When Fun Is A Mixed Media Fault

Happy Friday! I've been working behind the scenes all week and having tons of fun. I discovered a british company for mixed media that had this wonderful word that I had not heard before so I clicked away...masterboard...and not it's not the fire retardant wall board the US means when they say masterboard. Here's the video link, Introduction to Masterboards, to go check it out.

Why do I tell you all this? Because I've used two masterboards for my mix-ability challenge card. So much exciting things happen when you make a masterboard and then cut them into pieces for card bases. Really you should try it with whatever mixed mediums you have on hand.

My card is at fault and it was loads of FUN! I'm hosting the Mix-Ability challenge and we are have some Faulty Fun.

Go! Come on over and play with us at the MIX156: Faulty Fun challenge!

I {heart} that heart!

Details:
Stamps: More than Love, Peaceful Medallions, Better Together (Verve Stamps)
Paper: White (Neenah), sulphite white (Pacon)
Ink: Colorbox Scarlet, Mango Tango, Iris, Surf and Wicket Black (Clearsnap)
Accessories: Creative Palette Rectangles (Stampendous), grid stencil from Urban Scribble (Stampendous), washi tape, PITT Black Brush Pen (Faber-Castell), dimensionals (Stampin' Up)

A Real Sweet Verve Card

It's Monday, well almost over, but I'm posting another sweet Verve card from the June release. I can't believe June is almost over, but in a sense I understand why it's zoomed by so quickly. It's my families official birthday month! 

We celebrated all month long with three birthday and a Father's Day within a 25 day period. Whew!

We put up a fabric birthday banner that I made a few years ago and instead of taking it down after each birthday we just left it up! 

Along with all those celebrations we also started a new summer tradition of having movie night on our deck once a week. We really hope these hot days coming up now don't squash our new tradition. Last week we watched the original Karate Kid.

So much about our busy summer, lets get to this quick card.

Verve released this Plain Jane along with one other PJ for June. It has a single honeycomb row in the middle that nudges me to use The Buzz Stamp Set, but I kept it put away for this card. 

I painted chalkboard paint onto the pattern paper I used from the same paper pack as my last Verve card here. I stamped the Plain Jane with watermark ink and sprinkled, tapped off and heat embossed Stampendous Detail White Embossing Powder. Once that was dry I sketch around the sentiment with a white PITT Pastell pencil to add a chalky flair to the piece. I matted it with black cardstock after tying a bow with Sunshine ribbon around it, then onto the yellow card base before adding a few pink rhinestone embellishments around the sentiment. That's it!

Details:
Stamps: Proverbs 16:24 (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Spring (American Crafts), Yellow and black (unknown)
Ink: Versamark Watermark ink pad (Tsukineko),
Accessories: Sunshine ribbon (Spring Fling Ribbon Collection, Verve), Detail White Embossing Powder (Stampendous), Blackboard Paint and White PITT Pastel Pencil (Faber-Castell), pink rhinestones (Want2Scrap)

Verve is Buzzing with a New Release

I'm posting a new Verve release card that I did a little sneak on last Saturday. It was so much fun to play along and I'm glad I can keep the Verve posts going a bit longer with some extra projects.

Let's find out how I made this card.

I usually make up a few different colors in card bases and then when I decide on my color choices I grab a base that goes with it. It doesn't always run that smoothly, but it's nice to have them ready when they do.

I used pattern paper from American Crafts' Spring 6 x 6 paper pack. A few scrap pieces of white and green cardstock and got busy with my layout/sketch.

I stamped the sentiment on pattern paper and layered it under a tag made with the new Flourished Tag Die Set. If you look closely it is embossed a few times using the honeycomb die from The Buzz Dies. The bee and second half of the sentiment are stamped on white paper and colored with Copic markers.

The CAS style was too simple for me so I drew a sketchy border around the pattern paper base and then I need more. LOL So I stamped the butterfly from The Buzz set randomly and carefully around my completed card.

To add some bling I glued a row of sequins from the Pastel Sequin Mix. the little butterfly was stamped on the corner of the sentiment tag had a gap showing because of the layers of papers. I just filled it in with my PITT Artist Pen

Such a fun release I'm so blessed to be able to jump in and play as a quest designer for Verve this month. Come back again on Saturday for another Verve easy peasy card!

Details:
Stamps: The Buzz Stamp Set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Spring (American Crafts), Balsa (Wausau), white and green paper scraps
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink (Tsukineko), Copic markers
Accessories: Flourished Tag Die Set, The Buzz Die Set, Pastel Sequin Mix (Verve Stamps), PITT Artist Pen (Faber-Castell),

Final Hop Day with Verve June Release Hop!

It's the final day of our June 2015 Verve Spotlight Hops! All of the stamps and dies you've seen this week are available in the Verve online store now! Sit back and relax for one last inspirational stroll as our sneaky Verve spotlight lands on Diva's choice today. And to cap off this release, we're giving away the entire release to one lucky commenter along today's hop, so come along with us as we share one last look-see at our newest release!

