Monday, August 28, 2017

Anni-VERVE-sary Spotlight Hop - Day 5

Welcome back to Day 5 of our Anni-VERVE-sary Spotlight Hops!  It's an exciting day as there's new Verve in the store this morning! 4 beautiful new sets and 2 coordinating die sets just released and they're all available to order right now. To celebrate this special 10th Anni-VERVE-sary release, we're putting on another blog hop, with a pretty cool prize! (Full hop list at the end.)

Verve Stamps August 2017 Spotlight Hops


Today's featured focus is designer's choice, so you might just sneak a peek at a whole bunch of must-haves, especially since we've got a full line-up of Divas, guests and Alumni today!



I chose to give those beautiful flowers from Bloom Brighter another go. Instead of traditional flower colors, this time I went with a combination of teal, aqua, and navy for the flower petals. 



After coloring with Copics, I went back in and added white gel pen accents to the petals. 



I arranged a few different flowers around the sentiment, and layered the whole cluster over a bright green strip of card stock and a black-splattered white card base.


Want to win some shiny new Verve? Today's prize is a BIG one. We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win our ENTIRE new release! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for the full hop list and all the prize info and deadlines!


Little OnesLittle Ones Die Set
Bloom BrighterBlooming Die Set
Cake and CandlesScripture Medley 5


Day 5 Hop List
1. Julee9. Lesley
2. Maureen10. Christyne
3. Betty11. Laurie
4. Charmaine12. Kelly (Guest)
5. Marisa13. Laurie W(Alumni)
6. Amy S.(Alumni)14. Tosha L. (Alumni)
7. Amy K.(Alumni)15. Tiffany S.(Alumni)
8. Michelle W. (Alumni)


Thanks so much for stopping by. And a big thanks to Julee for inviting me back to help celebrate Verve's 10th anniversary.

Have a great week!

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Papertrey - Stamp-a-faire 2017


Hey there, I'm excited to be hosting a challenge for Papertrey Ink's annual Stamp-a-faire event! What is Stamp-a-faire? It's a free, worldwide, online stamping party over at Papertrey Ink! Challenges, prizes, and a whole weekend of community and crafting! You can find all the details HERE.

 Papertrey is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, so for Stamp-a-faire 2017, the theme is traditional anniversary gifts. I am kicking off the Year 4 Anniversary segment, featuring Linen & Silk.


Lately, I've been enamored with furoshiki, which is a Japanese traditional wrapping cloth. If you google that or search for it on Pinterest, you'll see so many creative wrapping techniques! Unique, functional, and re-usable, fabric is my new favorite gift wrap! 

And I especially love linen -- soft, fresh, luxurious and shabby chic all at once!

The linen gift wrap above almost reminds me of a ladies' handkerchief!



It's also fun to go geometric and modern. I love the frayed edges of the rough linen, but a napkin or tea towel, with its hemmed edges, would be so pretty too.

I have all the how-to and a video HERE on the Papertrey Ink blog. 

Head on over and join the party! You'll also find lots of additional challenges to participate in as well as prizes to win!

Thanks for stopping by!


Worm Wishes - August SFYTT


Today I'm sharing my take on the August Sketch For You To Try by Reverse Confetti.

The August SFYTT challenge is open until noon CST on Tuesday, so if you haven't linked up an entry yet, we'd love to have you join us! The rules, link-up, and prize info are all HERE on the Reverse Confetti blog.

The sketch:

And my interpretation:



I started with a Premier Polar White card base, rounded the top corners, and stamped some dashed lines across the middle using an Elemental Stripes image and Baby Blue ink. 



Next I took a smaller white panel and turned it into a notebook page using border dies from the Office Edges Confetti Cuts set. 



On top of that, I layered the "ABCDE" die-cut, which I trimmed out of a larger ABC Cover Panel Confetti Cuts die-cut. I cut the cover panel out of Midnight card stock and lightly swiped some white pigment ink across for a slight chalkboard look. A pair of mini staples add to the school theme as well as secure the letter strip to the notebook page layer. 

