A bit of Distress

Viva La Verve for July had a {twist} of distress. I went off in a scurry to prove, "I can do it". I'm nervous about distressing. It's a lot of work and if you don't like the ending you start all over. Okay that sounds a bit end of the world, but with the time I spend cleaning
around my house and two preschoolers (GULP! I have two preschoolers now. Birthdays will do that to your children.) starting over is not what you feel like doing.

I loaded up on chocolate almonds and marched to my craft room ready to become mademoiselle Distress (after all I'm not married to it).

My oldest sister has been on my mind so I decided to focus on a card for her. I haven't decided on a sentiment for the inside...I'm waiting for my Verve package to arrive, but the outside had to be about who she was to me.

She's the World's Best {oldest} sister for me and definitely another name for love (can't see this stamp in the photo because I stamped off once before stamping on the card. It's to the right and perpendicular to "sister"). So I pulled out my Verve World's Best and Because of You. I wanted a female figure stylized so I pulled out my mother-in-law's stamps that she has stored at my house (how cool is that!) from Close To My Heart called "Be Yourself" (May Stamp of the Month).
Paper I used was LSS Chocolate Chip equivalent, cream and tan. I cut out a rectangle of cream stamped SU! Leafy Glade with Mauve Mist and also with SU! Canvas BG stamp in Creamy Caramel. I then distressed the edges with scissors, sponged SU! Creamy Caramel and Ranger Walnut Stain around the edges. I ran the sheet through the Cuttlebug with Leafy Branch emboss folder. I sponged around the card base with Ranger Walnut Stain. Done!

The tickets were stamped with Creamy Caramel and Chocolate chip. I straight-edge cut the paper to the right size and then used my perforate blade on the short edges. The half moon is just a circle punch. I rubbed the edges against the side of my table and then bent the card in a couple of places. I used the leftover in on the sponge to distress the bent crease to make it pop. I used some Creamy Caramel on my finger to add a residual finger print in a couple of places.

The single face ribbon is from Joann's.

Did I cover everything?

Just a little tidbit:

Our neighbor's daughter and our babysitter had a birthday on Sunday. So we decided to get her something that all teenagers want. More tunes. So I whipped up the backpack from Splitcoaststampers to match. I got all tingly when my premium m&m's matched the gift card and some scraps of designer paper from Colorbok Ripe Berry pack.

Here are the details for this gift.

Backpack template and instructions
M&M Premiums (Triple Chocolate and Mint Chocolate)
iTunes gift card
Colorbok Ripe Berry Paper Pack
3" x 5" cello bag
coordinating ribbon
(The links provided are for reference only. I bought all my materials over time at my local stores.)

Thanks for stopping by.

Verve Release Week Sketches that I'm Nuetral about

I've gone Nuetrals over Verve. Well only with the paper I'm using. I decided to use the same designer paper for all of the sketches during Verve Release week. The paper is from Making Memories and I thought it would be great to have a set of cards to package into a gift set. The Making Memories Neutrals pack is a nice, well neutral set of paper that can be used in so many directions.

I spent a good portion at the beginning of the week trying out a new-to-me and new products as well as a new technique. The products were Yasutomo Pearlescent Watercolor Paint that my mother-in-law let me borrow and my new Martha Stewart Arch Lattice edger punch. The technique is to use a blender pen and some loose chalk for coloring technique (scrape some of the chalk puck to make some "dust" and then dab the tip of your blender pen into it and start shading your piece.)

First I want to quickly run through my Viva La Verve cards for the rest of the month of June.

Viva La Verve Week 2 sketch with a {twist} of New.

My "new" was my mother-in-law's Cuttlebug With Love embossing folders she keeps at my house. (How cool is that!) and EK Success Fleur de Lis edger punch.
Stamps: Verve World Best
Paper: Colorbok Ripe Berry pkg, LSS purples and cream
Ink: Lavender Lace
Accessories: Michael's rhinestones and purple ribbon, EK Success Fleur de Lis edger punch, Cuttlebug With Love EF

Viva La Verve Week 3 sketch with a {twist} of White.

