August Release Project Parade: Day One

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Greetings Verve Fans!  It's time for some more inspiration using your Verve stamps with this month's Project Parade...

The theme for this Project Parade is "Something Old, Something New."  You might be thinking "wedding," but it's actually something just a little different.  We have challenged ourselves and YOU to use a previously released Verve set with one of the sets that was released on August 20th.  If you don't have both a new and an older Verve set, don't worry.  Just mix an older set from your stash with a new-to-you set and join the fun!  We'd love for everyone to play along!

My friend, Susan, created a super fun card with a spinning monkey a little while back and I just got an order for a girl's birthday card using a monkey.  I called Susan up and asked if she minded if I copied her for the Project Parade, since a certain 7.5 month old has been beating the creativity out of me (yep, I said that out loud!).  This is what I came up...

Detail shot of a wild birthday monkey...

The new set that I used is BIRTHDAY BASH and the previously released set, LOVE MONKEY.  Both are playful and fun and the images work well together.  I stamped the balloons slightly off the page.  We'll say that was completely on purpose and wasn't an accident that worked in my favor...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Both the monkey and the balloons look great paper pieced.  I thought it would be a little much if I did both, so I just stuck with the balloons.  All in all, it's a fun and simple card that I hope will be the perfect one for the little girl it's made for.

1. Play along with us and link up your new SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW creation (posted August 25th or later) to the linky widget on TODAY'S (Day 1) parade post before midnight on Wednesday, September 15th. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. For another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout-out in the comments section as we parade our SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW creations. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade will win the Verve stamp set of their choosing!

Tags, Tins and Treats ~ Day 9

Hi everyone!! And welcome to Day 9 of this months project parade. It's getting increasingly harder to stick to my diet after seeing all these gorgeous and yummy projects. YIKES!!

But, I'm really excited to share my project with you today. I saw this Fabulous Box and tutorial on Kirsten's Blog found HERE, quite awhile ago, and when I found out the theme for the Verve Project Parade this month was going to be Tags, Tins and Treats, with the inspiration picture HERE, I knew immediately I wanted to try one of Kirsten's gorgeous boxes. I also knew I wanted to use one of Julee's new sentiments "All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." (Charles M. Schulz) So true!! *grin* It's found in the set Love's Flower.


Here's what I filled the drawers with: There are 4 drawers, one on each side.



Each side has a sentiment from the Celebrating You set, and the heart trio comes from the Love Monkey set.


Since I love the vintage look, I decided to distress my project with Vintage Photo Distress ink, and rough up all the edges. I added some flowers, lace, stickles, bling and some glitter to give it an elegant feel, and framed the sentiment with some Spellbinders Nestabilities and Pendants. The gorgeous paper is from Kaisercrafts's Duchess Collection. And the drawer handles are 7 Gypsies.


So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your Tags, Tins & Treats! Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, why not show 'em a little love? ;)

And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes!
To enter, just link up your NEW creation (posted Jan. 25 or later) to the Mr. Linky widget in Julee's post HERE before midnight MST on Monday, February 15. One lucky stamper will win a $25 gift certificate to the Verve Store. And for another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout out in the comments as they parade their fabulous creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Jan 25 - Feb 14) will win their choice of any Verve set.

Tags, Tins and Treats - Day 7

Hey there! Jen Tapler here with my take on the Tags, Tins and Treats Project Parade. So what do you think of the Divas' creations so far? Pretty amazing, huh? If you've been paying attention to my holiday creations for these Project Parades over the past year+, you may have noticed it's kind of "my thing" to do some sort of keepsake mini album for my son, Dean, who is now a little over 3 yrs old. Well, with this parade so close to Valentine's Day and these FABULOUS new love-themed stamps calling my name - I couldn't resist the temptation to create another very special keepsake gift set for my little man. But don't worry, I think I still managed to stick with the theme of the Project Parade by packaging the album inside a TIN and attaching a cute little gift TAG!! LOL!
I used about a gazillion Verve stamps on this project, so I'll try to give you the Cliff Notes version of what I did instead of the novel!! All of the papers I used on this project are printed digital papers from the Kitschy Sweet digi kit by Traci Reed and Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe). I started out by altering a Maya Road Coffee Break Tin with papers, pom pom trim and lots of fun ribbon. Next, I altered a single "page" from a Maya Road chipboard Luggage Tag Album, using it as a gift tag attached to the handle of the tin. I stamped the "be mine" sentiment from Heart's Desire directly onto the tag, then stamped the "Happy Valentine's Day" sentiment onto a printed digi embellishment. I stamped the small individual hearts from Thankful Accents. The larger heart is also from Heart's Desire.
Finally, the keepsake mini album is a Maya Road Coffee Break book. I designed the pages digitally in Photoshop, then printed them on double-sided matte presentation paper. I used Mod Podge to glue them to the book, then started stamping!! The cover of the album features the Be Mine Plain Jane and a trio of buttons.
I kept the inside pages very very simple, wanting the focus to be on the sentiments of love and the photos. I used a different sentiment on each left-hand page with a black-and-white photo on each facing page. I chose sentiments from Celebrating You, Love Monkey, Thankful Accents and Accent Notes - stamping each on a printed digital scalloped circle embellishment and adding the same trio of stamped individual hearts from Thankful Accents. I am so pleased with how this album turned out and hope it isn't too girly for a special keepsake for a 3-yr-old boy!!
You should be able to click on the photo above to see a closer view of the individual pages. But here's a detail shot of one of the pages just in case:
And the best part? The little mini album fits perfectly right inside the tin!! Pretty cool, huh? I just love that my son is going to have a collection of little {Verve-y} keepsake albums from his childhood!

