May Diva Inspiration Hop From Verve

Well, I do believe it's the 5th of the month (of May in case ya'll haven't been paying attention), and with that date comes the Verve Diva Inspiration Hop. I was just reading my post for this hop from last month and was reminded of all the crazy tornadoes and weather we had just had the day before. In contrast, last night I took the girls to the talent show at Lindsie's school and when we came out around 8 pm, the skies were weird looking, bright orangey and there were big lightning flashes, but as we were looking up at the sky, there was a HUGE rainbow, with just an inkling of another one right beside it. Amazing!

	1. Betty	5. Julee
	2. Jackie	6. Shannan
	3. Jen d.	7. Sony
	4. Jen T.	8. Susan

Ok, let's get our heads out of the clouds and get down to the business at hand--the Verve Diva Inspiration Hop. If you're just joining us, jump back a minute and take a peek at the Verve blog to get the 411 on what we do for this hop every month--there's prizes! If you've been traveling along with us, then hopefully you came from Sony's blog and left her a little love (and some for everyone else on the way, since I'm the last one on the hop!).


I'm all about following sketches (in fact in a short while, I'll have another post up for May's Sketch For You To Try!). I'd say I actually LOVE to follow sketches and interpret them in different ways (maybe that's why Jen keeps me around for SFYTT). However, on occasion, I like to walk on the wild side and go "sketchless". That's exactly what I did here and it felt so good. I got out my Words of Wisdom stamp set ( I love the large fonts it has!) and my Tagged Rectangle Die from Verve, and made the little tag. Then I was inspired to use some paper from Simple Stories and just cut random shapes and borders from it. Are ya'll ready? Then, I really stepped out of my box and put some Glimmer Mist to use on some of those (very old) Prima flowers and even sprayed it on my black cardstock, and ribbon, which was off white to begin with. The ribbon actually looked a little too orangey (I can't believe I've used that word twice in one post!), so I scraped a black ink pad along it here and there, really crumpled it up, dried it with my heat gun and frayed the ends before tying the bow. For those of ya'll who know me, I like bows to be "just so", but here it didn't even matter as it is supposed to look messy! Sketchless means no rules.


Once I had all my bits and pieces distressed and ready to go, I just started layering them on haphazardly and added the bling and flowers last. It's something a little different from me, in contrast (see I used that phrase again too!...I'm so well-spoken today!) to my usual cute and brightly colored creations! Going sketchless set me free.

Guess what? YOU could win a little Verve-y goodness!!

Wanna know how?

All you have to do is leave a little comment love on all our blog hop spots

and you're automatically entered in our drawing!! For all the details please check out the

Verve Blog.

So there ya'll have it...I'm the end of the line today for the hop. I've enjoyed sharing with ya'll today and I hope you've enjoyed hopping along as well. Thanks for hopping and I'll see ya'll soon!


SUSIE Q-TIP: When I DO use glimmer mist or sprays, I don't want to have to leave my stamp spot to go spray small things somewhere else for fear of making a mess. I just look in my trash and usually there's some kind of small box of some sort that I just tear open to make a semi-enclosed "spray box". Good thing Audrie fell down at the playground this week or I wouldn't have had this Band-aid box handy. Just kidding.

Stamps: Words of Wisdom (Verve)
Paper: Black, Kraft (PTI), Documented (Simple Stories)
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black (Tsukineko), Charcoal and Chestnut Roan Cat's Eyes (Colorbox), Sugar Maple Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels)
Accessories: Tagged Rectangle Die (a Cut Above Dies by Verve), Faux Crochet Border Die-namics (MFT), Paper Distresser (Tonic), Prima Flowers, Various Brads, Rhinestone Stickers (Michael's), Seam Binding Ribbon (TCP), Hot Glue, Foam Boosters
Finished Size: A2