God Bless You

 I've had this idea for a bookmark card ever since I saw last week's Mojo Monday sketch #163:

For that long rectangle panel, I created a pocket out of a striped dp, then tucked a very simple bookmark inside. The flower is stamped with Verve's Kind Words, and the Scripture sentiment is Verve's Isaiah 61:3 Plain Jane. Here's a look at the bookmark:

The outside of the pocket is decorated with another Kind Words flower and a sentiment from Joy for the Journey. The pretty patterns are from Lily Bee Designs' Catching Fall line. See that decorative notch cut out of the top of the bookmark pocket? That was done with one of Verve's new A Cut Above steel dies - the Vintage Oval.

I did my stamping onto Papertrey's Rustic White card stock, which I love because of the little flecks in the paper. However, the surface isn't nearly as smooth as other plain {fleck-less} card stocks, so sometimes the more solid images don't stamp quite as solid as I would like. To remedy that, I just scribbled a little of the corresponding marker (I used Stampin' Up classic inks and markers) onto an acrylic block, picked up some ink with a water brush and touched up the image. If you don't have a corresponding marker, you can also pick up ink directly from the ink pad (dye-based) with either a water brush or a blender pen. Another way to improve the results is to ink up your stamp in VersaMark ink first, then ink with your desired color. (Thanks, Julee, for that tip.)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a great week! Except for a tenacious cough, I'm feeling much better, thankfully. Stay healthy, friends!




Stamps: Joy for the Journey, Kind Words, Isaiah 61:3 Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Stampin' Up Old Olive and Baja Breeze card stock, Papertrey Rustic White card stock, Lily Bee Designs Catching Fall dp (Flannel Sheets)
Ink: Stampin' Up More Mustard, Night of Navy, Old Olive classic inks and markers; Ranger Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks
Accessories: Verve Vintage Oval die; Spellbinders Scalloped Long Rectangle Nestabilities; Stampin' Up large oval punch, antique brass jumbo eyelets and Old Olive grosgrain ribbon; crochet trim; Cousin hemp twine; Making Memories button; needle and thread; foam adhesive

Old School Harvest

I was admiring the patterns and warm, rich colors in Pink Paislee's new Old School Collection and couldn't help but think of the Fall harvest. (I can see Christmas in that collection, too.)

The stamped image, from JustRite's new *CLING*-mount (yes, you read that right!) A Day in the Country, was colored with Prismacolor pencils, then hand-trimmed, leaving just a thin ivory mat. For the sentiment, I inked just the word "Harvest" from one of the sentiments in JustRite's Nature's Nested Sentiments Centers & Verse set.

The little embellishment cluster includes a new favorite product -- Webster's Pages Netting. I particularly like the gold that I used here because it adds such a nice sparkle. Each package has eleven 8x8 squares of different nettings. On this card, I cut out roughly a 2 1/2-inch square, cinched it in the middle like a bow-tie, and tucked it behind the crochet flower. Really fun stuff, and a little goes a long way!

The layout for today's card is Jen's Sketch For You To Try:

So many possibilities with this sketch - lots of room for interpretation with that circle panel. And that top rectangle would make a perfect pocket or envelope flap. Can't wait to see what you'll do with it! To play along, just link up your creation to Jen's blog.

Take a look at what the SFYTT sisters and our new November guest designer (welcome, Stephanie!) have put together for the week:

Jen del Muro with guest designer Stepanie Muzzulin
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Jenn Diercks
Jodi Collins
Megan Lock
Sonja Christoph
Susan Liles

(Carole, Kelly, and Leigh are all taking a break.)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Holiday Joy

Wow, friends, it feels like an eternity since I last posted! But I didn't want to jump on here and whine about being terribly under the weather until I had something new to show. Today's project is a holiday tag that I started way back on Thursday and finally put the finishing touches on this morning. I hope you'll indulge me in yet another Crate Paper Snow Day project - I'm loving these bright, festive colors! The trees are hand-cut from one of the Snow Day patterns, the tag behind them was cut with one of Verve's new A Cut Above steel dies. This one is called Sweet Scallop. The felt snowflake was cut with an MFT Die-namics die, and the pink one was done with a Martha Stewart punch. The sentiment is from Verve's new Holiday Phrases mini set - perfect for tags!

Holiday Phrases and ALL of the phenomenal new sets the Divas were spotlighting last week are now available in the Verve store. Purchase your favorite sets individually, or enjoy a 15% savings when you purchase the full Winter 2010 Stamp Collection. (Discount available until November 19, or while supplies last.)

Thanks for visiting!



