Catching Up with Verve

I’m way behind on this month’s Viva la Verve sketch challenges, so I took some time this week to get caught up. I did wait until my new Verve stamps arrived so that I could use them for some of the challenges.

Let’s start at the beginning. The first week’s challenge was to CASE a Verve Diva. They are some very talented ladies! I decided to go with a card by my fellow Paper Craft Planet DT member Jen Tapler. I love her clean and simple style! My card is based on this one by Jen.

The “twist” for this challenge was to use patterned paper if the original card didn’t have it (or not use patterned paper if the original card used some), so instead of stamping a border image along the right edge of the cardfront, I used a piece of elegant flocked paper, purchased long ago at Target. I tied a piece of red ribbon with white piping along the flocked paper, keeping with the color scheme of the original card.

I used an oval panel for my sentiment, too. I used the “you’ve got style” sentiment from the new Express Yourself set, stamped in white pigment ink. I added a single rhinestone as an embellishment.

Materials Used:
Express Yourself stamp set (Verve Stamps); Fresh Snow Palette ink (Papertrey Ink); Kraft, Riding Hood Red, and Soft Suede cardstock, dimensionals (Stampin’ Up!); oval and scalloped oval dies (Nestabilities); red ribbon (Martha Stewart); self-adhesive rhinestone (Studio 18); flocked paper (Target)

And, now week 2’s card. I paired the same sentiment with the fancy shoe images for my focal image. The color scheme for the card came from SU!’s Razzleberry Lemonade designer paper. The shoes are a bold Melon Mambo. I fit the sentiment on the panel along with the shoes—a little change from the original sketch, but it fit my idea better! I matted the image on a Rich Razzleberry panel with a border punched edge (the twist for this sketch).

I used some of the fun patterned paper from the Razzleberry Lemonade collection for the panels on my cardfront. A coordinating piece of ribbon is tied around the cardfront. In place of the sentiment, I used a trio of pink rhinestones for a little more glitz and glamour.

Materials Used:
Express Yourself stamp set (Verve Stamps); Rich Razzleberry Classic ink, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, and Whisper White cardstock, Razzleberry Lemonade designer paper, Rich Razzleberry dotted grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals (Stampin’ Up!); Threading Water border punch (Fiskars); self-adhesive rhinestones (Studio 18)

Here’s my card for week 3. I used one of the hot air balloon images from Up, Up, and Away as my focal image. The balloon is colored with Copic markers. I tried to blend the blues and greens together seamlessly—I kind of like how it turned out.

I paired my blue and green hot air balloon with blue and green papers from SEI’s Bridgeport line. I picked a paper with bold blue and green stripes to cover the card base (and coordinate with the balloon image) and added a strip of varnished dot paper along the length of the card. The twist for this sketch was to use a tag. I found some foil-edged tags that I think came from a dollar store. I stamped the sentiment on the tag and added a simple satin ribbon piece to the top of the tag for a finished look.

Materials Used:Up, Up, and Away and Great Expectations stamp sets (Verve Stamps); White Pure Luxury cardstock (Gina K Designs); Tuxedo Black ink (Memento); markers (Copic); Brocade Blue Classic ink, Bashful Blue cardstock, dimensionals (Stampin’ Up!); designer paper (SEI-Bridgeport line); celery satin ribbon (Michaels); foil edged tag (?)