How Many Fingers Are You?

I created this for my brother's birthday using the May Viva la Verve week 3 sketch.  I used two different stamp sets on this card, one from Verve and one not.  The sentiment is from Inkadinkado, I love their Kid Quotes sets, they are so cute!  However, they don't like to stamp as clear as I would like them to.  The solution?  I ink the stamps first in Versamark, and then in the color I want to stamp it in, then I stamp on my paper. 

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  Pacifica, Colonial White - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Kraft Funday Everyday Fun - My Minds Eye
Ink:  Pacifica - CTMH, Memento Tuxedo Black
Stampsets:  Blue Skies - Verve;  Friendly Advice - Inkadinkado
Circle Punch - Creative Memories
Canvas Mini's - Canvas Home Basics

Dance in the Rain

This is my final card for the April Viva la Verve sketch challenge, this sketch is actually from week 1, but I did them out of order.

Also, this week at Use it Tuesday, the theme is "April Showers Bring May Flowers".  I used some left over adorable paper from an old workshop kit from Close to My Heart.  Let's just say I've had it a while, I've been hoarding it because I love it and only have a few scraps left.  I also used a sentiment from Verve, it says "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain" (shower theme).  I used tape to mask "dance" and stamped the rest in blue, and then used tape to mask the rest of the sentiment to stamp "dance" in pink. 

Supplies Used:
Paper and Cardstock: Tickled Pink - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Ink:  Blush, Crystal Blue - CTMH
Stampset:  Blue Skies - Verve
Sparkles - CTMH
Circle and Scalloped Circle Dies - Spellbinders

A Verve Mother's Day

I created this card using the Viva la Verve April week 4 sketch.  I was a little concerned about the arrows at first, it took me a few days to have a vision for them.  After pondering them for a few days, I remembered that I had some chip board corners stashed away, I figured I could turn them on the side and call them arrows (after I spritzed them with glimmer mist of course).  I made the flower - it's another coffee filter flower, I just love how they look. 

I'm entering this in my very first Verve Diva Dare challenge.  The theme is All Aboard - we needed to use chip board (my arrows), corrugated card board, or kraft (my card base). 

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  Blush - Close to My Heart (CTMH), Kraft - Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Desert Sand, Chocolate - CTMH
Stampset:  Simple Beauty - CTMH
Paper:  Sun Kiss Collection - Prima
Rhinestone Designer Brads - CTMH
Rock Candy Distress Paint, Platinum Stickles - Ranger
Glimmer Mist - Tattered Angels

Beautiful Roses

This weeks challenge at The Shabby Tea Room is "Beautiful Roses".  We needed to use Aqua, Pink, Neutrals, and Flowers in our creation.  

I used the Viva la Verve April week 3 sketch for the blue print.  I have a confession about the doily,  it was at my spot last weekend for a Girl Scout fundraising crop.  I just couldn't leave it behind, I could picture it on a card.  When I pulled this sketch out, I knew I had found just the card for my doily. 

I'm also entering this in this week's Word Art Wednesday.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  Blush, White Daisy - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Paper:  Linen Closet - DCWV
Ink:  Blush - CTMH
Stampset:  Beautiful You - Verve
Roses - Wild Orchid Crafts
Pearl Flourish - Zva Creative

Flowers

I created this for the 2 Sisters Challenge Blog challenge.  Which to bad the link is now closed.  I hate it when the internet is slow, one of the drawbacks of living in the boondocks.  Anyhow, the challenge was to use a flower in the main image.  I stamped this and colored it with my watercolor pencils, then I did two coats of a crackle distress paint. 

I used the Viva la Verve April week 2 sketch.  I've been wanting to sew randomly on my cards, instead of in my usual straight line, I thought this would be the perfect sketch to do it with.  I dipped the little paper butterfly in a solution of Blush re-inker and rubbing alcohol to give it some color. 

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  Colonial White, Crystal Blue - Close to My Heart (CTMH), Kraft - Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Stampset:  Enjoy Every Moment - CTMH
Watercolor Pencils and Blending Pen - CTMH
Flutter Paper Shapes, Colonial White Safety Pin - CTMH
Baja Breeze Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Ovals and Scalloped Ovals - Spellbinders
Rock Candy Distress Paint - Ranger
Blush Re-Inker - CTMH

Beauty-Full Viva la Verve

I used the sketch from the Viva la Verve sketch challenge found on Split Coast Stampers, this is from March 2012, week #2. 

