April Diva Inspirations Hop

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Welcome to the April Diva Inspirations Blog Hop! Our Diva Inspirations team is here to start your month off right with a little Verve inspiration! Take a little peek at each of the fabulous blogs below for some Verve-alicious eye candy and you just might win some Vervey goodness of your very own! 1. Julee 5. Jen T. 2. Betty 6. Lynda 3. Dawn 7.Shannan 4. Jen d. 8. Sony We've hidden a little mystery prize on one of today's hop spots, so be sure to leave a little comment love as you hop around for a chance to win! Comment Deadline: 11:59pm Mountain, April 5 Prize: $30 gift certificate to Verve And since it's a new month, that means we've got a new Stamp of the Month to reveal! This month we're featuring Kindred Spirits, an elegant set of images and sentiments based around the timeless fleur de lis! Kindred Spirits is 40% off during the month of April. How's that for a deal?

And there's one more little announcement before you go. It's a bittersweet one for Verve. Our own fabulous Diva Michelle has flown the nest to spread her wings on the Spellbinders Design Team. We have cherished her fabulous personality, her beautiful designs and her amazing talent the past few years and she will be sorely missed, but we're excited to see what lies ahead for her. If you have a chance, hop on over to her blog, Stop and Stamp the Roses, and let her know how inspiring her work for Verve has been! She posted a fabulous little walk down memory lane tribute to Verve this past week and it's filled with eye candy that's sure to inspire!

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Winter Release Project Parade - Day 4

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Hi everyone!  It's Michelle and I am here to share my project for Day Four of Verve's Triple Play Project Parade. The challenge is to create a terrific trio of yumminess! This can be to create three different things that all coordinate (like a bag, a card and a tag) or to create three different cards or three different tags -it's up to you.

My project started with this simple kraft gift bag.  They came in a pack of 4 for only $1 at Big Lots.  Simple, plain and full of possibilities.  I decided to fill my bag with a box of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows, so I went with blue and white to match the box!  Never mind that when I actually PUT the box of hot chocolate in the bag, it was completely covered up!  LOL!

These projects use the new stamp sets, Winter Mittens, Sweet Scallop tag stamp and Glad Tidings and the Sweet Scallop Die.  Here is my trio:

For my bag, I stamped the snowflakes with white craft ink and added some silver pears accents.  I also used a border die and added a white strip along the bottom.  The handle has some white ribbon tied into a double bow and a blue felt snowflake from Stampin' Up,  The silver cord is the new Memory Floss from DMC.

Here is a close up of the card.  I used all the same stuff, and added the cutie mittens image from Winter Mittens.

And, here is the tag.  Easy peasy I tell ya!  I love the perfect sized "To: From:" stamp in Glad Tidings, makes tags super quick to make (just ask Jackie, Queen of tags!).  Again, I added the same ribbon, silver Memory Thread and felt snowflake.

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 Challenges and Prizes:

---- One lucky contestant who plays along with the Triple Play Challenge, will receive the entire January Release AND will be our Guest Diva for the month of January!!! WOOHOO!!!

---- As always, we've hidden a little prize along the parade. A lucky random commenter on one of the official Parade Posts (11/17 through 12/7) will receive a $25 Verve gift certificate!! Woot!!!

View all the challenge and prize details and submit your Triple Play Challenge projects using the official Project Parade Entry Form and check out all the details of this month's project parade!!!!

August Release Project Parade: Day 10

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Hi everyone it's Michelle!  I'm here to share my Something Old, Something New card.  I actually need some wedding cards, so this was a perfectly named challenge for me!  I love the idea of showcasing some of the older sets this month -like most of you, my older sets are sadly neglected.

The 2 sets I used are Love's Flower (released in Jan 2010) and the current release set, Love Story.  I stamped the branch blossom image from Love's Flower with Crumb Cake ink down the left side of the card front and lightly colored them in with the R11 ( Pale Cherry Pink) copic marker.  I then stamped the tiny flower with Pink Pirouette ink and added a touch of white gel pen to the centers.  The flourish heart is also stamped with Crumb Cake ink and colored in with copic markers.

The pearl flourish is from Zva Creative.  I used my favorite trick and cut off the last pearl of the flourish and replaced it with a colored one! 

Are you ready to play along?  Here's all the details about how you can and win some VERVE:

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!

