Early bird celebration!

Hi everyone!  Thanks for stopping in today.  I was able to play this morning and as a really great starting point, I saw the VLVSEP01 sketch for the September Verve release.  It was hosted by Julee this week and along with her sketch, we had to use small circular items.  I have small circular items, but which to use...?  I really narrowed it down to these rhinestones.  I set them in the little holes that the MS punch makes in the center of the embossed flowers border.  

The image I used is from PaperTrey Ink and I stamped it in SU basic gray classic ink.  I coloured in with my Copics, cut out, put dimensionals on the back of the image and mounted on an oval that I used a classic nestability on.  The edges were sponged with SU So Saffron (as were all other edges of the borders) and the borders were made with the wide MS scallop and the embossed flower scallop.  The sentiment is also PTI and cut out with my SU word slot punch.  Here is a close-up of the flowers and jug.  The rhinestones are from K & Co.  The twill is MS from my stash.  The lovely paper is Cosmo Cricket from the new "Early Bird" mini deck!

Thanks for visiting!  Have a great Friday,

Chriss

Baby Hayden is here (in Toronto)

A new baby!  My best friend in Toronto, Donna, has been blessed with her first grandchild, a baby boy named Hayden Peter.  I made this card to include with some small gifts for the new baby that I will be mailing off tomorrow.  The card base is a Kiwi Kiss that I put through the CB (I call stitched diamonds) folder.  The stamped images are from Karen Lockhart that I stamped in SU Not Quite Navy and coloured with Copic markers.  I cut them out and placed dimensionals on the backs of the two images and popped them onto two ovals that I cut with my classic oval Nestability dies and edged the ovals with some NQN ink and a sponge dauber.  I made a border with NQN card stock and an EK border punch.  I placed the border onto the upper third of the card and wrapped the retired olive twill around it after looping a baby rattle charm through the ribbon and tied a simple knot.  The sentiment is from Impression Obsession.  I got this in a "tossed salad" grab bag last week with an order I had placed with I.O.  I like how the card turned out and the colours (even though they are not traditional baby pastels) and I am hoping that Amanda and Pete (baby's mum & dad) will like the card too ;)

Thanks for taking a peek today, Cheers to Wednesday....Chriss

~recipe~

stamps Karen Lockhart, Impression Obsession

paper SU Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss

ink  SU NQN

access CB folder, Spellbinders long scalloped rectangle that I made my own width with, SU narrow olive twill, Copic markers, charm from MM  

 

PTI Oak Leaf Bouquet

Hi everyone!  Hope you all had a good Saturday and are ready for a relaxing Sunday.  I have to go to work, but I made a card yesterday using a new set from Papertrey Ink called Autumn Abundance.  Love the images and the sentiments in the new set.  Even though we are roasting in Austin (we have had 61 days now of 100+ degrees) and I am not thinking of fall weather 'cause I do love the heat, I really love fall colours.  This card uses PTI buttons and dp and came together very easily.  The card is made from SU Sahara sand and stamped with a SU bg weathered stamp using River Rock ink.  The oak leaf bouquet image was stamped in SU basic brown ink and coloured with Copics and cut out.  I placed dimensionals on the back side of the image and popped onto a Sahara Sand circle that I used my nesties to make and emboss with.  The edges are sponged with the brown ink too and a little Sahara Sand on the front of the circle. 
Here is a close-up of the coloured leaves and acorns.  The ribbon is a remnant from some gift packaging that I kept to recycle.  Both dp's are from PTI bitty dots and the autumn abundance pack.  I really like the PTI paper packs because they have 6 sheets per pattern (3 small scale and 3 mini scale).  They are 8 X 8 sheets so they offer a little more freedom to create a border with , or, more card fronts!

Thanks for taking a peek today,

enjoy all the goodness out there.

Cheers, chriss

Calendars

Hi everyone!  Thanks for visiting today.  I have a small assortment of calendars to show you that I have been working on over the last few days.  I have had a crazy week at work and have really missed stamping but was able to put these together with 15 minutes here and 20 minutes there.  Some of you may know that I work at Smith and Hawken and all of the stores will be closing this fall, so I will have more "minutes" in the future, but in the meantime, things are a little crazy!  

This first uses K & Co. dp, EK Success border punch and some brown leaf ribbon that I have been hoarding for a couple of years.  The shape of my calendars is created using the oversize curved rectangle from Spellbinders.
This next one was actually the first one I made last week.  I used a Karen Lockheart butterfly stamp and coloured with my Copics and then cut out and glazed with crystal effects.  I added the K & Co. rhinestones for a little bling and the pom pom trim is from Ellen Hutson's store.  Both colours of card stock are from my stash of Bazzil linen that I have had for a few years.  I also used a border punch under the pom pom trim.

