Love Gave Wings

Hi all!

I'm always amazed at the talented crafters out there and the way that they can put so much into a small amount on a card. I've been catching the Google Reader feeds this month for the CASE Study Challenge and it was finally time to jump in and create from one of those talented inspirations from Jen Rzasa. What a wonderfully talented lady! Today is rounding up her time as January's muse and Chupa will be introducing another one for February on Thursday. I wonder who it will be?!?!?!?


This card is a wonderful reminder of what a little can do for a super CAS card. It's amazing! 

 Here's my CASE Study #75 inspiration card.

The sentiment comes from the Wings of Love set by Verve Stamps which was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black onto Mohawk Smooth White and cut out with Rounded Rectangle Frame also from Verve. I pulled out a scrap of muslin and die cut that with Verve's Rounded Scallop Frame Die and dirtied it up a bit with the W family Copic markers.

I've been holding on to a yard of some Maya Road ribbon. It was originally cream color and you could see the netting base peeking out from the back. I trimmed the flower away from the netting and pulled out my copic markers in the YR, Y, R, BG and W families in groups of three and began coloring them for the twine colors in the inspiration card. To finish the embellishments, I brushed the cut ends of ribbon with some YG and G family markers to look like leaves.

Details:
Stamps:  Wings of Love (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Mohawk Smooth White
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine Tsukineko), copic markers
Accessories: Rounded Rectangle Die (A Cut Above die Verve Stamps),  Rounded Scallop Frame Die  (A Cut Above die Verve Stamps),  organza white rose ribbon (Maya Road), glue (Beacon 3-in-1), muslin

Verve Stamps closed their doors in 2018 and so, I’ve removed links. New designs by @VerveGirl, Julee Tilman, can be found at Sweet and Sassy Stamps. 

Em-spiration and Winners!

This weekend I had the most wonderful time with some friends of mine that have a bazillion ounces of creativity in them. It was a great time of getting to know eachother better and as we exploded out into all sorts of mixed media fun. I'll show you all my ARTjournal page in a minute, but first I want to let you all know about the winners for our Purge Hop!

Kristen from By the Book Paper

Congratulations Kristen!!!!! Please contact me through email with your shipping information!

Each blog winner will be posted at my friends blogs, but I couldn't help to share in who I know won so far. If one of my friends hasn't posted yet, I've put the friend's blog link so you can hop over there and see who one a bit later in the day. Congrats to you all the rest of the lucky winners!

Tosha’s winner	Lots of winners at Stamp Talk with Tosh  Gabriela Ellena  Wanda Naomi  Barbara A. Connie Crafter
Andrea’s winner	Deb from DebsDesignsNDoodles
Maureen’s winner	Luanne from He Golfs… I Stamp!
Sony’s winner	Kelly (irishgalkelly) from Molly and Me
Laurie’s winner	… see Laurie’s blog at Just Give Me Stamps
Julee’s winner	… see Julee’s blog at Poetic Artistry
Janelle’s winner	Kristen from By the Book Paper
Betty’s winner	Toni (Ravengirl) of Sweet Peas Story
Jen’s winner	Heather from Wire Wrapture
Teresa’s winner	Sherry from Life Is Good

Now here is that ARTjournal page that I mentioned. I watched my friend Em for awhile and how amazingly quick she was at getting her page all covered and designed... then I spent the rest of the afternoon on my ONE page while she completed a few more. LOL She's a rock star!

After everyone packed up and left I sat with my daughter as she made her own ARTjournal page. She had a lot of fun and took off with it before I could get a photo to share, but love the memories we created too. : )

I went back to my page to add in some white highlights and grabbed some new stamps and stencils from Layers of Colors. I dabbed some white acrylic paint onto the Elegant Touch Art Stencil and pressed it down on my page. I left it there and put some brown paint on a paper towel to add contrast around the stencil. Touch of Elegance Art Stamp set by its name is a tell sign that it should be used with the stencil, so I inked some of them up with Onyx Black and randomly spread around. I grabbed a black felt pen and started sketching border lines and defining lines on the page until it looked like I better quit! LOL I wanted to add one more thing though... I stamped the scripture from The Love Chapter Art Stamp set (also from Layers of Colors) a couple of times in Brown Bag ink.

One more thing... Layers of Colors is have a huge discount on all their in stock stamps and stencils. 50% off. It's all in conjunction with a new partnership they are revealing at CHA this weekend!!!! I can't wait to hear what it is all about.


Details:
Stamps: Touch of Elegance Art Stamp Set, The Love Chapter (LOC Art Stamps)
Paper: sketch book, book pages
Ink: gesso, craft paint, Onyx Black (Versafine Tsukineko), Brown Bag (CTMH), Liquid Expresso black pen (Sanford)
Accessories: Touch of Elegance Art Stencil (LOC Art Stamps), brushes, paper towels, friends and a few sweet snacks

Glint of a Hair Bling

It is a Stampendous Challenge Blog Hop today. We are going to have some fabulous bling inspiration for you my friend and as my post title suggest I'm still blinging in the wearable field! Since I"m starting off the hop for today so first I'll break down the details of this challenge.

We want YOU to play along! Just add a direct link of your creation to the linky tool at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST. You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we sure love it when you do! And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set:

Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address. We hope you find some time to play along with us!

Janelle Stollfus Kristine Reynolds Cyndi Bundy Pam Hornschu Jennifer Ingle Melinda Gleissner Suzanne Czosek Taylor Usry

My project today comes with a tutorial! Our amazing Design Coordinator, Laura Mann Weed, has been sweetly suggesting to step outside of our card making arena and try something off-paper. So I did!

1. Gather supplies like metallic paper, flower shape dies in various sizes, hair pin or barrette, metal glue, Stampendous Crushed Glass Glitter bling (Silver shown but I switched to Champagne… you’ll see why in step 4.) Not shown but still very important are Stampendous Chunky Clear embossing enamel, piercing tool and mat, heavy duty scissors, heat resistant craft mat, wool felt scrap, and large brad.

2. Punch out 2-3 times with various sizes of flower shapes (3 punches of each shape shown). Pierce through the center of all shapes.

3. Crumple all the shapes and flatten them out.

4. Stack the shapes largest shape to smallest shape and thread onto a large brad. I liked the way the gold brad looked so I switched to Champagne glass glitter instead of the silver shown in the supplies photo.

5. Weave the brad through a hair barrette and trim down with heavy duty scissors.

6. Glue brad to hair pin and cover with wool felt. Note: Be sure not to glue the pin closed.

WARNING: Please be extremely careful with this step. The best way to do this step is to have a melting pot, but if you are like me and do not own one you can decide if you want to proceed to this step. Please read through this whole step before starting any part. 7. Place a heat resistant craft sheet or silpat baking sheet on top of a table that is covered with a piece of cardboard or cutting pad. Closest to the edge of the table but still on the craft mat, pour a small amount of Chunky Clear Impressions Embossing Enamel. A few inches away pour out some Frantage Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter. Carefully slide the craft mat off the table until the heat gun can be to heat from underneath the mat. Direct the heat gun and away from the table AND the hand that is holding the mat. *** Please, please hear me when I say, think through this step before you start. I don’t want any emails telling me that you have burned your table, chair, hand or anything else during this step. I made quick checks along the way to make sure nothing was getting hot.*** Direct the heat towards the embossing enamel and as it starts to melt it will shrink to a puddle. Once the enamel is melted, grab the flower and dip and twist the edges around in it. Now quickly put those edges into the glass glitter. This step needs to be quick while the enamel is still soft. Repeat as often as needed to apply the pliable enamel and glitter.

6. Enjoy your new hair accessory!

Hop on over to Kristine's blog. The fun is just getting started!

Viva La Verve is CAS this week

It's Friday and time for a new Viva La Verve challenge. Super talented and sweet Shannan Teubner is bringing on the CAS this week for the sketch.

I decided to use some of my own stash of the Purge Hop candy (see my sidebar link) I'm giving away to make this card. The sash was tied with some natural twine and sewn on to the border stitched osnaburg fabric and adhered with sticky tape. The sentiment is from Verve's Twitterpated set that came out earlier this month. 

We hope you'll come and join us with Shannon's CAS sketch this week!


Details:
Stamps:  Twitterpated (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Soft Suede (SU!) 
Ink:  Chocolate (CTMH) 
Accessories:  natural twine, Osnaburg fabric, tea stained fabric, pinking shears, sewing machine, red line tape (IHP) 

All Aflutter

Hello all,

It's the middle of the week and it's going to be a long day around here, but I wanted to get this simple (looking) CAS card out to you today. I know you'll be wondering what kind of magic tricks I performed on this card so I'll show and tell.

All Aflutter Plain Jane, Wings of Love, and Twitterpated stamps (Verve)
Hearts and Swirls Frame Die and All Aflutter Die (Verve)

At first look the All Aflutter butterfly looked symmetrical so I cut out two shapes with the All Aflutter die (super sweet by the way) and put them back-to-back. Yea, it was! I stamped the All Aflutter plain jane twice with Tuxedo Black and clear embossed them. I pulled out my copic markers and within a few seconds decided to create a Blue Morpho butterfly. Blue on the top of the wings and brown on the under-wing.

