Verve Diva Inspirations Hop - October 2014

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to Verve's October Diva Inspirations Hop. It's the 5th of the month and that means it's time for the Divas to serve up some fresh inspiration with their Verve stamps! Leave some comment love along the hop spots for a chance to win a prize, then grab some stamps and play along with our October inspiration challenge for another chance to win!

This month's challenge is entitled Fall Fancy:

The air is crisp and the colors are warm – celebrate fall with a spook-tacular creation or a thoughtful thank you using Fall as your inspiration! 

For my card today, I used one of my all time favorite stamp sets: Up, Up and Away! I love the amazing hot air balloons and the sweet little tree in this set! I created a fall inspired thank you card and created grass from one of the stamps and then sponged a cloud using a metal stencil border that has clouds that I got for free at a make and take at CHA several years ago. I loved getting whimsy with this sweet stamp set - here is my card for this Fall Fancy Challenge:

Card Ingredients: 

Stamp sets: Up, Up and Away stamp set and Tag Time stamp set from Verve Stamps

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Rose Red, Bamboo Leaves and Canteloupe inks

Papers: Kraft paper, Choice white from TE

Accessories: Award Banner Trim die from Verve Stamps, Grass Punch from Martha Stewart, stickles, foam dimensionals, corner chomper

I used the sentiment from the Tag Time stamp setand adhered it to one of the hot air balloons. One of my most favorite things to do in the fall is to walk in the park and enjoy the fall colors - andI tried to give the fall colors to the trees in the Up, Up and Away stamp set with some copics and stickles. I also added a little trim using the Award Banner Trim die from Verve Stamps. I love this stamp set - just makes me both want to get on a hot air balloon but also makes me want to be outside and explore! Speaking of exploration - there are a bunch of cards created with the fall fancy theme - please jump over and check them out!

Need a little inspiration? Check out the blogs linked below to see what the other Divas did with the challenge! It's sure to be a treat, and speaking of treats, we've got a prize for one lucky commenter along the hop! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the prize info and deadlines!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Hugs,
Sankari :)

	1. Julee	7. Sarah
	2. Amy	8. Sony
	3. Anya	9. Maureen
	4. Betty	10. Laurie
	5. Karen	11. Marisa
	6. Sankari	12. Jen

August Diva Dare - Day 6 - Thank U !

Hi Everyone! 

Happy Labor day - hope you are all enjoying your weekend! Today over at the Verve Blog, I am your hostess bringing  Day 6  of of this month's Verve Diva Dare. Each month, there is a specific dare/challenge and everyone can participate and show their creations and have a chance to win some yummy Verve stamps - this month's challenge is Sending Some Sunshine! And one of the goals of the challenge is to actually mail it/send it to someone! I love making cards - but somehow am not the very best at actually sending it out! So, we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up! 

Initially, I had a different card in mind that I wanted to make for this challenge, but after a surprise party on my birthday this weekend, I wanted to make thank you cards filled with love and sunshine to send to all the lovely people who made this birthday simply beyond awesome! I am the worst at sending thank you cards! So I was excited to sit down at my craft desk and was amazed at how rather quickly I was able to make 12 little 3x3 thank you cards using the You and I stamp set and the awesome I Heart you die and Tagged Rectangle die  from Verve Stamps. Here is a close look at one of the thank you cards that I made:

I cut out all the cardstock and DP and adhered them all as a first step. For the next step, I die cut out the U's and punched out the hearts and then for the third step - stamped the word "Thank" with Rouge ink and then adhered it to black cardstock for a mat. I then adhered all the elements together and then for the final step I added some bling and buttons and then put the card together by clipping the cards together with an eyelet: Here is a look at them all in a row. 

