Just Give Me Stamps...

Orange Challenged...

It's true.  I've very orange challenged!  I mean, I really like what others do with it...but I can never get it to look right!!  So, when I saw what the colors were for Verve's May Project Parade Challenge, I knew I was in trouble!  The Project Parade Challenge this month is a "Summertime" Color Challenge:  So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky (or Bashful Blue), Regal Rose (or Cameo Coral), & Old Olive (optional).

I did try to incorporate Pumpkin Pie into my card....I really did!!  Once again, I just couldn't get it to look right.  Now, before you go telling on me to Julee (owner of Verve), I did actually use just a tiny bit of Pumpkin Pie!  I colored the butterfly with a Pumpkin Pie colored Copic marker!!  LOL!

I embossed one of the small flowers from Floral Whimsyin white on all three background panels.  I then layered a few circles (cut/embossed with my Circle Nestabilties).  The butterfly (from Fluttering By) and the two larger flowers are embossed, colroed with Copics, & cut out.

If you haven't already joined in the Project Parade fun this month, there is still time to play!!  Check out THIS post for all the details!  The winner is going to receive $15 of FREE Verve Bucks!! 

Recipe   Stamps: Floral Whimsy, Fluttering By  Paper: Shimmery White c.s., Vellum c.s., Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Cameo Coral   Ink:Versamark, Chocolate Chip craft  Other: Clear e.p., White e.p., Circle and Rectangle Nestabilities, Decoarative brad, Aged copper brad, Copic markers, 5/8" Chocolate grosgrain ribbon

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge # 50!

Happy Friday!!  Can you believe that there have now been 50 Weekend Sketch Challenges??  Wooohoo!!  Something that just occurred to me the other day...is that I should be keeping these sketches in a binder so I can refer back to them.  (I know...I'm slow!  LOL!)  They really are a great resource!!

For this card, I was going for a fresh and clean style.  I normally don't leave so much empty white space on a card (maybe I think of it like "dead air" on a radio??)...but it really did fit the fresh and clean style so I broke out of my stamping "box" and went for it!!  LOL!  I decided to use my Priceless set (it's been waaay to long since it's seen any ink).  The flowers are embossed with Clear e.p. (I really think this helps the color pop a little more) and cut out.  I scored the bottom Chocolate Chip panel to create a striped pattern (I looooove stripes and polka dots together).

You should also check out what Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Lori, Mary Jo, &Sharon have made!  It's so fun to see all of the different cards they come up with using the same sketch!!  If you want to play along...make sure to check out Beate's sketch HERE.

The sun is shining here...and it promises to be a gorgeous Spring day!!  Woohoo!  I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Recipe   Stamps: Priceless, Short & Sweet   Paper: Shimmery White c.s., Closet to Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip   Ink:Certainly Celery, Versamark   Other: Clear e.p., Corner rounder punch, Scor-Pal, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, Brads, Ribbon, White e.p., Paper piercer

Inque Boutique Meets Everyday Blessings...

Happy Thursday!  Can you believe that it is the end of May??  I really can't believe it!!  Where did May go?    For us, spring is just beginning...and I am loving every minute of it!  I think that may be the reason that I am on this pastel color "kick"!  LOL!

I again, wanted to create a soft and springy card...but wanted it to look elegant.  I started with an Aqua Mist card base, and layered on a piece of patterned paper (from the Everyday Blessings collection by Papertrey).  I embossed this beautiful flower stamp (from Inque Boutique's Birdies set) with white embossing powder on vellum cardstock.  (I know, I know...I'm using vellum again...but I just can't seem to help myself!  LOL!)  I used the Ticket corner punch on each corner of the vellum and then added a small adhesive backed pearl.  To finish the card, I used some Aqua Mist satin ribbon and a small piece of Narrow White organdy ribbon to tie my Thinking of You sentiment (also from the Birdies set) that I had embossed onto a vellum tag (made with the Spellbinders Tag Trio dies).  The vellum tag by itself didn't show up enough against the vellum background layer, so I backed it with some Spring Moss cardstock.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!  Thanks for stopping by!  ~Laurie

 Recipe

Stamps:  Birdies (Inque Boutique)    Paper:  Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Everyday Blessings (Papertrey Inc.), Whisper White, Vellum c.s.    Ink: Versamark    Other:  White e.p., Ticket corner punch, Aqua Mist satin ribbon, White organdy ribbon, Pearls (Hero Arts), Spellbinders Tag Trio dies

Shabby Chic Florals...

