Verve Prize

If you visited my blog at all during the month of October you probably saw that I was participating in the Hope You Can Cling To challenges at Splitcoast Stampers.  There was a challenge a day for most of the month, and on a couple days there were two or three challenges.  As you know October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. 

These challenges are based on raising awareness and they have themes that go with it.  Part of the challenge was a request that the cards be sent to UT MD Anderson Cancer Center where they will be available to the patients and their visitors.  When the challenges closed prizes were awarded.  And boy of boy were there great prizes.  If you entered one and only one challenge you could win a prize and then there were larger prizes which if you finished all the challenges you could win.  I won a prize package from Verve Stamps with a value over $50. How cool is that!!! I know I was very excited to have won a prize and couldn't believe that I was picked. I hoped I might win something but I never expected that I would. 
During the time the prizes were being awarded I followed the prize post thread and met some fun ladies.  As Lydia tortured us by dragging out the awards over several days we had lots of fun chatting and waiting for the funny animal photos to be posted.  The photos were hysterical and there would be a winner posted with it.  Then after that Lee would have a funny smiley face to go with it.  It may not sound very exciting or even fun here but it was.  We were having so much fun that we decided to continue the fun but posting what we made with out winnings.  So as soon as I could I took my goodies out and made this card.  Even though I had already made a card for the Mojo Monday challenge I made another card with the sketch because that challenge is sponsored by Verve.  Makes sense, right?

Now, I don't want to take anything away from this Verve prize because I think it is fantastic and I think it's fantastic that Verve and so many other vendors donated prizes.  However the grand prize is a Pazzle package valued at $599.   I didn't anything about Pazzles before and don't know much about them yet but come Friday I'm going to know a whole lot more because my dear friends I won the grand prize.  You could have pushed me over with a feather when I found out.  I'm still a little in shock.  I never imagined that I would win that prize.  I participated in the challenges because I love to make cards and I have a deep hatred of cancer.  I'm sick of it getting my friends and relatives and I firmly believe that everything you do to fight it, even making a card, is a dent in its armor.  If we all keep chipping away eventually we will be able to say, "I can't remember the last time I heard of someone having cancer".  From these pages to God's ear...

Here's the deets:
stamp - Verve "Brighter Days"
ink - Memento "Gray Flannel" and Memento "Tuxedo Black"
paper - Stampin' Up "Basic Gray" and "So Saffron" card stock; Teresa Collins "Carolina Breeze" patterned paper
miscellaneous - Spellbinder's "Labels Eighteen" die; ribbon; bling; machine stitching

Here's the challenges:
Mojo Monday 270 - sketch

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

More Dirty

It's time to Dare to Get Dirty.  That's the special challenges posted on Splitcoast Stampers for the Fan Club members.  I have to work at a feverish pitch to get them done.  It's lots of fun.  Why don't you play with us.


Here's the deets:
stamp - Verve "Great Friend"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black" and Versa Magic "Pink Petunia
paper - My Favorite Things "Kraft" cs
miscellaneous - bling, Viva "Ice White Pearl Pen"; Viva "Silver Glitter Line"

Here's the challenges:
Splitcoast Stampers - Dare to Get Dirty
L'il Red Wagon #144 - Girlfriends
City Crafter week 120 - Solid as a Rock
Simply Create Too #18 - Use It Two Times

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

Too Late Mojo

I finished up my Mojo card just in time to catch one of my favorite shows.  When the show was over I started to work on this post.  I opened up Mojo and saw that there was one minute till the collection closed.  That's just not enough time to get it done, oh well...

Here's the deets:

stamp - Verve "Winter Mittens"

ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"; VersaMagic "Aegean Blue"

paper - Close To My Heart "Aspen" cs and dp

miscellaneous - ribbon; snowflake charm; bling; My Favorite Things "Oval", "Oval Doily" and
"Mini Monarch" die-namics; machine stitching; Martha Stewart snowflake punch

Here's the challenges:

Mojo Monday 248 - sketch

the Squirrel and the Fox #21 - Christmas in July

Paper Playtime #78 - Die Cuts and Red, White and Blue

Ladybug Crafts Ink - Christmas in July

Crafty Ann's  #69 - Paper Piecing

Just Add Ink JAI125 - Just Add Winter

the Stamp Man - Bling It On

2 Sisters - Christmas in July (bonus no red or green use #)

Card Making Mamas #49 - Rubber

Sweet Stampin' - Paper Piecing

Crafter's Companion - Ho Ho Ho Christmas

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

You're an Angel

These floral cameos have been in my stash for a looooong time and needed to see the light of day.  Too bad I can't figure out how to get a decent photograph of the card.  I've tried on three different days, used artificial just day light, tried using lights, changed the angle.  I just can't get a decent shot of this one.  The papers have prints with gray in them and look like mud.  The ribbon and cameo are a mossy green.  I've played around in the editing program and can't those colors to show up correctly.  Also on the stamped edge there are little pearls all around which can't be seen in this photo.






