July Diva Dare 2012 ~ Day 7

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Hello!  It's Maureen and I can't tell you how excited I am to finally show you my Diva Dare project!  Excited because I love the mix of digital and stamped images I've used AND I got to eat cupcakes!! LOL  More on that later ;)  But first, some details...

This month, we dare you to make a card or project using a BIRTHDAY theme. July happens to be 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, shall we? We can't wait to see how you answer the dare! (Stay tuned to see how you could win some shiny new Verve!)

I've been having fun recently with my Keep Calm app, not to mention seeing all different versions of the poster on Pinterest.  So when the Diva Dare birthday theme came up, I knew I wanted to make my own little poster...

I wanted an authentic font for the words, so I googled "Keep Calm font" and I was able to download my own version and install it into my Word Program.  I measured the cupcake from Carpe Cupcake as well as the sentiment I wanted to use so I knew how big to make the "Keep Calm and Seize."  Oh, I love how the Verve images worked perfectly (and no colouring needed! LOVE!)  I added a little file folder die cut so I could also add the sweet "happy birthday" from Small Phrases.

 

Now, I couldn't just make a cupcake card and not have some props for the photo shoot!  LOL  So I headed over to our local Sweet Cupcake Shoppe and bought some lemon filled cupcakes {drool}.  I wanted to make some fun little flags with the Ribbon Banner die.  I've used it 3 times here, cutting 2 of them smaller for the mini cupcakes.  The Birthday Girl should always get the biggest cupcake, so I made her banner a little more special with the matching banner outline stamp from Super Dad.  All the sentiments are from Birthday Bash...I just love the fonts in this set!

So, are you wondering the fate of these cupcakes?  Let's just say they were delicious! LOL  Gotta love a yummy photo shoot (eh, Melissa! teehee)!

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 HERE on Day 1 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.

April Diva Dare 2012 - Day 10

It's the Diva's last day bringing you our take on the All Aboard! theme. Are you bursting with ideas, yet? I can't wait to show you how I met the challenge, but first here's the deets... 

This month we dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - All Aboard! It has been Grand Central Station around the Verve nest lately, Julee and Mark have welcomed two beautiful baby boys into their family and have had their hands full! So on that note, we are challenging you to use chipboard, corrugated cardboard, or kraft on your creation or project! We can't wait to see how you answer the dare! Stay tuned to learn how you could win some shiny new Verve!!

My house seems to run a little different than the well organized Grand Central Station... more like a circus! LOL So that's where my take on the challenge started with a couple animal car box cutting files using my favorite challenge item, KRAFT cardstock. After that the color just started jumping to join in! Take a look...

I used the darling monkey from To the Moon who loves to hang out of the car...

A giraffe and elephant too! The billboard sets the theme of this circus with the sentiment from Super Dad and is framed and die cut from Love Story set and the Lovely Marquee A Cut Above Die set. These animals just couldn't get anywhere without a ring leader and leading lady so Verve's recent couple from Twitterpated stepped into the center ring.

And all together with some Winter Trees die cut with the Winter Fun Die Set makes for an exciting day!

Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES? 

1. Play along with us and link up your new All Aboard creation (posted April 20 or later) to the linky widget on THIS POST before 6:00PM MST on Thursday May 3. 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 All Aboard creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Friday, May 4th right here on the Verve blog.

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

April Diva Dare 2012 ~ Day 5

This month we dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - All Aboard!   It has been Grand Central Station around here lately, Julee gave birth to two beautiful baby boys and has had her hands full!  So I am challenging you to use chipboard, corrugated cardboard, or kraft on your creation or project!  We can't wait to see how you answer the dare!  Stay tuned to learn how you could win some shiny new Verve!!

Hi Everyone, Sankari here with my take on the Diva Dare for this month! My son's teacher had a special project planned out for Earth Day - a project that she had seen done on Martha Stewart and she asked if I could help her class make piggy banks with recycled water bottles. 

I couldn't wait to get started! I thought it would be fun to create a piggy bank for our family. We could all save up for something fun to do together! I made a little card for our family to write about all the different activities we want to save up for and all the fun ways we can celebrate each day. I thought it would be fun for our kids and my DH and I to each write in this card - the kids were so excited to get started on daily celebrations!!!

I made the card using kraft accents and some scrap pieces of paper with the focus on the sentiment: "celebrate today" from the Joyful Blooms stamp set from Verve Stamps and the stamped ribbon from the Super Dad stamp set: 

Here is the little piggy that I made using the perfect sentiment: "enjoy" from the new stamp set: Small Celebrations from Verve Stamps. I love the sweet little flower with this set and the sentiment is just font-a-licious :) (sorry, I couldn't help it - love this font!).

