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!!

New Release Spotlight - Day Three

Hey there!  It's Charmaine and today I get to introduce another new Verve set to you!  This set is called Blessings. Blessings is a set of 12 including wonderful sentiments and a few flourishes!  It's just beautiful!  You'll especially love this set if you're Irish!  :)  So let's see what the Divas have to share with you!

From Diva Laurie Schmidlin: 

Amazingly uplifting sentiments, beautiful fonts, & stunning images that coordinate perfectly...yes, Julee has done it again! Blessings is one of those "must-have" sets that can be used to create one-of-a-kind projects for so many different occasions! I just adore the unique flourishes that accompany the sentiments...ones that I will be reaching for over and over!



From Diva Jen del Muro:

I love what some refer to as "wedding season." All the pretty fresh colors and love in the air just makes for the perfect inspiration for a wedding card. This uses the soon to be released set, Blessings. Not only does this set have wedding wishes, but can be used for several other occasions. I look forward to making many more cards using this very versatile and fun set.



From Diva Shannan Teubner:

Hey, y'all! I'm so glad to finally be back with my fellow divas to showcase the upcoming release for April. Like I told Charmaine, it was good to finally get back into my stamp room and get messy...and boy did I!

I have been in love with the new Blessings set since I first laid eyes on it. This particular stamp in the set is especially close to my heart...our choir sang it many times in high school, and it is very special to me. My choir director is retiring this year, so I decided to make a special little gift for him to display in his office. Using the front page of a Basic Grey chipboard book as my starting point, I added Jillibean Soup papers, acrylic paint, jute, and buttons to create a wall hanging that would work just as well in a kitchen or bathroom as it would in an office or study. Now the hard part...letting it go!
 
 
 
From Diva Charmaine Ikach:
 

As you know from a previous Verve set, Beautiful You, this is one of my absolute favorite sentiments.  I was SO excited to see it in this set in another font!  This sentiment has always been a reminder to for me to "not sweat the small stuff."  Life is too short!  I also used the Hibiscus Plain Jane paired with one of the flourishes from Blessings.  I used Glossy Accents on the flower, so it really jumps out at you! 

From Guest Diva Christi Thorsen:

 

Blessed is a word that really describes me right now. I have a wonderful family, I am able to stay at home with my boys and do what I love, and I'm a guest Diva for my all-time favorite stamp companies. That's why I'm so excited to be showing off this gorgeous new set called Blessings. My stepdad recently lost his uncle so this set came at the perfect time. I based the colors of my card off of my new Marrakech dp from Basic Grey. I stamped my sentiment in Elegant Eggplant ink and one of the gorgeous flourishes from this set in Baja Breeze ink on either side of my sentiment, and cut it out using my circle Nestabilities and Cuttlebug. I cut out three panels from different patterns from the Marrikech pack, sponged the edges in Colorbox Chestnut Roan ink, and matted them onto PTI white cardstock. I added a strip of navy cardstock across the card and added some gray organdy ribbon and some silver beads along the outer edge of the circle to frame the sentiment a bit more. You are going to LOVE the elegance of this set. The flourishes and sentiments are just amazing.

Like what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment here on this post before 6:00 PM Eastern on Friday, April 23, 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 Friday night. And for even more chances to win some new Verve, be sure to check out the Beach Party Challenges going on in our forum! Stay tuned tomorrow for another release spotlight!