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

Think Spring

We still have snow on the ground from the last couple of days, but I've got spring on my mind. It's the optimist in me. I just love the warmer weather. Hey, at least we've got loads of sunshine today. So I pulled this Garden Whimsey stamp set off the shelves to indulge in some wishful thinking.

I colored all of the bugs with markers, directly to the stamp, to get the different colors. Then I did a little water coloring around the butterfly for grass/sky effect. Can you see the snail trail of Star Dust Stickles? Not my idea, but isn't it cute! The background is embossed with the Cuttlebug Bloom Dots folder, then I rubbed over it with a small white stamp pad. The sentiment, from Papertrey Ink) is heat embossed.

What's In It?
Stamps: Stampin' Up! Garden Whimsey, Papertrey Ink Green Thumb
Paper: SU! Caribbean, Celery, White, Red, PTI White
Ink: SU! Red, Black, celery, turquoise, olive, cocoa, Versamark, cloud white VersaMagic
Other: detail white embossing powder, star dust Stickles, white gel pen, water brush, Nestablities die, Bloom Dots Cuttlebug folder

"Excellent!"

I was given the "E for Excellent" award. Wow! Thanks Kylie. I'm thrilled that you find my blog inspiring. I must say that I really enjoy looking through your creations as well.

I read so many blogs, but here are a few random ones that I find inspiring and enjoyable:

Alli Miles

Lisa Strahl

Sharon Johnson

Joan Bardee

Sophia Landry

New Releases from Verve Visual

Have you dropped in at Verve Visual lately? If not, today would be a great day to do it! Yesterday Julee released four new stamp sets! AND, all stamps are 15% off for the entire month of February! AND there's free shipping over $40. AND there's still time for you to get an entry into the Honored Guest Sketch Challenge Contest. Obviously, great things are going on at Verve. This card features the new set called Happy Thoughts. The set contains the word Happy in two different fonts, along with some mix and match words for quite a few sentiment options. This makes it so easy for a two-toned sentiment like the one I made here.

This card is done on a folded piece of 5.25 inch by 10.5 inch transparency film. All of the layers are sandwiched over the transparency, so that none of the glue shows. I'm including a picture of the inside too, so you can see where I made a place to write your message.Some of the other design elements were done with Webster's Pages Classical Garden Rub-ons. (Just a hint...They're on clearance for 40% off while they last.)

What's In It?

Stamps: Happy Thoughts(Verve Visual)

Ink: Timber Brown (StazOn); Bordering Blue (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: Parlor Collection (Webster's Pages); Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories: Multipurpose Transparency Film (3M); circle and scalloped dies (Nestablities); Antique brads (Lasting Impressions); Classical Garden rub-ons (Webster's Pages); dimensionals; Mono Multi glue (Tombow)

For the Sophisticated Mother to Be

I needed a baby card for some friends of ours. Really it's the father who is friends with my husband. I don't know the mother real well, but she definately strikes me as simple and sophisticated. So, that's what I had in mind when making this card.

Stamps: Sweet Love (Papertrey Ink); Family Phrases (Verve Visual)
Ink: Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!); Versamark
Paper: Certainly Celery (SU!); white (PTI)
Accessories: detail white embossing powder (SU!); coluzzle; Gemstones (Hero Arts); dimensionals

RAK Thank Yous

I am hanging my head in shame right now. Would you look at these fabulous cards I have received from some amazing fellow stampers? Can you guess how long I've had some of them without sharing them here with you? Obviously, some are from clear back in December. But they are just too gorgeous to not share. So, here they are:

This card by Allison Fillo from Stampin When I Can is SO FUN! I love the shape, colors, and especially the fibers! Thank you so much for thinking of me!

Amy Westerman really came up with the most unique focal point here. Check out that embossed foil bell! It is so awesome!

Lila Holgate's beautiful bird card just has class written all over it. The colors in the bird are so thick and vibrant. Mmmmmm...and that card! Fabriano?

Yes, Julee Tilman is a creative genius. So it always thrills me to get a card from her. Like this unique three dimensional card. It folded flat for mailing, but pops into a box when you take it back out of the envelope. How cool!

This is the prettiest thank you I received from Michelle at A Stamping We Will Go. I thought it was an awesome card as soon as I opened the envie to see a file folder card. But then I opened the card, and it was even better. I LOVE the primas that she added to the inside!

And last, but certainly not least, is this SO SWEET card from Joanne Basile. She really created a "feeling" with this. Not an easy thing to do. The femine pink ribbon and soft color palette. I actually want to reach out and hug that little girl. Thank you Joanne!

I'm a Guest Designer!

Have you seen? I'm the guest designer for the month on Jen del Muro's blog: i{heart}tostamp! Pop on over and see my little write up and my first card. I'll be playing along with Jen's weekly Sketch For You To Try for the whole month of February. Thanks Jen!

The Friday Funny

These men are installing and setting solid steel pillars in concrete to stop vehicles from parking on the pavement outside a sports bar in downtown Norman, OK.

They are cleaning up at the end of the day.

How long do you think it will be before they realize where their vehicle is parked?