August Release Project Parade: Day 2

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Hi there! Jen Tapler here with Day 2 of the August Release Project Parade. I just love this theme!! In case you missed Jen d.'s explanation yesterday, here's a recap of what we're doing this month: The theme for this Project Parade is "Something Old, Something New." You might be thinking "wedding," but it's actually something just a little different. We have challenged ourselves and YOU to use a previously released Verve set with one of the sets that was released on August 20th. If you don't have both a new and an older Verve set, don't worry. Just mix an older set from your stash with a new-to-you set and join the fun! We'd love for everyone to play along!

It seems that I have A LOT of friends with birthdays around this time of year and therefore I've been on a Birthday-Gift-Ensemble-making spree!! I was in desperate need of a last minute (and very late) birthday gift for my BFF, so I have another Card and gifty thing to share with you today using 2 of my favorite Verve sets - the new Dream Big and my old fave Bountiful Backgrounds!


I created a 5.5 inch square card with a Kraft cardstock base and a trio of those yummy layered Dream Big flowers in Stampin' Up's Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, and Pink Pirouette. And of course, one of my go-to looks is that white stamped polka dot background on Kraft! Love it. The "You're So Fabulous" sentiment is from Bountiful Backgrounds. I added some button centers to the two larger flowers, a couple of layered large scalloped borders and some white satin ribbon as simple embellishments on the card.


That little gift bag thing? I used a cut file for my Silhouette, sizing it just right so I could tuck a Border's Gift Card inside!


I've said it before, but I really love creating a special gift box or envelope to hold a gift card or money in addition to the standard card. I'm sure my BFF Sarah will appreciate this. (feel free to stop by her blog and wish her a Happy Belated Birthday, and while you're there be sure to remind her what an amazing friend I am. Maybe it will help her forgive me for totally forgetting her birthday and being so late with her gift!! LOL).

Then, come back and play along with us in the Something Old, Something New Project Parade!!

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 ONE 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!

July Project Parade - Day 7

Hey there Verve fans! Jen Tapler here with Day 7 of this month's Verve Project Parade. As always, the rest of the Divas have been providing lots of fabulous inspiration so far!!

When I started thinking about this month's theme - My Hero - my thoughts initially went to my favorite girlhood hero, my amazing father. I was always the quintessential Daddy's Girl growing up and from the time I could form the words until now, if anyone asked me who my hero was, my answer has always been, without hesitation, "my Daddy, of course". Many of you know of my family's heartbreaking journey the last several years as my too-young father (58 years old) has slipped into the end stages of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. It is very unlikely that he will survive the next year. I will spare you all the gruesome details of his traumatic story and instead focus on the surprise ending of my family's saga - the character who has risen up to shine through as the real Hero throughout all of this - My Mom. The courage and strength she has shown through my Dad's illness is unreal. Don't get me wrong, she's definitely had her moments - but they don't last long. For the most part she has continued to have her characteristic optimistic, sassy attitude throughout the last few years of watching her best best friend, her partner, her lover, her husband of 37 years slip away from her - but not just slip away from her. That's the real kicker about Alzheimer's disease - you don't just lose your loved one, you have to watch them be replaced by someone else, someone altogether different - someone unappreciative, sometimes downright mean, sometimes even combative - but she's still there day after day - usually with a laugh - for a long time taking care of him herself (bathing him, changing diapers, feeding him, etc) and now making sure others are caring for him properly and just spending time with him so he's not lonely (even though he doesn't know who she is and won't know she was there). This is not how her "Golden Years" in paradise were supposed to be. This is not what they worked so hard to achieve in their early retirement. But she still does it. Because somewhere deep inside that man is the amazing father and husband she fell in love with and married, because that man is still deserving of love and respect and kindness, but in reality it's because the real Hero in our family is my Mom.

Whew. Sorry about that. I might have got a little carried away. So anyway....I wanted to make a little gift for my Mom to let her know that even though my Dad is the one who usually gets all the attention, we really love her and appreciate all she does and all she is going through and all she is about to go through as we have another difficult but necessary transition in my Dad's care coming up in August. So I put together this little "Relaxation Bucket" for her.

Ever since I can remember, my Mom has taken a nice long bubble bath at the end of the day - that's always been HER TIME, even when we were kids. She still does this today. So I included some little bath beads and bubble bath in some Martha Stewart test tube things along with a little votive candle and some of her favorite tea, all inside a little tin bucket I picked up on clearance after Easter at K-Mart.

I stamped the "Hang in there" sentiment from Always on My Mind on a small label for the candle and added a little button. I also created a tag that I attached to the tin using some Maya Road chipboard (it's actually a page from a Luggage Tag album, just cut down to make it a little shorter) and DP from the Thrift Shop line by October Afternoon. The sentiment, butterflies, notebook paper and flourish stamped on the tag are all from Blue Skies. Some stitching and scallops finished it up.

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As with all of our project parades, there are prizes!!!!

1. Play along with us and link up your new My Hero creation (posted July 12th or later) to the linky widget on the DAY ONE parade post before midnight on July 30th. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store. Verve Stamps are not required, but we 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 parade our My Hero creations. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (July 12 ~ July 28) will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!

May Project Parade - Day 8

Hey there! Jen Tapler here with a fun Beach-y home decor item to share with you. I've had this Gallery J brand Hanging Frame Kit laying around for a few years just waiting for the perfect project idea. You know me and my love for a good Photo Keepsake! Here's a look at the finished project (which I had a SUPER hard time photographing by the way).


I used DP from the Lil' Buddy and Twitterpated Collections by Pebbles Inc and picked out a couple of my favorite photos of my son Dean at the beach last Spring to use inside 2 of the frames.


I decided to stamp inside the middle frame. I stamped the wave-y frame thing from Happy Days in a creamy orange pigment ink on cream cardstock and cut it out with my hobby knife to "frame" the Fun in the Sun sentiment from Relax.


And here's a look at the second photo I used - isn't that the cutest little Surfer Dude ever!?!?


And finally, the bottom of the kit had a smaller plaque kind of thing. I used one of my labels Nestabilities dies to create a mat for the "Dude" sentiment from, you guessed it, Dude. I also added the duo of hibiscus flowers from Happy Days, colored with Copics to match the papers used on the project.

So there you have it!! My Beach-y, Sorta Summery (although here on Maui, it's pretty much always Summer!! LOL) Home Decor Project! I can't wait to find the perfect spot for this in my son's bedroom!

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

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sizzlin’ Summer Fun creation (posted May 17 or later) to the linky widget on the Day 1 parade post before midnight on June 7th. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store. Verve Stamps are not required, but we 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 parade our Sizzlin’ Summer Fun creations. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (May 17 ~ June 4) will win the Verve stamp set of their choosing!

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 2 Big Wish

Hey there Verve fans! Jen Tapler here with another Sneak Peek for ya. Aren't you having fun with all this eye candy and these awesome challenges!? Today Michelle and I are sharing some Birthday cards with you using the new Big Wish set - a set of 14 stamps that will knock your socks off! Julee always amazes me with her knack of matching the perfect font with her sentiments and she definitely doesn't disappoint in this new set that includes 13 different birthday themed sentiments of varying sizes, each in a unique Verve-alicious font! Take a look at the cards Michelle and I created with this fun new set:

From Diva Michelle Woerner:


Hi everyone! First let me say, I LOVE THIS SET! I asked (ok, practically begged) Julee for a Birthday Sentiment stamp set awhile ago and am MORE than thrilled with this. I love how the sentiments are in different sizes and fonts to perfectly match any project you have. And the cake? Gorgeous! This will be my "go-to" set for birthday cards from now on!

My card uses the Mojo128 sketch with the gorgeous cake image. I colored the cake with copic markers and added stickles and glitter pen accents for some extra sparkle. I added 2 Zva Creative blossoms in the corner. The sentiment is one of 13 in the set!!"

From Diva Jen Tapler:
I was in need of a birthday card for a fun neighbor girl who is turning 8 yrs old this weekend and this stamp set arrived just in time!! The hardest part about making this card was deciding which sentiment to use!! For papers, I used some fun printed digi papers from the Cottontail kit by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe Designs). I finally went with the "Enjoy your day" sentiment because of its offset-to-the-right alignment, which worked well with how I wanted to position the glittery chipboard number 8. I just love the variety of sentiments in this set, and although the majority of them are birthday themed, there are a few like this one that would work for other occasions as well!

Like what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment here on this post before 11:59 PM Mountain Time 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.

Be sure to stop back by throughout the day as there are still a few more challenges and peeks left (with more chances to win some Verve goodness!!) before the Big Reveal. Join us in the Verve Forum on SCS @ 9:00 pm Eastern Time for a Spring Fling Chat as we countdown to the new release!

Tags, Tins and Treats - Day 7

Hey there! Jen Tapler here with my take on the Tags, Tins and Treats Project Parade. So what do you think of the Divas' creations so far? Pretty amazing, huh? If you've been paying attention to my holiday creations for these Project Parades over the past year+, you may have noticed it's kind of "my thing" to do some sort of keepsake mini album for my son, Dean, who is now a little over 3 yrs old. Well, with this parade so close to Valentine's Day and these FABULOUS new love-themed stamps calling my name - I couldn't resist the temptation to create another very special keepsake gift set for my little man. But don't worry, I think I still managed to stick with the theme of the Project Parade by packaging the album inside a TIN and attaching a cute little gift TAG!! LOL!
I used about a gazillion Verve stamps on this project, so I'll try to give you the Cliff Notes version of what I did instead of the novel!! All of the papers I used on this project are printed digital papers from the Kitschy Sweet digi kit by Traci Reed and Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe). I started out by altering a Maya Road Coffee Break Tin with papers, pom pom trim and lots of fun ribbon. Next, I altered a single "page" from a Maya Road chipboard Luggage Tag Album, using it as a gift tag attached to the handle of the tin. I stamped the "be mine" sentiment from Heart's Desire directly onto the tag, then stamped the "Happy Valentine's Day" sentiment onto a printed digi embellishment. I stamped the small individual hearts from Thankful Accents. The larger heart is also from Heart's Desire.
Finally, the keepsake mini album is a Maya Road Coffee Break book. I designed the pages digitally in Photoshop, then printed them on double-sided matte presentation paper. I used Mod Podge to glue them to the book, then started stamping!! The cover of the album features the Be Mine Plain Jane and a trio of buttons.
I kept the inside pages very very simple, wanting the focus to be on the sentiments of love and the photos. I used a different sentiment on each left-hand page with a black-and-white photo on each facing page. I chose sentiments from Celebrating You, Love Monkey, Thankful Accents and Accent Notes - stamping each on a printed digital scalloped circle embellishment and adding the same trio of stamped individual hearts from Thankful Accents. I am so pleased with how this album turned out and hope it isn't too girly for a special keepsake for a 3-yr-old boy!!
You should be able to click on the photo above to see a closer view of the individual pages. But here's a detail shot of one of the pages just in case:
And the best part? The little mini album fits perfectly right inside the tin!! Pretty cool, huh? I just love that my son is going to have a collection of little {Verve-y} keepsake albums from his childhood!

So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your Tags, Tins & Treats! Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, why not show 'em a little love? ;)

And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes!
To enter, just link up your NEW creation (posted Jan. 25 or later) to the Mr. Linky widget in Julee's post HERE before midnight MST on Monday, February 15. One lucky stamper will win a $25 gift certificate to the Verve Store. And for another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout out in the comments as they parade their fabulous creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Jan 25 - Feb 14) will win their choice of any Verve set.

Sneak Peek Day 3 - Heart's Desire

Hey there Verve Fans! Jen Tapler here with a peek at another fabulous new Verve set, Heart's Desire! I seriously think this set might be new favorite seasonal Verve set for the same reason I say that about every new Verve set - I just love the versatility of 14 stamps in this set!! From wide variety of new fonts in the fun sentiments to the fun new circular frame that is quickly becoming a Verve fan favorite to the "sketchy" hearts that coordinate so perfectly with some of the other Verve sets that have released recently - this is definitely a MUST-HAVE not just for Valentine's Day, but for any love or heart-themed projects you have planned.

Check out what the Divas have created with the awesome Heart's Desire...

From Diva Amy Sheffer:
One of my favorite things about Verve Stamps is their adaptability to so many different styles. Vintage, whimsical, funky, modern, elegant or something more eclectic - Verve stamps will shine in any setting! When I first saw Heart's Desire, I fell in love with the combination of more formal and more casual images and, even more, with the stylish fonts Julee used for the sentiments. How about this funky font treatment for "be mine"? LOVE IT!! I started with my card base designed from different shabbied up Basic Grey Sugar Rush patterns, then added some ribbon and a gorgeous crystal and pearl flourish by Prima. On that backdrop, I added the stamped sentiment and two stamped hearts. At the last minute, I swapped out one of the stamped hearts for a glittered chipboard heart to go along with Michelle's current chipboard challenge. A truly fun set to play with! And, like so many of Verve's sets, this new set plays well with some old friends that may already be in your collection! Note how the heart in Heart's Desire is a bigger version of the hearts in the recently released Thankful Hearts and Thankful Accents sets. Gotta love all the mix-n-match opportunities!"

From Diva Charmaine Ikach:
"When I saw the Heart's Desire set, it immediately reminded me of both my mother and my mother-in-law. I decided to make little Valentine treats that were perfect for them. The Heart's Desire set has such a classic look with a touch of whimsy. I love the dainty frames included in the set as well as the different fonts. My project is perfect for my two mothers and really captures their decorating style, but this stamp set can easily be used to create cute and whimsical projects as well! I just LOVE how versatile it is and I know you will to!"

From Diva Lynda Benden:
"Oh my gosh. Aren't you just LOVING the sneak peeks so far?!?!? Julee has definitely done it again! My card today is VERY simple. The base of this card is Basic Black with a mat of Vintage Cream and then a mat of Tan Bazzill CS. The heart decorative paper is from Pink Paislee's new Cupid line. I added the strip toward the bottom and then the Zva rhinstone flourish. I stamped the beautiful circle of hearts on the same Pink Paislee decorative paper using Basic Black ink and then cut it out using my circle Nestabilities. The "thinking of you" sentiment is included in ANOTHER new set being released called Accent Notes and was stamped in the center of the circle of hearts using Basic Black ink. I matted it on a black scalloped circle."

From Diva Jen Tapler:
When I first saw Heart's Desire, I knew immediately that I wanted to create a set of fun little whimsical "Love Notes" to have on hand for my son, husband and Mom. I used several of the stamps included in the new set and also incorporated a few old sets - the polka dots from Bountiful Backgrounds and one of the hearts from Thankful Accents. Going with a fun color combo of Kraft (of course!), chocolate, aqua and hot pink, I used a variety of embellishments including ribbons, glitter, buttons, heat embossing and my Apron Lace punch from Fiskars. I love how they each turned out unique and yet they all managed to have the sentiment in the bottom right corner as a focal point. I still think the sentiments are my favorite part of the new Heart's Desire set (but it's a tough call)!! So much fun!

And last, but certainly not least, from our Guest Diva, Melissa Sauls:
"Smitten. That's what I was when I first saw Heart's Desire. (Either that or I was still over the moon excited to be selected as a Verve Guest Diva...probably a combination of both!!!) My eyes were immediately drawn to all of those softly drawn hearts and how they were incorporated into every single image! Every time I would look at them, it was as if they floated right off the page and into my heart! I just love it! It is romance in its purest form...and when I think of romance, I immediately think of soft shabby colors and images that can literally make your heart sing. I knew just what I wanted...no, NEEDED to do, when I got this. I needed to create a "tussy mussy." Tussy Mussy's are a Victorian style bouquet of flowers held together in a metal vase, much like the kinds you see at weddings. I began with my focal image by stamping the circular frame with dainty hearts in - how appropriate - Rose Romance ink. The image fit inside a scalloped circle nestability just beautifully! I distressed the edges and then stamped my large heart onto a piece of cardstock that was then adhered to chipboard. I cut that out and "sugared" it up, vintage style. Small rhinestones were added just for fun and a delicate flower was placed right in the corner of my heart. That was it! I could have just ended it there! I decided to go ahead and finish decorating the tussy mussy with cinched crepe paper, vintage trim, luscious satin ribbon, and an old vintage earring from my mother-in-law's grammy. Ahhh, sweet love! I've gotta say, it has been an EXTREME honor to stamp among these ladies and I cannot express my gratitude enough for even eing allowed to be here. Thanks to Julee, and thank you to the rest of the Divas

Like what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment here on this post before 6 PM Eastern on Friday, January 15 and you’ll be put in a drawing to win this set! Winners will be announced at our release party Friday night.

And for even more chances to win some Vervey goodness, be sure to check out the Release Week Challenges going on in the Verve Forum this week!

Home for the Holidays - Day 7

Hey there Verve Fans!! Jen Tapler here with another Verve-style Holiday project for ya!! Can you believe all these amazing holiday treats the Divas have been cranking out each day? WOWZA!! My project is a little different - it's a keepsake holiday mini album (click on photos to see larger images for detail).It's become a little tradition in the Tapler house for me to create a special Holiday keepsake mini album using the photos from the previous holiday. The little albums have become part of our Holiday Decorations and it's so much fun to spend a little time each year reminiscing about the previous years' festivities and seeing how much we've all changed and grown, especially my 3-yr-old son Dean!

This year, I went hybrid, using a Cosmo Cricket Blackboard Jack album and the Merry and Bright digi kit by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe Designs). As you can see in the following photos, I used a few Verve sets throughout the album - I just love how all of these sets coordinate and it's so much fun to mix and match the images and sentiments! The album has a total of 6 front and back pages, but in an effort to conserve space I'll just share a few of my faves. The cover, pictured above, featured a sentiment and paper-pieced tree from the Christmas in the Air set. I added some ribbon and buttons for embellishment and tied several pieces of coordinating ribbon to the book binding ring holding the album together.