May Project Parate - Day 7

Hi everyone!  It's Michelle here with a Summer Birthday project.  There is a little girl who lives down the block.  She is HAPPY, FUN, BRIGHT and a JOY to be around.  She loves COLOR and CANDY!  I made this card and candy bag ensemble for her.  Her birthday is in June and I know she will love it.

The card is made with the Happy Days set.  I stamped the circle wave in green, cut it out and popped it up on my circle panel.  I colored the hibiscus flowers with my copics in bright pinks to match the AMAZINGLY bright Cosmo Cricket DeLovely paper!  I added some tiny rhinestones and some silver cord for accents, but for the most part, I let the stamps and paper be the focus.

My tag also uses the Happy Days set.  She is always walking around with sunglasses announcing that she is COOL (she's only 5!).  I declare this stamp set was made for her!!  I decorated the tag with scraps left over from the card.  I love how just a tiny bit of paper at the bottom can make such a difference! P.S.  Aren't the Laffy Taffy candies a PERFECT match for the Cosmo papers?  Happy sigh...

Now it's your turn!!! As with all of our Project Parades, we’ve got some wonderful prizes...and 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 Day One's parade post before midnight 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 them if you have them!

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!

We can't wait to see how you make your summer sizzle, so GO CREATE!!! :)

New Release Spotlight - Day 4 and RELEASE DAY!

Hi everyone, it's Michelle here introducing you all to the last set in the April release!  It's called One Person and is a set of 17 amazing stamps.  It is a fabulous combination of flowers and sentiments designed like only Julee can. 

Today is RELEASE DAY!  You are all invited to join us over on the SCS forum for the Release Party fun.  There will be chatting, more sneak peek cards, and lots of prizes! 

This is from the AMAZING Diva, Tosh:

 Hi Verve fans!!  I'm thrilled to share a card that I made with the set One Person today.  True to Julee's impeccable attention to detail, this set has everything you need to show that special someone how much they mean to you:  flowers, flourishes, wonderful sentiments, and gorgeous fonts.  I stamped my sentiment and flowers with Black Onyx Versafine and embossed them with Detail Black ep.  The flowers were stamped on watercolor paper and were colored with Tombows.  The edge of the card does not go completely to the end and is finished on the inside as well.   I used two different Martha Stewart border Punches, and an EK Success leaf punch, along with some rhinestones and Frosted Lace stickles at add a bit of bling.  The dp is a combo of G.C.D Studios and Glitz Design.

This is from the FANTASTIC Diva, Amber:

Hello and welcome to the last day of sneak peeks! It's only a matter of HOURS before you can order these GORGEOUS stamps for yourself:) Just like every other release, Julee has come up with AMAZING sets! My absolute favorites are the beachy ones, aren't they FUN? I can just create with them allll afternoon! BUT, I also love the sentiment sets as well. One Person is a fantastic set. I especially love the sentiment I used on this card. I've always loved this quote and am so excited to own a STAMP with this quote! The fonts, aren't they TDF? I don't know how she does it! This card is going to my Mom for Mother's Day! I used papers by K&Co, some yummy wrinkle ribbon, buttons, twine, edge punches, all of my favorite thing!

This is from the AWESOME Guest Diva, Carolina:

Carolina here, wishing you a very happy Friday! Are you all as excited about the release as I am? Amazing stuff from the Divas this week and I'm just tickled pink that I get to post with them this month! I couldn't think of a better set for Julee to conclude the new release spotlight this week than with the One Person set. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. She has put an amazing set together and one that you NEED to add to your collection. The sentiments are heartwarming and the flowers, just gorgeous. For my card, I wanted to take a shabby chic approach and selected one of my favorite sentiments from the set. It speaks of unconditional love…no matter what happens today or tomorrow ~ I love you! Ahhhh…you know you’ve got to love that. I used Copics to color in the flowers and paired the flower and sentiment from this set with the flourish from Happy Days, which by the way rocks! I can see many uses for it. I finished it off with some distressing, some pearls, a pin, and tied it all up with some yummy satin ribbon. Hope to chat with you all at the release party!!!

And from me, Michelle:

Like what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment here on this post before 6:00 PM Eastern TODAY, and you’ll be put in a drawing to win this fabulous set! The lucky winner will be announced at our Beach Party Release Party TONIGHT!! And for even more chances to win some new Verve, be sure to check out the Beach Party Challenges going on in our forum! I hope to see you there!

