August Release Project Parade: Day 8

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Hi Verve fans, it's Amy here today with Day 8 of our current Something Old, Something New Project Parade. Our challenge this month is to use a previously released Verve stamp set with one of the new sets that was just released on August 20th. Julee's designs are far too timeless to ever get "old," but papercrafting trends do come and go, and new products and tools are coming out all the time, so this theme is giving the Divas (and you!) a fun chance to work some fresh magic on all those glorious previously released sets. Hope you'll join in the fun!

One of the things I know we all love about Verve is the fantastic assortment of sentiments. It's often the tiny sentiments that I'm drawn to the most - they're so perfect for adding sweet little whispers of affirmation to your projects. One of my favorites is "You put a song in my heart," from the September 2009 set Swan Song. I thought it would pair perfectly with the gorgeous heart image from the new Love Story. Once I got started looking through my Verve stash, I couldn't stop with just one "old" set, so I also added a flower from One Person, along with two subtle clear-embossed borders using a stamp from Grateful Elegance.

I can't wait to give this to my husband when we celebrate our seventeenth anniversary later this Fall!

Ready to mix up your old and new and play along? If you don't have the newest Verve sets - no worries, just mix an older set from your stash with a "new to you" stamp set and join the fun!

1. Play along with us and link up your new SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW creation (posted August 25th or later) to the linky widget on the DAY 1 PARADE POST before midnight on Wednesday, September 15th. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. For another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout-out in the comments section as we parade our SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW creations. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade will win the Verve stamp set of their choosing!

Project Parade Day Three ~ Divine Details

Hi everyone! It's Jackie here and it's my turn on this super fun Project Parade! To be perfectly honest, when I saw this month's project parade theme, Divine Design, I sort of panicked! I honestly did not think I had a "process" to my card making, but when I sat down and actually made my card I made a wonderful discovery....I DO HAVE A PROCESS!! LOL!



When I sit down to stamp I usually have a stamp set in mind that I want to use, in this case I knew I wanted to use the new set, Just For You, and the flowers from Grateful Elegance, so I set off on the hardest part of creating a card, the sketch! I RARELY use my own sketches. I am a huge fan of sketch challenges because the hardest part is already done for you! I'm not lazy, just sketch challenged! (wink) For this card I chose Amy Rysavy's sketch from this past Friday, AMYRS72.


Once I find the sketch and have the stamping portion worked out in my head I search for colors. I keep a little notebook on my desk with different color combos I have either tried or have seen and want to try. Other times, like on my card here, I may choose colors from patterned paper that I want to use. I really love this new DP from Stampin' Up called Thoroughly Modern, so I pulled my colors from the DP. I tend to rely HEAVILY on patterned paper. I just love collections of patterned paper because it makes it much easier to combine different patterns as they are made to coordinate with each other!


Once I have the basic parts of my card done, the fun for me begins....embellishing!! I always look at my cards at this point and think "how can I make this more interesting?" There are two items I turn to almost every time to "step it up" and that is my Spellbinders Nestabilities and my Janome Sew Mini. For instance, on this card I decided to frame the sentiment circle with a Blossom Nestability. It really made the sentiment the focal point of the card and it adds such a beautiful look instead of a plain old circle. And stitching, well, stitching is subtle but adds so much to a card! The last embellishment on this card is the ribbon. Now ribbon and I have a love/hate relationship! I don't always use ribbon because I have a hard time tying it. If it doesn't look perfect to me, I just don't use it. It worked on this card, but sometimes I find it overwhelms a card, but that's just me!
Other embellishments I love to use, but did not use on this card are punches, border punches, brads, and rhinestones.

Now, before I actually commit to my layout (aka: glue it down) I put it all together to see how it looks. This is the time that I add my MOST USED product in my craft room.....DIMENSIONALS! Every card, IMO, needs dimension. This is where I decide what layers need dimesion. On this card I popped the main image/sentiment and the entire panel from Bermuda Bay up, on dimensionals.