And here is a view of the cards from above - I used the eyelet to adhere the two cardstock pieces together so that it could open out like a card:

And it was fun to lay them all down on the table and just take a group shot of them:

And here is a view of how it looks when it is opened. I varied each card a little with the bling or with the buttons or with the DP - so they are all unique in their own way:

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Aunthentique and black cardstock from Bazzill

Stamps: You and I stamp set from Verve stamps

Inks: Chalk Ink Rouge, Memento Inks: Tuxedo Black ink

A Cut Above Verve Dies: I Heart you die set and Tagged Rectangle die from Verve stamps

Accessories: eyelets from We R Memory Keepers, ribbon from American Crafts, Butterfly punch from MS, Spellbinders, sponger, heart punch and bling.

 I am excited to write out my thank you cards today and have them ready to go out into the mail tomorrow! YAY! I am so grateful for my dear friends and one of my big goals is to get better about sending out cards to my dear friends and family and this was the perfect challenge to get me going in that direction!!! 

I can't wait to see your creations with this challenge - and check out the different ways that you can win some yummy Verve stamps here! Woo-HOO!

Big hugs, Sankari :)

Spring Florals Blog Hop from Gina K!

Hi Everyone!

Tonight over at Gina K. we are doing a fun blog hop using the Spring Florals stamp set. If you haven't seen these stamps yet, you are going to love them, they are so sweet have perfect sentiments and are fun to color in :) For tonight's hop, I created this creation using the sketch of my talented peep Karen Giron, for her Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge today (waving Hi, to you Karen! :)

Card Details:

Paper: Prism cardstock, Cosmo Cricket

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Ladybug red

Stamps: Spring Florals by Gina K.

Accessories: bling by Want2Scrap, EK success punch, ribbon, gel pen, spellbinders, liquid pearls, eyelets, dimensionals,

I was enjoying myself so much making this card and kept going and made this very simple card using the Hope is Faith stamp set that Gina created to help with the relief efforts in Haiti. I love how quickly and easily it is to create a card with this stamp set:

so I created two :) I love the idea of kraft and pink and white together and as a total kraft newbie - i was nervous to "kraft" it up - but I did try and like how it turned out :)

Card Details:

Paper: kraft and Luxury Pink from Gina K.

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Hope is Faith by Gina K.

Accessories: bling, white gel pen, circle punch, dimensionals, button from stash

I had a lot of fun creating these cards and love just the thought of spring as I made these cards! I am so ready for the snow to go and for spring to bloom forth! YAY! Please hop on over and check out all of these amazing designers and their gorgeous Spring Florals Creations:

Jessica Fick

Bev Gerard

Colleen Schaan

Suzanne Dean

Sharri Seffens

Tina Gilliand

Giovanna Smith

Melissa Cash

Carolina Buchting

Jennie Harper

Brenda Turner

There are many more projects that can be found in the Stamp TV gallery by Clicking on this tag: SpringFlorals.

Enjoy all the samples tonight! If you haven't purchased this stamp set yet, please take note that the free Card Kit will be included with each purchase until March 18th. At that time, the next card kit stamp set will be released. I can't wait to surf on over!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

Tech Talk Blog Hop

Happy Friday Everyone!

I am so happy to be part of the Tech Talk blog hop tonight where we are featuring the super cute and uber hip Tech Talk stamp set by Gina K. Senior DT & Illustrator: Melanie Muenchinger! I love the versatility of this stamp set - you can use it for so many different occasions! So I created four cards for four different occasions: friendship/thinking of you card, love/Valentine's Day card, Get Well soon card and a Thank You card:

---------Friendship Card----------

GinaK is now offering a CardKits that comes with a sketch and papers for the different stamp sets. This card is based on the sketch that Jessica created with THIS card for the Tech Talk stamp set. I CASED Jess's card with the cute little coffee cups and changed the sentiment. I love these sweet little mugs and they are the perfect size for paper piecing. I can't wait to give this to my coffee buddy :) the next time we meet up for a cup o' joe :). You can check out more about this card kit on this link on Jessica's blog or at Gina's store.