March Project Parade - Day 8

Hi everyone, it's Michelle here with my project for this month's Fun With Flowers!  Flowers and Verve go hand in hand, don't you think?  Julee has a knack for designing such GORGEOUS flowers, sigh...

I decided to make a trio of mini cards  using the small flower image from the Feel the Sun set.  Each card uses the same layout and Pink Paislee pattern paper pack (365 degrees).  Each flower was stamped on pattern paper, cut out and placed over a flourish image from the Celebration of Thoughts set. For some continuity, I stamped the top layer of each flower on the same yellow paper.

I changed each card with different bling, top paper selection and ribbons. I kept the sentiment off, so I can use them for any occasion!

 Here is a close up of one card:

And here is a detail shot of another:

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 THIS POST before Midnight on April 8th. One lucky stamper will win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. Be sure to leave the Divas 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!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

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 12

Hi everyone! It's Michelle here and WOW, the Divas are pulling out all the stops this month. TONS of Tags, Tins and Treats goodness so far, huh? I have a very simple take on the challenge. Last year on clearance, I bought a box of Martha Stewart Hearts Favor Bags (20 pieces) for $2.00! Yeah baby, and I have been saving them this whole time JUST for this year's Valentine treats!! Here is what I started with. I just loved Julee's inspiration picture, but it just didn't jive with the brown/pink combo I had to play with -bummer.
The bags are super cute on their own and always being short on time, I merely stamped on them, added a bit of bling and ribbon! Bam -DONE! Easy peasy. First, I dusted the bottom of the bag with my Embossing Buddy (THE key to embossing onto dark paper). I stamped and embossed the sentiment first. Then I stamped the flowers or row of hearts along side and on the pink heart flap. Next, I added some rhinestones and tied a piece of silk ribbon to the handle. And last, I punched a small heart or flower and glued to the center of the bow.

Here is a close up of a couple bags. I chose to stamp flowers on some because these are going to teachers and I thought flowers were cute for casual aquaintences. The sentiment came from used the Heart's Desire set along with, the tiny hearts came from the Thankful Hearts set, and the little flower came from the Love's Flower set. I love how bling can come sooo super tiny, to fit into the little hearts -happy sigh...


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 Mr. Linky on THIS post 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 2: Accent Notes

Hi everyone! It's Michelle here, and today I am bringing you a sneak peek of the amazing set, Accent Notes! Seriously, you are all going to LOVE this one. This set of 12 features 5 amazing "pattern building" stamps, 3 any occasion sentiments with the awesome new font, some accents and a perfect flourishy circle (ok, please excuse my non-technical terms!!)!!

So without further ado...

From the amazing Diva Tosh:

Oh my goodness!! Just when I think Julee can't top her other images, she comes up with another set of the most gorgeous stamps ever!! I just gasped when I saw the Accent Notes set. Seriously!! So I'm thrilled to be able to share this card with you today. I inked up the gorgeous frame with Jumbo Java Versamagic ink and added a bit of sparkle to make it pop. I then framed it with a Labels 3 Nestabilities die and added a Martha Stewart Punched flower to the center. The bg panel was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder, and the side band was embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder. The sentiments are from the Celebrating You set, that I cut with two tags from Spellbinders' Tag Trio. Finally, I finished it off with a button, some copic colored string and pearls, and a couple of border punches.

From the fantastic Diva Sankari:

Hi everyone!!! It's Sankari here and can I just tell you HOW thrilled I am with each and every set in this release! Seriously, I don't know how Julee creates such beautiful sets each and everytime!! I was beyond excited when I saw the sentiment "hello sunshine" and the beautiful circle motif and all of the different swirls and whirls of beauty in the Accent Notes stamps set! I absolutely love anything to do with the sun and sunshine (hence my blog name :) and couldn't wait to make a sunny card, especially because it has been freezing here in Iowa! The stamped the background with one of the filigree stamps in this set and then stamped the circle motif and cut it out with my Spellbinders. The sentiment is punched out and the popped up with dimensionals. I also added some of my fave embellishments: some liquid pearls and finished it off with some bling, faux stitching and some yummy organdy ribbon. Hope you are enjoying all of the sneak peeks!!! Wishing each of you a day that is full of sunshine!!! Hugs!

