September Diva Dare ~ Day 10

Hi, Janelle here, with Day 10 of the Diva Dare Challenge "Tic, Tac, Toe". 

We are challenging you to create a card or project using inspiration from a tic-tac-toe board. For example: x’s and o’s, hugs and kisses, squares, circles, grids, you get the idea. 


The gallery samples have been so awesome that I was wondering how I could bring a fresh take on this challenge. Back on Day 1, Diva Marisa mentioned that her family uses the saying "smakies and squashes" for hugs and kisses, so that gave me the idea to search on variations to tic-tac-toe.

I found the UK naming, "Nought and Crosses", and that was enough to get a fresh take on the dare.

My "nought" is nothing extravagant (or CAS) and my "crosses" is the dainty and wonderful little cross to pair with a sentiment, both from the Peace on Earth set. I used one of the banner dies from the Banner Bundle Die Set for the sentiment layer.

The banner is longer than the die and here's a little trick I use to do that. When cutting the die, I leave the top plate away from the top flat edge of the die so it doesn't cut it. I finish cutting it down to the right length with a paper trimmer.
For even more cross images from Verve take a look here.


Here's some info on how you can play along:

Deadline to link your cards is 8PM Mountain on Wednesday, September 25th.  Entries must be new (posted 9/6 or later), include at least one Verve product, include inspiration from a tic-tac-toe board, and be linked up to the linky widget by 8pm Mountain on 9/25/13.

During this month's Diva Dare, there are 2 prizes up for grabs!

Win a $40 Gift voucher to Verve Stamps! Take our "Tic-Tac-Toe" Dare and link up your card (created September 6th or later) to the linky widget below to be eligible to win.  One participant will be randomly selected to win the gift voucher.  You can enter as many times as you like, but each card needs to be in a separate post.

Win a set of your choice! For another chance to win some new Verve, leave a little comment love on our design team's "Tic-Tac-Toe" Diva Dare posts!  One lucky commenter will win a Verve stamp set of his or her choice, so be sure to tune in each day!  Comment deadline to be entered in our prize drawing is September 25, 2013.

You can link up your take on the dare here.

Winners will be announced on September 26, 2013.

August Diva Dare ~ Day 10

Hello there! TGIF, right? Amber here with Day 10 of the August Diva Dare! For those of you who are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month, our theme is Sending Some Sunshine! Isn't that fun? This dare is totally open to any interpretations you might have, so jump right in and play with us!

I have a friend I've been missing a whole lot lately, and I thought it would be fun to send her a card to let her know!

There were SO many amazing stamps and dies released this past month, so I knew it was a bit of a chore deciding which ones I wanted to use. I decided on You and I and it's companion die set, I Heart YOu. All of the stamps on this card are from You and I, plus the matching dies, in addition to the Jotted Heart die and the smallest banner from the Charming Banner die set...

I clear embossed the "i" and "u" and used the heart for the dot instead of the regular dot...make sense? LOL! I tied a bit of twine around the "i" for some added interest.

Here you can see that I stamped "you" on the Charming Banner die and slid it into the opening on the "u"! I love how easy these dies make a card! Seriously, this card took me less than 20 minutes. I love that! The paper is from BG's new line, Indie Bloom! I love the bright *sunny* colors and patterns in this pad:)

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget at the bottom of THE DAY 1 POST before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn! We DARE you to show us your creations!

And then DARE you to send it away!!

August Diva Dare ~ Day 9

Good morning, it's Maureen with the ninth installment of our August Diva Dare! For those of you who are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is Sending Some Sunshine: we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up! There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it!  :-)  I'm actually pretty good about sending birthday and thank you cards out, but as soon as I heard this month's dare, I knew I wanted to make a very special project and send it to my dear blog friend, Janelle, who has a very serious medical condition.  Back in March, Janelle made this VERY cool project for a coworker.  I fell in love with it and tucked the idea in the back in my mind.  Little did I know I would bring it out for Janelle.  So here's the set of inspiring tags along with the card I made for her (both of which are already on their way to her :)

I started with deciding on the papers I would use on the card, then chose the colours for the tags.  There are 12 altogether. Then I went through my Verve Plaine Janes and a few other sets (Hope Blooms and Serenity) for the inspiring tags that were eventually put together with a little key chain and decorated with some coordinating ribbon.  Here are all the tags before I put them together. I also used the Blessings, Believe, and  New Mercies sets to decorate the tags a bit.  Everything was kept simple and flat so that they wouldn't be too bulky when put together.

As you can see, I used several different die cut shapes including Verve's Rounded Rectangle and Curvy Bookplate Dies.  And here they are all tied up together.

After making the tags, I started on the card.  I picked this verse from Jeremiah .  I just love the comfort it talks about.  I also added "You inspire me," from Dare to Be because that is exactly what Janelle is doing to me and so many others touched by her story (not to mention the gorgeous projects she creates with love and thoughtfulness).

 

Whew! Are you still with me?  Thanks for letting me share my special gift :) 

Okay now that I'm done, here are the details...

Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget at the bottom of THE DAY 1 POST before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn! We DARE you to show us your creations!  

