April 2014 Day 3

Laurie here bringing you April's Diva Dare, day 3!  In honor of Spring's arrival (in some parts of North America anyway!), this month's Dare is entitled "Little Things". What we're daring you to do this month is to create a baby or kids themed card. 

I created a baby card for this challenge!  I love making baby cards...it's such a happy occasion!  I used some pretty Pebbles patterned paper paired with the Verve sets Treasured Words and Shining Star.  Along with those sets, I used the coordinating Rounded Rectangles Verve die.  For embellishment, I added a few girly baubles.  :-)  The seam binding is from the Truly, Madly, Deeply collection.

Deadline to link your cards is 8PM Mountain on Wednesday, April 23rd.  Entries must be posted 4/4 or later, include at least one Verve product, be a baby or kids themed card, and be linked up to the linky widget by 8pm Mountain on 4/23/14.   

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

Win a $40 Gift voucher to Verve Stamps! Take our "Little Things" Dare and link up your card (created April 4th 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 "Little Things" 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 April 23, 2014.

Winners will be announced on April 24, 2014. 

March 2014 Diva Dare - Day 11

Hi there! Jen here, bringing you Day 10 of the March Diva Dare challenge, "Do The Polka".  

What we're daring you to do this month is to use polka dots somewhere on your card. Whether you choose to strut your polka dot stamps, paper, ribbon or all of the above, we want to see you do the polka! 

I was so happy when I found out this challenge involved polka dots because it meant I had another excuse to use the fabulous background stamp from Better Together. I just love stamps that let me step away from patterned paper for a bit to just focus on stamping. I combined the dots from Better Together with the flowers from Lean On Me (colored with Copic markers) and the leaves from Dream Big along with their respective dies, Pointed Flowers Dies and Dreamy Leaves Dies. The sentiment is stamped on a bit of cream cardstock cut with with Rounded Rectangle Die. Underneath it all I die cut the Pennant Trim Die from a bit of pale pink cardstock. To finish it all off I added a few teeny tiny rhinestones in a pale pink. 

Deadline to link your cards is 8PM Mountain on Wednesday, March 26th.  Entries must be posted 3/7 or later, include at least one Verve product, polka dots, and be linked up to the linky widget by 8pm Mountain on 3/26/14. 

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

Win a $40 Gift voucher to Verve Stamps! Take our "Do The Polka" Dare and link up your card (created March 7th or later) to the linky widget 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 "Do The Polka" 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 March 26, 2014.

Winners will be announced on March 27, 2014. 

- Go forth and get inky! We DARE you! -

Fanspiration Diva Dare ~ Day 7

Hi there!  It's Charmaine bringing you Day 7 of our Fanspiration Diva Dare. This month, we "dare" you to show us your new creations inspired by projects made by Verve fans! You can pick any little Verve project to inspire you, as long as it is not by one of our design team members (or yourself!) {grin}. To get your wheels a turnin', the Divas will be posting their Fanspiration creations using our newly released products right here each weekday!

I really had a tough time with this dare because I couldn't decide on A card.  It took me a while just to narrow it down from all the fabulous Verve Fan creations in the gallery. . .but I still ended up with two that I just couldn't decide between!  One of the cards I was so inspired by is THIS CARD from girlgeek101.  This card is totally my style.  I LOVE how Audrie used the embossing to add detail to this simple but elegant card along with that pop of color with the flower image.  I created my card using the Learning To Sail set.  Since the stamps I used to stamp behind the sentiment were line stamps and not silhouette, I added a border of cardstock in the same color as the ship to bring it out a little more. 

I used the Beaded Oval Nestabilities for my focal piece.  I'm not sure how well it shows in the picture, but I added a tranparent pearl on each "bead" with a Viva Pearl Pen.  I thought it would be a neat detail that added to the water theme.  :)

The other card that I just couldn't decide between was THIS CARD from Jen Mitchell.  I just LOVED the colors that Jen used in her card.  I LOVE the warm, Fall colors with a pop of red!  I also loved Jen's layout.  I just changed the stamps and the papers for my card and added a sentiment using the Lean On Me set with the leaves from Dream Big. 

I die cut the flowers using the Pointed Flowers Die Set, stamped them in red ink and then used a blender pen with the ink pad to color them.  The leaves were die cut using the Dreamy Leaves Die Set.  I also used the Rounded Rectangle Die as well as the Rounded Scallop Frame Die with the border stamp from the Treasured Words set. 

How fun is this Dare? Don't know where to start? Head over to the Verve Fan Gallery to peruse some projects, pick one then join in the fun...here are the details...

There are two ways to win...

1. Win a $50 Verve gift certificate! Play along with our Fanspiration Diva Dare and link up your creation to the linky widget entry form. Winner will be chosen by random draw. To be eligible, your entry must:
• Be a new creation - posted September 7 or later
• Be inspired by a non-design team created Verve card or project
• Include a link to the inspiration piece you used, as well as a brief explanation of what inspired you
• Use at least one Verve product
• Be added to the linky widget before 5pm Mountain on Sunday, September 23.
2. Win a Verve set of your choosing! Leave a little shout-out for the Divas in the comments section as we post our answers to the Fanspiration dare each weekday through September 20. A random comment winner will be chosen from all the comments over the course of the Dare.

- Go forth and get inky! We DARE you! -

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!!