Well I hope you enjoyed taking a peek into my Divine Design Process as much as I had fun discovering it!!




We can't wait to see what you come up with for this month's Project Parade! To play along, just make a project or card that shows us your Divine Details. Verve Stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em we love to see 'em! Then just add a link to your creation to the Mr. Linky form in this post before 8PM Mountain on Saturday, August 1. Two lucky participants will win a stamp set of their choice from the Verve Store. We've also hidden another $25 gift certificate somewhere along the parade for a random commenter. So if you like what you see, be sure and give a little shout out in the comments of each post! Have fun and good luck!

Gettin' Krafty Day Four -That Krafty little birdie

Hi everyone, it's Michelle. I get crafty almost every day, but rarely get "Krafty" -heehee! I think kraft paper makes a great neutral and I may just have to bust it out more often!!!

For my card, I used kraft as my base and some framing and paired it with my new favorite color, Tangerine Tango! I used Black Tie Birdies and stamped everything with Adirondack Espresso. I also stamped the bird on Tangerine and pieced the wing and bow. For the horizonal piece behind the image, I stamped the finial strip from the Grateful Elegance. The DP is the new SU! Designer Prints DP in Tangerine. The flower is from my amazing find at Michaels, a Got Flowers bottle Coppermine, an entire bottle of various brown flowers. Whoa, be still my little heart. The ribbon is Seam Binding ribbon from Martha Stewart in Persimmon and is a PERFECT match to Tangerine Tango -score!! I also put tiny accents of orange on her tail from my Copic marker YR09.

So.... have you been gettin' krafty? No? How about using natural fibers like hemp, twine, string, etc? Still no? Well there is still time to play along. Just post your creation to this post by noon on September 30th. If you upload to SCS use keyword VVPP06 , so we can see all the Kraftiness in one place. A random participant will be drawn on October 1st to receive $15 in Verve Bucks to spend at the Verve Stamps store! Good luck and go get Krafty!

Card Deets:

Stamps - Black Tie Birdies and Grateful Elegance (Verve Stamps)

Paper - PTI Kraft and white, Choc chip, Tangerine Tango and Tangerine Tango DP (SU!)

Ink - Adirondack Espresso

Accessories - prima, jumbo orange brad, paper piercer, MS Persimmon seam tape, paper piercer, Copic YR09, dimensionals

Polka Dot Bliss

Have you seen the delicious inspiration piece Julee chose for this month's Project Parade? When I first saw it, it made me think of a 1950's soda shop. I don't know why, but when I think of the 1950s and soda shops or sock hops, I also think of polka dots! That's where I started with this inspiration. I used the Welcome Baby Cuttlebug Folder on the Pink Pirouette cardstock. I used the three different sized flowers from Grateful Elegance, and a sentiment from Beautiful You. The last "frilly" touches were the Threading Water border punch and organdy ribbon.

Wanna win some Verve Bucks? Just upload your creation to this post no later than noon on September 5th. If you upload to SCS, please use keyword VVPP05, so we can see all of your delicious creations! A random participant will be drawn on September 5th and receive $15 in Verve Bucks to spend at the Verve Stamps store! Can't wait to see your creations!

Blissful Thanks...

As soon as I saw the "Inspiration Piece" for this month's Project Parade Challenge, I immediately started to brainstorm ideas on how to convince my DH that we need to move to Boise, Idaho (Julee mentioned that the coffee shop there serves these)! I am a HUGE coffee lover as it is, but these scrumptious creations almost look too good to be true! :-) You'd think (as much as I loved this inspiration piece) that when I sat down to stamp my pink & brown card that the ideas would just flow right? Sigh... That was so not the case! All I could think about was how far away I am from getting one of these...LOL! So, I turned to one of Julee's amazing sketches (Anni-Verve-ary sketch # 9) to get the ideas rolling...