And then DARE you to send it away!!

August Diva Dare ~ Day 8

Hi everyone!  It's Jackie here and today is my day to answer this month's Diva Dare!  But before I get to my card, haven't the projects from the Diva's been amazing?  I tell you, these are a talented bunch of ladies!  They make me want to do my best everytime I sit at my craft table!!  They are an uplifting and encouraging bunch of ladies, just as all of you are!  But I digress.....

For those of you that are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is Sending Some Sunshine!  If you all are anything like me, you have tons of cards sitting at home all piled up!  I thought it would be fun to make an uplifting & cheerful card and actually send it to someone!  There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it!  :-)

So, we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up!

Here is how I answered the dare:

I just loved the the last release and couldn't wait to get a couple of the sets inky again.  For my card I used the new Sunny Days and You and I along with the I Heart U die set.  The "U" was stamped in Riding Hood Red ink and was cut out with the coordinating die.  The flowers were stamped in Dark Chocolate, were cut out and finsihed with a wooden button, the center flower being tied with some thick linen thread.  The sentiment was cut out with Charming Banner die set.  The sketch is September's Sketch For You To Try from Jen del Muro.  I didn't round all corners as her sketch was, but rounded only one.....kind of my thing lately!  The card was finished with some machine stitching.

A detail shot....

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Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget below before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn!  We DARE you to show us your creations!
You can link to Day 1 here to add your creation.

August Diva Dare-Day 7

Welcome to the August Diva Dare!  Hi, it is Teresa and I have to tell ya, I luv this months dare!  I try to send as many cards out as I have time.  When this months dare was introduced to us, diva Maureen shared that she was sending her card to a Verve customer and blog friend, Janelle Hayes.  I encourage you to go to her blog and read all about her story, it is uplifting and gives a tremendous amount of hope!  Thank you Maureen for sharing about Janelle and thanks to Janelle for being a trooper and making my day a little brighter.  My card is going out to you.!

For those of you that are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is Sending Some Sunshine!  If you all are anything like me, you have tons of cards sitting at home all piled up!  I thought it would be fun to make an uplifting & cheerful card and actually send it to someone!  There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it!  :-)

So, we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up!
 

I went with pinks and rose colors, so sweet and comforting, I used the darlin flower from the Sunny Days set.  I heat embossed them and then colored in lightly with copics and some sponging, added the cutest leaves evahhh to them and popped them up.  The sentiment is from Words of Wisdom set which is also heat embossed.  That is it from me, I do encourage you to send your wonderful handmade created cards to others, it is a great way to spread love and sunshine to others!

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Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget below before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn!  We DARE you to show us your creations!
You can link to Day 1 here to add your creation.

 

August Diva Dare - Day 6

Hi Everyone! It's Monday (hope you have enjoyed/are enjoying this Labor Day weekend!)  and its Sankari here to share with you what I have made for day 6 of of this month's Diva Dare. For those of you that are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is Sending Some Sunshine! And one of the goals of the challenge is to actually mail it/send it to someone! I love making cards - but somehow am not the very best at actually sending it out! So, we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up! 

Initially, I had a different card in mind that I wanted to make for this challenge, but after a surprise party on my birthday this weekend, I wanted to make thank you cards filled with love and sunshine to send to all the lovely people who made this birthday simply beyond awesome! I am the worst at sending thank you cards! So I was excited to sit down at my craft desk and was amazed at how rather quickly I was able to make 12 little 3x3 thank you cards using the You and I stamp set and the awesome I Heart you die and Tagged Rectangle die  from Verve Stamps. Here is a close look at one of the thank you cards that I made:

I cut out all the cardstock and DP and adhered them all as a first step. For the next step, I die cut out the U's and punched out the hearts and then for the third step - stamped the word "Thank" with Rouge ink and then adhered it to black cardstock for a mat. I then adhered all the elements together and then for the final step I added some bling and buttons and then put the front and back part of the card together with an eyelet: Here is a look at them all in a row. 

And here is a view of the cards from above - I used the eyelet to adhere the two cardstock pieces together so that it could open out like a card:

And it was fun to lay them all down on the table and just take a group shot of them:

And here is a view of how it looks when it is opened. I varied each card a little with the bling or with the buttons or with the DP - so they are all unique in their own way:

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Aunthentique and black cardstock from Bazzill

Stamps: You and I stamp set from Verve stamps

Inks: Chalk Ink Rouge, Memento Inks: Tuxedo Black ink

A Cut Above Verve Dies: I Heart you die set and Tagged Rectangle die from Verve stamps

Accessories: eyelets from We R Memory Keepers, ribbon from American Crafts, Butterfly punch from MS, Spellbinders, sponger, heart punch and bling.

 I am excited to write out my thank you cards today and have them ready to go out into the mail tomorrow! YAY! I am so grateful for my dear friends and one of my big goals is to get better about sending out cards to my dear friends and family and this was the perfect challenge to get me going in that direction!!! 

I can't wait to see your creations with this challenge - you can check out the details below in how you can play along with this month's Diva Dare!

