New Verve TOMORROW!

Serendipity- The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.

I had all the elements for this card ready. They were even stacked together waiting to be glued down. I picked up the flowered panel to add adhesive when serendipity struck. I liked the card better without the panel. A whole new look! So I'll share both versions with you today.

I wanted it to look like the butterfly had written the sentiment, so I used the dotted flower stem to make a butterfly trail continuing off the "Amazing".

Above:
Stamps: Thankful Blossoms (Verve Visual)

Paper: So Saffron, Real Red, Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!); white (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Distress Ink in Vintage Photo (Tim Holtz)

Accessories: Copic markers; Scallop square Nestability die; dimensionals; paper piercer; rhinestones

And now the simpler, serendipitous card which can be made with the same recipe:

Today is the last day of the sneak peek blitz at the Verve Visual blog. Have you checked out all of the examples for all THREE gorgeous new stamp sets? All will be available for purchase TOMORROW, at the Verve store.

The Friday Funny

Hey all! Sorry I've been MIA for a few days. I've been sick ALL WEEK. It's actually really getting on my nerves at this point. And I'm supposed to go to the theater tonight. Yeah, that will be fun while my nose is dripping and I'm hawking up phlegm. Maybe a little too much information? Sorry. There's been pretty much no stamping going on all week here. But I am actually remembering to post a Friday Funny. Enjoy!

Estate Planning

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business.

When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune.

One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her natural beauty took his breath away. 'I may look like just an ordinary man,' he said to her, 'but in just a few years, my father will die, and I'll inherit 20 million dollars.'

Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later, she became his stepmother.

Women are much better at estate planning than men.

A Simple Card

for the Verve Visual Back to Basics series.

Julee challenged all of us Verve Visual designers to make a card for a Back to Basics series. So I tried to stick with supplies a beginner would have: stamps, ink, paper and ribbon. Come on, who doesn't have a bit of ribbon laying around somewhere in the house?

Use the X and O from an alphabet set to stamp the background (Purely Pomegranate ink on Groovy Guava card stock). You could also do this with your computer if you don't have an alpha set. Stamp the hearts on scrap pieces of Very Vanilla in pomegranate and guava (I actually used Cameo Coral, because I don't have guava ink). Cut them out and layer on a square of vanilla. Stamp the sentiment in pomegranate. Layer on Chocolate Chip card stock. Adhere background to vanilla card. Tie on ribbon. Adhere hearts panel with dimensionals (or glue it flat).

What's In It?

Stamps: Heart to Heart (Verve Visual); Trajan Monogram (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Very Vanilla, Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Regal Rose (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories: Stitched ribbon (Stampin' Up!); dimensionals

Hanging Around

Finally, I have a card I can share here with you. I've been working on a few other commitments. You can see my final card as a guest designer with Jen's Sketch For You to Try here. I've also been taking care of some Verve Visual cards. Then, Sunday I got whatever Josh has had for a whole week. It totally wiped me out. I didn't even get out of my pj's. But this afternoon my order from All That Scraps arrived, and it revived me enough to make this simple card using Monkey Love by C.C. Designs.I stamped with my new Palette ink pad in Noir Black. Can you believe that I needed yet ANOTHER black ink pad? None of mine were working with my limited supply of Copic markers. By the way, I did discover that my (brown) Tim Holtz Distress Inks work with the Copics too. So, after all of that, I colored this cute little guy with Stampin' Up! markers and a watercolor brush. Then outlined with Copic Cool Gray No. 1, the absolute perfect marker for shadowing. I used a Stamp-a-majig to rearrange the sentiment to my liking.

Tomorrow I'll have a realy simple "Back to Basics" Verve card for you. See ya then.

Stamps- CC Designs Monkey Love

Ink- Noir (Palette)

Markers- SU pretty in pink, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, Copic Cool Grey No. 1

Paper- SU Certainly celery, not quite navy, Petals & Paisleys, watercolor

Accessories- American Crafts ribbon, SU brads

Happy Hearts Wedding

So, what are you doing right now? Me? Well, obviously I'm typing up this blog entry...but I'm also treadmilling! I have found that blurfing (blog surfing) really makes the time fly by. Now of course you can't run because it shakes the treadmill too much for the laptop, but you can raise the incline to get a more effective walking workout. I know it's not the best workout, but it sure is more than I'd be doing otherwise. So that's my little side point of the day.

Moving on...here's a card. Because I'm sure you didn't come to read about my lame workout regimen.This one is so simple. Stamp the heart from Verve Visual's Heart to Heart on scrap paper in pink passion and cameo coral. Cut them out. Punch the green layer (Basic Grey Perhaps) with a Martha Stewart border punch and stamp sentiment (Verve Visual's Happy Thoughts). Adhere all your layers together except the card base. Tie on ribbon (Dashes Dots & Checks). Adhere to card. All done. Other papers are more Perhaps by Basic Grey, cameo coral and black by Stampin' Up!, and white by Papertrey Ink.

A New Banner and an Old(er) Card

So, do you like the new banner? It's been sitting in a PhotoShop file on my computer for months! I finally decided to add a few details to it and put it to use. It's grown on me.

I haven't had a chance to do any "carding" yet today, so here's a card a made a couple of weeks ago. I stamped the flower from Fancy Florals Remixed in real red, so saffron and black...and the sentiment in red. I used bashful blue ink with a water brush to outline the flower. The dry embossed lines were done with my old school Fiskars paper cutter, which works pretty well if you don't have a Score-Pal/ Score It, like me. The blue and striped papers are from the Garden Gate line by Daisy Bucket. Red eyelets by Stampin' Up!

Matchbook Flowers

Today's card features Verve Visual's Serenity stamp set and some Cosmo Cricket paper. I stamped the flowers with VersaMagic Dew Drop inks and cut them all out to make a bouquet. Since I couldn't find a matching blue paper to go with the Cosmo Cricket, I opted to make my own. The background for the flowers...I cut the circle from white paper with my Nestablity die, then smeared my Aspen Mist ink pad all over it. Tah Dah! Instant matching paper. All of the circles were cut with Nestablitity dies. The scallops were done with a corner rounder (guard removed).

This is a matchbook style card. The top piece tucks into the lower scalloped layer. To keep those scallops shut, I adhered some Sticky Strip right above the crease inside. (Think right behind those lower red brads.)

I highlighted the flowers and added dots to the scallops with Star Dust Stickles.

What's In It?
Stamps: Serenity, Happy Thoughts (Verve Visual)
Paper: Dutch: Anna and Klara (Cosmo Cricket); white (Papertrey Ink); Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Aspen Mist, Tea Leaves, Sage, Red Magic (VersaMagic)
Accessories: Corner Rounder (EK Success); Nestabilities dies; brads (Making Memories); ribbon (Target); white gel pen; sticky strip; Star Dust Stickles