July Diva Dare 2012 - Day 1

Hola, Verve fans, welcome to Day One of our July Diva Dare! We haven't done one of these in a while, so as a reminder, here's how it works. 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 or project using a BIRTHDAY theme. Did you know that July is a big birthday month here at Verve? Five of our Divas have July birthdays, including the boss lady, Julee. Let's celebrate with some fun birthday projects!  We can't wait to see how you answer the dare! (Stay tuned to see how you could win some shiny new Verve!)

Here's what I came up with …

The cupcake tote is a cut file designed by Lori Whitlock for the Silhouette store. I enlarged the pieces by 125%, then cut them on my Silhouette out of a combination of ivory card stock and papers from Crate Paper's Random collection. I tied the top closed with some jute string, added some crinkled and dyed seam binding, then topped it with a red checked button (to look like a cherry on top). I further embellished with some paper flowers and a small tag that I die-cut with Verve's Tiny Sweet Sallop Die Set. On the tag I added a sentiment using stamps from the Birthday Bash stamp set. 


While making the cupcake tote, I fell in love all over again with Crate Paper's Random collection and decided to make a coordinating card: 

The balloons are from Birthday Bash and the tiny "happy birthday" sentiment is from Small Phrases. I die-cut the heart using the Jotted Heart die and the chunky letter "u" using the I Heart U
Die Set. I finished up with a little bit of this and that here and there, or maybe I should say quite a bit of this and that here, there, and everywhere! 


Here's the pair:

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Would you like a chance to win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES? There are two ways to win:

1. Play along with our Birthday Diva Dare. Link up your creation (posted July 16 or later) to the linky widget below before 6:00 pm MT on Sunday, July 29. One lucky stamper will win a $30 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 birthday creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing.

Winners will be announced on Monday, July 30 right here on the Verve blog.

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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.