Stamps: Holiday Phrases (Verve)
Paper: Crate Paper Snow Day collection, Papertrey Fine Linen card stock
Ink: Ranger Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Accessories: Verve Sweet Scallop steel die, MFT Die-namics Snowflake and Open Scallop border dies, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Stampin' Up tab and word window punch, bling (unknown), Fancy Pants button, 5/8" natural lightweight twill (twilltape.com), Papertrey twine, foam adhesive

Winter Wonderland

I wasn't ready to put away those fun papers from Crate Paper's Snow Day Collection, so I've used them again for today's Sketch For You To Try sample. Love the whimsy of the colors and patterns, and found them just perfect for the images in JustRite's Whimsical Christmas set. The image was stamped on Neenah white, colored with Copic markers, and glittered with both Art Institute crystal ultrafine glitter and Frosted Lace Stickles. The accent cluster is made up of May Arts natural burlap string, Papertrey Harvest Gold grosgrain ribbon, a snowflake cut with My Favorite Things' Snowflakes Die-namics die, and more of those rusted jingle bells I used earlier in the week. I've incorporated lots of scallops today -- the focal panel is matted with a Spellbinders Lacy Circle Nestabilities, the vertical brown open scallops were done with MFT's Open Scallop Border Die-namics die, and the white scallops peeking out from above and below the two turquoise panels were done with an older EK Success Scallop Diamond border punch.

Here's the sketch this week:

And be sure to check out all the gorgeous samples this week:

Jen del Muro with guest designer Lesa Smaligo
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Carole Burrage
Jenn Diercks (out this week)
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Megan Lock
Sonja Christoph
Susan Liles

To play along, link up your creation to Jen's SFYTT post HERE, and use keyword SFYTT when uploading to online galleries!

Thanks for visiting today and have a great weekend!


.

Stamps: Whimsical Christmas (JustRite)
Paper: Crate Paper Snow Day Collection, Prismatics Dark Suede Brown card stock, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up So Saffron
Accessories: Copic markers, Art Institute crystal ultrafine glitter, liquid applique, Frosted Lace Stickles, Spellbinders Lacy Circle Nestabilities, My Favorite Things Open Scallop and Snowflakes Die-namics dies, Diamond Scallop EK Success border punch, Papertrey ribbon, May Arts burlap string, rusted jingle bells

Verve New Release Spotlight: A Cut Above

Remember the Sweet Scallop Tag from earlier in the week? And the snowflake tag with the same tapered shape, from Glad Tidings? Well, guess what? There's a Sweet Scallop Tag DIE to go with them! Yes, Verve has dies now! Well, a die, with more to come! The new line of dies is called A Cut Above, and I'll let Julee tell you all about it over on the Verve blog!


As you hop through today's spotlights, you'll be seeing just how versatile this die can be. As with our other hops this week, we've hidden a PRIZE on one of the participating blogs, so leave a little comment love as you hop around to be entered into a drawing to win today's featured die and coordinating single stamp! Deadline for comment entries is 7PM Eastern tonight.

1. Laurie	9. Teresa
2. Charmaine	10. Sankari
3. Lynda	11. Tosh
4. Mercy	12. Amber
5. Amy	13. Jen d.
6. Shannan	14. Andrea
7. Michelle	15. Julee
8. Jackie

For my project, I stamped and die-cut the Sweet Scallop Tag image, then layered on some paper-pieced mittens from Winter Mittens and an offset oval sentiment, also from Winter Mittens. The papers are all from Crate Paper's Snow Day collection, and the layout is this week's Mojo 162 sketch. Lots of glitter and bling on this one!

Thanks for visiting, and hope to see you tonight at 9 pm EST in the Verve Forum for our Release Party!



Stamps: Winter Mittens, Sweet Scallop Tag
Paper: Papertrey Rustic White, Crate Paper Snow Day Collection
Ink: Ranger Brushed Corduroy and Walnut Stain Distress Ink, Stampin' Up Rose Red
Accessories: Verve Sweet Scallop Tag die, foam adhesive, bling (various sources), Stampin' Up oval punch, Papertrey ribbon, buttons, baker's twine and eyelet lace border die, My Favorite Things felt and snowflake die, Spellbinders ric rac border die, ivory acrylic paint, Scotch Quick-Dry liquid glue, Martha Stewart snow glitter

Verve New Release Spotlight: Glad Tidings

Greetings on this fourth day of Verve New Release Spotlights! Hope you've enjoyed the Divas' eye candy so far this week and that you've marked your calendar for tomorrow night's Release Party. The fun all starts at 9 pm over in the Verve Forum on Splitcoast!

