Oh what a blessing

Good morning! It's already Saturday isn't it. I'm amazed at how my week zoomed past me. It's a blur, really. We had both children wrapping up school with awards nights, picnics, field day and a program. Whoa, am I glad it's Saturday and the weekend is underway. So I have a little ol' card to show today. It's a verte Verve card! LOL

I used this weeks Mojo Monday sketch to get me started and a lot of little scraps of paper to pull it together. It's one that goes quick, unless you have no matching green paper! I had to dig a little deep to find some that were close. LOL

My card is pretty simple and I'm just tickled I used my cream ink pad for the sentiment. It's fun and easy change to the blacks and browns I normally use. The sentiment come from the Verve set, Words Cannot Express. I did a bit of embossing and sponging, but it really is a simple card.


This was also for a SCS challenge that was a green challenge. If you happen to know do you mind sending me an email? : )

That's it from me, be safe this weekend!

Details:
Stamps: Words Cannot Express (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Pattern paper (Picadilly, Basic Grey), Cream (Wausau), scraps of green
Ink: Garden Green (SU), Colonial Cream (CTMH)
Accessories: Mellow Moss ribbon (SU), lace edge ribbon, handmade crochet flower, flowers embossing folder (Sissix)

Birthday Card

Good morning and it is Saturday inspiration again! The month of May is completely going too fast and so is the Stampendous challenge this month! We're creating gifts, gift card holders, gift sets and anything gifty itself. Even though the possibilities are endless, I'm sharing a tried and true gift. A birthday card! LOL This card is one I made for the April catalog and haven't shown it to you all.

This adorable Party Hat Kiddo is quite the entertainer. I love how she seems to be falling out of balance and decided to incorporate that into the card with some layers of paper underneath. I used my copic markers and some Crystal Embossing Enamel on the fur edge of her hat and the bodice part of her outfit.

Now it's time to hop on around to the design team and find out what other gifts inspirations are out there. Have fun!

Stampendous Impressions

Janelle Stollfus
Lea Kimmel

Melinda Gleissner
Pam Hornschu

Taylor Usry

Tenia Nelson

Wendy Price

And we want YOU to play along with us!  Simply make a gift, gift set (could be cards, could be an altered item), or a gift card holder of some sort and add the direct link for your project to our collection at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than Thursday, May 31 at 11:59 PM EST .  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 new Cling Jumbo Tropical Garden stamp set:

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




Details:
Stamps: Party Hat Kiddo (Stampendous)
Paper: Kraft, pattern paper (Elizabeth Park, Little Yellow Bicycle), Pink Embossed Dots Pirouette (Bazzill), White (Mohawk)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Copic Markers
Accessories: Crystal Embossing Enamel (Stampendous), Sewing pin, ribbon (May Arts), Labels die (Spellbinders), corner rounder (WRMM), Dots and Flowers Set embossing folders (Sissix), white opaque marker

Midweek Viva La Verve

It's been so busy lately, that I made myself have some fun yesterday with the latest Viva La Verve sketch from Amy Sheffer. It's a beaut!


There are 5 sketches for the month of May, and three of them have already been posted. If you fancy a chance to win some new Verve you can jump on the sketch challenge forum and start creating! We'd love to see what you create!


So here's my take on Amy's sketch.

I know it's hard to get masculine cards created, it's extremely hard for me, but this sketch really worked well for the style. I used the Purely Sentimental stamp set from Verve on this card. It's a great little set of sentiments. I combined it with pattern paper from Simple Stories Generations line and some embossing enamels to add all the texture. I was able to get this card done quickly because I'm reusing some scraps. The sentiment is stamped on some white paper that was coffee sprayed for another project. The embellishment is my first experience into bottle cap smashing in my Cuttlebug. All the shimmers on paper come from some embossing enamel powder that I sprinkled over the paper and heat embossed from the back side of the paper. The same powder was used in the recessed cavity of the bottle cap and then clear embossing powder was heat over the top.

