August Diva Dare ~ Day 9

Good morning, it's Maureen with the ninth installment of our August Diva Dare! For those of you who are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is Sending Some Sunshine: we DARE you to make an uplifting and encouraging card AND send it to someone in need of a little pick-me-up! There's nothing like opening your mailbox and seeing a handmade card...especially with some of Verve's encouraging sentiments on it!  :-)  I'm actually pretty good about sending birthday and thank you cards out, but as soon as I heard this month's dare, I knew I wanted to make a very special project and send it to my dear blog friend, Janelle, who has a very serious medical condition.  Back in March, Janelle made this VERY cool project for a coworker.  I fell in love with it and tucked the idea in the back in my mind.  Little did I know I would bring it out for Janelle.  So here's the set of inspiring tags along with the card I made for her (both of which are already on their way to her :)

I started with deciding on the papers I would use on the card, then chose the colours for the tags.  There are 12 altogether. Then I went through my Verve Plaine Janes and a few other sets (Hope Blooms and Serenity) for the inspiring tags that were eventually put together with a little key chain and decorated with some coordinating ribbon.  Here are all the tags before I put them together. I also used the Blessings, Believe, and  New Mercies sets to decorate the tags a bit.  Everything was kept simple and flat so that they wouldn't be too bulky when put together.

As you can see, I used several different die cut shapes including Verve's Rounded Rectangle and Curvy Bookplate Dies.  And here they are all tied up together.

After making the tags, I started on the card.  I picked this verse from Jeremiah .  I just love the comfort it talks about.  I also added "You inspire me," from Dare to Be because that is exactly what Janelle is doing to me and so many others touched by her story (not to mention the gorgeous projects she creates with love and thoughtfulness).

 

Whew! Are you still with me?  Thanks for letting me share my special gift :) 

Okay now that I'm done, here are the details...

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

1. Play along with us and link up your new Sending Some Sunshine creation (posted August 26 or later) to the linky widget at the bottom of THE DAY 1 POST before 9PM Mountain on Sunday, September 11. 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 Sending Some Sunshine creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Monday, September 12 right here on the Verve blog.

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

And then DARE you to send it away!!

Sneak Previews - Jeremiah 29:11 & Sweet Valentine

Happy Tuesday, Verve fans! It's Shannan here, and boy do I have some awesome stuff to show you! Today we're previewing not one, but two sets! I know...good stuff! This release is really fabulous. I know, I say that every time, but I'm serious!

I chose to work with Jeremiah 29:11, which is a set of 2 stamps. This is one of my all-time favorite verses, so I was over the moon when Julee showed it to us. I created this card based on the colors in the October Afternoon paper. After stamping the verse and embossing it with black detail embossing powder, I cut the panel with my Rectangle Nestabilities and sponged the edges with Old Olive ink. Stamping the cross over the verse was a last minute touch, but I really like it. A few brads, some ribbon, and I was done!

From Fabulous Guest Diva Lynda Benden:
What an awesome honor to be Julee's guest designer this month!!! I got even MORE excited when I saw the BEAUTIFUL stamps included in this months release!!! When I the saw Jeremiah 29:11 stamp in Julee's new release, I felt a bit intimidated since I don't usually use Religious stamps. Oh, don't get me wrong, I have ALWAYS admired the beautiful creations others have made and thought, I hope I can do this stamp set justice! Of course the first colors that came to mind were Silver, White, Vanilla, Black....etc.... I wanted to make something different and you know what, I LOVE how it turned out and will be giving it to my Mother in Law. I wanted to make just a generic, subtle all occasion card and chose decorative papers from K& Co. and Webster's Pages as well as Artichoke and Chocolate Chip cardstock. The cross was heat embossed using Gold Glory embossing powder, cut out and then mounted using dimensionals on top of some leaves punched from my Martha Stewart punch. The little Auburn rhinestones are from Kaiser Craft and added just a little shine to a very simple card.

From Diva Amy Sheffer:
If you're looking for a totally adorable Valentine set that won't break your bank, Sweet Valentine is for you! But don't be fooled by the set's name -- three of the four stamps work just as well year-round as they do for Valentine's Day. I know I {heart} my hearts all year long! And at only $9 ... what's not to love?

From Diva Laura Fredrickson:
I didn't start out with a clean and simple card in mind.
In fact there was a whole lot going on at the beginning of it's journey. But, as I started removing the things that didn't work, I was left with a clean and simple Thank-you that did! I popped up the double hearts and added some Burgundy Stickles to the tiny hearts on the sentiment to balance. A sweet Thank-You with big heart!








Like what you see? Well, this Verve-alicious set could be coming home to you! Just leave us a comment with the answer to the following question (see below) by Friday January 9 at Noon (Mountain Time) and you could be the lucky winner. And for even more Verve-alicious party favors, be sure to check out tomorrow's sneaky peek here on the blog as well as the Lookin' For Love Release Party Challenge on our SCS Forum. Winners will be announced at our release party on Friday night (it starts at 8 PM EST in the Verve Forum on SCS--mark your calendar NOW)!

Here's your question that goes along with the "Looking For Love" theme: My son told me he has his first crush...he's in 3rd grade. It made me remember my first boyfriend, Drew. I was in 1st grade and he was in 3rd, and he always brought me presents. So tell me how old were you when you had your first crush?