Paper Bow Survivor Mode

 I'm hosting the Monday Tutorial on the Paper Craft Planet Blog and would love for you to come on over and give it a try!

The finished project is a gift bag I've decorated with the Holiday Greetings stamp set and Flourished Trim die from Verve. Here are the details for my supplies.

Details:
Stamps: Holiday Greetings (Verve)
Paper: Old Olive (Stampin' Up), Lucky Me ( Yellow Bicycle), Graph Refill Paper
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento, Tsukineko), Copic Markers
Accessories: Flourished Trim Die (A Cut Above Die, Verve), Bag die (Lifestyle Crafts), scissors, glue dots, adhesive runner

Viva La City Merry Christmas

I'm hosting the Viva La Verve sketch this next week on Splitcoast Stampers. I'd love it if you came and joined along.

My card, (is it wrong to rotate your own sketch, lol) is using some paper that I absolutely love and puts me right in the mood for Christmas presents under the tree the old fashion way. I've combined the new release set, Holiday Greetings, with Borderline's presents in a row today. I created my own washi ($1 store medical) tape using acrylic paint (Old Fashion Linen, and Tree Moss Green) and the star stamps from the Holiday Greetings set. I added some layered texture under the sentiment banner with a border emboss with a honeycomb folder from Cuttlebug/Cricut and stitching. Some fiber wrapped and tied in a bow and then one of the sweet paper pieced trees with a present from Holiday Greetings popped up on the Ribbon Banner die. Lots of goodies on this card and I love every little piece. It's a warm fuzzy card for sure. :)

Stop over on Splitcoast Stampers with a project inspired my this weeks sketch! See ya soon!

Details:
Stamps:  Holiday Greetings (Verve Stamps), Borderline (Verve Stamps)
Paper: City Sidewalk (Pink Paislee), Kraft (Hobby Lobby)
Ink: Chocolate (CTMH), Pumice Stone (Ranger), Prismacolor Pencils)
Accessories: Ribbon Banner die (A Cut Above, Verve), medical paper tape, Honeycomb embossing folder (Cuttlebug/Cricut), fiber, sewing machine and hand stitching with embroidery thread

Wishing you... Many Days

My how the weeks fly by between Halloween and Thanksgiving. I'm not even sure I want to know how many days it is until Christmas, do you? LOL

Last night was the first time teaching at Inspiration Boutique. I had so much fun with the ladies that were there and I can't wait until next month when I get to go back and teach again. A new card today for the blog using Verve's latest released set Joyous Noel. I love the poinsettia's in this set. They are perfect for paper piecing. To give my card some sweetness, of course I went with sweet Diva Maureen's sketch over on the Viva La Verve forum. If you have some time to go and try it out, I think you'll love the style. I hesitated when creating the angled panel, but then realized all I needed to do was use the piece I cut away from the end as my guide to line up the cut on the other end.

I'm using an older color challenge from Splitcoast Stampers and added the neutral color gray to it. :) Here's the link to that challenge. CC399 Splitcoast Stampers Color Challenge

Details:
Stamps: Joyoux Noel (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Wonder (Authentique), Old Olive (Stampin' Up), Pewter (Wausau), Cream (Wausau)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento, Tsukineko)
Accessories: Copic marker N6 to dye the white seam binding, embroidery floss and SU! mat stack

It's Stampendous Saturday Hop with a Fast Finish

It's our finishing hop on the Fast Finish Fall Hop today and I've got a bookmark that I've distressed and aged. With all that goodness it must be protected so it's a perfect fit for Beacon Adhesives. I started with that sweet little tricycle girl from the Children Play Perfectly Clear set.

The image was colored with Copic markers and acrylic paint before I painted a quick one-pass layer of Fast Finish to the surface to seal it. After drawing some leaves in the tree, I made a puddle of more Fast Finish so I could sprinkle Fresh Green, Grass Green and Black Crushed Glass Glitter. I pushed those around until I liked where they were and while it was drying I stamped the first two words from the Life is A Circus stamp. The L was painted with some acrylic paints and then it was all coffee distressed and glued with Beacon 3-in-1 glue. My own handwriting is on this piece since I didn't have any easy way to add part of the sentiment (don't ask how many times I wrote that before getting it just the way I wanted). Some buttons to the front were added for a place to nestle one of my words that I stamped with an older Stampendous Tiny Alpha set. Every thing was coffee distressed and sealed with Fast Finish.