Stamps: Dad's Day, Medallion
Paper: White, Cream, Vellum, Old Olive
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Accessories: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF, Green Organdy ribbon, White rhinestones

Viva La Verve Week 4 sketch with a {twist} of Designer Paper Inspiration.

Stamps: Verve Wishful Elegance, SU Watercolor Garden
Paper: Old Olive, Brocade Blue, Grey, LSS Cream
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, VersaMagic Cloud White
Accessories: KaiserCraft black rhinestones, LSS mauve ribbon, Cotton Candy Stickles, Sizzix Flowers Layer Die cut

Now for the Verve Release Week Challenge Sketches
(The new Verve stamps were released on Friday night. Go check them out at the Verve shop.)




The card below uses the pearlescent paints, chalks with a blender pen and arch lattice edger punch. Love, love, love the paints and that bold edge!





Details:


Sketch 1 (VSJun01 SCS Gallery)
Stamps: All Verve - Floral Symphony, Everlasting Life, Dad's Day
Paper: Making Memories Nuetrals, Cream, Basic Black
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Old Olive, Really Rust, Brilliant Blue
Accessories: SU! Black corduroy ribbon, LSS cream ribbon re-inked Really Rust, Green Satin ribbon, black button

Sketch 2 (VSJun02 SCS Gallery)
Stamps: Beautiful Kindness
Paper: Making Memories Nuetrals, Basic Black, Close to Cocoa
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Accessories: Black Button, thread, SU! ribbon

Sketch 3 (VSJun03 SCS Gallery)
Stamps: Sweet on You
Paper: Making Memories Nuetrals, Basic Black, LSS Cream
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Really Rust
Accessories: Martha Stewart Arch Lattice edger punch and Hydrangea punch, Sizzix Leaves Die cut, Martha Stewart Onyx and Carnelian glitter, Yasutomo glitter paint and aqua pen, SU chalks and Prismacolor Blender pen

Sketch 4 (VSJun04 SCS Gallery)
Stamps: Wishful Elegance, Floral Symphony
Paper: Making Making Memories Neutrals (background and flowers), Basic Black, LSS Cream
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Accessories: LSS Cream grosgrain ribbon, American Crafts velvet rickrack ribbon, Sizzix Bigz Leaves Die, Nesties Classic Circles, Quick Kutz Limited Edition Circles die (hidden by the flowers), Sizzix Texturz plate Tween Daisies, Martha Stewart Onyx glitter, Glossy Accents

Sketch 5 (VSJun05 SCS Gallery)
Stamps: Dare to be You, Beautiful Kindness, Wishful Elegance
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Making Memories Neutrals, Cream
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Versamark
Accessories: American Crafts Velvet black ribbon, Cuttlebug Leafy Branch EF, Martha Stewart Onyx glitter, chipboard (for Beautiful Kindness serif)

Today's not my birthday

span style="font-size:130%;">...but it sure feels like it.

It started yesterday. My neighbor remembered how much I liked a cake she brought to last years spring gathering for our block so while our little ones were playing in the sandbox she informed me I was getting that cake for my birhtday. Mmmmmmm...
We found out late in the afternoon that our refinance loan went through so this morning we signed the stack of papers. It felt so good to get that done. We have an extremely low rate, fewer years to pay off and lower monthly mortgage payment. Now that is a great early birthday present.

When we got home from that the door bell rang and FedEx presented me with my new iPhone. [sung with vibrato] Ahhhhhhhhhh. While we were gone the post came and sitting on the step next to the FedEx courier was a box addressed to me, from my sister! Again. Ahhhhhhhh. It was a money bouquet. I wonder where they got the idea for that?

So here is all that's gone on today in pictures.




And tonight my husband and I are going to Shakespeare by the river.

Happy Father's Day - It's A Guy Thing - Is complete!

I did it! I completed the Fast Food Fun for Father's Day and my son's Birthday. They were just way too cute! Thank you Bakerella for posting this in time for me to get up the courage to make them. I couldn't wait until Monday to post so I'm doing a quick post and then I'm off to get some much needed sleep.

Here's more pictures.





Sometimes pictures really do explain more than words. Have a great week!

