It's the April Diva Dare wrap up!

Good morning! I'm sharing my take on Verve's April Diva Dare today over on the Verve blog! We're All Aboard! for any project with chipboard, cardboard, or kraft.

My "All Abroad!" went to the CiRcUs! Here are the snapshots...

The Best Show on Earth... DAD! (Super Dad, To the Moon and Love Story Stamp Set, Lovely Marquee Die)

Ring Leader and Leading Lady (Twitterpated Stamp Set)

Monkeying around (To the Moon Stamp Set, Winter Tree, Winter Fun Die Set)

A Verve Circus Family of Fun!

There are a few more days yet to join in on the Dare... I dare ya! Just jump over to Day 1 post and get the details and then link up your project.



Details:

Stamps:  Super Dad, To the Moon, Love Story , Twitterpated, Winter Tree

Paper: Fun-fetti (We R Memory Makers), Kraft cardtock (Hobby Lobby), Flower Shower (DCWV), white cardstock
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Alcohol markers (Copic)
Accessories:   Lovely Marquee Die (A Cut Above, Verve Stamps), Winter Fun Die Set (A Cut Above, Verve Stamps), Animal Car Box Cutting File (Little Potato Studio), brads, Mono Liquid Glue

Stampendous Challenge is cleaning up this Saturday

Today is the last inspiration Saturday for our April Stampendous challenge to Recycle~Repurpose~Reuse something into a project. I hope you have had a chance to join us in all the fun, but if you haven't there is still a few days left before we close the books on this challenge.

We want YOU to play along with us!  You have until Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 11:59 PM EST to add your direct link to our collection at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog).  You do not have to use Stampendous products, but we sure love it when you do!  As an extra incentive for playing along, one lucky crafter (drawn at random) will receive this fabulous Mother's Love Perfectly Clear Stamp Set.  Available in stores now, it will be on the website for purchase soon!

Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address.  We hope you have a chance to play along with us (you can enter as many times as you'd like!) this month...Happy Crafting!

Now my project today could not have been completed without a few prayers in the wee hours of last night and the encouragement I get from the Stampendous team. They are over the top encourager's of the crafting community. Thanks gals, you are the best at bringing out the craftiness in all of us. Seriously.

Okay, you know two things about me? I can usually find a use for something if I think on it long enough and once I've got the idea it doesn't go away until I've tried it. With that in mind, my repurpose on my project is a bottle cap! I thought about how to get it into a card project and unfortunately my mind couldn't go easy or simple it had to go altered art. So I got educated through YouTube on smashing bottle caps with my Cuttlebug. Mine did not come out as uniform and cool as in the video because I used screw off caps... trust me... don't use them.

I sprinkled some Aged Gold Embossing Enamel into the center of the flattened cap and heated it from the back all while holding it with tweezers. I sprinkled some UTEE (no reason but you could also use Stampendous Chunky Clear too) over the top of it and heated again. For some reason the Aged Gold EE "cottled" or separated into a black and gold pattern. Really cool looking. I stamped with metallic ink the butterfly from the Charm Collection. 

I tried to stamp the frame from the Stampendous Vintage Frame set (new set alert!!!!) with the gold metallic ink and it just didn't show very well so I sprinkled some Stampendous Pirate Gold Embossing Enamel over it. Ka-chow! That worked so great I added another stamped image on the base of the memo stand (look at the detail image at the beginning of the post).

Everything I have added to this project is either a scrap or leftover from some other project. I know you've seen the Maya Road flower ribbon... the hemp twine... mini clothespins... but also some old new you might not have seen... a musical clef paper clip from a card project 3 years ago and an upholstery tack. The corsage pins are from making corsages last year. The wood stand is leftover wood that I put together with a little bit of chiseling with an Xacto knife and glue. It's painted with leftover craft paint from a MOPS project and one that hasn't happened yet. I trimmed down a piece of ledger paper that's ephemera from my dad's house. It looked too new so I spritzed it with some coffee spray (instant coffee and water in a spray bottle).

Well, I hope you enjoyed this month's challenge and if you haven't jumped in and gotten a little creative with us... you still have some time. All right, there's more inspiration to see from the fabulous Stampendous design team!!!!!

