Beauty For Ashes Spotlight Hop

Welcome to Day 3 of Verve's May Spotlight Hops! It's release day and that means all the new Verve that we've been sharing this week is available in the store!  To celebrate, we're putting on another hop and the prize is the ENTIRE release!  Woohoo!  Today's featured focus is designer's choice, so you might just sneak a peek at a whole bunch of must-haves!  I'm the first stop on today's hop, so let's get to it!

I was down and out most of last week with a sinus infection, and on a particularly rough day I spent most of the morning on YouTube instead of preparing for the release.  I stumbled across a fantastic video by DeeDee Catron on making some mixed media tags and I immediately KNEW I had to test out some of the techniques with the new Beautiful Things set.  I thought the black and white combo would pair perfectly with the Isaiah 61:3 verse.

I started by collaging a few papers and some Tim Holtz tissue paper together, adding a whitewash of gesso and water, then collaging some more and adding in some black paint.  Then I scraped some white gesso over the project with a palette knife.  The flower was then embossed in black and I pulled out a black stabilo marks all pencil and outlined the stamped image.  I then spread it around with a waterbrush, bringing a bit of dimension and a grungy look.  The sentiment is also embossed in black.

I added splatters with watered down black gesso and added a bit more grunge where I felt it needed it with the stabilo pencil and water.  Next I cut the leaves from black using the Beautiful Flowers Die Set and glued them to my project, adding a few basic highlights with a white stabilo pencil.

For the base, I collaged more of the Tim Holtz tissue paper directly onto white card stock, did a little stitching and a bunch of distressing of the edges to finish things off.  I just love how it turned out. Can't wait to make more like this!

Okay, that's all from me today.  Thanks so much for stopping by and for hopping with us this week!

Oh, and one last thing before you hop along. We have a brand new Instagram account for Verve, so we'd love it if you'd follow us @vervestamps!

Next up on today's hop is the fabulous Lori!

Want to win some shiny new Verve? Today's prize is a BIG one. We'll be picking a random commenter on one of the hop spots below to win our ENTIRE new release! So be sure to leave a little comment on all the blogs below to increase your chances! Check out the Verve Blog today for the full hop list and all the prize info and deadlines!

1. Julee 7. Lesley 2. Lori {guest} 8. LauraJane {guest} 3. Betty 9. Marisa 4. Charmaine 10. Maureen 5. Christyne 11. Stacey 6. Laurie

Enabler's List 
Stamps:  Beautiful Things (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Conservatory (7 Gypsies), white (Neenah), Melange tissue paper (Tim Holtz Ideaology)
Ink: black archival, black gesso, white gesso, stabilo marks all
Accessories: Beautiful Flowers Die Set,(A Cut Above by VERVE), collage medium (Ranger), sewing machine