Viva La Verve

I thought this week's Viva La Verve sketch would be a great way to show off some background paper, and then decided to try a new technique on my stamps.  I pulled out Verve's Bloom & Grow set, and coloured the flowers and leaves with my Tombow markers.  I gave them a light spritz with water before stamping them, which gave them a cool water stained/watercolour look!  I really like how they turned out.  I originally had just a plain cream background panel, but felt the card needed a little something more, so I used a page out of an old dictionary instead that I stitched down. 

Here's a closeup of the flowers:

Patterned paper is Woodland Park, October Afternoon; Cardstock is Crystal Blue & Colonial White, CTMH; Stamp sets are Bloom & Grow, Verve and All of You, CTMH; Ink is Outdoor Denim, CTMH; Tombow markers.

Mojo Monday #300!

Mojo Monday is celebrating a huge milestone this week, with their 300th sketch!  I've been a Verve fan for years, so was very keen to play along, and pulled out a couple of favourite Verve sets.  I am also using this week's Dynamic Duos colour combo of grey +?

Patterned papers are Summer Stories, Teresa Collins; Cardstock is Black, Whisper & White Daisy, CTMH; Inks are Black and Whisper, CTMH; Stamp sets are All the Flowers Plain Jane & Bloom & Grow - Verve; Licorice Opaque Pearls, CTMH; Leaf die, Verve.

 

Dynamic Duos #35

This week's Dynamic Duo colour combo just said "floral" to me... and I've had this new background die from Taylored Expressions for a few weeks that I thought would make a lovely trellis for a floral type card.  It didn't take long for it all to come together: the leaves and rolled flowers are all cut with my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge, and the tag and background were done with my Cuttlebug.  To give the flowers a little extra dimension, I sponged tone on tone ink on all the petal edges, and faded Creme Brulee ink at the top of the tag, down to Sweet Leaf at the bottom.  It doesn't show up too well in the photo, but I sponged Creme Brulee ink around the edges of the Creme Brulee background panel to give it a little extra depth as well, then covered it with the white trellis.

Here is our amazing colour combo of Certainly Celery & So Saffron:

If you don't have the exact colours, feel free to use something similar, but we ask that you only use the two colours shown (the addition of neutrals like kraft, and skintones is fine).  All the details are shown on the Dynamic Duos blog, where you'll also see the amazing inspiration by our fabulous designers!  Their blogs are also listed on my sidebar.

Cardstock is Creme Brulee, Sweat Leaf, Kraft & White Daisy; Inks are Creme Brulee, Sweet Leaf & Desert Sand; Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge; Natural Hemp - all CTMH; Quatre foil die, Taylored Expressions; Sweet Scallop Tag die & stamp, Verve; Sentiment is Bloom & Grow, Verve.

Celebrating with Verve

To celebrate World Card Making Day... Verve has a sketch challenge going on, using this great sketch from Julee.  I used the bright colours from this week's Color Throwdown challenge as my inspiration, and pulled out my June Key Ingredients kit for the papers and accessories:

Stamp set is Bloom & Grow, Verve; Elegant Leaves Die, Verve; Large scallop circle, Spellbinders; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento and Pear, CTMH; Patterned papers are Hello Summer, Echo Park; Black and White Daisy cardstock, CTMH;

 

Mojo Monday #253

This week's Mojo Monday sketch is an interesting one... and took a while to plan out.  I love the end result, even though this is WAY more fussy-cutting than normal for me :o)

Patterned papers are Tea for Two, Cosmo Cricket; Stamp set is Bloom & Grow, Verve; Circle Flower Die, Verve; Inks are Rich Cocoa, Memento and Blush, Hollyhock & Olive, CTMH; Mocha Opaque Pearl, CTMH.  Cardstock, paper & ribbon, Key Ingredients kit.

Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #54 & Key Ingredients May Challenge

Yay!  I got my Key Ingredients kit in the mail today... so I immediately pulled it out to make something for the May Key Ingredients challenge which is "May Flowers".  I've used this week's Sketchbook Saturday sketch.  The little canvas flowers came in my KI kit... they have cute little resist hearts embossed on them, so that when I sponged them with ink, the little hearts appeared.

Stamp set is Bloom & Grow, Verve; Baker's Twine, The Twinery; Inks are Black, Heavenly Blue & Baby Pink, CTMH; - all other supplies are the May Key Ingredients kit.

Mojo Monday#242

October Afternoon papers are always some of my favourites, so I've pulled out 5 & Dime for this week's Mojo Monday sketch, along with Verve's lovely Bloom & Grow stamp set:

Patterned papers are 5 & Dime, October Afternoon; Cardstock is Kraft & Colonial White, CTMH; Stamp set is Bloom & Grow, Verve; Inks are Dutch Blue, Cranberry, Sunny Yellow, Black & Desert Sand; Baker's Twine, The Twinery; Black pearls, Want to Scrap.

Mojo Monday #227

I love Debbie's sketch for Mojo Monday this week!  It gave me a chance to use one of my new Verve sets "Words of Wisdom" and some of my favourite (older) Cosmo Cricket papers:

 

Patterned papers are Girl Friday, Cosmo Cricket; Cardstock is Kraft, Sunset & Colonial White, CTMH; Stamp sets are Words of Wisdom & Bloom & Grow, Verve; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento, Sunset & Juniper, CTMH; Vintage Oval Frame die, Verve.

Color Throwdown Challenge #162

I love blue & brown together!  This week's Color Throwdown challenge added a pale creamy yellow to the mix, too.  I'm generally a less is more kinda gal, so I almost didn't add the little striped ribbon - what do you think?  Is it one element too many?  I'm still pleased with the outcome either way:

Patterned paper is Life's Journey Dictionary; Cardstock is Cocoa, Crystal Blue & Colonial White - CTMH; Stamp sets are Bloom & Grow - Verve; Happy Birthday - CTMH;  Inks are Desert Sand & Crystal Blue - CTMH; Just Blooms paper butterflies - CTMH;  Cuttlebug flower dies; Charming Oval dies - Verve;  Ribbon - CTMH;  Opaque Mocha Pearls - CTMH;

Color Throwdown Challenge #153

My long awaited Verve stamps & dies arrived yesterday, so they were the first things I grabbed for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge!  Here is the colour palette:

I was very much inspired by Broni Holcombe's gorgeous card, so here's my spin on it: (even though it looks a bit rectangular, it's actually a 5 1/2" square card)

Stamp set is Bloom & Grow, by Verve; Elegant Leaves and Floral Circles dies by Verve; Cardstock is Kraft, Heavenly Blue & White Daisy; Inks are Black, Olive, Crystal Blue & Heavenly Blue; Heavenly Blue & Kiwi Bigger Brads - all CTMH.