Viva La Verve - Determined!

Hello!

I hope you've all had a fabulous Christmas and have some good plans for New Years Eve tomorrow :)

It's been a quiet, but very nice Christmas here.  Just myself and my other half and a few good friends - what more can a girl ask for?!!  The other good thing about having a quiet Christmas is that I have had the opportunity to make good use of my new work space - no more sitting on the floor for me!

I have been unable to join in with the Viva La Verve sketches over the past few months, but I am DETERMINED to do my utmost to complete every sketch challenge this year - this is my personal challenge anyway!  :)  With this resolution in mind I have already created my card for week one! I'm hoping that this is how the rest of the year will go on, we will have to see :)

VLV has been shaken up a bit and it is no longer just a sketch challenge, but there is an inspiration board that can be used alongside the sketch, or not, it is optional.  I have decided to use both the sketch and the inspiration board - I hope it shows!

 

 

And here is my take;

This card actually turned out more yellow than I expected - I was aiming more for the orange and turquoise, but there you go, these things happen! 

As always, thank you for dropping by and enjoy your New Year celebrations ;)

Supplies
Card:     Paper Mill Direct - Pale Turquoise, Orange, Primrose Yellow, Teal, White;  K&Co Best Of
Stamps: Verve - Thank You So Much complimentary stamp
Ink:        VersaColor - Black
Other:    Spellbinders - Fleur De Lis Motifs, Scalloped Cirlces, Classic Circles; Craft Concepts ef -
              Grunge Circles; Tonic corner punch; WOW Embossing Powder - Ebony; Crafty Ribbons -
              Sunshine seam binding; thread, pearls

Merry Christmas!

It arrived so quickly this year - it's Christmas once again!

I would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas :) I don't have a pretty image to post today and I have been somewhat MIA of late - life has thrown a whole bunch of stuff at us over the past few months - but we're still here fighting strong! But this is a feel good message!

I would like for anyone who reads this to have an absolutely fabulous day today - eat and drink too much, laugh until your sides hurt and treasure all your loved ones, may it be spending the day with them or from afar :)

I shall try and make sure my next post isn't too far away and has a pretty picture in!! That's why we're all here after all!

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Siân

Viva La Verve and WOW! Overload!!!!

Hey!
 
I know, I know, it's been a long time!  I've been snowed under with work just lately, but I'm hoping to be able to get more card time in now :)
 
I'm going to keep the chatter brief because there's a few pictures to look at today.
 
Ok, I have all of FIVE of my cards for this months' Viva La Verve.  As it was my birthday last week, I had a whole bunch of thank you cards to make.  This happily coincides with the challenge over at WOW! Embossing Powder this month which is 'Anything Goes - Thank You'.  Well...I've got a whole bunch of entries!!
 
As per usual, I'm cutting it really close for both deadlines, so without further ado - here are my cards!
 
Week 1

 

 
 
Week 2
 

 

 
Week 3

 

Week 4

 

WOW! Entry

Week 5

 

WOW! Entry

So there you have it - a bunch of thank you cards (which I hope will be well received!) and six challenge entries - phew!

I hope you have enjoyed this gallery post - have a good evening and thank you for dropping by :)

Supplies

Card One
Card:     White, Black, Teal, Pale Turquoise
Stamps: Verve - Bloom and Grow; Papermania - V&A Cornfield
Ink:        Versamark - Black
Other:    Spellbinders - Circles small and large dies; Universal embossing folders - Venus and
              Cottage Floral; WOW! embossing powder - Ebony; pearls

Card Two
Card:     White, Pale Turquoise; K&Co. Best Of
Stamps: Verve - Sunny Days
Ink:        SU! - Classic Black; Distress Inks - Victorian Velvet, Wild Honey
Other:    Spellbinders - Scallop Circles, Dahlia;  pearls, thread

Card Three
Card:     White, Black, Orange
Stamps: Verve - Bloom and Grow
Ink:        SU! - Classic Black; Distress Ink - Spiced Marmalade
Other:    Spellbinders - Scallop Circles large; Circles large; Crafty Ribbons - Orange and Black
              saddle stitch; pearls

Card Four
Card:     White, Black, Bright Red, Daffodil, Orange
Stamps: Verve - Bloom and Grow
Ink:        Ranger - Perfect Medium; Distress Inks - Wild Honey, Spiced Maralade, Barn Door
Other:    Spellbinders - Fleur De Lis Motifs, Circles; pearls

Card Five
Card:     White, Black, Lime
Stamps: Verve - Sunny Days; WMS - Big Day Essentials
Ink:        Versamark - Black; Ranger - Perfect Medium
Other:    Spellbinders -  Anenome Flower Topper; Verve - Leafy Sprig Die; WOW! embossing
              powder - Clear Matt Dull; pearls, rhinestones



 
 
 
 

Inspired Monochrome

Hey peeps!

I'm back with another entry for this months' WOW! Embossing Powder challenge - Monochrome.  I love monochrome and tone on tone cards.  I saw this card by Becca Feeken and was inspired to have a go at making my own version.  Becca just has the most fabulous way of looking at her tools and materials and is a real inspiration.  And, to top it off, she's really sweet :)

So, here's my interpretation;

I'm sorry if it's difficult to see in this photo?  Layering is not something I usually do and neither are intricate patterns, but I'm really pleased with the way this turned out :)

Once again, I used WOW!'s Violet Pearl embossing powder for the sentiment and it has a lovely sheen in real life :)  I love this stuff!

