Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

It's time for the winner's announcements from our blog party and hop! Hooray!!! We had so much fun during release with y'all. Thanks for all your comments and challenge creations. Verve fans are the BEST! :)

I'll start off with the winner of the whole shebang. If you're one of the winners listed below, the details for claiming your prize are at the end of the post.

Our little blog hop treat was hidden on Amy's blog post. And the winner is...

Niki Estes who said...
Amy, this is absolutely gorgeous! I love the vintage feel with the lace, buttons, colors, etc!

Congrats Niki, you've won the entire release!

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Our first challenge was a color challenge to use turquoise, olive, black and white. The winner is Lisa M. aka Lisabee with this stunning little joyfold card using 1 Peter 5:7 and Kindred Spirits.

Congrats Lisa! You've won a $25 gift certificate to the Verve Store!

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Our second challenge was a sketch challenge with a twist of thankfulness. The winner is Maureen with this gorgeous card using Christmas in the Air, Frosty Flakes and Thankful Blossoms. I just love the clever way she added the twist of thankfulness with a library clip!

Congrats, Maureen! You've won a $25 gift certificate to the Verve Store!

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Our third challenge was a challenge to embellish with things that start with the letters in VERVE. The winner is Lori with this beautiful card using Snow Wonderful. Isn't that embossed vellum just dreamy? And, OF COURSE, I love the colors! LOL For her embellishments, Lori used Vellum, Embossing folder and Velvet ribbon.

Congrats Lori! You've won a $25 gift certificate to the Verve Store!

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Our fourth challenge was to make a mini pizza box using the template created by Jen del Muro. The winner is Amy with this elegant box using Poinsettia Christmas and Ornamental Christmas. I love the traditional elegance of the red with gold accents. Gorgeous!

Congrats Amy! You've won a $25 gift certificate to the Verve Store!

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Our final challenge was to make a gift card or money holder. The winner is Regina with this trendy little gift card holder. I just love how simple & classy all that white space with a splash of color is. And how cute is it that she used the negative space of the snowflake punch and placed the gemstone on the inside? Too clever!

Congrats Regina! You've won a $25 gift certificate to the Verve Store!

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And last but not least, we have the winners from our Reveal give-away threads...

The Plain Jane Prize Pack goes to.... Janice Webb
The Celebration of Thanks Prize Pack goes to ... Jennifer
The Thankful Hearts Prize Pack goes to ... Kerri
The Thankful Accents Prize Pack goes to... Julie E.

Congrats to all the winners! To claim your prize, email me at contests@vervestamps.com. If you've won a prize pack, please include your full name and shipping address. If you've won a gift certificate, just mention which challenge you won.

Until next time... Happy Stamping!
-Julee

Blog PaRtY: That's a Wrap and a HOP

So did you enjoy the party today? We sure had a blast putting it on! Thanks so much for celebrating our new release with us! If you've been out shopping all day, there's still time to participate in today's 5 challenges - the deadline for entries is midnight on Monday 11/30. A great excuse to stay in and stamp this weekend, right?

The new sets have just released, along with the start of our Weekend Sale (tonight through Monday, 11/30), but don't go just yet! We have one last thing up our sleeve for tonight! For the grand finale, the Divas are putting on a blog hop with fresh new Verve projects. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride as they take our newest sets for a test drive. Then head on over to the Verve store, where all the new sets and a whole lot of weekend only Thankful DEALS {25 - 33% off over 40 sets} are waiting for you!

And to make our little blog hop even sweeter, we’ve got a special treat hidden along the way for one lucky commenter. So if you see something that makes you smile, be sure to give a little shout-out in the comments of the Divas' posts for a chance to win our entire release!

Here's the list of hops. If you get lost or there's a hiccup in the chain, just head back here for the next Verve-a-licious link!

1. Julee
2. Amy
3. Mercy
4. Laurie
5. Teresa
6. Sankari
7. Jen d.
8. Michelle
9. Tosh
10. Jackie
11. Susan
12. Lynda
13. Charmaine
14. Jen T.
15. Amber

Blog PaRtY: Thankful Accents Reveal

It's time for our final set reveal! Thankful Accents boasts a fun circle centerpiece to feature the thankful sentiments in this release, as well as four thankful sentiments, and some fabulous doodled accents & elements to dress up your projects.

