Sending Birthday Wishes

Good morning!  I took full advantage of having free evenings this week to play along with Papertrey Ink’s Make it Monday :)  After tonight I will be starting my second semester and hitting the books most nights.  I’ve been having fun with some of my new PTI dies.  I wanted to use the new tilted panel again, but with a vintage twist!  The MIM video showed us how to stamp an image several times and cut out the various shapes to get a layered look.  Thanks for stopping by!  I love it when you visit :)

stamps and dies: Papertrey Ink

Diva Dare and Curtain Call Reminder!

Hey everyone!  I’m a busy girl today playing Diva Dare hostess AND reminding everyone that there is one more week for the current Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge.  Head over to the Verve Blog for more deets about this card that I had SO MUCH FUN creating for the DH!  Both the Diva Dare and Curtain Call Challenges are asking us to get “Smitten!”  Well, I’ve been smitten over my darling husband for coming up 8 years :)  I was thinking about Photo Booth apps and found a real easy, free one called Pici booth.  Then I thought it would be fun to hold some large “Sweetheart” candies with little sweet sayings on them.  I made these extra large sweethearts, pulled out my red feather boa, and had fun with my new app :)  I couldn’t figure out how to print these out any smaller, so I just cut the strip into two then tucked them into a little vellum pocket. 

To create my background, I took several Verve hearts from the No Matter What set and embossed them in gold.  Then I took 4 different gelatos and scribbled over the embossed hearts.  Last, I took my aqua pen and did a water wash to blend all the colours.  I got this technique from Dawn McVey HERE!  Head over to the Curtain Call Inspiration blog for all the deets on this week’s challenge!  Thanks for stopping by!

Here’s the original photo strip!

 

what’s in it?

stamps: No Matter What (Verve)

paper: white, textured vellum (PTI)

ink: onyx (Versafine)

accessories: library pocket die (PTI), bakers twine (Twinery), felt heart (Martha Stewart), gold doily (craft supply), gold embossing powder (SU), photo booth pictures!

Peace & Joy & Happy New Year

Good morning!  I’m thinking that if we’re still in the first week of the New Year, I can still post New Year’s cards :)  What do you think?  This card was part of a set of cards I made last Friday. 

Because I sold most of my Christmas in my sister’s wine store last month AND didn’t have any extra time before Christmas due to work and school, I thought I would send out New Year’s cards this year.  What a great idea!  I wasn’t stressed and my friends would get some extra happy mail in January :)  PLUS my card won’t have to compete with any of the lovely Christmas cards received, but can stand alone on a table or mantle well into January!  I was also pleased as punch to have my PTI  order arrive last Thursday.  I got the angled panel die and really wanted to use it on my card.  It’s perfect to layer on top of patterned paper!  I chose some lovely Authentique paper as my base, but this angled die would be perfect for those pieces of LOUD and BOLD papers that you don’t know how to use.  UGH!  It’s the first Monday back to work and classes begin this weekend.  But the days are getting longer and I hear the sweet sound of Spring just around the corner!  Thanks for stopping by!  Come back tomorrow for a super fun post that I’m SO EXCITED about! 

stamps and dies: Papertrey Ink

Verve Diva Inspiration Hop and New Year’s Mantra

 Click here to enter my Top Dog Dies Giveaway!

Welcome to Verve's January Diva Inspirations Hop. It's the 5th of the month and that means it's hopping time! This year we're spicing up our monthly hops with the addition of a challenge! So in addition to a comment prize hidden along the hop, you can play along with the challenge and link up your creation for a chance to win another prize! Woohoo!  If you’ve come from Tiffany’s blog, you are right on track!  If not, check out the whole Blog Hop list over on the Verve Blog.

Our January challenge is:

This month it’s all about shimmer and shine!  Hmm, I love it all year long! LOL  I added a HUGE sparkly snowflake die cut out of glitter cardstock, a small glitter snowflake, some gold sequins and gold cording.  This card is inspired by my New Year’s Mantra: speak kindly. More on that at the end of this post, if you care to read more :)  If you’re just here for the hop, then head on over to Stacey‘s blog!

