Enjoy the Journey and a Blog Hop

Hi friends!  Happy January!  I can't believe it's the 5th of the month and this is the first chance I've had to blog.  Nothing has gone according to plan this week and so I'm giving myself a pass for this past week and my 2013 officially starts.... NOW!  {grin}  Let the fun begin!  And speaking of fun... it's the 5th of the month, which means it's time for our monthly Diva Inspirations Hop!

I'm kicking off this choo-choo train, so you're all ready to go!  Just hop around to the list below to see some Verve-alicious eye candy using some oldies but goodies.  Leave a little comment on each blog and we'll draw a winner from one of the blogs' comments to win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve store!  Sound good?  All the prize details and info are on the Verve Stamps Blog today.  Okay, let's hop to it...

I've been filling in for Katrina this past week, shipping orders from our big year-end sale, and as I was packing orders, I rediscovered so many sets that I wanted to play with.  I'm hoping to spend a lot more time in my studio this year, and so I made a mental list of stamp sets I wanted to dust off.  First on the list was Bountiful Backgrounds.  I haven't used it in forever, but I LOVE it!  I love the sentiments, I love the backgrounds.  I'm totally going to keep this one out on my desk!  I paired it with Wings of Love.

I love the chalkboard technique I've been seeing on cards lately and wanted to give it a go.  Only when I sat down at my desk, I realized, I've just looked at cards, never really read how it's done.  So I went with the flow and used some white Mix'd Media ink, white embossing powder and basic grey ink to achieve the effect.  I then colored a little with a soft pink colored pencil to give it a rosy glow and added glossy accents to the wings on the heart as well as the journey part of the sentiment.   The stripes & dot background stamp from Bountiful Backgrounds is stamped in Pool Party and I stamped some hearts along the sides with stamps from the Wings of Love kit.  A couple layers of the Pennant Trim Die, some taffeta ribbon and some grey pearls finish things off.

That's all from me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Be sure to head on over to Bettys blog for the next bit of Verve inspiration! Here's the hop list...

	1. Julee	6. Amber
	2. Betty	7. Andrea
	3. Sankari	8. Charmaine
	4. Sony	9. Maureen
	5. Susan	10. Teresa

Enabler's List
Stamps: Bountiful Backgrounds, Wings of Love (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Secret Crush (Pink Paislee), Pool Party, Basic Gray (SU!)
Ink: Jasmine (Mix'd Media Inx), Basic Gray, Going Gray, Pool Party (SU!), Prismacolor pencils
Accessories:  Pennant Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), taffeta ribbon and cheveron embossing folder (SU!), pearls, corner rounder, Glossy & Crackle Accents (Ranger), Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), opaque white embossing powder (JudiKins)