Each of the individual page layouts was designed digitally using Photoshop Elements, then I printed them on my home printer, cut them out and adhered to the album pages with Mod Podge before adding my stamped images and embellishments. My most-used stamp set in the album was definitely the Holly Jolly Christmas set!

That tree image from Christmas in the Air came in handy again for photos of Dean decorating our Christmas Tree, and it looks so cute with some little half pearls used as "ornaments":And finally, my favorite set of pages in the album features photos of our Christmas Eve morning spent at Baldwin Beach in Paia. Is it ironic to anyone else that I used the Snowflake Images from Christmas in the Air to embellish these pages:And here's a closer look at those snowflakes. I just love adding some glitter to the outer edges to give them an extra festive look:So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your homemade goodies for the upcoming giving season! Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, why not show 'em a little love? ;)

And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes!
To enter, just link up your Home for the Holidays creation to the Mr. Linky widget on THIS post before midnight MST on Thursday, November 26. One lucky stamper will win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Store. And for another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout out in the comments as they parade their fabulous creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Nov 11 - 25) will win their choice of any Verve set.

Christmas in the Air & Holly Jolly Christmas Sneak Preview

Hi everyone! It's Jackie here to get you revved up for day three of sneak previews!! Today we are previewing two whimsical and completely fun sets, Christmas in the Air and Holly Jolly Christmas. I literally squealed when I saw these sets (well, I can't lie....I squealed at all the sets!) because I am a lover whimsical sets! However, don't be fooled, because these aren't your average cutesy sets, they are whimsey with a touch of elegance, like only Julee can do!! These sets will be available after the Release Party on Friday night, October 23rd. For a chance to win these sets make sure you read all the way to the end of this post!

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From the desk of Guest Jessie Rone

First of all, WOW, somebody pinch me!! I can't believe I am posting as a Verve Guest Diva!! Yayy me!! When Julee asked me if I would be willing to be a diva, I jumped at the chance...when I saw this month's release I was drooling!! All the stamps are GORGEOUS this month(they are every month though), and Holly Jolly happens to be my absolute favorite!! I love all the different ornaments you can use and how easy they are to mix and match. You can go cute or elegant with this set, which I LOVE. For my card, I went all SU, but it is all retired(except the Old Olive). The main image was stamped on an MFT Perfect Panel and colored with Copics though. I used this months release party sketch C(VSOCT09C) for my card as well.

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From the desk of Sankari Wegman



Hi Everyone, Sankari here :) Haven't the sneak peeks been so awesome! I can't wait to see more and I am so excited about this release - seriously - Julee has just about made it amazingly easy to create every single card you can imagine for the holidays and beyond with these awesome sets that will be released on Friday! I made a card using the Christmas in the Air stamp set - I love every single sentiment in this set - but I think this is my most favorite one: Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies - I love the font in this set and the snowflakes are divine. I stamped the four snowflakes and then colored them with copics and then glittered them and cut them out, adding dimensionals when layering them. I kept the colors monochromatic and simple so that the focus would be on the center of winter's snowflake flower :). I absolutely LOVE each and every single image in this set! I am so not a winter girl (can't handle the cold) but I can't wait for some winter wonderland after using this stamp set!!! Hot cocoa anyone?? :) LOL! See you at the release party!! Hugs!

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From the desk of Jen Tapler



I always love ALL of the new sets Julee creates, but these two Holiday sets are just so much fun! I adore the whimsical images and the new fonts are just fabulous!! One of my favorite things about Verve stamps is the endless mix and match possibilities and Julee's created another awesome set with tons of interchangeable images in the Holly Jolly Christmas set. I chose to create a tall card using just 3 of the SIX ornament images included in the set as well as one of the fun new sentiments. I used the colors in the American Crafts DP to pick the ink colors for my ornaments and tied the whole thing together with some silver embossing powder on both the sentiment and the ornament hanger thingies as well as some silver cording tied around the top. I could create a whole series of unique cards using this same layout and just changing out the ornament images and colors used - I love that!!

