You're So Cool

It has been a long while since I last joined in on a Mojo Monday sketch challenge. The mojo has come back for the moment and I have taken advantage of it too. I pulled out my Verve Happy Days. The pattern paper I used was from my stash (love it but don't remember the brand). The sentiment/frame was created by white embossing it onto white c/s and then I sponged Broken China and Faded Jeans DI to it. To tie in the orange of the main background I stamped the flowers onto white c/s and then colored with my copics (Y17, YR01, YR04, YR07, G99, YG17, YG67). To tie the white of the focal sentiment/frame to the rest of the card I used a border punch that was more wave-y on white c/s and then found some white thread to wrap around the top place. I really liked how it made me think of swim trunks so I opted to leave of the embellishment & bow that was to go with it. My favorite part might have been the use of some old paper b/c I have quite the supply of it. Guess I should start scrapping again too. I hear that might help my paper problem, lol.

American Life Saver

With so many challenges in blogland focusing on July 4th (Independence Day here is USA) I thought I would do another patriotic card. If you remember from my last WMS waltz post, I don't really send out 4th of July cards, and so I've created another card that can really be sent anytime. The sentiment was perfect for the colors as this could go to a military person, firefighter, police officer, or anyone you think of as an American hero. The card came together in under 30 (a rare thing for me, lol). The sentiment is from Verve's Sweet On You while the frame the banner and flowers are layered on is from Prima. The card base is 4.25 x 4.25 so that the flowers and sentiment can take center stage (and allow the banner to hang off of the edge). I layered some white Prima flowers on top of some red ones that reminded me of fireworks to represent the stripes and the blue Prima flower is for holding our stars. I sprayed the card base with Tattered Angles Denim Blue and then sponged the edges with some Broken China Distress Ink (as well as the ink for the sentiment and the edge of the banner). I used foam dots behind the red frame and glued the red/white flowers down with Helmar's 450 quick dry and the blue flower with some Scrapdots for some height. Your Memories Here not only has the Prima flowers and stamps, but the glues, and now Distress Inks.



Challenges used:
OTWC: red, white, blue
Stamp Something: Julty 4th/ Celebration
Stampin' for the Weekend: My Favorite Things ( I try to have at least one thing Prima and either Distress and/or TA)

Two More For You

So here are the other two cards I was working on last night. Both are for A Delightful Waste of Time's birthday week celebration.



The first one is a simple vintage take on Verve's Vivia la Verve wk 2 sketch. The card base was created with PTI's linen impression plate while the raspberry circle was created with TA's Red Velvet and Pink Taffy Glimmer Mist. The flowers are from Prima and the lace type ribbon might be as well. The sentiment is of course Verve's from their Everlasting Life set. Everything was sponged with PTI's vintage due: chamomile and chai. The colors are inspired from A Delightful's color challenge of sage, raspberry, and vanilla. I'm also enterimg this one for Crafty Calendar and Stampin' for the Weekend's Springtime theme as this will be one of my Easter cards.

For my second card I went a little more girly. The inspiration came from the inspiration cake picture from A Delightful's challenge. I was really inspired by the ruffled icing and the combination of vanilla with white. I had some pink ruffle ribbon and new it was just the thing to use. The sketch for this sweet card is from Get Sketchy's challenge this week while the idea to use only a sentiment is from Raise the Bar's sentiment only challenge. I lined the white and vanilla c/s with my silver paint pen to represent the silver spoon in the cake picture. To give the white a little more substance I clear embossed it with a paisly pattern. The great thing about the ribbon is that even though it's got three layers it will lay pretty flat in an envelope to mail. The sentiment on this one is also Verve (Plain Jane's Psalm 3:3)

inspiration photo

Verve Hopping

I got some time tonight to create a quick birthday card and thought I would create it for the Verve Blog Hop that's going on right now. I used the large Whimsy tree as well as the smaller tree and clouds from the Up, Up, & Away set. The sentiment is from PTI's Little Bitty Birds. I stamped the images in Distress Inks (faded jeans, walnut stain, and peeled paint) onto watercolor paper. Once stamped I then took a small brush dipped in water and did my version of watercoloring. I also watercolored the two edge panels in the background. I am also using this card for the birthday challenge over at A Delightful Wast of Time. A quick and easy card I was able to pull off in under an hour.

