July is over with already?

I've got a quick post for the last card to Amber's Viva La Verve Challenge Week 5 with a {twist} of texture.

My card is suppose to be an anniversary card to be given to my hubby when he wakes up and that time is fast approaching. I struggled with the blank space on the circle and finally just stuffed the ribbon in there to fill it up. It has made it a bit too feminine, but I think he will enjoy it for the Verve sentiment "Thank you...for the difference you've made in my life".

Ingredients:
Stamps: All Verve - Just for You, Kindred Spirits, Because of You
Ink: Night of Navy and Craft Creamy Caramel, Brilliance Tuxedo Black, VersaMark
Paper: Basic Black, Kraft, LSS light and dark blue
Accessories: EK Success Fleur de Lis edger and medium punch, Nestabilities Classic Large Circle, SU! Shelli Plate 2 Lattice Texturz Plate, Dark blue Organdy Ribbon, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF, KaiserCraft Black Rhinestones

I'll be back on August 1st for the Anni-Verve-Sary blog hop. Go to Verve's blog for details.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blossom and Butterflies Viva La Verve

The month of July seemed so long with 5 weeks, yet it went by so fast. Now I'm catching up on my favorite sketch challenge (Viva La Verve with a {twist} before this months deadline for the Champions thread. I think I better get the last one done tonight!




My Viva La Verve card for week 4 was a fun card. I played with the "smoosh" technique. I've done it before on my July MojoMonday Contest week Challenge, but I didn't know it had an official name. It's simply brayering ink down on an embossing folder before using it. This is the video that.






I think my top B plate is warped a bit too much and the ink didn't transfer to the paper, so I tried misting the paper with water and it worked a little bit better. I could hide the parts that didn't transfer with the rest of the challenge sketch. Old pink cardstock stash and Pink Passion ink for the embossed paper. I actually used the first try paper as the horizontal element as it was lighter on one end than the other. I like that mistake. I used the Stampin' Up scallop edge punch on both sides of a strip of paper and then cut it to the length needed.



I felt it was time to go bright and cheery with a card. The Blossoms and Butterflies paper pak from Die Cut with a View is so cute and bright. Some of the paper had blinged with foil embossing so that was the inspiration for the stitching and glitter on this card. What worked? Paper piercing and hand stitching. What didn't work? filling in the stitches as I went along made the back cording too thick so I pulled that all out and did a straight stitch around twice by hand. Did that make sense? What worked? Glitter on a stamped flower from Verve's Petals and Stems. What didn't work? Glitter on the brown patterned paper. It just doesn't show up that well.


The flower bling is a stamped flower from Verve's Petals and Stems set. I fussed with where to put it and what marker colors to use. I decided to just put some matching glitter on it. What worked? The colors and glittery focal point to the card. What didn't work? I put down glue first, all over the flower, then sprinkled the pink glitter through a circle punched paper that hovered over the flower. This method didn't make for a precise circle in the center. Next time I'll do the center glue first and glitter then dry before adding the glue and glitter for the petals.

UPDATE: I forgot to chat about the butterfly and library pocket. I wanted to make a pocket to put a card on it. I already knew the card would have a butterfly on it when I chose the pattern paper. To make the butterfly match I used Prismacolor markers Light Cerulean Blue (PM 48) and True Blue (PM 39). The pocket was going to use a couple of new techiques I came across on Youtube, but in the practice of them I didn't like the rough look I ended up with so I just left it blank. I used the Library pocket template from Mirkwood Designs and resized it in Microsoft Powerpoint three different sized to get the right one on the first print. What worked? The transparent pocket allowed me to stamp a sentiment on the card. What didn't work? Not sure? I like how this portion of the card went together. I might have wanted to try and emboss the vellum just for more texture, but that's for the next Viva La Verve sketch for a {twist}. ;)

A Great Day Out

This morning I scurried my two children downstairs, out of pajamas and in "play" clothes, and set them at the table with cereal and milk. I ran back upstairs and quickly got ready. Today we went out to the Idaho Botanical Garden and met Grammy there.

