March 2014 Diva Dare - Day 7

"Do The Polka", March Diva Dare

Hello Dare Challengers! It's your St. Patty's Day birthday Diva bringing you lucky Day 7 of the March challenge for "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 am always up for some bright Spring colours and a whole lotta gorgeous shamrocks!  I thought I'd mix it up a bit and use some non traditional colours for my St. Patrick's Day card :)  It was so fun to make a doily out of some light grey polka dot paper and a fun double bow with some green   Pastel Polka Ribbon.  I've made a cluster of Lucky You shamrocks stamped in Kiwi Kiss green and Bermuda Bay teal.  I made the sentiment panel with the Classy Label Die and matching label image from Love Notes.  Now, I have one more card for you!  It's actually the first card I made for the Dare and then I thought,"Hey!  It's St. Patrick's Day! I can't NOT post a St. Patrick's Day card!"  LOL  So here's another card using the just released Better Together stamp set, Curvy Bookplate die with matching frame image from Tag Time.  The polka dots on this one is courtesy of the Polka Dot Basics Ribbon Collection

Before I go I want to wish everyone a wonderful and happy St. Patrick's Day!  Erin Go Bragh!

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! -

October Diva Dare ~ Day 5

Hey there! Amber here with Day FIVE of the October Diva Dare!

Tag, You're It, October Diva Dare

What we're daring you to do this month is to create a gift tag, use a tag on a card, or be inspired by a tag!  

I wanted to do something a little different and create a sort of collage with the Sweet Scallop Tag dies and Poppy Birthday!

First, I cut out several tags with the Sweet Scallop tag and the Tiny Sweet Scallop tag die sets, and then layered them on my card. I wish I would have taken a pic of this, when all the tags were blank, oh well!

After getting them layered how I wanted them, I'd pull them out one at a time and stamp each one. I doodled around the edges to kind of break the tags up, and also added some fun sequins from the Pastel Sequin Mix.

This was pretty fun, I think I'll do it again soon! On the right hand side of the card, I stamped a couple tag stamps from Tag Time and then stamped "wish big" (also from Tag Time). I doodled some cross stitches in the bottom tag for some fun detail!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, keep coming back every day to be inspired and hopefully play along with us!

Deadline to link your cards is 8PM Mountain on Saturday, November 2nd.  Entries must be new (posted 10/11 or later),include at least one Verve product, include a tag, and be linked up to the linky widget by 8pm Mountain on 11/02/13. 

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

Win a $40 Gift voucher to Verve Stamps! Take our "Tag, You're It" Dare and link up your card (created October 11th 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 "Tag, You're It" 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 November 2, 2013.

September Diva Dare-Day 2

Tic-Tac-Toe, September Diva Dare

Good morning Verve fans, it is Teresa and I am sharing my take on the super fun Tic-Tac-Toe dare.

So what we're daring you to create this month is a card or project using inspiration from a tic-tac-toe board. For example: x’s and o’s, hugs & kisses, squares, circles, grids, you get the idea.    

Here is my how I answered the dare.

I knew I wanted to add a real game of Tic-Tac-Toe to my card; who has not played a fun game of Tic-Tac-Toe with their sweetie? I started with the Verve stamp set Tag Time, luv the little grid tag! Then I hand wrote in the sweet game in the top corner...cuuuute! I reached for the sentiment from the set Making A Statement. I thought it was perfect!  Not only the dh and I are meant to be, but so are x's and o's, hugs and kisses, peanut butter and jelly, peas and carrots......so on and so on....lol. I sure hope I have inspired you today, have fun with this month's Verve Diva Dare!

Deadline to link your cards is 8PM Mountain on Wednesday, September 25th.  Entries must be new (posted 9/6 or later), include at least one Verve product, include inspiration from a tic-tac-toe board, and be linked up to the linky widget by 8pm Mountain on 9/25/13. 

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

Win a $40 Gift voucher to Verve Stamps! Take our "Tic-Tac-Toe" Dare and link up your card (created September 6th 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 "Tic-Tac-Toe" 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 September 25, 2013.

You can link up your take on the dare here.

Winners will be announced on September 26, 2013.

Holiday Diva Dare - Day 7

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Welcome to Day 7 of the Holiday Diva Dare!  It's Charmaine and today is my turn to bring you my take on this month's challenge! 

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 then have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will be posting their creations and sharing how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is A Handmade Christmas! The theme is pretty broad and can be interpreted in so many different ways...from a lovingly made card, to heartfelt gifts and homemade decorations! With the Holidays right around the corner, this will be the perfect time to get a jump start on your card and gift making!

So, we DARE you to make a Handmade Christmas card or gift!

