Teal & Purple Valentine

The theme for the Mod Squad Challenge this week is to use Teal and Purple. But I had made up my mind to work on Valentines so it was a challenge to work up a design with those colors in mind. But I think I accomplished it quite well and I really love the end results. And if we used images illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger we got two chances to win, so I used some of hers from the Gina K. Designs line.

The flowers are from the Gina K. Designs A Year of Flowers 2 set illustrated by Melanie. By masking the flowers I managed to make a corner design which I fussy cut out. I also used a sentiment from another of her Gina K. Designs sets called Stately Flowers 6. Both are favorite sets of mine so it was a "given" that I would choose to work with those.

I used Copics to color in the flowers. These were the colors I found to most closely resemble the teal and purple shades. And, for the frame I used the Cherry Lynn Designs Sweetheart Frame. My card stock for the frame was a close shade to the color of my markers and after I had it all die cut I saved some of the hearts to add as extra embellishment. Along the bottom of the sentiment I added a section of a Mini Gem Line sticker from Glitterazzi Embellishments.

This card design was all assembled on a white card stock base. As a final embellishment I added the purple chiffon bow which I made with my Craft-Dee BowZ bow maker. If not for that little tool, I think I would be lost. It works much better for me since I have arthritic hands.

I really enjoyed working with these colors and I hope that the markers I used will be a close enough match to teal. That is a hard color to come by it seems. None of my card stock or inks seemed the perfect shade.

Well, I feel I accomplished a nice looking card for this challenge and I am so glad you came by to see what I did this afternoon too! Have a great rest of the day!

God bless,
Verna

Happy Hearts

Well, I think it is time I start working on some Valentines for my shut ins and for a few of the family members. I am not sure if I will make all one design or just a random array of them, but at least I have one done and this one will be entered into the Mix It Up Monday challenge at Stamp TV. Doing that challenge is always an incentive to me to work on something fun!

Using the sentiment over and over in the red and black colors of ink worked for making a pattern paper design. And, then I also used a Cuttlebug embossing folder called Heart Blocks over the background to add some texture. That was the only stamping on the card and the sentiment used is from Gina K. Designs Stately Flowers 6 set which is illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger.

I did quite a bit of layering though with cherry red, pink, white and black card stocks. To finish the card I added some pearls along the pattern paper strip which is from the Gina K. Designs Fight Like a Girl pack.

I wish everyone a wonderful day and hope you can do some creative fun too! Thanks for stopping by.

God bless,
Verna

First Anniversary Winner!

First thing this morning I put all the names in the hat and the randomly drawn winner of the first year anniversary prize is Donna Ellis. Please send me your information so I can send the prize out to you. I hope you enjoy the prize too!

Donna EllisJanuary 5, 2015 at 2:11 PM

Congratulations, Verna! I recall that I was your very first google follower, and then, your first bloglovin follower! You've come a long way in posting AND I have so very much enjoyed your artwork. Love all your techniques and the pretty art that is in each card. Wonderful 4x4 card to celebrate with! I'm looking forward to your 2nd year! hugs, de

But I want to again thank all of you for being with me on this journey. I cannot tell you how much joy doing this blog has been for me. I love to write, I love to do my cards and I love all my blogging friends. And, I love how you were there for me in the good and the bad times. I treasure you  all and I am looking forward to a wonderful 2015 as well. I wish you the same.

God bless,
Verna

Sketch Birthday

I recently was gifted this wonderful die frame for Christmas and I just adore it and love all the possibilities in which it can be used. And, when I saw the sketch and dare challenge at the Die-Namites blog I thought it was a great opportunity to use it. Butterfly Frame is the name of the die.

The dare was that one had to use pink besides using at least one of the Die-Namites dies. Well I only have one die so far from them, so it was all I had to work with. But I think with the wonderful pattern papers from the Gina K. Designs Fight Like a Girl pack I think I pulled it off. I also added various shades of flat daisies to make a more substantial looking bloom. I used my Craft-Dee Bowz bow making tool to make a bow that corresponded in similar pink shades. My sentiment is from the Gina K. Designs Stippled Nature set. 

