August Release Project Parade--Day 11

Hi there ladies!! It's Amber here! Are you BLOWN AWAY by the projects so far on this project parade?? I sure am! I am always SO inspired by my team mates, each and every one of them are fabulous and each have a style SO unique that you could see them all in an anonymous gallery and KNOW what card belongs to who, I LOVE that! I am SO lucky to be on this team with these girls. And I'll never have a nicer, sweeter, more lovely "boss" than Julee! And behind every successful woman is a sweet, supporting man right? So of course we love Mark too! Love them all:)

Okay, I'm gushy today, I don't know why, but I guess it's better than being in a BAD mood, lol!

This month, our theme is Something OLD and Something NEW! We've all heard this little rhyme for weddings, but we wanted to pair some OLD favorites with some NEW favorites!

I am LOVING this color combination, I've been using alot of this green lately and I'm not slowing down anytime soon, ha!

I used the super fabulous "Fabulous You" set just released! I just adore the fonts in this set, it's a fun mixture of formal and whimsy. What's not to love?

I also used the fun flourishy circle from Thankful Accents and stamped the flowers from Because of You. I stamped these flowers in Kiwi Kiss and I love how it makes the sentiment pop off the card.

Here's a fun detail shot of some awesome pearl string I found in my craft store on base! It comes in a really long length and I was able to just cut pieces to fit around the square.

And since I'm a sucker for ribbons, bows, flowers, and pearls, here is another fun detail shot:)

Are you ready to play with us? I hope so! There is a HUGE prize in it for you if you do!

The Deets:

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!

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.

Blog PaRtY: Thankful Accents Reveal

It's time for our final set reveal! Thankful Accents boasts a fun circle centerpiece to feature the thankful sentiments in this release, as well as four thankful sentiments, and some fabulous doodled accents & elements to dress up your projects.

{Note: You can give the image to the right a little clicksy to embiggen it and preview the whole set in all its glory.}

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Designed by Amy Sheffer...

If you like the doodled look, but have always wished you could kick it up a notch toward something a little more fancy and elegant, then Thankful Accents is for you! The imagery has just enough of a hand-drawn look, but still retains the flourishy elegance you'd expect from a Verve set. I know the Divas all say this month after month, but seriously, how does Julee DO it?! This doodled elegance blend is so fresh and unexpected - I adore it! There are some wonderful sentiments and a beautiful, large flourish-style circle image that is more the centerpiece of this set, but I have to say it's all the little bits and pieces, the accent images, that really struck my fancy the most. I've had the best time stamping these little gems into different patterns and designs, such as the pennant border I created for this card. The bold, edgy color combo is from Mercy and Teresa's current color challenge. I kept the focal point simple, but elegant with a two-layer punched butterfly framed in a narrow oval. The sentiment will go on the inside.

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Designed by Amber Hight...

Another great release from Verve! The sets being released today are going to remain a permanent fixture on my stamping table! I love the fonts Julee mixed in this month, they're so fun and whimsical! The set Thankful Accents is full of fun sentiments and little accents to jazz your projects up!

I used Dark Chocolate and Aqua Mist by PTI for my colors, which I pulled from the beautiful Bo Bunny dp! I really love the fancy circle element in this stamp set, and the sentiments fit right inside! Especially when you punch them out with circle punches. It's a little light, but I stamped an accent right behind the sentiment in Aqua Mist ink, it's a really lovely effect! You may also see a bit of the polka dot stamp from Bountiful Backgrounds.

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Okay, are you ready for another giveaway? Just leave a comment on this post to be entered in a random drawing for a Thankful Accents Pack! The pack will include the Thankful Accents set, {which we've revealed in this post}, as well as some luscious ribbons, papers and embellishments! Deadline to enter is Monday, 11/30 at midnight Mountain time.

Blog PaRtY: Challenge 4

Hi everyone! How's your day so far? Ready for another challenge??? This one comes from Susan Liles and Jen del Muro...

