Your Friendship

HI Everyone,

I love slipping down to the craft corner and making a quick card - such good therapy! I wanted to make a special friendship card for a dear friend and couldn't wait to use the Rosy Posey stamp set from Taylored Expressions. I love the sweet sentiments and the gorgeous flowers in this stamp set and love that the flowers are both open and closed for coloring in or for color blocking.

I chose the closed flowers and stamped them with some Rouge Chalk ink and cut them out (adding some dimensionals on the little flower bud to sit on top of the larger rose). I cut out the leaves and then nestled them onto the flowers and over the sentiment: "your friendship means the world to me":

Card Ingredients:
Paper: Suede Brown Medium and Choice Buttercream card stock from Taylored Expressions
Stamps; Rosy Posey from Taylored Expressions
Inks: Chalk Inks: Rouge, Dark Brown, Lime Pastel
Accessories: corner chomped, embossing folder from Tim Holtz, spellbinders label die, bling, ribbon from stash, dimensionals and sponger.

I loved making this card - it was fun to keep the color scheme more neutrally and I surprisingly held off on the liquid pearls! I know, crazy!!! Anyhow - this stamp set is just full of possibilities and I can't wait to make more cards with this gorgeous stamp set!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!
Big hugs,
Sankari

Wish Box: Words of Wisdom stamp set from Verve

Hi Everyone!

One of my dear friends moved away recently and life has felt so different after her move - all the little things as just popping by to visit, or morning coffee cafe chats and just hanging out is suddenly no more and it makes me miss her presence and friendship acutely! For a recent birthday, my friend and I decided to  put together a care package and I decided to decorate a cigar box from Cosmo Cricket that I have been hoarding saving :) for a special occasion and thought that I would make a special box of wishes for her. 

I decorated the box with some delicious My Mind's Eye papers and used one of my most favorite Verve stamp set: Words of Wisdom - I seriously ADORE this stamp set - it is the most inspiring and encouraging stamp sets - and the font is just absolutely striking! I stamped the sentiment: Nothing is Impossible on the center and on the bottom - one of my most favorite sentiments: "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams"... 

The hole in the middle of the box, I replaced with a clear acetate strip that I embossed and then put the sentiment on top of it - I layered some liquid pearls around the box and added a flower to the bow and some punched out hearts that were glazed and had a bling added to one side at two areas of the box. This picture shows the box kind of opened to show the translucent center of the box:

I decorated the inside top of the box as well as the bottom with the same papers and created some tags with sentiments from this set:

Here is what the top of the inside of the box looks like - I stamped the sentiment: "You Matter" across in a strip and attached it over the frosted acetate (because there is a strip on both sides of the acetate, you can't see the glue between the sentiments). I added a border edge and some hearts and a velvet ribbon across the edge:

I decorated this box with two special tags with some of my favorite sentiments. My friend and I wrote special birthday wishes on the back of these tags before we sent our care package to our friend for her birthday. I love both of these sentiments: "Triumph over fear" and "speak the truth, even if your voice shakes"... so inspirational - and so from the heart. I mixed up the sentiments with a variety of shapes that I layered over the chipboard tag and added the velvet ribbon the the tag :

Project Ingredients:

Stamps: Word of Wisdom stamp set from Verve stamps

Papers: My Mind's Eye (assorted)

Inks: Memento Black, Chalk ink (Dark brown)

Accessories: cigar box from Cosmo Cricket, chipboard tags, cork sheet, jumbo eyelets, dimensionals, roses from prima, circle and die cut shape punches from EK success, spellbinders, velvet ribbon, heart punch from Martha Stewart, bling from stash, glaze, liquid pearls, acetate, embossing folder from Tim Holtz, red tacky tape, gray grosgrain ribbon, crop-a-dile, 

Each of the sentiments from the Words of Wisdom stamp set are simply spectacular.... so inspiring and so from the heart - Julee is simply an amazing designer! Please check out all the new Verve stamps here and all the VLV sketch challenges here with a chance to score some free Verve yumminess!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!
Big hugs,
Sankari

Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone!