Once I decided on the sketch, I immediately knew I wanted to use the background stamp from Grateful Elegance to create the smaller square layer. I then thought the larger scroll background from Artful Elegance would look great on the pink background layer. For the focal piece, I stamped the flower from Beautiful You first on Vanilla c.s. and then onto Pink Pirouette c.s...cut them out and then layered them for added dimension. After highlighting some of the petals, I added some sparkle with my Clear Spica Glitter pen and then applied Crystal Effects to those highlighted parts. For the sentiment tag, I embossed "thanks a bunch" (from Grateful Elegance) onto Pink Pirouette c.s. and then punched it out with my Large Oval punch.



Don't forget...you can win $15 in Verve Bucks just by playing along! Link your pink & brown inspired card to THIS post before noon on September 5th!

Supplies
Stamps: Grateful Elegance, Artful Elegance, Beautiful You
Paper: Vanilla c.s., Pink Pirouette (Stampin' Up!), Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Inc.)
Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip craft ink (Stampin' Up!), Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Clear detail e.p. (Judikins), Vanilla e.p. (Stampin' Up!), Nestabilities, Lg. Oval punch (Stampin' Up), Dark Chocolate Satin ribbon (Papertrey Inc), Pink taffeta ribbon (Stampin' Up!), Paper Piercer, Dew Drops

Another Warning...this time for ICE CREAM!

Happy Tuesday, Verve Fans! It's my turn to show you a project using the pink and brown inspiration piece that Julee found for us. You can find it in {this post} if you haven't seen it.

Since it's summer and still hot around here, this color combo immediately had me craving Neopolitan Ice cream! So add me to the list of people pointing fingers at this month's Project Parade for causing increased chocolate and ice cream cravings. *wink* Here's my pink & brown card!

I stamped the background from Grateful Elegance in Regal Rose ink on my Pretty in Pink panel, and then sponged the edges with Regal Rose and Chocolate Chip ink. I used my Martha Stewart border punch to create the gorgeous scalloped edges and sponged the edges to make them stand out. I tied a big Chocolate chip bow, and mounted those layers on dimensionals onto my 5 1/4" square card base. The corners of the Close to Cocoa piece are punched with the Ticket Corner Punch, and all of the edges are sponged with Chocolate Chip as well. To finish it off, I added some swirls and a sentiment from the Fairy Tales set and some Bella Pearls.


Wanna play along with this fun Pink and Brown inspiration piece? Just upload your creation to this post no later than noon on September 5th. If you upload to SCS, please use keyword VVPP05, so we can see all your lovely creations in one happy place! A random participant will be drawn on September 5th and receive $15 in Verve Bucks...that's cash to spend at the Verve Stamps store! Good luck!

Day Three: Artful Elegance and Notes Of Prayer...

WOW! Are we having fun yet? All of the Anni-VERVE-sary sketches and sneak peeks over on SCS are really exciting for me, so I am sure that you are all having a blast, too. The release is just a couple days away and here we are today with even more peeks to whet your appetite! Not only do you get to see one set featured today, but TWO!

Let's start off with ARTFUL ELEGANCE. Simply ornate, clean and pretty are the best words to describe this set. Let me know if you agree.

Here is a sample Jen del Muro (hey, that's me) created using this set in combination with Grateful Elegance...

I {heart} mini cards and one day when I was sitting at my desk these colors all seemed to just line up. It was the perfect inspiration for this 3x3 set. I used a cello bag with a tag for a minimalist approach to the packaging, so that cards inside could be seen, too.

Amy Sheffer shows off this set with her own stamping BRILLIANCE...

Everyone should own a few stamps that are so striking and beautiful they pretty much stand on their own. Artful Elegance is one of those sets for sure -- simple elegance at its best! The scroll pattern in this set reminded me of the ornate wrought-iron fencing that surrounds the historic homes and immaculate gardens of the French Quarter in New Orleans. I chose my earthy greens with those gardens in mind, then added black satin ribbon and a little bling to finish off my more formal look.

