Celebrate A Special Birthday with Viva la Verve

          I’m still hoping to get all 4 cards done for November for the Viva la Verve Master Challenge.  It has been such a stressful month with my husband’s mild heart attack.  I’m grateful to God’s sustaining hand upon him.  His vein graft from his triple bypass in 1991 was completely blocked in one place and partially blocked in another.  With his 11^th and 12^th stent and new medication, he is back on his feet and resuming his normal activities.  God is soooooo GOOD!!!!

          Thanksgiving is upon us so quickly, but I still have all the usual day to day activities going on around my house.  I am a tutor/mentor to a young lady at a local school whose birthday is this week and needed to make her a special card.  I wanted it to be young and youthful, yet sweet so I went looking through my paper stash and found this delightful paper hidden carefully away.  It said youthful to me!  One of the great things about Stampin’ Up! cardstock is that it comes in so many delightful colors and takes ink beautifully.  It was so easy to find some good coordinating cs for my creation.  My card is 5½” by 4¼” with a top fold.  I also got to use my new ODBD’s Gingham Background stamp.  Gingham background is now available in ANY color.  What’s not to love????

·       Stamp set(s):  Papertrey Ink – Delightful Dahlia Additions; Our Daily Bread Designs – Gingham Background

·       Ink(s):  Stampin’ Up! – Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight

·       Paper:  Stampin’ Up! – Very Vanilla, Melon Mambo, Coastal Cabana, & Daffodil Delight CS; Prima – Fairy Floral Collection Garden Party

·       Dies & Embossing folders:  Stampin’ Up! – Chalk Talk Framelits; Spellbinders – Becky Fleck’s Tags & Flags   

·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  Verve - Truly Madly Deeply Ribbon Collection; Jolee’s – Sunflowers Dimensional Stickers

The card came together easily following the layout for week 2’s Viva la Verve Sketch.  It was super to realize that one of the Verve ribbons from the Truly Madly Deeply Ribbon Collection was a perfect match for SU!’s Melon Mambo.  I tried some pretty cream colored ribbon; it was OK but the Verve ribbon just made the whole card come alive.  I also reversed the scalloped border from the Becky Fleck dies to make a bit of a whimsical border – perfect for an almost teenager!

          I hope that you’ve enjoyed my card for the 2^nd week’s challenge.  Don’t you just love a happy card – especially for a birthday girl?  Until next time you visit, be safe and have a blessed week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Many Blessings,

Donna

Summer Breezes Hello

 

         I was checking a few of the blogs that I follow where I know that the owner participates in color challenges (which I’ve never done before) and came across the Color Throwdown blog.  This week’s inspiration picture was flowers in a mason jar and the colors remind me of my mother’s peonies that bloom in late spring where I grew up.  One of the colors they used, I didn’t recognize, but the others were Stampin’ Up!’s colors.  I chose to substitute the new In Color Coastal Cabana for that one.  I also decided to use a jar like the photo inspiration because the new color reminded me of the older canning jars that my mother pulled out every summer when our garden started to produce lots of veggies to can and freeze.  You may remember those jars or find them now in antique stores.  They are sort of a blue/green color.  I’m also using the first week’s sketch from the Viva la Verve July Sketch Challenge.  I failed to do the last step for June’s challenge so I'm trying again.  I sure would like to win the gift certificate as there are a lot of stamps with matching dies that I’d love to get off my wish list and into my craft space!  Wish me lots of luck!  The card is 5.5” by 5.5” so that it fits easily in the 6” by 6” inch envelopes.

·       Stamp set(s):  Stampin’ Up Perfectly Preserved (ret.) and Friendship Preserves (ret.)

·       Ink(s):  All from Stampin’ Up!:  Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink (ret.), Regal Rose, Old Olive, & Coastal Cabana 

·       Paper:  All from Stampin’ Up! – Pretty in Pink (ret.), Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, & Very Vanilla; and from Prima Flights of Fancy Collection ‘tip toe”

·       Dies & Embossing folders:  Cuttlebug:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder; Stampin’ Up!:  Square Lattice Embossing Folder; Framelits – Ovals Collection, Window Frames, Cannery Set; Embosslits, Beautiful Wings

·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  Big Shot, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue, sponge daubers

I liked the sketch from the Viva la Verve July 2013 Challenge, but I rotated the background 90° so that I had the oval going vertically instead of horizontally across the background papers.  The Prima paper has a nice distressed look with the browns and neutrals in the papers so all of the edges were inked with Crumb Cake ink.  I liked the way the Coastal Cabana pulls the colors from the butterflies out for an extra special accent and the Pretty in Pink brightens the Prima Paper a bit for some contrast in the pink family I used for this card.  The overall effect of the card does remind me of the colors of summers spent at home growing up and the canning Mom did every summer.  Pleasant memories of home come to mind, which at the time weren’t so pleasant spending summer afternoons stringing beans, shelling lima beans and black-eyes peas.  Not so fun doing it at the time, but the eats were good come winter!  Miss you both Mom & Dad!  I’ll be seeing you again when my race is finished here!

Thank you for stopping by my corner of the world and taking a look at my interpretation of these two challenges.

Many blessings,

Donna

Simply Sketched Sympathy & VLVJun2013, Week 3

 

         It is never a happy day when you need a sympathy card to send to a friend or relative, but that is where I found myself earlier this week.  I know that the colors I chose are not the usual for a sympathy card, but as a Christian and as I heard more about how my friend’s 16 year old grandson died, I didn’t feel that a somber sympathy card would be appropriate.  This wonderful young man is now home with his Heavenly Father and the girl he went into the surf to save is alive.  We rejoice with her family while feeling the pain and loss of our friend’s family.  It just didn’t feel right to make a somber card to me, so this is what I chose - a sunny yellow and green to symbolize the Son of Man and green for my friend’s grandson’s new life in Heaven.  The card is 5” x 7” with a top fold.

·       Stamp set(s):  Stampin’ Up! – Simply Sketched(new); Heartfelt Creations Cross & Lilies

·       Ink(s):  SU Pear Pizazz    

·      Paper:  Prima, Sun Kiss Collection “Sweet Tea”;  Stampin’ Up! – Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizazz, Core’dinations Early Espresso, Whisper White, Floral District DSP(retired)

·       Dies & Embossing folders:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circles & Ovals Large; Stampin’ Up! Embossing Folder Fancy Fan

·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  White Velvet Ribbon – Basic Grey; SU Seam Binding Ribbon – Pear Pizazz; SU Basic Jewels Pearls, Large; Martha Stewart Doily Lace Border Punch

The card design is of course from Viva la Verve’s June Sketch Challenge.  The layout is straight forward, although I did move the circle – pieced with Daffodil Delight and Floral District paper – to the middle of the layout.  The yellow circle is a deliberate allusion to the sun, and I just wanted it centered.  I liked the sunflowers on the Prima paper and wanted the viewer to be able to see them as well. 

Thank you for taking a look at my card today!  I hope that you enjoyed your time here.  Please feel free to leave me a comment.  I’d love your feedback!

Many Blessings,

Donna

PS:  Below is the inside of the card.