Project Details:
Stamps: Small Celebrations, Super Dad  and Joyful Blooms from Verve Stamps
Inks: Memento Bahama Blue and Sky Blue
Accessories: brads, EK success label punch and border punch, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, square and circle punches, ribbon from stash, paper from stash, 4 oz water bottle, wiggly eyes, wooden pushpins, dimensionals, double sided tape and twine.
Idea for the Piggy Bank: Martha Stewart Crafts

I made this little piggy using scraps of paper and added some wooden pushpins and wiggly eyes for accents. The kids are so excited to contribute to our new Family Fun Time Piggy Bank and have already put pennies and nickels and dimes to start saving up for something fun that we can do as a family (top on the list is roller skating!). I love all of the new Verve stamps - and how simple and perfect this sentiment is to make this little Family Piggy Bank  a way to savor, enjoy and celebrate each day with special family moments together!

Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new All Aboard creation (posted April 20 or later) to the linky widget on THIS POST before 6:00PM MST on Thursday May 3.  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 All Aboard creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Friday, May 4th right here on the Verve blog

April Diva Dare 2012 ~ Day 4

Greetings everyone!!  It's my turn to double dog dare you with my take on this month's Diva Dare...

This month we dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - All Aboard!   It has been Grand Central Station around here lately, Julee gave birth to two beautiful baby boys and has had her hands full!  So I am challenging you to use chipboard, corrugated cardboard, or kraft on your creation or project!  We can't wait to see how you answer the dare!  Stay tuned to learn how you could win some shiny new Verve!!

I was thinking of my favourite new parents, Julee and Mark, while creating my cards :) 

Seems like I'm not the only one "addicted" to the new Ribbon Banner Die :)  I want to use it on all my projects...and today I have!  I die cut the banner out of a chipboard coaster and stamped the coordinating frame from Super Dad with Old Olive ink.  Then I stamped the sentiment with Versafine onyx ink.  The sweet little Father's Day sentiment is from the new Purely Sentimental set. But before we celebrate Father's Day, we will have  Mother's Day so here's another banner card (see, told you I was addicted!)...

I cut out some more Ribbon Banners with chipboard coasters but covered them with patterned paper this time.  I also die cut some smaller banners to hang on top of the larger ones.  I created the kraft flower with the medium bloom image from Joyful Blooms by stamping it twice, cutting out both images and popping up the middle with a foam dot.  The sentiment from the same Joyful Blooms set fits perfectly onto the Charming Oval Die set :) Love that!

Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new All Aboard creation (posted April 20 or later) to the linky widget on THIS POST before 6:00PM MST on Thursday May 3.  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 All Aboard creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Friday, May 4th right here on the Verve blog

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

April Diva Dare 2012-Day 2

Hi there! Aren't you glad the Diva Dare is back?? I know we are:) We love to visit your blogs and see you play along with us!

This month we dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - All Aboard!   It has been Grand Central Station around here lately, Julee gave birth to two beautiful baby boys and has had her hands full!  So I am challenging you to use chipboard, corrugated cardboard, or kraft on your creation or project!  We can't wait to see how you answer the dare!      

Stay tuned to learn how you could win some shiny new Verve!!

I pulled out my Super Dad, Purely Sentimental, Ribbon Banner die to create this graduation card!

I have a little "thing" for this banner die, I want to use it on EVERYTHING! The card base was embossed with a star folder from Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby). I cut three chipboard banners out with the Ribbon Banner die and then stamped the banner image from Super Dad on all three. Next I stamped the sentiment, from Purely Sentimental, and the stars (also from Super Dad)! You know I couldn't stop there, so I added some buttons, a bow, and some silver flat backs. 

Maybe I'm slow on the up take, but I figured out how to make many different sized banners using this ONE die! I took some pictures as I was making this card so I could show you how to do it! And if you already figured this out, bear with me...lol!

Step 1: Gather your supplies! For me, it was my Big Shot, Ribbon Banner die, and scraps of cardstock in the colors I would use.

Step 2: Cut the banner with the die. I didn't take a picture of this step because you're looking for the original cut.

Step 3: Cut scrap of blue cardstock to 1.25" and line the banner die up in the middle. Wow, is that a well-loved cutting plate or what?;)

Step 4: Cut scrap of silver cardstock to 1" and line banner die up in the middle.

Step 5: Cut scrap of black cardstock to .5" and line banner die up in the middle!

Pretty simple, right? I'm so happy with this little discovery:) Here's a chart of the three sizes all lined up--

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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 All Aboard creation (posted April 20 or later) to the linky widget on THIS POST before 6:00PM MST on Thursday May 3.  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 All Aboard creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing!  Winners will be announced on Friday, May 4th right here on the Verve blog

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