two very different cards...

Hey there!!  Hope your week is off to a good start!  I'm starting mine with a couple of cards that are very different.  First up is a card for the soon to be closing Color Throwdown challenge, as well as the MFT Birthday Project challenge... shakers.  I finally got my hands on the MFT Celebrate Speech Bubble Die-namics and I used that to create my shaker element.  I inked up some cardstock with Ranger Distress ink in Festive Berries.  I could have used red cardstock, but I wanted to create the look of a strawberry and so needed some variation in the color.  When that was done I die cut the piece with the die and adhered a piece of acetate to the back.  I put the letters B, R and A back into the die cut so I could make sure that I glued the little pieces from each letter into the right spot.  Once they were glued in a carefully removed the letters.  Then I built my shaker element and added green sequins.  I adhered a thin piece of white cardstock to the back and then adhered the shaker element to a die cut panel of white cardstock.  The sentiment is from All Smiles and was stamped in a green ink similar to the sequins, die cut with the MFT Slanted Sentiments Die-namics and then adhered.

My second card is very different from the first one which is pretty darn clean and simple!  This one has lots of patterned paper on it and was made for the current Verve Viva La Verve sketch challenge, as well as the Verve Diva Dare.  I was fortunate and won the beautiful Verve Risen Savior stamp set and I just had to use it for my card.  I recently purchased a couple more VersaFine CLAIR inks and used the one called Golden Meadown.  I stamped the cross in the Golden Meadow on some patterned paper from My Mind's Eye, over stamped the sentiment in VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist and then die cut it with an AJVD Polka Dot circle die.  Coordinating paper was die cut with an AJVD plain circle die and the two were matted.  I used more paper from the same pad for the main rectangle, as well as the square element.  That was die cut with a Reverse Confetti die.  I wrapped a yellow twine around the main panel three times and secured it in back with tape and then layered on all the elements.  The flower and leaves are from the Verve set Bloom Brighter and were stamped in the Golden Meadow and Morning Mist inks.   The finished panel was adhered to a light kraft cardstock base.

Have a wonderful day!

a cup of tea...

Hey friends... getting this post done before the day gets going.  It is going to be another gorgeous one and I want to make sure that we get out and enjoy that sunshine!!  I created this card using the first sketch for the June Viva La Verve challenge, as well as the Verve Diva Dare challenge (eat me drink me).  I'm not a coffee drinker (my favorite is a tall Starbucks Chai latte with soy milk... no water), but I will be entering this into the Summer Coffee Lovers blog hop since you can also enter tea or hot cocoa related cards.  Papers are from the My Mind's Eye Jubilee line and the stamp set used is Verve's One Cup.   The banners were cut using a die from the Verve Flag It die set.  Tried to keep things simple, but added some interest with a little paper piecing, some partial embossing and a bit of distressing.  

 

 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI rustic white; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Stamps:  Verve; Dies:  Verve and Spellbinders; Wilton paper doily; Decorative Dots embossing folder

oh holy night...

Hello friends!!  Trying to get back into card making mode.  It has been a little hard lately, but today I really felt like making something... so I did!  I used the Viva La Verve week 2 sketch for my layout.  I will also be posting this to the current Verve Diva Dare to use vellum and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  seeing stars.  Posting this to The Card Concept (thanks for letting me know it would be a good fit Kristie!) in the clean and layered category.

I used the beautiful Verve set Peace on Earth, as well as the Verve Starry die.  The patterned papers are from the Teresa Collins 6x6 pad "Hello My Name Is".  I love red, white and kraft for a Christmas card.   The circles were die cut using Spellbinders plain circle dies and the banner with a MFT fishtail flag stax die.  The ink is SU!'s Cherry Cobbler.  I added a bit of Crystal Stickles to the centers of the stars for some added sparkle. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white and kraft; PP:  Teresa Collins; Stamps:  Verve; Dies:  Verve, MFT and Spellbinders; Vellum:  Close to my Heart; Ink:  Stampin Up!; Crystal Stickles

much happiness...

