A Lot of Verve

I've had a very busy week, but I managed to squeeze in cards for all five of the sketches in Verve's October release challenge.

Here's my first card. It's going to my dad for his birthday tomorrow (if you read this, happy birthday, Dad!). Because of that, I went with masculine colors, pairing Papertrey Ink's Ocean Tides with some kraft and brown cardstock.

The kraft panel is stamped with one of the images from the Bountiful Backgrounds--not exactly straight, but close enough for me--LOL! I stamped the "Dad" sentiment and border image from Verve's Father Figure on a cream panel. The "happy birthday" sentiment, made by combining words from the Father Figure and Happy Thoughts set, fit nicely on the top of the circle panel.

I used a narrow twill ribbon as an embellishment, along with a single copper brad next to the sentiment. It seems these are my go-to embellishments for most of my masculine cards.

Materials Used:

Father Figure, Bountiful Backgrounds, and Happy Thoughts stamp sets (Verve Stamps); Ocean Tides ink, Ocean Tides cardstock (Papertrey Ink); Soft Suede Classic ink, Soft Suede, Kraft, and Very Vanilla cardstock (Stampin' Up!); circle dies (Nestabilities); copper brad (Making Memories); twill (?)

This one's a quick, clean and simple card. I used two of the different images from Verve's Polka Stars set to create a random pattern of stars in shades of blue ink on a light blue cardstock panel. The card base is covered with a coordinating patterned paper featuring tiny stars.

I combined some of the sentiments from the Starstruck stamp set for the sentiment panel. I love how these sentiments work with all of Verve's star sets! A small ghost star is attached to the panel as an embellishment. I wrapped a coordinating piece of grosgrain ribbon around the card to complete the design. The ribbon matches much better IRL than in the photo--I promise!

Materials Used:

Polka Stars and Starstruck stamp sets (Verve Stamps); Enchanted Evening and Spring Rain inks, Enchanted Evening and Spring Rain cardstock, Bitty Star Basics patterned paper, Enchanted Evening grosgrain ribbon (Papertrey Ink); ghost star (Heidi Swapp)

My next card uses one of my favorite cute images, Verve's Little Pumpkin. I can't resist this little critter! I colored the image with Copic markers and added some yellow highlighting around it for a sort of glow before matting the image on coordinating solid cardstock panels.

I used a striped patterned paper panel for the cardfront that coordinates with the colors of the pumpkin. The patterned paper is matted on a brown mat for a little contrast against the kraft card base. I tied a fun dotted dark brown ribbon along the bottom edge of the patterned paper panel and squeezed in the "hello pumpkin" sentiment along the bottom of the card.

Materials Used:

Little Pumpkin stamp set (Verve Stamps); white cardstock (Gina K Designs); Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa inks (Memento); markers (Copic); Summer Sunrise and Kraft cardstock, Dark Chocolate dotted satin ribbon (Papertrey Ink); Close to Cocoa cardstock, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); designer paper (Recollections Autumn pack)

This one's pretty bright! I used some summery patterned papers from K & Company's Citronella collection for the cardfront and for the top of the paper pieced balloon image from Verve's Up, Up, and Away stamp set. The clouds are paper pieced, too. After I stamped them and cut them out, I embossed them with the Swiss Dot embossing folder to give them a fun texture. I really like how that turned out!

Since the patterned paper's kind of busy, I didn't add a lot more here. I added a single orange button to the image panel and a coordinating piece of grosgrain ribbon.

Materials Used:

Up, Up, and Away stamp set (Verve Stamps); Tuxedo Black ink (Memento); Summer Sunrise cardstock, Orange Zest button, Summer Sunrise grosgrain ribbon, twine (Papertrey Ink); Baja Breeze and Whisper White cardstock, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Apple Green cardstock (Gina K Designs); designer paper (K & Company-Citronella line); Swiss Dot embossing folder (Cuttlebug); 1" circle punch (EK Success)

And, here's the final card. I used some new digital images from Verve. I haven't had the greatest luck with digital images--in my experience, I've found that they tend to smear when I color them. This time I printed the mitten image on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock and let it sit overnight. It seemed to work a little better. The mittens are colored with Copic markers and embellished with a Stardust glitter pen and some teeny, tiny rhinestones.

I used a pair of papers from a DCWV winter stack for the panels on the cardfront. I like the softer pinks and blues for a winter card! I added a simple pink satin bow around the bottom of the card. I wanted to add a sentiment, but couldn't find a good one that fit--I should have planned the size of the mitten panel a little better . . .

Materials Used:

mitten image (Verve Stamps); Classic Crest Solar White cardstock (Neenah); markers (Copic); Sweet Blush cardstock (Papertrey Ink); Brocade Blue cardstock, scallop edge punch (Stampin' Up!); designer paper (DCWV's Holiday Collection); pink satin ribbon (Michaels); Stardust glitter pen (Sakura); rhinestones (Taylored Expressions)