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Pure Luxury white cardstock, Rocket Red textured base and Cosmo Cricket (Early Sunrise)

Ink: Memento: Tuxedo Black and LadyBug Red

Stamps: Tech Talk by Melanie Meunchinger for Gina K.

Accessories: Sakura black glaze pen, spellbinders and dimensionals, corner chomper, and ribbon from stash

---------Valentine's Day Card--------

This is for my DH - who is a total computer nut! I used to joke with him that he was already married when we met......to his MAC computer! So I was so excited to make this Valentine's day card for him (I can't believe that I made a Vday card in December!!) I stamped the computer image in metallic silver paper and then stamped the sentiments including the cute little heart stamp :). I matted everything in black for a more "manly" look (lol!) - I love all the different sentiments that are possible all on one screen!

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Pure Luxury white cardstock, Silver Lining paper american crafts, bazzil basics and scrap stash,

Ink: Memento: Tuxedo Black and Aquamarine

Stamps: Tech Talk by Melanie Meunchinger for Gina K.

Accessories: Martha Stewart heart punch, Sakura black glaze pen, EK success punch, spellbinders and dimensionals

---------Get Well Soon Card--------

This next card is inspired by this awesome card by Melanie. I love how she created a little desk by splitting the image on a piece of DP. This one is for one of our uncles who is a little sick right now and so I was trying to make the card a bit more man-ish. The sentiment: "Sorry to hear you got a virus" is so perfect for the little computer screen (and I would love it if my computer were an olive green color!). The mug is paper pieced and the scalloped edging is from the DP.

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Pure Luxury white cardstock and Cosmo Cricket Early Sunrise

Ink: Memento: Tuxedo Pear Tart

Stamps: Tech Talk by Melanie Meunchinger for Gina K.

Accessories: ribbon from stash and copics

--------Thank You Card-------

This next card is for a dear blogging friend of mine who just sent me some amazing goodies in the mail! I was in such shock and awe and gratitude and was so happy that I could make her a card using sentiments that we use while blogging - like TTYS (talk to you soon)!. I stamped this cute little envelope in different colors and then created a little pocket for a tagged sentiment to go into - so that it looks like you are pulling out a message:

And When you pull it out - it reads: Thank You! ((((HUGS)))), iloveyou! and TTYS! I love that you can create a little message with all the different sentiments!. I punched an opening for the tags with half of a circle punch and then created the tags by matting them and then attaching little eyelets with ribbon tied to them that you can pull out:

Card Ingredients:

Paper: american crafts, bazzil basics and scrap stash, Pure Luxury white cardstock

Ink: Memento: Tuxedo Black, Cottage Ivy, Rosebud, LadyBug and Aquamarine

Stamps: Tech Talk by Melanie Meunchinger for Gina K.

Accessories:Stickles crystal, Martha Stewart mini scallop circle punch, Sakura black glaze pen, eyelets and cropadile, corner chomper and dimensionals

I had a total blast playing along with this super cute stamp set and check out these amazing artistes for more inspiration with the Tech Talk stamp set tonight:

Melanie Muenchinger {Illustrator}

Jessica Fick

Donna Baker

Lee Murphy

Lynn Mercurio

Nina Brackett

Theresa Momber

Melissa Shultz {CSS Designer}

Peggy Wainman {CSS Designer}

Tina Gilliland {Guest Designer}

Karen Knegten {Guest Designer}

The Tech Talk discussion on the StampTV Idea Center is a valuable resource filled with tips, sample projects, and tutorials. Melanie's tip sheet, free PDF template as well as the Card Kit is available in the discussion as well.

If you haven't already, stop by GinaK's blog today to leave your comment on her blog for your chance to win today's featured stamp set or any other stamp set valued at $23.95 of your choice!

Thanks so much for stopping by tonight!

Hope the start to your weekend is a beautiful one!!!

And all of those of you on the East Coast - stay safe in the snowstorm!

