Kind Words Expressed

Loved this CCMC sketch and decided to use it for this week's Play Date Cafe colour combo of black and white plus a splash of coral.  Love adding a pop of colour to a black and white card!

Kept things pretty CAS.  Pulled out the flower from Kind Words (love this flower!) and inked the "center" on each flower.  Added a sentiment from Words Can Not Express (which just happens to be on sale right now) and a coral button. Quick and easy.

With the kids on spring break, it may get a bit quieter her on the old blog as we will be out and about a fair amount, or working on a few projects we need to get done around the house.  Just hoping the weather cooperates and gives us a little bit of sunshine so we can enjoy being outside a bit.  But not to much sunshine or I'll have to mow my lawn LOL! 

Have a fabulous day, and I'll be back as soon as I can.



What's In It?
Stamps: Kind Words and Words Can Not Tell (Verve) 
Paper: Black and White 
Ink:  Black and Cameo Coral (Stampin' Up) 
Accessories: Scalloped Square and Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Button, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

Just Us Girls #180 - Colour Challenge

  

This week's colour challenge is brought to us by Lisa and she has selected green, orange and white in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

I decided to make a tag to change things up a bit and after quite a few shamrocks I opted for a flower instead.  Polka dotted garden green and bright orange were my colours of choice and where there are flowers, there must be a butterfly {grin}.

The rest of the  JUGS team has some wonderful samples to get your inspiration going, so just hop on over to the Just Us Girls blog, and check out what the Design Team has created.  Then put your creative genes to work and add your card/project to the challenge post on the JUGS blog for the chance to be selected as Chic of the Week.  

Have a fabulous weekend, and I'll be back on Monday with my Mojo Monday card! 



What's In It? 
Stamps: Circular Sentiments and Love Notes (Verve)
Paper:  Garden Green DSP, Kraft, Only Orange (Stampin' Up)
Ink:  Black and VersaMark 
Accessories:  Tag Die and Flower Die (PTI),  Classy Label Die (A Cut Above by Verve), Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart), 3/8" Green Grosgrain Ribbon (Michael's Ribbon Bin), Button, Twine, Black Half Pearls,  Glue Dot, Dimensionals

Lucky Shamrock

Welcome to week three of Verve's VLV March sketches.  Diva Maureen is our hostess this week and she has provided a wonderful inspiration picture and sketch for us to work with.  Green is my favorite colour so I'm enjoying bringing on the green :)

In honor of Diva Maureen's birthday on Sunday (St. Patrick's Day), shamrocks took center stage.  I used the background paper in the picture as my launching point and pulled out some Scenic Route paper that had a similar pattern.  Next, I used use Verve's Lucky You set which ever so conveniently has a "lucky you" sentiment, and of course, had to add a shamrock (which I die cut with the matching Shamrock die set).  Some yummy, dark brown ribbon added a pop of colour against the green and I just had to add the arrow to reinforce the point of "how lucky you are".

Would love you to join us over on the SCS Verve Forum.  As an added bonus, if you get all four of this month's sketches completed and uploaded by midnight CST on Thursday, March 28th, you will be entered for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to the Verve store!  Worth playing for in my books (but then of course I am just a "tad" biased LOL)!

Have a fabulous day and wishing all my Irish followers and any St. Patrick's Day babies out there a fun weekend of celebrating :)

Challenges:
-  Flourishes - Go Green
-  Bellie Challenge - Green



What's In It?
Stamps: Lucky You (Verve) 
Paper:  Scenic Route DP, So Saffron, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up) 
Ink:  Old Olive, Black 
Accessories:  Shamrock Die Set and Arrow Die (A Cut Above by Verve), Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties (Spellbinders), 5/8" Brown Satin Ribbon, Button, Twine, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Good Luck Shamrock

Another fun sketch to work with over at the Verve Forum on SCS.  Since I have a few more St. Patrick's Day babies to make cards for, this sketch was a perfect choice.