In two days it will be the Chinese New Year (Year of the Dragon!) and I thought it would be fun to make a Happy New Year card for one of my friends and used the Happy new Year A La Carte from Taylored Expressions to create this card.

I stamped the sentiment and then cut it out using the Frame It Up 1 die from Taylored Dies and then created a mat layer by tracing the outside of the die on a piece of kraft card stock. I used the Pennant Border Dies from Taylored Expressions to create a little celebratory border on top and then added some clear polka dot ribbon around the center of the card base and then put the sentiment onto of it. 

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Cosmo Cricket: Salt Air and Choice Snow White card stock from Taylored Expressions

Stamps: Happy New Year A La Carte from Taylored Expressions

Inks: Memento Ink Tuxedo Black and copics

Accessories: liquid pearls, Frame it Up 1 die and Pennant Border from Taylored Expressions, ribbon from stash, bling and dimensionals. 

I don't know about you, but all of my New Year's resolutions have been broken and I am excited to try again with the Chinese New Year to have my resolutions last longer than three days :) lol! Hope that you have are having a beautiful weekend and have a beautiful new start to the Year of the Dragon!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

Be Mine

Hi Everyone, 

I am sorry to be a bit MIA - I haven't been feeling well this week - and am just getting back on my feet. I was so happy to be able to stamp finally! yay for stampin therapy!!! I am so in love with these two little cuties from the awesome new set: Twitterpated from Verve stamps - aren't these two just the cutest thing ever?! I stamped both of them in Memento black and then colored them with copies and paper pieced their outfits from the Yours Truly EP collection. 

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Yours Truly by Echo Park, card stock: PTI

Stamps: Twitterpated from Verve Stamps

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, LadyBug Red and copics

Accessories: grosgrain ribbon, maya arts twine, dimensionals, lace border punch and heart punch from Martha Stewart, liquid pearls, red bling and corner chomped. 

I loved paper piecing their sweet little outfits - aww! and it was so much fun to have them side by side. They kind of remind me of my children and I thought it would be fun for them to send this to their grandmother :)

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs,

Sankari

After Party Verve Blog Hop!

Welcome to our January 2012 After Party Hop!  Last night we released 3 new stamp sets, 4 plain janes and 4 dies!  All of the new products we've been showcasing this week are available now in the Verve store! Be sure to leave a little comment love as you take a stroll through the Diva blogs. One lucky commenter from today's hop will win the ENTIRE Release! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the prize details and deadlines.

Hi Everyone,

Last night was such a fun party and I am always blown away b everyone's gorgeous creations using Julee's beautiful new stamps and coordinating dies! For the After Party - I just wanted to share two cards that I had a lot of fun making:

The first one uses the Happy Valentine's Plain Jane - which is a stamp just with this sentiment - perfect for all your Valentine tags, cards and treat boxes! I started out with a pink and red color combo - but then  went with a white and cream color combination. I had a clear transparency paper with a doily pattern on it from a package of Prima flowers that I thought would love pretty against some cream cardstock - so I created some layers of cream and white and then stamped the sentiment in London Fog and added the small butterfly from the new stamp set Twitterpated: 

My second card uses the gorgeous stamp set: Wings of Love that has coordinating dies (Wavy Hearts die set). I stamped the heart and then cut it out and used the dies to cut out a heart from the DP from Echo Park's Your's Truly. I love this stamp set because you can use the sentiments in different combinations :

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please check out all the after party Vervey goodness on everyone's blogs with their beautiful creations!

January 14, 2012 1. Amy 8. Tosha 2. Maureen 9. Laurie 3. Sankari 10. Julee 4. Andrea 11. Janelle 5. Teresa 12. Betty 6. Amber 13. Shannan 7. Charmaine 14. Jackie Thank you so much for stopping by today! Big hugs, Sankari

Verve January Spotlight: Day 3

 Welcome to our January 2012 Spotlight Hops!  Hop along with the Divas over the next few days as we share our first looks at a few of the new products releasing from Verve this Friday night!  One lucky commenter from each day's hop will win the sets and dies featured that day, so be sure and leave a little love in the Divasphere! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the prize details and deadlines.

