Project Parade--Day 5!

Well, it's me, Susan here. How are ya'll liking all the "Father Knows Best" projects so far? LOL! Really, the project doesn't have to be a "father/dad" thing. Jen came up with a great way to encompass all the men in our lives by officially calling this Project Parade "It's a Guy Thing". I think "Boys Will Be Boys" would have suited it as well! But for me, I wanted to create something fun that my girls could give to their dad. They loved this idea and are almost certain he will share it with them! I was in Target buying some totally unrelated stuff, but had this project on my mind. I had thought up a completely different idea, but wasn't crazy about it when I passed the soda aisle. "DAD's" Rootbeer immediately came to mind, however they didn't have it. Neither did our local grocery store.

So I settled on this little four-pack of Boylan Old Fashioned Soda (I've never heard of it either, but what dad doesn't like to try new drinks?). I thought it was cool that it still had the word "boy" in the name of it and I liked the writing on the bottles.

I went ahead and used the same color scheme they had going on with it (worked for them, right?) and drew my inspiration from the original packaging--layout and all! I used two new stamp sets--Dad's Day and Up, Up and Away, and two older sets--Snowflake Splendor and Seeing Stars (one of my all time favorite Verve sets) and simply made panels to cover the sides. Anyway, this project didn't take hardly any time at all. The most time was consumed looking in the two stores up and down the soda aisle for the DAD's Rootbeer! Do they even make it anymore?

So, how would you like to play along with us? Do you have a special guy in your life (Dad, Husband, Grandpa, etc...) that you'd like to create a project for? This is the time to do it!

To play along, just make a project or card that fits your style and celebrates a man in your life. Verve Stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em we love to see 'em! Then just add a link to your creation to the Mr. Linky form in --->{THIS}<--- post before 8PM Mountain on Saturday, June 20. Two lucky participants will win a stamp set of their choice from the Verve Store. We've also hidden another $25 gift certificate somewhere along the parade for a random commenter. So if you like what you see, be sure and give a little shout out in the comments of each post! Have fun and good luck!

Project Parade - Day 9

And now another fabulous project from our Guest Diva, Jennifer Meyer.

Hello and welcome to the Verve Project Parade. For my project, I chose to create a fun advent calendar. The calendar was created on a small cookie sheet that measures 13.2 “ X 9.2 “. (I got mine at the Dollar Tree) To personalize our calendar, I added our family name on the top using the printer and a fun font.

Since the cookie sheet was longer then my standard 8 ½ x 11 cardstock, I created some fun layers on the bottom to camouflage the seam. The background of the calendar was stamped and embossed using Snowflake Splendor. All of the pieces for the dates we made using the square scalloped Nestabilities and layered with piece of chocolate chip cardstock. Numbers were made using my Playground font by Sizzix.

What would Christmas be without glitter and shine? Once the calendar was put together, I used the Martha Stewart snow glitter all over the dates along with the fun layers on the bottom of the calendar.

Since our family is full of December Birthdays, I used my Birthday Surprise stamp set and embossed a few presents to mark all of the Birthdays in December. The snowman was stamped twice using the Snow Wonderful stamp set. To make our calendar interactive, all of the images have a piece of magnet on the back. You too can create something so fun and something you will cherish for years to come! I know my children will have a blast each morning moving us a day closer to the best time of year!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Merry Christmas & Hugs to all, Jennifer

Wanna play along? All you have to do is create Anything But a Card and link up your creation to this post by noon on Friday, December 5th. You don’t have to use Verve Stamps, but if you have ‘em, why not use 'em? If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword VVPP08 so we can see all the ABC wonderfulness in one place! A random participant will be drawn on December 6th to receive $15 in Verve Bucks to spend at the Verve Stamps store! Good luck and have fun!

Project Parade - Day 4

We hope you're enjoying the project parade so far...don't the divas rock? This month, we've asked our Guest Divas to participate as well. Here's a post from Guest Maria Gurnsey:

While I was trying to decide what to make for this Project Parade, I came across a stash of burlap I bought and never used (who does that). Since I’m addicted to Kraft paper, burlap seemed like a great fabric substitute. This burlap sack was super easy to make. I started with a 5x10 piece of fabric, folded it in half, sewed the sides with my sewing machine and turned it inside out. You could easily stitch it by hand too.

