Happy St. Patrick's Day Birthday!!

Do not check your calendar, it's not March 17th! Today's card was for two challenges over at the Verve forum. I used a turned sketch #3 and made a birthday card (Amber's challenge) with stitching (Jackie's twist). My favourite day of the year is my birthday!! I'm a St. Patrick's day baby (my name is the Irish form of Mary) and had to make a card showing my love for this day. I got this Goodluckabella last Spring but hadn't used it yet. I stamped the image with Versafine on water colour paper and coloured with SU ink and an aqua pen. Thanks for the tip, Melisa! I had been colouring with blender pens but it always looked awful. I still need to practise this way, but it looks way better than the previous tries. I thought the sentiment from Papertrey was the perfect finishing touch. I have only taught one student in my 17 year teaching career that has the same birthday as me and have had a couple of students with siblings who've shared the day with me. My sister went on a first date with her husband on my birthday over 35 years ago. Do you know anyone who's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day? Happy Friday!! EDITED TO ADD: This card I entered for Jackie's stitching challenge won the random draw for a $25.00 gift certificate to Verve!! How fitting for such a "lucky" card! Oh, and I've spent it already :)

What's in it?

Stamps: Goodluckabella, PTI mega mixed messages

Ink: Versafine onyx, SU black, old olive, celery, mustard, pumpkin

Paper: watercolour paper; SU old olive, vanilla; PTI shimmer gold; Bazzill textured green; it takes two dp

Accessories: SU scallop punch, circle punches, grosgrain; crystal brad, gemstones, button, linen thread, stitching, cuttlebug EF, prima flower

Lord Have Mercy's Tuesday's Sketch!! Second Post

Hello again! This is a second post today, so scroll down to see the first card as well. I'm just trying to keep up to all the challenges this week. My dh came home last night and is fishing with a buddy today and then taking me out for dinner {sweet man!}. He wants me to wear one of my new pairs of shoes ;) But I digress, again! This card is from Mercy's Tuesday sketch challenge. I just discovered her!! She is a guest designer this month for Verve stamps. Her blog is "Lord Have Mercy." I love it! When I saw the ribbon going across the top like that, I knew I wanted to make another card in a similar style to today's first card (see below). Could this paper be anymore delicious?!

Well, that's it for posting today. Off to make one more card for Amber's Birthday Challenge over at the Verve forum. Hope you are all have a terrific day :)

What's in it?

Stamps: PTI fancy flourishes; Verve kindred spirits, wishful elegance, SU french script (on flowers)

Paper: SU blush blossom, vanilla, kraft, choc chip, DCWV dp

Ink: SU choc chip; PTI vintage cream

Accessories: stitching, cuttlebug EF and flower dies; satin ribbon; pearls; button; linen thread

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge and Jen's SFYTT

Good morning! I'm posting early today as there are a few challenges I need to link to today. This card is for Jen's Sketch For You to TRY and Cinema Saturday. I was guest designer there for my first post! The movie is "The Thief Lord." I haven't seen it but it's about a relationship between brothers. The requirement is to make a card for a friend or sibling. So I thought I'd use Jen's great sketch and make a card for my big sister's birthday next week. She's mom to my niece who made my fab blog banner :) I am using some new paper I found on my road trip last weekend. I only bought one piece! I'm trying to not buy so much paper before I use it up. But I LOVE this dp. I've used it on 4 cards this week! I looks perfect with vanilla and kraft. I also am using SU's blush blossom. I haven't used that one for awhile. AND I finally figured out how to tie a nearly perfect bow the first time out...not just hope for the best and have to redo it 20 times. This card has a very French feel...I may need to go on another road trip and get some more of this paper! Have a great day!

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve Kindred Spirits, Because of You; PTI fancy flourishes, SU french script (on flowers)
Paper: SU blush blossom, vanilla, kraft, choc chip, pomegranate; DCWV dp

Ink: versamark, SU choc chip, regal rose

Accessories: cuttlebug flower dies, button, linen thread, satin ribbon, EK border punch, pearls

Sweet Sunday Sketch and Amber's Challenge

Greetings! Well, it's been another crazy card making day. I said I was going to let some challenges go this week and focus on the Verve ones as it's their anniversary week, but then I decided to combine the challenges!! Hey, I'm not just a pretty face!! LOL This card is for both Karen's Sweet Sunday sketch and Amber's challenge to just make a birthday card in honour of Verve turning 2. Easy enough!! I like open challenges like that!! I wanted to use SU's Thoughts and Prayers as it's been sitting in my "to use soon" basket, needing some love. As I started making the card, I noticed I was using a lot of SU products...all except the prima flower and pearls. I may have to forward this one to my SU demonstrator :) Have a wonderful evening!

What's in it?

Stamps: SU Thoughts and Prayers, Small Script

Paper: SU certainly celery, perfect plum; celery dp, pale plum, white

Ink: marvy pens (purple, lilac, green), SU eggplant

Accessories: pearls, prima flower, SU silver hodgepodge, narrow grosgrain,

Clean and Simple Thanks So Much, Meg!!

I know some of you have noticed the small changes in the blog over the weeks. The new banner is courtesy of my talented niece, Meg. When I started this whole blog thing, I asked for her help with setting things up and asked if she could "whip" me up a banner as she had a former job maintaining a website and has her own blog. No problem, Aunt Moe :) We talked about the design and voila..."Buttons & Bling." And now I see PTI is going to be carrying "bling" so my blog name won't be out of date like pompom trim (or maybe that just hasn't taken off yet!! LOL). So this card, while made for Charmaine's Sweet and Simple challenge at the Verve forum, is a thank-you to Meg, who is on her way over as I type. I'm sure you will notice the "button" and the "bling." I think she will like it...plus it has a keychain Starbucks card inside...YUM!!

I've been making cards like a crazy woman here. It's anniversary time over at Verve Stamps and there are a ton of challenges with the chance of winning stamps! I've won 3 times so far this year!! It's fun, but the sketches are detailed, whew! I'll be posting the cards throughout the week here and they'll be in my gallery over at Splitcoast. Have a lovely evening!

What's in it?

Stamps: Verve Kindred Spirits; PTI mega mixed messages, fancy flourishes

Paper: SU kraft

Ink: SU choc chip; PTI raspberry fizz

Accessories: gemstones, PTI grosgrain, grandpa's button, linen thread

Top Note Quilt ~ Raspberry Suite Colour Challenge #14

Well, I'm back from a fun 18-hour girls' road trip. We found a NEW scrapbook store there and got some great new paper. As well, I bought 4 pairs of new shoes, one of which is so HOT I may get arrested at my nephew's wedding ;) Anyways, onto the card. I've been wanting to make a top note quilted panel for ages ever since I saw this post. I thought Dawn's new colour challenge would be the perfect place to try it out. It was also a great way to use up some of the PTI dp I have. I also got to sew again and use my new EK dotted scallop punch {double smile}.

I also made the flower with Nicole Heady's tutorial in mind. Just trying something different...gave the button flowers a rest today :) Here are a couple of closeups. I used some dp for a background as the card disappeared on an all white background. Oh, on a last note, my friend and I saw Julie and Julia on our trip and you MUST go see it!! It's so funny and fabulous and different from your run of the mill comedy...I want to see it again! Have a wonderful day!

What's In It?
Stamps: PTI floral frenzy, birthday basics
Paper: SU vanilla, pure pomegranate; PTI raspberry fizz, dp; pink polkadots (craft supply)
Ink: SU eggplant; perfect plum
Accessories: stitching; canvas; cuttlebug flower dies; EK dotted scallop punch; button; SU square punch, top note die; PTI twill ribbon; dritz pins

You're Too Kind ~ a DawnCASE

The card today is a shameless CASE of Dawn McVey's card a few months back. I saved it and have been wanting to CASE it. I changed the yellow to Raspberry fizz, the sentiment, and how I made the flower. Sometimes when I don't know what to do, but want to stamp, I'll go through my files and CASE something that really caught my eye. It's fun to start with a great design and play around with it. Do you ever do this? Hope your weekend has been wonderful!!

What's in it?

Stamps: PTI polkadot basics, mega mixed messages: SU french script (on the flower); Hero arts manuscript (on the leaves)

Paper: SU vanilla, choc chip, kraft; PTI raspberry fizz

Ink: SU choc chip; versamark

Accessories: SU scallop border punch, clear embossing powder,

gemstones, nestabilities blossom die