It's A Guy Thing - Verve Style

Okay, there is nothing like making a project to post last minute except making one as far as you can before you serve it up. This post is fully baked, but only half assembled for my "It's a Guy Thing" Project Parade.

I've got a puzzle to put into a Pizza Box (that I need to still make) and then the hamburger and french fries will be put into some baskets and bags (that need to be printed off of my computer).

UPDATE: I finished the pizza box. I made the red gingham paper and glued it to some chipboard that I cut out from a bitmap from here. I used a perforating rotary blade to score and make it look like a real box. I printed out Puzzle Pizza using "Impervious" font from kevinandamanda dot com and stamped #1 Dad from Verve's Dad's Day set above it before die cutting with my Label 1 Nesties .




All this is for Father's Day and my son's 2nd birthday tomorrow, Sunday. I need to assemble the hamburgers just before we eat them so they don't dry out and the frosting needs to be made yet. This post certainly isn't as polished as the Verve Divas post, but its the best I can do without creating the hamburger special too early and letting it dry out. So come back Monday and I'll show you what I dished up for the two fantastic men in my life.

(photos taken with my cellphone)

You can view the dessert inspiration in its completion over at Bakerella dot com at this post.

UPDATE: I have all my trays printed, cut and ready to assemble. Here's a couple that are ready when the "Order's Up".

The Father's Day food tray, tissue paper and fry bag are all from the template found on Bakerella's blog (see link above). The Birthday tissue paper I painstakingly did in Paintshop Pro using "smiley monster" from scrapbooking fonts over at kevinandamanda dot com, and I copied the fry bag template and added the birthday sentiment to it.

Well, I hope you enjoy your weekend! I've been busy doing paper crafting. Now I just need to run downstairs and put up the birthday banner for tomorrow.

To see my completed version of the Fast Food Fun dish (as Bakerella named it) including consumption check out this post

Verve and more Verve, 5 in all

Since getting back from my vacation last week, I have been completely exhausted. I got my new Verve stamps the day after I got home and just barely inked them up. It took me three days to make time for this weeks Mojo Monday sketch!

So here is my card for the challenge and now it's ready to be sent off to my dad.

My card uses 5 different sets from Verve's May release. I didn't realize how many I was using until I posted on SCS just a few minutes ago. Up, Up and Away, Whimsy Tree, Dad's Day, World's Best and Protector (added to the brown pattern paper). Again I can't tell you where the pattern paper came from it was another Slab pack from Joann's. I used StazOn Jet Black ink for all the images and Close to Cocoa for the sentiment. I primed my aqua pen and colored the tree and hot air balloon with Old Olive, touched the sky with some Blue Bliss and trimmed the oval image with Close to Cocoa (I had colored a second balloon to go on the card, but I couldn't find a good flow with it included so I hope to use it on another card.) The hardware is from Stampin' Up Hodge Podge collection and the green ribbon is from Joann's. Let's see, I also ran the long rectangle cream cardstock through my Cuttlebug with a Sizzix Texturz Plate, it's not that visible in the photo, but it helps out the design a bit.

I'm heading off to bed, but I've wanted to say something about my dad. Since Jen Tapler's awesome fundraiser for Alzheimer's in May (her dad affected by this disease) it's been on my mind a lot so I'm going to make a small mention about him. I love him dearly. He's always needing to keep his mind and hands busy fixing things, but for more than a decade he's been battling against Parkinson's disease. I can't even imagine what it really feels like for my dad and so many others with Parkinson's, but I do know the feeling of being hopeless to help. I live over 800 miles away from him so I can't help in the day-to-day needs for my dad so I'm grappling with what I can really do since I live so far away. This Sunday is a fundraiser in his area for Parkinson's. It's called "Shake, Rattle and Stroll" and will be in the Denver area. If you live nearby and like to run, walk or stroll AND you know this event is legit, than get out there and exercise in my place. If you're not in the area and you do run, walk or stroll, then on Saturday or Sunday (Father's Day) think of those affected by Parkinson's and exercise in their honor (which is what I'll be doing) and you'll be keeping yourself on pace for a healthier longer life. Thank you for letting me share.

