July Diva Dare 2012 - Day 5

Happy Friday Verve fans! It's me, Janelle, here for another take on this month's Diva Dare right before the weekend! 

This month, we dare you to make a card or project using a BIRTHDAY theme. Did you know that July is a big birthday month here at Verve? Five of our Divas have July birthdays, including the boss lady, Julee. Let's celebrate with some fun birthday projects!  We can't wait to see how you answer the dare! (Stay tuned to see how you could win some shiny new Verve!)

So, this is how I took the dare.

There is always a need for a card to send your girlfriends (or man-friends), but sending a card sometimes just isn't enough. So I created a brown gift bag with a tea bag and special note slipped inside. It's just under the size of an A6 envelope so I can still send it in the regular mail. You know the size of those outer envies when sending traditional wedding invitations or announcements? That's the size!
This birthday card is brimming with Verve goodness. I colored flowers from Feel the Sun Stamp Set with Copic markers and fussy cut them out. They are warming up next to A Cut Above Rounded Scallop Frame die and tagged with a tea cup and tag combo from the Cup of Life stamp set and the A Cut Above Tiny Sweet Scallop Tag die. The Happy Birthday wishes is from the Hope Blooms Stamp Set. I added some lace ribbon under the tea cup and across the band to complete the bag. Inside the bag is tea bag nestled in some tissue paper edge punched with a lace pattern. The insert is labeled with a tea bag tag and sentiment from the Cup of Life set. A little shaved ice sparkle around the band is the last touch on this challenge project. All the pattern paper is from Pretty Party paper pad by Crate Paper.

Have a wonderful weekend and be sure to come back on Monday to see another week of Diva Dare takes on the challenge!

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Would you like a chance to win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES? There are two ways to win:

1. Play along with our Birthday Diva Dare. Link up your creation (posted July 16 or later) to the linky widget below before 6:00 pm MT on Sunday, July 29. One lucky stamper will win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Store. Verve Stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em we would love to see 'em!
2. For another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout-out in the comments section as we share our birthday creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing.

Winners will be announced on Monday, July 30 right here on the Verve blog.

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Click the "Click here to enter" link at the bottom of this post for the Diva Dare entry form. Please type your name or screen name in the Caption or Title field, then choose the link and photo you'd like to enter.  Please link directly to the specific blog post or gallery page where we can view your creation.  If you're having problems linking, try entering the link to your card, then choosing From File instead of From Web. Then just browse to where your picture is saved on your computer to get your thumbnail.

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Project Parade - Day 12

Good morning!  Laurie here, and I am bringing you Day 12 of the Project Parade!  When I first heard the theme was "Fun with Flowers", I had an idea of making a Wildflower Seed packet holder.  Well, when I checked to see what the Divas have been creating (I'm out of town and feel a little out of the "loop"), not only was I blown away with their creativity but saw that fellow Diva Amy was thinking along the same lines!  WOOHOOO!!  I have long been wanting to be on the same creative "wave-length" as her, so this was a wonderful surprise for me!! 

I used the Feel the Sun paired with some K & Co. patterned paper to decorate the front of my seed packet holder.  The wildflower quote that Julee included in the set, couldn't be more perfect for my project!!  :-)

After coloring the flower (hands down my favorite flower Julee has designed!!) with Copics, I layered it to give some added depth.  After adding a tad bit of Stickles to the center, I adhered a button with twine to the center!

The inside is where I have the seed packet.  I created a little "pocket" out of Kraft cardstock and punched a decorative border to pretty it up a bit.  :-)  To cover up the staples I used on the sides of the pocket, I added some coordinating patterned paper.

Well, that's all from me this time, but make sure to read on below to find out how you can WIN some wonderful Verve goodies!!  Hugs, Laurie

 As with all of our Project Parades, we've got prizes! There are two ways to win:

1. Link up your new Fun With Flowers creation (posted March 22nd or later) to the Mr. Linky widget on Jen's post before Midnight on April 8th. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. Be sure to leave the Divas a little shout-out in the comments section as we parade our creations using this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (March 22 ~ April 7) will win his/her choice of any Verve stamp set!