The calendar below is made with SU Not Quite Navy cs that I put through the textile folder with my CB and the flower is cut out from some K & Co. dp and backed onto the NQN cs and I put a velvet brad into the center of the flower.  I think the flower overhang gives it more interest.  The printed twill is one that I had in my stash and I think that I got it at Michael's.  Thanks for visiting!

Chriss 

colourful zinnias

Yay, I did it!   If you have been peeking in the last couple of days, you know that I have been trying to get these 5 sketches done for the Verve sketch challenge.  The release party is fast approaching and I was really hustling to try to get them all done.  Here is the last one I had to make.  I decided to go with a Fallish theme and selected this Lockheart zinnia flowerpot.  I stamped the image in SU basic gray ink on white and then had fun colouring with my Copics.  I matted all of the circles and panels with the teeny polks dots from PTI and the SU Mango from the last In Color set.  I used circle and label 4 nesties for the shapes and cut out the framed image with scissors.  Thanks for looking!

Chriss    Here is a close-up.

Purples & Greens, OH Halloween AVS205

Here is my submission for the 5th Verve sketch. I still have to make #4, so this will be a very quick post.  The Cute witch hat is from SU Eat, Drink and be Merry and the cat is from Inkadinkado.  Both were stamped with Memento Tux black.  The with is a MS punch from last year.  Sorry about the terrible picture.  Thanks for looking! 

Flowers to make ya smile!

Verve's new release is fast approaching...will I meet the 5 sketch challenge?  I'm really going to try ;)  Here is number 3.  The papers are all SEI and the stamp is ...you guessed it, Floral Symphony!  I promise to use a different set next sketch.  The smile sentiment was a thank you from Verve for an order I placed a couple of months ago, isn't it sweet?

I stamped my flowers in SU coral and coloured with my Copics, cut them out and mounted with dimensionals from SU.  The "plant" is stamped in always artichoke and cut with my Spellbinders Label 4.  The smile sentiment is stamped in the coral and then I did the rock 'n roll in basic gray. I cut the sentiment using my petite scallop circle die and sponged the edges with coral.  I also sponged the edges of the flowers and added MS glitter to the flower centers. The border is punched with my scalloped EK border punch and also sponged.  The ribbon is SU white taffeta and the twine is MS bakers twine.  I cut out the teeny butterfly from the SEI dp.  Thanks for looking and here is a close-up of the sentiment and flower cluster.  Will hopefully finish the other 2 sketches tomorrow and post before the 6:00 Eastern deadline!

Classic Elegance AVS202

Here is my sketch interpretation Of Julee's Verve AVS202.  I really like the colours together and like that I created some blue flowers ;) 

To make this card, I first stamped the flowers from Floral Symphony (again, I told you I was on a roll using this set) in SU Not Quite Navy ink and coloured with my beloved Copic markers.  I stamped the stems in Always Artichoke on this Bazzil card stock (I flipped it over to the smooth side) and added the flowers with dimensionals.  I also added some MS glitter to the flower centers.  The dp is from my stash and I am sorry that I don't have the name of it, but I believe I purchased it from Michael's a few years ago!  I cut a strip of the Bazzil for the right side narrow panel and ran it through the Textile CB folder.  I also cut a square of it using a square from a Spellbinders set.  The horizontal strips are from the same dp line, but a different pattern and I used the small corner rounder on the right side ends and mounted on some Night of Navy strips and then added some Night of Navy Brads.  That's it!  Thanks a lot for looking, Chriss

Vervalicious lemonade flowers

Hi everyone!  I had the day off today and got to play with the Verve Sketch challenges that Julee created for anyone to play along with.  It will be Verve's 2nd anniversary and I am looking forward to the new releases.  I Love this Verve Floral Symphony set and used it quite a bit today. (you will see in my next 2 posts) I first stamped the flower images in Rose Red on white card stock and coloured with my Copic markers, then cut them out and mounted on a layer of yellow green (all dp's are from the Basic Grey Lemonade line)that I cut out with the smallest octagon from the large octagon Spellbinders set.  I then used a circle nestie and cut out the cute mini polka dotted dp and then used the blossom nestie on a dark cherry colour sheet.  The cut out Verve flower is mounted on a dimensional.  The card base is covered in this cute paper with octagon shapes in the design with all of the colours that I chose to use for this card.  The rest is pretty explanatory, but if you have any 
questions, please email me.  

This is a close-up of the flowers and the dp with the teeny tiny lady bugs, so adorable (imho)

  Thanks for taking a peek and look out for the next Verve sketch challenge.  There are 5 total and I hope to get them all done before tomorrow evening!  Chriss

~recipe~

stamps Verve Floral Symphony, SU Fancy Flexible Phrases

paper        Basic Grey Lemonade

ink        SU Rose Red, basic gray

access       Spellbinder Blossom, Circle, Octagon, Square ~SU oval punches, EK Success scalloped border

Trees of Thanks

Hi there! Hope that everyone has had a good week and I know that I am ready for the week-end!