Remember, we've got a prize for one lucky commenter along the hop! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the prize info and deadlines.

 

what’s in it?

stamps: Kind Words (Verve)

paper: rustic cream, shimmer gold (PTI), Snow Village (Pink Paislee), glitter cardstock (Recollections)

ink: onyx (Versafine)

accessories: circle and scalloped circle dies (Spellbinders), snowflake dies and button (PTI), gold cording (SU), sequins (Michelle Wooderson’s online store), stitching

My New Year’s Mantra

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions.  I already exercise regularly, eat healthy (most of the time), and try to do something that challenges me (my Masters right now).  However, I can always work on being a better person.  Starting my Masters and getting back into writing papers have made me really think about the words I choose to use.  That was the starting point for this year’s mantra.  Then I googled quotes about words and did a similar search on Pinterest.  This is what I found :)  Do you make a mantra too?  I’d love to hear about it!

 

 

 

 

A Very Happy New Viva La Verve!

 

Click here to enter my Top Dog Dies Giveaway!

Good morning!  It’s the first Friday of the new year AND we’re celebrating it with the first Viva La Verve sketch of the year!  AND if you haven’t seen it, there’s a brand spankin’ new Viva La Verve blog! 

VLV has moved from the Splitcoast Stampers forum to its own blog!  Now THAT’S reason to celebrate.  Without further ado, here’s the first sketch and colour inspiration!

 

I looked through my new Christmas paper to find the inspiration colours, then added a few of the matching embellishments from Crate Paper’s Bundled Up.  I used sentiments from Verve’s Holiday Greetings and Merry and Bright to create my own sentiment.  This card was for my son’s girlfriend’s parents.  Now check out all the fun over on the new Viva La Verve Blog and join in the fun!  Thanks for stopping by and TGIF!!

stamps: Verve Holiday Greetings, Merry & Bright

dies: Papertrey Ink

A Whole Lot of Happy

 

Click here to enter my Top Dog Dies Giveaway!

Good morning friends!  I’ve been taking full advantage of time off, an empty house and lots of daylight to get extra inky!  I’m playing along with the Papertrey Ink’s Make It Monday.  Ashley showed us how to make a background out of patterned paper.  I’ve made backgrounds like this before, but loved revisiting this technique.  It’s perfect for all those extra strips of beautiful paper some of us CAN’T throw out.  I chose some of those strips from Echo Parks Warm Wishes from last year.  I just adore these colours for winter cards.  I zigzag stitched between each pattern for some more interest.  All the thread tails made me giggle so I had to take a picture before taking them off! LOL

This one will be going to one of my sisters for her upcoming birthday.  I’ll put a sticky note inside and write on that as I know she’ll want to reuse this card :)  I hope you’re all having a great week!  Thanks for stopping by :)

stamps and dies: Papertrey Ink

Warmest Wishes ~ Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge

Happy New Year everyone!  It’s a brand new year AND we’re starting it off right with a fabulous new challenge over on the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge blog.  This time we are gettin’ smitten with gelatos and this fabulous photo inspiration…

We have an awesome new sponsor, Linnie's Blooms, who supplied each of the crew gals with a package of Faber-Castell Gelatos!  These amazing little "chapstick"-like watercolors bring about the most beautiful colors! The LEAD of the Smitten challenge will receive a gift certificate to use at the Linnie's Blooms store!

I used my gelatos exactly like Dawn McVey did in her fabulous post HERE.  As soon as I saw Dawn’s card, I knew I had to make a background like hers.  I switched up the colours, though and added my go to doily and ribbon embellishment.  Here’s a close up of the gold embossed mittens.  I had to dig these babies out…the Nested Mittens and the Winter Mittens stamp set by Gina K stamps…these are about 4 years old, but I love the image!

Head over to the Curtain Call Inspiration Blog for some more amazing samples by the DesignTeam!  Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!

stamps: clearly besotted set the scene, gina k winter mittens

ink: gelatos colours tropical, staz on black