Also, this week at Use it Tuesday, the challenge is to use an un-inked stamp.  I've had this beautiful stampset from The Craft's Meow for a few weeks, and decided to put some ink to it.  Have you ever had an idea in your head, that you just had to put to paper?  That's what happened here.  I had it in my head that I needed to heat emboss the birdcage image in white embossing powder, and then sponge over it with different colors of ink.  So, here's what I came up with:

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Fairest of them All - Imaginisce
Cardstock:  Blush, Colonial White, Crystal Blue - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Ink:  Blush, Sweet Leaf, Buttercup - CTMH, Versamark
Stampset:  Fly Free - The Craft's Meow
White Embossing Powder - CTMH
Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge - CTMH
Cream Pearl Pen - Viva Decor
Embosslit Beautiful Wings - Stampin' Up!

Proverbs 3:5

I created this card using the Viva la Verve March Week #4 sketch found at Split Coast Stampers.  It's supposed to be a Clean and Simple (CAS) sketch challenge this week, I tried. 

I'm planning on sharing this card at Word Art Wednesday, they have a great free Word Art this week.  However,  I had my little heart set on using a Plain Jane scripture verse from Verve.  So, since I can use another scripture or encouraging quote in my project, I decided to run with it.  I consider Proverbs 3:5-6 my life verse. 

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Perfect Day - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Ink:  Cocoa, Sorbet - CTMH
Stamp:  Proverbs 3:5 - Verve
Double Loops Punch - Martha Stewart
Mocha Opaques - CTMH
Early Espresso Bakers Twine - Stampin' Up!
Oval and Scallop Oval Dies - Spellbinders

Viva la Verve March Week #3

I received an exciting message on my cell phone this morning, some good friends of ours had their baby.  Since they didn't find out what they were having, I couldn't decide if I should make a girl, boy, or gender neutral card.  I debated to long, they had a boy, and I had no card.  So, I decided to use the newest Viva la Verve from Splitcoast Stampers sketch to create this baby boy card.  Also, this week at the 2 Sisters Challenge Blog, we were to use Spots and Dots.  I've loved this polka dot paper for a long time, and was excited to have an excuse to use it.

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Portobello Road "Buddies" Perfect Paper - My Minds Eye
Cardstock:  Crystal Blue, Grey Flannel - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Inks:  Crystal Blue, Grey Wool - CTMH
Stampset:  Baby Love - CTMH
Brads - CTMH
Labels 1 - Spellbinders
Nesting Scallop Circles - Lifestyle Crafts
Chipboard Banner - Jenni Bowlin

Fun is Good

Here is my card using the Viva la Verve February week 3 sketch.  For some reason, I struggled with this sketch, I started it over a week ago and ended up walking away from it.  Last night I decided that it was past time to finish it.  I ended up starting from scratch, and I love how it turned out.  I used the picture from the Ribbon Carousel Challenge as inspiration for both my colors and the movement in the paper.  The theme this week was colors and swirls.

I opted to fussy cut a flower out of a larger piece of paper and thought a rosette with a button would add the final touch. 

The green polka dot ribbon is from my stash.  A few years ago at a Creating Keepsakes convention in Minneapolis, I entered a card in their contest.  Some weeks went by and I never heard anything, so I assumed that I hadn't placed with it.  One day, I came home from work, and there was a box sitting in front of our door.  When I opened it, this ribbon was wrapped around the 1st Place prize for the card contest.  I was over the moon excited!  The box was full of fun paper crafting books, magazines, cardstock, and some tools.  I saved the ribbon, and I thought the rich green color would be perfect on this card.

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Berry Sweet - K & Company
Cardstock:  Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Whisper White - Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Stampset:  Beautiful You - Verve
Markers:  Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo - Stampin' Up!
White Embroidery Floss, Green Button - Close to My Heart
Circles and Scalloped Circles - Spellbinders
Ribbon - Unknown

Gratitude

I'm afraid I don't do clean and simple cards, I'm not even really sure what makes one qualify for CAS.  I feel kinda silly even attempting one.  But, that's the challenge for this weeks Viva la Verve sketch - it's clean and simple.  So, here's my attempt:

I'm also playing along with The Play Date Cafe challenge #120.  The colors are baby blue, orangesicle, and basil.  I used sky, taffy, and garden green, all Close to My Heart colors.  I added the blue sparkles, well (1) because they sparkle, and (2) they broke up the vast expanse of taffy.

