Sunday, August 31, 2008

How about a little Elzy?

Ahhhh, nothing says Tis the Season to be Jolly like the last day in AUGUST! LOL!! Today is the Featured Stamper challenge at SCS and I couldn't help myself but to use this Elzybells image, Winter Girl. Today's FS is NikiE and what a super fun gallery she has. She is on a couple design teams, and is VERY talented. I have a sick little one today, so I had to make this card quick with minimal layers. I chose this fun card to case!


I used some of my Basic Grey Figgy Pudding and for the Sahara Sand BG panel I stamped tone on tone with Aida Cloth. Elzy has liquid applique on the cuffs and hat and the snowflakes and ground have Art Glitter in 85 crystal on it. I colored her with a blender pen and ink smooshed in the ink lid. The dew drops are from the Cowboy bottle. The sentiment is also from Elzybells and is called Wavy Tis Season.

Card Deets:
Stamps - Elzybells Winter Girl and Wavy Tis Season
Paper - Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, White, Figgy Pudding
Accessories - liquid applique, vanilla tafetta ribbon, glitter, blender pen, dew drops



Thursday, August 28, 2008

Come meet ME!

Heehee! I am super excited to be hosting this week's Meet the VERVE Diva challenge over on Verve's Member forum. I have a fun challenge going on and there is a SUPER sweet prize... $15 in Verve Bucks!!

The challenge is to use up some of the stamping goodies that have been sitting around unused. Come on, I KNOW you got 'em!! Heaven knows I DO! My card inks up Verve's Asian Flair set and cuts into my much beloved Tres Jolie Oui Oui Handsome paper -the one with the oranges in it. I also used one of my orange primas for the first time. Oh, and I used my Swiss Dots embossing folder for the 1000th time, definitely NOT a first for that little buggar :-)

How do you play along you ask? Well, you can upload your card to SCS with the keyword MTVD08 and post it to the thread linked above for all of us to see. You have until Wednesday, Sept 3rd at 9pm Pacific time. I will randomly select from the entries and announce the winner Thursday morning. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with and have fun!

Card Deets:
Stamps - Asian Flair
Paper - sage shadow, tangerine tango, choc chip, very vanilla, Tres Jolie DP
Accessories - cuttlebug, orange bling, boho blossom SU punch, prima, word window punch

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

My first Elzy card!

Yippee! My Elzybells stamps arrived in all their cuteness (is that a word?)!! I used today's sketch challenge 191 over on SCS for the layout on this card.
This flower is called Curly Daisy and it's whimsical style just screamed BRIGHT FUN colors to me. So, I brought out my Everyday Tango paper pack from MME. I stamped the flower in Regal Rose and highlighted the petal ends and the 'ribbon' with some glitter in my favorite color, 85 crystal from Art Glitter. I then dabbed the insides of the flowers with a barely banana marker. The gems and super cute and glittery satin edge metallic ribbon are both from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.

Card deets:
Stamps – Curly Daisy by Elzybells
Paper - Regal rose, spring moss, Tangerine, and white
Accessories - May Arts ribbon in Green Apple, satin edge metallic ribbon, green bling, corner punch, glitter

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Back from the beach!

What a great little vacation we had! The first day at the coast was pouring rain, and anyone from Oregon knows that when I say pouring, I MEAN POURING!! Fortunately, there was an airplane museum in Tillamook, so we took the boys there and they were in heaven! The next day, the sun came out and we went to the Tillamook cheese factory and then to the beach. It was a fun although short trip! I will be back to post a couple pics :-)



So, today it was back to business for me! I set right away to make a card for today's color challenge 181. Kraft, black and Rose Red. Well, this was a challenge -I only had 1/4 sheet of kraft paper! So I got creative. Fortunately I have the SU! Rose Red Designer Prints paper and it set the stage for this cutie pie! This card is also for this week's DDC challenge! The image is from Joanne (SleepyinSeattle). She was the Double Dog Dare challenge master and sent us all 2 Chichiboulie Fairy images from Stampingbella.com. Thanks Joanne they are sooooo cute!!


The image is called Imogen the Fairy and is colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. There is a tiny flower piece of bling on her bow and dress that flows perfectly with the mini punched flowers and the doodle flowers on the DP. The sentiment is from Verve's Fairy Tales set and the gingham is from May Arts that I bought from Joann's a long time ago.

Card Deets:
Stamps: Imogen the Fairy, Fairy Tales
Paper: black, kraft, rose red, rose red designer prints
Accessories: mini flower punch, white gel pen, gingham ribbon, circle punches, rectangle nesties, mini flower bling

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Catching Up

OK, summer is winding down and things are super busy here in the Woerner house! This week is my husband's vacation time and we have been having such a blast doing the "StayCation thing". Tomorrow morning we are heading to the coast to Tillamook (ever hear of Tillamook cheese?) for a night. The boys have never seen the ocean, so this will be a GREAT time.

I am playing catch up with my posts, and I have some cards to share! These first cards were made for Charmaine's "Getting to know the VERVE Divas, part 6" challenge which was to make a black and white card with a splash of color. I used Verve's set Artful Elegance for the sentiment and used some of my black and white DP I got at Target. The ribbon is from May Arts and I got it at All That Scraps. I love it, it is super soft and not stiff at all! These cards were EASY PEASY to make!

This card was for this week's sketch challenge over at SCS. I really love square cards, so this sketch was right up my alley! I used Verve's Fairy Tales set and embossed it with Gold EP. This set has lots of other sentiments -really it does! But for some reason I am drawn to that "Happily Ever After" stamp. In case you haven't noticed, I LOVE making wedding cards!! That amazing gold cardstock is from Creative Memories. It is retired, so I found it on the EBay!! The beautiful satin edged metallic ribbon and gold cord are from Heidi's store!

Here is the sketch, if you want to play along!





This card is for Julee's "Meet the VERVE Divas, part 7" challenge. As queen of sketches, it's no surprise her challenge was a sketch! I used Verve's Grateful Elegance set. Once again I used some of the Luxury pack from DCWV. I love this paper!! It has an awesome pearly sheen to it. I stamped the filagree stamp all over the More Mustard panel for the BG and again on some scraps to punch out the flowers. I used the SU! Boho Blossom punch -it was the perfect shape for the sketch.



There is STILL time to play along. If you upload your card by August 28th, you will be eligible for Julee's random drawing for $15 in Verve Bucks!!

AND, stay tuned to next Thursday's Meet the VERVE Diva. It JUST may be a Diva who loves ROSES... Hummmmm... wonder who it could be????
One last thing before I forget!!! Yesterday started off the August Project Parade over at Verve's blog. If you are new to the Project Parade, it is 11 days and each day a Verve Diva posts a project made from the challenge that Julee set. This month it is a LOVELY color challenge. Be sure to check it out! And, of course, there is a PRIZE! If you play along and upload by September 3rd, you will be eligible for a random drawing for $15 in Verve Bucks!!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A double dose of CUPCAKES!

Ohhhhh, YUMMMM! These cupcakes are amazing and look good enough to eat! When I received Cupcake Affair, by Verve Stamps, I literally screamed with delight. This is my first cupcake stamp set and what a way to be introduced to them :-)

This first card I made for the Anni-VERVE-sary party bash on August 12th on the SCS Member Forum. In celebration of Verve Stamps 1 year anniversary, Julee released 6 amazing stamp sets and this was one of them. The cuttlebuged Lemon Tart piece uses the newly released Argyle folder. I used stickles on the bottom of the cupcake and the centers of the little flowers. Very sparkly IRL.

Card Deets:
Stamps: Cupcake Affair
Paper: Rose Red, Certain celery, PTI Lemon Tart, very vanilla
Accessories: sponge, slot punch, green bling, striped ribbon, bling, star dust Stickles, paper piercer, white gel pen

This card I just made the other day and boy, I was in a BOLD BRIGHTS mood! I got some of this retired SU! Sassy DP from a gal off Craigslist (yes, you would be amazed what you can find on CL!). I busted it out and went to work on the bright colors and that yummy May Arts ribbon (called Green Apple) is from Flourishes. Remember I won a Featured Stamper prize for July? Well, this ribbon was among the 4 that were sent to me! WOWeeee, it's lucious! The sentiment is from Verve's Happy Thoughts. I used some liquid applique for the icing. I get asked about liquid applique quite a bit. I got mine at Joann's in the adhesive section (don't ask me why). But, you can find it online all over the place and comes in lots of colors. I also have it in brown for chocolate icing!!

Card Deets:
Stamps: Cupcake Affair, Happy Thoughts
Paper: Green Galore, Pumpkin Pie, Pink Passion, Sassy DP
Accessories: liquid applique, satin ribbon, bling, star dust Stickles, paper piercer, white gel pen
Here is a picture of liquid applique. I put it by a penny for a size reference.


Hope you enjoyed the cupcake yumminess! I will be back Thursday to post a card I made for the latest installment of "Meet the Verve Divas, part 7" challenge over on Verve's SCS Member Company forum!



Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The hardest challenge EVER?

Well, you be the judge! This week's Double Dog Dare Challenge was from Joan. It was to make a NO LAYERS card. When I read the challenge, I just about passed out. I have never EVER made a card with no layers. I didn't know if that was even possible -LOL! So, during the night when I was supposed to be sleeping, I came up with this card.

I combined today's color challenge over at SCS which was Ruby Red, Blush Blossom and Close to Cocoa. I decided to use Verve's newly released Beautiful You set. I stamped the flower in blush and then the sentiment in cocoa over it. I stamped the little butterflies which are from Verve's Petals and Stems set, in ruby red. Using my Fiskars trimmer with the scoring blade, I scored the sides framing the ribbon and pierced the scored areas for interest. The ribbon is polka dotted organdy in Peach from Heidi's store . The butterflies are stamped twice, with one trimmed out and popped up. The butterfly trail is done in cocoa.

Card Deets:
Stamps: Beautiful You and Petals and Stems (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white
Ink: blush blossom, ruby red, close to cocoa
Accessories: dotted organdy, stickles, paper piercer, red bling

Monday, August 18, 2008

Copper Elegance, my almost Mojo49 sketch

Today my boys decided they wanted to play outside in the rain, so I took that opportunity to play along with Julee's Mojo Monday sketch #49! I got out the stamps, DP and embossing powder I wanted to use and got to work. But, this was one of those days where none of my ideas worked. Ugh! I ended up simplifying my card and I couldn't for the life of me get that last little circle part of the sketch to work. Oh well, it is my ALMOST Mojo49 -LOL!

I finally got a new heat gun, so I can finally emboss!! Had to celebrate by embossing on this card. I chose a piece of DP from my Luxury Stack by DCWV, it had some coppery swirls on it, so copper EP it was. I used the scroll from Verve's Grateful Elegance set and the square sentiment is from the Artful Elegance set. I rarely ever use copper accents, I am mostly an "aged copper" girl, but they worked for this, so I used a combination of circle and squares. The primas have a touch of Star Dust Stickles on them.

Card Deets:

Stamps: Artful Elegance and Grateful Elegance (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Sage Shadow (SU!), DP Luxury Stack (DCWV), Papaya Puree Dark (Prism Papers)
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Copper EP, Forever Flowers #6 in Copper (Prima), square and circle copper brads, corner rounder

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Featured Stamper day over on SCS! Today's FS is Knightrone, Jessie. Jessie is super nice and has an amazing gallery! You should check it out. I chose this card to case.

My card uses Verve's Floral Whimsy and Petals and Stems (for sentiment). I just love Floral Whimsy -there are soooo many possibilities with the set. Seriously, there are 29 images in this set. I hadn't planned on the little butterfly being placed where it is (it's home was supposed to be to the left of the vase for visual balance), BUT I had a stickles accident and when I wiped off the stickles my black ink smeared all to the right of the flower. So, presto, a new home for the butterfly!

The DP I used came from Basic Grey, Oh, Baby! Girl. I actually found several Basic Grey Matchbook Kits at Big Lots for $1 each!!! I was super stoked, they retail for way more than that! At that price, I bought all they had -LOL! I don't plan on using them to create the little books they are intended for, but rather to use all the bits and pieces for cards!!

Card Deets:
Stamps – Floral Whimsy, Petals and Stems both from Verve Stamps
Paper - pretty in pink, PTI's lemon tart, Basic Grey Oh, Baby! Girl
Accessories - mini purple gems, SU taffeta and gingham ribbon, white brads, stickles

Saturday, August 16, 2008

More VERVE-a-licious-ness

Today I want to share with you a couple more cards I made for the Anni-VERVE-sary release August 13th. If you haven't had a chance to check out the new releases you should! There are 6 (yes 6!) amazing new stamp sets, you can see them here.

This card uses the Grateful Elegance set, and I used my mini embossing folders to create the embossed squares along the bottom. I used my Fiskars paper cutter with the scoring blade to create the 2 horizonal lines above the squares.

I wanted to make a simple elegant card, so I did some light framing of the white panel with Cameo Coral and Going Gray. The flowers are colored with reinkers and my Niji watercolor brush. I added some of my favorite Art Glitter in 85 Crystal to the popped up flowers. The coral brads and ribbon come from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts. What I love about this set, is the flowers coordinate with the flowers from the Cupcake Affair set! Lots of possibilities there :-)
This next card is from the Notes of Prayer set. It is always hard to make sympathy cards, but this small elegant set makes it a bit easier with it's lovely cross and 3 thoughtful sentiments. The DP on this is Basic Grey Periphery and I framed it with Bordering Blue and Chocolate Chip. Sometimes DP that has lovely flower prints on it are hard to use with flower stamps (the whole "not coordinating" thing). So with the horizonal sentiment panel, I carefully trimmed the DP so the flower print gently peeked up from the bottom, leaving a perfect space to stamp the sentiment. I used my well loved rectangle Nesties and my loved, but neglected ticket corner punch. The primas are from the Got Flowers Vintage mix and have some stickles on them for extra sparkle.

I hope you enjoyed these samples! For a fun challenge and a chance to win $15 in Verve Bucks, check out this week's "Getting to know the VERVE Divas, part 6". This week Charmaine is the hostess and her challenge is to make a black and white card with a splash of color!
Note: I have been asked where it is that I buy my glitter, ribbons and other accessories. So I wanted to mention that you can click on the colored parts of my posts and they will link you directly to the sites that I bought them from.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Congrats to our newest Dirty Girls!

Yahoooo! It's the 15th and you know what that means... the reveal of the August SCS Fan Club gallery and the latest additions to the Dirty Dozen design team. A BIG HUGE congrats to my fellow Verve Diva, Amy Sheffer (PickleTree on SCS) and Cindy Lawerence (One Happy Stamper on SCS) on being the 2 newest Dirty Girls!!

This month's theme is All That Glitters and if I do say so myself, did we ever ROCK this theme! The gallery is full of glittery splendor. You should check it out and show your love to the girls. If you're not a Fan Club member yet, should be and it's really easy to join!!! Enjoying the Fan Club gallery is one of many great perks of the membership.

During the last minute rush to get the Glittery cards completed, I took a small break and made a NO layer, NO glitter, simple card using this week's SCS sketch challenge. BTW, I am not a big fan of this sketch, but that was half the fun!

This card uses Flourishes Spring Ephemerals (which I won from the Flourishes Members Forum!!!) and the sentiment is from Verve's Notes of Prayer. Let me tell you about Spring Ephemerals. It is a silhouette stamp. I don't own any of these and I have a hard time using them -which is why I chose this set! I am one of those stampers that likes the leaves green, flowers colored, etc -very literal. Silhouette stamps are designed to be all one color. So, what I did to get the 3 colors on this image was carefully inked the leaves in Olive, the blooms in Burgundy, and then took my Cocoa marker and colored/blended the stem part. I like how this turned out.






Card Deets:
Stamps – Spring Ephemerals, Notes of Prayer
Paper - Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey Stella Ruby
Accessories - 5/8" chocolate organdy ribbon from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

I'm a DIVA!!

No, not in real life... I am a Verve Diva now! Last night at the Anni-VERVE-sary party on Verve Member Forum on SCS, Julee announced that I am the newest Diva to join her Design Team! I am super excited, most of you know that I love Verve Stamps, so I am very honored to be a part of the Verve family.

Today I will show you a couple cards I made using some of the newly released Verve sets.

This first card uses the Fairy Tales set. I love the elegant font on this set and thought it would make a lovely wedding card. I embossed circle border with silver EP and added a touch of 3 small pearls. I think the simple colors of vanilla, white and silver make such an elegant wedding card.

Edited to add: I have been asked where I find my flat backed pearls. I get them at my LSS, but you can also find them online at Flourishes. On page two of their Card-Making Essentials section. You can also find them on Ebay with this search, but they are more expensive. Happy stamping!!

Card Deets:
Stamps – Fairy Tales by Verve Visual
Paper - whisper white, vanilla, silver foil, wedding DP from Target
Accessories - silver embossing powder, SU vanilla taffeta ribbon, circle nestabilities, flatbacked pearls, pearl stamens from Michaels

This card uses the Artful Elegance set. This large swirly stamp immediately made me think of making a black and white card. I love black and white cards with a splash of color. For this, I used PTIs Lavender Moon. I put small bling on each of the diamond parts of the pattern, you could do so much with this design. The amazing black striped organdy ribbon is from Pinkhedgehoge Papercrafts. The sentiment square border has Art Glitter in Volare.

Card Deets:
Stamps – Artful Elegance by Verve Visual
Paper - White, black, lavender moon
Accessories - small bling, organdy ribbon, glitter

Sunday, August 10, 2008

A simple case -featured stamper day!

Yahooo! It's Featured Stamper challenge day on SCS. This week's FS is blondie090277. Kim is a super talented stamper and I have long admired her work!

I am still working on my bathroom remodel (gotta buy new towels and accessories, right?), so I had very little time to stamp today. I chose this card to case thinking the minimal layers would make it a quick card. Well... it took longer than I thought cause I failed miserably at sponging the green panel. After several attempts I ended up using a rectangle of celery cardstock! Oh well, not as pretty, but it worked! I used the flower puffs (is that a technical term?) from PTI's Green Thumb set (which I am borrowing from my friend, Heidi) and embossed them with Eggplant powder. The sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Basics. I added a tiny piece of bling for the accents. The organdy ribbon is from Heidi's store, Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts.

Card Deets:
Stamps – Green Thumb, Birthday Basics
Paper - Elegant Eggplant, Celery, PTI white
Accessories - Eggplant embossing powder by Adirondack, bling, 5/8" organdy, paper piercer, sponge


Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Tuesday Favorites

This week I chose a couple of Bella cards I made last year. I fell in love with Bellas at first sight! There are bella images for virtually every occasion. You can check them out here at Stampingbella.com.
This card was a double challenge card. The Limited Supplies challenge that week was choose an old sketch (I chose SC91) and the color challenge that week was More Mustard, Cool Caribbean and Chocolate Chip. Very unusual combo, but the Designer Series paper in Mustard saved the day!! The deets to the original post can be found here.
This card was made for my friend Shirley who was expecting her 4th baby at the time!! Yikes, 4!!! Later we welcomed Mary, but in the meantime I hope Shirley enjoyed this. The deets to the original post can be found here.
Update on the bathroom, the countertop, sink and cabinets are in and beautiful! Next the tile floor on the 8th, then paint!

Monday, August 4, 2008

What a Featured Stamper!

This week's featured stamper over at SCS, Michelle (Shellapoo) has an amazing story! Please check out the info on this challenge thread. Michelle has advanced stage MS and still manages time to stamp and donate cards to hospitalized children. What an amazing example she sets for all of us. Thank you Michelle, this card is for you.
I chose this card to case. I was drawn to her large flowers in the two corners and immediately thought of my ever growing stash of large primas that I rarely use! The DP is from the Basic Grey Infuse pack and the sentiment is from Flourishes, Many Sentiments set. The flower centers are punched flowers layered with a piece of DP punched out and topped with dew drops. This cute Puppybella is colored with prismacolor pencils and sakura glitter pen in Red.

Card Deets:Stamps – Puppybella, Many Sentiments by Flourishes
Paper - River Rock, Infuse DP, Blush Red Medium paper from Prism papers
Accessories - dew drops (the Island Blossom), primas, small flower punch, 1/2" circle punch, paper piercer



Saturday, August 2, 2008

Time for cupcakes!!!

I wish I had a real one here right about now. Still totally consumed with my bathroom remodel. The granite guy is supposed to come any minute now!

I just love Taylor's cupcake challenges and wish I could get to them more often. Sadly, I don't own ANY cupcake stamp sets! GASP! I know, all my images are from my wonderful PIF friends or thru WishRAK. I am gonna have to fix that pretty soon...
Anyway, this card uses a House Mouse image -don't know the name as I got it thru WishRAK. It is colored with prismacolorpencils and gamsol. Then, I lightly applied glitter on the icing and candles. Icing and sentiment have Pink Smoothie and the candles have Volare on them. Did I mention I am in love with Art Glitter???
The DP is from an old paper pack from the Dollar Tree and the sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Basics set. The tiny buttons came from a pack at Michael's. Sometimes I buy something small and cheap with my coupon. Never can have enough embellishments hanging around just waiting for the right card!

Card deets:
Stamps – House Mouse, Birthday Basics
Paper - Regal Rose, Barely Banana, DP
Accessories - Volare and Pink Smoothie glitter, scallop and circle punches, large oval punch, tiny buttons, ribbon


A beautiful RAK

Oh, this card graced my mailbox earlier this week and completely brightened up my day! A big thank you to my friend, Janette (blessingsx3) for this beauty. She sent me congratulations on making the DT for Elzybells. The coloring on this is amazing and the image has just the perfect amount of sparkle! Thanks Janette, it has a prominent spot in my stamping area.

Friday, August 1, 2008

A dare to use triangles!

This week's Double Dog Dare challenge was hosted by Beverly (Beestamper) and was to use this week's Color Challenge 177 color Guava, Sahara Sand and white and the kicker - to use a sketch with a triangle!


Man, oh man, this was tough for me. I don't have any triangle templates around, so I hand cut these. I find the balance on a card with triangles a bit off, so I used some adhesive backed gems to help balance it out.

I decided to use my Watervase image from Stampingbella.com. I colored the flower with Guava and then put Crystal glitter (from Art Glitter) on it. The water was lightly colored with Soft Sky then I put Baby Boy glitter on it. The ribbon was a super duper exciting find at Michael's dollar bin, it is an EXACT match to Guava!! The triangle and flower sentiment panel are popped up on dimensionals.

I just have to say that I used to HATE to use glitter, it just got EVERYWHERE. Then I got the right glitter tools from Art Glitter. What a difference. I used the designer adhesive glue that dries clear, it is fast drying and the glitter sticks really well to it. The Ultrafine metal tip applicator helps apply the glitter in the really small areas (like those flower petals). Definitely worth a looksee if you like glitter. And the colors! Holy cow!

I am sending this card as a RAK for Beverly's friend Carol, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer and is currently undergoing chemo. Hopefully it will put a smile on her face. You can read more about it on the RAK request thread here.

Card Deets:Stamps – Watervase by Stampingbella, Technique Tuesday Words we Love
Paper - groovy guava, sahara sand, white
Accessories - cuttlebug swiss dots folder, flowers die cuts, ribbon, bling, glitter