From the fabulous Diva Shannan:

Accent Notes…what a fun set to play with! As soon as Julee showed it to us, I couldn’t wait to mix and match the images to see how I could build different patterns. The pattern I created here uses three different stamps, two of which are from Accent Notes. The little heart stamp is from Thankful Accents, and it fits in the center of the design so perfectly. I wanted to keep my card simple to highlight the pattern, so I just added a little scalloped border, some black twill ribbon, and some pearls. The sentiment is from Thankful Hearts. That's one of my favorite things about my Verve stamps - they all coordinate so perfectly!

And from me, Diva Michelle:

I love the look of an embossed stamped background (especially crisp white on kraft)! This stamp set is perfect for that. This one is in the clean and simple category. Some stamping, brads, ribbon and a tiny rhinestone and you are done! The possibilities are endless with this set.

So, have you all liked what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment on this post before 6 PM Eastern on Friday, January 15th and you’ll be put in a drawing to win this set!

Winners will be announced at our release party Friday night. Oh, 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!

Blog PaRtY: Challenge 3

Hi everyone! It's time for another challenge, and this one is brought to you by Lynda and Michelle. Our challenge is called Embellish with V-E-R-V-E and the challenge is to create a card or project using an embellishment that begins with the letters in VERVE.

Some examples would be:
V - Velvet ribbon
E - Embossing powder
R - Rhinestones
V - Vellum tags
E - Eyelets

You can use as many or as few embellishment "letters" as you want. We can't wait to see how you Embellish with VERVE!

And here's some sneaky peeky inspiration from Michelle and Lynda using the new Thankful Accents set we'll be releasing tonight...

Designed by Michelle Woerner
Michelle's sample uses 2 letters: E -embossing powder and R -rhinestones.

Designed by Lynda Benden
Lynda's sample uses R ~ribbon, E ~embossing powder and V ~VERY lopsided bow!!!

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To play along, just make a new handmade creation using embellishments that start with the letters in VERVE. Post a picture of your creation online and link us to it using the Mr. Linky widget below. And be sure to list which letters you used when you post your creation! 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!

Home for the Holidays - Day 8

Hi everyone, it's Michelle! What a fun Project Parade this month? I have been lovin' what the Divas have done so far.

My project is something I have never done before. I altered letters! Yep. It was challenging, but I love how these little guys turned out!

So... GIMMIE A "J"...

GIMMIE AN "O"...

GIMMIE A "Y"...

WHAT DOES THAT SPELL? ...
Sorry Verve fans, this project has been removed for Publication!  Look for it in the 2011 Winter issue of Paper Creations.

Aren't these cute? I bought them at Joann's for $1.29 each. They measure 6" tall and come white! I love the white base, cause then I don't have to paint them-LOL! Easier the better I say, that's how I roll during the holidays!

First I covered the letters with Bella Blvd, December Details pattern paper and then adorned them with stamped images from Holly Jolly and Christmas in the Air. It's all about personal taste and what is in your stash. Everything on these letters I already had. These letters are a nice inexpensive way to add a personal touch.

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 use 'em?

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.

Thanks for stopping by and have fun with this one!!

O Christmas Tree & Frosty Flakes Sneak Preview

Hi there! It's Charmaine with the last of the sneak previews for Verve's October Release! Are you excited? Do you like what you see so far? I can honestly say I don't have a favorite set this release because I LOVE them all! We hope you do too! Today we'd like to give you a sneak peek of the sets O Christmas Tree and Frosty Flakes. These sets (along with the others you've seen this week) will be available after our Release Party TONIGHT!! We hope you'll join us!

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From the desk of Amber Hight

Hey everybody! Amber here:) I am so excited to share a card I made with Frosty Flakes! This is one of my favorite sets this release because of these fun, rustic snowflakes! Julee has such a defining style, you see a card created with Verve stamps and you KNOW it! Since I see rustic snowflakes when I look at this set, I wanted to use some rustic colors so I chose Chocolate, Kraft, and Rustic Cream (All by PTI). I stamped the snowflakes on the kraft cardstock using Dark Chocolate and Vintage Cream ink. I love how stamping the vanilla ink over the chocolate ink created a muted effect. This card really took on a life of its own after I stamped the background. I searched around some blogs for inspiration once I was done with the dp and found a card by Dawn McVey that allowed the stamped background to be seen under the sentiment and loved it so much that I used her layout! I did some faux stitching on the sentiment panel and added some ribbon (RABOM), a botton, and jute ribbon (both by PTI) to finish it off!