Stampendous Impressions
Janelle Stollfus - me
Jennifer Dove
Lea Kimmel
Jennifer Ingle
Pam Hornshu
Wendy Price 
Susie Moore
Taylor Usry

Tenia Nelson

Wendy Jordan

Details: 
Stamps: Vintage Frames (Stampendous), Charm Collection (Stampendous)
Paper: Ephemera ledger paper from my dad's house
Ink: Versamark Watermark (Tsukineko), Gold Metallic ink (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Clear acrylic handle (Stampendous), Aged Gold Embossing Enamel, Pirate Gold Embossing Enamel, UTEE, wood scraps, burnt umber~Blue Ice Mist acrylic paints, Black pearl acrylic paint, bottle caps, twine, clothespin, flower ribbon, corsage pins, paper clip, upholstery tack, spray bottle of coffee spray

Altered Alice Challenge is wrapping up Splendidly!

I'm late, I'm late posting this out today. I've had quite a month that's sent my schedule in a whirlwind. Much like Alice's time in Wonderland, I'm not really sure where I'm at or what direction I should be going. One thing that's for sure is there is just one day left to join in at the Stampendous sponsored April challenge on the Altered Alice Challenge blog.

If you do, there is a chance to win the stamp set I'm using on my project today.

Here's bit of a splendidly dressed cup of tea. It's fitting to end the challenge with a tea party isn't it? I used some of those fitting stamps from the Wonderland set Stampendous is giving away for entering the challenge... yes there is still time. See the details on the Altered Alice blog.

First off this tea cup is from my favorite book! I made a cupcake a few weeks ago with a template from this book. If there is ever a book that has good ideas for paper sculpting it is that one!

Here are the short instructions for this project: I promise they'll be as short as I can make them.

Stampendous Supplies:
Wonderland Perfectly Clear Stamp Set
Acrylic Handle Block
Aged Black Embossing Enamel
Midnight Black Embossing Enamel
Aged Gold Embossing Enamel
Sterling Silver Embossing Enamel
Crystal Embossing Enamel
VersaMark Watermark Ink Pad

Other Supplies:
Cream cardstock
Clear Acetate
Circle die cuts
Mushroom Alcohol ink refill
Saddle Brown Ink Pad
Red ink pad
Tea cup, saucer, spoon and sugar cube template (Paper Sculpt Sensation - by Marion Elliot)
Liquid glue
Sponge
Glitter Glue

1. Photocopy the template out of the book and cut out the shapes (I enlarged the template a bit so the stamps would work on the cup they way I wanted.)
2. Trace the shapes onto cardstock and stamp/emboss your design leaving the gluing areas on the template free from embossing powder.
3. Embellish with sponging and more bling with glitter glue. Set them aside to admire while you make your cup of tea and accessories.
4. Cut out a circle from acetate. Stamp Alice image and heat dry or let set to dry. Turn circle over and drop alcohol ink on top and smear around while it's still wet. Dry with a heat gun, with a back an forth motion so not to warp the acetate.
5. Score some cream cardstock in a 3 x 3 grid at 3/8-inch intervals. Snip between grids to make a small box (one side will be open, but that's to you have a way to clamp on some tweezers.) Glue into a cube and emboss with Crystal embossing enamel. Repeat for however many sugar cubes you desire.
6. Cut out spoon template, trace and cut out. Score according to instructions and emboss with Aged Gold Embossing Enamel.

Enjoy a little cup of tea!

Wait! I think Alice caught a glimpse of that ever aloof Cheshire cat.

Don't let him ruin your party! There's always more in the tea pot. (and one more day to play along on the challenge. Deadline is Friday, April 27th 8 p.m. EST (GMT -5))

Stampendous~ New Friend

We are having the best few spring days lately that I'm really in the mood for more outside days and less one's inside, even if that means less time in the craft room. I spent the weekend at a women's conference and had no time to craft, but left this card "in the works" before the weekend and just finished it up to share this morning.

I'm using some new stamps and tool on this card. The Jumbo Zinnia stamp from Stampendous is peeking out from behind the sentiment layer as an Aged Rose embossed circle and then again on the pink texture cardstock that I kissed the stamp off with some aida cloth. I'm saving the aida cloth for another project... because I pretty much save everything just in case I need it for another project. The sentiment is NEW from Stampendous. It's been available at local Craft stores but now it's available online too! My one new tool is an EK Success Round Binding edge punch. Been waiting for that punch a long time. The little things that make us happy. I started the card off with a sketch from the Cardabilities blog.

Cardabilities sketch #53

 and my color inspiration for the card is from

CR84FN color challenge 52

Details:
Stamps: Jumbo Zinnia (Stampendous), Friendly Phrases Set (Stampendous)
Paper: handmade Signature Ivory (Recollections), Baby Pink Light (Bazzill), Kraft (Wausau), scrap of tan copy paper
Ink: Cocoa (CTMH), Versamark Watermark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Mica Flakes (Stampendous), Aged Rose Embossing Enamel (Stampendous), craft paint dauber (Jenni Bowlin), Round Binding edge punch (EK Success), liquid pearls (Viva Decor), chipboard circle scrap, lace ribbon, handmade crochet flower, pearl (Stampin' Up Pretties Kit)

Stampendous on Craft and Create TV

I'm popping in real quick to give you a heads up about an exciting opportunity for Stampendous!

Fran Seiford will be a guest on a few show times to the popular UK channel Create and Craft! You can jump over to the Stampendous blog for show time details. It's going to be EARLY Monday morning so if you're not a morning gal just wait until the videos come up on the Craft and Create TV channel website.

 Go to Stampendous store for easy access to all the goodies Fran uses for her projects during the shows!!!!!!

You're My Hero~ CASE

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm bringing a quick card today that I did joining in on the CASE Study this month with Laurie Schmidlin as the muse. If you've been on any Verve blog hop's you'll know that she's a Diva with some super spectacular talent. I just happen to pick the Study week that was one of her simply powerful designs, which is why I have a quick card today. Here's my card using CASE Study #87 (link no longer valid so it was removed)...

I went with the heart and popped up elements from the inspiration card and used some fun pattern paper from Basic Grey's Picadilly stack pad.

My elements are all Verve die cuts and stamps except the dots popping out from around the collage. They are stamped with an eraser from nearby mechanical pencil, love improvisation sometimes. Here's how my card using my Verve.

I stamped the ribbon banner from the new Super Dad set released last week and die cut it out with the coordinating Ribbon Banner die. The I Heart U die set was used too, and adding a little more character I cut the heart from the i so it looked embedded. The U is stamped with a sentiment from Purely Sentimental, another new set from Verve. All this was popped up over some scraps of brown ribbon. I layered some pattern paper and Crumb Cake cardstock on the yellow cardstock base for a little more texture.






Details:
Stamps: Super Dad (Verve Stamps), Purely Sentimental (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Picadilly paper stack (Basic Grey), Crumb Cake (SU!), Yellow
Ink: Cocoa (CTMH)
Accessories: Ribbon Banner Die (A Cut Above Die, Verve Stamps), I Heart U (A Cut Above Die, Verve Stamps), ribbon, zig zag rotary cutter, pencil eraser

Verve Stamps website is no longer available so links have been removed. New designs by Verve’s artist, Julie Tilman, can be found at Sweet and Sassy Stamps. 

Altered Alice Challenge with Wonderland

Good morning friends! This month Stampendous is partnering with Altered Alice Blog, a wonderful challenge blog that is all about the story of Alice in Wonderland. We've been sharing creations every week using a Stampendous Stamp set called Wonderland that was released in January. It's a perfectly fun set for collage and keeping in time with our every day life, really, like "Sorry, I'm late" was a common phrase when I worked outside the home.

SSC1135 Wonderland Perfectly Clear Stamps

This month's Altered Alice challenge is inspired from Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 2;

“After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, `Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won’t she be savage if I’ve kept her waiting!’”– Chapter 2; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Play along and enter your wondrous creations to possibly win our Wonderland stamp set by linking it over at the Altered Alice Blog.

Here's a creation I made back in February with the Wonderland set. Just think of all the places you can go with this set in a Splendidly Dressed way! Here's the link to see how I made this card.

