From The Bottom of My Heart

Hey there, stampers, today I have a challenge two-fer. Verve Diva Maureen has been busy this week, hosting two different Verve challenges -- the July Get Your Diva On (your chance at a future guest design spot) and this week's Viva La Verve sketch challenge.

For the Get Your Diva On challenge, Moe has challenged us to use a pretty plastic gift card for inspiration. Those little things sure do come in such fun designs these days! You can choose to be inspired by a gift card you already have on hand, or use the photos Moe uploaded to the challenge thread. Here's the one I used:

And here's the Viva La Verve July Week 3 sketch:

You can find all the Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge details HERE.

Have a happy weekend!

Best Wishes

JustRite has a whole slew of new stamps that have just released, including many brand-new Christmas, winter, and Halloween designs. You can the newest JustRite sets at Stamper's Dream. Try as I may, I just haven't been able to summon the spirit to get started on Christmas cards. I admire and envy those who have been plugging away diligently since January! From what I'm seeing of the CHA previews, holiday card-making mojo may be only a new paper collection away -- can't wait for all the new goodies to start hitting the stores!

In the meantime, I played around with the new Elegant Charms set and Cosmo Cricket's Odds & Ends 6x6 paper collection. This set coordinates with the JustRite Custom Charm Dies by Spellbinders to make tag-making a breeze! But tags aren't the only possibility. Here, I've focused on the flower image. The inside of the image is open in order to hold some of the sentiments included in the set. Instead of stamping in the flower centers, I filled them in with a punched circle of patterned paper, then added the sentiment as a tag (die-cut with the JustRite Nested Frame set by Spellbinders).

The upper left was looking a bit bare, so I added a cute little book print banner made out of notched flags and a strip die-cut with Papertrey's Victorian Lace border die.

Thanks for visiting!

Light Tomorrow With Today

Happy Monday! If you missed out on Verve's release party last Friday, be sure to check out the Verve store for all the new goodies! Today, we're having an After Party over on the Verve blog, a special post featuring the Divas' favorite cards from this release. So much eye candy all in one post -- check it out!

One of my favorite cards from this release features the Light Tomorrow Plain Jane. Beautiful sentiment (die-cut with Verve's Classy Label die), gorgeous font, lovely The Girls' Paperie papers (Jubilee collection), some crinkled and dyed seam binding, and a fabulous layout from Tosh's Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge ... this card practically made itself!

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Also, today begins a new "Get Your Diva On" contest -- your chance to strut your stuff for a shot at a future guest designer spot! Maureen is our challenge host this month, and has come up with something really fun -- Pretty Purse Plastic, where your challenge is to use gift cards as your inspiration. Check out all the details HERE.

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Julee is including a fabby goody bag with each purchase over $75!!  Awesome new Verve stamps AND free papercrafting goodies...it doesn't get much better than that!!

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You won't want to miss the July 2011 Stamp Collection!  All three brand new sets (Small Phrases, New Mercies, & Words Cannot Express) and 3 new Plain Janes (Light Tomorrow, Philippians 1:6, & Life is Good) are all bundled together at a 15% discount!  Prices are good through July 31st, while supplies last.



So glad you stopped by for a visit! Have a fantastic day and week!



Stamps: Light Tomorrow Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream and Kraft card stock, The Girls' Paperie Jubilee dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Brushed Corduroy and Walnut Stain Distress, Versamagic Wheat
Accessories: Verve Classy Label Die, Pizzazz Aplenty yellow pearls, Recollections rhinestone flourish and yellow mini roses, May Arts burlap string, MemrieMare (etsy) crinkled seam binding, sewing machine, edge distressing tool

Life is Better With Friends

Couldn't wait to play with JustRite's new Spread Your Wings set. Birdhouses and birdcages are a weakness of mine, and these are especially pretty! Spread Your Wings and many other new JustRite sets have recently been added to the Stamper's Dream store, so be sure to hop over and see all them under New Arrivals. I've also been itching to play with Echo Park's For the Record paper collection. The patterns I used are the larger 12x12 prints, but Echo Park has since released this collection in the increasingly popular, card-friendly 6x6 size. Yay!! Thank you, Echo Park!

I think today's card is pretty straightforward, so I'll go easy on chit-chat. Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!!





Stamps: Spread Your Wings (JustRite)
Paper: Echo Park For the Record paper collection, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White card stock
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Tumbled Glass Distress, Versamagic Tea Leaves
Accessories: Maya Road flower, May Arts burlap string, seam binding, Papertrey buttons, Stampin' Up corner rounder, Spellbinders scallop border die, paper piercer/needle/thread, foam adhesive
Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Verve New Release Spotlight: Small Phrases and new PJs

It's Verve's last day of New Release Spotlights leading up to tonight's big release party and release (9-11 pm, here in the Verve Forum). We're taking a look today at a set called Small Phrases, as well as three new Plain Jane stamps (Plain Janes is a line of value-priced stamp singletons).

