More VLV for February & CR84FN

Here are the other 2 VLV cards for February.  The second one is a combined entry with CR84FN's color combo for week 16.

The first one uses Diva Teresa's great sketch.



I have to admit that the envelope on the sketch really threw me for a loop!  I finally decided to hand cut a butterfly from the dp and add that in place of the envelope.  I thought it coordinated well with the sentiment.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  Verve "Beautiful You"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Paper:  K & Co. "Susan Winget - Spring Blossom"
Other:  MS edge punch, Nesties, rose, organdy ribbon (Jo Ann's)

The second one uses Diva Andrea's great sketch along with CR84FN's week 16 color combo of pink, violet, and gray. 



Ingredients:
Stamps:  Verve "Kind Words"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  white, K & Co. "Susan Winget - Spring Blossom"
Other:  gray satin ribbon, Bow Easy, rose, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,

Sarah

Psalm 46:1

For The Shabby Tea Room this week, the challenge is buttons and bows along with a pretty picture filled with lovely springtime colors.  From the colors in the inspiration photo, I thought of spring flowers, so that's the direction I went with some new K & Co papers by Susan Winget.

I used Amy's lovely VLV week 2 sketch for my layout.

Here's my card.

I'm wishing that spring would arrive soon, but we're supposed to get another inch or two of snow tonight.  I'm ready for warmer days and that wonderful fresh springtime smell.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  Verve "Plain Jane Psalm 46:1"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, SU! Pretty in Pink, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Papers:  white, vellum, K & Co. "Susan Winget - Spring Blossom"
Other:  MS punch, MS seam binding, Bow Easy, button, hemp string, Prima roses, pearls, Nesties, sponge, sewing machine

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Ask, Seek, Knock

I'm barely going to make the deadline for this week's Shining the Light Challenge at ODBD.  We were challenged to stamp a sentiment over an image.  I chose the "Ask, Seek, Knock" set from ODBD for my image and sentiment and followed this week's Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge for my layout.  I started with the CAS layout option, but then I just had to add some flowers.  You know me and my flowers!  :)

Ingredients:
Stamps:  ODBD "Ask, Seek, Knock"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Papers:  K & Co., cream, brown
Other:  Nestabilities, Tim Holtz distressing tool, Prima flowers, MS leaf punch, sponge (leaf edges with VPDI), brads

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Such a Joy

For VLV week 1, we had a great sketch from Amber.

Here's my card.  I let the dp do the work for me on this one, and then added one of my favorite Verve sentiments.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  Verve "Kind Words"
Paper:  cream, brown, Graphic 45 "Once Upon a Springtime"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink (sponged)
Other:  Nesties, seam binding, Bow Easy, Prima rose, sponge

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Dance, Sing, Live

In the Verve forum on SCS, there is a new challenge called "Get Your Diva On."  Charmaine is our hostess for this first round.  She has challenged us to use this beautiful photo as our inspiration.

By now, you may have noticed that I love pink!  So from the inspiration photo, I went with pink and roses and a little bit of sparkle from some glittery K & Co. "Smitten" papers.  I started with the layout from last week's Friday Sketcher's challenge (sketch 141), but I wasn't entirely true to following it.

I had a really hard time photographing this card.  The glitter on the dp kept giving a lot of glare in the photos.  This one was the best photo I could get, but you can see at the bottom how it's just one big glare in the photo. 

Here's a closeup of the big Prima rose.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  Verve "Grateful Elegance" for circle filigree piece, Verve "Beautiful You" for the sentiment, Verve "Blessings" for the flourish frame at the top and bottom of the sentiment panel
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black and SU! Melon Mambo sponged along sentiment panel edges and on the centers of the small roses (originally white)
Papers:  black, white, K & Co. "Smitten"
Other:  Prima roses, MS leaf punch, MFT doily die, MFT large scalloped border die, sponge

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Mojo Monday and TSTR

I made a card using this week's Mojo Monday sketch and The Shabby Tea Room's "Keep Warm" challenge.

Here's Maria's fun sketch.

Here's the inspirational photo from TSTR.  Don't these blankets look warm and snuggly?

Here's my card.  I went with the rusty red blanket on the top of the stack as my main color inspiration.  The sentiment is a little small to read in the photo, but it says "Knitting keeps us from unraveling." 

I stamped the needles and yarn and layered them together in place of the 3 dots on the side of the sketch.  I was originally going to use 3 yarn skeins, but they were just a little too large for the space and overpowered the image.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  SU! "Hand Knit"
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Papers:  white, dp and solid for mats from My Mind's Eye
Other:  Copic markers, Nesties, organza ribbon from stash, Bow Easy, button, hemp string


Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Stylish Blogger Award

The very sweet Maria has passed along a Stylish Blogger Award to me!  Thank you, dearie!  In turn, I'm supposed to tell you 8 things about myself and pass the award on to 8 other bloggers.  Here goes:

8 Things about me:
1.  I love the Green Bay Packers.  Go Pack Go!
2.  The last book I read was The Wave by Susan Casey.  I know absolutely nothing about surfing, but her writing style was so wonderful.  I felt like I was right there watching these scenes unfold. 
3.  My favorite shoes are Crocs.  I know that they are not the most attractive shoes, but they are oh so comfortable!  I'm a happier person when my feet aren't sore!  :)
4.  We have 4 pets:  2 indoor cats and 2 mostly outdoor Alaskan Malamutes.  The dogs only like to come inside if it is summer.  They love AC!
5.  I hate dusting.
6.  I'm pretty handy with a lot of tools thanks to my brother!  I can even work the table saw and planers!
7.  I could live in my PJs.
8.  I would love to visit Norway.