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Taffy, Garden Green, White Daisy Cardstock - Close to My Heart (CTMH), Believe - CTMH
Ink:  Taffy - CTMH, Memento Tuxedo Black
Stampset:  Beautiful You - Verve
Sparkles - CTMH
Nesting Scallops Die - Lifestyle Crafts
Circle Die - Spellbinders
Square Lattice Embossing Folder - Stampin' Up!

Prayers

It's Friday, and besides being sheet washing day in our home (one of the few scheduled things that I've been able to stick with), it's also time for a new Viva la Verve sketch challenge at Split Coast Stampers.  Here's this weeks great new sketch:

At the Ribbon Carousel Challenge, it's Anything Goes this week, so I opted to combine them.

I used a Level 2 paper pack - Caprice - from Close to My Heart that was new when I started as a consultant, it's long since been retired.  

I was trying out ribbon to go with the paper, and I came across this satin ribbon.  I wanted to pleat it, and opted to pleat it while I was sewing it on.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Notes of Prayer - Verve
Paper:  Caprice - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Ink:  Chocolate - CTMH
Satin Ribbon - Michaels
Mocha Opaques - CTMH

Paper Pieced Butterfly

I loved The Ribbon Carousel's challenge this week - to use the paper piecing technique.   I used the sketch from Viva la Verve February week 1 as a starting point for my card.

I ended up rotating the sketch because I really wanted to use this sweet stamp - Buttfly Kisses from Pure Innocence for My Favorite Things.  Since I have two little girls (ages 5 and 2), whom are currently running around in dresses playing princess, I just had to have this cute stamp.  It hadn't seen any ink yet, so I figured today was the day.  I originally was going to paper piece the wings with a glitter cardstock, but when I stamped her, I realized that I also had some white glitter cardstock that reminded me of tights from my childhood.  So, her tights, wings, leotard, and shoes are all paper pieced. 

Supplies used:
Daydream Paper - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Glitter cardstock - DCWV
Stamp:  Butterfly Kisses - My Favorite Things
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, StazOn
Corner Punch, Bling Assortment, Sparkles - CTMH
Divine Twine
Copic Markers:  E37, E00, E02, W0, V17
Embosslit:  Beautiful Wings - Stampin' Up!
Labels 8 Nestibilities - Spellbinders

Untraditional Valentine

This card was a stretch for me.  I used the Viva la Verve's January week 4 sketch, which I saw a ton of possibilities in, but the challenge was to do a clean and simple (CAS) card.  I've never done a card that I would consider CAS, so this was a first for me.  I also combined it with The Ribbon Carousel's RCC37 Non-Traditional Colors with Suzanne.  This too was a challenge for me, I originally was going to to a card with yellow and gray, but I couldn't find the grayish silver pleated ribbon in my stash.  It was driving me insane, but while I was looking, I stumbled upon the plum colored pleated ribbon (which I love).  Here's the sketch:

I hope I didn't make to to simple.  At the last minute, I added the tone on tone flourish in the upper left corner.  That helped.  As my brother would say, it's kind of like mold, it grows on you after a while (meaning the card). 

Supplies used:
Stamps:  Hearthrob - Close to My Heart
Cardstock:  Sunkiss Yellow, white daisy - CTMH
Ink:  Sunkiss Yellow, Pansy Purple - CTMH
Ribbon: May Arts

Make it Pink

My 4 year old niece came over to play this past weekend.  I was working on some cards in my craft room when she came in and asked if I would make her a special card.  I started to ask her if she wanted a crown or a princess - a crown was her choice.  I asked her what color she wanted it - pink.  I was also to make it sparkle.  I used the fabulous Viva la Verve January week 3 sketch.

I changed it a bit, mostly because I sketched it out on a piece of paper instead of printing it.  Opps...I did purposely change the heart.  I was originally thinking about making a Valentine's day card, until my niece came to see me with her big blue eyes.  Cute girl.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Adoration - Close to My Heart (CTMH), fairy tales do come true - Stamping Bella
Paper:  Day Dream - CTMH
Ink:  Blush, Black - CTMH
Ribbon - Maya Rd.  Lace tape - decollections
Diamond Stickles - Ranger
Scallop circle punch, Elegant Lines embossing folder - Stampin' Up!
Fleur de Lis Squares - Spellbinders
Sparkles, Prisma Glitter - CTMH