Verve Inspiration Hop: April - Altered Jewelry Box

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to our Verve Diva Inspirations Hop! It's the 5th of the month and that means it's time for the Verve Inspirations Team to breathe new life into some much-loved stamps and dies. And there's a PRIZE up for grabs! So be sure to leave a little shout out in the comment section of each blog as you hop about to be entered in a drawing for a $30 gift certificate to Verve Stamps! Check out all the details and prize info over at the Verve Blog.

This month we're also saying a fond farewell to Jen del Muro, as this is her last hop as a Verve Diva. She's been a part of the Verve team almost from the very beginning and although we're sad to see her go, we're so excited to see the things she has up her sleeve for the stamping world!

I know that usually we use previously released stamps, but for my project today, I HAD to use a couple of different stamps and dies from the newest Verve release (omgosh!! what an amazing release!!!)  to alter a jewelry box that I found at a garage sale. This one measured quite tall almost 18 to 20 inches tall and the only thing that was little off was that it was a little scruffy on the outside and some of the felt on the inside was a bit broken up (but I just added some new felt :) Here is a picture of the jewelry box before I altered it:

I did a little sanding (not too much) and then painted the jewelry box green by mixing three different shades of green. I started with the lighter color green as a primer and then went to the darker color and while the darker color was still wet, I added the bright green color ontop of the dark color and blended it together so that there could be some streaks of all three colors coming through. I love how it turned out! And the best part was making it for a dear friend of mine for her birthday :)

I created a scalloped border using the flower from the Surely Goodness stamp set that has the sweetest flowers both block and open. I stamped the small open flower in Bamboo Green and then cut it out and then cut them in half and layered them in a scalloped way on the borders of the box:

 

Project Ingredients:

Stamps: Surely Goodness for the flowers (cut in half into scallop shapes), Remember This for the "Breathe Deeply" and "Shine Brightly" sentiments and Beautiful Plain Jane for the sentiment on the top of the dresser.

Paper: some scraps that I mod podged onto the dresser

Inks: Bamboo Leaves

Accessories: Green Acrylic craft paint (3 different shades of green), Mod Podge, some felt for the inside of the cover, roses and Verve's Banner Bundle Set

Here is a look at the jewelry box when it is opened. I added some new felt to the back of the jewelry box and also to the drawers:

When you open up the box, I added some sentiments to either "wing" of the door from the Remember This  stamp set. This stamp set is seriously amazing - SO many awesome sentiments two of my favorite from this set are the "Breathe Deeply" and "Shine Brightly" sentiments. I love that each time she opens the box, she can see these two sentiments and remember to take a deep breath and shine on :) 

For each of these sentiments , I cut it out with the Verve's Banner Bundle Set and created a little banner and added a little prima rose to the top and a heart to the side :

 

Here is a closer peek at the scallops made from the Surely Goodness stamp set. Each of the flowers was stamped in green and then cut out and then adhered in a row:

Here is a side view - I tried to let the different colors of the green (3 shades) shine through and adhered the scallops on the edges of the box:

On the top of the jewelry box, I stamped the sentiment "Beautiful {just the way you are}" front the Beautiful Plain Jane  for the sentiment on the top of the jewelry dresser. I cut it out and layered it with some nestabilities and then layered it onto some DP:

Here is another view of the top of the jewelry box opened and a view of the new felt that lines the drawers of the box :

After I was finished painting the jewelry box, I added some Mod Podge over the papers and sentiments on top of the dresser and on the sides of the inside of the jewelry box and then added a sealant to the whole piece.

The best part of making this gift was adding a little necklace in the box and then giving it to my friend for her birthday :) The sentiments that Julee creates are so sweet and so full of heart and all the fonts are so awesome!!! Please hop around with me and check out all the amazing projects created by the wonderful Verve Divas!!

	1. Julee	7. Sankari
	2. Amy	8. Sarah
	3. Anya	9. Sony
	4. Jen d.	10. Susan
	5. Jessica	11. Tiffany
	6. Karen

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

Verve Stamps: AfterParty: Altered Inspiration Shelf

Hi Everyone!

Friday night was the Release Party for the August Anni-Verve-Sary Release from Verve Stamps - where all peeked samples from all the wonderful stamp sets released! Today on the Verve Blog, there is an afterparty where the Verve Divas are posting their favorite creations from the release that you have to check out - so much yumminess!

