Red Hot and Blue

Here are my cards for the last two weeks of Viva la Verve sketch challenges. For the first card, I went for a fun Valentine’s Day card.

I used some argyle patterned paper from a DCWV stack for the card’s large panel. A piece of red grosgrain ribbon is knotted around it, then the other pieces are layered on top.

A red strip runs across the card, breaking up the busy pattern a bit. The strip has a row of paper piercing along the bottom to tie it in with the dot-like stitches on the argyle pattern. I matted it on a black panel with a fun pinking edge that works great with the argyle pattern. Instead of using an oval for the sentiment panel, I used one of Verve’s new dies and matching stamps. I stamped the frame in red, then added the sentiment from the Sweet on You set inside—a perfect fit! I accented it with a red felt heart and a black button.

Materials Used:
Vintage Oval Frame and Sweet on You stamp sets, Vintage Oval Frame die (Verve Stamps); Riding Hood Red Classic ink, Riding Hood Red, Basic Gray, Whisper White, and Basic Black cardstock (Stampin’ Up!); Madly in Love designer paper (DCWV); heart die (My Favorite Things); pinking edge die, red Divine Twine (The Cat’s Pajamas); red grosgrain ribbon (Michaels); button (Papertrey Ink)

Here’s the card for last week’s sketch. I went for a more spring-like theme, pairing the pretty butterfly image from the Blue Skies set with some soft patterned papers.

I stamped the butterfly in brown ink on a cream panel, then colored it with Copic markers. I stamped the image a second time on a scrap of white vellum and set it aside to dry while I assembled the rest of the card.

I used two coordinating papers from the Sweet Pea paper pad I picked up at Hobby Lobby for the cardfront. The image is matted on a pair of panels, then set on the cardfront. I ran two strips of aqua twill across the cardfront, overlapping the bottom of the image panel. An aqua button, tied with some baker’s twine, accents one of the twill strips.

Once I had the twill strips in place, I stamped the “you make me smile” sentiment from the new Love Notes set in light blue ink just underneath the butterfly. The ink’s very pale, but it’s a nice match for the butterfly. I cut out the vellum butterfly and attached that over the stamped image, folding the wings back for a 3-d effect. Looks like it's fluttering right off the panel!

Materials Used:
Blue Skies and Love Notes stamp sets (Verve Stamps); Rich Cocoa ink (Memento); markers (Copic); So Saffron, Groovy Guava, and Very Vanilla cardstock (Stampin’ Up!); Aqua Mist cardstock, Aqua Mist twill, Aqua Mist button (Papertrey Ink); Trendsetter Blue ink (Clear and Simple Stamps); white vellum (The Paper Company); Sweet Pea paper (The Paper Studio); baker’s twine (The Twinery)