May 2013 Spotlight Hops - Day 1

Hi there Verve fans!  I'm so excited that it's ALMOST time to release some new Verve into the world!  We'll be releasing 5 new sets, 4 plain janes, 3 dies and 2 ribbon collections on Friday, May 10.  And as we countdown to our release, the Divas are strutting their new Verve with daily blog hops now through Friday!

And since we LOVE to share our Verve, we've got a giveaway every day this week!  Just hop around to the blogs on today's hop and tell us what you think in the comments at each stop and you'll be entered in a drawing to win today's featured stamps!  Woohoo!

Day 1 PRIZE: Take Note and Graduation Plain Jane
Comment Deadline:  Sunday, May 12 @ 5PM Mountain

1. Julee 8. Andrea 2. Charmaine 9. Jen M. 3. Teresa 10. Laurie W. 4. Stacey 11. Laurie S. 5. Amber 12. Janelle 6. Christyne 13. Maureen 7. Marisa

Hopping along with us this week are two very special Guest Divas!  I've been watching these gals for quite some time with coffee, an iPad and a twin or two in tow.  I love their different styles, bold uses of color and often find myself completely inspired to go stamp after checking out their posts.  Here's a peek at their smiling faces and some of my favorite Verve creations from their blogs.  They've got some fabulous cards to share with you using this release, so be sure to give them a shout out when you hop through the list!

Jen Mitchell blogs at I-Create.  Image Credits: {Card 1}, {Card 2}, {Card 3}

 Stacey Schafer blogs at Stacey's Stamping Stage.  Image Credits: {Card 1}, {Card 2}, {Card 3}

Okay, now that you know the who... it's time for the what.  Check out the reveals and a little back story on today's featured stamps below...
 

Take Note is our first feature of the day.  This $24 set takes buildable sentiments to a whole new level with 32 mix and match sentiments, alphabet strip backgrounds, and a few "this and that" images.  Whether you're scrapbooking or cardmaking, there's a little something for everyone here.

Quite a while ago Jen del Muro sent me a couple sentiment set concepts, including an idea for a just because set with a darling little heartstring image to hang from the B in because.  I started in on designing it right away, and then pregnancy and twins and just general life put a hold on my design queue. When Jen told me she was starting her own company, I figured I better get back to finishing up that set (with her permission, of course).  That's when the idea struck to combine two of the set concepts to make a super-mondo-always-have-the-right-words-to-say, sort of sentiment set!

I'm particularly excited to use the typewritten alpha strip to do some ransome note kind of sentiments.  I think it would be fun to just cut up the letters and glue them together. {grin} And a little envelope with star or heart seals?  What's not to love?  And with so many sentiment combinations, I can see myself pulling for this set over and over again.

Our plain jane feature today is the Happy Graduation plain jane.  My nephew is graduating from high school this year and I just had to have a big Happy Graduation stamp to make a card for him.  I think that's one of the best things about owning my own stamp company... getting to make exactly the stamps I need in my own arsenal!  I purposely used a font combination that could work for either gender, and at approximately 2.25" x 1" tall, this graduation sentiment is perfect as either a focal point to your card front, or a message inside your card.

Mix Happy Graduation with Take Note, or with our new teacher appreciation set that's being revealed later this week, and you can turn this plain jane into a graduation card fit for any age group.


All of the stamps and dies featured this week will be available for purchase in the Verve Store on Friday, May 10.

Thanks so much for hopping with us today!  Have a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow for some more fresh new looks at VERVE!