For my favorite - I picked this altered shelf project that I absolutely had an amazing time making! I can't even express how much fun it was to do this project! I found this shelf at a garage sale for like $4 and immediately wanted to buy it to alter it (My DH did not want me to purchase it but I told him just to wait and see if he liked it after I was done  - and he loved it  :). Here are the before pictures:

 

My MIL who was there (yes, going to garage sales are a family outing :) lol!) said that from the apples on the tin plates, she felt that this was a mini replica of a cooling shelf for cooked pies. I tried when I came home to clean the plates with all sorts of cleaners, but they were so dirty it was next to impossible - so that's when I decided to alter the whole thing. I wanted to make an Inspiration Shelf - which would inspire and remind me to always go for my goals. So I covered it with a fresh coat (or 2) of paint and got to work! For the metal plates, I embossed upon a sheet of silver metal and fit it to the size of the panels. Here is the outside view of the shelf after it was done (you can click on each picture to enlarge):

 

 I painted the outside of the shelf black and the front portion a teal/baby blue mix with some green. I covered the shelf with the gorgeous Chapter One collection from Kaisercraft Paper. Using a MS border punch, I glued the altered border to both sides of the front of the shelf and for the center panel, using the most inspiring Words of Wisdom stamp set from Verve, I stamped my favorite sentiment: "Live the life you've imagined." in two different inks and then sponged the edges. The sentiment is adhered to the Curvy Bookplate die from Verve and above and below the sentiment are two flowers that I created using the Loopy Flowers die with a small circle center with bling. I used the Rounded Scallop Frame Die from Verve and used the black rounded scallop paper on the metal plates and used a punched heart to adhere to the center of the plates. I then finished it with a generous coating of ModgePodge and while it dried, I worked on the tag for the doorknob - Here is a closer look at the tag which was created using the Tag Time stamp set:

I love the sentiment: "Life is beautiful" from the Sunny Days stamp set and the little bird from the Making a Statement stamp set :) The ribbon is from American Crafts and I couldn't believe how close it matched the color of the shelf! For the inside of the shelf, I used another one of my favorite sentiments from the Words of Wisdom stamp set: "You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream" - isn't that just  beautiful! I love that sentiment! I created a little box for each of the shelves - I still don't know quite how I made the three boxes (kinda eyeballed it) and then decorated each of the boxes for the shelves with different papers and borders. The back of the shelves are covered by three rectangluar cuts from the DP paper. All of this was then given a generous coating of ModgePodge after I was done to keep everything adhered and smooth. Here is a side view to the shelf: 

Here are some closer peeks at the details of the shelf: The sides and top were covered with paper and then lined with liquid pearls (and then ModgePodge) :

Project Ingredients:
Stamps: Tag Time (Tag on the knob), Sunny Days (sentiment "Life is Beautiful"), Making a Statement (little birdie),Words of Wisdom stamps from Verve Stamps
Papers: Kaiser Craft paper collections: Chapter One Collection
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Teal ink from Chalk ink
A Cut Above dies: Curvy Bookplate Die, Tagged Rectangle Die, Rounded Scallop Frame Die, Loopy Blooms Die Set
Accessories: silver metal plate, Cuttlebug embossing plate, ribbon from American Crafts, liquid pearls, modpodge, heart punch

I absolutely love how this shelf turned out - and I was going to give it to my friend for her birthday - but is it so wrong to want to keep it instead? It's just that it makes me so happy to look at it and to see it's transformation.

I love all the new Verve Stamps and Dies which is really what inspired this project! Please check out all the new releases HERE!!!!  (And Julee is having a fabulous sale on dies and stamps!!) And don't forget to stop by the Verve blog to see all the new favorite picks from the Verve Divas!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Hugs,
Sankari :)†

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #66 -Clueless

Good Morning Everyone and welcome to the 66th Cinema Saturday Creative challenge!! Every week over at the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge blog, we pick a different movie from which we base as our inspiration for creating our cards. Well, this week we picked the movie: Clueless (1995). This movie is loosely based on Jane Austen's novel Emma, set in modern time (you can read more about the comparisons on this site ). Our challenge requirement for this movie was to use a touch of plaid (there are so many plaid outfits in this movie!).

I think one of my most favorite memories from watching this movie was remembering how popular it was to use the phrase "whatever", or "as if.." which kinda came out of this movie :)

I always thought that Alicia Sliverstone was just perfect for the role of Cher (which is really the role of Emma from Jane Austen). She has such a sweet heart and I just adored the way that her heart opened and she was able to see the bigger picture. I loved watching this movie again and seeing all of the fashions of '95 and just loved all of Cher's purses and accessories. So my inspiration was to create a gift set for my niece's birthday with a few essential fashion items (some make up, chocolate and lotions :) using the Carolina's awesome purse box template. I used Taylor's beautiful sketch for her 100th sketch celebration (can you believe that?! a 100!! wow!). I used the sketch on the "purse":

And here is the coordinating card: The sentiment and purses are from the Downtown Diva set, the label stamp set is from the Luxurious Labels stamp set - all from Taylored Expressions:

Here is the purse giftset: The sentiment is from the Sweet Indulgence stamp set. It fits a nugget box perfectly and I also added a little make up kit for my niece for her birthday :)

**** Notice that I didn't take a picture of the nugget box with some sweet treats in it - that would be because I ate it while making this project (hanging head down in shame! will have to get more to replenish her little bday present :)

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Bo Bunny and Bazzil

Stamp sets: Downtown Diva, Luxurious Labels and the Sweet Indulgence stamp set all from Taylored Expressions

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa

Accessories: spellbinders, bling, dimensionals, punches, eyelets, ribbon and ek success punch

I had so much fun creating this fun little purse for my niece (who isn't into the "girly" colors, so I had to create something that wasn't too pink - hope she likes this :). You can stop by the Cinema Saturday blog for more cinema inspired creations and the inspiration corner for more information and details on this movie challenge! Can't wait to see your cinema inspired creations! And stop by Taylor's blog to check out all the deets on her special sketch challenge celebration!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Big hugs!