In honor of my dad, Ed, who is living with Parkinson's disease. Love you dad!

Do Over's Please!

Have you ever wanted to unpost a card or layout in your gallery? I have a few, but there's one that I actually would like to carefully pull apart and do-over. So I'm curious if any of you have a do-over in your gallery? If you're willing, share which one it is, what your gripe is about the card and add a link to share. If anyone really did the do-over item that is even better.

Tell your friends, let's have a big Do-Over party this week!

Here's mine:

The gripe? The most creative part doesn't stand out. All those butterflies I masked and stamped on the panel, then cut and raised with dimensionals don't really do a dramatic element to the card. It needs more contrast overall.



So what is your do-over?

On the road and packing my Verve mojo,

and some Mojo from my craft room.
(For Mojo90 sketch go here.)



I'm posting this after returning from a vacation cross country, but while I was there I needed to be able to stamp (nerves and idle hands don't go well with me). I was hoping to do anything I wanted for the sketch, but when I arrived at the Sommers farm, our destination, we found out that an Aunt's sister had passed away after struggling with cancer. So my card material was not the best for a sympathy card, but I did what I could. I also found out I don't have any sympathy stamps in my Verve collection. I need to remedy that. Yes, I took my whole collection with me. And it all fits into a 1 1/2" binder.

Here's the card.

I took the picture in our car. What a great way to diffuse the light! It didn't however show the chalky paint I used on the flowers.

I had to get creative for color because all I brought with me was a black ink pad. I used my daughter's paints that she got from her great grandma for her birthday. It was out of a $3 kids art kit. Don't get me wrong, they turned out to be a lot of fun for my children and myself regardless of the price on the packaging. I used some local scrapbook supply store cardstock, and I think some Stampin' Up! Cranberry Crisp and the patterned paper is from a pack called Pocket Full of Posies (pre-glittered). The sentiment is Verve's Plain Jane Isaiah 61:3 (I think I posted on my SCS gallery that it was Jeremiah 29:11. Oops. It was between these two sets and Isaiah seemed better of the two for the card.). The flowers are from Because of You and the Plain Jane Elegant Flower sets. I brought along a diecut from my stash of leaves that was close in color to the ribbon I used. It's a Sissix Bigz die cut. I dabbed some Diamond Stickles to the center of the flowers to go with the patterned paper. Hiding behind the flowers is the rest of the sketch. I made a circle from a plastic cup as my guide and then cut a matching layer to go behind it.



The paint I used was from this palette. You have to love the four-year-old treatment of the paintbrush. I decided to use cotton swabs, but didn't get anymore detail out of them than if I had used the brush.

Now that I'm home I have full capacity of paper crafting supplies, yippee! I needed to make a thank you card to give to one of our nice neighbors who looked after my hydrangeas while we were gone. They look well taken care of, but have lost their blue color and moved into the green phase. Love it! I used this week's Mojo sketch 90 and directions for a box in a bag from splitcoaststampers website.

A close up of the yellow hydrangea's.

I apologize for not giving the full credit to the paper I use. Before I had my children I stock piled paper for scrapbooking and then in the process of organizing 3 years later I've found I don't know where most of it came from specifically, but almost all of them are from a Slab pack I bought a long time ago at Joann's Fabric and Craft Store. So the patterned paper is from one of those slab's and the cardstock is of course local bought. The flowers are punched with Martha Stewart hydrangea 3-in-1 and large single punches then burnished with a stylus, flipped and poked in the center with a small stylus. The centers are Stickles Waterfall and then Crystal Effects over it after it had dried. The spirals are made from hand cut paper and wrapped around the small stylus post. Green ribbon behind the flowers and as the closer is from Joann's. I punched out two file tabs with SU! punch. I used eyelets on the tabs from a packet I bought at Joann's but over in the clothes making section (don't know if it's cheaper, but I'll believe it that way.) The sentiment is from Verve for purchasing from them. Isn't that just novel. It's what makes the company a great one to go back to time and time again. It was stamped with Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise.

That was long winded! Thanks for staying with me through it all and as always thanks for stopping by my little blog world.