Gettin' Krafty Day Four -That Krafty little birdie

Hi everyone, it's Michelle. I get crafty almost every day, but rarely get "Krafty" -heehee! I think kraft paper makes a great neutral and I may just have to bust it out more often!!!

For my card, I used kraft as my base and some framing and paired it with my new favorite color, Tangerine Tango! I used Black Tie Birdies and stamped everything with Adirondack Espresso. I also stamped the bird on Tangerine and pieced the wing and bow. For the horizonal piece behind the image, I stamped the finial strip from the Grateful Elegance. The DP is the new SU! Designer Prints DP in Tangerine. The flower is from my amazing find at Michaels, a Got Flowers bottle Coppermine, an entire bottle of various brown flowers. Whoa, be still my little heart. The ribbon is Seam Binding ribbon from Martha Stewart in Persimmon and is a PERFECT match to Tangerine Tango -score!! I also put tiny accents of orange on her tail from my Copic marker YR09.

So.... have you been gettin' krafty? No? How about using natural fibers like hemp, twine, string, etc? Still no? Well there is still time to play along. Just post your creation to this post by noon on September 30th. If you upload to SCS use keyword VVPP06 , so we can see all the Kraftiness in one place. A random participant will be drawn on October 1st to receive $15 in Verve Bucks to spend at the Verve Stamps store! Good luck and go get Krafty!

Card Deets:

Stamps - Black Tie Birdies and Grateful Elegance (Verve Stamps)

Paper - PTI Kraft and white, Choc chip, Tangerine Tango and Tangerine Tango DP (SU!)

Ink - Adirondack Espresso

Accessories - prima, jumbo orange brad, paper piercer, MS Persimmon seam tape, paper piercer, Copic YR09, dimensionals

Guest Diva Spotlight - Jennifer Meyer

Hello Verve Fans! We hope you had a great time at our Release Party on Tuesday night...we sure did! Thanks to all of you for making this a fabulous release!

Today is the day we turn the spotlight on Jennifer Meyer, who is one of our Guest Designers for September. You may know her from her blog, Jennifer's Sweet Designs, or from Splitcoast as Lovetostamp6. Today we get to learn a little about her and see some fabulous creations using the new Verve stamps!

I asked Jennifer a few fun questions about herself...here are the answers!

1.  When/how did you get hooked on stamping?

I got hooked on stamping about 5 years ago.  A friend of mine had several parties going on all on the same night.  While everyone was watching a Home Décor demonstration, I was in the other room playing with stamps from Stampin’ Up!  Needless to say, I was hooked immediately and about 6 months later I became a Stampin’ Up!  Demonstrator

2.   How often do you stamp?

I try to stamp every day but most of the time, it’s every other day.

 
3.   Tell me about your funniest or most embarrassing stamping related injury.

This is pretty silly, since I am left handed; I have to use my paper cutter upside down.  If anyone out there is reading this, I would LOVE a left handed paper cutter. LOL

Jennifer created this gorgeous card using the Abundant Blessings set. I love the soft colors she chose, and how she attached the tag with twine to create a natural feel. Simply gorgeous!!

Now, here's more of our Verve-i-view with Jennifer:

4.   How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with?

It usually takes a good hour or so.

5.   I am usually a little messy in my creating. Tell me about your creative space.

Being a busy mom of 4, you know I can’t sit around and stamp all day so what is the next best thing… I power stamp, which then leads to a BIG mess everywhere!  Since my husband has to look at it, I clean my stamping space weekly and start all over again the following week! LOL

 6.  If you were stranded on a deserted island, which craft tool could you not live without? Why? Lately it’s been my Janome sewing machine but pretty much all of it!

I absolutely ADORE this card that Jennifer made with Black Tie Birdies. If you read Jennifer's blog or follow her SCS Gallery, you'll know that she loves the Verve Birdies! These are no exception...look how she created a cute little scene with these two lovebirds! I love every detail, down to the velvet ribbon and the balloon strings!

Now for the last few questions:

7. What is your biggest source of inspiration?  My biggest source of inspiration comes from the stamp itself and then the paper.  I LOVE when I see a stamp and know exactly what I am going to create with it.
8. Who in the stamping world do you want to be when you grow up and why? That is way to hard to answer, if you LOVE stamps like I do, you LOVE it all!!