Today, I will share with you another card I made with Verve Visual's newly released stamps.  I really like the way this one turned out...and I think it is the soft colors!  I don't know why, but I always forget about using only pastel colors!  I seem to always sneak some brown in there somewhere!  LOL!  Another "style" that I'm continually drawn to, but seem to somehow forget to incorporate that into stamping is "Shabby Chic". 

I wasn't sure exactly what constitued an item to be considered Shabby Chic...so I looked it up in the dictionary.  Shabby means "Showing signs of wear and tear" old and worn in appearance".  Chic means "stylish or elegant".  Well, I thought it was high time I brought this to my stamping...I mean I LOVE to add signs of "wear and tear" to my cards!!  LOL! 

I found some of this pink striped patterned paper (by Making Memories) waaaaay in the back of my stash.  It was so crisp and clean when I started...I almost didn't want to "dirty" it up!  LOL!  I used some Versamagic Dew Drops to ink up the stems and flowers...and then embossed them with Clear e.p.  You all know how I love dimension...so I just had to pop up a couple of the blooms!  LOL!  The card base is a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card...I just cut off an inch or so from my top flap to give the "illusion" of a unique fold...without all the work!  LOL!  I also wanted to make sure these gorgeous buttons were visible on both the front and the inside.  The Celery grosgrain ribbon was a little too bright for my "dirtied" up card, so I sponged the ribbon with Sahara Sand ink (the same ink I used to sponge all of the layers on the card).  The pink gingham "loop" addition was actually an accident...but I like it much better than what I was originally going to do, so I kept it as is.  :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you all have a wonderful day!  ~Laurie

Stamps: Floral Whimsy (Verve Visual)
Paper: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink (Stampin' Up!), Pearlized White, Patterned paper (Making Memories)
Ink: Versamagic Dew Drops (Aloe Vera, Pixie Dust, Pink Petunia), Creamy Caramel (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Clear e.p., Nestabilities, Buttons, 5/8" Celery grosgrain ribbon, Pink gingham ribbon, Corner Rounder (Stampin' Up!), Thread

Just Because...

Happy Tuesday!  Today and tomorrow I'm going to be sharing with you some of the samples I made with this month's new Verve stamps!

The polka dots on the butterfly's wings reminded me of this patterned paper (Overton House Designs by EK Success) that I had picked up a while ago.  As part of my "I'm going to use all the stuff I buy" self-imposed rule...I only bought ONE of each of these designs.  I know, I know...what was I thinking??  (On a complete side note:  I've discovered some interesting things about myself...if I only have oneof something I will hoard it and not use it, but if I have more than one of the same item...I'm much more likely to use it all.  I'm not sure what that says about me pshycoloically...but stamping wise, that tells me I need to get lots of stuff!!  ROFLOL!!)  Anyway, when I saw how perfect this paper was for the new Fluttering By set...I just had to use it!!  :-)

I wanted to keep the design fairly simple, because the patterned paper is pretty "busy".  I did know that I wanted three butterflies on my card, so I decided on a tall skinny card (3 1/8 x 6 1/2).  I also wanted both patterns visible from the front but there wasn't much room to break up the front...so that's how I decided to cut part of the front flap off.  I used a very high-tech tool to make the rounded flap (one of my kids' plastic plates) LOL!!!  I used my circle Nestabilities to make the circles that the butterflies are mounted on.  embossed the butterfly (I first stamped the butterfly in Versamark then in Close to Cocoa Classic ink) with Clear e.p., and then colored them in lightly with my Copic markers.  I didn't have the right color of ribbon...so I used the same Copic marker that I colored the butterflies with and dyed my own (I used White taffeta ribbon).

For the inside, I adhered a sentiment that I made by stamping "Just Because" onto Soft Sky c.s. and punching it out with my Large Oval punch.

Thanks so much for visiting!!  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Recipe   Stamps: Fluttering By (Verve Visual)
Paper: Soft Sky (Stampin Up!), Patterned paper (Overton House Designs by EK Success)
Ink: Close to Cocoa (Stampin' Up!), Versamark
Accessories: Clear e.p., Circle Nestabilities, Lg. Oval punch, White taffeta ribbon, Copic markers, Dew Drops