP
Ink:  Real Red
Accessories:  Scalloped Heart and Heart Nesties, 5/8" Red Satin Ribbon, 1/8" Hole Punch, Glue Dot

Verve Release Sketch Challenge

This is one of the Verve Release Challenges for this Friday's release party.  Teresa Kline (aka va.sunshine) is the one who created this sketch (she also did last week's Mojo Sketch).  If you have never checked out her blog  head on over, her work is amazing!

I drew a bit of a blank when I first say this sketch, and then remembered a SU set I bought about four years ago that I have only used once - shame on me!!  Out it came and to work I went.  The colour combo came from some ribbon I was going to use and ended up not using LOL!

I embossed the white panel with Swiss Dots (surprise, surprise LOL!) for some "umph" and used some Bazizili paper for the brown panel as it has a bit of texture to it.  Then I debated between putting the button on the bow or on the heart and the heart won out, but, in hindsight, I think I could have gotten away with a button on both.  However, since this card is most likely going to be my hubby's Valentine's Day card I stopped at one button.  He is "manly" enough to handle a card with pink, a button and a bow, but two buttons may be pushing it a bit too far LOL!   

That's it for now.  Off to get another Verve Release Challenge done.  Thanks for coming to say hi today, always appreciate the company :D





What's In It?
Stamps:  Happy Everything (SU)
Paper:  Mellow Moss, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Rose Romance
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  Scalloped Scissors, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Marvy Heart Punch, 5/8" White Satin Ribbon, Button, 1/4" White Satin Ribbon, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Puffy Flower Mojo Card

Since I am sketch design challenged, I decided to use this week's Mojo sketch for the Verve Release Colour Challenge where you have to use black, gray and turquoise on a card.  What a yummy colour combo :D  

I was originally heading in one direction and then decided to try one of Dawn McVey's puffy flowers for the circle on the sketch instead.  She has a great tutorial on her blog which you can view here.  I didn't have any books I was willing to sacrifice for the cause and didn't have time to hit the local thrift shop to get one, so I had to get creative LOL!   Since the colour combo called for turquoise I thought about the yummy, sparkly, turquoise tissue paper Julee packs all her Verve stamps in and figured that would be a good alternative to the book for the flower (plus the book paper wouldn't have matched the colour combo anyway).  Of course, tissue paper is a LOT flimsier than paperback book paper, but one has to work with what one has, right LOL!  I folded the tissue paper over several times so it was four layers thick and then used my SU scalloped circle punch to punch out some scalloped circles.  I then layered the tissue "flowers" on top of each other, poked a hole in the middle, fastened them together with a brad and added a black button to the middle of the flower.  From there, the scrunching began LOL!  Each tissue flower was scrunched up around the button to get the "puff factor" and then re-manipulated to look more like a flower.  My flower manipulation has much to be desired as it is a far cry from Dawn's gorgeous flowers, but the flower was turquoise and that's what counts :D

I used the Birds and Swirls embossing folder for the gray panel and after taking the picture realized the way the swirls lined up they could actually be a stem for the flower!  One of my favorite Plain Janes, Jeremiah 29: 11 was my choice for the focal sentiment.  This verse, along with verse twelve, always brings comfort to me as it reminds me of who is in control of all that happens in my life!  The black panel was punched with my SU scalloped border punch and finished things off with some white satin ribbon.

Thanks for taking a minute to pop in :D  It will be a busy week with all the Verve release challenges so lots of posts this week and little housework getting done LOL!  Have a blessed day!

Stamps: Verver (Jeremiah 29:11)

Paper:  Grey, Black, Turquoise

Ink:  Black

Accessories:  Turquoise Tissue Paper, SU Scalloped Circle Punch, Corner Rounder, Birds and Swirls Embossing Folder, US Scalloped Edge Punch, 5/8" White Satin Ribbon, Brad, Black Button, 1/4" white stain ribbon, Dimensionals

Hearts for Karen

I was so happy to be able to play in Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge this week.  I just love her sketches and hope to be able to do more of them this year.  Off to a good start if nothing else :D. 

This sketch basically made my card for me LOL!  Being that Valentine's Day is coming up and I need a few more Valentine's Day cards, I went with the sample sketch.  Out came my heart Nesties, which I got for Christmas and just LOVE, and I went to work.  I decided to go with red and white as I love the crisp feel of that colour combo.  Since Tanny was bugging me about not using Swiss Dots on a card I recently posted, out came the Swiss Dots EF for the white panel of the middle heart to give it a bit of texture and dimension.  I kept the other two white heart panels plain and added some bling to one and a bow to the other so each heart would have something.  I played with the configuration of the hearts and decided I liked the "tussled" look better than a nicely lined up look.  My Threading Water punch was perfect for the border and some of my SU red and white gingham ribbon tied the two colours in wonderfully.  I wasn't sure about mixing bling with gingham, it felt like mixing country with Hollywood LOL, but it seemed to work on this card.  A sentiment in the lower right hand corner just didn't sit right with me no matter which one I tried (felt too squished) so I opted to use three half pearls instead, and they tied in wonderfully with the rhinestones on the far heart. 

That's it for today.  Hope you have a great Monday and week ahead.  Next up, this week's Mojo sketch and the Verve Release Challenge cards.




What's In It?
Stamps:  None
Paper:  Real Red and White
Ink:  None
Accessories:  Nestie Scalloped Hearts and Hearts, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Threading Water Punch, SU Red and Whtie Gingham Ribbon, 1/4" Red Satin Ribbon, Bling, Half Pearls, Glue Dots, Dimensionals