March Diva Dare-Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of the March Diva Dare!! Here's how our Diva Dare works... following each release, we post a theme 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 we dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - Color Me Spring! Whether you are shoveling snow off of your sidewalks and only dreaming of warmer weather or you are already enjoying the first blooms of the season, this challenge is sure to put a spring in your step! How you interpret the challenge is up to you! Stay tuned to learn how you could win some shiny new Verve!!

This is how I answered the dare...

 

Hello Verve fans, it is Teresa and I answered the dare by creating an Egg-Stra Special Flower Pot.  This is little flower pot reminds me of spring, I adore my pots of flowers and hanging baskets.  It may be several more weeks for us, yesterday we had a skip of snow....sigh.  I started with a small paper mache pot and painted it with cream colored acyclic paint, keeping it kinda of messy.  I used the Egg-Stra Special set for my flowers, yes...you read it correct...the eggs from that set are the blooms for my flowers....so cute!  The Charming Oval Die is used to cut the egg shape.  I covered them with my favorite glass glitter and a button tied with twine.   

The butterfly is from the Chicks Rule set and is cut out using the Flutterby Die.  I completed the butterfly with a diamond shaped gemstone.  The tiny heart are stamped and cut out of the Egg-Stra Special set too.  I used small wooden dowels for the flower stems and florist wire for the butterfly and hearts.  I finished the flower pot by tying crinkled ribbon and Prima lace to the pot, so, so sweeet!   I have this sitting in my kitchen window ledge, it is my little "Color Me Spring."  I cannot wait to see what you create!

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1. Play along with us and link up your new Color Me Spring creation (posted March 28 or later) to the linky widget on the DAY 1 POST before midnight MST on Sunday, April 10. 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 Color Me Spring creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Monday, April 11th right here on the Verve blog.

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

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March Diva Dare - Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the March Diva Dare!! Here's how our Diva Dare works... following each release, we post a theme 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 we dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - Color Me Spring! Whether you are shoveling snow off of your sidewalks and only dreaming of warmer weather or you are already enjoying the first blooms of the season, this challenge is sure to put a spring in your step! How you interpret the challenge is up to you! Stay tuned to learn how you could win some shiny new Verve!!

This is how I answered the dare...


Spring is one of my favorite seasons. Not too hot, and color everywhere!! When I think spring, I think of flowers, birds, butterflies, and new life. So, I made a wedding card (new life together) with flowers and butterflies. And since I was thinking about all things new, I thought I'd try a new technique. Now, I've made easel cards before, but never a Circle Easel. So this was fun!

I'm a die and punch-a-holic, so while designing this card, I knew I was going to use the new A Cut Above dies. Julee thinks of everything when she designs. I LOVE how each die in the Charming Oval and Charming Banner dies works with each other. I have a perfect mat around each shape (no more cutting...ye-haw!!), and the banners fit perfectly inside the ovals. How sweet is that!!! Then there's the sweeeeeeeet Flutterby die!! Love the two sizes of these butterflies too. You can find the large one in the Chicks Rule set, and the smaller one in the Egg-stra Special set. I added a bit of Stardust Stickles to the centers to make these flying beauties pop. And, since I wanted to make this a wedding card I combined images and dies from the newest release with sentiments from a previous release called Love Story. Julee's designs work that way...mixing and matching is not only a breeze, but oh so fun!!

Here's a close up of the smaller Charming Banner Die paired with the Charming Oval Dies, along with the sweet Flutterby image that I cut with the Flutterby die.



And here's a close up of the Charming Oval dies that I included on the inside of the card.

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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 Color Me Spring creation (posted March 28 or later) to the linky widget on the DAY 1 POST before midnight MST on Sunday, April 10. 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 Color Me Spring creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday, April 11th right here on the Verve blog.

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

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March Diva Dare - Day 2

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Welcome to Day TWO of the March Diva Dare!  Here's how our Diva Dare works... following each release, we post a theme 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 we dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - Color Me Spring!  Whether you are shoveling snow off of your sidewalks and only dreaming of warmer weather or you are already enjoying the first blooms of the season, this challenge is sure to put a spring in your step! How you interpret the challenge is up to you!  Stay tuned to learn how you could win some shiny new Verve!!

This is how I answered the dare...

