Verve Inspiration Challenge

I am so happy to have the Verve challenges back this month :o)  I am using this week's Deconstructed Sketch paired up with the Verve February Inspiration Challenge which is "Vivacious Valentine"... so here is what I've made for my daughter:

There are some irredescent Sprinkles on the white&grey heart which don't really show up in the photo, but it gives it a little glimmer.

Patterned papers are Head Over Heals by BoBunny; Stamp sets are Wings of Love, Notebook Paper and So Sweet Plain Jane, all Verve; Wavy Hearts dies & Notebook die by Verve; Cardstock is White Daisy, Grey Wool & Cotton Candy, CTMH; Inks are Black, Grey Flannel & Cotton Candy; CTMH;

Deconstructed Sketch #175

My wonderful brother-in-law has a great appreciation for my handmade cards... so he has requested that I send him a small 'stash' so he has cards to give to my sister on her birthday, Mother's Day, Valentine's etc.  So today I whipped up a couple of cards to add to his supply.  I've used the current Deconstructed Sketch, and a few of the newer Verve stamp sets:

Patterned papers are October Afternoon; Stamp sets are Cupcakes & Coffee, Verve; Coffee die, Verve; Inks are Chocolate, Blush & Champagne, Close To My Heart;

Balloon Ride

Oh, my - these are the most gorgeous papers!  They're so soft & pretty, I think you'll see me using them frequently over the next while.  I got the coordinating stamp set Up in the Air to use with them.  I've used this week's Deconstructed Sketch:

And a closeup of my balloon:

 

Patterned papers are Balloon Ride; Cardstock is Saddle, Crystal Blue, Cashmere & Colonial White; Hemp; Stamp Set is Up In the Air, Cricut Art Philosophy - all Close To My Heart; Ink is Rich Cocoa, Memento; Copic Markers.

Valentines

I have two valentines to share with you today, using two of the newly released 2014 sets: Love and Chocolate Set (Sku#4367) and Wanna Share Set (Sku#4368)  I used this week's Deconstructed Sketch for both cards (switched up a little!):

Here is the Love and Chocolate set... I actually had the card completely assembled before I realized that I'd used the sentiment from Wanna Share (but it works perfectly with both images!).  The sentiment included with this set reads: "Here's to love and obscene amounts of chocolate!"

 

And here is Wanna Share:

I must say, that Valentine's Day is probably the only time I'll put pink & red together on a card - it's definitely the one time that it works!

There are six brand new Valentine sets and three new sentiments available in the Art Impressions shop - you can find them all here.  Happy stamping everyone!

 

 



January Diva Dare & Deconstructed Sketch

I made a valentine for my daughter today, using the Deconstructed Sketch, and playing along with the January Diva Dare on the Verve blog, which is to use a heart on your creation, and their Inspiration hop challenge is to have "shimmer and shine" on your card.  So here's my effort using Verve's Wings of Love set:

and a closeup of my heart:

 

 

Patterned papers are the Head Over Heels collection by Bo Bunny; Cardstock is Black and White Daisy, CTMH; Ruby shimmer trim, CTMH; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento; Copic Markers; Stamp set is Wings of Love, Verve.

Deconstructed Sketch #127

Just under the wire here in getting a card posted tonight...  It's been a crazy 7 days, but I do believe that all of my commitments have ended, so I'm looking forward to a slightly more sane pace in the weeks ahead :o)  Scroll down to see a few pictures of one of the events that added to my crazy schedule this week.  Now for my card...  I used this week's Deconstructed Sketch, and one of my Art Impressions favourites, "Ugly Sweater":

and here's the fun inside sentiment:

 

Patterned papers are Very Merry Christmas, Echo Park; Cardstock is Kraft, Ruby & White Daisy, CTMH; Stamp set is Ugly Sweater, Art Impressions; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento; Copic Markers; Hemp, CTMH.
And here is what my daughter and I did with my brother-in-law yesterday.  It's called the Edgewalk on the CN Tower in Toronto.  We were 116 stories above the ground, on a platform that is 1.5m wide.  Even though we were securely harnessed in, I had a bit of a death grip on my rope (smile).  Paige loved it.  That's me in the red hat:

 

 

Frosted Deconstructed Sketch

I'm on a roll getting some Christmas cards made this weekend (yay me!), and made several using the Frosted Card Workshop on the Go papers & stamp set while they were out on my desk.  I really love the subtle rustic look of using kraft with Slate, and I stamped several of the large snowflake images on my patterned background paper using Champagne ink to continue the subtle trend...  I've used the current Deconstructed Sketch for my layout:

Patterned papers and stamp set are Frosted Workshop on the Go; Cardstock is Kraft, Slate & Colonial White; Inks are Champagne & Slate; Tan and Brown Sparkles - all Close To My Heart.