March Project Parade - Day 11

Hi Verve Fans! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! I have been drooling over the yumminess that the Divas have been creating with this month's theme of "Fun With Flowers" for the Verve Project Parade that the Divas have been creating - they are simply gorgeous! This is such a fun theme because Julee really designs the coolest most unique flower imgaes that are elegant and beautiful!

I especially love the flowers in the "Feel the Sun" stamp set and I used that set to create today's project. I made this little gift set to give to one of my blogging friends who loves flowers and I wanted to share with her some of these flowers that are felt on wood that one of my friends gave me - so I thought I would create a little card for her to let her know how special she is and also create a little container to house these wooden flower accents.

Here is a close up of the card that I made: I stamped two of the big flower images and copic-fied them and then colored three of the smaller flowers and cut them out, curled them and popped them up with some dimensionls. I love this sentiment!

Here is a close up of the container both closed and opened: I created the same popped up flower accent and decorated with some liquid pearls and some ribbon).

And here is the container opened:

Project Details:

Stamps: "Feel the Sun" stamp set from Verve

Paper: Prism cardstock and handmade black paper

Ink: Tuxedo Black from Memento

Accessories: Pearls from Kaiser, liquid pearls (Adirondack "Lettuce"), ribbon from stash, Spellbinders, MS lace punch, dimensionals, copics, corner chomper and container re-purposed for this project.

I loved making this because it was made for a special friend and I loved coloring in these beautiful flowers :)

As with all of our Project Parades, we've got prizes! There are two ways to win:

1. Link up your new creation (posted March 22 or later) to the Mr. Linky widget on THIS POST before Midnight on April 8th. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. Be sure to leave the Divas a little shout out in the comments as we parade our creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (March 22 - April 7) will win his/her choice of any Verve stamp set!

Can't wait to see your lovely creations! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs :)))) Sankari :)

March Project Parade ~ Day 10

Hi Verve Fans it's Lynda and I'm here to share with you my "Fun with Flowers" project!! This was an easy theme since Verve has the most beautiful flower stamps around!

I bought the memo holder at Target on clearance for about $5 some time ago. I made this for a friends birthday. All she needs to do is to add a picture of her beautiful family and put it on her desk at work! Luckily, she likes bling as much as I do!!! LOL!!!

Above is a picture of the note holder closed. The sentiment is an SU! rub on. I added some small Martha Stewart butterflies which I punched using dark pink and light blue K&Co. glitter paper. I added some small Zva rhinestones in the centers of each butterfly to tie in with the Zva rhinestone flourish. For the flowers ~ you know the blue glitter tissue paper Julee sends her stamps in??? Well, I used that and stamped the 2 flowers from the Feel the Sun set using Basic Black ink, multiple times. The top flower has both sizes layered and the bottom flower is just the smaller image. After cutting out the images, I squished them in to a ball, unraveled them and then layered them. I have a closer look at the flower further down in this post.

Here is a picture of the note holder open. The top of the box folds in to an easel to display the photo. Not only did I decorate the front but I stamped the blank memo papers inside.

My friend is the head nurse for a local Hematology ~ Oncology group of Doctors so I chose the Believe in Miracles sentiment from Verve's Believe set and paired it with the smaller flower from the Feel the Sun set for some of the blank notes. I stamped some other sentiments as well which you can find further down in this post. The flower was stamped using Cool Caribbean ink which matched Julee's blue tissue paper perfectly!

Here is a closer look at my fluffy flower and bling!!! You didn't think I would make something without bling did you? LOLOLOL!!!!

The silver flowers in the centers of the fluffy flowers are from SU!. I then added a Basic Grey large clear rhinestone for the centers of the silver metal flowers.

Here are 3 of the sentiments and flowers on more of the blank memo's. For these, I used both the Feel the Sun set as well as the Let it Shine set.

As with all of our Project Parades, we've got prizes! There are two ways to win:

1. Link up your new creation (posted March 22 or later) to the Mr. Linky widget on THIS POST before Midnight on April 8th. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. Be sure to leave the Divas a little shout out in the comments as we parade our creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (March 22 - April 7) will win his/her choice of any Verve stamp set!