{Note: You can give the image to the right a little clicksy to embiggen it and preview the whole set in all its glory.}

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Designed by Amy Sheffer...

If you like the doodled look, but have always wished you could kick it up a notch toward something a little more fancy and elegant, then Thankful Accents is for you! The imagery has just enough of a hand-drawn look, but still retains the flourishy elegance you'd expect from a Verve set. I know the Divas all say this month after month, but seriously, how does Julee DO it?! This doodled elegance blend is so fresh and unexpected - I adore it! There are some wonderful sentiments and a beautiful, large flourish-style circle image that is more the centerpiece of this set, but I have to say it's all the little bits and pieces, the accent images, that really struck my fancy the most. I've had the best time stamping these little gems into different patterns and designs, such as the pennant border I created for this card. The bold, edgy color combo is from Mercy and Teresa's current color challenge. I kept the focal point simple, but elegant with a two-layer punched butterfly framed in a narrow oval. The sentiment will go on the inside.

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Designed by Amber Hight...

Another great release from Verve! The sets being released today are going to remain a permanent fixture on my stamping table! I love the fonts Julee mixed in this month, they're so fun and whimsical! The set Thankful Accents is full of fun sentiments and little accents to jazz your projects up!

I used Dark Chocolate and Aqua Mist by PTI for my colors, which I pulled from the beautiful Bo Bunny dp! I really love the fancy circle element in this stamp set, and the sentiments fit right inside! Especially when you punch them out with circle punches. It's a little light, but I stamped an accent right behind the sentiment in Aqua Mist ink, it's a really lovely effect! You may also see a bit of the polka dot stamp from Bountiful Backgrounds.

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Okay, are you ready for another giveaway? Just leave a comment on this post to be entered in a random drawing for a Thankful Accents Pack! The pack will include the Thankful Accents set, {which we've revealed in this post}, as well as some luscious ribbons, papers and embellishments! Deadline to enter is Monday, 11/30 at midnight Mountain time.

Blog PaRtY: Challenge 5

Hi Everyone! Its Jen and Sankari here hoping that you had a great Thanksgiving and have been enjoying all the lovely challenges, peeks and reveal of these beautiful stamp sets that our lovely Julee has designed! We are here with the last Verve Challenge for the night (Challenge #5) which we are calling the Gift Card Challenge!

During the holiday season, we often want to thank so many people around us for all of their service and hard work all year long (like the mailman, the hair stylist, etc.) and its nice to have some gift card holders on hand! So our challenge to you is to create a gift card holder of your own. You can create a gift card holder for birthdays, as a thank you, for anniversaries, for the holidays - whatever theme you would like! We are enclosing some links to some gift card making tutorials to help get your mojo going!

Tutorial 1 Link
Tutorial 2 Link
Tutorial 3 Link

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Designed by Jen Tapler


I made 2 sample gift card holders. This first is a simple 4x4 card folded in half and uses both the Thankful Hearts and Thankful Accents sets. The inside card has two slits cut in it for the gift card to slide into:



Here is the second sample with the sentiment, "You're So Sweet" from the Thankful Accents set:

Simple instructions for this holder:
- Cut cardstock to 4 1/4 x 7 inches, Score at 1 1/2 and 4 1/2 inches (along the 7-inch side), Fold 1 1/2 inch section in and use brads to adhere to middle section - forming the gift card "pocket".
- Fold remaining "flap" over the top and use either ribbon, velcro, or something else creative to hold it closed!

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Designed by Sankari Wegman


Hi everyone! I also made two sample gift cards. The first one uses the new Thankful Hearts set and is an A2 card with a top note die cut that I folded in half and attached to the front of the card. I made a little pocket in it and created a detachable note that can hold a gift card). When you take the note out of the folder you can open up the inside of it to reveal the gift card:



This was such a fun and easy card and I couldn't wait to create another one :) This gift card is a die cut of a trifold card that has a half a heart on either side that when closed looks like heart. I created a little pocket inside for the gift card and decorated the outside with one of my fave sentiments from Thankful Hearts: "You Touched My Heart" - here is a view of it and when you open it up - on the inside of the heart it says "You are too Kind":

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To play along, just make a new gift card or money holder for any occasion. Post a picture of your creation online and link us to it using the Mr. Linky widget below. Enter by 10pm Mountain on Monday, 11/30 for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve!