When I think of spring.... one of the things that I think about is our wee little daughter and her birthday next week! She born on Easter (a week after her duedate!) and when she was born, all the nurses at the hospital gave her little bunnies and baby chick stuffed animals - so sweet! So for my  Color Me Spring, I decided to make a little birthday present for my little chickie :) I made a card and a coordinating footstool/bench that I painted and then covered with modpodge to protect it and then covered it with a light glaze.  I painted it in her favorite color: purple! Here is a picture of the little giftset that I made for my chickie princess:

I painted a white footstool with purple and then covered it with the papers from the EP Springtime collection. For the footstool, I created a little layout using Charley from the Chicks Rule collection, as well as her friends from the To The Moon stamp set (adding a bright pink bow to their head :)

 On the sides of the little bench - I stamped the sentiment: "Chicks Rule" from the Chicks Rule stamp set and added hearts from the Love Notes stamp set.

Here is a picture of the top of the little bench:  I cut out the larger shape using the Grand Calibur and then added a scalloped edging on the sides. I love this sentiment - because it is so true - my little 3 year old is totally one of the coolest chicks I know! I stamped little Charley and her friends and paper pieced them using the DP and then added a pink bow to each of them from the Chicks Rule Stamp set.

Here is the birthday card for me little princess :) One of my favorite things that my daughter does every morning when I leave to go to work, is open the window and she watches me walk to the car and when I open the car door - she always yells out "I love you" and I say "I love you too!" and then we both wave to each other - its one of my favorite parts of our morning routine - so I thought that I would make little Chole wave from out the window. I created a little cut out shape and then added shutters and added a little window basket by cutting out half of  the basket from the Chicks Rule stamp set. I added the happy birthday sentiment from the Birthday Bash stamp set into the newly released Charming Oval die set from A Cut Above dies from Verve stamps:

Card Ingredients: 

Paper: Springtime collection from EP and purple prism papers

Stamps: Chicks Rule, Love Notes (for the little trio of pink hearts), To the Moon (for the little monkey, bear and elephant) , Birthday Bash (for the sentiment)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, Grape Jelly, RoseRed 

Accessories: liquid pearls, pink ribbon from stash, Spellbinders, bling, copics, sponger, dimensionals, scorpal, star hatpin, stickles (Diamond), Martha Stewart heart punch, footstool from Michaels, copics and bling.

I love spring and I love being able to leave the snowsuits at home and go for a walk with my kids! I am excited to decorate the house in pink and purple for our daughter's springtime birthday and even more excited to give her this Chicks Rule giftset :) Hope you will play along with the Diva Dare challenge and share with us your Color Me Spring creation!

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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 Color Me Spring creation (posted March 28 or later) to the linky widget on the DAY 1 POST before midnight MST on Sunday, April 10. 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 Color Me Spring creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Monday, April 11th right here on the Verve blog.

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

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March Diva Dare - Day 1

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Welcome to Day one of the March Diva Dare!  Here's how our Diva Dare works... following each release, we post a theme 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 we dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - Color Me Spring!  Whether you are shoveling snow off of your sidewalks and only dreaming of warmer weather or you are already enjoying the first blooms of the season, this challenge is sure to put a spring in your step! How you interpret the challenge is up to you!  Stay tuned to learn how you could win some shiny new Verve!!

This is how I answered the dare...

Whenever I think of Spring, I think of happiness.  And when I think of happiness, my thoughts naturally go to rainbows!  It may not be conventional, but it is how my rainbow loving mind works!  LOL!  Because I wanted an overall soft project, I chose to use a pastel version of my beloved rainbow palette.  After I had my cardstock pieces glued in place, I embossed the flower (from the new Chicks Rule set) in white.  For the tag, I embossed the Think Spring sentiment (from the new Egg-stra Special set) and then cut it out using the new Charming Oval Die!

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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 Color Me Spring creation (posted March 28 or later) to the linky widget below before midnight MST on Sunday, April 10. 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 Color Me Spring creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Monday, April 11th 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 at the bottom of this post 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.  If you're having problems 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.

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March Release After Party

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Hi Verve fans!  Welcome to the March After Party!  We will be sharing some of our favorite projects from this release as well as the latest SALE info!!

Right now through April 15th, you can save 15% when you purchase the March 2011 Stamp Collection bundle!

Don't miss out on the Spring Savings sale!  Sale prices are good through the end of March!

And now for some Vervalicious eye candy...