I was able to work on my Mojo 98 sketch this morning and here is what I came up with.  I really wanted to use these Verve trees from a couple of releases ago "Up, up and Away" and decided to use this cute dp from K & Co.  Love the green and brown together.  For the "flower", I stamped the little tree from the set in SU close to cocoa craft ink directly onto the dp 7 times, clear embossed them and cut out.  I then used my Spellbinder Blossom dies and cut out the shapes you see in the different papers and arranged and layered the little trees to make up the "flower"  I added this pretty lime button from the BG Lemonade series and made a couple of French knots in the two buttonholes.  The white square is embossed with my swirls CB folder.  The card front is covered in a Bazzil textured card stock (similar to close to cocoa) and the side panel is a piece of the same Bazzil CS and layered with  
another strip of the dp that I used the MS lattice edge border punch on both sides.  I then wrapped that strip with a wide satin ribbon and glued down.  The tree is a larger version from the same Verve release but you can buy this one as a single stamp.  The sentiment is also Verve (and a gift from Julie when I placed a previous order) that I stamped in the same ink and clear embossed.  I used a SU oval punch and then layered onto the dp and trimmed around that.  The buttons all have embroidery floss in them and the brown buttons are from PTI.  Hope you like this one.    Here's a close-up .  Thanks for taking a peek today, chriss

            ~recipe~

stamps Verve Up, up and Away , Verve sentiment too

paper         Bazzil textured, K & Co dp

access.      embroidery floss, buttons, oval punch, Spellbinder blossom dies, PTI vintage buttons, BG lemonade buttons, MS lattice edge border punch, CB swirls folder, wide satin ribbon.

In a VERVE and a Hop!

Welcome to the first ever official Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop. Verve turns two today and we’re celebrating with a hop, hop, hop! The party kicked off over on the Verve blog, so if you’ve just happened along, be sure to hop on over there to start from the beginning! And to make this party a real shindig, there’s a mystery jackpot hidden at one of the stops along the hop. One lucky commenter on that blog will win Verve’s entire August release! But of course, it wouldn’t be a mystery if you knew which blog, would it? So if you’re feeling the love, give a little shout out to the bloggers in the hop and you just might have a reason to jump for joy! 
  This is my very first hop as well and I am so happy that you have clicked on to here to see what I have created with Julee's beautiful set Wishful Elegance and a very elegant single flower image! I will tell you that I so enjoyed making this card and love colouring the flowers in this set to truly customize my cards.  Here are the details and steps that I used to create this one.  I first stamped my floral images in SU Rose Red and coloured with Copic markers.  I am sorry that I didn't include the colours that I used, but let me say that I layered different colours to obtain the shades of green and pink to match the colors in this new Basic Grey "Lemonade" line.  All of the dp that I used in this card are from this new line.  After colouring them, I cut out and decided, after selecting the buttons that I wanted to use for the centers, that they needed a little "je ne sais quoi" so I had an idea that I wanted to encircle the buttons with some french knots.  I hadn't made these in decades and I remember as a teenaged girl that I loved embroidery floss and all the colour choices, so I went to the craft store and bought a bunch of fun colours.  I made the knots on the inside perimeter of the flower center and then adhered the buttons with mini dots.  I had the layout of the card in my head and covered the card base with the fun polka dot pattern from the pack and then cut a smaller green layer that I corner rounded.  Next was the top panel that I wanted to act as a frame and I cut it out with my Spellbinder Mega Curved Rectangle die and sponged the edges with a sponge dauber and SU Rose Red.  I then created some borders with two different MS border punches and layered them and then used the little narrow leftover strip of the dark berry colour paper to finish off the bottom part of my card.  The flowers needed a little framing/platform too and I cut out three shapes with the blossom Spellbinder die.  These three went on top of the bordered area and I placed the flowers onto a dimensional and then onto the blossom shape.  The last was the center sentiment and panel.  I stamped the sentiment with Memento Tuxedo Black directly onto a green paper, cut it out using my Spellbinder Labels Four die and sponged the edges with the SU Rose Red ink and a dauber.  I then cut out the next larger size in the same dark berry colour that I used in one of the borders.   Here is a close-up of the flowers with the embroidery floss french knots.  Thanks so much for looking!  I had a blast making this card and I am really looking forward to everyone's creations (later today as I have to go to work for 9 AM today, Saturday...boo hoo)  I am really looking forward to the next release from VERVE!   For the  next visit, hop over here to see Gretchen's creation!