August 2014 Diva Dare - Day 11

Celebrate Good Times - August Diva Dare

Welcome to August's Diva Dare! It's Charmaine with my take on this month's dare entitled Celebrate Good Times.     

Verve is turning 7 this month and we’d love to see your celebration cards.  Think wedding, birthday, anniversary… anything that brings the confetti out!

For my card today, I used the Moments Remembered set from Verve.  I started with the Henna embossing folder from Darice.  I inked the one side of the embossing folder and then put the white cardstock in the folder and ran it through my Big Shot.  I thought this gave a nice, festive background for the card. 

The sentiment was stamped and embossed in white on a piece of black cardstock and then the top of the black piece was die cut using the Flourished Trim Die.  I stamped the little flourish, hand cut it and covered it in Stardust Stickles.  To finish the card, I added some sequins from the Shine Bright Sequin Mix as well as some ribbon.  I hope you've been inspired today!!  Now it's your turn!

 

Two ways to win prizes for double the fun!

Win a $40 gift voucher to Verve! Take our Celebrate Good Times dare and link your card up to be eligible to win.  Entries must have a celebration theme:  birthday, wedding, anniversary, confirmation, new job, retirement, new baby, new home - anything you can celebrate, be posted 8/8 or later, include at least one Verve product and be linked up to the linky widget by 8pm Mountain on 8/23/14.  One participant will be randomly selected to win the gift voucher.  You can enter as many times as you like, but each card needs to be in a separate post.

Win a Verve set of your choice! For another chance to win some new Verve, leave a little comment love on our design team's Celebrate Good Times Diva Dare posts!  One lucky commenter will win a Verve stamp set of his or her choice, so be sure to tune in each day!  Comment deadline to be entered in our prize drawing is August 23, 2014.

Winners will be announced on August 24, 2014.

Go forth and get inky...we dare you!

July Diva Dare - Day 11

Tattered Pages, July Diva Dare

Hello Verve fans!! Christyne here bringing you some inspiration on day 11 of this month's Diva Dare entitled "Tattered Pages".

This month's dare pays tribute to Julee (Poetic Artistry), owner and creator of Verve Stamps and Diva Teresa (Paperie Blooms).  Julee has created countless, uplifting sentiments which have become one of Verve's trademarks, and Teresa knows how to rock distressing and "shabbiness" on her cards.  So what we're daring you to create this month is a card using an uplifting sentiment and some distressing and/or shabby element to it.  Kind of like an encouraging card you have received which you have read so many times the edges are a bit tattered.  Just remember to use at least one Verve product on your creation!

For my card, I decided to use the Flowers of Tomorrow Plain Jane as my sentiment.  I love to garden, so this sentiment is very uplifting to me!  I printed the sentiment in black ink and paired that with black cardstock accents as a nod to both fabulous Divas who frequently use black accents so well in their creations.  To highlight Julee's amazing talents, I tried to add background stamp accents from the Borderline set on the sentiment as well as some loopy accents from On Occasion along the page borders.  I just love how she always utilizes the entire stamp set in her projects.  To highlight Teresa's awesome style, I used some shabby pastels, added a giant, bold loopy bow with Verve's Truly Madly, Deeply Ribbon Collection, as well as a bunch of distressed DP-only panels.  

Additionally, the sketch used for this card was last week's Viva la Verve sketch (July 2013 week 4).  To highlight this unique sketch, I used the Flourish Trim Die as a border.  

  

Deadline to link your cards is 8PM Mountain on Wednesday, July 31st.  Entries must be new (posted 7/12 or later), include at least one Verve product, an uplifting sentiment, and some distressing or shabbiness and be linked up to the linky widget by 8pm Mountain on 7/31/13.

During this month's Diva Dare, there are 2 prizes up for grabs!

Win a $40 Gift voucher to Verve Stamps! Take our Tattered Pages Dare and link up your card (created July 12th or later) to the linky widget on the day one postto be eligible to win.  One participant will be randomly selected to win the gift voucher.  You can enter as many times as you like, but each card needs to be in a separate post.

