It's a Verve Anniversary Hop!

Welcome to Verve's Anniversary Blog Hop - Verve is turning THREE today! If you'd like to see all the participating blogs, just start at the beginning over at the Verve blog. Make sure you leave comments all along the way to enter for a fantastic prize!

Okay, on to the card I'm sharing! This card features one of my favorite Plain Jane Scripture verses - and Verve has lots of them! I used an emboss resist technique with the background, but used an iridescent embossing powder instead of plain clear ep. I think it makes an interesting effect that you wouldn't expect. The rhinestones help to emphasize the sparkle.  =D


Now it's time for you to hop on over to Edna's blog to see what she's showing off - have fun!

Elegant thanks

Here's another card I made for the Verve release week challenges. It called for black, grey and aqua. Not my favorite color combo, but I managed to pull off an elegant card. I just had trouble getting the camera to capture the paisley embossing on the black panel at the bottom of the card!

supplies ~ cardstock: The Paper Company (black), Martha Stewart (gray), dsp: DCWV Old World Stack, ribbon: Joann's, image & sentiment: Verve Thankful Accents

Have a restful weekend!

Thanks, Verve style

I really love Verve stamps! I don't play with them nearly as often as I should, but this week was release week with lots of challenges on their SCS forum. I managed to complete all five challenge - whew!

So here's my first card. In addition to the Verve challenge, I used a CPS sketch and finished the inside for the Moxie Fab challenge to create a complete card.

supplies ~ kraft: Bazzill, dsp: DCWV Doodlin' Around Stack, stamps: Verve Thankful Accents & Thankful Hearts

Thanks for stopping by to look & have a great day!

Etsy Inspired Winter Wishes

I know what you're thinking: "When is this chick gonna quit with the Christmas cards?" Well, I think I'm just about done for now. I'm on vacation and trying to get a jump on next year's cards, but I really want to move on. I'm attempting the Christmas Card Challenge on SCS, so Christmas cards may pop again from time to time, but I think this is it (except for any of Tim's tags that I'm trying to complete - we'll see).

I've entered this card in the Etsy Inspired challenge for this week. The item that inspired my card is a camera bag with lots of swirls on it. I changed the color, but the swirls are still there.  =D

So here it is. I used the free digi set from Verve (it was only available for a limited time, so you'll have to wait and see if Julee offers it again someday). I colored the mittens with Sakura Stardust pens and a black Prisma pencil. I also used a nestie die to trace a frame around the sentiment - it just needed a little something more.



supplies ~ cardstock: The Paper Company (black), Georgia Pacific (white), Martha Stewart (aqua), Sakura Stardust pens, Prisma pencil, image & sentiment: Verve Winter Mittens

Thanks for looking!

Encouraging Words from Verve

I'm squeaking in just under the wire for Verve's "Encouraging Words" Project Parade! I used Mojo Monday Sketch 108, too.

The verse holds such great promise for believers. For me, it holds three promises: that the Lord does, indeed, know everything about us and everything we say; He has redeemed us from the sinful state into which we were all born; and He gives us the strength to magnify him through our thoughts and deeds. What a great God I serve! If you don't know the Lord as YOUR Savior and Redeemer, email me to find out how you can!

I used a couple of flowers from this set, as well, and layered one on top of the other after cutting them out. I also used a *few* dew drops to add a little bling to an otherwise simple card. ;D 

supplies ~ cardstock: Martha Steward, dsp: DCWV Old World Stack, dew drops: Robin's Nest, ink: Memento Potter's Clay, verse & flower: Verve Meditations

Thanks for stopping by to look!

Anni-Verve-sary Blog Hop - Verve turns TWO!

