Verve in 2011

---

Hi everyone! Are you all excited to be back snug in your routines after the holiday break?  I mentioned on Saturday that I'd be back to detail some of the exciting new things we've got planned at Verve this year.  So grab a cup of joe, because I've got a lot of things to share!

First off, our amazing Divas!  Oh my word, these gals have become like family to me and I'm so blessed to have them along for the ride this year!  We're trying something a little different with the team in 2011, and it will mean a wider variety of  Verve-alicious inspiration for all!

Growing up, my family instilled in me a great sense of being a good steward with whatever things I was blessed with.  And because I rarely got the shiny new toys, I developed imagination and a creative mind for making old things new again.  Over the past year I've felt that Verve has been going at a breakneck pace trying to keep up with monthly releases.  I get a little saddened with each new release, as I put the last release's sets up on the shelf, knowing it will be quite some time before I'll have time to play with them again.

I think it's a little sad that there's all that Verve out there collecting dust.  Just because it's not the latest release, doesn't mean that we can't all get inspired by it!  So Mark and I decided to form a new team to focus on highlighting stamps from previous releases.  We're starting things off with 6 of our insanely talented Divas and will be adding to this team in the coming months.  I can't wait to see what they choose to inspire us with!


The rest of the Divas, including our two newest Divas will be focusing on new releases and challenges!  You'll get to see them in action starting tomorrow with our first New Release Spotlight Hop of 2011!  Here's a refresher of their smiling faces!


Wow!  That's a lot of smiling Divas!  These gals post so many more fabulous creations than what we have time to share during our releases,  so this year we've devised a little organizational  thread to make it easier to find our design team's Verve posts.  Each time any of the Divas post a Verve creation on their blog, they'll be linking to the Divas in the Blogosphere thread over in our forum. So check back often for new inspiration!
 
Next up, we've got some challenges!  We love seeing your Verve and want to inspire you to create!  As I announced last week, there's a new look for Viva la Verve! and we'll be having a new card sketch every Friday!  We hope you'll play along.

We've also re-engineered our monthly Project Parade and it's now the Diva Dare!  This challenge will be an anything goes (make a card, a project, a scrapbook layout.... anything that fits your stamping style!) challenge and will start the Friday following each release right here on the blog.  We'll have a theme we'll "dare" you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the dare.  During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare.  There will be prizes for comments and prizes for participation, so tune in January 14 ... if you dare!!!  :)

There's a NEW Diva challenge in town!  Each month, starting in February, one of the release team Divas will host a week long challenge over in our forum.  This is your chance to Get Your Diva On, and there's a super sweet prize!  One participant each month will be chosen to be a future Guest Diva!  That means the winner will receive an entire Verve release, as well as get to play along behind the scenes with the Divas during an upcoming release!  This challenge will start on the 2nd Monday of each month and you'll have until that Saturday night to get your entries in!  So mark your calendars for our first Get Your Diva On challenge... Monday, February 14!

Last, but not least, we want to see what you're creating!  Whether you're stamping for a challenge or just because, we LOVE to see your Verve!  So we've created a thread in our forum just to showcase YOUR Verve-alicious creations! Whenever you blog about or upload a Verve card or project to your gallery, leave a little link over on the Show Us Your Verve thread so we can come check it out! We'll be randomly picking some winners each month for some fun prizes, so show us your VERVE!!!

I'm sure there's a few other new things we'll be introducing as the year goes on, but I think that's enough rambling for one Monday morning!  LOL  Tune in tomorrow for the first day of our New Release Spotlight Hops!