Verve Inspirations Hop - #1 Dad

Today I'm excited to join in with the Verve Diva Inspirations team for its monthly blog hop! You'll find the master list below and over at the Verve Stamps blog. My card features one of the June Stamps of the Month  Dad's Day, along with some Out of the Blue papers by My Mind's Eye. More sale info below.

1. Julee 9. Andrea 2. Betty 10. Sankari 3. Dawn 11. Maureen 4. Jen d. 12. Teresa 5. Jen T. 13. Tosh 6. Lynda 14. Amy 7. Shannan 15. Charmaine 8. Susan 16. Amber

We've hidden a little mystery prize on one of today's hop spots, so be sure to leave a little comment love as you hop around for a chance to win!
Comment Deadline: 11:59pm Mountain, June 5
Prize: $30 gift certificate to Verve

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June Stamp of the Month :  We're having double the fun and featuring two sets... Dad's Day and American Hero!At 40% off during the month of June, these two sets are a super big deal!

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A brand new month also brings along a new sale here at Verve! During the month of June, you'll find savings on stamps for all the men in your life. Find out which sets are on sale by visiting our Sale page.

Enjoy the hop!

Life Is Like A Butterfly

"Life is like a butterfly.

It goes where it pleases & pleases where it goes."

JustRite Stampers has a stamp set called Butterfly Gardens, and coincidentally Pink Paislee has a Butterfly Garden paper collection. Both were floating around the chaos that is my workspace at present, and I couldn't resist putting them together just for fun. I also threw in some shapely die-cut panels done with the awesome Donna Salazar Creative Book Pages dies from Spellbinders. These have been calling my name since I first saw them back in January! Some stitching, seam binding, bling and a floral cluster provide the finishing touches.

Some detail shots:

The sentiment is stamped in white, then heat embossed with white embossing powder. The white piece to the right was done with one of the dies in the Fleur-de-Lis Doily Accents Shapeabilities set by Spellbinders.

The larger flower is from Prima's Innoscence 2 flower collection. The smaller flower is a Kaisercraft Coconut Paper Bloom. Both have been dotted with some Stardust Stickles for some sparkle. The peach crinkled seam binding has been tied into a double bow and topped with a button. It's hard to see in the photo, but I also tucked in a Webster's Pages butterfly stick pin.

Here and there, I added a little bit of Krystallos Vintage Glass Glitter Shards by Art Institute Glitter. You can see it along the edge of the Creative Book Pages diecuts.

The butterfly was punched twice from vellum cardstock using a Martha Stewart punch. The bling in the background is by Zva Creative. (And I really should stick something on that butterfly to hide the glue dot, don't you think?)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Love Deepens

While browsing through this month's Viva La Verve gallery on Splitcoast yesterday, I was so inspired by the many clean, crisp designs and thought I'd give that style a go, too. As much as I love the shabby, vintage, distressed look, I've been feeling like so many of my designs are all starting to look the same, so this was a nice change of pace. (I mean, really, I didn't sponge anything!) The papers are from Pink Paislee's Soiree collection. Overall, Soiree is filled with bright, saturated colors and patterns, but this more subtle coral/gray/splashes-of-lime hides out in there, too.

The sentiment, from Verve's Love Deepens set, is stamped in gray onto a green circle diecut. The flowers, from Bloom & Grow, are stamped first in Stampin' Up's Groovy Guava and then overstamped with white craft ink. The leaves (also from Bloom & Grow) were done with a mixture of  Versamagic Key Lime and Tea Leaves. Both the flowers and leaves were die-cut with Verve's "A Cut Above" dies: Floral Circles and Elegant Leaves. I gave the sentiment circle a white mat using a Spellbinders Peony Nestabilities die. The wavy edge complements the wavy edge of the Verve dies. The green string stuff is some Karen Foster scrapper's floss from my stash.

The layout is this month's Sketch for You To Try (really, really love this one!!):

Since changing to a monthly format, the SFYTT designers all like to post at least two sketch samples each month, just to keep the inspiration going and make sure you don't forget about us! Guess who almost forgot this month? But there's still another day yet to get your project created and linked up, so if you haven't done so yet, I hope you'll still play along! Your Next Stamp, our sponsor this month, has provided a generous 10% discount during May for SFYTT fans. Just use coupon code SFYTTMAY at checkout.

Before I go, wanted to wish my fellow Americans a Happy Memorial Day. And to all of the men and women who serve or have served in our armed forces, I'm truly humbled by your service and grateful for the freedoms I enjoy because of you. Thank you!

Hello, Fairy Friend

While my husband and the kids made a little trip to the ice cream parlor, I consoled my weight watching, hungry, sugar-craving self with some stamp therapy. I used Tosh's Viva La Verve Week 5 Sketch:

There are five Viva La Verve sketches this month. If you make a card with each of them, link your creations up to the Sketch Champions thread in the Verve Forum by midnight CT Thursday, June 2 for a chance to win an upcoming Verve release in its entirety. For more info, visit any of the May Viva La Verve sketch challenge threads in the Verve Forum. Please feel free to play along with Verve or any other stamps you have on hand.

I deviated from the sketch a tiny bit by bringing the tilted panels forward a layer or two -- all because I accidentally stitched closed the pocket I'd created for those two tilted panels. Doh! The vintage fairy image is part of Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden collection, as are the other papers. The sentiment, from Verve's Hope Blooms, is stamped on top of a flower from Bloom & Grow, then die-cut with one of the Floral Circles dies. The leaf cluster stamp is from Bloom & Grow as well, and it has been die-cut with Verve's Elegant Leaves die.