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If your jaw isn't on the floor yet, it will be momentarily. This next set is called NOTES OF PRAYER. Simply ornate, clean and pretty apply here, as well. I absolutely love how striking the cross is and the sentiments are not only beautiful in verse, but are in the perfect font.

Julee, Verve Stamps' head Diva herself created this stunning creation...

A few months ago, Susan made this cross card with the Filigree Fantasy set and I thought, “Hey, I should make a stamp like that!” Well, when I actually started designing the stamp set I couldn’t find the card again, so this cross is what I came up with from memory. I love the elegance of this delicate cross, and have paired it with a few of the background elements from Artful Elegance for a frilly, feminine look.

I also made a sample using this set.

Both the cross and the filigree from the Artful Elegance set are clear embossed. This card contains a lot of texture, yet remains quite simple.

Last, but certainly not least, Janine Tinklenberg (one of August's Guest Designers) shows off this set in such a beautiful way.

This card uses a beautiful embossing resist technique, but instead of using dye ink with the embossed image, this technique uses pigment inks softly rubbed into the background...it really pops the white embossed image! I love the Verve Notes of Prayer set; as a church secretary, I'm always looking for a great set for sending cards to members of our church family. And since it coordinates so beautifully with the Artful Elegance and Grateful Elegance sets, it's a win/win if you get one or both of them when you buy this set!

I hope that you have enjoyed all of these samples. More to come tomorrow! Be sure to join us in the Verve Forum Tuesday night for our release party. It will be our first and it is sure to be a blast!

Sneak Preview Day 1: Grateful Elegance

Happy Saturday, Verve Fans! Are you guys ready to see some previews of some new stamps? I thought so!!

Today we are giving you a little taste of a set called Grateful Elegance, which will be available at Verve on Wednesday, August 13th. I love this set, and I think you will too. Here's my card:

My lovely husband said, "Sweetie, did the Isle of Capri Casino throw up on your card?" Bless his heart. I was having fun with my bold bright colors! HMPH. What does he know???

So...what do you spy on this card? Flowers? YUP! A new sentiment? CHECK! What is that on the pink panel I spy??? Hmmm??? It should look familiar...it's something I asked for and Julee gave it to me!! So excited. In fact, I'm excited for you to see all the new releases.

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Now here's Laurie's card:

Oh man, oh man!!  I cannot even tell you how excited I was when I saw these new sets...especially this one!  I know, I say this every release it seems like...but this has got to be my new favorite Verve set ever!!  Not only are the new stamps amazing...but so is the brand new packaging!  In fact, I was so inspired by it that I immediately went to my stamp room...grabbed these two colors (Aqua Mist and Dark Chocolate) and started creating!  :-)

Everything is embossed with Chocolate Chip craft ink and Clear detail e.p...including the "trim" around the Dark Chocolate layer (I just love the look of tone on tone embossing)!  To add some texture and subtle shimmer to the white flowers, I covered them with Clear Micro Beads.

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And saving the best for last, here's a card from the Head Diva herself....Julee! 

 She doesn't know I took this to post on here...shhhh!!!! *grin*

Julee did one of my favorite techniques of hers...she painted the flower with a mixture of Crystal Effects, reinker, and Dazzling Diamonds. GORGEOUS!! I also love how she accented the swirly elements (that's the technical term) with the mixture as well. So clean and fresh with a bit of WOW mixed in!

Grateful Elegance is a set of 7, and this card shows you 6 of those stamps. One of the things I love about clear stamps is that you can see to line up repeating images to create backgrounds!

I hope you've enjoyed our previews of Grateful Elegance. Make sure you check the Verve Forum for more release fun, and don't forget to come back tomorrow to see another peekie of new stamps! Have a fabulous, Vervalicious day!!