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the 3rd day of sneak peeks from the newest Verve Release (which will be releasing tonight!) Today the Divas are peeking a couple of new dies and stamps and I am peeking from probably the cutest little stamp set called: Twitterpated (dontcha just love that name!) It has the cutest sentiments and the sweetest little boy and girl.

I chose to create a card with the cute little girl - because she looks just like my little girl - those cheeks and that black hair! so cute! I created a little house for her with different papers and scored the roof and sponged it and then created a little window for her to peek out of. I colored her in with copics and added a little glaze to her hair :) and some rose to her cheeks!

Card ingredients:
Paper: Cosmo Cricket: Clementine, PTI cardstock
Stamps: Twitterpated by Verve Stamps
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black ink and Ladybug Red
Accessories: Grass punch, heart and star punch from Martha Stewart, mini heart punch, liquid pearls, copics and dimensionals.


I loved making inking up this sweet little girl - I am so in love with her cuteness! And I can't wait to see what the rest of the design team has created with these sweet and awesome stamps and dies! Please check out all of their beautiful creations:

January 13, 2012 1. Amber 7. Amy 2. Teresa 8. Laurie 3. Charmaine 9. Maureen 4. Andrea 10. Julee 5. Tosha 11. Sankari 6. Janelle

Thank you so much for hopping over!
Big hugs,
Sankari :)

PS - don't forget about our release party tonight:

Taylored Expressions Calendar Challenge January

Hi Everyone,

This new year, Taylored Expressions is kicking off a new monthly challenge called the TE Monthly Calendar Challenge! There are so many wonderful calendar products that Taylor has in her store (Taylored Expressions Calendar Products) and now each month Taylor has a challenge for all customers and readers to play along using the TE Calendar products (TE stamps are not required). Please check out Taylor's blog for all the information - there will a link section at the bottom of Taylor's post that will remain open all year so that you can play anytime!


For my calendar project, I chose to use one of my favorite calendar product - the Perpetual Occasion Calendar - which is the perfect way to keep track of all the important occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.). Each month there is an area that you can decorate and I chose to decorate the month of February (**** but to play along - please use the current month January!!) with newest Moka: Moka Cherie using the Layering Doily Die (Large) with the Echo Park Truly Yours papers. 

Here is a closer picture of Moka Cherie - I love her cute little self holding her tight - such the way that we should all be - our hearts open without any walls - always ready to love, give love, share love, receive love - so sweet:

Please check out everyone's gorgeous creations using the Calendar products today:

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jodi Collins
• Melissa Sauls
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

And hope that you are also able to play along - everyone who plays in 10 or more of the monthly calendar challenges in 2012 - there will be a random draw for a TE prize pack valued at over $150 ! If you have a chance to post it to SCS - the KEYWORD is TECALCHAL


Thank you so much for stopping by today!
Big hugs,
Sankari


PS - Here is a pic of the Layering Doily (large) that was used in this project:

Verve January Spotlight: Day 2

Welcome to our January 2012 Spotlight Hops!  Hop along with the Divas over the next few days as we share our first looks at a few of the new products releasing from Verve this Friday night!  One lucky commenter from each day's hop will win the sets and dies featured that day, so be sure and leave a little love in the Divasphere!


Hi Everyone,


Welcome to Day 2 of the January Verve Spotlights where today we are peeking one of my favorite stamp sets: Wings of Love! (And, I think I have the song "on the wings of love" going around and around in my head constantly!!! AND whenever I sing, I am told that I really do not sound very good! lol!) Anyhoo - Julee has created such a fantabulous stamp set perfect for Valentine's Day and beyond and dies to coordinate!! 


I stamped the heart with the sweet wings and then popped it up over the same image. I cut out the heart with the Wavy Hearts Die set from Verve Stamps and then added the sentiment "my angel" in the middle. The rest of the card was trimmed with hearts, lace and scalloped fans and a small edge of liquid pearls.