Big hugs to all!

Sankari :)

Verve November Release Thankful Hearts Blog Hop!

Hi Everyone,

Its me again :) Have you been enjoying all of the fantastic sneak peeks and challenges over at the Verve blog today during our Thankful Hearts Blog Party?!! Check them all out over here - there are 5 challenges (here they are listed - click on each one to take you to the specific challenge on the Verve blog:

Challenge #1 - Color Challenge
Challenge #2 - Sketch Challenge
Challenge #3 - To embellish with V-E-R-V-E
Challenge #4 - To create a mini pizza box :)
Challenge #5 - To create a gift card

and lots of prizes - check out all the beautiful samples and details here on the Verve Blog!

Since today is the release of all the new Verve Yumminess we’re topping off our Thankful Hearts Blog Party with a blog hop featuring three new sets that just released, all focused on thankfulness. If you’ve been hopping and arrived from Teresa’s beautiful sunshiney blog , then you’re right where you should be. If you’ve just happened by, then you’ll want to hop on over to Julee's Blog: Poetic Artistry to start from the beginning! And to make this hop even sweeter, we’ve got a special treat hidden along the way for one lucky commenter. So if you see something that makes you smile, be sure to give a little shout-out in the comments for a chance to win our entire release!

I created three thankful samples for today's blog hop party :) The first uses Jen dM and Susan's awesome challenge to create a Mini Pizza Box (which is challenge 4 of the five challenges on the Verve blog that you can play for a change to win some yummy Verve stamps!). I used the Celebration of Thanks stamp set to create this Pizza Box - I adore the font on this set - it is so elegant and beautiful!

Card Ingredients:
Paper: Graphic 45, Ink: Memento Lady Bug Red and Tuxedo Black, Stamps: Celebration of Thanks from Verve, Accessories: spellbinders, dimensionals, sponger, liquid pearls, ribbon from stash

The second card I made uses Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #108 and the stamped sentiment from the set Heartfelt Accents stamp set: I love making thank you cards to give after the holidays to thank everyone for their beautiful gift (and its a great way to use up all the holiday paper!) :
Card Ingredients:
Paper: Graphic 45, Ink: Memento Expresso, Stamps: Heartfelt Accents stamp set Verve, Accessories: spellbinders, dimensionals,flower from Bo Bunny, liquid pearls, ribbon from stash

The last card I created was one of my favorite ones - it was made for a very special person in my life: my daughter (who we also call Lollipop as a nickname :) She wants every card I make to be a card I make especially for her - so this time I did - here is my little Lollipop's card with the sentiment that I love because it totally fits her sweet cute little self :) :) This card also uses the stamp set: Heartfelt Accents:

Card Ingredients:
Paper: Prism Cardstock Ink: Memento Rose Red and Aquamarine and Color Box chalk, Stamps: Heartfelt Accents stamp set:, Accessories: spellbinders, dimensionals, , liquid pearls, ribbon from stash and bling from Kaiser.

THank you so much for hopping over here!

Next up on the blog hop party circut is the awesome Jen del Muro - so hop on over and check out her beautiful creations!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!!!
Big heart hugs :)
Sankari :)

Verve Challenge #5 - Jen & Sankari's Gift Card Challenge :)

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Have you been checking out all of the happenings on the Verve blog today?!!! Today, Julee will be releasing some amazingly beautiful sets over at Verve Stamps at 9pm EST! - but every hour on the hour today, there is a post that will be revealing different peeks and different challenges which you can play for a ton of prizes!!! Right now, Jen Tapler and I are up with the last Verve Challenge for the night (Challenge #5) which we are calling the Gift Card Challenge!

During the holiday season, we often want to thank so many people around us for all of their service and hard work all year long (like the mailman, the hair stylist, etc.) and its nice to have some gift card holders on hand! So our challenge to you is to create a gift card holder of your own. You can create a gift card holder for birthdays, as a thank you, for anniversaries, for the holidays - whatever theme you would like! We are enclosing some links to some gift card making tutorials to help get your mojo going!