Extra embellishments added on the corners of the polka dot paper with my mini stapler and again on the sentiment panel where I used the round hole notebook edge punch.

I hope your week is going well and that your crazy schedule gives you a chance to stop and breath soon. I'm hoping mine does.



Details:
Stamps: Purely Sentimental (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up), Generations Pattern Paper (simple stories), distressed white paper (stash)
Ink: Walnut Stain Ink Pad (Ranger)
Accessories: Aged Silver Embossing Enamel (Stampendous), bottle cap, mini stapler (Ranger), Round notebook edge punch (EK Success), Corner Chomper (WRMM), circle hole punch (Stampin' Up)

Stampendous Monthly Challenge

Welcome to another Saturday of Stampendous inspiration. We are challenging ourselves to create with gift giving in mind. You'll be able to read the details a bit later in this post.

My take this week was in the form of greeting card gift set. My mind is a bit foggy these days but I think there is such a thing as a museum collage set. It will come to mind some day as to the name, but for now we'll just say they are a collage set.

All of these cards are made with an aged cream cardstock on top of a kraft cardstock. The images are stamped with Versafine Onyx Black . The Stampendous Essentails are Vintage Mahogany Embossing Tinsel, Chunky White embossing enamel, and Pirate Gold embossing enamel. Two stamp sets were used to give this set a theme and those were Dream Text and Altered Type Alphabet.

(All of my photos were taken at night so they aren't showing all the wonderful detail in the stamped images and the colors in the embossing that look amazing in real life. I'll see if I can take some morning photos, but it's another soccer day for our family.)

Country Manor Cling Set and  Jumbo Tulip Set

Shade Tree Cling Stamp and Jumbo Peony Set,

Bird Manor Stamp and Jumbo Cottage Rose Set

Conservatory Stamp and Jumbo Hydrangea Set (check your local store)

Vintage Birdcage Full Stamp and Jumbo Zinnia Set

Be sure to check out what my teammates have created for the challenge today!

Janelle Stollfus

Jennifer Ingle

Pam Hornschu

Taylor Usry
Tenia Nelson

Wendy Price

And we want YOU to play along with us!  Simply make a gift, gift set (could be cards, could be an altered item), or a gift card holder of some sort and add the direct link for your project to our collection at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than Thursday, May 31 at 11:59 PM EST .  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 new Cling Jumbo Tropical Garden stamp set:

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

Details:
Stamps: Country Manor Cling Set, Jumbo Tulip Set, Shade Tree Cling Stamp, Jumbo Peony Set, Bird Manor Stamp, Jumbo Cottage Rose Set, Conservatory Stamp, Vintage Birdcage Full Stamp, Jumbo Zinnia Set, Dream Text and Altered Type Alphabet

Paper:  cream cardstock (unknown), Kraft cardstock (Wausau)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko), Versamark Watermark Pad (Tsukineko), red ink, pale pink 
Accessories: Vintage Mahogany Embossing Tinsel, Chunky White embossing enamel, and Pirate Gold embossing enamel, Edge Scraper, 

Happy Mother's Day ~ Weekend

It's a great Friday today, everyone. I've been in a very long wait to get my kitchen back in order. The microwave and wall oven haven't worked since Easter, but today the new appliances are going to be delivered. The not so good news? They won't be installed until Monday... Happy Mother's Day to me anyway!!!!!

I've got a really quick post today. I've been playing along with the Viva La Verve sketches this month in the midst of the most busiest month for this time of year. Schools are having lots of fun activities and programs for soccer, preschool graduation and Caravan's are all in the same week!

It's week three for the challenge, but today I've got this little Mother's Day card to show using the second week Viva La Verve sketch by Charmaine. Come join us with this fun sketch and get inspiration over at the forum!

To give you a head start on your summer stamping and man holiday, check out Verve's Stamp sale this month.