Card Ingredients:
Paper: Echo Park: Yours Truly 
Stamps: Wings of Love by Verve Stamps
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Wavy Hearts Die set (Verve Stamps), EK success scalloped fan border punch, lace, bling and mini hearts, liquid glaze, corner chomper, liquid pearls, spellbinder's, jumbo eyelets, CM tag punch and ribbon from stash


I love the feel of this stamp set - so many lovely combos of hearts and sentiments and I can't wait to see what all the lovely ladies have created with this gorgeous stamp set:

January 12, 2012 1. Janelle 7. Teresa 2. Julee 8. Andrea 3. Laurie 9. Sankari 4. Tosha 10. Maureen 5. Charmaine 11. Amy 6. Amber

Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Big hugs,
Sankari

Last post as a JustRite DT member - Sea Shell Bay

Hi Everyone,

Today is the last day of the JustRite CHA sneak peeks and the team is showing samples from the absolutely gorgeous stamp set: Sea Shell Bay which coordinates perfectly with Labels Twenty-Two from Spellbinders. 

This is also my last post as a JustRite full time DT member - it was a very hard decision to make - I really do not want to leave, but life has been feeling very full lately. I have enjoyed every minute of being on the team for the last year and feel so fortunate to have met Kellie, Angela, Sharon and Eva who are on the team and I hope one day to meet all the rest of these amazing women - I admire this amazing design team - each person is so supportive, so kind and encouraging and absolutely talented! But, I won't be away forever :) Kellie has  kindly let me do some guest designer spots - so I am happy that I get to work with the team with these gorgeous stamps.

Speaking of stamps and today's Sea Shell Bay stamp set, I created a little set and tried to keep it to the beachy colors - simple white and kraft with some earth elements with the hemp twine that I braided to thread through the eyelets. 

Here is a closer peek at the card, it is matted onto the Labels twenty-two die and then I braided hemp twin through the eyelets and created a little round circle of hemp on the bottom (kept together with some glue dots). used this gorgeous seahorse for the main image on the card - love that it doesn't require much coloring - just different ink colors:

Here is a closer picture of the jar and the sentiment: I filled a little container with some seashells and used the lovely sentiment: "The Sea once it casts its spell, holds one in in its net of Wonder forever" ... so sweet! 

I love how this looks on our shelf - simple and sweet and slightly makes me yearn for some summer sun and walks on the beach :) (although it feels a bit like spring on these warm days of January!)

Card Ingredients:
Paper: Kraft and white cardstock (PTI)
Stamps: Sea Shell Bay from JustRite stamps
Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Cantaloupe and Bamboo Leaves
Accessories: container, ribbon from stash, bling, liquid pearls, Labels Twenty-two, hemp twine, wave punch, jumbo eyelets and dimensionals

A huge big hug to all of these amazing women on this DT, I am so sad not be a full time design team member, but so happy I still get to play and guest design with you. Huge hugs and love to dearest Kellie - I honestly don't know how she does it all - she simply amazes me!!!  Please check out all of these beautiful creations from all of these amazing ladies!

JustRite Inspiration

Becca Feeken 

Sharon Harnist 

Michele Kovack 

Beate Johns

Kazan Clark

Linda Duke

Sankari Wegman

Kathy Jones 

Barb Schram

Angela Barkhouse

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs,

Sankari

Verve January Spotlight: Day 1

Welcome to our January 2012 Spotlight Hops!  Hop along with the Divas over the next few days as we share our first looks at a few of the new products releasing from Verve this Friday night!  One lucky commenter from each day's hop will win the sets and dies featured that day, so be sure and leave a little love in the Divasphere! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the prize details and deadlines.

Hi Everyone!

Today kicks off the first Verve release of the year and it is simply phenomenal! I love all the dies and stamps that Julee has designed! Today's sample is a sneak peek from Psalm 63:3-4 Plain Jane: this is such a beautiful verse and I wanted to send it to my husband's cousin whose fight with ALS is getting more intense. I used the Sweet Scallop die from A Cut Above dies from Verve stamps to cut the sentiment and matted it onto some cork covered with DP.