Hello!!  Hope your week is going well!  Have a little card that I made that works for several different Verve challenges:  Viva La Verve (week one sketch), Diva Dare (Celebrate Good Times) and Verve Inspiration Challenge (Sequin Stunner).  Also popping this into the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  summer... summer is full of flowers!

A week ago I purchased the My Mind's Eye Market Street Ashbury Heights 6x6 pad and had been wanting to use it.  Finally got a chance today.  I used two different Verve sets for my card:  Surely Goodness and Brighter Days.  Lots of die cutting on this one, too.  I love working with patterned papers, but sometimes it can be a problem when you don't have an ink that is a fairly good match for at least one of the colors in the papers used.   After trying a shade of red ink I thought would work and discovering it clashed a bit too much I was able to find a shade of teal ink that worked much better.   After layering everything up on my card base I finished things off with a sequined center to my flower and a scattering of  clear sequins around my card. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft, black and white; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Stamps:  Verve; Dies:  Spellbinders plain rectangles and long plain rectangles; Verve:  Flag It dies & Goodness Flower Dies; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh 4mm, 6mm & 8mm sparkling clear sequins

amazing birthday...

Hello friends!!  Popping in with a card for three different Verve challenges:  Diva Dare:  "Do the Polka", Viva La Verve March Sketch #1 & Verve Inspiration: Spring Has Sprung.  And here is my card:

When I think of spring I always think of all the sweet little birds I see flying about and cherping in the trees... not the starling, though!  They are so annoying, but the cute little chickadees.  So I got out my Memory Box Perched Reed Bird die and cut a little birdie from some BasicGrey Serenade papers.  I used two Verve sets, Poppy Birthday (sentiment) and Unto Us (label), for the card.  The label was die cut using the Verve Classy Label die and then stamped with the corresponding image from Unto Us in yellow ink.  The sentiment was stamp using dark brown ink.  The background paper and banners were cut from additional Serenade papers.  I distressed the edges for a slightly shabby look.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft & rustic white; PP:  BasicGrey; Stamps: Verve; Ink:  Stampin Up!; Dies:  Memory Box, My Favorite Things & Verve

verve december diva dare...

Hello friends!!  I have a couple of cards to share today.  Both are cards that I made several months ago, but only posted in my Splitcoaststampers gallery because they were made for Verve's monthly sketch challenge.  I'm sharing them with you now because this month's Diva Dare over that the Verve blog is to either post a favorite card that you made using Verve stamps in 2013 or create a new card using a favorite Verve set.  Because I'm in a bit of a creative funk (again!) and I have other projects that I need to get done I decided to go with the first option and share two cards that I made using Verve stamps that I absolutely love.   First up is a card that I made using two Verve sets:  Learning to Sail and Strong Anchor.

 

I absolutely love how this card turned out.  It just makes me think of a cottage by the sea.  I had to fiddle around for a bit to get the boat just so (and did a wee bit of paper piecing, too), but all the fiddling was worth it!    The second card was made using the Verve set Shining Star, as well as the matching Stars die.

 

 



The clean simplicity of this card just makes me happy and that is one reason I love it so much.  This was one of those cards that just came together with little effort and turned out exactly as I wanted it  to.   The other thing I like is how I was able to make the card clean and simple, but give it a bit of shabby edge.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & Blueberry Sky; Patterned paper:  My Mind's Eye Kate & Co (2nd card), Penny Black Madison pad (1st card); Inks:  Memento and Stampin Up!; Stamps & dies:  Verve; Hemp twine:  Close to my Heart

thanks...

Hello friends!! Here with a card that I made using the new Fusion sketch and some newly acquired Verve stamps.  I'm also going to pop this into the current Verve Diva Dare to a bright and cheerful card and use flowers or butterflies (or both).  I went with just a single flower.

I recently organized all my cardstock and patterned paper scraps and decided to use up some of the scrap patterned paper pieces to make my card.  The scraps are from the Echo Park 6x6 pad "Hello Summer".   I used several of the floral images (and the matching dies) from the Verve set "Surely Goodness" to create the flower.  Very simple, but so very cheerful... don't you think? 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; PP:  Echo Park; Stamps:  Verve; Dies:  Verve; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Bamboo Leaves & Lady Bug