Have a wonderful weekend to all my wonderful mom friends both online and offline. : )


Details:
Stamps: Love Deepens (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Basic Black (SU!), Madeline Paper Pad (Prima Marketing), kraft (Wausau), Rose Red (SU!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento, Tsukineko)
Accessories: circle and scallop circle dies (Spellbinders), adhesive back grass green pearl (Queen, CO.), Daisey Chain punch (EK Success), Dots and Flowers Set embossing folder (Sissix), ribbon (SU), Embroidery Thread, Sew Easy zig zag tool (WRMM), YG097 (Copic Marker)

Vintage Mother's Day

Mother's Day is getting closer and I just wanted to share a card I made with the new Stampendous Mother's Love Set. It features some extra texture with Stampendous Essentials and I was delighted how it turned out. The Chiffon Color Fragments framing the top half of the image looked so nice I kept going with the Frantage technique and gave the card some shimmer with the Aged Rose Embossing Enamel.

I stamped the ribbon tied baby rattle first and carefully trimmed a mask for it from a sticky note paper then stamped the mom and child image over it. The image was die cut with the technique I learned from Sharon Harnist a few years ago.

This adorable mom and child comes with more sentiments to make this versatile for any occasion that involves a mom and a child. You can take a look at the stamp set over at the shop here.



Details:
Stamps: Mother's Love (Stampendous)
Paper: Banana Bliss (Bazzill), light terrific teal (WorldWin Treasures),  flocked damask (Canvas Corp), Papyrus (WorldWin Treasures)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento, Tsukineko), Copic Markers
Accessories: Chiffon Color Fragments (Stampendous), Aged Rose Embossing Enamel, blue (Stampendous), lace edging ribbon (Walmart), Sewing machine and thread

New Month, new challenge for Stampendous fans!

Good morning! I hope you are having a wonderful National Scrapbooking Day today. Some of us designers want to share a layout with you all just for the occasion and you might see them as you hop through our blog list today for... a new month challenge and hop with the Stampendous Design Team. We are getting prepared for spring gift-giving this month. If you have graduates, weddings, birthdays, teachers, or all of the above let's get creative with our giving.

I've got some teacher's in mind for this idea. Mind you I'm doing them for my children's teacher's and not for the mass PTO Teacher Appreciation gifts. Although, it might be possible given enough time.

I bought five fancy bars of fragrant soaps and sliced them into guest size bars for a sample package. I found these soaps at a new store in the area which I think are the best smelling cleansers, whoa! I have my favorites, but I'm not going to say what they are.

A lady for the Corset Ladies set is framed from a Vintage Frame stamp and fussy cut out. It has been popped up on top of an oval circle cut from an adorable paper from Echo Park's This and That paper pad. While the die cut was still hugging the diecut I used the inside rim as a ruler and added VersaMark so I could emboss a border with Aged Gold Embossing Enamel. The sentiment is from Friendship Assortment and stamped and embossed to match the Corset Lady. I wrapped and wrapped the slices of soap then wrapped some more with a strip of Chocolate cardstock and trimmed with some vintage ribbon (thanks Lori). Some more wrapping with vintage seam binding (thanks Lori) that I colored the edges with RV10. I tucked my oval piece under the seam binding and popped up the image and sentiment.

Now there is more to inspire you today. Jump on over to Melinda's blog and check out how she took the challenge. Here is the master list

Janelle Stollfus

Melinda Gleissner

Stephanie Lee

Susie Moore

Taylor Usry

Tenia Nelson

Wendy Price
Wendy Jordan
Lea Kimmel

And we want YOU to play along with us!  Simply make a gift, gift set (could be cards, could be an altered item), or a gift card holder of some sort and add the direct link for your project to our collection at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than Thursday, May 31 at 11:59 PM EST .  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 new Cling Jumbo Tropical Garden stamp set:

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!

Details:
Stamps: Vintage Frames (Stampendous), Corset Ladies (Stampendous), Friendship Assortment (Stampendous)
Paper: Chocoalte (Wausau), pattern paper (This and That, Echo Park)
Ink: Onyx Black (Tsukineko), Versamark Marker (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Aged Gold Embossing Enamel (Stampendous), lace edging, Zip Dry (Beacon's), oval die (Spellbinders)

~Enjoy~ The Weekend!