Win a set of your choice! For another chance to win some new Verve, leave a little comment love on our design team's "Tattered Pages" Diva Dare posts!  One lucky commenter will win a Verve stamp set of his or her choice, so be sure to tune in each day!  Comment deadline to be entered in our prize drawing is July 31, 2013.

Winners will be announced on August 1, 2013.

- Go forth and get inky! We DARE you! -

July Diva Dare - Day 8

Hi Verve fans!!  Jen here bringing you Day 8 of this month's Diva Dare entitled "Tattered Pages".

This month's dare pays tribute to Julee (Poetic Artistry), owner and creator of Verve Stamps and Diva Teresa (Paperie Blooms).  Julee has created countless, uplifting sentiments which have become one of Verve's trademarks, and Teresa knows how to rock distressing and "shabbiness" on her cards.  So what we're daring you to create this month is a card using an uplifting sentiment and some distressing and/or shabby element to it.  Kind of like an encouraging card you have received which you have read so many times the edges are a bit tattered.  Just remember to use at least one Verve product on your creation!

 

 

As I was planning out my card I went back through Teresa's blog and decided I wanted to highlight her gorgeous use of pattern and vintage/shabby elements like twine, seam binding and flowers. I used seam binding from the Signature Ribbon Collection and highlighted the flower with leaves from Dream Big die cut with the Dreamy Leaves Dies. I didn't distress my card but I think it still has a bit of shabby feel to it with the flower cluster and patterned paper.

To highlight Julee's uplifting sentiments I chose New Mercies. I love this stamp set and was in need of a sympathy card for a close friend and I new this set would be perfect to lift her spirits.

To created the scalloped edge I used the Flourish Trim Die. The sentiment is die cut with the Classy Label Die.

 

My card layout is based on Viva La Verve July Week 4 sketch!

 

 

Deadline to link your cards is 8PM Mountain on Wednesday, July 31st.  Entries must be new (posted 7/12 or later), include at least one Verve product, an uplifting sentiment, and some distressing or shabbiness and be linked up to the linky widget by 8pm Mountain on 7/31/13.

 

 

During this month's Diva Dare, there are 2 prizes up for grabs!

Win a $40 Gift voucher to Verve Stamps! Take our Tattered Pages Dare and link up your card (created July 12th or later) to the linky widget on the day one post to be eligible to win.  One participant will be randomly selected to win the gift voucher.  You can enter as many times as you like, but each card needs to be in a separate post.

Win a set of your choice! For another chance to win some new Verve, leave a little comment love on our design team's "Tattered Pages" Diva Dare posts!  One lucky commenter will win a Verve stamp set of his or her choice, so be sure to tune in each day!  Comment deadline to be entered in our prize drawing is July 31, 2013.

Winners will be announced on August 1, 2013.

- Go forth and get inky! We DARE you! -

June Diva Dare ~ Day 1

Puddles of Colour, June Diva Dare

Hello Verve fans!! Marisa here with this month's Diva Dare entitled "Puddles of Colour".

This month's dare pays tribute to Diva Jen (Deconstructing Jen) who is an amazing colourer (word can be found in any crafter's dictionary wink, wink) and Diva Janelle (Rain Puddles Design) who also colours beautifully, often uses paint on her cards and is a wonderful mixed media artist.  So what we're daring you to create this month is a card using colouring and/or painting.  If you want to kick the dare up a notch, you can add kraft card stock to the mix (Jen's specialty) and/or make a mixed media card (Janelle's specialty).  Here is the link to Splitcoast Stamper's "Mix-Ability" Forum for some tutorials and ideas on Mixed Media should you want to try it out.  This is not a requirement but a fun "extra" should you wish to add it to your card. Just remember to use at least one Verve product on your creation!  

Here is my take on the dare.

I decided to go the mixed media route as I have never done it before, and well... a dare is a dare...and I'm not one to turn down a challenge!  Being a mixed media newbie, I'm not sure if I succeeded, but I sure had fun making this card.