Found this wonderful piece of green polka dotted paper in my stash and gleefully cut into it for this card.  Oh how I love green {grin} :)   The kraft background was created by using VersaMark and the smallest shamrock from Verve's Lucky You set.  The largest shamrock die and matching stamp became the focal image with a Lucky You sentiment to go with it.   A perfect fit for this week's Timeless Tuesday Challenge   and Bellie Challenge too.

Can't believe the kids are on Spring Break at the end of this week!  Yikes!  The first quarter of the year is almost over and we have two weeks to hang out together.  Love having my kids all to myself :) and hopefully they concur about having me all to themselves LOL! 

Have a fabulous day!



What's In It?
Stamps: Lucky You (Verve) 
Paper: Kraft and Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up), Small Green Mini Dot (Simple Stories) 
Ink: VersaMark, Chocolate Chip 
Accessories: Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties (Spellbinders), Shamrock Die Set and Pennant Trim Die (A Cut Above by Verve), Corner Rounder, Button, Twine, Glue Dot, Bling, Dimensionals

Merry Monday Joy

Since my new WPlus 9 word dies were still out, I decided to play along with this week's Merry Monday sketch.

Joy is one of my favorite words and it was great fun using this die.  I pulled out some Carta Bella Winter Fun paper and focused on a snowflake theme.

I added a dark brown snowflake for a pop of colour and some bling in the middle for a bit of sparkle.  Yeah! Made my first Christmas card of 2013.

Short and sweet today as I have a busy day ahead.  Thanks for visiting!



What's In It?
Stamps: Snowflakes (Amuse) 
Paper:  Kraft, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up), Carta Bella 
Ink: Versamark 
Accessories: Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesties, Seasonal Sentiments Die (W9 Plus), Scalloped Border Punch, Jumbo Snowflake Punch (Martha Stewart(, Bling, Dimensionals

Mojo Monday #284

This weeks Mojo Monday sketch is a delightful one to work with.  I opted to go with a St. Patrick's Day theme as I have three friends that have a birthday on this day.  Lots of green and polka dots for your viewing pleasure wink, wink.  Decided to add a little tag with March 17th on it, to highlight the exact birthday date :).   Was a perfect card for this week's Simon Says challenge of a Bit 'O Green and There She Goes green challenge.

Sorry about the picture quality.  The sunshine is still messing with my picture quality, so the challenge to overcome is on - I hate losing to inanimate objects LOL!  

You can check out all the challenge details over on the Mojo Monday blog and also get a chance to view all the wonderful Mojo Makers samples!  Should you wish more details on their cards, you can also visit their individual blogs noted below.

Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

Julee Tilman (Owner)

Marisa Ritzen (you are here)

Mary Fish

Sarah Biglow

Teresa Kline

Stephanie Kraft

Wanda Cullen

Thanks for sharing a bit of your day with me :) 



What's In It?
Stamps:   Lucky You and Calendar Countdown,  (Verve) 
Paper:  Dots and Stripes (Echo Park), Happy Go Lucky (Pebbles), Kraft
Ink: Black, Garden Green 
Accessories:  Shamrock and Flag It Die Sets (A Cut Above by Verve), Scalloped Border Punch (Stampin' Up), 5/8" Brown Satin Ribbon, Button, Twine, Brown Half Pearls, Dimensioanls

Just Us Girls #179 - Technique Challenge

Vicki has brought this week's technique challenge and it is a fun one.  You just need to use a negative die cut on your card - easy peasy and loads of fun :)

This week's CASE(E) this sketch was perfect for today's challenge and as luck would have it my new W9 Plus dies arrive today in the mail so I got to use them!

I also just "had" to use Verve's new Banner Trim Trio die again as I just love them!!  The hearts border is my favorite and fit perfectly with the card's love theme.  I also used one of the Wavy Hearts die and the cute falling heart from Stronger Love.  Happy accident: the heart left two holes where the alignment tools are on the die so I filled them in using bling :)

I apologize profusely for the poor picture - argh!!  I have a hard time taking pictures of white cards at the best of times and today's sunny day has wrecked havoc on my lighting!  Will edit the photo as soon as I get a chance.   CAS gals out there - if you have any photography tips for white cards, please let me know!