~Lynda

March Project Parade - Day 9

Hi Verve fans, it's Amy here with Day 9 of this month's Project Parade: Fun With Flowers. It's no secret that I, like many of you, absolutely adore Verve's sentiments. They are truly the best of the best! I chose to base my card around the wildflower sentiment in Feel the Sun, which reads: "May your life be like a wildflower growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day." Inside the Kraft mini envelope is a little packet of wildflower mix.

To start, I stamped the sentiment in Ranger Walnut Stain on Papertrey Rustic Cream card stock (which has a nice earthy look and feel), die-cut the sentiment into a circle and sponged it with Ranger's Old Paper and Frayed Burlap Distress inks. I adhered it to a scalloped Kraft envelope from Maya Road, then sponged Papertrey's Vintage Cream ink around the envelope edges.

The card base is made of Rustic Cream and topped with a layer of designer paper from Webster's Pages Nature's Storybook 6x6 petite papers. The designer paper panel is distressed with distress inks and a distressing tool. I also added a little mixed up stitching around the perimeter. To the card base, I adhered a Prima felt flower stem, which I thought captured that scrappy, wildflower/weed look perfectly. I tied on a length of 5/8" natural twill and secured a brown button to the bow with twine. Last I adhered the Kraft envelope.

The top flap of the envelope is held down with some removable adhesive dots. Inside the envelope is a small piece of Papertrey Dark Chocolate card stock, to which is taped a tiny cellophane bag filled with a wildflower seed mixture. On the back, I've typed planting & growing notes, which are pretty much scatter, wait, then enjoy ;)



That's it for me today. I hope you've been inspired by the amazing creativity the Divas have put forth this month - I know I have been!

As with all of our Project Parades, we've got prizes! There are two ways to win:

1. Link up your new Fun With Flowers creation (posted March 22nd or later) to the Mr. Linky widget on Jen's post before Midnight on April 8th. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. Be sure to leave the Divas a little shout-out in the comments section as we parade our creations using this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (March 22 ~ April 7) will win his/her choice of any Verve stamp set!

Good luck to you!

March Project Parade - Day 8

Hi everyone, it's Michelle here with my project for this month's Fun With Flowers!  Flowers and Verve go hand in hand, don't you think?  Julee has a knack for designing such GORGEOUS flowers, sigh...

I decided to make a trio of mini cards  using the small flower image from the Feel the Sun set.  Each card uses the same layout and Pink Paislee pattern paper pack (365 degrees).  Each flower was stamped on pattern paper, cut out and placed over a flourish image from the Celebration of Thoughts set. For some continuity, I stamped the top layer of each flower on the same yellow paper.

I changed each card with different bling, top paper selection and ribbons. I kept the sentiment off, so I can use them for any occasion!

 Here is a close up of one card:

And here is a detail shot of another:

As with all of our Project Parades, we've got prizes! There are two ways to win:

1. Link up your new creation (posted March 22 or later) to the Mr. Linky widget on THIS POST before Midnight on April 8th. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. Be sure to leave the Divas a little shout out in the comments as we parade our creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (March 22 - April 7) will win his/her choice of any Verve stamp set!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

March Project Parade - Day 5

Hi!  It's Charmaine and it's my day to share the project I created for this month's Project Parade, Fun With Flowers!  When I was thinking about this month's theme and trying to come up with a project.  I was drawing a real blank.  I know, flowers shouldn't be so difficult, right?  Everything I thought of, though, didn't seem to be something I hadn't already done.  Well, I've recently become a "Silhouette Junkie" (LOL) and my electronic die cut machine gave me an idea!  I've had this adorable daffodil cut file that I've been dying to use and this seemed the perfect opportunity!

I decided to create a flower tray or basket.  I used the Easter Basket tutorial on SCS and just left off the handle.  I cut two of the daffodils using my Silhouette.  Then I stamped, embossed and cut out the flowers from Feel the Sun.  I stamped the flowers numerous times on Hibiscus Burst, Lemon Tart and Certainly Celery cardstock.  I embossed them all with white embossing powder and cut and layered each flower using dimensionals. 

I cut some craft wire to use for the stems and attached them to the inside bottom of the box.  Then I added the green filler for grass.  I attached the flowers to the tops of the wire "stems" I made.  I made a little holder for the sentiment too.  I used the Happy Birthday Plain Jane for the sentiment on the box. 