Details:
Stamps: Wonderland (Stampendous) 
Paper: watercolor paper (Stratmore), Alice's Tea Party (Graphics 45), kraft (Wausau) 
Ink: Vintage Photo, Tea Dye (Ranger), alcohol markers (Copic)
Accessories: Aged Gold Embossing Enamel, Shabby White Embossing Enamel, Taupe Color Fragments (Stampendous), paper piercer, embroidery thread, masking tape (7 Gypsies), green silk ribbon (Martha Stewart)

Dreamweaver Stencils and Stampendous BIG Hop

Good Morning!
It's a big day with lots of inspirations with Stampendous and Dreamweaver Stencils Blog Hop. If you are just now joining the hop you can scroll down a ways to get to the master hop list and start at the beginning. I showed you on Tuesday some fun work with one background stencil so today I'm sharing a sentiment. Watch for the encompassing asterisks where I played along with our Stampendous Monthly Challenge to recycle or re-purpose something from the home.

To keep this already long post as short as possible, I'll just say that I laid out various colored 3x3 inch cardstock and just has some fun with the Dreamweaver embossing paste using some materials for stencils I found in my garage! You know like a drywall repair kit and an old window screen, but I also went to the sewing scrap mound and handmade a dotted stencil from a piece of plastic grid stencil sheet (used for quilt block patterns). I only used some of them on my cards today and you'll get to see the others on a project real soon!

On my first card I used the Thanks stencil from Dreamweaver with that fabulous Black Embossing Paste and then I created a **DIY background swatch with an old scrap of plastic sheet used for quilt stencils** to make my dotted mat with DWS pearlescent and black embossing paste. I inked up a jumbo stamp, that's in a store near you, called Jumbo Cottage Rose Cling Stamp with Versamark Watermark ink and embossed with Stampendous Vintage Lilac Tinsel Embossing Powder.

This second card is also a little fun sample of stamping with Stampendous Jumbo Dogwood Cling Stamp  into a smooth layer of DWS black embossing paste. I used some Versamark Watermark ink to add some Purely Poppy Metallix FX mica powder and it made a small ghosting look to it. I love it!

I framed the embossing paste mat with some Crushed Black Glass Glitter and used the same Thanks stencil as my first card on **some scraps of felt leftover from a spring animal finger puppet project**. Adding three little squares of the felt under the glass glitter and then some black rhinestone. All that was left was another leftover of Maya Road ribbon.

Hope you enjoyed your hop with me today!

Now here is the master list of hops for today. Remember there are prizes for commenting along the way!

Dream It Up! 
Kristine Reynolds 
Cherylynn Moser
Susie Moore
Lynn Mercurio 
Laura Drahozal 
Pam Hornschu 
Terrece Siddoway
Wendy Price
Liz Martin 
Taylor Usry 
Jessie Hurley 
Krissy Fossmeyer 
Cyndi Bundy 
Jennifer Ingle 
Georgia Sommers
Melinda Gleissner
Kristi Van Doren 
Stephanie Lee 
Wendy Jordan
Suzanne Czosek 
Lee Kellogg 
Janelle Stollfus  -- you are here!
Louise Healy 
Jennifer Dove

and we also have some of our Stampendous DT hopping with our Saturday Challenge to repurpose or recycle something at home into a stamping project! 

Lea Kimmel
Tenia Nelson


Details: Cottage Rose Thank You Card
Stamps: Jumbo Cottage Rose Cling Stamp
Stencils and Supplies: Thanks Stencil (Dreamweaver), Black Embossing Paste and Pearlescent Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver)
Paper: Chocolate (Wausau), kraft (Wausau), Perfect Plum (SU), Black (SU)
Ink:  Versamark Watermark (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  Vintage Lilac Tinsel EP (Stampendous), DIY dot stencil, black multiliner pen (Copic)


Details: Textile Dogwood Thank You Card
Stamps: Jumbo Dogwood Cling Stamp (both Stampendous)
Stencils and Supplies: Thanks Stencil (Dreamweaver), Black Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver), Purely Poppy Metallix FX mica powder (Dreamweaver)
Paper: Cream (Wausau), Terrestrial Teal (Wausau)
Ink: Versamark Watermark, 
Accessories: Crushed Black Glass Glitter (Stampendous), black rhinestones (Kaisercraft), Maya Road ribbon, tan craft felt