Gift Card #1:

I made two sample gift cards for this challenge: The first one is an A2 card with a top note die cut that I folded in half and attached to the front of the card. I made a little pocket in it and created a detachable note that can hold a gift card). These lovely sentiments are from the stamp set called: Thankful Hearts:

When you take the note out of the folder you can open up the inside of it to reveal the gift card (do you know what is kinda funny - I didn't have a gift card to put in my own challenge so I was going to use my library card (lol!) but it looked kinda tacky - so I covered it up with some cardstock :) - can't wait to put a "real" gift card in my little holder (I don't think they would be too excited with my library card!!! LOL!!!!!)

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Prism Cardstock, DP from American Crafts Stamps: Thankful Hearts from Verve, Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Rose Red and Aquamarine, Accessories: Spellbinders, eyelets, sakura glaze pen, ribbon from stash and dimensionals.

Gift Card #2:

This was such a fun and easy card and I couldn't wait to create another one :) This gift card is a die cut of a trifold card that has a half a heart on either side that when closed looks like heart. I created a little pocket inside for the gift card and decorated the outside with one of my fave sentiments from this set called Thankful Hearts: "You Touched My Heart" -

here is a view of it and when you open it up - on the inside of the heart it says "You are too Kind" and on the inside of the card there is a little pocket for the gift card:

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Prism Cardstock, American Craft DP Stamps: Thankful Hearts from Verve, Ink: Memento Expresso, Accessories: Ribbon from stash, dimensionals, 1"circle punch, corner rounder, Martha lace edge punch, liquid pearls and Kaiser rhinestones.

There are so many different ways to create a gift card holder and we can't wait to see what kind of gift card holder you create!!! If you need some ideas on how to make one: are some tutorials from SplitcoastStampers: Gift Card Tutorial 1, Gift Card Tutorial 2. Can't wait to see your creations soon!

Check out all of the challenges and Sneak Peeks and Stamp Set Reveals over at the Verve Stamps Blog !!!

And stay tuned to the release of all of these beautiful stamps at 9PM EST followed by a wonderful blog hop all of which are coming up soon!!!

Big heart hugs :)

Sankari :)

Gratitude, Xmas, Cupcake and Cocoa cards!

Good Morning Everyone,

First of all - can I just say that you guys are awesome!! Seriously - I am so grateful for all of your sweet comments and for the inspiration that you give to me - you are all just the best!

These few weeks have been a bit busy with my teaching schedule - so I apologize for being a bad blogging friend - but things are looking a little lighter for this week's lesson planning - so I hope to have more of a chance to blurf and craft! yay!

I feel - like I have been so far behind in my blogging - so this post is an attempt to catch up a bit... so here goes!


Sketch Challenges from PaperCraftPlanet

The first two cards come from the sketch challenges at PaperCraftPlanet. Have you guys check this site out?? It is such an amazing site created by Susanna Boyd for those who are serious lovers of all things craft related - you have to check it out and let me tell you - you won't believe all the different things that are available out there to do.... no chance at ever being bored - total place to find your mojo!!

The design team over at PaperCraftPlanet host a weekly sketch - and I can't even tell you how honored I am to be part of this amazing team of ladies - sometimes, I wonder what I am even doing on this DT - these ladies are seriously amazing. Last week's sketch challenge was brought to us by Wendy P. The theme for November at PaperCraftPlanet is "Gratitude", so my card of gratitude inspired by Wendy's sketch (check out Wendy's sketch and her amazing card here) and used the colors from Stacy's Jewelry Color Inspiration:

The sentiment reads: "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." by Cicero. I loved making this card - it brought so much joy in the process of making it. I created the flowers on photoshop and spent ages cutting the flowers and leaves while chatting with my in-laws over some chai. After cutting - there was some corner rounding, a little crimping, some half back pearls and a piece of ribbon put together - all of which took less time to do than the cutting of the flowers - LOL! :)

The second sketch challenge at PaperCraftPlanet comes from this week's challenge which is hosted by the amazing Tammy H. I had to use my new set from Gina K. Designs for this card - I absolutely love this set and her luxury cardstock - is just absolutely amazing - seriously - stamping and coloring on this paper was unreal - you have to check it out! You can find Tammy's awesome sketch for this week here and more info. about Gina's amazing company here.