Welcome to the first ever official Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop. Verve turns two today and we’re celebrating with a hop, hop, hop! If you just came from Kayla's blog, you're on your way. The party kicked off over on the Verve blog, so if you’ve just happened along, be sure to hop on over there to start from the beginning! And to make this party a real shindig, there’s a mystery jackpot hidden at one of the stops along the hop. One lucky commenter on that blog will win Verve’s entire August release! But of course, it wouldn’t be a mystery if you knew which blog, would it? So if you’re feeling the love give a little shout out to the bloggers in the hop, and you just might have a reason to jump for joy!

The card I'm sharing with you today is one I did for the Viva la Verve challenges over on Splitcoast Stampers. The twist this time was to add texture, and that was fun! I love to use my embossing folders, but sometimes "forget" that I have them. A challenge like this forces me to thumb through my folders.

I really love the graphic boldness of black & white with a little splash of color. The sketch for this challenge did just that, so I decided to roll with it. I also experimented when coloring the flowers. I tried using a blending pen with my Memento dew drop pad. Not a bad result, but I will probably not use it again - I just didn't like the feel of the dry tip scraping over the paper surface. I also thought the sentiment needed just a little something extra, so I inked up only a portion of the leaf part of the flower stamp and used it as a flourish. A few pearls & matting, and the card was done!

supplies ~ cardstock: stash, pearls: Martha Stewart & Michaels, stamps: Verve "Floral Symphony"

Thanks for stopping by! Now it’s time to hop on over to ~Melody's blog~ for a little more Verve-y goodness. Make sure you leave a comment on each blog to enter to win Verve's ENTIRE ANNI-VERVE-SARY RELEASE!

Verve Project Parade: Divine Details

:::Looking for my Whimsy Challenge post? Scroll down to the next one!:::

I have been an admirer of Verve stamps for quite a while, but it seems like there's never enough $$ to get everything I want. I won a $25 gift certificate in the last Project Parade, but my craft room is a mess, so I haven't inked up the stamps I bought (YET!) =D

So I decided to enter this card in this month's round of the Verve Project Parade, and you may notice a similarity to my DT project for the Whimsy Stamps Challenge Blog. It came out really well, and this month we're supposed to describe our design process when we make cards.

My process is simple, really. I have to have a sketch to begin. I'm very visual, so a blank panel does nothing to inspire me. Give me a sketch, and my imagination will take flight! So this sketch is from a Stamp Something challenge that I never had time to enter; it was hanging on my bulletin board waiting for a card.

The next step is to decide what image, papers and colors I want to use. This one was easy since I had two of these monkeys, and my intention was to start my card for the DT project. I also wanted to make a masculine card - I always need more of those. Basic Grey puts out a lot of nice manly papers, so I decided to use them.

Once I get those main elements down, then I start thinking about whether I will use sentiments or embellishments. I really struggle with sentiments, but I'm lucky to have an Archaic rub-on book that had some sentiments in it. I picked this one since it just fit the monkey so well and mounted it on a Nesties label with a couple of brads.

supplies ~ cardstock: stash & SU Chocolate Chip, dsp: Basic Grey Archaic, sentiment: BG Archaic rub-on, brads: Making Memories, image: Whimsy Monkey

Now you have a glimpse into how my crazy brain works - there really is a method to my madness! =D

Thanks for visiting to day, and have a terrific day!

Best wishes from Gruffie

I am so pleased with this card. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but the finished product came out beautifully! I'm sorry the second photo came out yucky. I was having a hard time capturing the shimmer of the cake, so I decided to just go with the best shot; you can see how beautiful Shimmerz are! This card is for the Viva la Verve week 3 challenge.

I colored the Gruffie with Prismas & OMS, then went over the cake with Angel Wings Shimmerz. I matted it and the sentiment on Chocolate Chip (thanks to Heather for giving it to me in a blog candy!). The background papers are all Basic Grey Sultry, and I finished the card with some scrummy velvet ribbon.

Thanks for a moment to peek over here! I have some more challenges I want to try to finish this week, so I hope I'll have a card for you tomorrow.

Oh, I almost forgot! I have a blog candy still open here for a Whimsy stamp, and I have a PIF here still open. You just need to comment on the post to get a chance at winning!

Good night!


supplies ~ papers: Basic Grey Sultry, cardstock: SU! Chocolate Chip, focal image: Stampabilities Gruffies Cake Walk, sentiment: Inkadinkado Chelsea Sentiments, Shimmerz: Angel Wings, velvet ribbon: American Crafts Boutique Blush

It's Your Day men's b-day card

I finally got Ace to help me wish a special guy a happy birthday! I've had him for a few months and stamped out a bunch of images for myself and others, but never got around to coloring him and getting him into a card until last night. I'm sick again :::sigh:::, slept too much yesterday :::deeper sigh::: and couldn't sleep last night, so I made a card. Well, if life hands you lemons...

Anyway, I also got to play with some Urban Rhapsody papers I won from Laura Canale's blog candy a couple of months back (you should visit her - she does great work!) Since I haven't made as many cards as I would like (grrr...hate being sick), I decided to enter this one in multiple challenges. I'm feeling better today, so I'll try to resume my card-a-day goal this week. So the challenges I've entered are: High Hopes (zigs & zags), Paper Garden Projects birthday bash for week 1, Viva la Verve (sketch + a twist of pink, red & green), Stamp TV Wednesday technique challenge (pencils & OMS), and Stamp Something (your favorite something - my fave stamp company at the moment). Whoa - thasallotta challenges!

You can click the pic to get a larger view, but the zig zag paper has different shades of each color, so there IS some pink on this men's card! I also decided to continue the distressed theme throughout the card, so I sanded the cardstock base and inked the edges of the white cardstock. I also inked the edges of the white panel on the inside of the card (which is the first time I've decorated an inside more than just adding a liner). Ace was colored with Prismas & OMS, and I finished off the card with some dew drops.
supplies ~ cardstock: DCWV, dsp: K & Co., dragon stamp: High Hopes, sentiment: Studio G, dew drops: Robin's Nest.

**********

On another note, remember that my Spring Break Giveaway Day 3 is open until the 150th comment. I've been happy to see a variety of folks come visit, as well as some regulars. Spread the word about my giveaways, there are 5 more after today's! I didn't have as many challengers yesterday as I would have liked, but this is a small blog and I made the mistake of posting that one on a weekday. So maybe another challenge is in order, but toward the end of the giveaways when it will be a weekend. Sound good?

Thanks for stopping by to look!

A Moose and a dragon

If you're reading this and suddenly something doesn't make sense, it's probably because I only slept for 2-3 hours last night. I came home from work and got busy on a couple of images that I wanted to use on Viva La Verve challenges over at SCS. The deadline was today before I would be able to get home, so I had to get them done before leaving for school this morning. I didn't intend to stay up so late, but once I got into a groove I lost all sense of time. Sooooo...I'll come back and edit later if needed! ;o)

This first card was the first time I've ever inked him up. He's from Whimsy, a newer stamp company that is releasing new images faster than you can say, "moosey moose." Being an Alaskan, of course, how could I pass him up?

I decided to watercolor him, but gave my water pen its maiden voyage. The last time I watercolored, I used my blender pen. I feel like I had more control over the water content with the blender pen, but maybe I just need to get used to the water pen before deciding. I'm chaperoning students from my school on a trip to DC next month, so maybe I'll take several stamped images, my watercolor pencils and water pen with me so I can practice my technique.

supplies ~ image: Whimsy Stamps; papers: brown scallop (POPTones), others (DCWV); ink: StazOn; flowers: stash; brads: K & Co.


The second card was also for Viva La Verve, but also for this week's High Hopes challenge: Hearts! At first, I considered making a pink card, but couldn't match up papers that at least LOOKED like they matched. In the end, I settled for the heart charm to the left of the sentiment.