Here are the rules, they're pretty easy:

• Each entry must be unique and new
• Please do not combine any of today's 5 blog party challenges
• You may combine with any other types of challenges (SCS, blogs, etc)
• Verve stamps are NOT required
• If possible, please link back to this post when you upload your creation
• Have fun!

Blog PaRtY: Thankful Hearts Reveal

It's time for another set reveal! Thankful Hearts has 10 small sentiments with a thankful theme, all designed at about 1 1/8" wide, so they'll work perfectly with all sorts of punches and dies. I just love how easy it is to make quick little thank you cards with these sentiments!

{Note: You can give the image to the right a little clicksy to embiggen it and preview the whole set in all its glory.}

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Designed by Jackie Pedro...

Hi everyone! It's Jackie here! Don't you think this blog party is a blast? I hope you've all recovered from your Thanksgiving feasts and are geared up for another fantastic Verve release! I'm thrilled, and oh so thankful, to be sharing a peek of the new set Thankful Hearts! Verve is known for fantastic sentiments and this set will definitely not dissapoint! It is chock full of different "Thankful" sentiments such as "Merci Beaucoup" and the sentiment I used today, "You Touched My Heart." This will definitely be a "go to" set for me! For my card I used this fun pink polka dot dp from October Afternoon and paired it with Kraft and Vintage Cream cardstock. I also decided to throw in a little So Saffron for a little punch of color. The sentiment was cut out with Heart Nestabilities and while the cardstock was still in the die, I sponged on some So Saffron ink with a sponge. The Vintage Cream panel and the Kraft strip across the front were both embossed with embossing folders (Swirl and Swiss Dot) using a Cuttlebug. Some beautiful satin ribbon and buttons and the card was complete!

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Designed by Charmaine Ikach...

Here is a peek using one of the newest Verve sets to be released, Thankful Hearts. It is no secret that I ADORE all of the sentiments that Julee creates for her sets. As a matter of fact, I know a lof of you feel the same way! They are always perfect and say exactly what I need to say. The fonts are always just gorgeous as well! I particularly LOVE the fonts Julee used in this set. They actually remind me of Julee's own handwriting. I would LOVE to have handwriting like her, but this set is the next best thing. . .well, other than having Julee make the card herself! :) I know you are going to love all of the sentiments in this set too!

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Okay, are you ready for another giveaway? Just leave a comment on this post to be entered in a random drawing for a Thankful Hearts Prize Pack! The pack will include the Thankful Hearts set, {which we've revealed in this post}, as well as some luscious ribbons, papers and embellishments! Deadline to enter is Monday, 11/30 at midnight Mountain time.

Blog PaRtY: Challenge 4

Hi everyone! How's your day so far? Ready for another challenge??? This one comes from Susan Liles and Jen del Muro...

Who’s gobbled up enough turkey to last them until next year? I know at the Liles’ house, we are “stuffed” to the waddle! So rather than dwelling on having to eat those leftovers AGAIN, Jen del Muro and I thought it would be fun to engage ya’ll in a little MINI PIZZA BOX challenge to get our minds off that turkey! As a matter of fact, just go ahead and call up Papa John’s while you make your little box!

The MINI PIZZA BOX is a lot of fun to put together and there are so many ways to embellish it! It’s the perfect size to hand to someone for a little “thank you” gift. Filled with peppermints, chocolate, gift cards or a wrapped up large cookie inside it makes for an inexpensive way to let someone know you are “thanking” of them. It’s also SUPER EASY to make and they come together really quick. The finished size is 4x4x1 inches.

{HERE} is link to a very short and simple tutorial on Splitcoast written by our very own Jen del Muro. You'll be hooked in no time!