 

Deconstructed Sketch #117

Yay!  I managed to squeak in a little me time to participate in a few of the challenges that I've been missing out on for the last few weeks...  I pulled out one of my Key Ingredients kits from last year, and a CTMH stamp that I don't believe had seen ink yet... and used this week's Deconstructed Sketch to make this sorta retro looking card:

Patterned papers are Fabulous by Simple Stories; Cardstock is Chocolate & Colonial White, CTMH; Stamp set is Card Chatter - Focus On You, CTMH; Inks are Chocolate & Champagne, CTMH; Spectacles die, Taylored Expressions.

 

A Colour Dare

I am happy to be playing along with the Colour Dare challenge today - with this week's featured colours: Lagoon, Pear & Buttercup!  I used one of the fun little M sized stamps, A True Thank You, and used my Copic markers to give it an ombre effect to match our colour palette.  I used this week's Deconstructed Sketch:

 

Patterned papers are Dotty For You; Cardstock is Lagoon, Pear, Buttercup, Black & White Daisy; Ink is Black; Licorice Opaque Pearls; Just Blooms Paper Flower - all CTMH; Copic Markers.

Deconstructed Sketch #110 and Inspired By #84

This is my second post for today - to see my Art Impressions card, please scroll down!
Most of my recent posts have been heavy on the colouring - so it was a nice change to make a card that was heavy on the patterned papers instead!  I've used the current Deconstructed Sketch, and Laurel's cool vintage luggage photo at Inspired By as my inspiration.  I sponged the edges with a little Desert Sand ink to soften it up a bit, and give it more of a vintage vibe:

Patterned papers are Cosmo Cricket, Tea for Two; Cardstock & ribbon - Key Ingredients kit; Sentiment is Borderline, Verve; Ink is Desert Sand, CTMH; Hemp & button, CTMH.

 

Rockin' Ruby

 

It's my day posting on the Art Impressions blog...  so I'm bringing you a summery card featuring the lovely Rockin' Ruby Set (sku#4210).

Isn't she great?!  The inside of the card has the sentiment:

And here's a close up shot of the little circle that I popped up with a pop dot to give the card a little dimenstion:

 I've used this week's Deconstructed Sketch as my card design:

   Have a great day!



Deconstructed Sketch #107

I pulled out some softer papers today to make a little something using the Deconstructed Sketch for this week:

Patterned papers are Miracle; Cardstock is Heavenly Blue, Bamboo & Colonial White; Stamp set is Happy Birthday; Inks are Heavenly Blue & Sweet Leaf - all Close To My Heart; Tilda Swirl die, Memory Box; Vintage Oval die, Verve.

 

Deconstructed Sketch #105

Well I'm a little late to the party with this one... these are the wonderful Dream Pop papers that were the May CTMH promo pack, and I'm only just cutting into them now!  Better late than never.  They're fun, bright & summery - so I pulled them out for this week's Deconstructed Sketch.  These wild papers don't need a lot of layers or matting, so I kept my card fairly simple:

Patterned papers are Dream Pop; Stamp set is Cricut Artiste Birthday collection; Cardstock is Grey Wool & White Daisy; Ink is Grey Wool; Clear buttons & Baker's twine - all Close To My Heart.  Spellbinder's dies.

 

Deconstructed Sketch #103

I went with fun, bright & bold today for the Deconstructed Sketch.  This is another saying from the wonderful Verve stamp set called Words of Wisdom, and I think that I may just use it as a Grad card:

Patterned papers are Little Boy, Echo Park; Cardstock is Sunset, Outdoor Denim & White Daisy, CTMH; Stamp set is Words of Wisdom, Verve; Ink is Nautical Blue, Memento; Twine & button are CTMH.

 

Deconstructed Sketch #101

This is a total summer card for me, since it uses what I call "ice cream" colours :o)  I've used this week's Deconstructed Sketch, and some new Carta Bella papers along with one of the Cricut collection stamps from CTMH:

Patterned papers are Cool Summer, Carta Bella; Cardstock is Chocolate, Cotton Candy & White Daisy, CTMH; Stamp sets are Cricut Artiste Collection - Birthday, Borderline and a small Plain Jane sentiment from Verve; Ink is Rich Cocoa, Memento; Copic Markers.