9. What is your favorite part of the creative process? My favorite part is the final piece and then putting it in an envelope and sending it out to someone special. 

The last card of Jennifer's that we're sharing today uses the So Happy set. I love how you can mix the stamps in this set to create your own sentiment...there are dozens of possibilities! Jennifer used her Nestabilities to show off the sentiment and added a little layered butterfly as an accent. Too gorgeous!

We're so lucky that Jennifer agreed to play along with us this month! You can read more about her and see more of her creations on her blog, Jennifer's Sweet Designs. Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to come back tomorrow for another Guest Spotlight!

Have a great day!

It's a Black Tie Birthday!

Are you ready for more fun? I hope so! The divas have cooked up some Vervalicious previews for you again today...this time using Black Tie Birdies and Birthday Surprise, two new sets being released tomorrow, Sept. 10th! Hopefully you're planning to join us for the release party tonight in our Splitcoast Member Forum. The party starts at 10pm EST, and we've got lots planned including set reveals, more sneak peeks and of course some PRIZES!! You still have time to play in the OSW (One Sheet Wonder) challenge, which will give you chance to win the ENTIRE RELEASE! . All of the details are HERE.

Ok, enough blabbing...let's get on with the peeks!!

From Diva Charmaine Ikach:

I don't know about you, but the Black Tie Birdies set made me think of "fancy schmancy" parties. I decided to use the female bird for a bridal shower invitation. I created it to look a bit like "the envelope please." :) The organdy ribbon is weaved through the flaps of the card to be tied in a bow on front. All of the party detail are embossed in gold on the inside!

From Diva Michelle Woerner:

Yahooo an amazing Verve birthday set is coming your way! And, wow is this birthday set is so super cute and versatile.! I LOVE all the little details Julee put into it -you will love it when you see it! I really love the balloons and wanted to make them stand out, so I stamped them in Versamark and embossed them with silver embossing powder. I then cut them out and popped them up. I stamped the hat and wing on pink cardstock and pieced them for some contrast. The designer paper is from my new Basic Grey Eva pack -such elegant and fun colors. Lastly, I looped several ribbons and fastened them in the middle with a green gem brad to make a layered bow.

From Diva Amber Hight:

If you love the birds from the set Anniversary Birds, you will LOVE the birds in this set and Birthday Surprise as well! Julee has taken the sweet little bird and dressed him up! They're looking mighty good lately in their tuxedos and hair bows. For my sample, I chose to work with Black Tie Birds. Aren't their fluffy tails awesome? The balloon in this set also has the flourishes and this fun sentiment. I think this set would be perfect for a lot of occasions!

From Diva Laura Fredrickson:

I knew when Verve introduced a birthday set it would be elegant as well as fun, and I couldn't be happier with it. When I designed this card, I had a little girl in mind, but the images are so elegant it would work for anyone! I worked with fellow Diva, Jen del Muro's sketch, (also SC182 on SCS). I stamped the little gifts and embossed them in gold, then cut them out and popped each gift up on a square. The sentiment was embossed in gold and then cut and layered with Nestabilities, and voila!. A fun and elegant card with a fun and elegant set!

From Diva Shannan Teubner:

This new birdie set from Verve totally makes me smile! I love to celebrate, and I think this set will get used a LOT in my stamp room! One of my favorite things about Birthday Surprise is the selection of images and sentiments...it's very versatile!

From our Guest Diva, Jennifer Meyer:

I fell in love with Birthday Surprise the first moment I saw it. There are so many things I love about this stamp set, but my favorite is the bird and the variety of sentiments! I picked rich colors for my design and added lots of fun layers to the bird and balloons. Birthday Surprise was just a wonderful set to design and be creative with!

Did you enjoy today's projects? You can win the two sets we're previewing by simply leaving a comment on this post telling us about your favorite Birthday Surprise before Tuesday, September 9 (that's tonight!) at 8:00 Mountain time (10 PM ET, 9 PM CT, 7 PM PT). We'll pick a random winner to receive both Birthday Surprise and Black Tie Birdies. The winner will be announced during our release party tonight on the Verve SCS Member Company Forum. We hope to see you there!