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From the Desk of Jen del Muro


Has anyone else been overwhelmed with Christmas stuff since July 5th? I can't believe how the craft and hobby stores spend almost a half a year on one holiday! Of course, it's all the red and green and sparkly that everyone has grown to love, including myself. However, for this project I wanted to do something a little different, so I chose a very neutral palette of kraft, black and white and then added a hint of color with some green. The snowflake was cut from a Cricut on thin chipboard, painted and embellished with Diamond Dust glass flakes and then topped off with a ribbon and button. I paper pieced the tree with paper from My Little Shoebox. Although this card may look somewhat time consuming because of the little details, it really would be easy enough to mass produce...which is not something I like doing, but it's good to have the option when you have 50+ cards to send out!

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From the desk of Jackie Pedro

Oh my goodness.....I have to say that this release is one of my favorites EVER from Verve! The variety of Christmas stamps from Spiritual to Whimsey (Verve Style, of course) to the Breast Cancer Awareness set, Believe, is AMAZING! When I saw Christmas in the Air, I saw versatility! I love the whimsiness (is that a word?) of this set and couldn't wait to get it inky! I used my MUCH LOVED designer paper, Eskimo Kisses by Basic Grey. The trees were pieced with three different patterns as were the rolling hills. I sponged some Antique Linen Distress Ink on the edges of each hill and adhered them to a piece of Scarlet Jewel cardstock(PTI). I then stitched along the edges of the hills and then around the top of the card. The sentiment was cut out with a Ribbon Tag Die from Spellbinders and was tied to the card with some Scarlett Jewel Twill Ribbon (PTI). A few Papertrey buttons and the card was complete!!

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Like what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment here on this post before 6 PM Eastern on Friday, October 23 and you’ll be put in a drawing to win this set! Winners will be announced at our release party that night.
And for even more chances to win, be sure to check out the Release Week challenges going on in the Verve Forum for your chance to win our entire release! Okay, that’s it for today, we’ll see you back here tomorrow for another peek at some more new sets!

Encouraging Words - Day 10

Hey! Jen Tapler here with a super late post for Day 10 of the Encouraging Words Project Parade! First of all, I'm soooo sorry this is late! I completely spaced and had my days confused. Ooops! Better late than never, right?

When I started thinking about this month's theme, I knew I wanted to create a special little project for my 2-yr-old son, Dean. But let's face it, he doesn't really have much appreciation (right now anyway) for my "Encouraging Words"!! LOL. So in keeping with the whole "Encouragement" theme, I decided to make this fun little game for him, to ENCOURAGE his current love of numbers and math. He seems to have this weird natural affinity for numbers. The little smarty is 2 and can count to 100 and already seems to grasp the basic concept of addition (believe me, he does NOT get this love of numbers from his mother!!). However, as someone who has never loved numbers and found math to always be my weakest link, I want to encourage him in this early fascination.

First, the card. I used this week's MoJo Monday sketch to make a quick little card for him that was all matchy-match with his new game. I used printed digi papers from the Imagi-nation kit by Dani Mogstad (Sweet Shoppe) for the entire project, with a little Kraft cardstock thrown in as well. For the card, I combined a few sentiments from the new Starstruck set and added the star image from the You Rock set.

Now, for the fun game. I used white acrylic paint to cover some wooden blocks, then designed and printed out some numbered fronts for each side of the blocks to create "dice". I then stamped 12 stars from the You Rock set, 6 on red and 6 on yellow digi paper. I cut them out and mounted them on chipboard stars. Now Dean has a simple math game - he can roll the dice and "add" the 2 numbers by counting out the number of red stars from one die and the number of yellow stars from the other die and then adding the two together. Clear as mud? He seems to get it and LOVES it!! Here's another look at the completed project so you can see the group of stars a little better:
So there you have it - my ENCOURAGING little creation for the Project Parade. So yeah, I took some creative liberties with the theme, but I think it works!!

So what do you think? I know you have enjoyed the fabulous work that the other Divas have been sharing during our Project Parade, but now it's your turn! Create a card/project that is focused on encouraging words, and link up your creation to the Mr. Linky widget on the DAY 1 POST before midnight MST on Sunday, October 18. As with all of our project parades, we've got prizes! One lucky project parade participant will win a $35 gift certificate to the Verve Store. Be sure to show some love for the Divas each day (Oct.5-17) for another chance to win, because ONE lucky commenter will also win their choice of any Verve set. We can't wait to see your creations...Happy Stamping!

Sneak Peek - Day 1: Swan Song and Wishing You

Hi there! Jen Tapler here with the first day of Sneak Peeks of another FANTABULOUS Verve New Release!! Today the Divas and I are sharing a few projects using the new sets Swan Song and Wishing You. They’ll be available for purchase immediately following our Release Party this Friday night, so you don’t have long to wait! And be sure to read all the way to the end of this post to find out how you can have a chance at winning these sets for your very own!