In this close up you can sort of see the pearls and the colors look right.  So why can't I get the whole card to photograph?

Here's the deets:
stamp - Verve "Celebrating You"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"
paper - Recollections Neutrals cs; Teresa Collins "Carolina Breeze" dp
miscellaneous - pearls; pleated ribbon; lace with pearls; Webster's Pages "Silhouettes"; My Favorite Things "Circle" die-namics; rounded corner punch


Here's the challenges:
Moving Along with the Times - Make It Sentimental
Southern Girls #48 - Pearls
Terrifically Thrilling Thursday - What the Text

 Creative Card Crew - Swirls and Pearls

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

Who's Counting?

I keep seeing Christmas countdowns but I'm not counting.  It's going to be here before I'm ready and I'll be wondering where the heck the time went.    
In January, we started looking for a bigger house.  Almost a year later we're going to be moving.  Yep, just in time for the holidays. 
As you can imagine I'll be packing or looking at paint colors or some moving related stuff this weekend, but what about you?  How about Stampin' for the Weekend? 
This week the challenge is a sketch.  That' makes it really easy for you to play along.  It's the perfect opportunity for you to get some Christmas cards done.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Verve "Winter Mittens"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"; Close To My Heart "Cranberry"
paper - Recollections red card base; Bazzill "Classic Green" and "Ruby Slippers";  Authentique "Wonder" Collection
miscellaneous - copics; gelly roll glaze pen; bling; bird charm; red burlap twine

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend - sketch challenge

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  Now go get busy making a card using the SFTW sketch.  You can find the sketch, the rules, the linkey thingy and see what the rest of the design team created by clicking here.

Great Friend

One more card for today and then I am off to one of my guilty pleasures.  I enjoy watching "the Closer" and "Rizzoli and Isles" on Monday nights and I will be parking my big old butt in front of the boob tube and chilling. 
However there are still 2 challenges to complete for the Dare to Get Dirty challenges, so you just may see one or two more posts before tonight is through.




Here's the deets:
stamp - Verve "Great Friend"
ink - Stampin' Up "Soft Suede"
paper - Stampin' Up "Soft Suede" cs; Neenah Classic Crest Natural white cs; SU "Subtles" dsp
miscellaneous - dotted embossing folder; brads; Stampin' Up pearls; "Soft Suede" ribbon; crocheted lace; rolled flower; sewing machine

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.

It's Time

Time to get your Mojo out.  One of the bright spots of my Monday mornings is checking out the Mojo Monday challenge blog.  This week the sketch has a couple pennants on it and I just am not in the mood for pennants so I switched them out.  I switched the ribbon too.  Defiant, huh!  Bold as brass, n'est pas.  Those were the kinds of things I was told when I was a victim of catholic school and tried to switch things around a little.  It's amazing anyone who survived the schools I attended has a single creative thought in their heads.  I'm sure those penguins would have flipped if they ever saw my coloring books, where I used blue and green or orange for skin and purple for hair. They probably would have taken away my crayons and possibly broken my fingers.  They were some mean women and back in my day, corporal punishment was  encouraged not forbidden.  Ah, the good ole days.  But I digress...
To make the layered flower on this card first the stamp was inked with yellow and then the edges were rolled in orange.  It's very subtle and barely visible in the photo.  The idea was to make it look a little like a tea rose. 

don't forget the inside

Also difficult to see is the sentiment stamped in green on the lower right side, it says "just because".

Here's the deets:
stamp - Verve "Great Friends"
ink - Close to My Heart "Olive"; Stampin' Up "Barely Banana" and "Pumpkin Pie"
paper - Stampin' Up "More Mustard" cs and "Haiku" dsp
miscellaneous - Stampin' Up ribbon; mini brads; bling; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Mojo Monday MOJO202 - sketch
For Fun - Anything Goes
Kabbodle Doodles #78 - In the Garden
Totally Papercrafts #77 - Bling It Up
Polka Doodles #30 - In an English Garden
Sentimental Sunday - In the Garden

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.