I turn to the back side of the circle and scrunched and glued lace on with Beacon's Fabri-Tac glue adding just a bit to the center for the handsewn muslin tail. That was covered with a circle cut from an old book page conveniently held in place by some of the glue the seeped through the lace. It was sewn together by using a canvas circle as a piercing guide and then I hand-stitched it together. Now it just didn't look finished so I stamped the ticket from the Carousel Circus Perfectly Clear set and it got a little acrylic and coffee treatment. Sorry for the long description today, but sometimes it's just fun to call out all the details in a piece so if I want to create another one some time I can browse my own blog. LOL

The whole team is playing along today, so be sure to visit all of the blogs and leave some insightful, kind comments (the kind that let us know you looked at the project) and we'll give some great prizes, sending some of you with U.S. mailing addresses some Fast Finish Decoupage Medium and some Stampendous Stamps. Here we go...

Kristine Reynolds

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Melinda Gleissner

Stephanie Lee (Arty Carty)

Suzanne Czosek

Janelle Stollfus

Krissy Fossmeyer

April Derrick

Lea Kimmel

Wendy Price

Tenia Nelson

Details:
Stamps: Children Play, Carousel Circus Perfectly,  Life is A Circus (Stampendous)
Paper: White (Neenah), book page
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Copic Markers, Acrylic Paints
Accessories: Fresh Green, Green Grass and Black Crushed Glass Glitter (Stampendous), Purple glitter (Over the Rainbow Flock and Glitter Kit, Stampendous), 3-in-1, Fabri-Tac, Fast Finish Decoupage glues (Beacon Adhesives), circle die cut (Lifestyle Crafts), lace, sewing machine, muslin, vintage buttons, Hole Punch (We R Memory Keepers)

It's Fast Ornamental Decoupage with Beacon Adhesives

This week the Stampendous Impression Design Team is gearing up for some fast finishing on projects. Well wouldn't you know that our Hop is using the Official glue of TLC's Craft Wars and the glue I used on my project is called Fast Finish? It is and let's take a look!

Back in the summer I decided to try my hand at altering an old book. It had missing pages and a small amount of water damage so it wasn't in a readable state. So there was my chance to alter this book, but I immediately started to see a HUGE amount of warping on the book cover. I thought I was shrinking the cover with the liquid glue I was using. I put wax paper around it and sat it under a few heavy books and forgot about it.

Guess what? I found it and decided to see if Beacon's Fast Finish would dry quickly enough to seal the cover and also keep it from warping. Hooray! It had minimal warping. So I began with some white gesso. If you work quickly the gesso won't stick to the Fast Finish coat and well if your brush gets dry it will pull off the gesso. I neat effect, but not one that I was trying to attain.  It dried and I layered with some acrylic paint. Blue Mist. Then I opened up my Stampendous treasure chest of Fran•táge Essentials and started embossing on tissue paper. All the stamps are listed at the bottom of my post as well as all the Essentials I used. It's definitely a fast ornamental decoupage with Fast Finish. It's fast and it's not sticky after it dries!

Just a couple parting shots of my book. I'm hoping to actually continue the inside of this book with the same style and stamps.

The large glittery dots are made by using the precision tip of the Fast Finish bottle directly onto the book cover and waiting for it to momentarily dry than sprinkling my glitters over them. I let that set while I worked on the lace and thread against the spine of the book. It really didn't take long at all to dry and then I added a finishing coat all over to seal it all in!

