October 2015 Diva Inspirations Challenge and Blog Hop

It's time for the Verve Divas to bring you our monthly Diva Inspirations Challenge and Blog Hop! There are two ways to win Verve prizes: comment on the design team's blog hop posts (linked below) to see their take on the inspiration, then go get inky and link up your take on the challenge to be eligible in our prize drawings! You have the until November 5 to link up, so feel free to play as often as you like.

Our October challenge is Black, White and Glam

October always has a bit of glamour and intrigue to it. A stroll through the craft store this time of year brings visions of glitzy pumpkins, gilded candelabras and rhinestones galore. So this month we’re challenging you to to get glamorous with black, white and metallics. Use the inspiration graphic or go off on your own tangent, just share a little bit of glam with us!

Click here to link up your challenge entries
Challenge deadline: Thursday, November 5.
Prize: $30 gift voucher to the Verve online store!

I created a fun mixed media tag for this inspiration challenge using the fabulous Masquerade stamp set and matching dies!

I started with a tag from Ranger and then applied a layer of black gesso. After letting that dry, I added white modeling past through a stencil and let that dry, then rubbed a layer of gold Texture Effects. After adding my layers, that part of the tag kind of got hidden which makes me sad, haha!

I cut the mask and handle out with the Mask dies, and then embossed the mask with Liquid Platinum embossing powder. I stamped the sentiment on a gold tag in black Stazon and to finish up added some cheese cloth under the sentiment tag piece, added some Golden Glam sequins, and a twine bow!

Need a little inspiration? Check out the blogs linked below to see what the other Divas did with the challenge! It's sure to be a treat, and speaking of treats, we've got a prize for one lucky commenter along the hop! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the prize info and deadlines!

	1. Julee	7. Maureen
	2. Amy	8. Stacey
	3. Betty	9. Charmaine
	4. Sankari	10. Amber
	5. Sarah	11. Marisa
	6. Susan

Reverse Confetti February Blog Hop

Hi, friends! Happy Sunday! Sunday just may be my favorite day of the week...sleep in, lots of coffee, crafting, reading, and rain:) And on the 8th of the month, a Reverse Confetti Blog Hop! You should have come to me from Leigh's beautiful blog! If you didn't start at the beginning, it's never too late! Start at the Reverse Confetti Blog for a full hop list!

This month, our theme is ABC *anything but a card!* I usually shy away from these types of challenges, they scare me! I'm not good at treat containers and ideas like that. So I thought I'd go a different way and make some tags!

I went to one of Julie Ebersole's classes at Impress today and met up with Amy Tsuruta, Chitali Narla, and a few other new friends! It was soOOOOoo much fun! We made several CAS cards, and had a blast! After all that clean and simple, I was really itching to get messy, so I turned to some gesso, distress inks, distress sprays, and had some fun! I have a small tutorial on how I created these gesso resist backgrounds, lets get started!

First, gather your supplies! Gesso, Distress Inks, Sponge tools, cardstock (I used PTI white cardstock), and stamps (Whole Lotta Hearts by Reverse Confetti)

Next up, you want paint some gesso onto your stamps and then stamp onto the cardstock. I didn't get a picture of this part of the process, but my best piece of advise is to use one of those cheap foam brushes for the gesso and lightly spread the gesso on your stamp. Don't go too thick with the gesso or it'll be gloopy (is that a word? LOL) This is what your cardstock will look like after the gesso dries!

It'll be hard to see unless you get the lighting just right:) Make sure your gesso is 100% dry before moving on to this next step! 

The next step is to start applying your distress inks onto the cardstock. The gesso will resist the ink and you'll get a tone on tone kind of effect. Super fun! DOn't be afraid to really load up on the ink on your sponge tool, lots of ink will create lots of contrast!

I really like how the inking revealed some imperfections in the stamped gesso hearts, it's so cool! I love this technique, hope you give it a try! Here are a few detail pics of my tags. The second tag was created using the same technique, only with Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks.

Love You tag: 

  Heart to Heart, Heart to Heart Confetti Cuts, Pretty Panels Big Chevron, Tag Me Too, Whole Lotta Hearts, Circles n' Scallops

Here is a close up of the cheesecloth I added! I died the cheesecloth with Festive Berries and Picked Raspberries Distress Ink Spray! I also got some sparkly Fun Foam at Impress today, and cut out the arrow and "you" from the black and pink sparkly fun foam, so fun!

 

I Woof You Tag

Puppy Love, Puppy Love Confetti Cuts, Whole Lotta Dots, Circles n' Scallops

That's all I have today, thank you SOOOO much for stopping by! Now you're off to Stacey's amazingly fun blog! Enjoy the rest of the hop and see you around!

***Don't forget to check out the latest sale at Reverse Confetti! 

Click on the heart to start shopping!!!***