First up is this beautiful card by Diva Tosha Leyendekker. Julee never ceases to amaze me with each new release!! And this time she included one of my all time favorite images: swans. My heart went all aflutter when I saw the set Swan Song. I'm so excited to be able to work with this new release. For this card, I stamped the swan and sentiment with Smokey Gray (Versafine) and paper toled the swan with 6 layers. I created the sentiment medallion with the Lattice Pendant, Labels 3 and Circle Nestabilities, and added some sparkle to each piece with some glitter. Finally, I topped it all off with some sewing, pearls, and a large Ivory bow.

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From Diva Mercy Kerin:
I am so stoked to be writing my first Sneak Peek post as an official Diva! It still feels like it's all been a wonderful dream! As with all the other Verve releases, I have loved each and every set that has come out...but there is always one that stands out to me a little more than the others. For this month it was Swan Song! As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I wanted to do...that doesn't happen often, so when it does you know you have to roll with it! LOL! I stamped the swans on watercolor paper in Basic Black Craft Ink, embossed them with clear embossing powder, then colored them with an aquapainter and an ink pad. I added some yellow stickles, black rhinestones, yellow ribbon, and silver cording to finish off the card. I absolutely love the way it turned out, and I know that you will love this set as much as I do!

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From Guest Diva Kristina Biederman:
Hello Everyone! I am thrilled beyond words to be a part of this amazing release celebration! I think I almost fell out of my chair when an e-mail from Julee showed up back in July. Then, the stamps arrived and I ran through the house to find my roommate and show her how incredible they are! When I saw there was another sentiment set, Wishing You, I knew I had to get them inky right away. I love sentiment sets and Julee always makes the absolute best with the most gorgeous fonts!

I used Wishing You for my card and kept it pretty simple, keeping the words as the main focus point. I also snuck a little Beautiful Kindness onto my card - I can just see using these sentiments partnered with so many other sets!

Thanks again to Julee and the absolutely incredible Divas for letting me be a part of this wonderful release!!

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And from me, Jen Tapler:
Once again, Julee has outdone herself with this release! So many gorgeous sets!! Picking a favorite is nearly impossible, but I am a sucker for sentiment sets - and Wishing You is absolutely AWESOME!! I LOVE the idea of combining the "Wishing You" stamp with any one of the other 9 stamps in this set to create so many different sentiments. You could stamp them together as I did here to create a single focal sentiment, or divide them up (and this set is PERFECT for those of you crazies out there who take the time to finish the insides of your cards!!). I kept this little notecard-sized card simple, letting that "Wishing You the Best Day Ever" sentiment (a combination of 2 of the stamps from this set) be the focus. Some small Prima flowers were really all the embellishments this little card needed!

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Like what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment here on this post before 6 PM Eastern on Friday, September 18 and you’ll be put in a drawing to win these two sets! Winners will be announced at our release party that night.

And for even more chances to win, be sure to check out the Release Week challenges going on in the Verve Forum for your chance to win our entire release! Okay, that’s it for today, we’ll see you back here tomorrow for another peek at some more new sets!

August Project Parade - Day 7

Happy Tuesday! Jen Tapler here with another installment of the Happiness for Hostesses Project Parade. Wowza! The divas are sure outdoing themselves this Project Parade and I know I'll won't be lacking for gift ideas for quite some time!!

For my project, I decided to make a simple little gift to take to my next Book Club get together. I just love this group of girls and we always have such a good time gossiping, eating, drinking lots of wine, and sometimes we even discuss the book! We take turns hosting our informal "meetings" and everyone usually brings a little something to eat. Now, I do NOT cook. Like hardly AT ALL. Nothing. Joel does 99% of the cooking at our house. If Joel has to work late and (oh No!) I have to be responsible for dinner, it almost always is Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. No lie. (fortunately Joel likes to cook and is WAY better at it than I am so this doesn't happen very often!!). Anyway, I used to get really stressed out about book club meetings because the other girls would always bring these really yummy creative dishes to share and here I was with a box of Oreos or a bag of chips and bean dip or something (unless I could bribe Joel to cook something that I could pass off as my own - but that usually involved payment of the dreaded variety...LOL!!). So I came up with something that seems to have made everyone happy - instead of food I take the hostess some cute little papercrafted gift. Only one other girl in the group is crafty so these gifts are adequately oohed and aahed over and everyone seems to overlook the fact that I've arrived food-less!!

