June 30, 2018 in ,

Farewell Verve

I have been wanting to create something special with my Verve supplies all month ever since hearing the shop will close at the end of this month. I first heard about this small, fun, creative company through my Auntie Karen and all of her cute coffee cards that she was creating with these fun stamps. Once I was introduced to Verve I was addicted! Even though I am a huge tea drinker over coffee (I actually strongly dislike coffee myself), I can't resist those coffee stamps! I have loved playing along with the challenges over the years (Verve Diva Inspirations, Viva la Verve Sketches, and Mojo Monday), following blog hops, and creating my own fun cards with Verve's amazing products. I've even won a couple of their prizes (yay!) to help me stock up :). Taking a look back at my own cards I found this from early on in 2013!
Fusion #18
This card is probably my all-time favourite that I have created with Verve:
Carpe Diem
And here is a wedding card I created for this weekend using a couple of items I got from Verve's closing out sale and the colour theme of the wedding:
Paper - Black, White Daisy, Outdoor Denim cardstock (CTMH);
Stamps - Blessings (Verve);
Dies - Stitched Rectangles (Memory Box), Heart Quartet, Lacey Frames (Verve);
Embellishments - Bitty Sparkles (CTMH).

I know I will continue to love and use these much-loved products over the years of creating and crafting, especially when I go to make coffee or tea cards! Thank you, Julee, for sharing your creativity with us!
June 23, 2018 in ,

Tumble Time

I needed a special thank you card this week - a gymnastics themed one! My 8-month old son has been taking part in a fantastic gymnastics program here. The program is set up for 4-months - walking and has several developmental activities for the babies to engage in and socialize with others around their age. I pulled out an older Close To My Heart gymnastics set that I got years ago and set to work to create something for his coach. I decided to create my own background with some gymnastics words in rainbow colours!
Paper - White Daisy, Black cardstock (CTMH);
Stamps - Gymnastics (CTMH);
Ink - Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves, Fired Brick distress ink (Tim Holtz);
Dies - Hearts (CTMH), Stitched Rectangles (Memory Box).
This beautiful mandala stencil by Studio Katia caught my attention. I love that Studio Katia is a Canadian company and that I can support this creative small company. The mandala stencil seemed to beg to be coloured with rainbow colours so I decided to do some more ink blending.
Paper - White Daisy, Black cardstock (CTMH);
Ink - Wilted Violet, Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron, Wild Honey, Candied Apple distress oxide (Tim Holtz);
Stamps - Curlicue Alphabet (CTMH), Inside & Out: Baby (PTI);
Dies - Best Ever (Studio Katia);
Stencils - Mandala (Studio Katia).

Here is a look at the inside message:

Here is an image that I coloured up with copic markers while I was visiting my aunt in Ontario. This was again one of my first times using copic markers and with her expertise I was able to use them and create some awesome images! I decided to use the elements of this week's Sketchy Saturday to turn this fun blueprint image into a birthday card.
Paper - Kraft, Black, Vellum, Enchantment Fundamentals (CTMH);
Stamps - Beer Blueprint (Tim Holtz); Bon Appetit (Kelly Purkey);
Copics - G66, G63, G61, E43, E41, E40;
Dies - Stitched Circles (SSS); Stitched Rectangles (Memory Box).
Here is a more closer look:

Here is a birthday card I made for our nephew's 1st birthday this week! I got these cute wild animals last year in a Simon Says Stamp kit of the month and haven't had a place to use them yet - until now! I thought I would pair the lion with a blended number one using this week's Freshly Made Sketches layout. I fussy cut the lion and added googly eyes to him afterwards to make the card a little extra fun :)
Paper - White Daisy, Black cardstock (CTMH);
Ink - Archival Black (CTMH); 
Candied Apple, Wild Honey, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers distress oxide inks (Tim Holtz);
Stamps - Say It In Style (CTMH); Wild Cuddly Critters (SSS);
Cricut Cartridge - Art Philosophy (CTMH);
Embellishments - Gold Sequins (CTMH).
When I first saw this stamp set it instantly reminded me of one of my all-time favourite places to be - Kootenay Lake! I knew it would be great to pull out to use for some Father's Day cards. I used some second generation stamping and loved the different textures obtained from the stamp set itself. Can't wait to play around more with this set :)
Paper - White Daisy, Black, Charcoal cardstock (CTMH);
Stamps - Waterfront (SU), Strong Anchor (Verve);
Ink - Charcoal, New England Ivy, Glacier, Archival Black (CTMH);
Dies - Ovals (CTMH).
I wanted to create a special Father's Day card for my husband, so I set to work with some beautiful new wood papers that I just got from my trip to Toronto, along with some favourites from Studio Katia. If you look closely there are kraft coloured dots on the white triangle! I used Freshly Made Sketches to put together the layout and am linking up with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge to make it masculine.
Paper - Kraft, White Daisy, Black cardstock (CTMH); Wood & Notebook Basics (Simple Stories);
Stamps - Best Ever (Studio Katia);
Dies - Best Ever (Studio Katia);
Embellishments - Milk and Cookies matte gumdrops (YNS).
© Allie's Adventures in the Kitchen, Crafting, and the Kootenays! · THEME BY WATDESIGNEXPRESS