Marching to the End of the Month

It's the end of the month of March (how did that happen already??!!), so I've finished up my last two cards for this month's Viva la Verve sketches. Here’s my card for week 3. I made a sweet baby card in a color scheme that’s perfect for a little boy using one of Verve’s Plain Jane sentiments as the focal image.

I stamped the Smallest Things stamp at the center of a blue Classy Label die cut in brown ink. I backed the label with a scalloped circle die cut—love how this looks! It’s attached to a dot embossed notch-edged strip. The embossing adds a little interest and texture without competing with the heart patterned paper I used to cover most of the cardfront. The patterned paper panel is machine stitched around the edges for a finished look and layered on a coordinating cardstock mat. The panel is set on a soft blue card base.

As an accent, I die cut some felt hearts using Verve’s From the Heart die. I played around with the sizes and layering before settling on the arrangement of pair of blue and kraft hearts you see on the card.

Materials Used:
Smallest Things Plain Jane stamp, Classy Label and From the Heart dies (Verve Stamps); Memento Rich Cocoa ink (Tsukineko); Poppy Parade and Sahara Sand cardstock (Stampin’ Up!); Ocean Mist cardstock (Gina K Designs); Blink of an Eye 6x6 paper pad (My Mind’s Eye); scalloped circle die (Spellbinders); Swiss Dot embossing folder (Cuttlebug); felt (Papertrey Ink); sewing machine

And, here’s my card for week 4. I made a clean and simple sympathy card using the sketch. The flower pair from Verve’s Kind Words is one of my favorite images for this type of cards. Here, I inked the top of the flowers in a pale blue ink and the stems in a pale green, then stamped on a piece of cream cardstock. I stamped the “with sympathy” sentiment underneath the flowers in brown ink and added a tiny self-adhesive pearl at the center of each flower.

I picked the colors for the image panel to coordinate with the October Afternoon designer paper I used to cover most of the cream card base. I attached a strip of solid blue cardstock across the center of the panel and accented it with a matching blue ribbon before setting it on the card base. I may go back and replace the ribbon with a different one--maybe in cream . . . The image panel is layered on a dark brown mat, then set at the center of the card.

Materials Used:
Kind Words stamp set (Verve); Memento Summer Sky, Pear Tart, and Rich Cocoa inks (Tsukineko); Chocolate Chip, Marina Mist, and Very Vanilla cardstock (Stampin’ Up!); Farmhouse designer paper (October Afternoon); self-adhesive pearls (Recollections)