Viva La Verve Week 3 - Take Two!

So I decided to have another go at the Viva La Verve week 3 sketch. I like this one better I think. It's a bit more my style. Notice I avoided a bow on this one! Don't know why I keep buying ribbon - I never use it!! :) I used the same papers as the other week 3 sketch - Sunshine, by My Minds Eye. Love them!

Supplies

Stamps: Yummy Treats (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Basic Black and Vanilla (Stampin Up)
Papers: Sunshine (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, So Saffron (Stampin Up)
Accessories: Prima flower, Martha Stewart butterfly and edge punches, Spellbinders circle and scallop circle

Viva La Verve Week 5

I just loved this sketch, and this card came together so quickly. I used White cardstock and papers from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden for all the layers. One of the sheets had doilies on it, and I just cut two of them out to layer. I didn't have a stamp that filled the oval as much as I would like, but I think this one still looks okay.

Supplies

Stamps: Sweet treats (Verve)

Cardstock: Kraft and Whisper White (Stampin Up)

Papers: Butterfly garden (Pink Paislee)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Prima flower, Martha Stweart edge punch and butterfly punch, Ranger liquid pearls

Viva La Verve Week 4

Hi there! This is Viva La Verve week 4 sketch. I pretty much stuck to the original sketch, except I added a few circle layers. Such a simple sketch, but so versatile for any occaision. The doilie is one of those I mentioned in a previous card from a local packaging warehouse. They're just the perfect size for my cards!

Supplies

Stamps: You and I (Verve)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Grey and Bordering Blue (Stampin Up)

Papers: Shabby Chic (Collections)

Ink: Bordering Blue (Stampin Up)

Accessories: Buttons (unknown), doilie (local store), I Heart you die (Verve), Ranger liquid pearls, Martha Stewart punch



Viva La Verve Week 3

This is my card for the week 3 Viva La Verve sketch. I am just the worst at tying bows, and try to avoid them on most cards, but I wanted to be true to the sketch so I thought I'd give it a go. Does anyone have any bow tying tips? I'm in obvious need!!! lol! The papers on this card are from one of my current favourite collections - My Minds Eye Lost and Found Sunshine.

Supplies

Stamps: From The Garden (Flourishes)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black and More Mustard (Stampin Up) 

Papers: Sunshine (My Minds Eye, Lost & Found)

Ink: Momento tuxedo black, watercolour crayons (Stampin Up)

Accessories: Black seam binding ribbon (Hug Snug), buttons (unknown), Martha Stewart scallop edge punch

Simple Happy Birthday

I make a lot of cards for family and friends, and although they like all the cards I make, they occaisionall ask for more "simple" cards without too much on them. This is what I came up with. The turquoise flower on the right is Prima, but I didn't have a purple flower so I made that one. I saw a tutorial on you tube some time ago on how to do them and I'm not sure if I do them the same, but I cut 8 scallop circles with the Stampin Up scallop circle edge punch. I wet them with a spray gun and crunched them into a ball. I waited till they were dry and layered them on top of each other and joined them with a brad. I then scrunched each layer inwards and up, and then pulled them outwards again to make the flower shape. I hope that's a good enough description!

Supplies:

Stamps: Repeat Happy Birthday (Penny Black)

Cardstock: Tempting Turquiose, Elegant Eggplant, Basic Grey and Whisper White (Stampin Up)

Inks: Basic Grey, Elegant Eggplant and Tempting Turquoise (Stampin Up)

Accessories: Martha Stewart butterly punches, Prima flower, Cuttlebug dots folder, Ranger liquid pearls

Viva La Verve Week 2

This is my card for Viva La Verve week 2. I loved this sketch, and made this card super quick! I changed it slightly, I added the white panel behind the circle, used lace instead of stitching, and made a rosette flower instead of using a heart. Once again, I used my favourite paper - Victoria Gardens by Echo Park!

Supplies:

Stamps: Big Wish (Verve)

Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)

Papers: victoria Garden's (Echo Park)

Ink: Momento tuxedo black, Pink pirouette (Stampin Up)

Accessories: Button (Stampin Up), Ranger liquid pearls

Viva La Verve Week 1

Have you ever sat at your craft table for hours working on the one card, never happy with what you come up with! That's what happened when I made this card! Although aside from the wonky pearls at the top, I'm actually pretty pleased with the end result. I thought this would be a relatively easy sketch to do, but it turned out for me to be the hardest!  

Supplies

Stamps: Cherry Blossoms (Flourishes), Small Phrases (Verve)
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Sage shadow and Pink Pirouette (Stampin Up)
Papers: Victoria Garden's (Echo Park)
Ink: Momento tuxedo black, Basic Grey
Accessories: Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Stampin Up scallop edge punch, doilie (Ellen Hutson), Ranger liquid pearls

Heartfelt Thanks

I placed my first order with Flourishes stamps a few weeks ago, and this flower image was from a free stamp set I recieved with my order! It's actually turned out to be one of my favourite sets! I am still learning how to use copics properly. I need a lot more practice!