The Garden is a memorable place this time each year. My husband and I had our wedding reception there and I think I've only been back to it twice since we've been married. At the end of July in southwest Idaho it is mostly 100 degree Fahrenheit weather and the day we were married was not an exception. As the day moved on and we arrived at the garden my husband had all intentions to change out of his tuxedo into shorts and t-shirt. I prayed he wouldn't and it was answered. The clouds came over the garden and sprinkled rain ever so lightly and cooled down the air just enough that he stayed in the whole garb the entire night.

So as I'm walking around the English garden thinking these thoughts and hearing my son bellow a cry of detest at his sister over the umbrella stroller, I started taking shots of the garden. Here are a few photos of an absolutely beautiful moment.




It was a great day at the garden.

We drove home after having lunch with Grammy at the Trolley House. Sibling life is hard for a 4 and 2 year old sometimes and needless to say my cars still opened hatch door got jammed INTO the garage door while trying to diffuse a bickering session.

That was not a great day at home.

My mother-in-law said to me at the garden, "Enjoy them while you can." I bet she didn't know she was talking about the beautiful garden against the scratched up hatch door in the garage.

What's the damage on the door? I don't know. I called my husband and asked him to look at it when he got home from work. He hasn't said anything about it yet.

My Divine unDetails

The Verve Divas are putting on a Divine Details Project Parade over at the Verve blog and wow are they process and plan oriented. The are on Day 6 as of Thursday so head on over and check out their parade starting on Day 1 with Jen Del Muro.

I've been blogging my cardmaking for about seven months now and I am still without a firm process or plan. Sometimes I just want a card done to get in the mail and everything gets pasted together and then I forget the ribbon embellishment. Ugh! I'm getting better at that and I'm also finding as you will see with most of the Diva's that their process starts with a sketch or layout then their own style and comfort zones kick in.

So as the title of my blog suggests I have unDetails yet to discover. I am still a baby step designer and my style is all over the place as I experience technique's and color combinations as my gallery will testify to that, but I really do need a sketch or layout. What has even helped me more along the way are Amber's {twists} at the Viva La Verve's Challenges on SplitcoastStampers website. So my Divine unDetails to show today is a Viva La Verve July sketch for week 3.

"...when I introduce a color or element I try to repeat it somewhere else on the card at least once..."

My plan for this card was:

1. Get the sketch done with the technique of scored lines.
   
2. Who is it for? My blog hop project (female style) or a family friend (manly style)?
   
3. What colors do I have laying around? MojoMonday contest week scraps.
   
4. What other embellishment or technique do I want to incorporate? Sewing machine stitching (thanks to Amy Sheffer's project parade post ;) )
   

Step by step process: (for those with patience to read on)
The twist for this card was a very easy one and I sat around waiting for some unique way to make score lines work on a card. When it didn't happen I just went to my ruler and drew 45 degree angle lines on the back of my paper and then scored with my bone folder and the cutting indent on my Fiskars paper trimmer. My second goal was to make sure that the lines were visible IRL (in real life) and in photo, so out came ink pad and brayer. Done.

I started to make the background paper with score lines for my Verve Blog Hop, but realized that it wouldn't be a new post if I did it for the Viva La Verve sketch so I changed to a family friend who had surgery. Being a male friend I set aside all the frilly embellishments and concentrated on sleek simple lines for the card. I pulled out some Autumn Leaves stamps that I bought before finding delicious Verve stamps and my newly purchased Anniversary Birds from Verve. I stamped those images on separate paper because I've realized that I tend to redo when I stamp on the intended paper for the card. I decided to make the bird more colorful by using my Prismacolor markers. I used Light Cerulean Blue (PM 48), Blue Slate (PM 145), Light Tan (PM 95) and the Colorless Blender pen. I used three birds to layer (see Jen's Day 1 post on her layering detail).

When I stamped everything and assembled the top two layers separately, I stepped back and looked at what embellishments it needed and thought of what kinds of embellishments I haven't used in a while. One thing I've learned from looking at the Diva's work is that they are cohesive in the design. Everything has a common look or feel to it. For instance Amy Sheffer likes to use designer paper packs because they already work together. Julee Tilman starts to sponge and she uses it sparingly to abundantly beautiful on almost every accent of the card. I've started to keep that in mind and when I introduce a color or element I try to repeat it somewhere else on the card at least once. That is where I duplicated distressed edges stitching and sponging (paper and ribbon). I pushed my design instinct and distressed the button even!

