August Release Project Parade-Day13

Happy Friday peeps, it is Teresa and I am thrilled to be taking you into the weekend with my version of the project parade of Something Old, Something New. Once again, the divas never cease to amaze me with their talent and ideas. Julee and all the divas...you are the best! I am one of those who luvs my Verve no matter if it is new or old, I do find myself reaching for it all the time. Julee's flowers are always divine, but next to those my favorite stamps are the scripture stamps. I knew I wanted to incorporate one of those into my project. For my project I took a 4x6 recycled paper notebook that I picked up a Target and Verve'd it up a bit. It is perfect, it has kraft on the inside covers and recycled white lined pages. I always like to make a matching card...lol..that is just what I do. Here is a picture of the book, I used Dream Big and Filigree Fantasy. I used one of the Maya Road kraft envelopes on the front and dressed it up a bit to make this sweet little notebook with a pocket on the front.

This is a close up of the little notebook I layered the flowers, added a buttons with twine, and of course some bling. 

This is a close up the card, I used one of the fabulous sketches from the last release week challenges. I added faux ribbon with the fun polka dotted chocolate paper. I used the 1 Peter5:7 stamp.

Whether old or new I hope you will play along, the details follow. I cannot wait to see what you create!

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!

Joyfully Inspired

Can I admit that I struggled at first with this inspiration challenge? The first couple of days I looked at the picture, I was more inspired to crawl into that gorgeous bed than I was try to create a card from it. But after a few days, inspiration finally came, first from the vertical rectangles of negative space between the bed's iron bars and second from the subtle play between the white sheets, the white walls, and the grayish shadows. Of course I had to pull in lots of that rich, bold red, along with a spash of yellow (my happy color).

Are you inspired to create something Vervalicious? Leave a comment on Shannan's June 9 post with a link to your project. [Edited to Add: You can view the inspiration piece and get all the challenge details -->HERE<--.] Deadline is noon Eastern Time, June 21st. We're choosing two winners: the first will be randomly drawn from all entries; the second will be our favorite from those entries that use Verve stamps. So if you have Verve stamps, you'll want to use them!! Both winners will receive $15 in Verve Bucks.

Have you enjoyed the fun questions the Verve Divas have been answering this week? Here are my answers (and yes, I'm the lucky one who gets to follow the Verve class clown. Someone's gotta go next ;).

1. When/how did you get hooked on stamping?
About six years ago, a scrapbooking pal of mine, Christie, came into our sons' Little Gym class waving a cute little card she had made at a Stampin' Up workshop. I couldn't get over the fact that she had made it herself, and I wanted to know all about these "stamps" she had used. I had always walked right past the rubber stamps in craft stores, thinking they were ridiculous. I mean, what's so creative about the same image over and over again? The following weekend I spent several hours at her house drooling over her catalog, completely amazed at the creative possibility. I'm still amazed six years later, in fact!

2. How often do you stamp?
I try to stamp every day - it keeps me in the creative mindset.

3. Tell me about your funniest or most embarrassing stamping related injury.
I can't think of a stamping-related injury that I've had. Now my bank account is a different story. (Massive hemorrhage comes to mind. Chronic, too.)

4. How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with?
Usually 1-2 hours. Is that crazy? I'm a pretty slow designer, and tend to be a perfectionist, so it takes me a while to declare something finished. Honestly, I've given birth faster than I've made many of my cards.

5. I am usually a little messy in my creating. Tell me about your creative space.
You know the saying "a place for everything and everything in its place"? I took a permanent detour halfway down that path and have never made it to the end. I actually like my creative chaos, though. The problem with clean and tidy is that I'd probably want to leave it that way.

6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, which craft tool could you not live without?
I'm glad Carole clarified yesterday that the island would, in fact, have the standard-issue supplies. In her words:

stuff like cardstock, patterned paper, inks, stamps, ribbon, scissors,
adhesives, paper trimmers, and Copic markers

Good, because I'm planning to offer up the Copic markers to the first passing sailor in exchange for passage back to the nearest English-speaking country. I hear they're worth it. Until then, I'll wait happily with my trusty little paper piercer.