I started out by creating the background paper using the emboss resist technique.  I stamped the wheel image from Strong Anchor in VersaMark on glossy paper, heat embossed it, and then sponged on a mix of Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue and Night of Navy.  In keeping with the sea/nautical theme, I die cut five Flourish Trims and stacked them one above the other to create "waves".  An up-cycled a Starbuck's sleeve became my tag and fulfilled the kraft element.  I added the Adjusted Sails Plain Jane sentiment to the tag, curled one corner of the sentiment panel and added a bit of distress ink around the edges.  Still needed a colouring / painting element so I swiped my white ink pad along the edges of the tag and then finger painted the white smudges on the word "hope".  The tag was then layered on to the burlap strip and I used the Nautical Die set for the wheel image.  Some distressed edges were in order and I finished things off by framing the card with some multi-coloured red, white and blue twine.    

Deadline to link your cards is 5PM Mountain on Thursday, June 27.  Entries must be new (posted 6/11 or later), include at least one Verve product, include some type of colouring/painting (with an option of adding kraft cardstock or mixed media, but this is not required) and be linked up to the linky widget by 5pm Mountain on 6/27/13.

During this month's Diva Dare, there are 2 prizes up for grabs!

Win a $40 Gift Certificate to Verve Stamps! Take our Puddles of Colour Dare and link up your card (created June 11th or later) to the linky widget below to be eligible to win.  One participant will be randomly selected to win the gift certificate.  You can enter as many times as you like, but each card needs to be in a separate post.

Win a set of your choice! For another chance to win some new Verve, leave a little comment love on our design team's "Puddles of Colour" Diva Dare posts!  One lucky commenter will win a Verve stamp set of his or her choice, so be sure to tune in each day!  Comment deadline to be entered in our prize drawing is June 27, 2013.

Winners will be announced on June 28, 2013.

- Go forth and get inky! We DARE you! -

Fanspiration Diva Dare ~ Day 9

Good morning Verve fans, Janelle today sharing my fan-inspired card creation with you.  We are almost done with our daily inspiration from the Diva's that "dare" you to show us your new creations inspired by projects made by Verve fans!  You can pick any little Verve project to inspire you, as long as it is not by one of our design team members (or yourself!) and that is why Julee appropriately titles this months Diva Dare theme...Fanspiration!  Join us if you dare!

Okay, you know YOU ALL are fantastic and it was SO much fun to go through the Fan Gallery to get inspired. I'm just bursting with fun ideas, so thank YOU! In the end I just kept coming back to this May 2012 Viva La Verve number by Gini Cagle {Beadz} 

She had so much fun with die cuts that I couldn't resist. The background is cut out with the Flourished Trim Die by measuring in 3/16 of an inch around all the edges and marking the center to align the die. It worked perfectly! I've also managed to use the Mini Classy Label Die, Pointed Flower Die, and Pennant Trim Die... all Vervey goodness. My images are stamped from the Lean on Me and Borderline sets. I'm most happy when I can get my hands messy with ink and paint so I brushed many acrylics, oil pastels, colored pencils and my new tool, a Wite-Out pen, until I just couldn't find another spot to messy.

So thank you Gini for inspiring me! Now how about YOU, Verve fans?

How fun is this Dare?  Don't know where to start?   Head over to the Verve Fan Gallery to peruse some projects, pick one then join in the fun...here are the details...

 Well, hopefully you've enjoyed this ninth day of our Fanspiration Diva Dare! Join us on tomorrow to find out who Amber was inspired by!  Read on to see how you can win some shiny new Verve!  There are two ways to win...

1. Win a $50 Verve gift certificate! Play along with our Fanspiration Diva Dare and link up your creation to the linky widget entry form. Winner will be chosen by random draw.  To be eligible, your entry must:
• Be a new creation - posted September 7 or later
• Be inspired by a non-design team created Verve card or project
• Include a link to the inspiration piece you used, as well as a brief explanation of what inspired you
• Use at least one Verve product
• Be added to the linky widget before 5pm Mountain on Sunday, September 23.
2. Win a Verve set of your choosing! Leave a little shout-out for the Divas in the comments section as we post our answers to the Fanspiration dare each weekday through September 20.  A random comment winner will be chosen from all the comments over the course of the Dare.

- Go forth and get inky! We DARE you! -