Anyway, all of that to say that today I'm sharing with you the gift I'll be taking to next week's Book Club meeting. It's just a little thank you card, a bookmark, and a little gift box full of the hostess' favorite candies. I stamped the polka dots from Bountiful Backgrounds in Fresh Snow ink (PTI) on Kraft CS (surprise, surprise) for the base of all 3 items. I also included Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip.

The little gift box was created using the Favor Box die from Sizzix, I filled it up with Macadamia Nut Hershey's Kisses, tied it up with some Riding Hood Red ribbon and added a little tag stamped with one of the sentiments from Bountiful Backgrounds.


For the bookmark and card, I used the butterfly image from the new Enjoy set along with my Circle Nestabilities. I added a jumbo eyelet and some more Riding Hood Red ribbon to the top of the bookmark. All in all, it was a quick and easy yet very effective gift for the next Book Club hostess!!

Have all of these Hostess Gift ideas got the wheels of creativity spinning yet? We'd love for you to join us this month! To play along, just make a project or card that shows us your take on the Happiness for Hostesses theme. 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 DAY ONE's POST before 8PM Mountain September 12. 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!

Sneak Preview - Day 2: Party Time & Bountiful Backgrounds

Hey Verve Fans!! Jen Tapler here. How'd you like those peeks yesterday of Express Yourself? Pretty awesome, huh? Well, we've got more awesomeness in store for you today with two more fabulous Verve sets that will be available immediately following the Verve Release Party this Friday night!! Today some of the other divas and I are sharing projects using Party Time and Bountiful Backgrounds!

I am so excited about these 2 sets! I love the fun, happy balloons in Party Time and I have to say that Bountiful Backgrounds just might be my new fave Verve set (Ok, Ok - that changes by the day, but still...). When I saw the Party Time set I knew immediately that I wanted to make some sort of gift box and matching card. I came up with this fun little hybrid set using printed digi papers from the Little Mr. Big Man kit by Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe Designs), filling the box with some citrus See's candies. I stamped one of the FOUR new background stamps onto some Real Red CS for the bottom portion of the gift box (isn't that such a COOL and unique background image!?!?). Both sentiments and the balloons (paper-pieced with more digi papers here) are from Party Time. I love how versatile the Bountiful Backgrounds are and can picture having to force myself NOT to use them on every card from now on!! And Party Time is such a great celebration set that's perfect for cards and gifts for recipients of any age!!

Now check out what some of my fellow Divas have done with these sets...

From Diva Susan Liles:
Hello Verve fans! It's Day 2 of the Sneak Peeks! I'm sure you'll be lovin' this new set called Party Time. I know I do. I immediately thought of this paper that I had from Basic Grey with the balloons and numbers on it when I saw this set. I couldn't wait to pair the balloon image up with it. I stamped it three times, colored all the balloons with my Copics, and then cut them out. (Yes, I left the little white spaces between the strings because I'm terrible at using an X-acto knife! So it's OK if you do the same.) I put the card together and at the last minute decided to tie the little twine strings onto the balloon strings. Here's a tip: a little dab of glue behind them keeps the bows from coming undone. Anyway, I hope you like what you've seen so far...there lot's more to come!

From Diva Jen del Muro:
Are you all loving all the Verve sneak peeks so far? I am always amazed at what Julee can dream up with all these images. I am loving the new Party Time set. It's a set that can be as simple or as intricate as you wish. I decided to do a fairly simple card and then pop up the balloons on multiple levels to give the card a little bit more of a "wow factor". Have fun looking at all the other sneak peeks and good luck if you are playing along too!






From Guest Diva Mercy Kerin:
I am so thrilled to be taking part in this month's release! I was ecstatic when Julee e-mailed me to be one of the guest designers and even more excited when my stamp sets arrived. As soon as I saw this set I knew what I wanted to do with it...Chinese Lanterns! They were meant to be used as balloons, but I absolutely love nighttime parties...and what better decoration for such an event!?! I stamped the image on watercolor paper in Basic Black craft ink, then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I used an aquapainter and Classic Ink Pads to color the lanterns, then went over them with a Gold Sakura Glaze Pen for some sparkle. I also sponged the background to create an evening sky, then embellished with some Real Red Ribbon and Jumbo Silver Brads. You can find additional details and pictures on my blog.

Don't forget about all the fun stuff going on in the Verve Forums on SCS with lots of chances to win Verve prizes! Be sure to head on over to those links to find out how you can win!

We have one more little surprise up our sleeve for you today! Just leave a comment here on this post before 6PM Eastern on Friday, August 14 and you'll be put in a drawing to win more Verve Goodies! Winners will be announced during our release party.