7. What is your biggest source of inspiration?
I find inspiration everywhere ... store displays, catalogs and magazines (especially clothing and home decor), print ads, product packaging, you name it. And of course I love to browse through the SCS galleries and stamping blogs.

8. Who in the stamping world do you want to be when you grow up and why?
There are several, and pinch me, I'm on a design team with them!! And I must add the uber-talented Nichole Heady, Debbie Olson, and Beate Johns. But I don't really want to grow up -- I think I'm among the oldest around here already ;)

9. What is your favorite part of the creative process?
I love the whole process, but I have to say my favorite part is the sense of accomplishment I feel when a project is complete. In my non-stamping life, I always seem to be surrounded by works-in-progress, so it's nice to have this one arena where things get finished. Plus finishing one project always means moving on to another!

Are you still with me? Great! Tune in again on Monday for more of our Project Parade. Until then, have a great weekend!!

Another Month...Another Challenge!

Happy Monday! The Verve Divas have cooked up another challenge for you...this time it's an inspiration challenge! Amy Westerman found this fantastic photo from Pottery barn - isn't it awesome? We have a fun few weeks coming up for you...make sure you read all the way to the bottom of this post to find out how to win $15 in Verve Bucks to spend at the Verve Store.

Here's my sample:

I found this awesome patterned paper in my Christmas stash and quilted it with my sewing machine. A little punch of color from the Prima flowers added the perfect finishing touch!

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So, how would you like to get to know the Design Team a little better? Carole had an awesome idea for our Project Parade...all of the Verve Divas will be answering the questions that we send our Guest Designers! So stay tuned to find out everything you wanted to know about your favorite Divas! Here are my answers.

1. When/how did you get hooked on stamping? My friend Peyton gave me a stamped tile coaster 2 years ago, and I decided they would be a great thing to give as gifts. I spent two hours staring at stamps and ink that day at Hobby Lobby...and the rest is history.

2. How often do you stamp? I try to stamp every day, but I'm not always successful. At least 3-4 times a week!

3. Tell me about your funniest or most embarrassing stamping related injury. The day after a stamping marathon, I had the worst pain between two of my toes. I assumed it was an ant bite, and went on with my business. Later that night I took a look...there was Tacky Tape between my toes!! OUCH!

4. How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with? Usually it takes me at least an hour, sometimes two to make something I like. I tend to hem & haw...

5. I am usually a little messy in my creating. Tell me about your creative space. I subscribe to the theory that everything needs to be out where I can see it. I usually have a path from the door to my table, and that's about it. On the table I have about a 6"x6" square area that doesn't have "stuff" on it.

6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, which craft tool could you not live without? Why? Hmmm, I think it would be my paper piercer. I use it on almost every project, and it might come in handy if I needed to protect myself. *grin*

7. What is your biggest source of inspiration? Everything around me is a source of inspiration. I look for color combos in clothing stores, layouts in displays, magazine ads, and billboards. It's everywhere!

8. Who in the stamping world do you want to be when you grow up and why? Those of you that read my blog know the answer to this one...I totally want to be Anna Wight when I grow up! Her watercoloring skills amaze me, not to mention her photography, illustrations, and design talent.

9. What is your favorite part of the creative process? Definitely color. I love choosing my color combo, coloring line images, and just having fun with it!

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Ok, if you stuck with me through that, you deserve to know how to win $15 in Verve Bucks!! All you have to do is play in this Vervalicious challenge with us! Leave a comment with a link to your project on this post by 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Time on June 21st, and you will be entered for a chance to win! Using Verve stamps is not a requirement, although it doubles your chance of winning. We will have two winners, one randomly drawn from a pool of all entries, the other will be selected as our favorite from all the projects using Verve stamps. Both winners will receive $15 in Verve Bucks. We will announce the winners later that day.

So, it's time to get inspired! Use the photo to let your creativity soar. There are no guidelines - take your inspiration from the images, designs, patterns, colors - whatever strikes your fancy! If you upload to Splitcoast, please use the keyword VVPP03 so we can all see your creations!

Please Welcome May & June's Guest Designer!

I am soooo thrilled to introduce Natasha Trupp (aka tashers) as the Verve Visual Guest Designer for May and June! I had the priviledge of meeting her at CHA in February, and she is just a sweetheart. I am such a big fan of her work, and when I saw her samples for this month's release, I was droolin! You can see more of her work on her blog, Palmtrees and Pogosticks.

Here are some fun questions I sent to Natasha so we could all get to know her better, and here is what she had to say!

1. When/how did you get hooked on stamping? I guess I really became hooked the autumn of 2004. It started out with that one little catalog. I poured over it daily, making wishlist after wishlist. Shortly after I found SCS, then I started making sketches on any scrap paper I could find and continually adding to my "resources" (aka more stamps! etc).

2. How often do you stamp? I try to do a little every day. If I don't get the chance during the work week, then I try to have a mini stamp fest on the weekend.


3. Tell me about your funniest or most embarassing stamping related injury. Even though I'm quite clumsy, I haven't given myself any really entertaining injuries. The most common one is with the ribbon scissors and my thumb. I never put that much force into cutting, so it's never been more than a bit of broken skin on either side of my thumb. Tip: always look at what your cutting, and be sure to move any digits out of the way!


4. How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with? It can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. It depends on the look I'm going for.

5. I am usually a little messy in my creating. Tell me about your creative space. My creative space, despite my best efforts and monthly clean-ups, is a disaster. I like to have everything at an arm's reach away, but there just aren't enough convenient storage spaces. So I keep storing stuff on my table
top, and what once was a table that could easily sit 4 people, now only has my 18x12 inches of workspace, plus a whole lot of stuff.


6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, which craft tool could you not live without? Why? Hmm, it's a toss up between an embossing gun (and an electric source, of course) and a crop-a-dile. I absolutely love the effect of embossing, it can really add that little extra something to your project. The crop-a-dile just does so much, it's easy on my hands, it's quiet, and I'm sure it could come in handy on that island ;)


7. What is your biggest source of inspiration? My biggest source of inspiration are sketches, any kind of sketches. I take down sketches from cards I have seen from other stampers, from manufactured cards, weekly
challenges, advertisements, scrapbook pages, anything. I cannot get enough of them. Whenever you are stuck, they can really guide you to a nice finished product. I've finally started keeping a serious "sketches" book. They're all in one place, and it's growing quickly!

8. Who in the stamping world do you want to be when you grow up and why? I have always found myself leaning towards Valerie Stangle's projects. When I first joined SCS, her cards always caught my eye. I love her style, the colour palettes she uses, and the way she uses patterned papers on her projects. It's just always perfection!


9. What is your favorite part of the creative process? My favorite part is the planning- deciding on a layout, deciding what colours I'll use, what kind embellishments will work, that sort of thing, and then after the planning, seeing it all come together. There's nothing better than having an idea on your mind, and being able to bring that idea to life exactly how you wanted!



I have shown you some of my favorite projects that Natasha sent. To see them all, visit her Verve Gallery!

Clean and Simple

First I have to first say how impressed I am with the Project Parade Color Challenge entries we've received so far! Y'all are ROCKIN' this challenge! If you haven't entered yet, go here for all the details and to link up your entry. Fifteen Verve bucks await one lucky winner!

I had to smile when I read Laura's post here on Wednesday about how she was inspired by one of the Verve gallery graphics. My inspiration came from the Color Challenge graphic. I thought those color swatches looked so sweet and pretty lined up alongside each other, so that's the direction I went. The simple, minimal design is a refreshing departure from my usual style, but I like how fresh and crisp the colors look against the black and white backdrop. Not only that, but the Filigree Fantasy stamp is just so pretty I wanted to keep the focus on it and not on a lot of extra fluff.

I stamped the filigree on squares of three of the challenge colors, then clipped off the four corners with a tag corner punch. I added a tiny, and I must confess, somewhat gratuitous helping of the fourth color by adding 1/4" pumpkin circles behind the black brads that adorn the centers of each filigree. I added a little dimension by dry embossing the black panel using the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and by popping up each filigree on foam adhesive. Wide olive grosgrain provides the finishing touch.

