August Release Project Parade ~ Day 14

Happy Tuesday, Verve fans!  It’s Mercy here with the final day of this month’s “Something Old, Something New” Project Parade.  Haven’t the Divas been knocking you out with their gorgeous creations days after day?  I took this theme as a personal challenge to not only combine both old and stamp sets, but to also use old and new patterned papers, cardstocks, embellishments, and techniques.  I hope you enjoy the end result as much as I enjoyed making it!

With Christmas just around the corner, I wanted to take advantage of this month’s theme to create a card using the older sets “Star of Wonder” (sentiment) and “Holly Jolly Christmas” (holly accent) along with one of the newest releases “Fabulous You” (frame).  Julee was kind enough to send me an advanced copy of yesterday’s Mojo Monday #156 to use as a template for this seasonal delight…thanks so much, Julee!  I stitched the multiple strips of patterned paper, then distressed the edges of the completed panel.  The sentiment and frame were stamped onto the same White Cardstock panel, the the holly image was stamped onto a scrap piece of White Cardstock.  After the holly was colored, I cut it out and attached it to the sentiment panel using pop dots.  After adding some dry embossing, sponging, pearls, and TONS of extra pop dots the card was complete!

That’s it for me today!  Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to enter your favorite “old” and “new” project for a chance to win some wonderful prizes!  Here’s how to enter:

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!

GOOD LUCK & HAPPY STAMPING!!!

{{{Hugs}}}

Mercy

Spotlight on Guest Diva Betty Wright

Welcome to another week! We had a ball at our release party on Friday night - learning, among other things, the meaning behind the phrase "Winner, winner chicken dinner!" We announced the winners from last week's blog giveaways as well as our release week challenges over on this thread in our forum, so be sure to check it out. And if you haven't had a chance yet, be sure to stop by the Verve Store to see all seven of our new releases, plus find out what's on sale!

Okay, on with the fun stuff! Today I'm excited to shine our little Verve spotlight on one of this month's Guest Divas, Betty Wright!

Betty (gbedwright on SCS) has been wowing me as a participant in our Verve challenges the last couple months. Her designs are always so detailed, with beautiful dimension, embellishments and a touch of elegance. And from a look at her gallery, I think she might love making square cards even more than I do! Is that possible? A girl after my own heart! :) Her cards for this release were gorgeous in every way, so let's get to the eye candy!

Before I get to Betty's answers to our VERVE-i-view, I'll start things off with this beautiful card using the new O Christmas Tree set. I just love the gorgeous ribbon embellishments, the subtle shading and the elegance of this traditional Christmas card. So beautiful!


When/how did you get hooked on stamping? I went to a Stampin' Up! party and was hooked immediately. My concept of stamping prior to then were those office ink pads and a date stamp.

How often do you stamp? I like to say I stamp at least something every day. I may skip a day here and there. However, just because I stamp does not mean I finish a project or card. Sometimes I am just playing around with background looks and color schemes. This process calms me.

What's your favorite embellishment or finishing detail?
Those little gold and silver pearls at Michael's. I always loved the brads, but I never really know where my card design will go. Often, I would have everything assembled only to think that it needs a few brads here and there. Then, I would have to pry everything apart and add the brads. With the pearls, I just lift and stick. LOVE that!!!

Okay, time for a little eye candy intermission. There's so much to love about this gorgeous card from Betty. The way she used the sentiment to create such an elegant Old World background, and the beautiful way she stacked two of the ball ornaments from Holly Jolly along with a star from Star of Wonder makes my head spin with possibilities! Love it!



How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with?Honestly, I think the color challenge cards are the quickest. It takes me a bit to choose my colors. Once those are chosen, I then start playing around with color ratios. There have been times where I have completed a card in a little over an hour and times where I have had to walk away from my craft table because I over think it. Many times if this happens frequently in the same day, I will just set that item aside and start something new.

Tell me about your creative space. My craft room is organized chaos....with lots of little pieces of stuff everywhere at times it seems! I know where the most used items go and must have those stay in the right place because when the right brain starts creating the mundane thoughts like where I put the scissors, tape runner, etc.... are not kept in any memory cells. I have to have a place where I force myself to set those so I know where they are. Otherwise, I have to start talking out loud and asking myself questions. My right brain creative moment cannot comprehend thought words, hence the talking out loud part.

What is your usual starting point for a project? Oftentimes, from doing design work, a stamp set is my starting point. It is wonderful to have a challenge to focus on along with the set sometimes, though. Many times I take notes and do actual sketches for specific set cards. I will play around with a layout and a stamp set and figure out what goes where. That is what I call my precrafting stage. It helps me stay focused on big projects if I take notes.

Time for one last card from Betty. This one uses the new Christmas in the Air and Holly Jolly sets. I adore the little heart button she used to mirror the Christmas in the heart sentiment, and the tiny pearls on the tree just dress it up to perfection. A total treat for the eye!


What is your biggest source of inspiration?Of course, I get a lot of inspiration from other people. I like to think we all feed off of each other. However, one of the biggest sources is color. I really love colors!!! Anything from home decor, fashion, billboards, cookware, whatever. If it has color, I am always looking for a way to use the pattern or combo of colors on a card.

Who in the crafting world do you most admire and why? There are a lot of people's work that I admire. However, if I had to say one person, it would have to be Tim Holtz. His products are just amazing!!!! It completely changed the way I stamped. I do not own near enough of his stuff!!!

What is your favorite set from this release? Now, this is hard since I love them all!!! Of course, to be fair, I narrowed it down to two. O Christmas Tree and Holly Jolly. The first one because I love the images. I love making an assortment of Christmas cards, but I sometimes need to make a few fast that are the same. The tree image in this set is a stand alone, no coloring, beautifully shaded tree. Stamp it and it is done look! Aside from that, there are wreaths, a small poinsettia, two Merry Christmas sentiments...a big one and a small one as well as several other fabulous sayings all with the most beautiful font!!! The Holly Jolly set is fabulous because it has ornaments, poinsettias, holly, and sentiments. The sizes vary from true stand alone images, to images that make beautiful stamped backgrounds. Just gorgeous!!!

I hope you've enjoyed learning a little more about this fabulous stamper as much as I have! To see the rest of the projects Betty made for our release, you can check out her Guest Diva album in our gallery, or visit her blog, Stamping to the Wright, for her newest creations. I just loved all of her beautiful creations for our release and she was such a joy to work with. Be sure to give her a little shout out for all her hard work!

Thanks for stopping by! Tune in tomorrow as we shine our spotlight on Jessie Rone!

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Sneak Preview - Blessed Christmas & Star of Wonder

It's Day Two of the October Sneak Peeks, and we are only just beginning! This week is going to be filled with the reveal of even more gorgeous stamps sets and breathtaking samples, so be sure to check back every day! Today we are featuring cards made with the two new sets Blessed Christmas and Star of Wonder. These versatile and classy Christmas holiday sets include several images and sentiments in the classic style that can only be achieved by the-one-and-only, Julee Tilman...so you can rest assured that the images are exquisite, and the sentiment fonts are beautiful and elegant. These sets (along with five others) will be available after our Release Party this Friday Night, October 23rd. You will have a chance to win some of these sets during the week, so be sure to read all the way to the end of the post to see what you need to do.

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Designed By Susan Liles

Hi there, Susan here, and I’m excited to share a card I made with the new set, Blessed Christmas. It’s a very traditional set that faithfully celebrates the true meaning of Christmas. I wanted an “old world, vintage” feel to my card, so I started with some Cosmo Cricket paper from the new “Oh Joy” collection that I LOVE and found one of the new release sketches (OCT09E) to be a perfect fit for this card. After I did a little inking around the edges, added some distressing and some stitching, all that was left to do was make the main panel. I stamped the cross in Close to Cocoa to go “behind” the sentiment. I stamped the sentiment in black and then clear embossed over it for the finishing touch, making it really stand out. It really didn’t take that long to complete. This set makes it so easy to create something so beautiful (but don’t all Verve stamps do that? LOL!)!___________________________________________________________________

Designed By Tosha Leyendekker

I love making Christmas cards! And I love making Christmas cards even more with Julee's images!! Each and every set this month is fabulous, and I had a hard time picking which set I wanted to use for the release. After much deliberation, I finally decided I wanted to feature the beautiful cross from the Blessed Christmas set. The Cross and sentiment are embossed with gold dp, and I colored the cross with Tombows. The Labels 4 frame was embossed with with a Sizzix folder while still in the die, so I could get the clean framed edges. The sentiment was stamped onto Neenah Natural White that I diecut with one of the Fancy Tags by Spellbinders, and the frame behind the Labels 4 was made with Labels 8 (Spellbinders). Finally, I added a bit of embellishing with some flowers and pearls.
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Designed By Laurie Schmidlin

I instantly fell in love with the Star of Wonder set! With it, you can create simple and elegant cards that celebrate the true meaning of Christmas...in record time! These images and beautifully scripted sentiments can stand alone and still make a huge impact!
For my card, I embossed one of the stars using Copper e.p. directly onto some patterned paper and then placed a matching rhinestone directly in the center. I then added a tag embossed with the "peace on earth" sentiment, some ribbon, a charm, and a punched border!

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Designed By Mercy Kerin

What else can you say about Verve stamps and their designer, Julee Tilman, except perfection?! I love Christmas, so I was beside myself when I saw the new releases for this month. My attention immediately turned to Star of Wonder set. As with all of Verve's sets, I am drawn to the gorgeous and elegant font that all of the sentiments showcase...so this one is no different! I embossed the sentiment on the focal panel with Black Embossing Powder, then sponged around it to create a twilight landscape. I stamped the stars on the Old Olive panel to create my very own coordinating patterned paper. I wanted to keep my card pretty simple, so I added minimal embellishments: Silver Brads, Olive Ribbon, and an Olive Button tied with Linen Thread. After all, the distinguished beauty of Verve Stamps always shines through!
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Like what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment here on this post before 6 PM Eastern on Friday, October 23 and you’ll be put in a drawing to win this set! Winners will be announced at our release party that night. And 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! Okay, that’s it for today, we’ll see you back here tomorrow for another peek at some more new sets!