My card will be lined inside it as the darker card stocks do not show up well when one stamps on them. I am still debating on an inside verse so that will be finished later on. That way I can have the verse fit the recipient!

Below is the sketch.

And here is the die I used:

I know I was limited on what I could do but I tried to sort of follow the sketch. Anyway, I had so much fun making this card design so even if I did not quite do the challenge right it was a great opportunity for me to get creative. And I always like to do my own interpretation of a sketch.

Thanks so much for visiting and for all the wonderful comments you always leave me. Have a great weekend.

God bless,
Verna

Another 4 x 4 Thank You

I like the small canvas one has to work with when making small 4 x 4 cards, Thank you cards in this size is the criteria for the Mix It Up Monday Challenge at Stamp TV so I decided to make at least a couple for the challenge. I really like this one a lot too!

And, again I did a fairly clean and simple design but I think that is part of the elegance of it. I always loved ivory, gold and black together so I went with those colors. The leafy branch image and the sentiment are from the Gina K. Designs Summer Blooms set. I used Gina K. Designs black ink to stamp them. I also rimmed the second panel with Versamark ink and then added Gina K. Designs gold embossing powder which I heat set.  I used black ribbon and layered a gold ribbon over it and then added that to the card.

Since Thank You type cards are required for the Mod Squad Challenge this week I am entering it in that as well.

We are having a blizzard today and all the schools and activities for the rest of the day were cancelled. It seems winter is getting feisty now. I hope wherever you are that you are staying safe, warm and cozy.

Thanks for stopping by.
God bless,
Verna

Never-Before-Used Schtuff

Well, here we are again with this awesome challenge to make use of never-before-used schtuff! And, for all the rules check them out HERE. I did this last year and it was a good way to use some things old that never had seen any creativity with them.

Below is the card I created and everything on it except for the black ink and light blue Spellbinder oval die cut are all NBUS. I even tried a new technique which is to embed portions of the negatives of a die cut into the original die frame design. Even the duplex card stock I used for the base card is new and was never used.

I used a Spellbinder oval die and over that I added the Die-Namites Butterfly Frame with a micro brush applicator dipped in Ranger Multi-Medium Matte glue, all three which I received from my hubby for Christmas. The sentiment from Verses I had purchased some time ago but never inked it before so that was my choice for this card.

Even though my oval die cut underneath the frame did not exactly match in size, I decided that I still liked it and would try to make it look like it was balanced on the areas where it did not quite fit. And, I am think it still looks great!

Now that was fun and I hope you get your NBUS out and do something creative with them as well.
Thanks for stopping by.

God bless,
Verna

One Year Anniversary and a Give Away!

I cannot believe that I have a whole year of blogging under my belt. Yay! I did it!

First of all I want to thank all of you who encouraged me, assisted me, followed me and made such lovely comments all year long. Today marks the first year anniversary of my blog and I know having all of you there with me each posting helped to make it a most enjoyable adventure for me.

I made a simple 4 x 4 size card to commemorate the occasion. I used the Gina K. Designs Stippled Nature set for the flower and the sentiment. However, I only used the "thanks" portion of the sentiment for my little canvas. My flower was first inked up with Gina K. Designs Tomato Soup lightly and then edged somewhat with Gina K. Designs Cranberry Tart before I stamped it onto the square orange card stock. I also edged around the square with the Cranberry Tart. I then added a black pearl to the center of the bloom. This was then layered onto the Spellbinder Fleur Di Lis Pendant die cut before I added it to the base card of ivory card stock. CAS but I think it has a bit of elegance with the use of that pendant die.

And to thank all of you who have been there for me this past year I am giving away a prize package. All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog. Only one per person and I will then put all the names in the hat and have hubby draw one out. You have until Friday to comment. I will try to post a winner on Saturday. Below is the prize I am giving.

Good luck everyone and thanks for making it a wonderful first year for me as a blogger. God bless you all.

Hugs,
Verna