YMH Purple kinda day

So my mojo has been struggling this week since my mind has been focused on the state test my students will be taking for my class next week and a little shopping spree I'll get to do soon. I started looking at some challenges to help me and came across several on flowers and purple. Well, that is just up my ally as I've been wanting to play with some of my Prima Hydranga flowers and of course my TA Glimmer Mists. I sprayed one of the flowers with some Purple Pansy and used the over spray to paint one of the little Prima white flowers. I painted two other Hydranga flowers with Chandelier Glitter Glam and even coated the littlest flower with it for extra glitz. I then used two Prima leaves to help anchor the flower as well as to help it stand out from the background. These flowers and the mist can all be found at YMH. The lighter purple in the background was embossed with a brick folder from the Tim Holtz line and the image is from Verve. What a great pick-me-up or just because card for a friend.

Challenges used:

Crafty Catz - friendship

Off the Wall - color inspiration

Paper Cutz - flowers

Stamp Something - flowers

Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop

Welcome to the Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop! Verve turns three today and we’re celebrating with a hop, hop, hop! If you've already been hopping along, you arrived here from Lisabee's blog. If not, head on over to Julee's Blog (owner of Verve), for all the info on how to win prizes (after all, what's a party without presents?), and to start hopping from the beginning. If there's a hiccup along the hop, you can always head to the Master Hop List to get the full list of links.

For my project I used Verve's Up, Up, and Away. I love hotair balloons (in fact, taking a hot air balloon ride is on my gotta try list) and thought this would be a great set to play with. I even made a matching gift basket for it. I seen several project in blog land where the balloons are layered over each other and I wanted to give it a try. Most focused on the balloons in the air, but I just had to be a little different: what if they were floating over a skyline (stamp from stampabilities). I also decided to add some sunbeams (stamp from Practicing Creativity). I used the same sunbeams for the matching gift bag. To punch up the balloons some I added glitter to the big one and then covered the white one with a mix of glitter and CE (crystal effects/glossy accents). Then the ones on the card were covered and I spattered a mix of yellow markers.

Thanks for hopping by! Now it's time to hop on over to Sara’s blog, for a little more Verve-y goodness.

Challenges:

Off the Wall Craftiness: color inspiration

Father's Day cards DONE!

I got my father day's cards done (well, at least my hubby's and my daddy's). I had fun making them too. One is a CAS and the other I used my copics. Before I get to that though, I wanted to let ya'll know that I am doing much better. I had an infection/cold and am doing MUCH better now.

Now for my first (and the fav of the two) card. I used Tiddly Inks digi Robot Dad for it. This is also my first robot card and I am LOVING them. Many more will be making their way into my stash I am sure. To add to the metal feel of a robot I covered the image in some Crystal Effects. The sentiment and the nuts along the bottom came with the cute guy too.


Challenges used:
Beary Sweet Color Challenge - Navy, Turquoise, Lime
Etsy Inspired Challenge - be inspired from My Zotrope (here's what inspired me)
CPS - sketch
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Father's Day
Tiddly Inks Challenge - robots
Totally Gorjuss - for the boys
Cupcake Craft Challenges - one for the boys
Crafty Cardmakers - cards for men


Now this second one is a CAS card. The stamp comes from Verve. The argyle is embossed using a cuttlebug embossing folder. I lightly sponged white ink over the embossed image too.


Challenges used:
Everything but the Kitchen Sink - sketch
Cinema Saturday - use argyle
My Time to Craft - Xtra Special (special occation - daddy's day)
CRAFT - father's day/men cards
Creative Inspiration - one for the boys
Fab 'n' Funky - Just for dad
The play date cafe - color inspiration

A Simple Hotair Balloon

Sorry for the bad photos. I am trying to discover the best way to take photos of my creations and am wanting to either have a permanent home for it or a place that can quickly be put up and taken down. For my first card back after my little break I thought I would try out some of my stamps that have been negleted and do NO copic coloring. I used Verve's Up, Up, and Away stamp set. The hotair balloon was paper pieced with some scrap paper I had but the image was stamped on some transparency I had laying around. I did go over the paper part with some glitter glue I had premixed (a bottle of crystal effects with some dazzling diamonds mixed in) to give the balloon a shiney and glittery look to it. I really liked how it turned out. I accented the words with the line of bling under it. Texture was added to the yellow paper. The green background was made with a stamp from the same set. I like how the image turned out but not the card as a whole. I feel it is too plain. Maybe I needed to distress it more. I really need to get back into my rubber as I do love them.


Challenges used:

Card Patterns - sketch

Totally Gorguss - texture

Paper Cutz - use three patterened papers (the yellow came from DCWV's Citrus matstock, the green on the balloon, and the blue is some scraps I had from an old SU! paper pack)

Crafty Creations - paper piercing

Paper Play - shiney (the balloon)

Cinema Saturday - movie Up! and use ballons

Etsy challenge - used this photo of fun earrings for the colors