I couldn’t resist getting the snowman from Snow Wonderful inky again, he’s just too cute!! I was going to stamp right on the burlap but the material distorted the image too much. Hum….now what? How about a pair of old jeans!! I stamped right on the denim with Black Stazon Ink and colored the image with my Copics. I’m not sure if you’re suppose to use copics on fabric but it seemed to work. (FYI..the blues seemed to bleed more than the other colors).

I cut out the snowman with my Scalloped Rectangle Nesties and my Cuttlebug. I had to run it through a few times and then still have to use my scissors to finish the cuts. Even with fabric, I couldn’t resist inking the edges. I used a sponge and my Chocolate Chip ink to “muddy” the edges of the denim. I attached the denim panel with brads only! I was going to use fabric glue but was afraid it would make the ink run. The brads attached super easy, I just poked a hole with my paper piercer.

To finish off the bag, I threaded some black floss through the top to be able to cinch it shut a little. Since that was a little plain I couldn’t resist adding my other addiction, gingham ribbon. I tied the ribbon in a bow and then used the floss to hang the tag stamped with the Season’s Greetings sentiment from the Snowflake Splendor set. I also tied a button on for a finishing touch!!

A few candy canes and this bag is ready to be given as a gift!

Wanna play along? All you have to do is create Anything but a Card and link up your creation to -> this post <- by noon on Friday, December 5th. You don’t have to use Verve Stamps, but if you have ‘em, why not give ‘em some love? If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword VVPP08 so we don’t miss your eye candy! A random participant will be drawn on December 6th to receive $15 in Verve Bucks to spend at the Verve Stamps store! Good luck and have fun!

Project Parade: Day One

Welcome to the November Project Parade: ABC {Anything But A Card}.  The holidays are knocking and Verve has great stamps for all of those ABC Projects {and all those cards that you swore would be done by  now!}.  I have really enjoyed playing with the Snowflake Splendor set and I decided to use it for this project.  I chose to do a coaster box because I wanted something that could hold a small gift.  The directions for this box may be found HERE.

 

 

Wanna play along? All you have to do is create Anything but a Card and link up your creation to this post by noon on Friday, December 5th. You don’t have to use Verve Stamps, but if you have ‘em, why not give ‘em some love? If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword VVPP08 so we don’t miss your eye candy! A random participant will be drawn on December 6th to receive $15 in Verve Bucks to spend at the Verve Stamps store! Good luck and have fun!

Guest Designer Spotlight - Maria Gurnsey

Happy Wednesday, Verve Fans! I hope you enjoyed the release party and are anxious to ink up some new stamps!



Today I have some wonderful eye candy for you, brought to you by one of our November Guest Divas, Maria Gurnsey! I love what Maria has created, and I hope you do, too!



















The first project I'd like to show you is this awesome card Maria created using Ornamental Christmas. I love the colors she chose...they say warm, homey Christmas to me! The way she tied the ornament with silver cord is genius, and look at that perfect bow!!



We asked Maria our Verve-i-view questions, and here are some of her answers:



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

I only started stamping in January of this year. We had recently moved and I stumbled across the blog of a local who was a Stampin Up demonstrator. From there I found SCS and all the other wonderful stamping blogs. I was hooked!!! I signed on as a demo in February and started my blog. So glad I did, the world of stamping is just so amazing!!!!



2. How often do you stamp?

I try to stamp everyday!! I find things flow better when I don’t let myself get rusty. Plus, I’m a challenge addict and so I try to squeeze in as many of my faves as possible.



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

This is the question I always love to read about the guest diva’s!! It always makes me laugh especially since my craft room is not near as “dangerous” as other’s can be. I was always accident free, until I started working on my Verve samples. (I swear I didn’t even do it for the sake of this question). Twice working on my projects I cut my thumb with my scissors. Just stuck it right in there and cut it. The same thumb, side by side cuts. I complained for days (just ask my hubby!!)

The next project I have to show you is a card made with the Poinsettia Christmas set. I love every little detail on this card...the buttons in the flower centers, the offset polka dot paper, the ribbons, the eyelets, and the piercing. I told you I loved it!

Isn't that fabulous? And did yall see that Maria has only been stamping since JANUARY?? WOWEE!! What a rock star!



Here's more Q&A:



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

It takes me anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour plus. If I have an idea in mind it usually happens pretty quickly. Other times I second, and triple guess myself and wind up moving embellishments over and over. I think this is why I love sketch challenges so much. They take away a lot of the guess work.



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

ORGANIZED, ORGANIZED, ORGANIZED!!!! I have to have everything in it’s place. It drives me crazy when things get messy. I try to clean up in between projects so I can start fresh. Sometimes when I’m on a roll I can let the mess go but then I have to clean up when I’m done. Clutter makes me crazy!!!!



6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what craft tool would you take with you? Why?

Probably my SU punches!! I hate cutting things out (so does my thumb)!!! I like how quick the punches make my projects go. In a perfect world, every stamp would have it’s own punch!!!!



Are you ready to see Maria's final Spotlight project? You better sit down...

This is totally drool-worthy! Maria created this awesome Christmas ornament using the Snowflake Splendor set. I love all the twinkle and the embellishments she chose. But the best part is...

It glows! Isn't that fantastic? See, I told ya you would drool. I totally fell out of my chair when Maria sent this to me...totally awesome!



Here are the last questions of Maria's Verve-i-View:



7. What is your biggest source of inspiration?

Blogs!! I have a huge list of blogs I try to check everyday. I sip my coffee and check out everyone elses wonderful creations. It starts me thinking creatively first thing in the morning and I have learned so much from my fellow bloggers!!



8. Who in the stamping world do you want to be when you grow up and why?

Laurie Schmidlin and Julia Stainton!!! Laurie’s blog was one of my first blog finds that just made me say WOW!!! I couldn’t believe what she could do with paper.

I totally admire Julia’s simple, shabby style. I’m an all things vintage kind of girl and there styles never fail to blow me away!!!!



Julee and I are so grateful to have such awesome Guest Divas every month, and this month is no different! Maria created some awesome projects...just check them all out in her Verve Gallery HERE. You can also follow Maria's work and latest projects on her blog, Scraps by M. Join me in giving her a round of applause for rocking this release!



Make sure you check back tomorrow for another guest spotlight...2 more to go! Have a fabulous day!

Sneak Previews: Snow Wonderful and Snowflake Splendor

Are you ready for more Sneak Peeks? Today's sneak peeks are of the snow sets, Snow Wonderful and Snowflake Splendor! We know you're going to LOVE them!

by Designer Jen del Muro

When it comes to holiday stamps, I generally tend to steer away from the traditional images (trees,Santa, etc). So, it's no surprise that when I saw these snowmen, snowflakes and cute sentiments contained in the Snowflake Splendor and Snow Wonderful sets my heart skipped a beat. The images and sentiment used here are a combination of both of those sets that work in perfect harmony together.

by Designer Susan Liles

"Frosty, the Snowman, is a fairy-tale they say, he was made of snow, but the children know, how he came to life one day!".....Do snowmen make your heart "melt" like they do mine? I have just always loved them, so when I saw this cute little snowman looking up at me with that certain "wonderment" in his eyes, I could not wait to smush him into an inkpad and and make him come to life. Julee definitely had the magic turned on when she came up with this set, Snow Wonderful, and another set that coordinates beautifully with it called Snowflake Splendor. Come on and walk in our "Winter Wonderland" VERVE-style as we Deck the Halls here on the Verve blog!!

by Designer Charmaine Ikach

I just LOVE the mix of delicate snowflakes and elegant greetings in the set Snowflake Splendor. It makes creating a card or adding a little something extra to a gift so easy! The snowflakes can also be perfectly layered for a little more dimension in your snowflake. This is definitely a new favorite set for me! :)

by Guest Designer Maria Gurnsey

When I was asked to be a guest designer I knew I was just in time for the holiday stamps. I was really hoping to get a Verve snowman set and WOW, did Julee

deliver! Snow Wonderful is such a great stamp set with not one, but two adorable snowmen. Of course, what Verve set would be complete without elegant sentiment stamps.
I couldn’t resist making some fun, holiday, home décor with this set. I altered some wooden plaques from the dollar store and covered them with some yummy holiday paper (and my favorite) kraft! The snowflakes were just screaming for glitter and really add some wonderful sparkle!! You’re gonna love this set!!!

We hope you enjoyed today's sneak peeks! Stay tuned tomorrow for the last two sets! Don't forget about the Holiday Release Sketch Challenge Blitz on the Verve forum at SplitcoastStampers and a rockin' release party in the Verve Forums at 8 pm Eastern on Sunday, November 9th. All six new stamp sets and three Plain Janes will be available on the Verve webstore at approximately 10 pm Sunday evening.