Fit for Royalty

Flourishes offered up a challenge for crafters to create a card "Fit for Royalty". So I had a try at it! I went for elegance because that is what Flourishes stamps remind me of. Black and white is almost always an elegant combination. I used some new Making Memories Wedding paper and my Brushed Silver card stock. I wanted to use a precious metal color and went with silver, simply because I prefer it to gold. I added pearls, both silver and black and used a luxurious satin ribbon.
Because I used lots of black, I didn't have too much room for a sentiment. I solved this problem by using a rub-on on my ribbon. I made it a birthday card to celebrate Stamp Simply's 100th challenge.

Here are the details:

Stamps: Thinking of You (Flourishes)
Paper: Basic Black, Brushed Silver, Whisper White, MM Wedding dp
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Nestabilities, Scallop Edge punch, M's white satin ribbon, M's black pearls, M's silver pearls, Chit Chat rub-ons

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

ETA: Check this out! I won, based on merit, not just random drawing!!!

I {heart} Verve in August

So Verve had it's second Anniversary and Julee posted 5 sketches for crafter's to play with. I had a ball. I did all of the sketches out of order. This is a bad photo (taken at night)of the 5th sketch, to which I added stitching for Verve Diva Jackie's challenge to add stitching! I hand stitched because I am too chicken to get my sewing machine up and running. You know, it is probably just like all of the other things that I put off. It will probably only take me minimal effort and I will forever wonder why I delayed!


This is the 4th sketch, but the first card I made. I made it for my daycare provider's daughter who just turned 11. I needed it to be fun and sort of tween-y. This was the best I could do. I think she liked it, but I know she liked the cash inside the card best! I'm really fine with that. Her mom really liked the card, especially the sentiment, and asked me if I would make more! Hooray, card sales! I don't know what this fun paper is, it was sent to me by Jen Buck. She was ridding herself of some of her scraps, which I happily accepted!



This is the first sketch, which I ended up doing last. The three circles just stumped me! I wanted to do something original, but didn't. I used my Martha Stewart Butterfly punch. It's a handy punch I tell you. If for nothing else than the pure entertainment value with my three year old! I really like the look of those Art Flowers from Hero Arts combined with the Kaisercraft pearls! I will have to try that one again.

This is sketch #2 and maybe not my favorite of the whole bunch. It's probably because I drew on it. When I try to draw on my own card or write on the face of the card, it loses a whole lot of appeal for me. I do like the background papers and the sentiment. Maybe my ovals should have been larger to accommodate the sentiment better and take up more room on the card?

This last card is the third sketch. I combined it with Verve Diva, Amber's challenge to create a birthday card since Verve turned 2 this month. I like how this one turned out. It was kind of hard for me to cover up some of the flowers I stamped and colored. Maybe next time, I would make the scalloped circle out of vellum to allow more of the flowers to peak through.
My bow looks a little funky, but at least the center is tidy looking!






Here are the details for each card:

Birthday circles -
Stamps: Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Parisian Breeze dp, Print Patterns dsp
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Nestabilities, sponge dauber, circle template, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, needle, thread, kraft taffeta ribbon, mini glue dots, stampin' dimensionals
Techniques: sewing, sponging

Fun card -
Stamps: Beautiful You (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze. Mystery dp (gifted to me by a friend)
Ink: ? Black, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Gable Green, Green Galore
Accessories: American Crafts spring ribbon, two way glue pen, dazzling diamonds, stampin' dimensionals, Nestabilities, circle template

Small Miracles -
Stamps: Beautiful You (Verve)
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Bella Rose dp, Candy Lane dp
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Nestabilities, MS butterfly punch, Sakura clear star gel pen, Kaisercraft chocolate pearls, HA Art flowers, mini glue dots

Two roads -
Stamps: Beautiful You (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Sand, BG Mellow
Ink: Basic Brown, Certainly Celery, River Rock, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Oval template, Nestabilities, stampin' sponge, aquapainter, Heidi Grace brads
Techniques: sponging

Pink Birthday -
Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve), Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Regal Rose, Sweet Always dsp
Ink: Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Soft Sky
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch, blender pen, stampin' sponge, stampin' dimensionals, mini glue dot, Sakura clear star gel pen, M's pink satin ribbon
Techniques: sponging, masking

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

I Hip-Hopped a very little!