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From the desk of Betty Wright

I am so thrilled to be a Verve Guest Designer this month!!! As always, these new sets are just gorgeous and so fabulous to play and work with! I am showcasing for you today one of my favorite sets, O Christmas Tree! The images are wonderful and the sentiments are just fabulous. For this card I stamped all of my background panels. The small scripty background wording says...."how lovely are your branches." So perfect with this Christmas tree and the "O Christmas Tree" sentiment. I wanted to use hues of rich green, black, and ivory with a vintage feel for my card. I also used the polka dot image from the Bountiful Backgrounds sets to compliment the script look and Christmas tree image. In keeping with my vintage style, I had to add my fou fou ribbon, gold cording, and gold pearl tree decorations and accents! I also used the release party sketch E (VSOCT09E)!

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From the desk of Michelle Woerner

Julee did it again! The stunning wreaths in this set are elegant and fun. As much as I love my layers and embellishments, I need to make most of my Christmas cards CAS. Being easy to mass produce with no extra postage is key!! This card is so easy to make and packs a punch. I stamped the wreath, colored it with copics, die cut it out and framed it using my circle nestabilities. A touch of bling and a strip of Pattern Paper scraps and presto!! The variety of sentiments in this set is perfect for any kind of card! I know you will fall in love with this as I have.

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From the desk of Charmaine Ikach

I LOVE how the bold snowflakes from Frosty Flakes coordinate with the outline snowflakes from Christmas in the Air. I knew I would be pairing those two sets up a lot. I also love how they look good in different colors! Sometimes snowflakes only look good in blue or white, but these big, bold snowflakes really come to life for me in non-traditional colors! I used Perfect Plumeria, Aegean Blue and Spanish Olive VersaMagic chalk inks for my snowflakes. I added a little Rich Razzleberry ribbon and paper piercing leading to the sentiment as finishing touches.

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Like what you’ve seen? Just leave a comment here on this post before 6 PM Eastern TONIGHT, October 23 and you’ll be put in a drawing to win this set! Winners will be announced at our release party tonight. 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! Hope to see you tonight!

Encouraging Words: Day 6

Hi everyone, it's Michelle! I'm here on Day 6 to share with you my card of Encouraging Words. There many occasions when people need some encouragement. My card today is for a great friend who is very sick right now.

This card uses Wishing You. This set can be used for so many different occasions -I LOVE that!! I wanted to use colors and paper that are cheerful, so I used Cosmo Cricket Early Bird. The prima flowers all have vintage brown buttons from my granny's tin as their centers and I used lots stickles for some extra happy sparkle. The silver pearls and cord add another bright and cheerful touch.

The amazing sketch is today's Sketch For You to Try from fellow Diva, Jen!

So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your card or project focused on encouraging words or friendship. Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, we'd love to see 'em.

And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes! To enter, just link up your creation to the Mr. Linky widget on the DAY 1 POST before midnight MST on Sunday, October 18. One lucky stamper will win a $35 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. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Oct 5 - 17) will win their choice of any Verve set. Have fun!

August Project Parade: Day 11

Hi everyone, it's Michelle! It's my turn to show you a bit of Verve-y Hostess Happiness! Haven't the Divas rocked it so far?!?

One of my best girlfriends is a HUGE tea drinker. I mean seriously, HUGE tea drinker! She drinks tea like I drink coffee. -LOL! We are all heading over to her house for dinner in a couple weeks, so I thought I would take this opportunity to make her a little hostess gift.

I was shopping at Cost Plus the other day, and found this REALLY cool tea cup. The little spoon keeps in the handle, how cute is that? The project came together pretty quickly after I found this. My card uses the A Cup of Life set and are colored with copic markers. She is NOT a girly girl at all, so I kept the embellies to a minimum, but I did add a couple silver pearls here and there, just couldn't help myself!

When making both the card and tag, I stuck to the colors and clean lines of the cup. She and her family are very "green", so she will appreciate the tea is from a local Portland owned company, STASH.

