March Diva Inspirations Hop

Hello! Thanks for stopping by! Today I'm hopping along with the rest of the Verve Inspirations Divas and we're bringing you a bunch of inspirational projects using previously released Verve stamps and dies!

If you arrived here from the lovely Sankari, you're in the right place! The hop started with Julee at the Verve Blog, so head on back if you need to start from the start - there's an awesome prize involved just for leaving comments!

I LOVE the stamp set I've used today - Brighter Days. I used one of my favourite Verve dies, the Curvy Bookplate. I cut out the ribbon from the center of the sentiment, coloured it with Copics and popped it up on a foam dot.

I stamped the arrow in Riding Hood Red ink and cut it with the Arrow die. The edges of my panel are sponged with Antique Linen Distress ink.

I stamped the largest flower in the set four times, colouring with copics and fussy cutting before putting it back together with foam dots.

I also used the Leafy Sprigs die along with a co-ordinating stamp from the Sunny Days stamp set.

Here's the inside of my card...

I repeated the sentiment treatment from the front of my card and this time I cut the smaller two flowers with the co-ordinating Scalloped Flowers dies.

I'm going to send you on to visit the talented Sony now! Have fun hopping, and don't forget to comment to be in to win a $30 gift certificate to Verve!

	1. Julee	7. Karen
	2. Amy	8. Sankari
	3. Anya	9. Sarah
	4. Betty	10. Sony
	5. Jen d.	11. Susan
	6. Jessica	12. Tiffany

Stamps: Brighter Days, Sunny Days (Verve Stamps) Paper: Miss Caroline - All Dolled Up (MME) Ink: Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger) Memento Tuxedo Black, Riding Hood Red (SU)  Dies: A Cut Above Dies: Scalloped Flowers, Curvy Bookplate, Arrow (Verve Stamps) Labels 4 Nesties (Spellbinders) Other: Striped Ribbon (SU) Black Rhinestones, Copic Markers

Naughty or Nice?

Hi everyone, I was editing some photos today and thought I better show you my last Christmas card of the year before the festive season is over!

I made this one for my Sister and her soon to be husband, and apparently I made it mid November because I used Mojo 165 for the sketch which was current at the time!

I did make one small change before sending the card - I changed the decorative border to plain Real Red cardstock to give it a little more "pop".

My colour combo is Whisper White, Chocolate Chip and Real Red - a little different but still Christmassy.

I used a little glitter pen on the letter for some subtle sparkle and the background paper is flocked.

Inside is the cute sentiment and the die-namic border again, don'tcha think it looks better in a bold colour?

This past week has been lovely with my not-so-little-anymore brother Leroy staying. Ever since he was a wee tike we've found him sleeping in some strange positions....but after a long day of watching Labyrinth on DVD (still love that movie!) I found him like this.....

Doesn't look comfy does it?

I have a post or two scheduled for Christmas day (in NZ), until then enjoy this special time of year!




Stamps: Making a List - MFT Stamps
Other: Die-namics Faux Crochet Border - MFT Stamps

Thankful....

Hi everyone - happy Saturday! I hope your weekend's going well so far, Shan and I went to see Paranormal Activity 2 today, so my weekend started with a few (ok, a lot) chills! Nothing better than a scary movie for date night!

We have a new hostess at OCC this month and Linda has challenged us to create a card depicting something we're thankful for. My card focuses on Christmas, which is by far my favourite holiday - especially this year when my brother Leroy is coming to stay for 5 weeks - I'm so excited! 

I've had this colour combo in mind for awhile now....Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Tangerine Tango, & Peach Parfait - it wasn't until I finished the card I realised the inspiration was my Christmas tree colours.

I did add in a little Baja Breeze and Marina Mist for a blast of cool, it really adds to the wintery feel of the card....which I love despite Christmas being in Summer here in NZ! 

My image was coloured with SU! Markers on watercolour paper. I've used glitter and liquid applique accents as well as popping up the scarf.

The snowflake accent was die cut from felt and cardstock which I glittered after running it through my Xyron.   

Inside the card I stamped the image again using Crumb Cake ink and dotted under the sentiment with the fine tip of a marker. More snowflakes and an offcut of the Pear Pizzazz paper finish it off.

Head on over to OCC to see the awesome design team offerings and to link your creation based on something you are thankful for!




Paper & Card: Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz Designer Paper
Ink: Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake, Peach Parfait, Baja Breeze & Marina Mist
Punches: Photo Corner punch
Other: Old Olive button, Sponge Dauber, Copper Cord, Mistletoe Ribbon, Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, SU! Markers, Glitter

Stamps: Sending You a Little Christmas - MFT Stamps
Punches: Apron Lace - Fiskars
Other: Nestabilities, White Felt, Xyron, Embossing Folder, Let it Snowflake Die-namic - MFT, Liquid Applique

Jolly Christmas Treat Bag

Hey everyone - it's Tuesday so time for a fun new Project Tuesday challenge to try! This week Kim has asked us to make these fun treat bag covers. I often make these with a window in the front, it was a nice change to use images on the front instead. If you need the instructions, you can find them here.

I pulled out some super old SU! supplies - anyone remember Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme? They were In Colours way back in 2007 - I still love them, especially with this Holiday Thyme paper I'm lucky enough to still have.