Before I adhere anything (yep, I sometimes forget as forementioned.) I lay it all out just as Jackie Pedro mentions in her post, to make sure it's what I want.

So there's my Divine copy-catting! LOL Not really, I think that everyone pretty much has the same process. They begin with an idea whether its a sketch, stamp image or paper as their inspiration.

I hope you can take the time to post a project in the parade. It is so inspiring to see everyone's style and method of design. Have a great time doing it and then go visit all the Diva's Divine Details to get even more inspired.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

I've been on a tangent lately...

that started out just practicing with my new Prismacolor markers. I googled digital stamps and while not yet ready to buy them I decided to make some of my own. I mean, I used to be a technical illustrator fresh out of college. I should be able to do it again with a bit more creative license this time. Right?

Now it's a week later and I've made a few images, a lot of late nights tweeking and now I don't know what to do with them. {giggle} (See poll in sidebar)

So here's a sneak peek at one of the images I managed to color and cut out. I put it on a card, but I'm not sure I like the thick lines so I may change the image before showing the whole card.



What do you think? Too much detail? Too... Just right! Well let me know.

Inspiration Overload Completed in MojoMonday 94

Happy Saturday morning!

In case you haven't heard, one of the Verve Diva's has a new little diva and they are having a Diva hop in her honor. Start out at Julee's blog here. Julee whipped up a cute bug in honor of the celebration not to mention adorable onesies.

The card today uses the sketch from MojoMonday (Sketch 94) which is also contest week. There's some time left to submit a card!



My card has almost all of the technique's and inspiration's that I've had on my mind this last week.

In a couple of weeks it will be my 11th wedding anniversary. I remembered a little oasis I created in my backyard that my mother-in-law and best friend came to assemble during a fake excursion I took my husband on for a movie or something like that where I forgot the tickets and we had to go back home. Voila a romantic dinner just waiting for us. Here's a photo of that.


The other thought was something to send wishes to Julee over at Verve Stamps for their 2nd anniversary in business coming up, so I skimmed her SCS gallery for inspiration and found a card with some of her favorite colors. Bordering Blue and Chocolate Chip. Here's that inspiration. I didn't end up using a whole lot of Chocolate Chip color but her project was the start.

The techniques included using a brayer to lay down ink on smooth paper and on embossed paper (background paper in the card) Another technique is coloring tissue paper and crinkling it up and gluing it down on cardstock for a mulberry look (I think)

The only thing I wasn't able to accomplish was to imitate a wrought iron fence look between the background paper and the other elements. That will be for another card.

So here is the card!


Here are the details by technique or element:

Background paper: Brayered Creamy Caramel down on cream cardstock misted with water first. Ran that paper through my Cuttlebug with Textile embossing folder. Then ran the cleaned brayer over it again with Border Blue ink. I believe this technique is from Amy Sheffer at Pickled Paper Designs.

Mulberry paper : On my glass top table I ran Bordering Blue and Creamy Caramel in two straight lines. Sprayed the ink with water and put wrinkled white tissue paper down on it and patted it down. Some areas of the tissue paper were still creased and so it created some valleys with no ink. I repeated this until I used up all the ink on my table. Clean up afterwards. Let it air dry. On a piece of cardstock put down some glue. I used Yes! paste because I wanted the tissue paper to stick down real good. Crumple the tissue again and lay it on the glued surface of cardstock. Press it or brayer it down flat. I went over the creases with Chocolate Chip ink using a sponge to give it more dimension. Let it dry completely before cutting to the size you want.

Ribbon and flower: I used my SU! Write marker and just colored these in. I didn't have any reinker in Bordering Blue. Need that for my next order.

I glued the mulberry paper and ribbon to my background paper and marked where I wanted the window. I cut inside the window marks about 1/4" and mitered the corners in to the marked corners. ISP'd them and folded them back. Make sure to cut the ribbon and any other element that spans the window in the center of the window and pull them back before cutting the window. You'll fold them over and under the window to hide the ends.