When I was thinking about what to create for the challenge, I started thinking of things that my kids could help with since they LOVE to create gifts. . .especially my two oldest.  I came across these adorable ornaments at marthastewart.com made with a pipecleaner and buttons!  They are SO simple and perfect for kids to create!  I don't know about you, but I have a TON of buttons, so the girls had their pick and it was a great way to use up some surplus!  ;) 

So, my answer to the dare was the ornaments and some pretty packaging for the ornaments!  I created the snowman box using a downloadable template, and the Santa box was created with a die.  I stamped each box with the snowflakes from Glad Tidings.  I stamped the snowflakes on the box in white craft ink, then I stamped some on white cardstock in Crumb Cake ink and die cut them using the Snowflake Tidings Die Set.  The sentiment panel uses the frame from Tag Time, a sentiment from Bright Spirits and the Curvy Bookplate Die.  The window in the snowman box was die cut using the Rounded Scallop Frame Die.  The snowman is suspended from the lid of the box.  I added tissue paper to the bottoms of both boxes. 

Hope you've been inspired today!  There's more Diva Inspiration to come, so stop back tomorrow!

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Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new A Handmade Christmas creation (posted November 18 or later) to the linky widget on the DAY ONE post before 9PM Mountain on Thursday, December 8. 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 A Handmade Christmas creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Friday, December 9 right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn! We DARE you to show us your creations!

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September Diva Dare ~ Day 9

Happy Wednesday, Verve fans! It's Amy here today, checking in with Day 9 of our September Diva Dare! This month, we've come up with a fun challenge, we DARE you to Case-a-Diva!  With nineteen Divas (see the photos and links on the right sidebar), the inspiration is vast!  For those of you that are wondering...CASE means to copy and share everything.  And that is just fancy talk for copying!  What you copy is up to you!  It can be a layout, color scheme, or even something more subtle like a certain embellishment cluster!   

You will find the links to all the Diva's blogs on the right sidebar, or you can visit their individual Verve galleries!

I am honored to be CASEing the amazing Tosha! Her style is elegant and gracious and always filled with expert details. And she can seriously do it ALL! Multi-layered and dimensional, clean and simple, heavily distressed, crisp and clean all-white, 3D/altered -- it's all there! 

Some things that jump out most when looking through her gallery: distressing, vintage elegance, sheer beauty, layers, and lots of embellishing (we're kindred spirits there!). She's a genius with stamps and dies, using them in surprising and uber-creative ways that leave me scratching my head wondering why I didn't think of that.


Here's what I came up with ...  

... based on this recent beauty in Tosh's gallery. I used Tosh's overall layout and combination of elements, changing the colors and theme to Christmas. Tosh is a big fan of My Mind's Eye papers, so I stuck with MME, just a different line than the one she used. I love Tosh's punched border along the bottom and was tickled to have the same Martha Stewart punch in my aresenal. 

For the focal point, I started with a Rounded Scallop Frame that I die-cut from one of the rich burgundy patterns in My Mind's Eye's Lost & Found Christmas collection. On top of that is a Curvy Bookplate diecut that I stamped with the matching frame in Tag Time and a sentiment from Merry Wishes. As a CASE of Tosh's out-of-the-box thinking, I used the larger of Verve's Leafy Sprigs dies, the corresponding leafy sprig image from Sunny Days, and some white pearls to creative a mistletoe accent for the tag cluster (at least I hope it looks like mistletoe!):

That's it for me today! I can't wait to catching up on all of your gorgeous challenge entries so far! If you haven't played along yet, there's still plenty of time!

Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Case-a-Diva creation (posted September 16 or later) to the linky widget on the DAY ONE post before 9pm Mountain on Sunday,October 2nd. 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 Case-a-Diva  creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Monday,October 3rd right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn!  We DARE you to show us your creations!

Have a fabulous day!!

September Diva Dare - Day 5

Hi Everyone! It's Sankari here and welcome to day 5 of this month's Diva Dare. This month, we DARE you to Case-a-Diva! With nineteen Divas (see the photos and links on the right sidebar), the inspiration is vast! For those of you that are wondering...CASE means to copy and share everything. And that is just fancy talk for copying!  What you copy is up to you! It can be a layout, color scheme, or even something more subtle like a certain embellishment cluster!

You will find the links to all the Diva's blogs on the right sidebar, or you can visit their individual Verve galleries!

I was so excited to CASE Ms. Andrea and try to channel her Ewen Style - holy smokes - can I just say that all I have been doing is drooling over her cards and trying to figure which one I could possibly CASE - wowza - each card is so beautiful and lovely - it was hard to pick just one! Andrea has such an amazing way of creating dimension, depth and texture and creating beauty with everything she touches! This card that I made was CASED from THIS beauty that Andrea made - and wow - what a great layout and love the colors and the ribbon in her card! I tried my best to make Andrea proud in making my card and tried to do justice to her gorgeous creation.  I used the This and That paper collection from LilyBee Designs and tried to get my Ewen Style on :) and used the sweet and inspiring sentiment that I paired together from the Tag Time stamp set. 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Tag Time from Verve Stamps

Paper: LilyBee Designs (This and That 6x6 paper pad), Bazzil cardstocks

Inks: Memento Ladybug Red and Rich Cocoa

Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, Spellbinder's circle punch and lacy nesties, butterfly punch from Martha Stewart, Pearls from Want2Scrap, BoBunny ribbon center treatment, May Arts silk ribbon, heart pins, MME ribbon, liqud pearls and dimensionals. 