It's been a wonderful week of spotlights, I'm so joyed I played along in half of the days and share projects with the stamps and dies Julee so graciously sent me.

Hopping along today you would have come her via Amy Tsuruta's blog and staying here for a glance or two at my projects today. Yes, I made that a plural as in I couldn't stop thinking of how to use this set and a plain jane, too!

Today I'm spotlighting what the rest of the party saw on Day 4, The Buzz, The Buzz Die Set, and Proverbs 16:24.

I'm playing along in the Splitcoaststampers Mix-Ability challenge hosted by Kyra Sanders with MIX125: Go to the Sea! Throw your shoreline findings onto a piece of paper and spray, splatter or emboss over the top of them to get a great pattern underneath. Try it out on your next project. (You would not believe I had an emptied fruit-cup filled with pebble gravel in my craft room and that's what I used. LOL

So to create my mixed media background I pulled out a book page from my Michael's $1 bin book and thinly scraped white gesso over it with the edge of piece of cardstock. I let it dry and then threw my rocks on top and grabbed a few of my color sprays. I repeated the process with three different colors and hit it with my heat gun before removing my rocks each time. It's almost like a reverse bokeh effect. Once dry, I glued onto a white card base.

I sprayed white cardstock with two yellow mists and brown very lightly and then stamped the bee's hive where I thought it looked best. I used The Buzz Die Set to cut the hive out. 

The sentiment is embossed in black for contrast and to find out where I wanted my sentiment, I laid the hive down temporarily and stamped with watermark ink.

The hive is popped up with foam squares and then I stamped the small bee a few times heading off to find out what the buzz is all about.

I think I did try to use my white PITT Pastell pencil for some more artsy detail, but it didn't want to lay down onto the mists and gesso well. 

My second piece is a personal sneak peek, I'll be posting it next week if you want to see the whole card. It's a chalkboard style sentiment and almost nearly a flat layer card, really easy to put together.

One more look see before you hop on over to Shantaie's blog, I had made all the parts and pieces that are in The Buzz Stamp Set and when I started to put them together on a card it just wasn't working, so that's why I have more to sneak peek today. Yep, you'll need to stop by again next week to see the full card. :) It's okay if you don't, you can always find them on my Splitcoaststampers gallery, too, just next week.

Thanks soooooo much for letting me gab awhile today and share all the fun new Verve that's in the house! Good luck with your chances to win the entire release today, just make sure you hop and comment, hop and comment, hop and....

1. Julee 7. Charmaine 2. Stacey 8. Christyne 3. Teresa 9. Maureen 4. Amber 10. Amy 5. Laurie 11. Janelle 6. Marisa 12. Shantaie

Details: (Mixed Media What's the Buzz Card)
Stamps: The Buzz (Verve Stamps) (Sneak peek at Proverbs 16:24, too)
Paper: Mixed Media White Paper (Stampendous), book page ($1 bin at Michaels)
Ink: Versamark Watermark Ink, Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Red marker (Copic)
Accessories: The Buzz Die Set (A Cut Above, Verve), Detail Black Embossing Powder (Stampendous), Mister Huey's Color Mist Ocean and Powder Blue (Studio Calico), London Blue (Dylusions Mist, Ranger), white gesso (DecoArt), pebbles

Verve Stamps Friday Spotlight and Release Day

It's release day at Verve and we're celebrating with Day 5 of our June 2015 Spotlight Hops!  Have you enjoyed the spotlights we've been sharing this week? Well, the wait is over and everything previewed this week is available in the Verve online store now!



If you've been hopping already today you just came from Maureen's blog and in the right spot! If you want to start at the beginning, scroll down to the bottom and find the full hop list to start at the beginning, middle or end. It will be beautiful and inspiring no matter where you are on the hop. :)

Today's spotlight is shining on The Sparkly Dreams set illustrated by Julee Tilman, as well as the Butterfly Dreams Die Set and the Flourished Tag Die Set.


Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win today's featured products! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for a little more about our new products and all the prize info and deadlines!

Today's spotlight is stellar Verve, I mean this is what I dream about when I think of Verve Stamps. Gorgeous sentiments that are meaningful and thoughtful, the butterfly is traditional. So with all those goodies, but oodles of more Verve from my stash I made this card.

I seem to have slipped away from buying pattern paper, I still have gobs of it on the shelf, but only because I love making artsy prints. I started with DecoArt Lavender Fields and Sapphire paint, my Creative Palette and a brayer. I live in a dry state so I always add Liquitex Slo-Dri or DecoArt Extender & Blending Medium. All those together in the right order, plus some found objects or artsy stamps make a great design for background paper. I hardly ever use my sewing machine and for nostalgic reasons I brought out the machine and thread. I could have easily drawn or doodles a border, too. Before I glued that down onto the plum cardstock I tied a bow with Sugar Seam Binding ribbon from Verve.

I stamped my butterflies and sentiment from Sparkly Dreams Stamp Set on white mixed media paper with Versafine ink and then colored the butterflies with watercolor brush pens before cutting them out with coordinating Butterfly Dreams dies.

The stamp set name made me do it. I needed to add some sparkle so I used my Pink Sparkle Sequins Mix in just a few special spots around the card. And that's how I made my release day card!

Thank you all for the wonderful comments that have come across my in-box. I do really enjoy having you stop in for the hop this week. Have an amazing day and we'll see you again tomorrow!

Now it's time to stop by Shantaie's blog for some final Verve goodness.

1. Julee 6. Marisa 2. Stacey 7. Charmaine 3. Teresa 8. Maureen 4. Amber 9. Janelle 5. Laurie 10. Shantaie

Details:
Stamps: Sparkly Dreams (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Mixed Media White Paper (Stampendous), colored cardstock (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine, Tsukineko), Watercolor Brush Pens (Akashiya Sai)
Accessories: Butterfly Dreams Die Set (A Cut Above, Verve),  Sugar ribbon (Signature Ribbon Collection, Verve), Pink Sparkle Sequins Mix (Verve), sewing machine, Creative Palette (Stampendous), acrylic paint (DecoArt)

Verve Stamps Release Hop - Oh Yes!

Welcome to Verve's June 2015 Spotlight Hops!  This week the Verve Divas and a few special guests will be spotlighting 5 new sets, 2 plain janes and 4 new die sets! Everything previewed this week will be available in the Verve online store onFriday, 6/19. So come hop along with us and see what's new at Verve!

Today's spotlight is shining on the Get Together set illustrated by Julee Tilman and the new Psalm 19:14 plain jane.


Want to win some shiny new Verve? We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win today's featured products! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for a little more about our new products, an introduction of our fabulous special guests, and all the prize info and deadlines!

If you've been hopping with the Spotlight today so far, then you have come from Christyne's blog.

You cannot believe how excited I am to jump on board with a Verve release this month! Thank you Julee and the Diva's for letting me hang with you this week.

For my shiny spotlight card today, I'm using the new Get Together Stamp Set, that has all the right sentiment combinations of hot bevvies that I would use for my friends and family!

I stamped the butterfly teacup in safe black ink to color with my Copic markers, I believe R32, R42 and R39, on the teacup. Stamped the sentiment in two layers from the same Get Together Stamp Set one on the white paper cutting out with a nesting circle die and the other on colored paper from My Mind's Eye Jubilee Paper Pad and cutting it out with the A Cut Above Scroll Die from Verve.

I finished up the card layering a pattern paper and black cardstock together for the base panel and a black cardstock cut with the Flourished Trim Die for the negative cut of the die for an edging. A piece of burlap paper was wrapped and tied with black #10 cotton thread before layering it onto the card base and adding the sentiment layers. The sentiments are popped up with a few foam squares here and there. That's it!

1. Julee 7. Andrea 2. Stacey 8. Christyne 3. Teresa 9. Janelle 4. Amber 10. Amy 5. Marisa 11. Shantaie 6. Charmaine

Your next hop from here will be to see fellow Guest Diva Amy Tsuruta on her blog! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

I think this card would go well with the Inspiration Challenge this month at Verve. What do you think?

Our June challenge is Eat Me, Drink Me

Details:
Stamps: Get Together (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Jubilee (My Mind's Eye), Mixed Media White (Stampendous), Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!), Burlap paper (Hobby Lobby pad)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento Ink, Tsukineko), Alcohol Markers (Copic)
Accessories: Flourished Trim Die, Scroll Die (A Cut Above, Verve), nesting circle dies (Lifestyle Crafts/WRMK), Black #10 crochet thread

Holiday Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

It's a crafty coffee lover's dream to blog about for the holidays, and I'm coming back for a second day and the rest of my card set for the Viva La Verve - One-Sheet-Wonder Challenge this month.

I've made some extensions to the challenge rules and popped up a panel that I've cut through so it would have a bit more dimension on the red "COFFEE" card. The yellow card, I creased the left side panels into loops. Details about supplies are at the bottom of my blog post if you're interested and to see the challenge go to Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge blog.

There are 27 sponsors for the hop and they have some amazing prizes! There's still time to enter for a chance to win from them. Thank you sponsors and Amy Tsuruta for putting together such a fabulous hop. Check out the list of sponsors, the list of prizes AND all the wonderful projects that are in the InLinkz gallery. Walk through these wonderful projects and you might find more blog prizes!

Blog hop details are on this POST.

Now for my blog giveaway…

Anyone fancy a set of mugs with warm knit cozies? Commenting is open until 11:59 pm PT, Sunday December 14th!

Update: The winner of the mugs with cozies is commenter

Celeste Goff!

Please email me at jbearstoll AT hotmail.com. Thank you for stopping by!


Details:
Stamps: Coffee (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Peppermint (Crate Paper), Balsa (Neenah)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento, Tsukineko)
Accessories: One-Sheet Wonder Template (Verve Stamps Blog), glue, super-sticky red-tape (iheartpaper.com), different thicknesses of foam dots/squares, scissors