The butterflies are glued together sandwiching a string of nylon thread down the middle so there would be a way to attach it to the window of the card. 

The window of this card is created with the Hearts and Swirls Frame die. If you remember my post for the Verve After Party this month, you might remember that I talked about the guides on the die cutting two holes on the valentine cards. I simply added more holes to make it look purposeful. This time I didn't want the holes. I laid down the frame die on scrap chipboard and traced around it a couple of times and cut them out. Not too careful about it until I got to where the guides were located. Then I made sure to cut away any chipboard that might let those guides cut through my card front. Those two layers of chipboard were mono-adhesive glued to the back of the die and then it was time to cut out the window. It worked! There are only a slight indent on both of them, but nothing a finger nail can't smooth out. I stamped the "to fly." sentiment from the Wings of Love Set and added a two more periods for the ellipse.

I saved the shape cut out from the front and laid it back where it came from and carefully opened up the card. I made a few light pencil outline marks around it and then put the shape aside. I stamped the frame using a Stamp-a-Majig so that I could make sure that it would all show through the window. The sentiment "dream" from Wings of Love was stamped underneath it.

With the window complete I glued the butterfly to the inside cover of the card and hid the nylon thread ends with two hearts I stamped and fussy cut from the Wings of Love set.

I so appreciate your interest in my creativity here on my blog and want to say how thankful I am for your nice comments and suggestions all along the way. Please check out the Purge Hop link at the top of my side bar for a look at some blog candy!



Details:
Stamps:  All Aflutter Plain Jane, Wings of Love, and Twitterpated stamps (Verve) 
Paper: white cardstock (Mohawk)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Brilliance Tsukineko), Copic Markers 
Accessories:  All Aflutter Plain Jane (Verve Stamps),Hearts & Swirls Frame Die (Verve), clear embossing powder (SU!), nylon thread 

Sweet Friendship

As the wind might take a leaf so does my crafting inspiration. My card today ended up quite differently than I first started out to create. It turned out more than I had anticipated with vibrant color, but I really love how it turned out in the end.

I had a piece of pattern paper that was an old catalog print (speaking of catalog - stay with me to the end of the post), really bothering me that I hadn't finished using it up. So I started with the paper as my inspiration. I envisioned the Stampendous Deco Lady on the card and grabbed it after adding a thin layer of white gesso with a brush.

Gesso will warp the paper as it dries so here are some tips if you decide to try this out. Tape around the edges of your paper with painter's tape. No blue tape? Use masking tape, but lightly press it onto some natural fiber so that it won't be too sticky and tear your paper. Once the paper has dried from the layer of gesso, it might lay flat with a few wobbles here and there. If it has too much wobble for your taste get out some tack liquid glue and prepare to get messy. Spread a thin and even layer of glue across the back and then lay it down on your mat layer before you cut it out then trim it down to the right size for your card. 

I started coloring with my watercolor pencils and aqua pen in very light (watered down) hues, but then orange highlights for hair turned into a full on head of oranges and reds.

The creative process is a great way to slowly get out of our comfort zones... as long as we keep saying, "It's only a piece of paper."

This Deco Lady received many different vibrant hues and a few other beautiful surroundings, like a butterfly from the Charm Collection and a whimsy sentiment from Friendship Assortment. For some layout balance I added the swirl from the Charm Collection to the opposite corner of the Deco Lady and framed the whole of it with my trusty Omnigrip 6-inch ruler and PITT artist black ink pen.

Did I mention that Stampendous has a booth for the 2012 winter CHA? They have been posting sneak peeks from new catalog items this week. My card today uses stamps that are also in the new Catalog. Go check out the sneak peeks so far and then check out the catalog that will go live at Stampendous website as soon as CHA has started (You can look at the bottom of the main web page to see the current catalogs for now ~ wink).

Details:
Stamps: Deco Lady, Charm Collection, Friendship Assortment
Paper: Crumb Cake (SU!), kraft (Wausau), Old Catalog pattern paper (unknown)
Ink:  Versafine™ Onyx Black Ink Pad,  watercolor pencils, PITT artist black pen
Accessories: gesso paint (Rowney and Dawler), aqua pen, omnigrip ruler

Verve's Plain Jane Verses

It's a Sunday post from me today. I'll be relaxing with my family and hopefully having a nap to get ready for the week. Verve's January release has two Plain Jane's that have some delightful work of fonts as well as the meaning of the verse's they are displaying.

The first Plain Jane is on a card using week 3 sketch for Viva La Verve Challenge on SCS.

Verve's Psalm 63:3-4 Plain Jane and
Twitterpated sets,  All Aflutter and Wavy Hearts
A Cut Above Die sets  

I have lots of little Verve-y touches on the card from the Verve January release and one old favorite of mine. Let's see if we can find them all. The Sweet Scallop die that's stamped and embossed with the new Psalm 63:3-4 Plain Jane. The tag is keeping company with the small All Aflutter style butterfly that's in the Twitterpated set and cut out with the All Aflutter die. If you can CASE a sketch, I've added the heart shape in the VLV sketch for week 3 with the Wavy Hearts die.

A few years back I watched some sewing videos that I've been wanting to try out on cards. Sometimes a hand stitch look is what I want, but I don't have the time to do it. If you load a bobbin with your decorative thread you won't have to worry about it going through the needle or the paper.  I tried this out with a 6-strand embroidery thread on the Psalm's card.  Granted it's an old machine in need of a tune-up, I think it turned out really well! Try it out and let me know what you did to make it work in your sewing machine.

Verve's second Plain Jane Bible verse is Zephaniah 3:17. I used another Viva La Verve sketch for January.

Zephaniah 3:17 Plain Jane

This one is a bit dear to my heart. I've been working with a team of ladies for a year long theme in women's ministry. We used this verse as our direction for finding and sharing God's Love Story for each of us. A one-of-a-kind uniquely yours story to which no one can argue. In the CEV version it's worded a little different and I'd like to share that with you,

The LORD your God

   wins victory after victory

   and is always with you.

   He celebrates and sings

   because of you,

   and he will refresh your life

   with his love." (CEV)

 Remember I'm giving away some of my stash along with a few other friends. Check out the photo link in my sidebar called Purge Blog Hop.


Details for Better than Life:
Stamps:  Psalm 63:3-4 Plain Jane (Verve Stamps), Twitterpated (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Kraft (Wausau), A gift of love (Bo Bunny), Cream (Wausau)
Ink: Ruby Red (SU!), Vintage Photo (Ranger)
Accessories:  Sweet Scallop Tag Die,Wavy Hearts Die Set, All Aflutter Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), lace ribbon, silk ribbon (Martha Stewart), Liquid Pearls (Ranger), embroidery thread, 
sewing machine, Elegant Lines embossing folder (SU!)

Details for Rejoice Over You:

Stamps: Zephaniah 3:17

Paper: Victoria Gardens (Echo Park), White (Neenah), paper doily

Ink: Black Soot (Ranger), Worn Lipstick (Ranger), Versamark (Tsukineko)

Accessories: sewing machine, thread, corner rounder, border punches (Martha Stewart), Labels Fourteen nestabilities, handmade crochet flowers, gingham ribbon and Kiwi Kiss grosgrain ribbon(SU!), brad, detail black embossing powder (SU!)

Wearable Bling

It's a Saturday and we are half way through the Stampendous January Challenge. Do you remember what it's all about this month?

*Bling*

Let's see how I took the challenge this week!

I was still in the mood for flowers when I made this card and had never tried making a lapel pin. I created this pen with cream cardstock, Dream Text Cling Stamp and a glue gun for some Champagne Glass Glitter a place to stick. There's a tutorial in the near future, stay tuned.

There's more Design Team ready to show you their projects Covered In Bling and here's the links to keep hopping.

Stampendous Impressions Blog

Cyndi Bundy

Wendy Price

Wendy Jordan

Taylor Usry

Suzanne Czosek

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu

Melinda Gleissner

Jennifer Ingle 

Steph Lee 

Now here are the Challenge details:

Just add a direct link to your card to the linky tool at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST. You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we sure love it when you do! And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set:

Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address. We hope you find some time to play along with us!

Details:
Stamps: Dream Text Cling Stamp
Paper: white cardstock
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, VersaMark pad, Brown ink pad
Accessories: Stampendous Jumbo Handle, sponge, Stampendous Deep Impression Embossing Enamel, flower shape punch, heat gun

Friends Purge Hop 2012

A few blogging friends of mine are having a hard time letting go of much loved papers and embellishments, so we decided to share them with all of you in a week long Purge Hop!  If you’ve already been hopping along you have come from Julee’s blog, but if you are starting here just look at the list below for all the links to before and after to get in on all the fun.


Just comment once on the hop spots you want a chance to win and tell us what you spy as your favorite item(s). The hop will stay open until January 28th, 5PM ET. Each of my friends will post a winner from their prize post on Monday, January 30th!

1.Tosha	6. Julee
2. Andrea	7. Janelle
3. Maureen	8. Betty
4. Sonja	9. Teresa
5. Laurie

Here's my treasured supplies I'm willing to give away!

•  Numerous 6 x 6 sheets of scrapbook paper from these paper packs (over 166 sheets in all)
• DCWV - Flower Shower
• Echo Park - Truly Yours
• DCWV - Where the Heart Is
• Me & My Big Ideas - Sassy
• Bo Bunny - Gift of Love
• My Mind's Eye - Stella Rose Hazel
• Pebbles - With Love
• Dollar Spot - Halloween theme (a spool of coordinating ribbon)
• Authentique - Wonder
• Osnaburg fabric A2 size swatches
• Tea-stained 4-inch wide strips fabric (selvage to selvage)
• Clothespins 20, 1-inch long
• Handmade crochet flowers perfect for valentines, the product of stop lights and waiting lines
• 5 yards each of 12 different colors of No. 10 Cotton thread (used as solid twine) plus 10 yards of vintage natural twine

Now on to the next stop at Betty's blog.

Shamrock Fields Blessing

If you were around last week you notice our first spotlight day was all about St. Patrick's Day. What a great set !

My card today is one I showed at the release party last Friday night. I hope you were able to attend, but pardon me for showing a re-run... there's an extra portion of the card I want to share today.

I made up a pendant for the bow embellishment using cardstock, stamped Verve shamrock and a couple layers of Ultra Thick embossing enamel from Ranger. The embossing will darken the image a little bit, so plan for that in your cardstock and ink selection. I punched a hole at the top and and added a DIY jump ring  by wrapping some wire around a pencil tip and pinching it closed once I put the shamrock on it. Then I added a bead on another wire by bending one end so it wouldn't fall off and looping through the jump ring.

Verve has the whole January Verve Stamp release and  Verve A Cut Above die release as two 15% off collections right now. They are a fabulous! Go check other lovely sales too, just in time for your Valentine projects!


Details:
Stamps: Lucky You (Verve)
Paper:  White (Neenah), Viola Black Magic (Core-dinations), Leafy Tree Tops (My Mind's Eye), Citron (Wausau)
Ink:  Onyx Black (VersaFine Tsukineko), Pale Olive YG95 (Copic)
Accessories:   Shamrock Die Set (Verve Stamps), felt zigzag ribbon (AC), lace ribbon, UTEE (Ranger), black Cotton Thread No. 10, Black Copper wire, glass bead

Covered in Bling Challenge

I took some time this weekend to rest up and get ready for the days ahead, but one project was still idle from last week that I wanted to finish up. It's a challenge card for this months Stampendous Challenge to cover your card in bling!

My card started with a tacky sheet strip bedazzled with Halo Gold glitter from the Treasures Glitter kit. After that I just started having fun with all the small detailed images from the Charm Collection, stamping them on the card base. The frame was stamped on a scrap of paper embossing the center with Aged Silver Embossing Enamel for a mirror effect and fussy cut out to be popped up on foam adhesive to the card. Then I went big with the leaf twig from the Jumbo Thank You set embossing with Shabby White Embossing Enamel in the Frantage Embossing Enamel kit coming out at the end of the month. I die cut two sheets of cardstock and stacked them before stamping the sentiment from Friends Assortment and the filigree from the Charm Collection. I offset the sentiment mat on the card and trimmed off the excess. The finishing touches of cotton thread wrapped around the bottom of the card front, a bead of  Glossy Accents around the sentiment sprinkled with Halo glitter from the Treasures Glitter Kit. Once that was dry I added the cut out frame.

We want YOU to play along with us!  Just add you direct link to your card (make sure you've loaded it up with tons of BLING) to the linky tool below my signature (or on the Stampendous blog) no later thanFebruary 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST.  You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we sure love it when you do!  And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set:

Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address.  We hope you get a chance to play along with us - happy stamping!

That's it for today and here's the link list of Saturday's blog hop of bling!

Cyndi Bundy

Wendy Price

Wendy Jordan

Jennie Lin Black

Taylor Usry

Krissy Fossmeyer

Suzanne Czosek

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu

Melinda Gleissner
Jennifer Ingle

Details:
Stamps: Charm Collection,  Jumbo Cling Thank You, Friendship Assortment
Paper: kraft cardstock (Hobby Lobby)
Ink: Onyx Black ink (Versafine), Cocoa Bean (CTMH)
Accessories: Halo Gold and Crystal glitter from Treasures Glitter kit, Shabby White Embossing Enamel, Aged Silver Embossing Enamel, Glossy Accents (Ranger), tacky sheet, Ecru Cotton thread