The rest of the  JUGS team has some wonderful samples to get your inspiration going, so just hop on over to the Just Us Girls blog, and check out what the Design Team has created.  Then put your creative genes to work and add your card/project to the challenge post on the JUGS blog for the chance to be selected as Chic of the Week.  

Have a fabulous weekend, and I'll be back on Monday with my Mojo Monday card! 



What's In It? 
Stamps: Stronger Love (Verve)
Paper: Pink Dots (Making Memories), Going Grey
Ink: Going Grey (Stampin' Up) 
Accessories:  Seasonal Sentiments Dies (WPlus 9), Wavy Hearts (A Cut Above by Verve), Bling, Dimensionals
    

Verve Diva Dare ~ March 2013

Today marks the beginning of this month's Verve Diva Dare.  Each month, the Verve Divas put together a challenge for you to play along with.  This month's challenge is entitled Just Give Me Stamps, Buttons and Bling.

Here is a a sneak peek of my card.

To find out about all the challenge details and how you can win some Verve goodies, simply head on over to the Verve Blog.

Look forward to seeing your creations!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #179

It has been way too long since I've played along with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge so it was time to rectify the issue.   Think the round circle sucked me in wink, wink.  Always love it when there is a big circle to play around with on a sketch as there are so many possibilities.  Since I loved this week's Colour Q I paired the two challenges for this card.  

Initially, I was aiming to use some leaves as these colours just scream fall, but then I decided to continue on with my inadvertent theme this week -  verses that have been turned into songs.

Psalm 46:10 is one of my favorite verses.  Think I've said the same thing about the verses I have used on my last two cards...what can I say...I have quite a few favorite verses :)  Love that Verve has them as Plain Janes!

This verse speaks to me often, especially when catch myself running on life's hamster wheel.  As a kid I used to love watching what happened when our hamsters could no longer run on their wheel due to exhaustion.  They couldn't get off because the wheel was spinning too quickly so they had to stop running, hang on for dear life, and let the momentum they had generated take them for a few loops around the wheel.  Once the wheel stopped, they were able to walk away.  Oh how true this is of real life!  Note to self:  Get off the wheel before you are exhausted so you don't get thrown for a loop ;)

There you have it, a little insight into my world.  Just don't think of me as a hamster very time you see my name and I'll be good LOL!

Have a great day everyone :) 


What's In It?
Stamps:  Psalm 46:10 Plain Jane (Verve Stamps) 
Paper:  Springtime (Echo Park), Mini Dot (Simple Stories), Kraft, Cameo Coral 
Ink:  Black 
Accessories:  Scalloped Trim Trio, Loopy Bloom and Banner Bundle Die Set (A Cut Above by Verve), Scalloped Circle and Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders),  Felt, Buttons, Twine, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

The Joy Of The Lord Is My Strength

Hard to believe we are in March already!  Yikes!!  Spring Break is just two short weeks away -- says a mom who needs to get her act together planning activities to do with her kids over the break!  I decided to avoid that thought for a while while I worked on this week's Verve sketch.

I went back to my Verve roots and used the very first set I purchased called Serenity.  That was the beginning of my love affair/addition to Verve Stamps.   Guess you could say it is our six year anniversary wink, wink :)

The sentiment and over stamped image are both from the set and after singing It Is Well all day yesterday, today I'll be singing the course that goes with this sentiment!  May have to keep the song theme going this week ;)  



What's In It?
Stamps: Serenity (Verve) 
Paper: Garden Florals (Recollections - Michael's), Mellow Moss, Blush Blossom 
Ink:  Black, Blush Blossom 
Accessories:  Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, Butterfly Punches (Martha Stewart), 3/8" Brown Grosgrain Ribbon (Stampin' Up), Distressing Tool (Stampin' Up), Brown Half Pearls, Button, Twine, Glue Dot, Dimensionals