And here's some sneaky peeky inspiration from Jen and Susan to get the juices flowing...

Designed by Jen del Muro
Jen's sample uses stamps from the new Thankful Accents set.

Designed by Susan Liles
Susan's sample uses stamps from the new Thankful Hearts set

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To play along, just make a new handmade creation using the pizza box template. Post a picture of your creation online and link us to it using the Mr. Linky widget below. Enter by 10pm Mountain on Monday, 11/30 for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve!

Here are the rules, they're pretty easy:

• Each entry must be unique and new
• Please do not combine any of today's 5 blog party challenges
• You may combine with any other types of challenges (SCS, blogs, etc)
• Verve stamps are NOT required
• If possible, please link back to this post when you upload your creation
• Have fun!

Blog PaRtY: Celebration of Thanks Reveal

It's time for the next set reveal! If you've placed an order during one of our release weekends this past year, you might have found one of these stamps tucked in with your order. Late last year I started squeezing a little design into production setups whenever I had some extra space in the margins. Those little designs became our customer appreciation stamps, which we tuck into orders starting on release night until we run out, then start with a new design the next release. After many requests about purchasing these stamps individually, I decided to compile all of this year's stamps into one collection... a Celebration of Thanks.

{Note: You can give the image above a little clicksy to embiggen it and preview the whole set in all its glory.}



For my sample card, I pulled out two of my favorite stamps in this set - the Simply the best sentiment and the small flourish. I love the way the flourishes can add a touch of interest to a plain old circle just by stamping off the edges a bit. My inspiration for this card was this beautiful paper from the Sweet as Cherry Pie collection by Webster's Pages. I added some fun trim and distressed edges, to complete what I'd call the shabby picnic look! LOL

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My second sample card took its inspiration from Lynda and Michelle's challenge to embellish with VERVE. For my letters I used E - Eyelets, R - Ribbon, V - Vintage Findings Slice Cartridge, E - Embossing border. The papers are from the Bella Bella line by My Mind's Eye and I embossed the organic flourishes Cuttlebug border on the cocoa strip, then sanded it down to set it off. The sentiment is from Celebration of Thanks and is framed with the oval frame from the Kindred Spirits set. I cut the leaf out with my Slice, then sponged the edges with Vintage Photo ink. A couple eyelets and a bow, and the card was finished.

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Okay, are you ready for another giveaway? Just leave a comment on this post to be entered in a random drawing for a Celebration Prize Pack! The pack will include the Celebration of Thanks set, {which we've revealed in this post}, as well as some luscious ribbons, papers and embellishments! Deadline to enter is Monday, 11/30 at midnight Mountain time.

Blog PaRtY: Challenge 3

Hi everyone! It's time for another challenge, and this one is brought to you by Lynda and Michelle. Our challenge is called Embellish with V-E-R-V-E and the challenge is to create a card or project using an embellishment that begins with the letters in VERVE.

Some examples would be:
V - Velvet ribbon
E - Embossing powder
R - Rhinestones
V - Vellum tags
E - Eyelets

You can use as many or as few embellishment "letters" as you want. We can't wait to see how you Embellish with VERVE!

And here's some sneaky peeky inspiration from Michelle and Lynda using the new Thankful Accents set we'll be releasing tonight...

Designed by Michelle Woerner
Michelle's sample uses 2 letters: E -embossing powder and R -rhinestones.

Designed by Lynda Benden
Lynda's sample uses R ~ribbon, E ~embossing powder and V ~VERY lopsided bow!!!

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To play along, just make a new handmade creation using embellishments that start with the letters in VERVE. Post a picture of your creation online and link us to it using the Mr. Linky widget below. And be sure to list which letters you used when you post your creation! Enter by 10pm Mountain on Monday, 11/30 for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve!

Here are the rules, they're pretty easy:

• Each entry must be unique and new
• Please do not combine any of today's 5 blog party challenges
• You may combine with any other types of challenges (SCS, blogs, etc)
• Verve stamps are NOT required
• If possible, please link back to this post when you upload your creation
• Have fun!