Stay tuned again all next week as the rest of the Verve divas show off their color challenge projects. Remember to submit your entry by May 31. Link up your project as a comment on Shannan's Project Parade kickoff post. If you upload to SCS, use keyword VVPP02.

Have a great weekend!

Stamps: Filigree Fantasy
Paper: Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black, Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Soft Sky and Pumpkin Pie card stock (SU!)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: black brads, 1/4" circle punch, tag corner punch, wide olive grosgrain (all SU!); Swiss Dots Cuttlebug

Just Because....

When inspiration strikes, my experience tells me to run with it! If I try to go in another direction, I'm often less happy with my results, so I try to get my ideas on paper as soon as they hit me. When Shannon gave us the colours for this month's challenge, I immediately recalled this little icon:

Now, if you've visited the Verve Gallery, then you'll probably recognize it as the Gallery Icon Julee created! Honestly, there is just so much inspiration there! The flourish is from "Filigree Fantasy" and I saw Soft Sky! I added the rest of the colours in the same fashion; a sentiment from "Fluttering By", a few gems and voila, the card was done! Thanks for the inspiration Julee!


So, are you up to the challenge? Well of course you are...these colours are so yummy! When you've made your amazing colour challenge creation, link it up to this post, by May 31st, and you could win a $15 Verve Shopping Spree! Go ahead and show off your Verve Visual stamps! (if you have them, but it's not a requirement.) The winner will receive a $15 shopping spree at the Verve store. If you upload to Splitcoast, make sure you use the keyword VVPP02 so we can all see your creations!


Recipe: Stamps: Filigree Fantasy, Fluttering By Paper: Cameo Coral, Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Whisper White, Basic Black Ink: Versafine Onyx Black Accessories: Square Rhinestone brad, (SU), 1 3/8" square punch, corner rounder, Crystal Stickers, dimensionals

Previewing Filigree Fantasy and Your Chance to Win!

It's the second day for you to take a peak at one of Verve Visual's May 16th releases. Today we're featuring Filigree Fantasy, an elegant set of 13 versatile stamps.


From Laurie Schmidlin:

I absolutely love the elegance and versatility of this set! This can be a stand alone set, or would be perfect paired with other Verve stamps!
I chose to showcase this beautiful set with a Joy Fold card. I love embossed copper, and wanted to pair it with this S.E.I. patterned paper...but my copper embossing powder was a little too "pink" looking to match it well. I decided it needed just a little more yellow undertones, so I mixed in a little bit of gold embossing powder (2/3 copper e.p. and 1 /3 gold e.p.) to achieve the color that I wanted. To hold the top flap closed, I used some Basic Grey magnetic snaps (I hid them under the patterned paper layers).










From Amy Sheffer:

Tuxedos, evening gowns, and wedding dresses. Those were my first thoughts when I saw the elegant images in Filigree Fantasy. I love how easily these images can either be combined and repeated to create beautiful scrollwork backgrounds, or used individually, as I've done here. I started this wedding card with a single filigree image stamped in black. The secondary ring around the main image is done with the word "Love" from Wonderful Wishes Remixed. Several scalloped layers and lots of sparkle all combine to create an elegant medallion focal point. I've featured it against a backdrop of rich texture and lots of dimension to finish off this "black-tie" look.

From Bethany Paull:

I wanted to use some deeper colors with these great flourishes, so I started with olive, navy, mustard and ruby red. I stamped the center flourish first, then turned it 90 degrees to stamp the outer images. The sentiment is also included in the set. Yay! You're going to love all the different styles you can accomplish with Filigree Fantasy.


Want to be the proud owner of this new set?
All you need to do is leave a comment on this post with the answer to the following question by 10PM MT (midnight ET) on May 15. Then be sure to check back on May 16, when we’ll announce the lucky winner and reveal the new Verve sets!

Question: What's your favorite sentiment, motto, verse or quote?

Stop back tomorrow for the third and final sneak peak!