Circular Valentine

Hello!

Verve's "Mojo Monday" blog challenged readers to make a circular card. At first I didn't think I could do it because I don't have a lot of the fancy equipment that some people have. But then I realized I have doilies and I thought I could use one as the base. Looking at it, I realized it was too flimsy. But then I thought perhaps I could use my archaic Creative Memories circle cutter to cut a card base. I was thrilled that it worked! I cut the first circle, leaving about 1 inch uncut at the top. Then I lined up my cutter so that the top of the second circle would align with the top of the first, and it worked perfectly - hooray! Sometimes I think figuring out a way to "make do" is more fun than having all of the perfect supplies.

Here is my card:



~La

Supplies:
Paper: Pink Pirouette, old Christmas DP (SU), miscellaneous doilies
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU)
Stamp: Love You Much (SU)
Accessories: Chocolate chip and miscellaneous designer ribbon (SU), Prima Flowers, K&Company adhesive pearls

Hello

I made my card for this weeks Viva la Verve challenge. I'm not sure if I like it or not. I was trying to keep it clean and modern but I think perhaps it is too boring. It definitely did not capture the elegance from my inspiration photo.

Here is my card:

and here is the inspiration photo:

I was once again attracted to the gray. But when I tried to incorporated gray with my black and white it seemed too busy. Also, as I've said before, my stamps tend to be flowery so I was hard pressed to find anything modern. But now that I'm looking at the inspiration photo again I feel like I didn't really have to be that modern. Oh well, it's done and it's going to have to do for now.

~La

All righty then... My husband helped me find the photo. I don't know why I couldn't find it - it was filed with 2003 photos, naturally! (????) We got a new computer after Christmas and downloaded the updated software for my photo printer from the internet. Everything works differently, so obviously I'm on a learning curve!

This is my entry for this week's Verve's weeks 3 Viva la Verve challenge. I see they've already posted week 4, so I'd better get busy!

I used one of my oldest stamps for this (2-step stampin' rose from SU) and two from my newest set (Filigree Fantasy from Verve).

I am so frustrated! I made a card that is too bulky to scan. I photographed it. I uploaded the picture to my photo software. I cannot FIND the picture to put on here! I have looked, and looked, and looked some more. I shut down the computer thinking maybe it needed to shut down to save it. No luck. It doesn't seem to be anywhere! And yet, every time I open the photo program there it is. AAAAAAAGH!

Any ideas?

Button Balloons

I never managed to enter the contest I wanted to enter last week. I only completed 1 of the 5 projects. Too bad, because the prize was a lot of very beautiful stamps. Oh well...


I have managed to make just one card in the past week. I'll post it, although it didn't scan well because the buttons prevent the top closing on the scanner. I copied the idea of the button balloons from my new favorite card blogger. You can see her card here. I have the greatest collection of vintage buttons - a whole tin that belonged to my Grandma. The yellow button on my card is from her collection. I hesitate to use them because they are irreplaceable; however, I recently became aware of the TV show "The Hoarders" and it scares me, so I am tossing things and using things with a new purpose!

Coffee

Verve Stamps has a 5 part challenge going this week and I am hoping to enter. I'm not sure I'll be able to though, because it's Wednesday night and I only have 1 part done! (The deadline is Friday.) I've had to work 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there to get this card done. If the rest doesn't go more smoothly I won't get to enter. Oh well... It is still great inspiration for me!

Here is the one that I have finished. It was perhaps the easiest for me because all you have to do is follow a sketch they provide. The rest will require more creativity on my part, so we'll see!

One delay for this card was trying to find a ribbon that looked good. I have loads of ribbon to choose from, but nothing looked great. However, today I stopped at the scrapbook store and found this ribbon which couldn't be more perfect!

~La

Supplies:
Stamps: Delightful & Delicious, Filigree Fantasy (both Verve - yeah!)
Ink: Soft Suede, Bashful Blue (mashed together with a Bordering Blue marker to get the right color)
Paper: Blue Bayou, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla and - once again - an unknown DP, all SU

Challenge: At Home With Verve

I went to my neighborhood's "Scrapbook Club" over the weekend. They had a 2 day event but I was only able to be there for 3 hours. I decided to stamp rather than scrap because 3 hours is about enough time to unpack all of your supplies and pack them up again. I thought I would get so much stamping accomplished in 3 hours. Ha! I ate lunch and visited with old friends and new. In 3 hours I managed to make just one card! Oh well, it was a nice time. And I do like my card. I made it for another Verve challenge, and this time I actually had a Verve stamp to use on it! I placed my first order from Verve around Christmas time - it was my "Merry Christmas to me". I was shocked to find out that the company is in Idaho - where I lived until 2-1/2 years ago. If only I had known about it while I was there!