Today, the Divas are spotlighting the largest set from this release - Glad Tidings. It's a beauty, I can promise you! I chose to focus on the tag image in this set, which has the same tapered shape as the Sweet Scallop Tag we spotlighted yesterday. The "Jingle Bells" sentiment is from the Holiday Phrases mini set, which was previewed on Monday.

I can envision this set working well with all sorts of styles; for today, I opted for a layered and embellished, shabby, vintage look. The cluster at the top of the tag is made up of a ribbon loop, Webster's Pages gold-accented netting, burlap string, and rusted jingle bells (they really jingle, too!). I saw similar rusted bells on Hilary Hanwischer's blog last year and loved the look. (I purchased mine from Craft Catalog.) Elsewhere on the card, I've added some hand-stitching, punched and die-cut borders, glittery snowflake accents, a Maya Road kraft envelope, and a distress inked doily. In the corners and along the edges, I added some Martha Stewart snow glitter, a look that was inspired by some recent glittered beauties by Melissa Phillips. Along the top and bottom of the blue snowflake patterned paper panel, you'll see punched borders. They are strips that have been punched with the Martha Stewart Quilted Edge border punch, then nudged behind the blue snowflake panel such that only a small portion of the full punch design shows. It looks like a whole new punch this way!

Have a closer look (you still don't see the glitter on the punched snowflakes, though):

Here's the official link list of today's spotlight hops.
Happy hopping!

1. Amy 8. Tosh 2. Jackie 9. Sankari 3. Mercy 10. Teresa 4. Michelle 11. Jen T. 5. Lynda 12. Andrea 6. Charmaine 13. Amber 7. Laurie 14. Julee

Be sure to leave some comments along the way
for a chance to win! Have fun!

Thanks for visiting!



Stamps: Glad Tidings, Holiday Phrases
Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream and Fine Linen card stock, Webster's Pages Waiting For Santa Petite Papers
Ink: Ranger Forest Moss, Old Paper, Brushed Corduroy and Walnut Stain Distress Inks
Accessories: Verve Sweet Scallop Tag die; Maya Road kraft envelope; Martha Stewart quilted border punch, snowflake punch, and snow glitter; Ranger Frosted Lace Stickles; Papertrey buttons, double-stitched ribbon, and eyelet lace border die; May Arts natural burlap string; Wilton doily; Webster's Pages netting; needle and thread; 13mm rusted jingle bells (Craft Catalog)
Size: 6" x 4 1/4" (a little wider than standard A2 to accommodate the Maya Road Kraft envelope)

Verve New Release Spotlight: Merry Wishes

Hope you're enjoying this week of Verve's New Release Spotlights. We continue the excitement today with two sets -- a holiday set called Merry Wishes and a tag single called Sweet Scallop Tag. In case you missed yesterday's and Monday's spotlight projects, head to the Verve blog HERE and HERE for the complete link lists. You'll also find today's link list HERE, and I'll include it at the end of this post as well.

My card today features both the Sweet Scallop Tag and images from the Merry Wishes set. I started by creating the tag, which would work well on a gift bag or box, too. The two poinsettia images are part of Merry Wishes, as are a whole bunch of "sentiment pieces" -- individual words that you can combine to create your desired greeting. You can easily mix ink colors, mix fonts, and vary the word placement to suit your card design -- such fun and infinitely customizable! Also included in Merry Wishes is a variety of berry branch images. I used two of them to create a subtle white pattern on the Kraft card stock. The ribbon is 5/8" grosgrain that I gathered by stitching down the center, then pulling the thread ends.

Here's a close-up of some of the different card elements:

Here's the official link list of today's spotlight hops. Happy hopping!

1. Charmaine	8. Teresa
2. Michelle	9. Sankari
3. Lynda	10. Tosh
4. Jackie	11. Susan
5. Laurie	12. Amber
6. Mercy	13. Andrea
7. Amy	14. Julee

Be sure to leave some comments along the way
for a chance to win!

Thanks for visiting!




Stamps: Merry Wishes, Sweet Scallop Tag
Paper: Papertrey Kraft and White card stock, Stampin' Up Real Red and Basic Black card stock, The Girls' Paperie Tinsel & Twig dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Fired Brick Distress, Stampin' Up white craft
Accessories: Verve sweet scallop tag die, Copic markers, Papertrey buttons and black ribbon, May Arts burlap string, Stampin' Up red ribbon, EK Success dotted wave punch, Cuttlebug Seeing Spots embossing folder, Martha Stewart quilted border punch, Scor-Pal