Don't forget ...

Verve's annual Memorial Day Sale is here!!

--May 27 through May 31 --

Save 20% off all stamps and 10% off all dies!

Limited to stock on hand. Discount cannot be applied to previous purchase.

Thanks for visiting! Hope many of you are enjoying a long holiday weekend!




Stamps: Bloom and Grow, Hope Blooms (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Stampin' Up Naturals White card stock, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden dp
Ink: Versamagic Jumbo Java, Sage, Tea Leaves, Wheat and Thatched Straw, Ranger Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress
Accessories: Verve Elegant Leaves and Floral Circles dies, seam binding, paper piercer, needle, thread, sewing machine, muslin, Zva Creative bling, Maya Road Kraft tickets, May Arts burlap string, Cuttlebug Seeing Spots embossing folder, sanding block, Stampin' Up dimensionals
Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Verve Memorial Day Sale

Verve's annual Memorial Day Sale is here!!

--May 27 through May 31 --

Save 20% off all stamps and 10% off all dies!

Limited to stock on hand. Discount cannot be applied to previous purchase. 

You're In My Prayers

I have a thing for small country chapels, so Impression Obsession's Church cling stamp really speaks to me. Inspired by the muted tones of the Melissa Frances 5th Avenue paper pack, I stamped the image in a lighter color and opted to sponge on some light blue ink in lieu of more full-blown coloring. I like the soft look! The beautiful die-cut frame is the largest die from the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Rectangle Nestabilities.

The sentiment, "You're in my Prayers," is from JustRite's new Just Because Mini Sentiments set. I can see getting lots and lots of mileage from the sentiments in this set! I stamped the sentiment in Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, then die-cut it with JustRite's Nested Frames Custom Dies by Spellbinders.

Let's talk about Kaisercraft's Paper Blooms -- love them! Why? They're available in 17 luscious colors, each pack has ten blooms of varying shapes and sizes, the packs (all but white) have some slight color variations among them, and they're reasonably priced. I also like that they're a more modest size and style - wonderful as accents without overpowering whatever else you've got going on with your card or project.

Other card details include: Maya Road trinket pins, lace trim, crinkled seam binding, Kaisercraft  adhesive pearls, and a layer of vellum to add to the soft feel. I also spritzed the whole card front with some Sparkle Psst Shimmer Spritz by Tsukineko.

Before I go, a word of thanks for the prayers and support last week when I posted about a loss within my extended family. Hugs and love to all!





Stamps: Church Cling Set (Impression Obsession); Just Because Mini Sentiments (JustRite)
Paper: Stampin' Up White Naturals card stock, Melissa Frances 5th Avenue, Papertrey vellum
Ink: Papertrey Smokey Shadow, Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, VersaMagic Wheat
Accessories: Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Rectangle Nestabilities and Deckle Rectangle Nestabilities, Spellbinders Nested Frames Custom Dies for JustRite, Kaisercraft Coconut Paper Blooms and adhesive pearls, Maya Road trinket pins, crinkled seam binding, lace trim, vellum, paper piercer, needle, thread, foam tape, Tsukineko Sparkle Psst Shimmer Spritz
Size: 6" square

Stamper's Dream & JustRite Blog Hop

Today, Stamper's Dreamis joining up with JustRite for a blog hop featuring many of the more recent JustRite releases. If you're just joining in, you may prefer to go back to the beginning, at the JustRite Inspiration blog. In case there's a break in the hop, I'll included the full hop order a little further below.

THREE Mystery Blog Candy prizes, hidden at different points along the hop, will each end up in the lucky hands of a random commenter on that particular blog. For your best chance to win one of the fabulous prizes, just leave a little comment love at each stop along the way!

Here's what we're giving away today:

Prize #1

Prize #2

Prize #3

For some amazing inspiration, check out this all-star line-up of designers on today's hop -- a mega-talented bunch, no doubt! Enjoy!

JustRite Inspiration
Becca Feeken
Michelle Rodgers
Eva Dobilas
Kazan Clark
Arlene Cuevas
Mona Pendleton
Amy Sheffer (you're here)
Kellie Fortin
Michele Kovack
Tosha Leyendekker
Kathy Jones
Mariana Grigsby
Barb Schram
Stephanie Kraft
Teresa Kline
Heidi Blankenship
Christina Fischer
Angela Barkhouse
Lea Lawson
Sankari Wegman


For my card, I've used a set called Butterfly Gardens. In this 3 1/4" circle set are three butterfly-and-flower image centers, three sentiments (two of them are circular border sentiments), and two additional decorative borders. I chose to focus on one of the beautiful border sentiments, "If nothing ever changed ... there would be no butterflies." I cut it into a ring using Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities dies. On top of that I layered a blue text paper die-cut that was cut with one of the tags in the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Twoset. An olive green circle, flanked by two buttons, tops that. And last is a layered, punched butterfly with a organza flower center and some glittery (Stickles) wings. Elsewhere on the card, you'll find some oversize Kaisercraft pewter pearls, Maya Road crochet trim, hand-stitching, and some seam binding. The rich, earthy paper patterns are all from Prima's Reflections 6x6 paper pad

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Enjoy the hop!