I love the side curvy bracket shape that Andrea used and not having that die, I tried to draw out the squiggley shape and cut it out. I added two little butterflies on either side with a little pearl in the center and had to add a scallopy edge to the tops and bottom of the card in tribute to Andrea's amazing way of working with punches - that girl has such a way with punches I tell ya! And I couldn't stop until I had added a couple of lines of liquid pearls around the edges of the card ;) 

This was such a fun challenge and I look forward everyday to see how everyone is CASing each other! And you can play along too and Case-A-Diva and score some yummy new Verve!

Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new Case-a-Diva creation (posted September 16 or later) to the linky widget below before 9pm Mountain on Sunday,October 2nd. 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 Case-a-Diva creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday,October 3rd right here on the Verve blog.

Now it's YOUR turn! We DARE you to show us your creations!

August Diva Dare - Day 5

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It's Friday, Tosh here to share with you what I've made for day 5 of this month's Diva Dare. For those of you that 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! If you all are anything like me, you have tons of cards sitting at home all piled up! I thought it would be fun to make an uplifting & cheerful card and actually send it to someone! There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it! :-)

So, we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up!

I started off by using Amber's fun Viva la Verve sketch for today. You can find it HERE. For each medallion, I used the Curvy Bookplate die with the matching image from the Tag Time set. I also used a variety of other Verve dies: Jotted Heart, Flutterby, and the little heart from the I Heart U die set. The leaves at the top are from the Verve set Sunny Days, as well as the middle sentiment, and the other two sentiments are from Faithful Phrases and Happy Phrases. I added a Spellbinders Beaded Circle behind the sentiment flags, some buttons, and lastly some burlap string.

Here's a closer look at each sentiment medallion:

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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!

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August Diva Dare - Day 1

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Welcome to the August Diva Dare!  For those of you that 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!  If you all are anything like me, you have tons of cards sitting at home all piled up!  I thought it would be fun to make an uplifting & cheerful card and actually send it to someone!  There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it!  :-)

So, we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up!
 
 

 Here is how I answered the dare...  I knew I wanted my card to be encouraging, and I do love me some vintage colors...so I combined them together!  I used the Curvy Bookplate and hope stamps from the Tag Time set, the Keep Fighting sentiment from the Words of Wisdom set, and the matching Curvy Bookplate die.  To carry out the vintage theme, I distressed all of the edges!

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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 below 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!

Click the "Click here to enter" link above for the Diva Dare entry form.
Please type your name or screen name in the Caption or Title field, then choose the link and photo you'd like to enter. Please link directly to the specific blog post or gallery page where we can view your creation. 

Note: If you have trouble linking, try entering the link to your card, then choosing From File instead of From Web. Then just browse to where your picture is saved on your computer to get your thumbnail. Sometimes it takes a moment for your picture to show up after you've used the widget. If it doesn't appear right away, click the control button + F5 to refresh the images on the page.

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Anni-VERVE-sary After Party!

Welcome to our special Anni-VERVE-sary After Party!  The release party may be over, but we are still celebrating!  Each Monday following a release, we will share some of our favorite Diva creations using the newly released stamps along with all the latest sale info!

We're celebrating four wonderful years of Verve with a SALE! Now through August 31, save 10 - 40% on all stamps & dies, including new releases.
Sale limited to stock on hand. No price adjustments for prior purchases.

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And now, some yummy Anni-VERVE-sary eye candy!

Created by Tosha Leyendekker using the Making a Statement set along with the Loopy Blooms, Curvy Bookplate, and Jotted Heart dies.

Created by Teresa Kline using the Making a Statement set along with the Loopy Blooms and Rounded Scalloped Frame Dies.

Created by Sankari Wegman using Tag Time, Sunny Days, Making a Statement, Words of Wisdom sets and Curvy Bookplate Die, Tagged Rectangle Die, Rounded Scallop Frame Die, Loopy Blooms Die Set.

Created by Maureen Plut using You and I, Making a Statement, Tag Time sets and  Rounded Scallop Frame, & Curvy Bookplate dies.

Created by Laurie Schmidlin using the Sunny Days set and From the Heart Die Set.

Created by Julee Tilman using the Sunny Days set.


Created by Jackie Pedro using the Making a Statement set along with Loopy Blooms, Rounded Scallop Frame, & Rounded Rectangle Dies.


Created by Charmaine Ikach using Sip and Savor, Tag Time,  Curvy Bookplate Die, Charming Oval Die Set, & From the Heart Die Set.

Created by Andrea Ewen using  Making A Statement, Words Of Wisdom, Notebook Paper Plain Jane, Loopy Blooms Die Set, Rounded Scallop Frame Die.

Create by Amy Sheffer using the Words of Wisdom set and  Flutterby Die.

Created by Amber Hight using the Sunny Days set along with Tiny Sweet Scallop Tags and Curvy Bookplate dies.



Thanks for joining us here today!  Make sure to check back later this week as we will be kicking off our August Diva Dare!  See you then!