So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your Tags, Tins & Treats! Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, why not show 'em a little love? ;)

And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes!
To enter, just link up your NEW creation (posted Jan. 25 or later) to the Mr. Linky widget in Julee's post HERE before midnight MST on Monday, February 15. One lucky stamper will win a $25 gift certificate to the Verve Store. And for another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout out in the comments as they parade their fabulous creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Jan 25 - Feb 14) will win their choice of any Verve set.

Celebrating You & Love Monkey Sneak Preview

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's Laurie here, and I have the incredible honor of kicking off the Sneak Peeks for this month's all new Verve release!! All week there will be peeks of brand new sets right here on the Verve blog...which leads up to the Release Party over at the Verve Forum!

Today, we're sharing peeks of two sets - Celebrating You (a set of 7 ) and Love Monkey (also a set of 7)! Here's what some of the Divas have to show you...
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From Jen del Muro...

(Artist Trading Card)

Julee is at it again!! She has created another series of wonderful image stamps and sentiments for this release. For this card, I used the new set, Celebrating You, which will be released on the 15th. I first created an ATC and then used it as a focal point on the card. This is kind of a new way for me to create a card. I usually work from the base up on a card, but using this design "technique" I work from the top to the base. It's a fun way to get the mojo going since you really only have to concentrate on a 2.5" x 3.5" focal point.
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From Mercy Kerin...

Hi Everyone! It's Mercy, and I'm here with a little peek at one of the new sets being released this month called "Love Monkey". If you're looking for a cutie-patootie and whimsical set, then this one is for you! I adore this little monkey, and there are also several sentiments to choose from in order to convey your particular thought or wish. I stamped and embossed this sweet little fella in chocolate onto watercolor paper, then colored him with blush and caramel inks. I created a chipboard frame to showcase him, and covered it with a piece of paper from the Love Me Do patterned paper collection by My Mind's Eye. I added some sewing around the large kraft background panel, and pierced one edge of the plaid patterned paper strip at the bottom of the card. I punched out three heart sections from one of the pieces of patterned paper with a 1/2" Circle Punch, and added some sparkle to each one with some Christmas Red Stickles. I added another patterned paper heart to the lower left corner using the Heart-to-Heart Punch, and sponged the edges in red ink. A little distressing, numerous Dimensionals, and a whimsical sentiment later...you have my completed card. I hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek, and I hope that you will be back tomorrow to see what some of the other Divas have up their sleeves!
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From Susan Liles...

Hello Verve fans! It’s me, Susan. Are ya’ll ready for another Verve release? If so, hold on tight, because it’s going to be a wild ride! The stamps this time are exquisite, but we don’t expect anything less from Julee, now, do we? I’m sharing a card with you today using the new Celebrate You set. It consists of 7 stamps; 6 of which are some fabulous and unique sentiments and the last one is that fun flourish I used to make an awesome handcut border on this card. I thought the sentiment called for a masculine look, so that’s the direction I took (this time!). The sentiment and border is heat embossed. It reminded me of the trendy “tattoo” look in menswear, as I paired it with argyle paper and a little fleur de lis texture with some shimmer on the black panel. I can almost smell the cologne counter in Macy’s! Hunky!_____________________________________________________________

From Laurie Schmidlin...

Woooowie! That's what I said when I saw these new stamps!! Seriously...I was giddy with new stamp excitement! Julee has outdone herself...and I can't WAIT for you to see them!! There is something so unique about Julee's style...fun and whimsical meets grown-up elegance and sophistication! Even this sweet, sweet monkey...I mean, HOW CUTE IS HE!?!?!!! I tell ya, he stole my heart the minute I saw him!
I created my card with a masculine theme in mind...something I could give to my DH. Because I had to refrain from using my beloved lace, pearls, and bling I came up with another way to add interest to my card - a pull-out tag! I used some string to "hold" the tag in place and added just a few embellishments - all fitting my "non-frilly" guy theme!
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Like what you’ve seen so far? Just leave a comment here on this post before 6 PM Eastern on Friday, January 15 and you’ll be put in a drawing to win this set! Winners will be announced at our release party Friday night.

And for even more chances to win some Vervey goodness, be sure to check out the Release Week Challenges going on in the Verve Forum this week!