Enjoy your weekend!

I've got a quick little card that's been waiting to show up on my blog today. I'd like to say that something else like technology stopped be from posting it, but actually I've been very lethargic lately. I'm hoping for some extra sleep this weekend and sunshine on my face to remedy that. My card is using the sketch from Viva La Verve. Last Friday kicked off a new month of sketches and this one is loosely based off of the first week sketch by Diva Amber Hight.

I've got some painted panels today that weren't even in the picture when I envisioned my card. For some reason my browns weren't playing nice together so I created some brush strokes here and there with some umber and white acrylic paint. I used Verve's Small Celebrations with my favorite scroll work circle frame and the simple "Enjoy" sentiment. I added that to the sketch because the pink hue wasn't representing well. The rest of the sketch is using some vintage graph paper handstitched and pattern paper from MME Hazel Paper pad that I stamped a leaf sprig from Verve's Autumn Splendor set. I embellished with a vintage button and something called a headpin with three glass beads on it.

It's a new month and new selection in the Verve Sale bin! Check it out: Thankful Accents is on sale which has the larger version of the Small Celebrations circle frame I used on my card today.

Details:
Stamps: Small Celebrations (Verve Stamps), Autumn Splendor (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Hazel Papers (Stella Rose, MME), chocolate (Wausau), pink, vintage graph paper
Ink: Chocolate (CTMH), Creamy Caramel (SU!)
Accessories: Acrylic Paint, circle die (Spellbinders), twine (MS), button, glass beads, thin headpin, corner chomper, crushed velvet ribbon, brown thread, Sew Easy Tool

Happy May Day!

This is the last month of the school year and it's going to be a busy one for us. How about you? There's no stopping us now, it's the home stretch, right? We have our little ones in soccer this spring and it brings back so many memories about the all day outings when my hubby and I played on leagues. It's fun and exhausting. So our week has sprouted three extra outings on top of all the field trips and regular activities which makes for a busy month ahead.

I'm a bit chatty today, but speaking of field trips, I volunteered to chaperon first grader's on a field trip last Friday. They were able to go to the Idaho Botanical Gardens because of a special donation specifically to pay for the buses. What a wonderful opportunity. It turned out to be pretty cold and raining though. The sun would peek out ever so often and then it would get windy or a couple of times it hailed on us. Spring weather is always a treat!

Okay onto my card for today. I wanted to post this last week, but my time got away from me. It's using the April Sketch For You to Try from Jen del Muro. I had started some flowers for another project, but they weren't working out as I thought, so I gave them a bit of a color twist with the blue center's and that made all the difference. These flowers are from Verve's April release Joyful Blooms Set and they started out on cream paper die cut with the coordinating Joyful Blooms Die Set. When I finished coloring them the nice edge that the die created didn't fit in with my new color scheme, so I fussy cut them away. Creative process is funny sometimes, isn't it.

My card base is pumpkin pie that I couldn't believe I scored off center, but a Martha Stewart edge fixed that snafu. I ran that through my Cuttlebug with a Sissix embossing folder and direct to stamp distressed the raised dots with Really Rust and sponged a little around the edges of the card to soften it up.

I scored some blue scrap paper and was tempted to add pearls to the intersection of lines, but I decided to leave it simple so the flowers could steal the show. My sentiment is from the same Joyful Blooms set that I cut out with Verve's Charming Ovals Die Set. The flowers and sentiment are resting over a cajun craze circle die from Spellbinders that goes nicely with the edge punch, at least I was impressed. I dotted around the flower centers and across the bottom edge with black liquid pearl by Viva Decor and then added some Orange Peel Glitter Glue to the spellbinders circle.




Details:
Stamps: Joyful Blooms (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up), blue scrap
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Really Rust (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Charming Oval Die Set (A Cut Above Die, Verve Stamps), Edge punch (Martha Stewart), circle die (Spellbinders), score board (Martha Stewart), Dots embossing folder (Sissix)