Anni-VERVE-sary Accomplished

I've made it through all of Verve's anniversary challenges in less than a week!  Here are my projects for the final two challenges.

This one is for the clean and simple challenge.  It came together quickly with some basic masking using one of the pretty flower images from the Hope Blooms set.

I used sticky notes to make two masks for the image, then used a trio of bold, bright inks to stamp flowers along the left edge of a white panel, starting with the bold pink flower in the center, then working out to the edges of the panel.  To add interest, I covered the centers of the flowers with clear glitter.  It's much prettier IRL than in my poor photo . . .

The panel's layered on a coordinating pink mat.  I used the same color pink ink to stamp the set's "hello friend" sentiment next to the flowers.  The matted panel's set on a white card base, leaving a nice border for lots of open white space.

Materials Used: 
Hope Blooms stamp set (Verve Stamps); Melon Mambo Classic ink, Melon Mambo cardstock, Dazzling Diamonds glitter (Stampin’ Up!); Memento Pear Tart and Dandelion inks (Tsukineko); white cardstock (Xerox) 

And, this one is for the anything but a card challenge.  School starts here a week from tomorrow, so I put together a pair of simple back to school gift bags filled with brand new pencils.  I think these just might find their way to my favorite rising kindergarten and third grade friends . . .

I used a pair of teeny, tiny brown bags as my base.  The bags are decorated with strips of October Afternoon designer paper with a piece of contrasting decorative tape at the bottom of the strip.  I stamped the "you rock" sentiment from the Sweet Treats set on the patterned paper, then added a dotted star, stamped with the largest star from the Polka Stars stamp set and punched out with a matching star punch.  A little coordinating baker's twine is wrapped around the bag and secured with a little bow.  I stuck three pencils in each bag and they're ready to go.

Materials Used:
Sweet Treats and Polka Stars stamp sets (Verve Stamps); Memento Cantaloupe and Tuxedo Black inks (Tsukineko); Bermuda Bay Classic ink, Whisper White cardstock, large star punch (Stampin' Up!); Night Light designer papers (October Afternoon); Caribbean baker's twine (The Twinery); red baker's twine (Divine Twine); small brown bags (Canvas Corp); decorative tapes (Target); foam tape