Release Day at Verve!

Today, Verve Visual releases four new stamp sets, and they are all SO awesome! I showed a sample of Filigree Fantasy on Wednesday. Here's a look at some things I've done with the other three sets:



Petals & Stems is just too darn cute! Don't ask me why I chose Cameo Coral (it's definitely a "bottom 3" color for me). Come to think of it, I'm not sure why I pulled out Mellow Moss either (I'm much more of a Celery person). But as I laid the colors out, I thought they really worked with these fun, bright, fresh flower images. It's all just proof that this magical set can make even your least favorite colors sing! The layout is something I "saw" in a pile of paper scraps and sketched out. I had always assumed the rounded top edge would be layered against a traditional rectangle background, but after I cut the Coral panel, I decided to round the top of the card base too. Different, but fun!




A few years ago, when my daughter moved from her crib to a big girl bed, I ordered some really cute purple and green floral bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. I've always wanted to add butterflies to her room theme, but haven't had much luck finding them in purples and greens. So you can imagine how excited I was to see Fluttering By, with its two large butterflies (as well as two sentiments).

My daughter has been begging for a cork board ever since I put one up in her older brother's room (monkey see, monkey do with those two!). We found this one, along with a matching blackboard, in the Target $1 section (which now has $2.50 items - what's up with that? Smells like bait and switch to me!) It had some sort of ocean/seashell decoration at the top where I put the butterfly. Since it was already whitewashed and distressed, all I had to do was glue some ribbon and a few stamped flowers and butterflies to it. Easy!

The thumbtacks are embellished with ribbon slides from Stampin' Up's Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware kit. I filled them with Crystal Effects, then sprinkled on some purple glitter. I saw the ribbon slides altered this way a long time ago on Regina Cornelius's blog, and filed the idea away for "someday." Which is now today! Thanks, Regina!




Floral Whimsy is one of those amazingly versatile, "must-have" sets. It has twenty-nine mix-and-match images and sentiments - that's HUGE! My first thought when I got this set was how much it reminded me of the floral paper from Basic Grey's Sultry line, so that's where I started. The flowers are stamped twice, with the second flower trimmed out and layered onto the first with a pop dot. The flower centers, as well as the satin ribbon, are finished off with dew drops.

In addition to releasing four new stamp sets, Verve has some other exciting news -- a new Verve diva, Amber Hight! She is a phenomenal designer, and I'm so happy I get to work alongside her! Also, when you go to the Verve store, you'll see the May Flowers Pack, special pricing on the four-pack. Last, be sure to visit the Verve gallery to see all the fantabulous creations by the design team.

So glad you visited today!



Petals & Stems:
Stamps: Petals & Stems (Verve Visual); Stitched (SU!)
Paper: Basic Black, Mellow Moss, Cameo Coral, Whisper White card stock (SU!)
Ink: Cameo Coral, Basic Black, Mellow Moss, and White craft (SU!)
Accessories: page pebbles (EK Success), wide black grosgrain (May Arts), classic and scalloped oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), oval cutting system and scallop scissors (Creative Memories), Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder (Provo Craft), paper piercer

Fluttering By:
Stamps: Fluttering By, Petals & Stems (Verve Visual)
Paper: Lovely Lilac, Whisper White, Celery prints (SU!)
Ink: Lovely Lilac, Certainly Celery (SU!)
Accessories: corkboard (Target), paper piercer, classic and scalloped square Nestabilities (Spellbinders), polka dot green ribbon (May Arts), delphinium grosgrain (retired SU!); Certainly Celery buttons, Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, thumb tacks


Simple Pleasures
Stamps: Floral Whimsy (Verve Visual)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White and Pink Passion card stock (SU!); Sultry (Basic Grey)
Ink: Pink Passion, Garden Green (SU!)
Accessories: Robin's Nest Dew Drops, pink satin ribbon (Offray), classic circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders)