Category Archives: Verve Stamps

I am so, so happy to be sharing a few new release projects for Verve Stamps over the next few days! When Julee emailed me and told me about these sets, I was drooling… sight unseen because of the phrasing… I didn’t even have to see them to know that they would be beautiful things with the magical words.

Today I’m sharing my first project featuring the Beautiful Things stamp set and Beautiful Flowers Die Set .

This was the first card I created for this release. You are a beautiful soul. The Beautiful Flowers were so easy to color, and the coordinating dies lined up nice and even…it was a real treat to color all of these blooms. I airbrushed a pale blue background and then popped the blooms up on X-Press It Foam Mounting Tape. Notice how my die cut leaves weave under and over the blooms? That’s an easy way to add depth and interest to any of your projects!

I had been sitting in church last weekend, and flipping through Scripture that our pastor was sharing, and this bookmark uncovered itself. It’s a duct-tape bookmark that my daughter made. (If you have any pre-teen girls in your life, I know you’ve got your own stash of duct-tape accessories. My husband carries a camouflage duct tape wallet. #truth)

I loved the colors, and quickly made a mental note that I’d have to pair these up for at least one of my release projects. I feel like that inspiration definitely worked to my favor.

Next up, I wanted to share a simple ‘beautiful’ card that features the Beautiful word die cut and flowers colored and cut from Beautiful Things and Beautiful Flowers Die Set. I stretched out of my ordinary and grabbed some black cardstock to make things pop!

This beautiful word die does cut easily, and I didn’t have to poke or pick any of the little pieces out – even the dot for the i. Again, I’ve used X-Press It Foam Mounting Tape to vary the heights of my card elements for interest.

Here’s another trick I’ve been using a lot lately, I cut my die cut words or small accents from the same white cardstock (X-Press It Blending Card used here) that I color my images on and then color the die cut words with Copic Marker or the Copic Airbrush System. This way everything coordinates when I’m finished. The pink mat layer is cut from white X-Press It Blending Card and colored with Copic, as well.

I do recommend that you use the same white cardstock for each of your elements on a single card. Papers with different milling processes or raw material will have different weights, textures and tints that affect the finished visual color, so using the same white for each piece keeps the color matching consistent.

My Beautiful Things blooms are stamped in Black Memento and colored with Copic. The outer edges of the blooms are RV02, YR04 and R22 – The centers have a light feather blend outward of RV00, YR000 and R00, respectively.

Want to win some shiny new Verve? We’ll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win today’s featured products! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for the full hop list, a little more about our new products and all the prize info and deadlines!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my Day 1 projects! I sure have enjoyed creating them and sharing them with you. Can’t wait to send the cards off to special someones! All of the Verve products I’ve shared with you today will be available for purchase on Friday… I will be back tomorrow with more goodies to tease you…

Have a beautiful day!

I love the idea and the look of hand-lettering on projects, and I’ve been practicing in the car, volleyball games, at night in front of the tv… I’ll keep practicing.

Last weekend, I was playing around with the Kirarina Wink pens from Imagination International, because they write on glass, acetate and plastic…lightbulb. So, even though acetate doesn’t photograph very well, I thought I’d share this project for a slightly different take on “stamping” and “hand-lettering” for a more  hand-crafted look.
First, I stamped my butterflies (from my favorite Sparkly Dreams from Verve) in a row with the MINI MISTI. I know there are a lot of toys that get oohs and aahs in our craft, but I am serious when I say I love using the MISTI.  I can re-stamp for crisp impressions every, single time – with perfect alignment. I’m not trying to sound overly dramatic, but it really has renewed my enjoyment of stamping!

 What I’m using is the MINI MISTI that was shown at the Craft Hobby Trade show earlier this month. It is perfect for people like me who have trouble finding the top of their desk because of all the creative expression piled on top! 🙂 Here you can do a little size comparison. I put a little piece of washi tape on my corner to use as a lifter when I’m opening and folding the MISTI.

Once my butterflies were stamped, I created a tag from the Verve Flourished Tag set out of acetate, layered it over a sentiment stamped on a post-it note from the same Verve set that I love. And, I basically traced the pretty handcrafted letters onto my acetate with the Kirarina Wink.

The Kirarina Wink pens come in 18 beautiful colors – including a fabulous white. They have a firm nib, and a beautiful opaque ink with a tad bit of shimmer. For this card, I used the new Emerald, and there is a beautiful new Violet, as well.

I added a tad bit of stark white glitter behind the clear tag and beautiful crisp Shine Bright sequins from Verve.

So, basically, the thought I want to leave you with today is… to embrace different aspects of paper crafting, think outside of the box and try new things, and above all… whatever you are… even a tracer!… be a good one! 

The holidays. In just a few short days we’ll be into them full swing. I’m determined to spend some time with my family this week reflecting on abundant blessings that have been ours this year. Our family has weathered some difficulty this year, so I think that it’s important to remember, reflect and appreciate.

I wish I had time this weekend to make and share a few dozen of these turkey cards. I just love him…I colored this one up this morning with Copic Marker, and I’m sticking it in the mail as soon as I hit publish on this post.

Mr. Turkey and the sentiment are from the Verve Stamps set Bountiful Blessings. The label die was a gift with purchase from Sizzix, so I’m not sure of the name. The little flag dies are retired MFT.

While the 2015 Copic teaching schedule is totally and completely finished, there are CHA classes open for enrollment. I’ll be teaching some fun ones: Faces and Hair, Clothing and Accessories and Vintage Values and Monotones. We’ll also be offering both certification classes and a brand new FLOWERS class! Can’t wait to see what people think about that class. It’s been such a popular request over the past year or so! You can find all of the current class information HERE.

I’m off to mail my card and run into town for a few errands, then tonight my little family will enjoy a dinner, just the four of us and reflect on our abundant blessings. Happy Thanksgiving!