Now there are more fabulous projects to view from the Design Team

Stampendous Impressions

Rhea Weigand

Wendy Price

Details:
Stamps: Jumbo Cling Thinking of You (Stampendous), Jumbo Cling Butterfly Trio Set (Stampendous), Bicycle Background (Stampendous), Royal Butterfly (Stampendous), May Sun Shine (Stampendous)
Paper: White tissue paper
Ink: White Gesso, Acrylic paints, Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad (Tsukineko), Saddle Brown (StazOn, Tsukineko)
Accessories: Aged Teal Embossing Enamel (Stampendous), Aged Scarlet Embossing Enamel (Stampendous), Detail Gold Embossing Powder (Stampendous), Crushed Champagne Glass Glitter (Stampendous), Halo Glitter Mix (Stampendous), Fast Finish Decoupage glue and FabricTac (Beacon Adhesives), vintage lace and thread

November Diva Inspiration Hop is Today

 

Welcome to our November Diva Inspirations Hop!  On Friday night, Verve released their holiday collection of stamps and today we're putting on our monthly hop to inspire you with a fresh mix of old and new! So grab a drink and hop along as we share a little Verve with you! There's a great little prize involved, too! A random commenter on one of the hops will win our entire new release, so be sure to leave a little love in the comment section as you hop about! You can find out all the prize details over on the Verve Blog today.

I picked up the Bloom and Grow set with the lovely solid flower shapes and some of my favorite leaf sprigs too. Before putting the card together I played with my acrylic paints and created my own pattern paper that have the same flower and leaf shapes used on the sentiment panel.

I've used today's Mojo Monday Sketch #266 and since it's the first Monday of the month it's contest week!  You can head on over to see what the Mojo Makers have created and find out the details for the contest.

Have a great time with the rest of the hop!  Maureen is your next Diva hop today, and if you need the whole list I've got right here for you.

	1. Betty	7. Susan
	2. Jen d.	8. Andrea
	3. Jen T.	9. Charmaine
	4. Julee	10. Janelle
	5. Sankari	11. Maureen
	6. Sony	12. Teresa

---

Details:

Stamps: Bloom and Grow (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Kraft (Wausau), Olive (Wausau), handmade pattern paper with stamp set, corrugate board frame, cream
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento, Tsukineko), Cameo Coral, Lavender Lace, Green Galore (Stampin' Up!),
Accessories: Acrylic paint, corrugated flower frame (Jillibean Soup), rhinestones, Sew Easy Tool and embroidery floss

Essential Sensation Challenge Month

 

New month and new challenge! We would love for you to join us this month as we pull out our Stampendous Essentials to bling, glitz and add dimension to our projects. 

I've created this card with a few layers of Essentials to frame the Jumbo Butterfly Trio set that just released from Stampendous. You'll be tickled to know that one way I used the Essentials is a mask. Aged Ivory Embossing Enamel over a portion of the stamped Decorative Grate image on the Ivory cardstock gives the look of a partial stamped image. I love that I was able create a subtractive look by the addition of same color Essentials.

A combination of Jade PEARLustre, Hematite PEARLustre, Chunky White, Tarnished Mica Fragments and Royal Purple Glass Glitter are framing the butterfly. The key is lightly sprinkling the powder, not to close to the paper, and only just a smidgen at a time, then heating from the back side of the paper. You'll end up with some papers warping, but there's nothing like a strong adhesive to do the trick in keeping it where you want it on your project. You can't see very much of it from the picture because in real life you are compelled to turn the card from side to side to see where and why it glimmers and sparkles.

Tip: I used Beacon's Fast Finish on the butterfly and it did two things. It made the coloring vibrant and the paper more pliable. If you bend paper on the grain you can quickly get a crease so using this Fast Finish helps the paper keep it's shape and is very smooth.

I've given you an idea to try out layering your Stampendous Essentials. Give it a go and I think you'll like adding it on more of your projects! If you decide to play along in the challenge, be sure to link up with everyone else on the inLinkz tool below. There will be a winner drawn at the end of the month. Use Stampendous products and it counts double in the drawing! Have fun and keep creating!