Created by Tosha Leyendekker, featuring the Hope Perches Plain Jane.

Created by Teresa Kline, featuring the Egg-Stra Special and Easter Elegance sets.

Created by Sankari Wegman, featuring the Chicks Rule and Up, Up, & Away sets and the Charming Oval Die set.

Created by Maureen Plut, featuring the Chicks Rule set.

Created by Laurie Schmidlin, featuring the Chicks Rule set.

Created by Julee Tilman, featuring the Chicks Rule and To the Moon sets and the Charming Oval Die set and Embossed Oval Die.

Created by Jackie Pedro, featuring the Chicks Rule set and the Charming Oval Die set.

Created by Charmaine Ikach, featuring the Chicks Rule and Egg-stra Special sets and the Flutterby Die.

Created by Andrea Ewen, featuring the Egg-stra Special set.

Created by Amy Sheffer, featuring the Chicks Rule set.

Created by Amber Hight, featuring the Chicks Rule set.

We sure hope you have enjoyed our favorite projects!  We adore our Verve stamps and love to share them with you!

Join us, right here, tomorrow for the beginning of our March Diva Dare!

New Stamps and Dies!!

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We've just released 3 new sets, a plain jane and 3 new dies! Now through April 15, buy the March 2011 Stamp Collection and save15%! For a little inspiration with our new sets, check out the gorgeous samples in our design team gallery. March Stamp Collection Chicks Rule Egg-stra Special Lucky Ducky Hope Perches Flutterby Die Charming Oval Die Set Charming Banner Die Set

March Spotlight Hop - Day 3

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Hi Verve fans! Are you ready for our final day of Spotlights? Tonight's the ReLeAsE pArTy over in our SCS forum from 9-11pm Eastern! All the sets and dies we've been previewing this week will be available for purchase following the party.  Yippeee!!!

And speaking of previewing, we've got one last set and another die to share with you today.  Hop along with us to see our first looks at Chicks Rule and the Flutterby Die.


Oh, and did I mention there's a prize??? We love to celebrate here at Verve, so we've hidden a prize along the hop today! One lucky commenter on one of the Diva Hop Spots below will receive today's featured stamps, (Chicks Rule and the Flutterby Die)! Deadline for commenting is 6PM Mountain TONIGHT (3/25)! Winners will be announced during our ReLeAsE pArTy!

Here's the final hop list, then read on for a little back story on the newest chicks in the Verve menagerie!

1. Maureen 7. Sankari 2. Amy 8. Tosh 3. Amber 9. Julee 4. Janelle 10. Andrea 5. Teresa 11. Charmaine 6. Laurie

Chicks Rule is a set of 21 chick-themed stamps, including three special little chicks. Meet Chloe, Charley and Chaz. I like to call them the Chicklets. Chloe’s ALL girl, and refuses to be seen in public without a flower in her hair. Her big sister, Charley, prefers to rule the roost with a crown and scepter and thinks flowers are for little peeps. Speaking of little peeps, Chaz is the baby of the bunch. He’s all fluff and feathers and chicks totally dig him.  Together, they're the Chicklets and they're here to tell you that Chicks RULE!

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March Spotlight Hop - Day 2

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Hi Verve fans! Are you ready for another day of hopping? We're counting down to our Friday, March 25 release with three days of Spotlight Hops! Today is day two and the release Divas are shining their spotlights on an Egg-stra Special set and two new die sets! Hop along with us, as we show and tell.

Oh, and did I mention there's a prize??? We love to celebrate here at Verve, so we've hidden a prize along the hop today! One lucky commenter on one of the Diva Hop Spots below will receive today's featured stamps and dies...Egg-stra Special, Charming Banner Die Set and Charming Oval Die Set! Deadline for commenting is 6PM Mountain on Friday, March 25. Winners will be announced during our ReLeAsE pArTy that night!

And here's today's line-up!  HAPPY HOPPING!

1. Laurie 7. Julee 2. Charmaine 8. Sankari 3. Jackie 9. Janelle 4. Amber 10. Maureen 5. Tosh 11. Teresa 6. Andrea 12. Amy

For a little info about today's set and dies read on...
Egg-stra Special continues our theme of spring whimsy with fanciful images and egg-cellent sentiments. And because I like stamps that can be used year round, the Easter eggs in this set can double as balloons.  I've even included a string image and a heart and star shape that can also be turned into balloons for our spring chicks and ducks to hold.