The adorable little bookworm, from Worm Wishes  has been stamped, die-cut with the coordinating Worm Wishes Confetti Cuts die, colored with Copics, and then snipped in half so that I could make him look like he's coming through the apple. (Masking would have been best for this look, but this little guy was already stamped and colored, so I couldn't resist the shortcut!)


To finish the card, I added a sentiment above the worm, a trio of sequins, and a touch of Charcoal Striped Twine.


 

 

 

 




For more sketch inspiration, visit the Reverse Confetti blog

Thanks for visiting!


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Friday, August 25, 2017

Anni-VERVE-sary Spotlight Hop - Day 2


Verve Stamps is celebrating its ten-year anniversary, and I am beyond excited to return as a guest for this special milestone and release. Verve was my very first design team and a team I was proud to be part of from 2008 until 2012. And Julee is an absolute dear, one of the most caring and gracious people in the stamping community. Congrats, Julee, on your success with Verve!

Verve Stamps August 2017 Spotlight Hops

Today is Day 2 of the Anni-VERVE-sary Spotlight Hops - Welcome! You can catch up on Day 1 HERE. Everything previewed this week will be available to order in the Verve online store on Monday, August 28. If you just can't wait, you can pre-order the entire release now as the August 2017 Buy it All Bundle at a 30% discount through August 27.

Today we're sharing our first projects featuring the Bloom Brighter stamp set and coordinating, Blooming Die Set. A fresh take on the flower from the retired commemorative set Beautiful You, this beautiful encouragement set is perfect for a variety of cardmaking occasions.



Oh, how I have missed Julee's florals! Always elegant and timeless, Verve florals are the best! I especially love the sentiments in this Bloom Brighter, both for what they say and for the brush-lettered font.

 

For the background panel, I stamped the large flower repeatedly on watercolor paper, heat embossed in white, and watercolored with Zig markers.



I stamped one of the sentiments onto a white banner and popped it up onto the watercolored panel. 

Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win today's featured products! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for the full hop list, a little more about our new products and all the prize info and deadlines!
Bloom BrighterBlooming Die Set

Day 2 Hop List
1. Julee7. Amy K. (Alumni)
2. Maureen8. Lesley
3. Betty9. Christyne
4. Charmaine10. Laurie
5. Marisa11. Kelly (Guest)
6. Amy S.  (Alumni)12. Laurie W(Alumni)

Thanks so much for stopping by. It's been such a treat for me to ink up some Verve again. I'll be back Tuesday with more!


Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Wednesday in the Works: Emboss Resist Batik


Hi there, I'm up on the Reverse Confetti blog with a Wednesday in the Works project and video. I couldn't resist one more ode to summer before we switch gears to the fall and winter holiday images! Head to the Reverse Confetti blog or to Reverse Confetti's YouTube channel for more!


Sunday, August 20, 2017

Apple or Pear?

I'm over on the Queen & Co blog again today with a few more cards using the Fruit Basket Shaker Kit

Awesome to the Core

The apple shaker filled with those darling little multi-colored apples is one of my favorite shaker shapes in the kit. 


Awesome to the Core

For the apple shaker on this card, I used an ink blending tool to add just a touch of golden yellow ink to the white card stock behind the shaker, then filled with the little apple toppings and finished off with the apple frame, leaf, and stem die-cuts. Super easy and so eye-catching!


Awesome to the Core

I love all the cute sentiment stamps included in the kit! Here, I've stamped in black onto a white card stock rectangle. I notched the bottom edge, added a light touch of yellow ink blending, then accented with epoxy dots and green twine from the kit.

Supplies: 
kraft, green, white card stock
black ink
pierced round top layer die


The Perfect Pear

My next card features the super charming pears. The die that makes the strawberry doubles as a pear when turned upside down.


The Perfect Pear

I did a lot of ink blending on this card -- the pear backgrounds, pear frames, and the stitched rectangle background panel.


The Perfect Pear

I love the pop of the dark gray card stock and white embossed sentiment.

Supplies: 
white card stock
aqua, green, and Versamark inks + white embossing powder
stitched rectangle die


So glad you stopped by!