For Mom and More

I have three cards to share tonight, all for this month's Viva la Verve challenges. I've been working on them throughout the month and I'm finally finished with all five. Here are the last three for the month.

I gave this card to my mom for her birthday earlier this month. I had a hard time with this one. I knew right away what images I wanted to use, but I had a difficult time getting them to fit in the sketch.

After going back and forth for a long time about what patterned paper and color combination to go with, I finally settled on pairing some My Mind’s Eye Bloom & Grow designer papers with Papertrey Ink’s Aqua Mist and Spring Moss cardstock. I stamped the flower image from Verve’s Because of You in those colors, omitting one of the flowers so I could fit the sentiment on the panel. The sentiment is stamped in gray instead of black to better match the soft color scheme of the card. Since my image panel was large, I ended up sponging some green ink on the edges of the panel instead of matting it on an additional layer.

I had a Ripe Avocado button-embellished bow left over from another project, so I ended up working it in as an embellishment here. I added it to the dotted panel. The darker green is a nice contrast to the pale colors on the card. It looks like such a simple card for all the time I spent on it!

Materials Used:
Because of You stamp set (Verve); Aqua Mist and Spring Moss inks, Aqua Mist and Spring Moss cardstock, Ripe Avocado satin ribbon, Spring Moss button, twine (Papertrey Ink);London Fog ink (Memento); Very Vanilla cardstock, sponge (Stampin' Up!); designer paper (My Mind’s Eye-Bloom & Grow line); circle die (Nestabilities)

Here’s my card for last week’s sketch with the twist of black and white only. That was hard—I wanted to add just a bit of another color, but I managed to hold off on that.

I used one of the sentiments from Verve’s Hundred Hearts set for my focal image. I embellished the panel with a clear heart and a black button. The button is attached to the heart with a glue dot and hides the dimensional that I used to attach the heart to the cardfront.

I embossed a strip of black cardstock with a heart patterned embossing folder, then lightly rubbed a shimmery white ink over the raised portions. I used a piece of black and white patterned paper from a Papertrey Ink collection for the large panel on the cardfront, then arranged all of the pieces on a black mat and white card base. I wrapped the panels with a pair of layered ribbons with soft textures-velvet and satin.

Materials Used:
Hundred Hearts stamp set (Verve); Tuxedo Black ink (Memento); Moonlight White ink (Brilliance); Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock, dimensionals (Stampin’ Up!); Black and White Basics designer paper, black button (Papertrey Ink); Heart Blocks embossing folder (Cuttlebug); ghost heart (Heidi Swapp); black stitched velvet ribbon (Michaels); white satin ribbon (Target)

And, here's my final card for this month's challenges. The twist for this sketch was to use fancy papers. I used some flocked paper I got forever ago at Target in the scrapbooking aisle to cover most of the Soft Suede card base here.

I paired the flocked paper with the new Happiness Found stamp set. Since the flocked paper pattern is kind of busy, I used just the sentiment on the card. The two circular patterns behind the sentiment are plain, old solid cardstock pieces.

I added a little more elegance with some pretty cream ribbon. A coordinating cream button, "threaded" with a very narrow strip of Soft Suede cardstock, finished the card.

Materials Used:

Happiness Found stamp set (Verve); Soft Suede Classic ink, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, and Kraft cardstock, mat pack and paper piercing tool, sponge dauber (Stampin' Up!); cream button (Papertrey Ink); circle and scalloped circle dies (Nestabilities); ribbon (?)