The Charming Banner and Charming Oval Die sets can be used separately, but also are designed to layer together and are perfect for framing smaller sentiments like those in our Phrases line of stamps. The Charming Oval Die Set is pictured here, and includes three dies. They come connected with a thin strip of metal to keep them all together, but if you wish to use them separately, just snip the little connectors and you'll have 3 separate dies. Nifty, huh? As with our other dies, this set comes with plastic alignment tools to help with stamp placement and is packaged neatly in a vinyl pocket for easy storage.

Okay, that's all for today.  We'll see you back here tomorrow, same duck time, same duck channel!

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March Spotlight Hop - Day 1

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Hi Verve fans! Are you ready to see some new Verve? We're counting down to our Friday, March 25 release with three days of Spotlight Hops! This release is all about spring whimsy, lucky ducks and hip chicks and we're starting things off with a look at our brand new mini set and plain jane.  If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck... well, then, it's probably a Lucky Ducky, which is today's featured set!  All the new stamps and dies you see over the next three days will be available following our ReLeAsE pArTy this Friday night from 9-11pm Eastern.

Oh, and did I mention there's a prize??? We love to celebrate here at Verve, so we've hidden a prize along the hop today! One lucky commenter on one of the Diva Hop Spots below will receive today's featured stamps, (Lucky Ducky and the Hope Perches Plain Jane) plus the Charming Oval Die Set we'll be previewing tomorrow! Deadline for commenting is 6PM Mountain on Friday, March 25. Winners will be announced during our ReLeAsE pArTy that night!

And hopping along with us this month is our March Guest Diva, Janelle Stollfus!  Janelle has been wowing me for quite some time with her unique and intricate projects. You can tell she puts a lot of thought and creativity into everything she designs - and she's always leaves me wondering, "how in the world did she do that?". Her gorgeous entry in our February 2011 Get Your Diva On challenge won her a spot as this month's Guest Diva, and I'm so excited for you to see what she's come up with for this release!  I actually squealed out loud when I saw her projects for this release, so you're definitely not going to want to miss a thing!  

Okay, that's probably enough chitchat.  Here's the official hop list for today.  On your mark, get set.... HOP! :)

1. Charmaine 7. Teresa 2. Janelle 8. Amber 3. Laurie 9. Tosh 4. Jackie 10. Amy 5. Sankari 11. Andrea 6. Julee 12. Maureen

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March Get Your Diva On WINNERS

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Hi Verve fans! It's Julee, popping in with the winner's announcement for our March Get Your Diva On challenge! There were some GORGEOUS entries, and I had so much fun checking them all out! And since it's so hard to narrow down such gorgeousness, I wanted to give a shout-out to my top 6 favorites...

Crestajune	Edna15	meedi-j
MelissaDH	redlynny	spartanlibra

Congrats finalists!  You all will receive a gift code for 20% off your next Verve order.  Email us at info@vervestamps.com to claim your prize.

After narrowing it down to those six, I had the hardest time picking a winner.  I've got a soft spot for big flowers, bling and shabby chic, so each one of these cards makes me a ltitle giddy.  I finally decided to pick TWO winners.  Both were finalists in last month's challenge and their recent uploads have been making me stop and stare.

So the Guest Diva tiaras go to....

crestajune of Cresta's Creations!
This card is just pure elegance.  I love the classy color combo, the gorgeous flower for the pop of color and the fabulous bling.  Other details like the subtle stamped background, sheer ribbon and swiss dots embossed card base are just icing on this scrumptious cake of a card.

And this card from last month's challenge with these shabby flowers kept calling my name.  Gorgeous!



MelissaDH of My Paper Obsession!

Melissa entered not one, but two cards in this month's  challenge, and both were among my favorites.  I love the modern, graphic feel of this scripture card.  It has just the perfect amount of distressing and that bow and ribbon flower are spectactular.

Her second card is all softness and beauty.  I love the fabulous bow and the flawless way she pulled off both of these styles.


Congrats Cresta and Melissa!  Email me at info@vervestamps.com with your shipping information and I'll get back to you with details about our April release!


Thanks to everyone who played along!   If you didn't win this time, mark your calendars for the next Get Your Diva On Challenge... April 11!

And tune in tomorrow for the first day of Spotlight Hops for our March release!

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