Great Expectations

If you've seen Verve Visual's inventory of sentiment sets before, you don't need me to tell you that Julee (designer extraordinaire and Verve owner) does sentiments like no one else! And she's done it again with Great Expectations, a set full of unique messages of congratulations, support, and encouragement. (Where else you can find a "Big Bucks, No Whammies" stamp, I wanna know?! LOL!)

For this first card, I created my own colorful background paper using stamps from the Fancy Florals Remixed set. The large pink flowers are stamped in Regal Rose craft ink, then heat embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I filled in with the other colors and images with craft ink, too. With the clear stamps in particular, I'm finding that the craft inks give me better coverage and a much nicer stamped image. I use the ink spots, the perfect size for most of my images.

This second card is an offspring of my budding love affair with kraft cardstock. The three multicolored strips behind the layered star give some added interest to an otherwise very basic layout. Although the colors are more masculine, I think the swiss dots embossing and the scallops give it a more feminine feel. If I were to change it to a guy card, I'd probably try textured celery card stock and a pinked top edge.



Last, I created a kind of light-hearted graduation card by pairing two of the sentiments. The "don't forget me when you're rich and famous" line makes me laugh every time I see it! What a unique vote of confidence for a new graduate ... it's when you're rich and famous, no ifs about it. I love that!



Quick note on the stars: I hand-trimmed each star for today's cards because I specifically wanted that white hairline border around each one. (And yes, I used those fancy schmancy new reading glasses to see what I was doing!) However, both the large and small Stampin' Up star punches will work with these sets. The large punch will leave approximately a 1/8" border, and the small punch will trim off some of the stamped image, leaving no border.

Don't forget about Verve's Star-Studded Sale, going on now through May 15, where you can save 15% on all star themed sets (plus a few other little goodies).

I'll wrap up today with a BIG congratulations to Cyndi Bundy, who won the Verve sketch contest and gets to be guest designer for June!



Wildest Expectations:
Stamps: Fancy Florals Remixed, Great Expectations (Verve Visual)
Paper: Apricot Appeal, Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Regal Rose, Creamy Caramel
Ink: Always Artichoke, Apricot Appeal, Creamy Caramel, Regal Rose craft inks
Accessories: paper piercer, classic and scalloped oval nestabilities, dimensionals, iridescent ice embossing powder, sponge daubers, corner rounder, Spring Moss grosgrain ribbon

Congrats:
Stamps: Swirly Stars, Great Expectations (Verve Visual)
Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Old Olive
Ink: Blue Bayou
Accessories: corner rounder, Blue Bayou double-stitched ribbon, large star punch, Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder, dimensionals

Graduate:
Stamps: Swirly Stars, Great Expectations (Verve Visual)
Paper: So Saffron, So Saffron prints, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Notations dp, Real Red
Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red, So Saffron
Accessories: paper piercer, key tag punch, dimensionals, classic and scalloped square nestabilities

Supplies by Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted.