July Christmas TLC166

Whoo hoo!! I have found 40 more hours this week in which I can use any way I want! I'm on vacation! For a whole week with no place to go, no that is depending on me, too much. To me that is a true vacation when I can go or do anything I want.

Well this week I want to play some challenges on SCS, I am starting with the TLC166 challenge. Here is my two-way-open card using Flourishes Christmas, well guess what, all Christmas stamps are on sale 15% off through the 31st of July.


I started off with a black card stock base. The dp is from s.e.i., zen garden, with ice white metallic paper "painted" key lime green. Black satin ribbon closes the card. Using double sided paper and coloring your plain paper allows you the look of having used several papers when in fact I used only three.

Here is a better view of the inside, I used twinkling H2Os, key lime green, and a paint brush to color the front panel. After it dried I stamped the tree with garden green, added red rhinestones. Pretty simple really.

The inside is just plain white with black wording, now how simple....and elegant is that.

You will have to go back to the first photo to see the Noel embellishment is cut out with tags trio, which I noticed they "nest" duh.

Here are other samples; beautiful ones at that!

Susan Linda Leslie Faith Julie

New Christmas in July

I am so ready to get this card posted today, and I will I promise. I have to go visit with my mom for a little while. I have been gone allllll day, my card was ready but I had no time to post it. Please, Please come back and take a look at it, because there is still a few days left to buy Flourishes Christmas stamps at the sale price.

It is Christmas Yet?

Or just Christmas in July, well I could use a little cool right about now. Flourishes has some cool prices on their Christmas stamp sets, 15% off. The price reflects the sale, no codes, no promos to keep up with. The sale runs from July 23rd through July 31.

I always go for the metallic paper when it comes to Christmas, it lends itself so well to the holidays. Yes we do have the more traditional holiday colors in metallic.

Here is a quick card using Peace, spellbinders classic ovals and a bit of sheer ribbon. Talk about a 10 minute card, this is it.

Check out some other Christmas cards, with Sharon Johnson, Linda Duke, Susan Roberts, Julie Koerber, Faith Hofrichter, Leslie Miller. It is so cool to see how the same stamp sets can look so different from another perspective.

While you are looking at Christmas card, check out the blog candy on Sharon J site, she just got back frim CHA and picked up a few goodies

More Clear Card Suggestions

I have gotten on board with simple, quick, and elegant stamping. Monochromatic Tulip!

It is so easy to accomplish with clear card stock, beautiful DP and elegant ribbon.

The tulip is stamped on vellum....my current favorite on clear stock....colored with SU markers and a touch of Copic with inkssential highlights.....cut out and attached with quickie glue. Add a few self adhesive rhinestones (if I can keep my granddaughter away from them) and a touch of ribbon.
DONE. Almost


The inside is DP layered over plain paper and on the flip side, it is layered the same way. It can be as striking from the back as it is from the front.

DESIGNER PAPER: sprout
PLAIN PAPER: su orchid opulence, vellum
CLEAR CARD STOCK
STAMP: thank you
INK: Moonlight white, orchid opulence, green grey
RHINESTONEs: soft pink (close to lavender)
RIBBON: lavender
MISC: white inkssentiasls pen, quickie glue

In My Secret Garden

I am sitting several feet to the right of our small fish pond, on the covered deck with two fans blowing on me, my coffee, and computer. I can hear the waterfall (covered by the Japanese Maple) and the


















running water (aeration for the fish) as I look to nature for color, inspiration, creativity, and if all else fails, a place to sit enjoy my coffee and watch the birds.


I call it my secret garden but in reality my DH labors year round to keep it looking like this. Most of the time I am in the house in my studio, where it is cool and quiet.. I am still waiting for the day I can start my mornings out on the deck with my coffee. While I am still working I can't bare the thought of having to go inside to get ready for work, therefore I don't go outside in the mornings. Soon, soon.

May I Suggest

Sharon Johnson is off to CHA, she always has a May I suggest column on Wednesday mornings. As you can imagine, getting ready to take a "working" trip requires more time that we have allowed. Sharon, not ever wanting to disappoint, asked if we had any tips to share.

Follow the links for more tips in one day than "I" usually find in a week. And wish Sharon and Jan a successful "shopping" trip. So, May I Suggest!

Working with clear card stock gives you many options to show off your creativity. When I used clear card stock I have a tendency to show more of the background papers that the clear stock.

May I suggest, for an extremely easy background start with one of the newly arrived 6x6 designer papers, then all you have to do is add a few embellishments, walla your done.

Here I stamped the butterfly twice on vellum with versa mark, embossed with silver pearl (I bought while on vacation ), then colored with copic markers.

A quick tip, using darker shades of markers on vellum, I found that the lighter colors did not show as well .


I glued one butterfly on top of the other for an added dimensional affect

The tulip is also stamped with a dark shade (SU baroque burgundy) then lightly colored with copic markers. A quick tip, when using copic alcohol based markers over a water based dye marker, use a light quick touch as the alcohol has a tendency to smear or blend the water based dyes.

I found it very easy to use my markers on the edge of the cut out images, that way you don't have to trim as close or precise. What easier way to cut out intricate designs.

To take a look at other creations check these out, Sharon Johnson, Faith Hofrichter, Julie Koerber, Leslie Miller, Susan Roberts and Linda Duke. You won't want to miss all the fabulous tips not to mention GORGEOUS cards, all using clear card stock.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!

A "frosted" Peony with a sheer glitzy butterfly, I was happily surprised that the camera caught the sparkle on this card.

I have been trying to find a new way to color the peony. First I stamped the peony in rose red, added a little yellow in the center then I used scribbles 3D paint in shiny white to fill in the "open" ares. Using copic markers and white inksentials pen I colored the rest of the image.

I cut it all out with Spellbinders classic rectangles, as you can see I first had to "cut out" around some of the leaves because I did not want a lot of open area around the peony, I should have cut a little closer...next time...

The butterfly is from Butterfly Moments, I stamp on vellum with versa mark, used green embossing tinsel and colored with copic markers. I cut him out and purched him on top of the peony. I also added a little star dust to the Basic Grey Euphoria paper to give it more sparkle, as if it did not have enough already. I finished off with three lavender pearls on the top left and lavender ribbon tied to the stem.

Clear Card Stock & Quickie Glue

Flourishes was recently asked about the Clear Card Stock and Quickie Glue that we carry. They wanted to know if the quickie glue drys clear and will it work on the clear cards. In all honesty I could not answer her as I had never tired it, I told her I would have to see how it worked then get back with her on the results.

I am happy to report:
Take a look at the lower right hand corner in the photo on the left, just were the vellum and clear card stock meet. If you look very close you can see a slight color difference in the vellum, it appears a little darker. Knowing it was a test I applied the Quickie Glue in a spot that would possibly show....not willing to take too big a chance at first, the area is fairly small.....

This morning I gave a slight tug at the corner, it did not budge.....I tugged a littler harder, it still did not budge. I get the feeling that I can "break it loose" but the vellum has a good possibility of ripping.

When making this card I placed a thin bead of glue along the top and left side the vellum, on the front side. The butterfly is also glued on with Quickie Glue, the pearls are adhesive backed so no extra glue needed.

I feel that the trial was an big success and feel confident the glue with hold up on heavier and darker papers....granted I have not yet tried YET.

The stamp and sentiment is from the new Butterfly Moments set.

Poppy!

A look at Poppy Patch, one of three sets released this week at Flourishesllc.

All of the flowers are fun to color although sometimes a challenge. I have not seen too many poppys IRL, so the only color I think of is orange. Now that I think about it I believe there are red poppys too ...hmmmm maybe that is next. I do better with red than orange.......

The base card and layers were fast, white base, SU pumpkin pie layer, BG sugared layer. ppie panel with true thyme. A white panel with ppie, thyme, then white again. Ticket punch used at the corners. Chocolate pearls at the corners.

I used my aqua pen to give the poppy that watercolor look, all the inks are SU markers in true thyme, pumpkin pie, only orange and black. The poppys on the left are colored then cut out and affixed to the jute ribbon.

It's Time!

..........for the long awaited July release of three new stamp sets from Flourishes. I must say these sets are a dream to work with, they are interchangeable or each set can be used alone.

Here is the first set...Butterfly Moments....What a delight to color.

This set can be used alone, several of the images are big enough to be the "main event" on a card or as an accent piece on a scrapbook page. There are even small butterflies that can be used as accents.

I did a combination of two of the sets for my thank you card...........Butterfly Moments and introducing the second Stamp Simply set........Thank You.


The first thing I did for this card was stamp the butterfly image on a piece of eclipse masking tape then I stamped the same image on a piece of white card stock with versa mark and embossed it with black embossing powder.

I cut out the making tape image and placed it over the image on the card stock and using the background stamp from the tulip thank you set, I stamped over the butterfly with SU basic gray ink.....It took very little coloring on the butterfly using copic markers......I know because I stamped it twice and colored the second butterfly, I cut out then attached to the first image with stamping dimensionals to give it some depth. I must say this card was one of the fastest and most fun to make.....but then I say that about most of the cards I make....believe me not all of them are fast, but they are fun.

The embellishments are ribbons, brad, and the thank you sentiment is embossed then cut out with Spellbinders tag trio. The edges of the white card stock are colored with luminarts H2O, key lime and snap dragon.



What I used,
stamps: Butterfly Moments, SS Thank You
paper: g. c. d. designer paper, buckaroo blue, white card stock
punch: Family Treasures edge punch, corner punch by Marvy
ribbon: black satin scallop, black embroidery floss, lavender
ink: Versa Mark, SU basic gray, copic markers
Misc: black embossing powder, flower brad, tags trio

If you want to see what everyone has done with the sets check out Leslie Miller, Linda Duke, Faith Hofrichter, Susan Roberts, Julie Koerber, Sharon Johnson and Nancy Kirk, everyone has done such a super job with their creations. Hope you enjoy.

Sneak Peek!! A real one

OK, I know that last sneak peek was so ambiguous that not many would recognize it. What can I say other than the sneak was not suppose to come until today. And NO what is on the other card is not on this one.
I have been waiting and waiting to play with these sets, then I have been waiting and waiting to show them off. Well the wait is almost over. I have to say I believe these are the best yet!!!
Go check out Sharon, Nancy, Julie and Susan's blog for more peeks.
Then come bank and all will be revealed on Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday.

Motivate Me Monday

Isn't that what we all need to get our work week off to a fun start? MOTIVATION! That is what I would like every Monday morning.
Julie Koerber, one of the Design Team members, will be chatting on Flourishes forum today about her "Motivate Me Monday", come join in the fun, the challenges and get your creative juices flowing.
I got my creativity going and I just might carry my "motivation" to the office with me. I do get a kick out of this card every time I look at it. I can't think of a more fun way to start the week, then I still have the forum to participate in once I get home again.
I could not think of a more pleasant? way of looking at all the insects that come with the floral sets of Lilac and Peony,
yes, bugs are a part of summer....so why not view them in keeping the floral theme?
There are also several "sneak peeks" here.....a new shade of sheer ribbon, rhinestones that complement the pearls Flourishes already carry. The new DP by Memory Box is on order, and last but not least, one element from our soon (coming Wednesday) to be released stamp set.
Ingredients for the card;
Stamp sets: Lilac, Peony, Fantasy Floral Garden, Coffee with friends, and one to be announced.
Paper: Grove by Memory Box, cranberry crisp by SU
Ink: cranberry, thyme, cocoa, plum, summer sun, all SU, vintage photo by ranger
Misc: maize sheer ribbon, topaz rhinestone

Thanks for looking and don't forget to check in with us on the forum Monday with Julie Koerber and Tuesday 7 to 9 pm live with Faith