I thought this little flower tray would make a great little birthday gift in itself, but you could also slide a gift card into it if you needed something a little extra! 

As with all of our Project Parades, we've got prizes! There are two ways to win:

1. Link up your new creation (posted March 22 or later) to the Mr. Linky widget on THIS POST before Midnight on April 8th. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. Be sure to leave the Diva's a little shout out in the comments as we parade our creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (March 22 - April 7) will win his/her choice of any Verve stamp set!

We hope you'll play along this month!  We LOVE to see your creations! 

March Project Parade ~ Day 4

Hi there! It's Jackie here with some more Fun With Flowers inspiration! Haven't the Diva's made some gorgeous stuff so far? When Jen presented us with this month's Project Parade theme, I was thrilled because I am a HUGE fan of Julee's flower designs as I'm sure you are! I knew it would be a cinch to come up with something creative!

I have always admired people who put together a matching gift bag with the cards they make! I tend to be a bit lazy and just make the card, but that has now changed! This was super fun and so easy to make! Once I had the design for the card, I coordinated the bag to match....that easy!

I used the new Verve set, Feel the Sun and paired it with the new Happy Birthday Plain Jane. I LOVE the font on this new Plain Jane. I also used some new goodies from Papertrey. The cardstock I used is Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf and White, the DP is the new Green Boutique. I paper pieced the flowers and embossed the Labels 10 Nestabilities with the Picnic Plaid Impression Plate (Papertrey). A little machine stitching, ribbon and adhesive gems and I called it done!

This is a close up of the gift bag. I purchased a set of ten of these Kraft gift bags on a recent trip to my local Michael's. They've been sitting here just waiting to be used! I'm sure whoever receives this will love it.....at least I hope so!!

We'd love for you to play along in the Fun With Flowers Project Parade this month! As with all of our Project Parades, we've got prizes! There are two ways to win:

1. Link up your new creation (posted March 22nd or later) to the Mr. Linky widget on this post before Midnight on April 8th. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store

2. Be sure to leave the Diva's a little shout out in the comments section as we parade our creations using this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (March 22 ~ April 7) will win his/her choice of any Verve stamp set!

March Project Parade--Day 3

Hello and good morning!!! Amber here with Day 3 of the March Project Parade, "Fun with Flowers!" If you've been with Verve long, you know that there are TONS of beautiful flower sets that are sure to get you in the Spring mood if you're not already there;)

For my card, I decided to go with a newly released set called "Feel the Sun". I really love the flowers Julee came up with for this set, especially the big rumply one!
These flowers are really easy and fun to color, cut out, and arrange with the leaves! My card base is Vintage Cream, followed by some Sweet Blush and a piece of dp by K&Co. I layered another piece of vintage cream and stamped the sentiment (also from Feel the Sun) in Mushroom ink (Adirondack). I cut all the flowers out and layed them out until they looked right, popped them up with dimensionals and added some buttons and glitter!

I wish I could have captured how sparkly this card is IRL. The Sweet Blush panel (stamped with the polkas from Bountiful Backgrounds) was spritzed with Cookie Glimmer Mist and it's really sparkly! I shot it with my heat gun to shorten the drying time, but it really doesn't take long w/out the heat either.

So what have you thought about the projects so far? Wicked awesome, right? Well there are TONS more ideas coming your way throughout the week and into next week! We'd love for you to play along with us in our Fun with Flowers Project Parade this month as well!
As with all of our Project Parades, we've got prizes! There are two ways to win:

1. Link up your new creation (posted March 22 or later) to the Mr. Linky widget on Jen's Post before Midnight on April 8th
2. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.
3. Be sure to leave the Diva's a little shout out in the comments as we parade our creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (March 22 - April 7) will win his/her choice of any Verve stamp set!