Wouldn't You Like To Ride in my Beautiful Balloon?

I've got about a million songs and jingles in my head and anything can trigger any one of them to start playing. Once they start there's no way of knowing how long they'll stick around. To this day I never know when the theme to Dallas is going to play. That one drives me crazy because I didn't even like the show, I just watched it because my mother watched it and it was fun talking about it with her. She couldn't get over how Miss Ellie had millions of dollars but always wore frumpy house dresses. I had to agree with her about that. My buddy Eileen tells me that Stephen King calls these songs earworms and that's as good a name as any and creepy enough to fit.

Today the Fifth Dimension is playing in my head and that's because I used the Verve "Up, Up and Away" stamp set to make this card. This set has a few hot air balloons so you see the connection to the song. Well if I have to music stuck in my head at least this is a pretty song. Over on the Verve Forum at Splitcoast there's a month long challenge going on. Every week a new challenge is posted and you have till the end of the month to get all the challenges done and posted. The winner of the challenge will win all the new releases for October. Go take a look, anyone can play, who knows, maybe you'll be lucky. This card was made for the first challenge VLVSep01 which is a sketch challenge and the twist for this challenge is to use little rounded things. The Stamp Something Challenge is to use your favorite embellishment. That's not easy cause I love so many of them but lately I've been drawn to pearls so today that's my favorite and they're little and round so I'm combining these challenges.

I found some old papers that I liked but they don't have any labels on them and I don't know where I got them so I have no identifier for you. The bow however is totally yummy and the ribbon is so nice to work with. It ties easily and has nice body and the shade of pink is lovely. The ribbon is from MFT's chocolate collection. The collections are great because they have paper, ribbon and buttons that go together and I just read that Kimmy (the MFT lady) has added card stock and stamp pads to go with the collections. Just what I need, more things to spend my money on.

Here are the other details for this card. The pearls are Hero Arts. On the bottoms edges of the papers I used Fiskars' Effervescence punch and Stampin' Up scalloped eyelet border punch. the white card stock was edged with Memento Angel Pink.

Thanks for looking, don't forget to click on the pink ribbon and then go make a card. You'll feel better for helping someone when you click on the pink and then you put those good feelings into the card you make.

Up, Up and Away

Are you hearing the 5th Dimension? "Wouldn't you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?" At least for me it's a song I like. I often get stuck with things like the themes for old TV shows, "Dallas" in particular, that drive me insane. Once they get in there it's hard to get them out. So I will enjoy this song as it comes and goes through my head for who knows how long.

A short time ago I (along with 6 other stampers) won the Mojo98 contest and the prize was my choice of a Verve stamp set with a value of up to $24. I didn't have any Verve stamps so it was a really tough decision because there are so many great sets to choose from. I have been following the A Paper Melody blog for awhile and Melody had posted a few cards using this set and they sold me on the "Up, Up and Away" set. If you have some time go visit her blog, she's a very talented, you'll like what you see.

Now onto my card. The Pile It On challenge #12 is "good things come in threes" so I stamped the tree and the clouds three times, and each tree has three Taylor's Tiny Twinkles. You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it and you will be able to see those tiny twinkles better, however I must warn you that if you see them you will probably want them. In the upper corner I placed three square orange bling that are Darice Self Stick Gems. I picked 3 sheets of double sided designer paper from Grandma's Kitchen, Pretty Pinwheel, Dippity Dot and Simple Stripes. I used both sides of the papers. For the Pile It On challenge the theory is to do more than one challenge. I used the sketch challenge from Shirley's 2 Girls Twisted Thursday Challenge #22 and as the name implies they have a twist, this week is to "punch" something and running around in my head was the No Time to Stamp challenge "Polka Dots". I didn't have any polka dot paper with me so I needed to run out to pick some up and then I saw the EK Success "Swiss Cheese" border punch and had to have that, and I got the paper I mentioned before. So I punched the edges of the maroon cross strip of paper and got polka dots and punch at the same time. Since the stamped image is a hot air balloon it also works for the Paper Cutz challenge #5 to use something that flies.

The images were stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa and Bamboo Leaves. I distressed the edges of the papers with a scissor and my fingernail and then inked them with the Bamboo Leaves.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your visit here today, before you go, I'm asking you to click the pink ribbon, it's a simple and free thing you can do. I'd also like to say thanks (a much belated thanks) to the wonderful people over at Pile It On, when they saw my ribbon they not only clicked on it but they added it to their page and they get a lot more views than I do, so a big thank you goes out to Pile It On.