Sankari :)

A Special Birthday Creation :)

Good Morning Everyone!

Today, I am your hostess over at the Stamp a Sweet Impression blog and I am SO excited to showcase a little project that I created for someone special for their birthday. I wanted it to be something that they would use and also something that shows them how special they are and a little something to inspire them as they start their day :)

Here is a little sneak peek of my project!!!

Intrigued? :)

>CLICK HERE< to see the rest on the Taylored Expressions:

Stamp a Sweet Impression blog !

I hope you like it - let me know what you think :)

Happy Tuesday!!!!

Toodles for now :)

Sankari :)

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge # 9 - The Sound of Music

It's time for another Cinema Saturday Challenge!! This week our movie pick is the musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of Music! This musical was translated into the silver screen in 1965, six years after it opened on Broadway. This movie musical has won 5 Oscars, including best picture! It is such a classic and has since then become one of the most famous movie musicals world wide. You can read more about this movie here on Wikipedia.

For me personally, this movie brings back so many childhood memories. I remember my cousin singing the song "Edelweiss" to me - I was seven years old - she was 6 and had the sweetest voice ever! I have loved that song ever since - and every time I hear it - I can also hear my cousins voice singing it... I have watched this musical I don't know how many times growing up... more than 25 times easily :) I had dialogs memorized and the songs totally memorized as well - although my singing ability was far from great :) And then when I was in highschool - I was on Stage Crew and in the Drama club - so I was psyched when our senior year we got to do The Sound of Music. I was the Art Director and got to design the sets (my favorite set that I designed and created was the Abbey for the Reverand Mother - I did this Stained glass window with colored tissue paper and lighting that was pretty cool --- and I got to have a very minor minor role ... I was Herr Zeller's wife (guess what my line was.... okay ready? My line was: " Shhhh...." when I shush him when he gets out of line (and then I exited with him stage right :) I loved getting into the theater wardrobe to try on our party gowns for that ballroom scene -- that was so much fun to pick out dresses and jewelry... ahhh good times :).

There are so many great songs and great inspirations in this movie - I almost didn't know where to start. When I was watching this again for this challenge - I got up to dance and sing along for one of the songs and my son (now almost 4) just looked at me in questioningly - and my littlest wee daughter joined along in the dancing... it was so much fun :)

I couldn't decide which direction to go - but finally landed on creating a little birthday gift for my husband from the song: "My Favorite Things". I loved this song growing up and it was fun to watch this with my son and see his enjoyment of this and all the other songs. Since this was inspired by the song of favorite things.. I gathered some favorite memories to put together for my husband. This wooden box was given to me by my father-in-law years ago when we first go married. It has since then held our spare keys, change and little kinck knacks.... I thought that it would be nice to have this box , house our favorite memories. I covered the box in shades of the blue and green that are inspired by the Sound of Music - love the shades of the blue and green of the hills alive with music :) - this paper is from K & Co.

The top half of the box has pictures of our children punched out in 1/4" circle and then popped up on dimensionals. The picture of our son holding his sister after we brought her home, has her little bangle adorning the picture - I can't believe that she wore that. There is a bell that I adhered with metal glue on the top panel also - I got this beautiful bell when I was visiting the Forbidden City in Beiging. The ringing of the bell is supposed to bring good wishes to your surroundings... and the kinda cool part is that every time the box is opened - it rings the bell.


The bottom half of the box contains a mini scrapbook that I made for my dear husband of just some precious moments. It also contains little forgoteen pictures of our children, my son's artwork,, including his hand print and pics of both our families, as well as little love notes to him and a little page from our little guy called: "why Daddy is awesome!". There is also a rock that we got when we were engaged in India, as well as a beaded necklace that he had dipped in the Ganges. Also a quarter from the year we were married and the 2004 charm from his graduation hat from the year he got his PhD.

I love how this project turned out and love that my son helped me create the mini scrapbook for his dad. My husband has a little drawer at work that is full of little pics, our son's artwork and so I thought this was something that could sit on his desk that he could open anytime he needed a little sunshine :)

Don't forget to check out Brooke's beautiful Cinema inspired work and also our Guest Designer Amy's beautiful card at our Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge Blog.

Come on over and play along -- its totally fun!
Thanks for coming over for a visit!
Best wishes,
Sankari :)