Supplies

Stamps: With gratitude (Flourishes), Celebration of Thanks (Verve)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black & Always Artichoke (Stampin Up)
Papers: Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, So Saffron, Copic markers
Accessories: Spellbinders scallop rectangles, oval punches (Stampin Up), Twine (Stampin Up), Kaisercraft pearls, button (unknown)

Thinking of you

I bought a bulk pack of doilies from a local packaging warehouse because they were similar to the ones I'd bought from Ellen Hutson. This is one of them and I just love how they look! The papers are from Echo Park's Victoria Garden collection. I watercoloured the image with Stampin Up crayons and a blender pen, as I didn't have quite the right colour of copics. 

Supplies

Stamps: With Gratitude (Flourishes), Wordy Birds (Verve)
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Regal Rose, and Whisper White (Stampin Up)
Papers: Victoria Gardens (Echo Park)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Doilie (local packaging warehouse - unsure of name), Punches (Stampin Up and Martha Stewart), Spellbinders labels 17, Ranger liquid pearls

Thanks so Much

Because I'm relatively new to the cardmaking world, there are hundreds of sketch challenges from past years for me to try. I am a HUGE fan of Verve stamps and their weekly sketch challenges. This card is a Mojo Monday sketch from December 2009! The papers are from Kaisercraft's Chapter One. The background paper looked a bit bare after I finished the card, so I drew the black square border just with a black marker. 

Supplies

Stamps: Celebration of Thanks (Verve)

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White and Wild wasabi (Stampin Up)

Papers: Chapter One (Kaisercraft)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Baja Breeze, Black marker (Stampin Up)

Accessories: Spellbinders scallop rectangles, Martha Stewart butterfly pucnch, Kaisecraft pearls 

Kind Words

I have quite a paper collection, and many of my papers are very old. I can't even remember when this collection was released. It's Basic Grey's, Wisteria! My goal for the rest of the year is to start using up all my old papers so I can get up to date with all the gorgeous new stuff! Anyway, you can see I've hand stitched a border on the card. It's my first attempt at hand stitching (and it's not great!). I have a sewing machine and would love to sew on my cards, but I just chicken out all the time! Maybe one day.....

Supplies

Stamps: Echo's of Kindness (Stampin Up)
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant (Stampin Up)
Papers: Wisteria (Basic Grey)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Butterfly (Wisteria collection), Ribbon (very vanilla - Stampin Up), Button (unkown), Twine (Stampin Up), Pearls (Kaisercraft), Spellbinders labels 16

Happiest Birthday Wishes

Although I am no longer a Stampin Up demonstrator, I still use and love their cardstock and inks. And I must admit, their current catalogue is by far my favourite so far. This card is using one of the new stamp sets - Creative Elements. The blue green cardtock is actually Baja but it doesn't look like it in the photo at all! The edges are sponged with Chocolate Chip ink, and the pearls are a large chocolate flourish from Kasiercraft which I cut up so I could place it where I wanted.

SUPPLIES

Stamps: Creative Elements (Stampin Up), Happiest Birthday Wishes (Stampin Up)
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Kraft, Vanilla and Chocolate Chip (Stampin Up)
Ink: Chocolate Chip and baja Breeze (Stampin Up)
Accessories:  Pearls (Kaisercraft), Punch (Martha Stewart), Spellbinders labels 16

Happy Birthday Gran!

I made this card for my Gran's 91st birthday last week. I love rosette flowers. This one is 8cm in diameter and the paper I used for it is from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden collection. It's very hard for me to make a card without a flower, butterfly, or both! The So Saffron cardstock behind the doilie is embossed with a cuttlebug folder, and the edges of the card are sponged in Always Artichoke ink.

SUPPLIES

Stamps: Warmest Regards (Stampin Up) 
Ink: Always artichoke and So Saffron (Stampin Up)
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, So Saffron and Whisper White (Stampin Up)
Paper: Butterfly Garden (Pink Paislee)
Accessories: Doilie (Ellen Hutson), Button (Stampin Up), Ribbon (Celebrate), Pearls (Kaisercraft & Ranger liquid pearls), Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart), Cuttlebug embossing folder. Fancy Tags (Spellbinders)

I'm here!

Hi! Welcome to my blog! After much encouragement from friends and family, I have finally decided to start blogging my card creations. I hope you enjoy looking at my work, and coming on this journey with me!
A little bit about me.....
My backgroud is not crafty at all. I'm actually a tennis coach! But I started making cards in 2008 when I found and fell in love with Stampin Up! I became a demonstrator for a while, but I found I just couldn't resist all the other amazing stamp products out there! My wonderfully supportive husband kindly allowed me to set up a stamp area in our house, and when I have a spare moment you'll most probably find me there! We have a beautiful 20 month old son, who you may see as the subject in the odd scrapbook page too!
Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to leave a comment and let me know how I'm doing!