Isn't that Reindeer just the cutest? I've had this Hero Arts set forever, it was time it finally saw some ink! You can't tell from the photo, but I stamped the head twice so it's popped up from the body on Dimensionals.

Inside I just had to add this cute little penguin. I've also stamped the cardstock with the little snowflakes. I'll add some handmade chocolates to this at Christmas time.

While I had the supplies out I also whipped up this matching gift tag - I think I'm going to do brown wrapping paper and cute tags for my holiday wrapping this year!

Head on over to see what the Project Tuesday crew have whipped up - we hope you'll play along!



Paper & Card: Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme, Very Vanilla, Holiday Thyme DP
Ink: Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme
Punches: 3/4" Circle
Other: Crop-a-dile, Jumbo Eyelets - Antique Brass, Always Artichoke Ribbon, Small Cello bags

Stamps: Jolly Christmas & Birdhouse Tag - Hero Arts
Punches: Apron Lace - Fiskars
Other: Colluzle Tag Template

Red, Red, Red

Happy Saturday everyone! My weekend has started off quietly, Shan was away for the day so I spent lots of time making an absolute mess of my craft room. Seriously - it needs some heavy duty tidying after the day I've had! Fortunately, I secretly like tidying up after a stamping session - any excuse to look through supplies!

The OCC challenge this week is this great sketch by Diane. Before I show you my card, I have to admit, I did leave off the circle sentiment layer. I tried to make it work with my concept, but stamping the sentiment on the main layer worked much better - hope you'll forgive me Diane!

I wanted to play with all the gorgeous reds Stampin' Up! have currently, so my card uses Riding Hood Red, Poppy Parade, Cherry Cobbler as well as white and silver.

Of course, using all those reds meant I had so much trouble getting everything to photograph properly! You're going to have to take my word for it, this is so rich and vibrant in real life! My backing panel was wheeled with the Baroque wheel (I hadn't used any of my wheels in forever!) and sponged on the edges.

The sentiment was stamped in Whisper White craft ink - I LOVE how it almost blends into the background so it's not the first thing to catch your eye, I'm going to have to play with this idea and make some background papers I think.

I've repeated the ornament element on the inside of the card. I'm so glad I stocked up on this silver cord years ago - I always use a lot of it for Christmas cards.

Head on over to see the awesome OCC creations for this week - hope you'll play along!



Stamps: Contempo Christmas, Baroque Wheel
Paper & Card: Riding Hood Red, Poppy Parade, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Poppy Parade, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Punches: Scallop Edge
Other: Taffeta Ribbon, Silver Cord, Sponge Daubers

Other: Silver Stickles, Button

Colour Challenge!

Yippee - it's the weekend! My Saturday's over and done with almost, and it was a great one. Lots of time with DH, lots of sunshine, and milkshakes sitting by the sea - ever noticed how everything tastes SO much better at the beach?

My Friday was altogether quieter. I got to sit and read a book cover to cover in one sitting. BLISS! The book was "Still Missing" by Chevy Stevens - highly recommended. I love to read....and so you'll see why the card I've made for this week's OCC challenge was oh-so perfect for this week!

When this stamp set dropped into my mailbox this week I knew it would look great in today's OCC challenge colours. They are Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso. The image was coloured with SU! Markers and a waterbrush on watercolour paper. I used the fine tip to add dot and stripe details. The Marina Mist circle was embossed then brayered on the negative side with Early Espresso ink.

I've kept the inside pretty simple. I loveeee the sentiments with this set, so true!

Head on over to OCC and see the wonderful design team creations and we hope you'll play along!



Paper & Card: Bella Bleu DP, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla & Marina Mist cardstock.
Ink: Marina Mist & Early Espresso
Punches: Square punch
Other: Soft Suede Ribbon, Soft Subtles Buttons, Linen Thread, SU Markers, Brayer

Stamps: Well Read WTG - MFT Stamps
Other: Circle Nestabilies, Prima Flowers, Jamara Embossing Folder - Provocraft, Brads - Basic Grey

View Master Card

Good evening crafty chickies! I have a fun post for you today - this weeks challenge at Project Tuesday is to create a View Master Card! There are lots of ways to make these, you can find a couple of tutorials here and here. I kinda just made mine up as I went along, once you understand the basic technique you can pretty much wing it.

Friends of ours have just announced an imminent arrival, so I thought it would be cute to use the window for the "baby" sentiment, in a few different colours - including a pink and a blue of course. 

I stamped the sentiment from Lovely Labels on a circlular piece of Whisper White card four times - using Old Olive, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry and Baja Breeze ink.

The window was punches with the 1 1/4" circle punch.

There's a brad hiding under the leaf of the Rose Red flower - this is what allows the sentiment to spin.

The entire square layer is popped up on a double layer of dimensionals just to give the wheel a little more room to move.

I hope you'll give this fun card a spin (I know, I know - bad pun!) I wasn't sure I'd like the results, but love how it turned out.

Head on over to see what the Project Tuesday team came up with this week!





Stamps: True Friend, Lovely Labels
Paper & Card: Spring Flowers & Old Olive DP. Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Old Olive & So Saffron Card.
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Rose Red & Baja Breeze
Punches: Circle Punches, Wide Oval, Handheld, Lg Corner Rounder
Other: Old Olive Ribbon, So Saffron Brads, Circle Scissors Plus

Other: Jumbo Scallop Die-namics - MFT Stamps.