Lenny, here, has been the star of one of my other cards; he got a new color here and (IMO) better shading. AAAAaaaaaand....I got to use my brand-new nesties on these two projects for the very first time!

supplies ~ image: High Hopes Stamps, papers: DCWV cardstock for the base & ProvoCraft Scrap Pad for others, ink: StazOn, heart charm: stash, rub-on: Joann's, colored with PrismaColor pencils & OMS

By the way, do you have High Hopes stamps? Don't have the money to buy more of the ones you want? Willing to stamp out 12 images and mail them off to get 10 back? Over at the SCS High Hopes image swap, we need more swappers to fill out our roster. There are lots of open slots, and you'll get back images from categories to which you didn't contribute. Just look at the list to see what's still open, leave a comment for Janet about what you'll contribute, then send your images off to her so that they arrive before Feb. 13. Easy peasy!

I'll be back tomorrow to put the supplies list up on these cards. I need to get my weary self off to bed.......

ETA: I also decided to enter these cards in the Stamp Something challenge: Summer in Winter.

Tryin' something new with Hedgehog Joy

Yep - I tried a couple of new techniques on this card. I bought this little guy on eBay for just $5. The stamp had a little bit of ink stains, but StazOn cleaner got it all squeaky clean! Once I got him stamped, I let him sit for awhile. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with him. I could use markers (but I'm not crazy about my marker set) or watercolor him (but I stamped him on cardstock, not WC paper) or I could use colored pencils.

In the end, I decided to try my hand at using my Prismacolor pencils with OMS. I've tried blending the pencils with just a dry stump, but didn't like the effect. I watched a couple of tutorials as refreshers, then away I went. Ta da!

This card will be entered in two challenges: Viva La Verve's Week One challenge sketch {with hardware!} and Penny Black's Frame It challenge.






The flower is actually a white Bazzill paper flower that I painted. I didn't have a flower this size in a color that matched the card, so I pulled out my Pearlescent Watercolors from Yasutomo. I picked these up cheap to supplement my Twinkling H2Os, which are WAAAAAY more expensive. I started with pink, but it was too bright for the pinks in my card. So, I painted over it a second light coat of cream (at least I think - no color labels on the case or packaging). Then I popped a silver brad in the center along with a bead cap.

After trying the pencils & OMS, I think this will become one of my favorite ways to color. I have a pretty basic set of 36 Prismas, but it's a mix of Verithin and Premier pencils with most colors duplicated. If you know how to blend colors you can get more bang for your buck. I muted the pink in the flowers with some light brown, colored his fur with white first then a light layer of black to get the gray, and mixed pink and peach to get a subtle rosey colored cheek.

That's it for today, folks. I have more cards and challenges to complete this week if I have enough time, so watch this space!

I love you

I'm back to share with you another Valentine card for the Cards 4 Kids card drive (I think I'm up to three now).


I used the same papers on this one as the last, but I decided to use one of the VIVA la VERVE! sketch challenges for this one and a theme challenge from Crazy for Daisies. The heart was cut using a Cuttlebug die that produces one solid heart (the middle one) and two outlines (the outer pink & brown ones). I ran three different papers through at the same time. I can layer them or combine them in lots of ways (I did this with the last card, too). And I like the idea that I'm getting more bang for my buck out of the papers I use since there's nothing "covered up" as when you mat one image over another. The stamps are from Studio G again.

Some of you may be wondering, "What's with this lady's fascination with multiple challenges?" You may be in the same position as I am, with a dreadful shortage of......TIME! I love to enter challenges, and I think I'd prefer to make unique cards for single challenges, but I just can't manage it. Plus, I think that it's an even bigger creative leap to combine challenges in a pleasing way. Sometimes I'm really happy with the end result, sometimes not. In this case, I think I like it!

ETA: I finally found the blog where I got these papers! If you like these, head over to Snippets Ink. She plans to continue creating digi-kits, but so far the Bentley kits are the only ones she's offered.