All My Hope

When I did a shout-out to Verve Stamps a couple of weeks ago, I pictured the freebies that had accompanied my order, including designer papers, a doily and a printed sentiment. The card above is what I was able to make with those things. I also used Stampin' Up grey cardstock for the card base, and old olive cardstock to frame the sentiment. I sponged "Worn Lipstick" Distress Oxide Ink over the doily.

I am entering my card in Jeannie's Dragonfly Journeys challenge, which is to include roses on your card. There are lots of them in the DP, so this is an easy qualifier. There's still more than a week left to play along if you have a rose project to share!

Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend!

Such a Joy!

When I heard that Verve was closing, I hurriedly placed one last order before everything was gone. I was excited to get a couple more scripture sets, as well as a nice general-purpose set called "Be Kind," from which this sentiment comes. Inside, I stamped "hugs and smiles" from the same set. I won't bother linking to the set now, since it has sold out and will no longer be available.

The "Classy Label" die is also from Verve. When I stamped the sentiment, which is lined up at an angle as you see above, there was room left on the label for something else. This "Be Kind" set also included a stamp with a couple of solid flowers, so I chose it for the corner. However, the flowers didn't match exactly, so I got a purple pen and added some outlines to match the design on the patterned paper (from Love Nicole's "Blooming" 6x6 pad). I'm not sure I LOVE the result, but it DID make the flowers coordinate a little better, so I kept it. What's your vote, yes or no?

Metallics

I've decided that I really like metallic cards! The shine catches your eye and makes them look special. I might not have tried using solid metallic sheets had it not been for this background paper ("Delicate Floret" pad by Love Nicole) which I loved, but wasn't sure how to use alone. When paired with some solid metallic gold - WOW! (<---- that was my daughter's exact response.) I wish you could see in person how pretty this looks! My metallic paper is from a DCWV 6"x6" pad.

To go along with the papers, I embossed the Hampton Art sentiment ("Hope & Faith" set) using a champagne-colored embossing powder. It matches quite well and doesn't look gaudy, as sometimes TOO shiny gold does.

I used the trimmed scraps from the patterned paper to make a second card:

This time I used a really large Penny Black scripture (from "All Great Things" set), also embossed with the same champagne powders. I'm happy with how both cards turned out, and look forward to more opportunities to use metallics.

Clothed with Strength

Here is another of those easy cards where you let the pretty paper do all the work. Here, I used a floral design from the Love Nicole "Aquarelle" 6x6 pad, and stamped the Verve sentiment. This verse is included in the "Scripture Medley 4" clear set. (In real life the ink color is not purple as it appears in the photo, but rather a deep pink that matches the flowers.)

My kids get out of school today, so I while I HOPE to be clothed in strength and dignity, I will DEFINITELY be clothed in a sundress and flip flops in the near future! Have a great weekend!

Dream a New Dream

I mentioned in a post last week about getting some great deals at Verve, and this "New Dream" stamp is the one I picked up for 75-cents. However, it is probably sold out now because Julee Tilman, the owner of Verve, just announced that she's closing up shop. I'm SO sorry to see Verve go, because they had such perfect stamps for card ministry. In fact, I snatched up a couple more scripture sets before they were gone forever. Even though some of the scriptures will be duplicates of stamps I already have, I use them so often, it will be reassuring to know that I have back-ups in case I wear the originals out!

The paper is from the Pebbles "Garden Party" 6x6 pad, and the card is finished off with a butterfly die cut.

Happy Wednesday!

Walk by Faith

Gray is my husband's favorite color. Of all of the beautiful colors in the spectrum, he chooses gray. The fact that he's an artist would make me think he might be drawn to color, but that has not been the case. Then again, given Baskin Robbins' 31 flavors, or Cook Out's 40+ milkshake flavors, he'll choose vanilla every time. So the fact that he married me ... does it mean I'm dull? Or am I a classic?? I digress...

I don't make a lot of gray cards because I DO prefer color. However, in this case, I think the gray looks elegant. It's paired with navy blue card stock to frame the DP. (Love Nicole's "Bouquet of Color") The sentiment is from Hampton Art's "Hope & Faith" set, and says "I will walk by faith, even when I cannot see. - II Corinthians 5:7."

Have a great week!

More Color!

My friend Jeannie runs "Dragonfly Journeys," a challenge blog, and her challenge this week is called "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." It sent me looking for rainbow paper so that I could play along.  I found a perfect sheet in an American Crafts 6x6 pad called "#Summer" that allowed me to make two cards. This first one uses a strip of the striped paper, along with a sticker I found in my stash, which I popped up on dimensionals.

My second card uses the same paper:

This time, I added a tag with a die cut "hello" (Hero Arts), and stamped a sentiment below from Hero Arts' "Everyday Sayings" clear set. This is perhaps my most used set in my card ministry, because it contains nearly every saying I need, including "thinking of you" in 3 different fonts. Inside this card, I added a verse from Hampton Art's "Hope & Faith" set:

I AM truly glad, because today is the first day of June, and summer break is just around the corner. "Wonderful Joy" indeed! Wishing you joy as well!