Crazy, but I seem to have a little more time for Hip Hop when I am working! Oh well, I did find some time today to play both of the Hip Hop challenges. This first card was made for the challenge titled, "Not a Ribbon in Sight". I thought I would have a harder time with it, but I didn't. I had fun stamping my image on Kraft and then just coloring it with colored pencils. I couldn't find a Unity sentiment that I wanted to put on it, so I just used a rub-on that was sitting on my desk! I achieved the lighter brown color on the cuckoo clock with my Versamark pen.




This little number was for the Hip Hop Challenge titled "Wing It" . This card gave me fits! I was trying to make it a one layer card, but embossing powder wouldn't stay put and then ink smeared. Yeah, not once, but twice! Finally, I just cut out my image and sentiment and shifted from white to black! I actually like it better. I used my ruler and my Sakura Clear Star gel pen to create the shimmery box.

Here are the specifics for each card:

Cuckoo -
Stamps: Folk Inspired (Unity)
Paper: Kraft, Riding Hood Red
Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, Versamark pen
Accessories: corner rounder, stampin' dimensionals, colored pencils, Chit-Chat rub-ons
Techniques: coloring

Simplicity -
Stamps: Hodge Podge of Happiness (Unity), Gratitude=Joy (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: marcasite ep, heat tool, paper snips, Sakura clear star gel pen, two way glue pen, ruler
Techniques: embossing, CAS

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Sweet and Simple starts my week :)

Verve has turned two and a new release is just around the corner. So there are challenges galore and games! It's really crazy, I'm not sure if I will get anything done around the house. My craft room and computer have a very strong pull at the moment. (Especially since school starts in just over 3 weeks!)

Charmaine is a Verve Diva and is hosting a giveaway this week for a sweet and simple one-layer card. I had to try embossing with my Nestabilities. It turned out okay for not having the proper tools. I need to get some tan mats from Spellbinders to get a deeper impression from my Nestabilities. As it turns out, the Clean and Simple challenge this week is to Show Off Your Bling. Bling was defined and did include pearls, so here it is!

Here are the details for my card:

Stamps: Notes of Prayer (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Gold ep, heat tool, Kaisercraft Chocolate Pearls, M's brown satin ribbon, glue dot, Nestabilities
Techniques: embossing

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Got Mojo?

I made this card following Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday sketch 98. It's a contest week, but I don't really have too much hope about winning. I like my card and I think it's a good first try for kirigami, but it's not a super-knock-your-socks-off kind of card.

So Kirigami, in my basic understanding, is paper folding and cutting. You know, like the paper snowflakes that kids (of all ages) make to decorate for Winter. I had fun with it and I chose this particular design (Cherry Blossom) because it reminded me of some of the flowers that you find in Verve Stamps.

I went with a simple sentiment and a simple bow.

Here are the details:

Stamps: Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, BG Scarlet's Letter , Vellum, Origami Paper, Whisper White
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Accessories: paper snips, M's black satin ribbon, glue dot, stampin' dimensionals, 1 3/8" circle punch
Techniques: kirigami

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Painting with Limelight

Limelight Papercrafts issues a sketch challenge every other week with a product focus. This week's challenge has a product focus of paint! Mandy sells Shimmerz paint and I happen to have the Angel Wings color. So I painted it onto the flower tops in my card. That didn't seem to be enough paint to me, so I also painted the middle panel that separates the two patterned papers.

When I finished my stamping and painting, my focal image seemed a little lonely, so I got out my mat pack and my paper piercing tool and pierced around the outside of my image.

Here are the details:

Stamps: Gratitude=Joy (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, SEI Granny's Kitchen
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Baja Breeze
Accessories: mat pack, paper piercing tool, Chit Chat rub-ons, Angel Wings Shimmerz
Techniques: paper piercing

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

On A Verve Kick

Yep, can't seem to put my Verve stamps down! I checked out the Viva La Verve sketch for this week and was surprised to find no sketch at all??? The challenge is to CASE one of the Verve Divas cards. I chose this card by Shannan Teubner. The twist this week is that participants must not use patterned paper if the Diva did on her original card. If the Diva did not use patterned, then the participant must! Got it? (Shannan's original card used a Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge sketch, so mine follows it too!)

I doubled up on challenges for this card, as the Our Creative Corner challenge this week is to use purple!!! I love purple and I especially love the Basic Grey Wisteria line which has tons of purple in it!

Here are the details for this card:
Stamps: Beautiful You (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Pale Plum, BG Wisteria
Ink: Basic Black, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Nestabilities, white organdy ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, sponge dauber
Techniques: sponging

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.