I had to tweak the sketch a little bit for my card... and I have to say - its one of my fave xmas cards so far - because the little boy looks like my son all bundled up... (and every single time I bundle him like that - he always has to go to the bathroom - even if he has just gone... what is up with that????!!) Here is a little close up of the coloring and snow details:

So - don't laugh when I tell you this... but I was looking to color this image - and I couldn't find my Prisma color pencils... in cleaning up last week - I cleaned up too well and now I can't find anything... so - I had to use my son's Crayola color pencils and Crayola markers... I actually raided my 3 year old son's "art supplies!" - how pathetic, I know.... I wish I had Copics.... I have been eyeing them Fo-Evah!!! but maybe Santa will check "mostly nice" in his list and drop some in my stocking :)

And while you are on PaperCraftPlanet - make sure you come over and say hi on my page there.


Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenges (#42 and #43)

My second set of cards are inspired by Taylor's blog. Since the time I found her blog - I have been hooked! Check out her 12 day's of Christmas projects - she is one amazing Artiste! I have been hooked to Taylor's Friday Cupcake challenges (you don't have to use cupcakes - but if you have em, why not!!). Last week I posted my card for her sketch challenge #42 l to Splitcoast and didn't have a chance to post it here - so I thought that I would post last week's challenge and this week's sketch challenge together: Here is last week's challenge - I loved the squares on the side and HAD to use Taylor's Stamp a Sweet Impression (SASI) stamps. I am seriously in love with these images and all things cupcake --- (by the way - guess what I made for snack on sat.? - yup, cupcakes! yummmmy!!!) Check out Taylor's store for more details here. For this sketch, here is what I came up with:

This card is mainly paper piecing and stickling... I stamped the cupcake image 6 times and paper pieced the bottom and top halves together...I created the holly leaves and then cut them out and applied Waterfall Stickles and added a little pink bling for the holly. The scalloped edging was done with a corner rounder.


The second card for Taylor's challenge, is this week's cupcake challenge. This week's sketch from Taylor is totally fun - well, every one of her sketches are just fun and lovely! I had play along - even though I should have been doing my lesson planning for the week... but I had to take a break to play along!. I had so many ideas since I saw the sketch challenge on Friday - but, since I was short on time - I didn't have a chance to play till last night and made a quick (relatively quick :) card that didn't have any stamping. The only "ink" that it has is some Martha copper on the edges of the hot cocoa cup panel. The paper is from K & Co. and the brown cardstock is from the Paper Company (metallic brown). For this card, I adhered the wintery embellishments from Making Memories onto white cardstock with the copper edge tones. I added a little Crystal Stickles for the steam from the hot cocoa. I adhered the DP onto some cardboard for added depth and then tied some baby blue ribbon and tried to do the ribbon Donna style - and it never ceases to work - how Donna ALWAYS creates these amazing bows and even with a tutorial - I can't quite do it -- but I will keep trying!! I really love how this card turned out --- its much more glittery in real life... and it totally makes me want to have some hot cocoa... which sounds so good right about now!

Okay... have your survived reading this post so far... phew! I am exhausted - but feel somehow a little more caught up :)

All of you who made it this far - totally deserve some blog candy!!! For more details, check back tomorrow!!!

Hope you are all having a fantastic start to your work week! Happy Monday to all!!!
Thanks for coming over to visit!!

Ciao for now,
Sankari :)