February Verve Diva Inspirations blog hop

Hi everyone!!  Welcome to the first Verve Diva Inspirations Blog Hop!  Each month the Diva Inspirations team will have a blog hop focusing on the older Verve sets!  And, can I just say again how FUN this Diva team is?  I love diving into all my older Verve sets that haven't gotten NEARLY enough love and get them inky!!

My card uses the set, Express Yourself!   The purse and shoe are colored with copic markers and cut out.  The bright green pattern paper is from Bella Blvd, their Lovey Dovey line -totally fun right?  I added some brand new tiny little peridot (green) colored rhinestones (from Pizazz Aplenty) as accents to bring in some of the green.  The fabulous lace trim is from Maya Road and the flower is from Prima. 

We've hidden a little mystery prize on one of today's hop spots, so be sure to leave a little comment love as you hop around. One lucky commenter on the mystery hop spot will win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Stamps Store! The deadline for comment entries is Saturday, January 5th.

As you hop around today, you might notice some new faces! We are so excited to announce the addition of three brand new Divas to our Diva Inspirations team.  I have been a big fan of all 3 of these lovely and talented ladies, so let's give a great big Verve welcome to the newest members of the Divahood... Betty Wright, Dawn Easton and Sony Christoph!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the hop!!

Card Deets:
Stamps - Express Yourself (Verve Stamps)
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Cardstock - black and white (PTI)
Pattern Paper - Lovey Dovey 12x12 , "Borders & Blocks" (Bella Blvd.) 
Accessories - Copic Sketch markers, 2mm Peridot rhinestones from Pizazz Aplenty, Cottage Rose collection in Pink Quartz (Prima Marketing), Black lace trim (Maya Road), Black wrinkled ribbon (May Arts) and Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders) both available at the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.


 

A couple sketch challenges

Hi everyone!  I have a couple sketch challenge cards to share today.

First up is my co-Verve Diva, Jen's SFYTT sketch.  This one really called to me and I just HAD to use my new Ippity Stamp set, The Simple Things.  HAVE you seen the new Ippity sets yet? Super duper cute, you can check them all out here.  I stamped the flower stem in Pink Pirouette, it's hard to see in this picture, but the petals on this bloom are BUTTERFLIES!  WHAT?  How cute is that?  My friend, Heather Rolin designed this set and I am so in love!

The paper is Gossamer by Memory Box.  I got into a kick using this paper like crazy about a month ago, and then I LOST my pack.  Yep, couldn't find it to save my life.  Sigh...I swear one brave day I will show you all a picture of my stamping area.  Here are pics when I first remodeled my area, needless to say it DOES NOT look like this now.  LOL!

This next sketch is for the current Go-To Gals Sketch challenge.  This sketch really caught my eye with all the circles.  I wanted to make something simple for a Father's Day card.  The pattern paper is Man of the House collection from Bella Blvd.  I love the fun patterns all done with a masculine feel and colors.  The sentiment is from Verve's Father Figure set.

For a bit of interest, I added a brad and popped up on dimensions 2 of the 8 circles and the sentiment panel.  I really love how this turned out.  This really was quick and easy AND a great way to use up scraps!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

P.S. There is still time today to leave me a comment to be entered into my Ippity Release Blog Candy!!

Card Deets (SFYTT):

Stamps - The Simple Things (Ippity)
Ink - Pink Pirouette, Black
Paper - White and Ripe Avocado cardstock, Gossamer PP (Memory Box)
Accessories - Oval nesties, Pearl wheel and white sweet blossoms (Zva Creative), Stickles, pink grosgrain ribbon

Card Deets (Go-to sketch):

Stamps - Father Figure
Ink - Chocolate Chip
Paper - White cardstock, Man of the House PP (Bella Blvd)
Accessories - Circle punch, aged copper brads

 

Fabulous Friends with Flair

Hi everyone!  I have been a busy little bee getting the kitchen remodel going.  Lots of decisions to make up front then, a very long wait until demo and installation.  I have a new floor plan decided on, countertops, floors, and cabinets chosen.  There are still some little things to decide on, but the installation won't be until July, so I have time!

Welcome to Friday with Flair!  It's been awhile, but I love it when I have time to play along!  Angela has the master list of all the 50 designers participating in the FWF this week, so take a lookie at the Unity Blog for the names/links of everyone.

My card uses my current FAVORITE Ippity stamp set, Where You Should Be.  Sigh... EVERY stamp in this set just makes me smile.  I stamped the leaf images in Spring Moss and the sentiment in Chocolate Chip.  The pattern paper is from Bella Blvd, the Plastino Collection.

I have a couple of things to share before I go:
Check out my Ippity Sales blog, I just received a new shipment of Ippity Stamps, and everything is in stock.  AND Sweet Thoughts of Spring is on sale for $16.50!
Hope Stamps Eternal is closing it's doors, and the Going Out of Business sale is 35% off store wide! 
    and
Stay tuned next Tuesday, the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store DT is having their monthly blog hop!!  AND there is another FABULOUS prize up for grabs!  Hope to see you there!