March Project Parade - Day Two

Hey there! Jen Tapler here with Day Two of the March Project Parade. So every single month when I get the Project Parade schedule, I always let out a big sigh and think to myself "maaaan, I have to follow HER!?!? great." It didn't take long for me to realize that with this talented group of Verve girls there's actually not one single Diva I enjoy following - they all still intimidate the heck out of me. And this month was no exception. How about that other Jen kicking off the Fun with Flowers theme yesterday with that amazing gift project?? Pretty cool, huh? See what I mean? ;-)

When I started thinking about my project, I knew three things (1) I needed a small birthday gift for my good friend and co-worker, Sue, (2) I wanted to use the flower from the new Feel the Sun set as my focal image, and (3) I wanted to keep my design clean and simple (as usual). I came up with this little gift ensemble:

I created the Happy Birthday card first and replicated it's clean and simple design on the other items in the gift. I went with a color scheme of Kraft, red, navy, baby blue and saffron and couldn't resist including the polka dots from Bountiful Backgrounds as a common background element throughout the project. I added a navy blue scalloped border and a folded grosgrain ribbon. My "Fun with Flowers" element comes in the form of my bright red floral focal image. I stamped the large flower from Feel the Sun twice on red cardstock in red ink, cutting out the entire image once and then just the inner portion of the flower from the 2nd image. I popped the inner portion of the flower up on dimensionals and layered it on top of the large flower, adding a yellow button to the center. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the new Big Wish set.
I also created a matching 4x6 notepad cover by cutting a piece of Kraft cardstock to 6 1/4 x 8 7/8 inches and scoring at 4 1/4 and 4 5/8 inches along the 8 7/8 inch side. I attached a 4x6 "scratch pad" to the inside of the back cover with scor-tape. The front of the notepad cover was decorated very similar to the card, except I used a sentiment from the Feel the Sun set that I felt was appropriate for a notepad Sue could use at work (click photo to view larger):
And finally, we are forever accusing each other and the other Physical Therapists we work with of "stealing" post-it pads from our desks, so I felt Sue needed a special covered Post-It Notepad for her desk. I created the cover by cutting a piece of Kraft cardstock to 3 5/8 x 8 1/4 and scoring at 2, 2 3/8, 5 1/2, and 5 7/8. I attached a Post-It pad to the center section of the cover once it was all folded in on itself and decorated the front.
And there you have it! A simple and unique co-worker gift set that I'm pretty sure Sue will love! What do you think?

We'd love for you to play along with us in our Fun with Flowers Project Parade this month!

As with all of our Project Parades, we've got prizes! There are two ways to win:

1. Link up your new creation (posted March 22 or later) to the Mr. Linky widget on Jen's Post before Midnight on April 8th

2. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

3. Be sure to leave the Diva's a little shout out in the comments as we parade our creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (March 22 - April 7) will win his/her choice of any Verve stamp set!

Spring Fling: Sneak Peek 3 Feel The Sun

Good afternoon Verve peeps, this is Teresa and I have the privilege of peeking the Feel The Sun set. Jen del Muro has brought to you this fabulous card below. I adore the colors and dimension on the flower...wow! Here is more in Jen's own words.

I'm guessing that many of you feel the same as me...Spring, get here already! The new releases from Verve just put me in the mood for Easter and warmer spring weather. Of course, in North Texas spring means lots of rain and crazy storms, but I won't bother thinking too much of those right now. I hope that you all are enjoying all the sneak peeks. I love all the creations that the fellow DT members have come up with. My card uses the Feel The Sun set and I just love this sentiment. It's perfect for just letting someone you know that you are thinking of them and care. Enjoy the rest of the peeks and have fun at the release party! Hope you always feel the sun from both sides!

It has been a long cold winter and Julee has brought some fabulous new stamp sets to get you feeling energetic and excited. Here is my peek of the set Feel The Sun, I adore the wildflowers in this set. I paired the flowers in this card with the sunshine verse. There is nothing more beautiful than a field full of wildflowers and the sun brightly shining. I distressed and stitched on this card, added a butterfly and twill ribbon.

I know you will not be disappointed with the full release, I hope that you can find time to join in on the challenges. I always enjoying gazing at everyone's creations! Enjoy the sunshine!

Like what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment here on this post before 11:59 PM Mountain on Monday, March 8 and you’ll be put in a drawing to win this set! The lucky winner will be announced Tuesday evening, {March 10} on the Verve Blog.