Who’s gobbled up enough turkey to last them until next year? I know at the Liles’ house, we are “stuffed” to the waddle! So rather than dwelling on having to eat those leftovers AGAIN, Jen del Muro and I thought it would be fun to engage ya’ll in a little MINI PIZZA BOX challenge to get our minds off that turkey! As a matter of fact, just go ahead and call up Papa John’s while you make your little box!

The MINI PIZZA BOX is a lot of fun to put together and there are so many ways to embellish it! It’s the perfect size to hand to someone for a little “thank you” gift. Filled with peppermints, chocolate, gift cards or a wrapped up large cookie inside it makes for an inexpensive way to let someone know you are “thanking” of them. It’s also SUPER EASY to make and they come together really quick. The finished size is 4x4x1 inches.

{HERE} is link to a very short and simple tutorial on Splitcoast written by our very own Jen del Muro. You'll be hooked in no time!

And here's some sneaky peeky inspiration from Jen and Susan to get the juices flowing...

Designed by Jen del Muro
Jen's sample uses stamps from the new Thankful Accents set.

Designed by Susan Liles
Susan's sample uses stamps from the new Thankful Hearts set

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To play along, just make a new handmade creation using the pizza box template. Post a picture of your creation online and link us to it using the Mr. Linky widget below. Enter by 10pm Mountain on Monday, 11/30 for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve!

Here are the rules, they're pretty easy:

• Each entry must be unique and new
• Please do not combine any of today's 5 blog party challenges
• You may combine with any other types of challenges (SCS, blogs, etc)
• Verve stamps are NOT required
• If possible, please link back to this post when you upload your creation
• Have fun!

Blog PaRtY: Challenge 2

Welcome to the 2nd challenge in our Thankful Hearts Blog Party!

Laurie and Tosh have come up with a fabulous little sketch challenge, and we'd love for you to participate! This challenge has a {twist} of thankfulness, so keep your creation thank you themed, and most importantly, have fun!

And here's some sneaky peeky inspiration from Tosh and Laurie using some of the new stamps we'll be releasing tonight...

Designed by Tosh Leyendekker
Tosh's sample uses stamps from the Thankful Hearts and Thankful Accents sets.

Designed by Laurie Schmidlin
Laurie's sample uses stamps from the Thankful Accents set.

To play along, just make a new handmade creation with a thank you theme, using the sketch provided as inspiration. Post a picture of your creation online and link us to it using the Mr. Linky widget below. Enter by 10pm Mountain on Monday, 11/30 for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve!

Here are the rules, they're pretty easy:

• Each entry must be unique and new
• Please do not combine any of today's 5 blog party challenges
• You may combine with any other types of challenges (SCS, blogs, etc)
• Verve stamps are NOT required
• If possible, please link back to this post when you upload your creation
• Have fun!

Blog PaRtY: Challenge 1

Welcome to our Thankful Hearts Blog Party! We'll be posting new posts every hour on the hour until 9PM tonight with fun challenges, set reveals and some fun giveaways leading up to our release and blog hop tonight.

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way.. things I had no words for." - Georgia O'Keeffe

As crafters, one of the things we're all thankful for are the many colors that allow us to express our creativity and make this world a more beautiful place. So, Mercy and Teresa are kicking off our first challenge of the day with an ode to color.

And here's some sneaky peeky inspiration from Teresa and Mercy using some of the new stamps we'll be releasing tonight...

Designed by Teresa Kline
Teresa's sample uses stamps from the Celebration of Thanks and Thankful Accents sets.

Designed by Mercy Kerin
Mercy's sample uses stamps from the Celebration of Thanks and Thankful Accents sets.

To play along, just make a new handmade creation using turquoise, olive, black and white. Post a picture of your creation online and link us to it using the Mr. Linky widget below. Enter by 10pm Mountain on Monday, 11/30 for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve!

Here are the rules, they're pretty easy:

• Each entry must be unique and new
• Please do not combine any of today's 5 blog party challenges
• You may combine with any other types of challenges (SCS, blogs, etc)
• Verve stamps are NOT required
• If possible, please link back to this post when you upload your creation
• Have fun!