1. Amber 7. Laurie 2. Amy 8. Robin {Guest} 3. Andrea 9. Sankari 4. Charmaine 10. Teresa 5. Jackie 11. Tosh 6. Julee

TODAY'S Featured Set:

plus the Philippians 1:6, Light Tomorrow and Life is Good PJ's

New Verve is something to celebrate, so we've hidden a big PRIZE on one of today's hop spots! Just leave a little shout-out in the comments as you hop about for a chance to win the entire July release! You can check out the Verve Blog for all the prize details and deadlines. 

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Don't be fooled ... Small Phrases is anything but small! The sentiments themselves may be small in size, but the complete set is huge and overflowing with sentiments for all occasions that can easily be tucked into any design - cards, tags, gift packaging, altered items. My idea list for these sentiments is a mile long! I picked out the sentiment "you rock my world" to show first. The layering is done with both Verve A Cut Above dies and Spellbinders dies ... first are the Verve Charming Ovals, next is the largest of the Floral Circles (the gray/white polka dot patern), behind that is a Spellbinders Fancy Tags Three piece, and last is a gray Labels Fourteen decorative square.

Thanks for stopping by!




Stamps: Small Phrases (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Smokey Shadow and Stamper's Select White card stock, Crate Paper Restoration dp, My Mind's Eye dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Pumice Stone Distress
Accessories: MemrieMare (etsy) silver glass glittered star, Verve Charming Ovals and Floral Circles dies, Spellbinders Fancy Tags three and Labels Fourteen, Papertrey stitched ribbon and twine, Stampin' Up wide striped ribbon and corduroy button, paper piercer/needle/thread, foam adhesive
Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Verve New Release Spotlight: Words Cannot Express

It's Day Two of Verve's New Release Spotlights, and today the Verve Divas are featuring a set called Words Cannot Express. With its collection of amazing and heartfelt gratitude sentiments, Words Cannot Express is the stamp set you've always wanted for those occasions when a mere "thank you" is somehow insufficient.

For my spotlight card, I've combined one of the sentiments from Words Cannot Express with the leafy branch from yesterday's New Mercies. Even though we stampers are getting totally spoiled with dies that do so much of our cutting, I still love to hand-cut with my scissors and my hobby blade, which is what I did for the branch cluster.

Do check out the awesomeness the Divas have prepared for today. You'll find the full hop list posted below. And remember, there's a big PRIZE hidden on one of today's hop spots! Just leave a little shout-out in the comments as you hop about for a chance to win the entire July release! You can check out the Verve Blog for all the prize details and deadlines.

1. Julee 7. Amy 2. Robin {Guest} 8. Teresa 3. Sankari 9. Laurie 4. Amber 10. Jackie 5. Tosh 11. Andrea 6. Charmaine

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TODAY'S Featured Set:

Enjoy today's hop!




Stamps: Words Cannot Express and New Mercies (Verve Stamps, to be release Friday, July 8)
Paper: Papertrey Rustic White card stock, Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette card sock, My Mind's eye dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Old Paper Distress
Accessories: Prima flowers, crinkled seam binding, large rhinestone, trim, May Arts burlap string, distressing tool, Martha Stewart butterfly punch
Size: 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"

Verve New Release Spotlight: New Mercies

It's time to shine our sneaky Verve spotlight on some brand new stamps! We're counting down to Verve's release party this Friday night, July 8, with THREE days of Spotlight Hops! And since new Verve is something to celebrate, there's abig PRIZE hidden on one of today's hop spots! Just leave a little shout-out in the comments as you hop about for a chance to win the entire July release! You can check out the Verve Blog for all the prize details and deadlines.

1. Andrea 7. Tosh 2. Jackie 8. Amber 3. Laurie 9. Sankari 4. Teresa 10. Robin {Guest} 5. Amy 11. Julee 6. Charmaine

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TODAY'S Featured Set:

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New Mercies is easily one of my favorite Verve sets ever! Beautiful and varied imagery combined with Scripture and sentiments of comfort and hope. A must-have set for both sympathy and encouragement during any difficult time. Truly WOW! I can't wait to see what the other Divas have posted ... hoping today's spotlight casts a wide view of the abundance that's in this set!

For today's spotlight, I wanted to combine the "morning by morning" sentiment with a fresh, sunrise scene. So easy to do ... torn paper hills, a blue gingham sky, a stamped sun peeking up from the horizon, and some fluffy, white stamped clouds. I rescued both the butterfly (stamp from Chicks Rule, die-cut with Verve's Flutterby die) and the heart border circle (die-cut with Spellbinders Heart Circles Nestabilities) from my scrap bin, thinking they fit the theme of God's unending love and mercy perfectly!

Happy hopping! Your next stop is Charmaine!




Stamps: New Mercies (Verve Stamps, releasing Friday, July 8), Chicks Rule
Paper: Papertrey Aqua Mist, Kraft, and Stamper's Select White card stock, My Mind's Eye dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Verve Flutterby die, Copic markers, Spellbinders Heart Circles Nestabilities and scallop border, Stampin' Up tab punch, Papertrey buttons and satin ribbon, May Arts wide ricrac, The Twinery twine, lace trim unknown, paper piercer/needle/thread
Size: 4 1/4" x  5 1/2"