So here is the challenge sketch:

Here is the picture I chose as inspiration:


I don't know why, but lately I have been very drawn to the color gray. If I was decorating right now I think I would be painting dark gray walls.

I decided to think toward Valentine's Day for cards I am making right now, so I used gray with pink, which there is a bit of in my inspiration photo. I also thought my new Verve stamp was a great match to the flowers in the inspiration piece.

I think I will make this card again, with some changes. I didn't like the fact that I stamped the entire image in red. I colored over some of the leaves, which helped a bit, but next time I will color onto the stamp to get a more realistic image. I'll put that card here when I'm finished, because I think it will look better. I'll also be sure to scan it straight!! AND I'll straighten out the "always". I was literally out of time so just had to go with this. I'm anxious to do a new and improved version!

~La

Supplies:
Stamps: Because of You (Verve) and Small Script (SU)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Pretty in Pink and unknown DP all from SU
Ink: Real Red
Markers: Pretty in Pink, Always Artichoke

First Viva La Verve Challenge Card

I made another challenge card today, but I'm afraid I didn't follow the directions exactly. I thought about doing it over, but I think I'll just let it go. It's not like I'm really in the same league as the other participants anyhow.

So here is the sketch (that I didn't follow!):

and here is the inspiration photo I chose (there were three to pick from):

and here is my card:

In my opinion I copied the photo too literally. But I had this stamp which was practically the image in the photo so I couldn't help it! Thinking outside the box is not my strong suit. It's something I hope to work on as I participate in these challenges.

Supplies:
Stamp: Flowers for Daisy (Gina K)
Ink: Yo Yo Yellow, Soft Suede
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Ballet Blue, Soft Suede, DP from my scrap drawer
Accessories: Cream Ribbon (SU), Embosslits Die "Hi" (SU), Eyelets that came with the Crop-a-dile, SU watercolor pencils, Twinkling H20

I just finished the most challenging card of the year - my husband's birthday card. I don't know why, but I have the hardest time making a decent card for him. Year after year he has received truly inferior cards, not because I don't care but because, because... I'm not sure! Partly because I don't have much in the way of masculine stamps and anything I do have that remotely qualifies as masculine I've already used.

So here's what I came up with. It's no prize winner but it's probably the best he's received from me.

I'm glad to have that done. Now I can get back to flowers and flourishes and stuff I like!

Supplies:
Stamps: French Script, Elegant Greetings
Paper: I honestly have no idea the color of my cardstock! It is something from SU, probably a past In Color, but I cannot identify it.
Ink: Night of Navy, Sage Shadow (SU), Silver Metallic and Versamark
Accessories: Pewter Buckle from SU Hardware, French Blue ribbon, Silver Metallic Calligraphy Pen.

~La

Today's card was not made for a challenge, I just think it is very pretty. I love the blue/white/silver combination. I actually stamped the image on the Top Note Die when I was trying to design this year's Christmas Card. I loved it, but it didn't end up working with what I wanted to do. But I thought it would work nicely on a thank you card after Christmas since it is wintery looking.

Supplies:

Stamps: Scandanavian Season, Elegant Greetings (both SU)
Paper: Whisper White, Sky Blue
Ink: Sky Blue, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue (all SU), Silver Metallic (Encore)
Accessories: Silver Metallic Calligraphy Pen (Marvy), Blue organza ribbon, Sizzix embossing template, Nestabilities, Giant Scallop Circle Punch (Marvy?) Embossing Powder - don't remember the name but it's clear with "sparkles" in it.

A New Blog!

I've decided to start a new blog. The idea is to have a place to show my cards. I've been posting some from time to time on my "regular" blog, but I want to make this change for two reasons: 1) People who read my blog don't necessarily care about cards; and 2) As I enter cards into contests I don't want the other participants and/or judges to have to read my personal stuff.

As I prepared for this new blog I looked through pictures of past cards. I can see that my work has improved a lot. But I also compare my work to many uber-talented people whose blogs I read and it shows me that I have a LOT of room for improvement. I am a bit hesitant to enter into the fray, but I think it will push me to improve if I have to compete against these insanely talented people.

So without further ado, here is my "first" card. It is for "Mojo Monday". First, the Mojo Monday sketch:
My apologies to the people at Verve - I placed my first order for some of your stamps but they haven't arrived yet, so this card utilizes SU stamps and supplies. (All except for the jewel brad, which is from Michael's, and the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Folder.)

Amongst the things that need improvement is my method for capturing the image of the cards. I currently scan them and the image usually looks, well, "less" than in real life. So I am forever saying "This looks so much better in real life." In this image the colors don't look too great. They are all from SU's current "In colors", so they really do coordinate with each other! I cannot say I'll work to change this right away, but I will see what I can do eventually.

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by. I would LOVE it if you'd take a minute to say "hi" in the comments.

~La