I rolled a rose and added some leaves with ribbon and some bling and liquid pearls on the sides.
Card ingredients:
Paper: Circa 1934 and Kraft
Stamps: Psalm 63:3-4 Plain Jane: from Verve Stamps
Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa and Chalk inks: Liostick red
Accessories; liquid pearls, glue dots, ribbon froms stash, Sweet Scallop die from Verve stamps, photo corner Chomper. 

I can't wait to see all the creations today from these amazing women - please hop around with me and check them out!

January 11, 2012 1. Amy 7. Charmaine 2. Maureen 8. Tosha 3. Sankari 9. Laurie 4. Andrea 10. Julee 5. Teresa 11. Janelle 6. Amber

Thanks for stopping by!
Big Hugs,
Sankari

JustRite: Starburst Medallion stamp set

Hi Everyone,


The JustRite CHA sneak peeks continue and today the team is showing samples from the gorgeous new stamp set: Starburst Medallion stamp set which is part of the Cling series from JustRite stamps and coordinates with the Nested Medallion dies which is a set of JustRite custom designed dies that fit with this stamp set. I love all of these beautiful shapes and decided to create a trio of cards with different monotone color scheme:

I stamped the medallion twice in a darker and lighter scheme of the same color. I cut out the center part of the stamp and popped it up onto the medallion and then stamped it again and cut the star out and popped it up over the center - I love how you can get a layered look without much coloring - just using the beauty of the stamps: Here is a picture of each one:

 The border on the top and bottom of each card is a stamp that I inked up in that color and cut out and popped up on dimensionals:

 I stamped the sentiment and then slipped it through opening in the Spellbinder die - I love the sweet fonts and how the different sentiments can be combined - this one reads: "Hello Friends":

Please check out all the gorgeous creations designed by the JustRite DT with this beautiful stamp set:

JustRite Inspiration
Becca Feeken 
Debbie Olson
Michele Kovack 
Kellie Fortin
Sankari Wegman
Kathy Jones
Heidi Blankenship
Eva Dobilas
Kazan Clark
Angela Barkhouse

Thank you so much for stopping by today!
Big hugs,
Sankari

JustRite Warm and Cozy

Hi Everyone,


The JustRite CHA peeks are underway and todayI am previewing a beautiful stamp with gorgeous medallions called Warm and Cozy! I adore the different shapes and patterns in this gorgeous stamp set. I created this card using two different medallion shapes and rolled a rose for the center:


This stamp set coordinates with the JustRite Custom Die: Nested Medallion Label Dies, which makes it super easy to cut out the shapes, layer them up in different ways - I love that the stamps have custom dies that coordinate with them!

Please check out all the talented designers here: for their amazing projects!

JustRite Inspiration

Becca Feeken

Michele Kovack 

Debbie Olson

Sharon Harnist 

Beate Johns

Kellie Fortin 

Kathy Jones

Sankari Wegman 

Kazan Clark 

Heidi Blankenship- has a full tutorial for her card

Barb Schram

Angela Barkhouse

Thanks so much for stopping by,
Big hugs

Sankari

Viva La Verve - To the Moon

Hi Everyone,

One of my friends had a sweet wee one a couple of months ago and is here visiting with her family and I wanted to make a special card for her little one :) I used the sweet stamp set To The Moon from Verve Stamps to create this little card with the cutie giraffe using this week's Vivia La Verve sketch VLV sketch by Amber!

I love all the sweet little baby animals and sentiments in this set - so very precious! I tried to keep the card simple and tried to keep to the sketch - but sometimes it seems that you keep going even after the sketch is done :) so there might be a few more elements ;)

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Clementine by CC and PTI cardstock

Stamps: To The Moon from Verve Stamps 

Inks: Memento Ink Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Spellbinders oval, white liquid pearls, bling from Want2Scrap, heart punch from Paper Studio, EK success punch (Small scallop) and dimensionals

I love seeing all the cards created using this sketch - please stop by the VLV thread to check out how you can win some Verve by playing along with the VLV sketches this month! Also, the newest Verve is about to get released this week so stay tuned!!! :D

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Big hugs,

Sankari