Card Deets:

Stamps - Where You Should Be
Ink - Spring Moss, Chocolate Chip
Paper -  White, Baja Breeze, Plastino "Bermudas" (Bella Blvd)
Accessories - Circle Nesties, White pearls colored with Copic marker (Kaisercraft), Swiss Dots EF, Pink Sweet Blossom (Zva Creative), Silver cord, Hydrangea flower (Prima Marketing),

Cupcake Inspiration challenge #40

Hi everyone! It's Sunday and that means it's time for another FABULOUS Cupcake Inspiration challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! Check out these fun present cupcakes!! Birthday? New baby? The possibilities are endless with these cutie pies!

I took my inspiration from the fun colors and super cute yellow ribbon on the "presents". I colored Madelyn's scarf yellow and added some yellow seam binding ribbon (from Martha Stewarts). I colored the image with Copics. For some dimension, I added Zva Creative Sweet Blossoms to her hat and on the bow.

The strip of pattern paper is Bella Blvd, December Details -I LOVE it when Christmas paper can be used for other occassions -aren't those hearts cute?? The white cardstock is stamped with the background stamp from {ippity}'s Because of You. I stamped it lightly in Barely Banana for a subtle effect, but you can still read the word "love" IRL.

Everyone is invited to play along in the challenge!! If you do, be sure to link your creation to Mr. Linky on the HSE blog and use CIC40 when uploading. Every week, Rach highlighs the top 5!!

Please give a warm welcome to our January Guest Sweetie, Amy -A Thousand Sheets of Paper. Not only is she UBER talented in making cards, but she DESIGNED the latest 4 TGF Wild Sprout stamps! Now head on over to the Sweeties and see how they rocked these cupcakes!!!!

Rachel - Hope Stamps Eternal
Colleen - Glitter Ink
Jessica - Shamrocks and Seashells (has the week off)

Teresa - Enjoy the VA Sunshine
Amy - A Thousand Sheets of Paper (January Guest)

DID YOU ALL SEE??? Hope Stamps Eternal is having a Design Team call! Check out this blog post for all the details.

Thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow for H{ippity} Hop Monday!

Card Deets:

Stamps - Butterfly Wishes, Madelyn (TGF), Because of You ({ippity})

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, barely banana

Paper - Baja Breeze, white, Bella Blvd pp

Accessories - Labels 8 nesties, Zva sweet blossom flowers, Sewing machine, Copic markers, yellow seam binding (MS)

Monday H{ippity} Hop

Hi everyone! It's Monday and time for another H{ippity} Hop! Be sure to go to the {ippity} blog to see the master list.

My project is also for this week's H{ippity} Hop challenge from our gal, Kelly, which is to "resolve" to try something new. Could be a new technique, new stamping goodies, anything new to you!! Everyone is welcome to play, use keyword, IHHC4 when uploading to SCS.

I chose to use new goodies. This totally fun Bella Blvd paper, Honey I'm Home is new, the corduroy brad is new, and the Copic markers I used to color the tree the amazing heart tree image are new too! In fact, my mom & sister got me 22 COPIC MARKERS for Christmas! Oh yeah, Merry Christmas to me. :-)

Back to the cards, I am totally in need of thank you cards now, so I used the TY sentiment from {ippity} Stamps Just Wanted to Say. This first card is also for this week's Hope Stamps Eternal cupcake challenge #39! I took my inspiration from the brown cupcake icing and bright colors.

I punched squares from the various pattern papers in the pack and the 4th square are some Petal Pop flowers from the Tropical Mix.

My second card uses my current favorite image, the heart tree from {ippity}'s Straight from the Heart. **happy sigh** aren't those birdies the most?!? I colored them with copic markers and used the same Honey I'm Home paper pack.

Thanks for stopping by, be sure to check out the rest of the H{ippity} hop goodness!

Oh and just for fun, here is a picture of my newly stocked Copic Marker storage. **another happy sigh**

I also wanted to mention that I have put together some "cardmaking accessory kits" that can be purchased on my {ippity} sales blog with any of my {ippity} stamp sets, or even on their own. They are very affordable at $3 each, but are in limited quantity.

Oh and before I go, Verve Stamps is having a super huge End of the Year sale now thru December 31st!! All stamps 20% to 50% off!

Card Deets (for both):
Stamps - Straight from the Heart, Just Wanted to Say ({ippity} stamps)
Ink - Chocolate Chip
Paper - White, soft sky, baroque burgundy, Honey I'm Home pattern paper (Bella Blvd)

Accessories - ribbon, Zva Creative rhinestones and cordoruy brad, Petal Pop flowers, paper piercer, edge distressor, copic markers, 1 3/8" square punch, score-pal