Details:
Stamps: Jumbo Butterfly Trio, Decorative Grate, Charm Collection, Carousel Circus, and Birthday Assortment (Stampendous Impressions)
Paper: Cream (Wausau), Saltillo (Bazzill Basics)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento, Tsukineko), Jet Black (StazOn, Tsukineko), Tea Stain (Ranger), Copic Markers
Accessories: Aged Ivory, Jade PEARLustre, Hematite PEARLustre, and Chunky White Powders (Stampendous Impressions), Tarnished Mica Fragments and Royal Purple Glass Glitter (Stampendous Impressions), Office Date Stamp, Round Spiral edge punch (EK Success), 1/4" masking tape, metallic gold and slate blue craft paint, cardboard corrugate scrap, Fast Finish (Beacon Adhesives)

Holiday Cheers for Verve Stamps Release Day

 

It's release day my friends, and we are on our last Holiday Hop! You'll be able to see all of the stamps revealed tonight AND find out who all the lucky winners of each days hidden prize. I love Friday's for many reasons, but when it's is a Verve Release Party night I am just about beside myself. I love showing up to catch up on everyone, chat and laugh it up. Oh I hope Marisa is going to be there to give us updates!

Here are the details you need to come join us tonight!

Splitcoast Stampers Forum: Verve Stamps ~ Release Parties

Catching up and getting use to refreshing the conversation is before 9 p.m. ET (5 p.m. MT), but then Julee starts revealing the sets and announcing winners until the shop opens up with new Verve at 11 p.m. ET (9 p.m. MT).

To have a chance at the hidden prizes this week, you can hop through all the days (if you are just getting in on our Holiday Spotlight Hops) and comment on all the blogs. Commenting on each blog gives you more chances each day to be a winner of the hidden prize. 

Alrighty, now let's get to my card sneak peeking Holiday Greetings. I LOVE the fonts Julee used in this set, but I am smitten with the tree(s). They are SO much fun. I can't imagine how we've been without these sweet little images before now. 

Thanks so much for hopping through all the days and being so generous and kind with your comments. It really makes my day to hear from you all and even more when I know you'll all be coming to the party, right!?!?!?!?! See you tonight!

1. Julee 6. Amber 2. Laurie 7. Amy 3. Maureen 8. Andrea 4. Teresa 9. Charmaine 5. Tosh 10. Janelle

Details:
Stamps: Holiday Greetings (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Tinsel (Making Memories), Haute Red (Wausau), White (Neenah), line-printed index card
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento, Tsukineko), Old Paper, Green Shutters (Ranger Distress Inks), Copic Markers
Accessories: Ribbon Banner die  (A Cut Above, Verve), Rounded Scallop Frame die  (A Cut Above, Verve), Round Spiral edge punch (EK Success), torn scraps, vintage thread.

Verve Holiday Hop Sneak Peek Day 3

It's another day for sneak peeks and only one more tomorrow before we meet up at the Release Party.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you've just dropped into the middle of a week long showcase sneak peeking new stamps about to release from Verve Stamps. We are having some fun before the release party with a secret blog post that has a hidden prize every day. To have a chance at the prize just comment along the hop and then the winner's will be revealed at a Release Party! The prize is the featured stamp set of the day!

So, I'm closing up the hop today with a simple little card using a sentiment from the Joyous Noel set. This card was the first I created when the release sets came in the mail. This set was an eye-popper out of the stack because it has some amazing images to pair up with fabulous sentiments. So many possibilities!

Yep this is the end of the hop list, but if you missed getting around to the other Divas sneak peeks here's the whole list for you!

1. Julee 6. Amber 2. Laurie. 7. Amy 3. Maureen 8. Andrea 4. Teresa 9. Charmaine 5. Tosh 10. Janelle

Details:
Stamps:  Joyous Noel (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Handmade Holiday (Simple Stories), Kraft (Wausau), Cream (Wausau)
Ink: Crushed Corduroy, Walnut Stain (Ranger), Distress Markers (Ranger)
Accessories: Lovely Marquee Die (A Cut Above, Verve), vintage lace, acrylic paint, scallop die (SU!), Grass Green pearls (Queen and Co.), sewing machine