Verve April Release Hop ~ A Mod Combo

It's Verve release day! Woo-hoo! It's officially time to shop! But WAIT! The Divas would love to tickle your creativity some more before that wishlist becomes your shopping cart {tee-hee}. There's nothing wrong with having two browser's side by side getting a bit of inspiration and skipping the wishlist

You all have come from the Verve Stamp blog, right? Then your in the right spot.on the hop otherwise jump back to here to get some details and the master hop list and come right back. K?

I've got a little mod combo to share. It's using the Small Celebrations stamp set and A Cut Above Ribbon Banner Die. Take a look...

I'm in love with this sentiment set! With fabulous fonts and much needed sayings to add in my stamp collection, the smaller sized circle frame is what stole my heart. Love it.

Can you see the Ribbon Banner Die in action? {smile} Here's a sweet little favor cup using 8 of them. There's more to inspire you so I'll keep you no longer. Have fun shopping at the end!

Release Day Hop One lucky commenter today will win the whole release!
1. Janelle Stollfus   2. Charmaine Ikach   3. Laurie Schmidlin   4. Andrea Ewen   5. Maureen Plut	6. Sankari Wegman   7. Amy Sheffer   8. Tosh Leyendekker   9. Amber Hight 10. Teresa Kline
The deadline to comment  is Monday, April 16 at 6 PM Mountain Time. The winners will be announced on the Verve Blog, Tuesday April 17.

Here's one more card using the Purely Sentimental set. More of Julee's magic with fonts!

Pssst... I'm hosting the Viva La Verve sketch challenge this week. Come play along in the VLV forum!


Details: Mod Baby Shower and Favor Cup
Stamps: Small Celebrations (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Faded China AB Lotus (K and Company), Cream (Wausau), Grey (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Black Soot (Ranger)
Accessories: Ribbon Banner Die (A Cut Above Die, Verve Stamps), Scallop Trim edge punch (Stampin' Up), paper crimper (Fiskars), Lime Peel Adhesive pearls (Queen and Co.), Silver cord (Stampin' Up), corner rounder (WRM), circle die

Details: Overjoyed Card
Stamps: Purely Sentimental (Verve Stamps)
Paper: This and That (Echo Park), Kraft (Wausau)
Ink: Chocolate (CTMH)
Accessories: Osnaburg fabric, pinking shears, vintage lace, hemp twine, button, sewing machine and white thread

Viva La Verve Sketch Day

Hey folks!

With all the fun Verve spotlights and today's release hop, I needed to drop in a post for the new Viva La Verve sketch! I'm so excited to host this week's sketch for all of you. Just like fellow Diva Betty, it's my first time hosting. So excited...

And my take on the sketch...

The quick breakdown on this card is using my new Verve Release stamps and dies. The flowers are from Verve's Joyful Bloom set and are cut our with it's coordinating Joyful Blooms Die. These are resting on possibly my first posted rosette. I think. Both the rosette and die cut flowers received a healthy misting of coffee spray, a new favorite distressing option of mine. (I can still smell the coffee while I'm writing this post). I dropped the rosette onto an eyelet circle die from Spellbinder's that I sponge distressed with Brushed Corduroy. All this is flanked by two swatches of burlap and one white cloth coffee sprayed and stamped with the Small Celebrations sentiment.

I actually had everything positioned and removed the rosette and flowers to sew it down onto the rounded-edge mat that was sponge distressed with Brown Bag ink.

Head on over to the VLV forum to get all the details.


Details:
Stamps: Joyful Blooms and Small Celebrations (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Life's Journey (K and Company), Soft Suede and Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up), Ginko (Wausau)
Ink: Brown Bag (CTMH), Brushed Corduroy (Ranger)
Accessories:  Joyful Blooms Die (A Cut Above Die, Verve Stamps), Eyelet Circle die (Spellbinders), Edge Scraper (MM), Burlap, broadcloth, sewing machine and thread, pinking shears rotary blade, Score Board (Martha Stewart)