8 People I'd like to pass the Stylish Blogger Award to:
1.  Keva  hownowbrownkow 
2.  Toni  Sweet Pea's Story
3.  Tonda  Adnot's Inkpad Three
4.  Kate   Another Kate's Creation
5.  Connie  Connie's Crafty Creations
6.  Dani  Paulette's Papers
7.  Sherry  Stamping Cowgirl Creations
8.  Angie  Body, Mind, Spirit, and STAMPS

These ladies are so sweet to leave comments for me on SCS.  I'm horrible about squeezing time into my day to comment on the fabulous cards and projects these ladies regularly create.  Look at any one of their blogs and/or galleries and you will be wowed!

Thanks again to Maria, these 8 lovely ladies, and my growing list of followers.  I truly appreciate each of you!

Blessings!
Sarah

Heartfelt Thanks

For Mojo Monday Challenge 177, Julee gave us this great sketch.  I have to admit, that it took me the entire week to figure out how to deal with that triangle panel.  That's why it's called a challenge, right?  Fortunately for me, I found this Basic Grey paper that had a design that I could cut as a triangle, and the pattern worked with that shape.  Whew!
Here's the sketch.

Here's my card.

Here's a couple of closeup of the glittery flower.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  Verve "Celebration of Thanks"
Ink:  Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  Basic Grey
Other:  Prima flower, pearls, machine and faux stitching, Tim Holtz distress tool

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Love You

This week's challenge at TSTR was Hearts.  We were challenged to use hearts plus any of the elements shown in the inspiration photo such as the colors and embellishments.  Isn't this a cute picture?  My layout is from Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #91. 

I went with hearts plus the colors of pink and green.  I added polka dots, ruffled lace, seam binding, punched trims, and flowers as my additional elements.

Here's a couple of closeups.

On this second one, you can see the flower background I stamped behind my cut out letters a little better.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  SU! "Seeing Spots" for the little flowers, SU! "Alphahearts"
Ink:  SU! Regal Rose for the heart letters and Pretty in Pink for the flowers
Papers:  white, pink, green with white polka dots from DCWV
Accessories:  Ruffled trim from stash, mini roses from Recollections, seam binding, Bow Easy, satin ribbon from stash, MS doily heart lace punch, MS hearts punch

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

How Much Love We Put In

After a crazy week at school, I finally had time to do some stamping today!  It was a great stress reliever for me.  I started with the Midnight Madness Sketch 90.  Then I added ODBD's Shining the Light Challenge 48 which is "Have a H.E.A.R.T. recipe challenge" (hemp, embossing, any ODBD stamps, ribbon/lace, and tearing or distressing).  We were to use at least three of the ingredients.  I also used ODBD's Stamping in Time Challenge 28 which is distressing. 

Here's the sketch:

Here's my card.

I used some hemp in the corners of the sketch, but it is nearly all covered up by the mini roses.  The other elements in my recipe were distressing (torn edge and sponged), ribbon, and a sentiment from ODBD's "Mother Teresa" set.

Here's a closer look at the panel.

Ingredients:
Stamps:  ODBD "Mother Teresa"
Paper:  white, green, dp from K & Co.
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Other:  Mini roses from Recollections, sewing machine, Tim Holtz distress tool, pearls, hemp string, satin ribbon from stash

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Love...

I was able to combine five challenges on this card.  For the Basic Grey "Hearts" challenge, I used dp from the "Bittersweet" collection.  I combined ODBD's Stamping in Time challenge, "All About Love" with the Shining the Light challenge, "Choose Your Challenge."  For the choose your challenge, I picked punches and/or dies (MS punch and Nesties).  I used the CR84FN14 color combo of light pink, bright pink, and chocolate brown.

My layout is from the February Sketch for You to Try.

Here's my card.

The Mother Teresa quote is from ODBD's "Let Us Begin."  I added some pearl flourishes, roses, and silk ribbon.  Here's a look from the side.

Lastly, here's the back of the card with my personalized stamp.

Here's what I used:
Stamps:  ODBD "Let Us Begin"
Papers:  white, brown, and dp from Basic Grey "Bittersweet"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, SU! Melon Mambo sponged on punched heart border
Other:  Prima and Recollections roses, Nesties, Recollections pearls, Zva Creative pearl flourishes, MS heart doily lace punch, sponge, May Arts pink silk ribbon, Bow Easy

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

TSTR 47 - Get Creative!