Fabric window: I found some sheer fabric scrap that I wanted to use on my card. I gathered it and adhered it to some Creamy Caramel CS with ISP a.k.a tacky tape. The cardstock was slightly bigger than the window I wanted on my card.

I used my background as the template to mark the position of the window on the card base. Put down some more ISP and then adhered the fabric cardstock down. Put down the background with more ISP and started on the embellies and sentiment.

Embellishments are all Creamy Caramel CS that has been sponged with a little of the same ink and then dabbed with Chocolate Chip Craft ink a little bit or a lot.

The Sissix scribbles dies are covered with craft chocolate chip spot ink and positioned with Glossy Accents. You can see the mulberry paper up close in the picture below. The sentiment is stamped in Classic Chocolate chip and then slid into the corners of the Creamy Caramel paper punched with Fiskars Victorian corner punch. I sponged the edges with chocolate chip ink.


The Fleur de Lis medallion is stamped with Craft Chocolate Chip spot ink and then scrapped with the tip of a needle for crosshatching look, then sponged around the edges with classic chocolate chip. Another larger circle underneath is covered with craft chocolate chip as well.


This is a long post, but I haven't been very thorough in a long time so I thought I'd spend some time on this one. Thanks for looking through my details and I hope you try some of these techniques. They were pretty simple to do and great looking for the effort.

have a great weekend!

It's a Jungle out there!

No, we haven't forgotten to mow our lawn. We have a neighbor boy do that! lol I've been just estatic with my new love of illustrator markers. I have been keeping my practice pieces pretty simple, but I came across the Weekend Sketch challenge on Oodabug Alley's blog and just had to use my little critters.

So here's my card for the challenge! It's late but I had fun with the challenge.



Stamps: CTMH Life's a Jungle
Paper: Pattern Paper unknown (stripe and orange), LSS Mohawk white cardstock
Ink: Brilliance Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Blue ribbon (stash), EK Success Dotted Wave edger punch, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF, Prismacolor markers, Nestabilities Classic circle and scallop dies

Happy Friday and wishes for a very nice and safe holiday weekend

Before I start talking about my card for the week I want to take a quick moment to say thank you to all the Armed Forces for what they have done, are doing and will do for this country. God Bless them and our country. For a refreshing read, go over to Bakerella's website and read her 4th of July post.

Thank you for that quick moment. Wow, did your week go by as fast as mine did? My husband and I have been doing projects around the house this week (he had the week off) and I don't remember where all our time went.


Of all the activities and projects of the past week I remember getting to spend money! LOL. I spent my birthday money and also found a Mother's Day money gift (a bill folded like a shirt) from 2008 (yep I save cards I receive and read them again, sometimes up to a year later) and purchased Prismacolor markers. Our local art store carries this brand and they are at quite a fraction of up front cost than Copics. I'll be honest. Aside from the cost of the markers I'm a little bit afraid of using these markers. I had one assignment in college to use them for an advertisement and I completely didn't get it. You know how to use them or you don't, and I waited until the last minute to finish my assignment so I didn't have time to play with the markers. I don't think the adjunct professor was very impressed.

Well enough with the phobia history. I've decided to just do it!

To ease myself into it, I practiced on a Microsoft clip art image. I first changed the image to all black and white and then printed it out with a LaserJet printer so the black lines won't smear from the markers. Here's the original image.


Is that illegal to use MS clip art for a card? {wink}

I just started playing and after the first one I colored another one. I have more to practice with, but when I finished the second one I just knew I needed to use it for the MojoMonday sketch. So here's the card with this sweet little birthday present girl.

Isn't she just the cutest thing! I have generic details, but this is what I used.
Stamps: Verve Just For You and Sweet on You
Paper: Pattern Paper unknown (stripe and green), LSS Mohawk white cardstock and SU! Pink Passion, Basic Black
Ink: StazOn JetBlack
Accessories: KaiserCraft aqua rhinestones, green organdy ribbon, EK Success Dotted Wave edger punch, Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls EF, Prismacolor markers, Waterfall, Cotton Candy and Lime Stickles, Quickutz Frame die

Just to be like all those talented and experienced copic and prismacolor markerista's, I'll show you the colors I used on that sweet little girl.

Thanks for stopping by!