May 2013 Spotlight Hops - Release Day!!!

Hi friends!  Welcome to our fourth and final day of Spotlight Hops!  All of the products you've seen featured this week are now available in the Verve store!  Woohoo!  So that means it's time for one last stroll through the Diva blogs to see what they've created with today's featured stamps and dies.

Have you enjoyed the hops as much as I have?  The Divas always amaze me with their creativity and they've inspired me with so many more ideas to share.  This release has me excited to stamp, and I hope they inspire you to create, too!  We've got a special  this release where you can buy the whole shebang at a 20% discount when you buy one of our May Release Stamp or Die Collections.  That's the largest discount we've ever done on a new release, but I just want everyone to have these stamps!

And speaking of wanting everyone to have stamps, we've got another giveaway today!  Just hop around to the blogs on today's hop and tell us what you think in the comments at each stop and you'll be entered in a drawing to win today's featured stamps & dies!

Day 4 PRIZE: Teachers Count, Apple Die Set,
All Occasion, Occasion Frame Die and Promoted Plain Jane
Comment Deadline:  Sunday, May 12 @ 5PM Mountain

1. Julee 8. Andrea 2. Charmaine 9. Jen M. 3. Teresa 10. Laurie W. 4. Stacey 11. Laurie S. 5. Amber 12. Janelle 6. Christyne 13. Maureen 7. Marisa 14. Jen S.

Teachers Count is an $18 set of 15 stamps themed around teacher appreciation.  Quite a while back, Maureen sent me a few suggestions for a teacher set with some fabulous quotes and apples with a coordinating die.  Since May is Teacher Appreciation month, I figured this was the perfect time to put this little set out in the world.  And since my twins are growing I know I'm going to be needing this set in the not too distant future!

I love options, so I included two sizes of apples that you can color, or two-two step stamp or paper piece, no whatever your "coloring" style is, and to make things even more fun, we've got a coordinating die set!  The Apples Die Set, is a set of 2 dies that work with the two sizes of apples in Teachers Count.  This die will retail for $6.


Our last pairing to feature is the $18 On Occasion set and coordinating $12 Occasion Die Frame.  This elegant and whimsical frame is a generous size, fitting many of the sentiments in this release, including the 5 all-occasion sentiments in this set.  Paired with some whimsical flower images and a background strip, this set is super fun to use! 

 

And I'm excited to pair it with some of our other dies for some fun layered sentiments.  Here's a quick little CAS example of this, where I paired On Occasion and the Occasion Die Frame with the Mini Classy Label Die Set.  Super quick and so fun.  Oh, and that's a peek at the glimmer twill from the Black Beauty Ribbon Collection.

Our final reveal is the Promoted Plain Jane.  This sentiment is perfect for Mother's Day and Father's Day or would look great on a scrapbook layout. It reads, "The best parents get promoted to grandparents" and at 1.5" x 1.75", it fits beautifully inside the Occasion Die Frame.  Our plain janes retail for $3.

Thanks so much for hopping along with us and celebrating our new release this week!  You still have until Sunday to leave comments on the posts for a chance to win!!

May 2013 Spotlight Hops - Day 2

Hi there Verve fans!  Welcome to Day 2 of our new release spotlight hops!  We'll be releasing 5 new sets, 4 plain janes, 3 dies and 2 ribbon collections this Friday, May 10.  As we countdown to our release, the Divas and our 2 special guests are strutting their new Verve with daily blog hops now through Friday!

And since we LOVE to share our Verve, we've got a giveaway every day this week!  Just hop around to the blogs on today's hop and tell us what you think in the comments at each stop and you'll be entered in a drawing to win today's featured stamps!  Woohoo!

Day 2 PRIZE: Let it Be and Deepest Sympathy Plain Jane
Comment Deadline:  Sunday, May 12 @ 5PM Mountain

1. Julee 7. Andrea 2. Charmaine 8. Jen M. 3. Teresa 9. Laurie W. 4. Stacey 10. Laurie S. 5. Christyne 11. Janelle 6. Marisa 12. Maureen

Check out the reveals and a little back story on today's featured stamps below...  
Let it Be is a $24 set of 13 encouraging sentiments, scriptures and floral images.  Many of the sentiments in this set have been little mantras I've clung to this past year.  I think the thing I love most about card making is knowing that the art I make really touches people.  It's one of the ways I let my light shine!

Shortly after winter CHA I was at a friend's scrapbooking store and she'd brought back some Hemptique bookmarks.  I took one look at the gorgeous aged paper and new that the Micah 6:8 scripture that had been going through my head just NEEDED to be in bookmark form.  So I designed that stamp, then filled out the set with some other close to my heart sentiments, scriptures and a couple flowers.

So of course the first thing I made with this set was a scripture bookmark with one of those hemp bookmarks!  I went masculine with this one, as I plan to give it inside a book for Father's Day this year.  It was super simple to make, too!  I embossed the sentiment directly onto the bookmark, then added a border and ship wheel stamp (from a set we'll be previewing tomorrow) to finish off the masculine look.  The tassel is made from embroidery thread and I followed a youtube video on how to make one.  Easy peasy and it turned out just as I had hoped!