Blog PaRtY: Plain Jane Reveal

Hi everyone! Welcome back to our Thankful Hearts Blog Party, already in progress! If you haven't seen the first two challenges yet, be sure to scroll down to the previous posts and check them out.

Right now, it's time for the first reveal of the day! We'll be releasing two Plain Janes (individual stamps) tonight. The first is called Grateful Heart...


For my sample card, I chose to work with Laurie and Tosh's sketch challenge. I thought the strips in the sketch were perfect for the sentiment, so I masked off each part to ink the two lines separately on Kraft paper. the gorgeous DP is from the Life Stories collection by My Mind's Eye, and I added a little piercing and sponging, but really made the DP do most of the work. To complete the them of the sentiment, I cut some hearts out with the Cuttlebug Concentric Hearts die and added a little bow for easy elegance.

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The second plain jane being released tonight is 1 Corinthians 15:57...


For my sample card, I borrowed inspiration from Mercy and Teresa's color challenge to use turquoise, olive, black and white. The sentiment is stamped on a Labels 5 Nestabilities die cut and I sponged olive ink around the inner edges. The olive panel is stamped with a flourish from the Celebration of Thanks set releasing tonight, for a nice tone on tone background. I added some scalloped edges and embossed the bermuda layer with the Victoria Cuttlebug folder. Some ribbon, a prima flower center and swirly bling finish it off in style.

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Okay, so now it's time for our first giveaway! Just leave a comment on this post to be entered in a random drawing for a Plain Jane Prize Pack! The pack will include an assortment of Plain Janes, {including the two we've revealed in this post}, as well as some luscious ribbons, papers and embellishments! Deadline to enter is Monday, 11/30 at midnight Mountain time.

Blog PaRtY: Challenge 2

Welcome to the 2nd challenge in our Thankful Hearts Blog Party!

Laurie and Tosh have come up with a fabulous little sketch challenge, and we'd love for you to participate! This challenge has a {twist} of thankfulness, so keep your creation thank you themed, and most importantly, have fun!

And here's some sneaky peeky inspiration from Tosh and Laurie using some of the new stamps we'll be releasing tonight...

Designed by Tosh Leyendekker
Tosh's sample uses stamps from the Thankful Hearts and Thankful Accents sets.

Designed by Laurie Schmidlin
Laurie's sample uses stamps from the Thankful Accents set.

To play along, just make a new handmade creation with a thank you theme, using the sketch provided as inspiration. Post a picture of your creation online and link us to it using the Mr. Linky widget below. Enter by 10pm Mountain on Monday, 11/30 for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve!

Here are the rules, they're pretty easy:

• Each entry must be unique and new
• Please do not combine any of today's 5 blog party challenges
• You may combine with any other types of challenges (SCS, blogs, etc)
• Verve stamps are NOT required
• If possible, please link back to this post when you upload your creation
• Have fun!

Blog PaRtY: Challenge 1

Welcome to our Thankful Hearts Blog Party! We'll be posting new posts every hour on the hour until 9PM tonight with fun challenges, set reveals and some fun giveaways leading up to our release and blog hop tonight.

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way.. things I had no words for." - Georgia O'Keeffe

As crafters, one of the things we're all thankful for are the many colors that allow us to express our creativity and make this world a more beautiful place. So, Mercy and Teresa are kicking off our first challenge of the day with an ode to color.

And here's some sneaky peeky inspiration from Teresa and Mercy using some of the new stamps we'll be releasing tonight...

Designed by Teresa Kline
Teresa's sample uses stamps from the Celebration of Thanks and Thankful Accents sets.

Designed by Mercy Kerin
Mercy's sample uses stamps from the Celebration of Thanks and Thankful Accents sets.

To play along, just make a new handmade creation using turquoise, olive, black and white. Post a picture of your creation online and link us to it using the Mr. Linky widget below. Enter by 10pm Mountain on Monday, 11/30 for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve!

Here are the rules, they're pretty easy:

• Each entry must be unique and new
• Please do not combine any of today's 5 blog party challenges
• You may combine with any other types of challenges (SCS, blogs, etc)
• Verve stamps are NOT required
• If possible, please link back to this post when you upload your creation
• Have fun!