Thanks for dropping by :)

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White
Stamps:  Verve - One Person
Ink:         VersaColor - Cyan
Other:     WOW! Violet Pearl embossing powder; Spellbinders - Parisian Motifs, Fleur De Lis Motifs, Standard
               Circles Small and Large; V&A Hanover ef; Crafty Ribbons - Ivory seam binding, pearls

Viva La Verve - Weeks 2 and 3

Hey guys!

This time I AM here with my Viva La Verve post!  This is a two-fer too :)

The sketch for Week 2;

I'll be honest - I was petrified when I first saw this sketch!  Look at it!  All layers and details and not me at all!  Well, after having a moan, I sat down to make my card and I was surprised at how easily it came together! 

Here's my card;

I know I didn't put the little ribbon trim along the bottom, but I just couldn't add anything more - it was starting to hurt!  :) 

Then there was Week 3;

I was really looking forward to this sketch, but typically, this is the one that caused me a problem!  Doh!  However, once I got into it, I felt better :)

My sister will like this card so I think it will be headed her way soon :)

Thanks for dropping by, as always it's much appreciated :)

Supplies

Card 1
Card:     Paper Mill Direct - Off White, Forest Green, Bright Red; Stampingallday digi paper
Stamps: Papermania - Let It Snow; Waltzingmouse - Flourishes-Dots and Scallops
Ink:        Ranger - Perfect Medium; Distress Ink - Antique Linen, Barn Door, Vintage Photo
Other:    Spellbinders - Classic Scallop Edgeabilities, Labels 18; Crafty Ribbons - Greenbrier seam
              binding; doily, rhinestones; WOW! Apple Red embossing powder

Card 2
Card:     Paper Mill Direct - Off White, Pale Turquoise, Dark Brown; K&Co - Best Of
Stamps: Verve - Kind Words
Ink:        Distress Ink - Vinatge Photo, Broken China
Other:    Crafty Ribbons - Cream and Lilac seam binding; pearls; thread

SFYTT - August Sketch

Hello!

Ok, so I'm not here with my Viva La Verve just yet - I nearly forgot about this card!  I am entering the Sketch For You To Try challenge this month.  I have seen this challenge around on peoples' blogs, but after the Verve Anni-VERVE-sary blog hops, I had a lot of exposure to it!  Verve is sponsoring the challenge this month, so many of the Verve Divas used this sketch for their showcases of Verves' new stamps and dies (which by the way, are awesome and I want them all!)

So, I thought I'd have a go at this sketch.  I thought it looked kinda easy, but I was surprised!  I got there in the end and my card has been growing on me over the last few days :)

I turned the sketch 90 degrees clockwise;

This is another 'Julee' card - CASS :)

Like I said, this card is growing on me, but I'm still not 100% sure - let me know what ya think :)

Thanks for dropping by :)

Supplies
Card:     Paper Mill Direct - White, White Linen, Black, Peppermint, Daffodil, Apple Green, Citrus
              Orange
Stamps: Verve - Great Friend, Bloom and Grow, Wishful Elegance
Ink:        SU! Black; VersaColor - Evergreen; Distress Ink - Wild Honey
Other:    Verve Cut Above Die - Elegant Leaves; Crafty Ribbons - Pumpkin seam binding; pearls

Crafty Ribbons - Feeling Fruity!

Hello there!

I'm here today with an entry for the challenge over at Crafty Ribbons Challenge blog.  The fabulous theme for this challenge is 'FEELING FRUITY'!

This is an extra special challenge as it includes a DT call and I am chancing my arm and putting myself forward for it!  Fingers crossed, wish me luck!  The details are here if you fancy a go too :)

Ok, on to my card;

Unfortunately I had to take this photo with my phone as my darling other half has pinched my camera for the day to do a survey!  I mean, how rude!  It does mean that it's quite difficult to see the contents of the glass :(

So anyway - fruit...Lime and Olives in a nice Martini - the best way to have fruit, surely?!  Other than a nice glass of wine, of course ;)

I was lucky enough to win a £25 voucher for Crafty Ribbons a little while ago as part of their 'Crafting For Gold' event.  My parcel of ribbon arrived the other day and it was like Christmas!  The ribbon I used for this card was their grosgrain saddle stitch ribbon.  I have it in nearly all the colours and it's great, so versatile!

I drew the Martini glass with my WOW! embossing pen and embossed in Ebony.  Then I added the Martini and the fruit.  I really like how bright and cheerful this card turned out, and I'm hoping the gals over at Crafty Ribbons agree :)

That's all for now, I will be back shortly with my other Viva La Verve challenge entries :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Supplies
Card:     Paper Mill Direct - White, Lime, Forest Green
Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Big Day Essentials
Ink:        WOW! Embossing pen; SU! Black
Other:    Crafty Ribbons - Lime/White Saddle Stitch ribbon; WOW! Ebony embossing powder;
              toothpick