Our plain jane feature today is the Deepest Sympathy plain jane.  I've had many requests for a big sympathy stamp that could work for either a card front or the inside of a card. At approximately 2.5" x 1.125" tall, this sympathy sentiment fits the bill perfectly!  I've already seen some gorgeous creations from our design team using this stamp, so I know it's going to be a fast favorite!  Our plain jane stamps retail for $3.00.

This release, we also have a couple of new ribbon collections joining our offerings! 

Like a little black dress, black ribbon is timeless, classy and a perfect accent to your projects.  The Black Beauty Ribbon Collection is a set of 4 black ribbons including a wrinkled crepe, sheer swirl, glimmer twill and seam binding, each in 3 yard cuts for a total of 12 yards of ribbon.  This collection will retail at $5.50.

Polka dots are timeless, fun and this particular ribbon is one of my all-time favorites!  The Polka Dot Basics Ribbon Collection is a set of 3 polka dot ribbons including a chocolate with cream dots, a licorice with cream dots and white with black dots.  Each ribbon variety comes in 3 yard cuts for a total of 9 yards of ribbon in this collection that will retail at $6.00.

All of the stamps, dies and ribbons featured this week will be available for purchase in the Verve Store on Friday, May 10.

Thanks so much for hopping with us today!  Have a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow for some more fresh new looks at VERVE!

May 2013 Spotlight Hops - Day 1

Hi there Verve fans!  I'm so excited that it's ALMOST time to release some new Verve into the world!  We'll be releasing 5 new sets, 4 plain janes, 3 dies and 2 ribbon collections on Friday, May 10.  And as we countdown to our release, the Divas are strutting their new Verve with daily blog hops now through Friday!

And since we LOVE to share our Verve, we've got a giveaway every day this week!  Just hop around to the blogs on today's hop and tell us what you think in the comments at each stop and you'll be entered in a drawing to win today's featured stamps!  Woohoo!

Day 1 PRIZE: Take Note and Graduation Plain Jane
Comment Deadline:  Sunday, May 12 @ 5PM Mountain

1. Julee 8. Andrea 2. Charmaine 9. Jen M. 3. Teresa 10. Laurie W. 4. Stacey 11. Laurie S. 5. Amber 12. Janelle 6. Christyne 13. Maureen 7. Marisa

Hopping along with us this week are two very special Guest Divas!  I've been watching these gals for quite some time with coffee, an iPad and a twin or two in tow.  I love their different styles, bold uses of color and often find myself completely inspired to go stamp after checking out their posts.  Here's a peek at their smiling faces and some of my favorite Verve creations from their blogs.  They've got some fabulous cards to share with you using this release, so be sure to give them a shout out when you hop through the list!

Jen Mitchell blogs at I-Create.  Image Credits: {Card 1}, {Card 2}, {Card 3}

 Stacey Schafer blogs at Stacey's Stamping Stage.  Image Credits: {Card 1}, {Card 2}, {Card 3}

Okay, now that you know the who... it's time for the what.  Check out the reveals and a little back story on today's featured stamps below...
 

Take Note is our first feature of the day.  This $24 set takes buildable sentiments to a whole new level with 32 mix and match sentiments, alphabet strip backgrounds, and a few "this and that" images.  Whether you're scrapbooking or cardmaking, there's a little something for everyone here.

Quite a while ago Jen del Muro sent me a couple sentiment set concepts, including an idea for a just because set with a darling little heartstring image to hang from the B in because.  I started in on designing it right away, and then pregnancy and twins and just general life put a hold on my design queue. When Jen told me she was starting her own company, I figured I better get back to finishing up that set (with her permission, of course).  That's when the idea struck to combine two of the set concepts to make a super-mondo-always-have-the-right-words-to-say, sort of sentiment set!

I'm particularly excited to use the typewritten alpha strip to do some ransome note kind of sentiments.  I think it would be fun to just cut up the letters and glue them together. {grin} And a little envelope with star or heart seals?  What's not to love?  And with so many sentiment combinations, I can see myself pulling for this set over and over again.

Our plain jane feature today is the Happy Graduation plain jane.  My nephew is graduating from high school this year and I just had to have a big Happy Graduation stamp to make a card for him.  I think that's one of the best things about owning my own stamp company... getting to make exactly the stamps I need in my own arsenal!  I purposely used a font combination that could work for either gender, and at approximately 2.25" x 1" tall, this graduation sentiment is perfect as either a focal point to your card front, or a message inside your card.

Mix Happy Graduation with Take Note, or with our new teacher appreciation set that's being revealed later this week, and you can turn this plain jane into a graduation card fit for any age group.


All of the stamps and dies featured this week will be available for purchase in the Verve Store on Friday, May 10.

Thanks so much for hopping with us today!  Have a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow for some more fresh new looks at VERVE!