So....have you decided what fabulous hostess gift you'd like to create? We can't wait to see it! 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! Just add a link to your creation to the Mr. Linky form in DAY ONE's POST before 8PM Mountain September 12th. 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 Peek Preview - Day 4: Delightful and Delicious and A Cup of Life

Hi everyone, it's Michelle bringing you Day 4 of the Sneak Peeks and RELEASE DAY! Please join us at the Verve Release Party tonight 8pm Eastern time. Today Tosh, Amy, Sankari and I are sharing projects using Delightful and Delicious and A Cup of Life!

First up the lovely Diva Tosh:

I can't tell you how excited I am for this months Verve releases. They are all fabulous as you've seen already with the previous sneak peeks. Well, I have one more to show you and it's my favorite!! I love coffee and tea, and I love shabby and elegant. So when I saw these two sets, I was in love. Coffee and tea!! Woo-Hoo!!

I chose to make a 3 x 3 Notecard set of 4 with a matching box. The box template was designed by Andrea Walford. You can find the template HERE. I framed the images with a Rectangle Nestabilities die, and used a very favorite paper of mine; Periphery (Basicgrey), matted with Birchtone Light and Dark (Prismatics). I also added some Spring Rain Twill (PTI), SU! Buttons, and stitching. All the edges were ink distressed with Frayed Burlap (Ranger Distress) and my trusty fingernail. *grin*

From the fabulous Diva Amy:

I've been secretly hoping for Verve-style coffee and tea sets, so I'm thrilled to see both A Cup of Life and Delightful & Delicious as part of this month's release. The images in these sets are such a delightful blend (no pun intended) of whimsy and elegance. I love my new photopolymer coffee and tea almost as much as my real-life drinkable versions, and that's saying something!

For my peek project, I've used A Cup of Life to make a gift set that includes a tea box and matching card. I used a box I had on hand as a template, which ended up being more or less a modified 2-5-7-10 box. For the matching card, I created a large tea cup using Spellbinders dies (a large circle cut in half for the cup, the very tip of a Labels 4 for the pedestal, and a flourish die for the handle). The tea bag tag and the steam are done with images from A Cup of Life. Hope you're enjoying our week of Anni-VERVE-sary fun and the peeks at all these wonderful new sets. Hope to see you at the release party tonight!

From the amazing Guest Diva Sankari:

Hi Everyone!! I am so excited to be part of this fantabulous release!!! I literally jumped up and down and clapped my hands in delight when Julee asked me to if I wanted to be a guest designer for this month's release!!! And as soon as I saw all of these stamps - one word: THUD!!! WOWie!!! They are each gorgeous! I have to say that my heart did a little pitter patter as soon as I saw the A Cup of Life/Delightful & Delicious sets - my head was just swimming in possibilities!

I wanted to make something fun and happy so I created a little scallop border with the different color teacups and a "bright copper kettle" :) on the side. The tea pot is stamped on a sheet of copper with some Stazon black and then popped up on dimensionals. It was so much fun to create this little card and I can't wait to create more with these delicious sets - there are so many possiblites for every occaision! I am so glad that Julee has created this set because it is simply the cutest teapot/cup stamps with the most delicious sayings and sentiments that can be so easily interchanged with each other. I love how Julee creates stamp sets that all work together and separately.

Its been an absolute joy to be a part of this wonderful release!! A huge heartfelt thank you to Julee and the Diva-licious Verve DT for this lovely chance to be with such lovely artistes!!!

And from me, Diva Michelle:

It's no secret that I love coffee and coffee sets! I about fell out of my chair when I saw the amazing coffee and tea sets Julee designed! Seriously, they have a bit of everything -great sentiments, cups, teapots and various steam/swirl images. Sheer perfection I tell ya.

I used the Delightful and Delicious set for this card. I kept this one pretty simple and allowed the sentiment, gorgeous cups and ribbon do all the work! The steam is stamped in VersaMark for a subtle effect. The dreamy green striped May Arts ribbon with a large purple button really help show off the stripes in the cups.

Don't forget about all the Diva Giveaways going on in the Verve Forums on SCS there's lots of chances to win Verve prizes! There is STILL time!!

AND, one lucky commenter today will be put in a drawing to win more Verve Goodies! So be sure to tell us what you like about today's sets before 6pm Eastern to qualify! All the winners will be announced during our release party tonight! Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you there!