Big hugs, Sankari :)

PS - A huge thank you to dear Julee for her awesome birthday love shout out on her blog with this beautiful card post! You are such an inspiration dear Julee!!

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget at the bottom of THE DAY 1 POST before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn! We DARE you to show us your creations!

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August Diva Dare - Day 5

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It's Friday, Tosh here to share with you what I've made for day 5 of this month's Diva Dare. For those of you that are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is Sending Some Sunshine! If you all are anything like me, you have tons of cards sitting at home all piled up! I thought it would be fun to make an uplifting & cheerful card and actually send it to someone! There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it! :-)

So, we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up!

I started off by using Amber's fun Viva la Verve sketch for today. You can find it HERE. For each medallion, I used the Curvy Bookplate die with the matching image from the Tag Time set. I also used a variety of other Verve dies: Jotted Heart, Flutterby, and the little heart from the I Heart U die set. The leaves at the top are from the Verve set Sunny Days, as well as the middle sentiment, and the other two sentiments are from Faithful Phrases and Happy Phrases. I added a Spellbinders Beaded Circle behind the sentiment flags, some buttons, and lastly some burlap string.

Here's a closer look at each sentiment medallion:

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Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget at the bottom of THE DAY 1 POST before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn! We DARE you to show us your creations!

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August Diva Dare - Day 4

Good morning, it's Amy here today with the fourth installment of our August Diva Dare! For those of you who are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is Sending Some Sunshine: we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up! There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it!  :-)

I answered the dare with a bold creation for a dear friend of mine who is going through a really rough stretch right now. For month's she's been saying she can't handle one more thing and then not one, but two or three more things end up in her lap. I see her in person regularly, so I think she'll be extra surprised and pleased to find this in her mailbox. I used flower images and a sentiment from Sunny Days, a fabulous set for pick-me-up cards! I also used Verve's Curvy Bookplate and Charming Oval dies. The layout is last week's Mojo205 sketch.

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Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget at the bottom of THE DAY 1 POST before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn! We DARE you to show us your creations!

August Diva Dare - Day 3

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Hello crafting lovelies! Andrea checking in and I'm here to tell you that it's that time again, time for the Diva Dare! For those of you that are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge.  During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month we dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - Sending Some Sunshine! I know that I have boxes filled with cards sitting at home all piled up!  I'm ashamed to say that some of them are falling apart. The Divas thought it would be fun to make an uplifting & cheerful card and actually send it to someone!  There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it! 

Here's a card that I made using Verve's newest releases, Words of Wisdom, You & I stamp sets and I Heart U dies paired with the previously released Classy Label die. I fashioned a medallion out of kraft and cream card stock using Martha's Layered Arches corner punch.  I then adhered the Classy Label die with a 2" X 1 1/4" rectangle panel for my sentiment. To dress it up a bit, I added some Platinum liquid pearls and black gems:

I plan on mailing this to a fellow blogger who is going through a life threatening illness so I'm sure that a little handmade card would be a tiny bright spot in her day. You can read about her story here. Keep fighting, You!

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Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget at the bottom of THE DAY 1 POST before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn! We DARE you to show us your creations!

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August Diva Dare - Day 2

Good morning everyone!  It's Charmaine and today I'm sharing my answer to the August Diva Dare with you!  For those of you who are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is Sending Some Sunshine!  So, we're actually going to SEND our card to someone for this challenge.  :)  When I was thinking of who I would send my card to, I thought of this sweet, sweet girl who is ALWAYS making cards and sending them to sick children.  Her name is Emersyn, she is 9 years old, and she is such a sweetheart.  She also has a Cards For Kids Facebook page. She loves crafting and loves putting a smile on a child's face.  I am going to send my card to her (along with others in my stash) so that she can pass them along to more sick children. 

For my card, I used the Sunny Days set along with papers from the Early Bird Collection from Cosmo Cricket.  I stamped the flowers onto patterned papers and cardstock and cut them out.  Then I added buttons with twine to the centers.  I stamped the sprigs onto Kraft cardstock in black ink and die cut them with the Leafy Sprigs Die Set. 

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Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget at the bottom of THE DAY 1 POST before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn! We DARE you to show us your creations!

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August Diva Dare - Day 1

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Welcome to the August Diva Dare!  For those of you that are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is Sending Some Sunshine!  If you all are anything like me, you have tons of cards sitting at home all piled up!  I thought it would be fun to make an uplifting & cheerful card and actually send it to someone!  There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it!  :-)

So, we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up!
 
 

 Here is how I answered the dare...  I knew I wanted my card to be encouraging, and I do love me some vintage colors...so I combined them together!  I used the Curvy Bookplate and hope stamps from the Tag Time set, the Keep Fighting sentiment from the Words of Wisdom set, and the matching Curvy Bookplate die.  To carry out the vintage theme, I distressed all of the edges!

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Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget below before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn!  We DARE you to show us your creations!

Click the "Click here to enter" link above 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. 

Note: If you have trouble 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. Sometimes it takes a moment for your picture to show up after you've used the widget. If it doesn't appear right away, click the control button + F5 to refresh the images on the page.

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