May Diva Dare ~ Day 10

Hi everyone!  Maureen here winding up the week with Day 10 of  this month's Diva Dare.

Stars & Stripes May Diva Dare

This month's dare pays tribute to Diva Amber's (Stamping Scrapbooker) military service and Diva Laurie Willison's (Soapbox Creations) wonderful use of stripes on her cards.  So we're daring you to create a card using stars and/or stripes.  While the title may conjure up visions of red, white and blue any stars and stripes will do! If you're feeling pretty in pink, go for it! Just remember to use at least one Verve product on your creation!  If you want to get really daring, you can add the extra challenge of making it a CAS card with stars and/or stripes, as that is Diva Laurie's signature style.  However, that is not a requirement, just an optional twist to the Dare if you're feeling daring!

 

 

I had plenty of inspiration this month...not only with our talented Divas we are highlighting, but with my son's graduation from Engineering next week :)  His university colours are gold and navy (my alma mater!) so that took care of the colour scheme.  Then came some stripes from Strong Anchor and a whole bunch of sparkling stars from the Starry Die and glitter cardstock.  I couldn't resist adding a little extra note from Small Phrases to let Jake know I am extra proud of him.  But the part I love best is the centre piece, Happy Graduation.  I was so excited that it was part of the latest Release...perfect timing for me! Then last, but not least,  I added some fun golden flag ends from the Flag It die set.

During this month's Diva Dare, there are 4 prizes up for grabs!
 Win Verve's ENTIRE May Release! Take our Stars & Stripes Dare and link up your card (created 5/13 or later) to the linky widget below. One random participant will be drawn to win all of the stamps, dies and ribbons in our May 2013 release. You can enter as many times as you like, but each card needs to be in a separate post.  Here's a little look-see at what the winner will receive..

May Stamp Collection	May Die Collection	Black Beauty Ribbon Collection	Polka Dot Basics Ribbon Collection
Deadline to link your cards is 5PM Mountain on Thursday, May 30. Entries must be new (posted 5/13 or later), include at least one Verve product, use stars and stripes and be linked up to the linky widget by 5pm Mountain on 5/30/13.

Win a set of your choice! For another chance to win some new Verve, leave a little comment love on our design team's Stars & Stripes Diva Dare posts! THREE lucky commenters 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 May 30.

Winners will be announced on May 31, 2013.

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

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!