This week's challenge at The Shabby Tea Room was to get creative and make your own stamped papers and embellishments.

My original intention was to also use this card for the week 1 VLV challenge for February, but I didn't quite follow all of Amber's great sketch.  Guess I'll just have to make another card later!  :)   Here's a look at the sketch so you can see what I was attempting to do for a layout.

I did manage to make a square card with the panels in the right places and a circular element in the center.  The finished card is 6" square, so that gives you an idea of the size of that giant pink flower.  I used Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral die from Sizzix to cut out 3 of the largest sized petals, 2 medium petals, and 2 small petals.  I used a petal rolling tool to bend the papers and shape the petals.  The flower is held together with a brad, tacky glue, and foam tape.  I added a pearl for the center.

I used several Verve stamps to make some background papers.  The white panel was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black using Verve's "Artful Elegance."  The dark pink panel was also stamped in VOB using Verve's "Grateful Elegance."  The light pink panel was stamped in SU! Melon Mambo using several stamps from Verve's "Accent Notes."

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Happy Valentine's Day

I combined this week's Mojo Monday sketch with CR84FN's color challenge.  I have to admit that red, turquoise, and brown is one of the hardest color combinations for me to use.  I just have a hard time getting the amounts of the different colors to appear balanced to my eye.  I found some dp that had those colors in them and just went from there.  Here's a look at the fun sketch and inspiration photo.

                                                       

I hand cut the curved panels using the edge of my roll of Scor-Tape as the guide.

I just love this little fox!  My daughter was quick to point out that I hadn't colored the fox correctly as "a real orange fox would have black ears and no pink cheeks."  Oops, sorry sweetie!
Here's what I used:
Stamps:  Fox from Imaginesce's "Twitterpated" collection, sentiment from Verve's "Hearts on Fire"
Paper:  Brown, white, and Imaginesce "Twitterpated"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Other:  Mini roses from Recollections, Nesties, Copics

Thank for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Just a Note WMSC32

With my unexpected day off yesterday for the snow, I had time to play with the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge for this week.  Isn't this a fun sketch?

I used a Prima Gypsy Petals Soho flower for the flower image in the sketch.  You can see in the closeup how it has darkened edges and a fabulous button in the center.  I added a pink gem to the button to cover up the two button holes. 

Here's what I used:
Paper:  white, SU! Pretty in Pink
Stamps:  Verve "Accent Notes"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, SU! Pretty in Pink (sponged over the dry embossing)
Accessories:  Prima Gypsy Petals Soho flower, pink gem, Nestabilites Labels 4, Ornare paper piercing template, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Tim Holtz distressing tool, pink button from K & Co., hemp twine, pearl flourish (Zva Creative - I think), sponge

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!
Sarah

Faith - ODBDSLC46

I'm feeling so blessed today that both my daughter and I have a snow day!  School was cancelled for both of us yesterday afternoon, so it was very nice to go to bed knowing we would be off today.  We have a snowdrift that is over a foot deep across the sidewalk and blocking the front door, but until the winds die down a bit (we're getting gusts around 40 mph) it won't do a lot of good to try to clear all of that snow!

So, having the day off, one of the things I really wanted to do was to stamp!  Big surprise, right?  I started by finishing my ODBD Shining the Light challenge card.  This week's challenge was to use blue.

I ran 1/4" Scor-Tape all around the back of the oval, and then attached the gathered lace to it. The entire oval panel is then attached to the card using foam tape. I used the smallest of the oval grand Nesties to cut out my image and then hand cut the white mat.

I used the Midnight Madness Sketch as the basis of my layout.  I chose the fancy option.

Here's a closer look at the glittery butterfly.

Here's a closer look at the other roses.  What I loved about the MM sketch was that the little dots in the sketch could be positioned to exactly cover the seam in my lace.  For this particular card, since I didn't go with a shabby chic interpretation, I thought having the raw edges of the lace would look unfinished.  I usually just fold the lace back on itself and adhere it with a bit of Scor-Tape.  If you look really closely, you can barely see the seam between the upper light rose and the darker rose on the bottom left.

Here's what I used:
DP:  Basic Grey "Wisteria" and "Kioshi"
Stamps:  ODBD "Faith"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Other:  Copics, Prima mini roses, butterfly (not sure of brand, tossed packaging - sorry!), MS doily lace punch, gathered lace from stash, Recollections adhesive pearls, Scor-Tape, foam tape, oval Grand Nestabilities

Well, that's all for now.  I'm going to go grade some essays for my AP Biology students while Ariel plays with some stuffed animals, and then she and I are going to do some more stamping!  I'm hoping that the wind will die down before the temperatures drop as forecasted so Ariel can get a chance to play in the snow.  She was soooooo excited to see how deep it was when she got up this morning!  I hope that you are staying safe in this storm that's affected so many of us. 

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings!

Sarah

ETA:  I'm so excited to add that my card was chosen as one of the Remarkables for challenge 89!  Thank you MM!  You can click here to see their blog post.