Sick Day Stamping

I didn't have yesterday off from work for Veteran's Day, but I stayed at home anyway with a nasty cold. It gave me a chance to get this month's first two Viva la Verve sketches done early.

Here's my card for this month's first sketch. I went wintery with a fun striped paper as my starting point. I cut two panels of the patterned paper and layered them on rose mats, then on a blue panel. A strip of coordinating blue grosgrain ribbon, layered on a rose panel, stretches across the panels--and the cardfront--from top to bottom.

I used a doily die cut, cut from sparkly silver paper, as a big snowflake, then added the "winter wishes" sentiment from Verve's Winter Mittens set over that. I accented the pair with a white snowflake brad with a clear crystal at the center. As I look at the card now, I probably should have found a slightly larger snowflake-shaped embellishment to use--the brad's a little small . . . A little piece of knotted ribbon at the bottom of the doily/circle elements ties everything together.

Materials Used:
Winter Mittens stamp set (Verve Stamps); Marina Mist Classic ink, Marina Mist, Regal Rose, and Bashful Blue cardstock (Stampin' Up!); Snow Day-Fireside designer paper (Pink Paislee); Doily die (Papertrey Ink); circle dies (Spellbinders); snowflake brad, clear crystal (Recollections); blue grosgrain ribbon (Michaels)

And, here's my card for the second sketch. I made it with yesterday's Veteran's Day holiday in mind.

The circle panel is framed with the large circular image from Thankful Accents. I stamped the "you're my hero" sentiment from Thankful Hearts on a pair of layered circles and set them at the center of the stamped circle.

The rest of the card is layers of coordinating solid and patterned papers. I used a grid patterned paper from a WeR Memory Keepers paper pad to cover most of the cardfront, then mixed and matched solids and patterns for the layers over that. The decorative edged pieces are actually the edges of a Labels 4 die cut, cut in half. A piece of red grosgrain ribbon adds a little texture to the design. Once all of the panels were in place, I added the sentiment panel with foam tape. Two cards done--not too bad for a sick day!

Materials Used:
Thankful Accents and Thankful Hearts stamp sets (Verve Stamps); Riding Hood Red and Pacific Point Classic inks, Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, and Whisper White cardstock (Stampin' Up!); Yankee Doodles 6x6 paper pad (WeR Memory Keepers); circle and Labels 4 dies (Spellbinders); red grosgrain ribbon (Michaels); foam tape