Sewflake Creations

Day Three Of Flourishes Release!

2012-02-10T01:01:00.007-05:00

I have made two very different cards using this stamp set. I find Flourishes stamps so easy to color and with a wide variety of floral as well as special occasion stamps it is easy to find a stamp for most any setting.

My first card started out very very simple with a flower a frame and background designer paper. It looked like it was missing something so I added two more flowers, two rows of delicate ribbons and lace the placed them behind the main panel and stamped the sentiment on vellum so the keyhole frame would show through.

It would have been done but I wondered what it would look like adding a few pearls, then once they are stuck down it is hard getting them off without messing up the paper, so they stayed. The stems were cut from the cluster of lilies and adhered to my single flowers.

Stamp: He Has Risen

Paper: Classic white, dark gray, Vintage Timeless, vellum

Ink: Copic

Tailor Made Die: Keyhole

Misc: ivory linen, ivory lace, pearls

My second card

I saw on my friend Nancy,s blog a card were she had used bleach on her image. It was a great reminder that bleaching out the color of dark paper allows me to add white on dark paper with pleasing results and a fun technique that I often forget about.

I first stamped the cross and lily on dark grey card stock with Versa Mark, embossed it with super fine white powder. Then I put just a drop of bleach in a cup and used a small brush to "paint" the bleach on each lily. I let my paper dry for a short time then went back with another brush to paint white daisy ink (CTMH) over all the flowers. I added a touch of color with Copic Markers and was surprised to see that while the dk gray paper did not change much the white embossing did take the color.

I had to laugh once I completed my card. I had no idea it was going to turn out so elaborate. The project just seem to take on a life of its own, especially when I decided this striped paper just had to have the silver gray lace as an embellishment.

Once I had my card just about done, AND before I glued everything down, I took more bleach and painted the cross with it as I noticed the gray paper turned this brown shade when I bleached the flowers. I only applied bleach one time to my card so I don't know if it would have taken more of the color out if I had gone back a second time with bleach. Being that I like the brown, especially for the cross, I was more than happy with the results.

Stamp; He Has Risen

Paper; 1 2 3 Create Kit Bonjour, Classic White, SU kraft, PTI gray, gold mirrored CS

Ink; CTMH White, Copic Y19, G21

Misc;Scalloped Lace, ribbon from 1 2 3 Kit, stick pin I added pearls and crystals to, rhinstones from kit, Spellbinder Dies

This is the Create Kit I used

I hope you had fun this week seeing what wonderful cards Flourishes design team created of us this week! Take one more hop around to check out what other creations are out there.

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Jan Marie
Beate Johns

There is time to enter one or more of the challenges this month, you have until 5:00 PM CST today!! There is 10% off the release bundle until Friday night the 17th of February.

I've Been Framed

2012-02-09T13:01:00.012-05:00

Welcome to Flourishes Framed challenge, on the second day of February's sneak peeks. This is an easy one, all you have to do is put a frame on your card either with a stamp, a die, or

How do you design a card?? Me, I think with each card I make starts off a little different. This time it began with the ivory frame. I cut the the three layers one at a time with the smaller rectangle die inside the second fleur de lis rectangle. I find is much easier to cut with both dies at once as I am more likely to get an even cut on all sides. The frame is colored with Momento ink in New Sprout. I ment to use distress inks but I grabbed the wrong pad and ended up liking the shade so well I matched my paper to it.

Then I stamped the floral image on the smaller rectangle and colored with a few Copic Markers in green and blue violet. Attaching each layer with pop dots

The last components that I added were the three little tags cut with Flourishes Taylor Made die, stamped using Flourishes Tiny Tags and Flowers set.

All the dp came from one paper pad called Rosy by My Minds Eye.

Barbara Anders

Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle

Day 2 Flourishes Sneaks Tiny Flowers!

2012-02-09T01:01:00.012-05:00

I have to admit that it took me a bit of time to see all of the possibilities of this stamp set. The images may be small but the impact they have can be HUGE!

For my card I ended with a clean and simple design using just one paper, Classic White, one sentiment, one flower stamp, one Spellbinder die, and one brown cord. The only thing I used more than one of is ink, with distress ink, momento ink, Copic ink.

Have you ever had one of those cards that looks better on the computer from a photo than it does in real life?? Well this is not one of those cards!! LOL

For some reason I have not been able to snap a good picture, strange isn't it when the last post had two cards in white and they turned out just fine...... go figure.

I stamped the tiny sunflower around the frame I cut using scallop retangles on classic white card stock, then colored. Sentiment is from Sunflowers stamp set, I don't know, is just seemed to go with the tiny sunflowers. Can't you picture using the large sunflower image with these tiny flowers as accents??

Stamp set: Tiny Flowers and Tags

Paper: Classic White

Ink: Distress ink, Copic, Momento

Misc: Spellbinder scalloped retangles and brown jute

This is the new Tailor Made Die from Flourishes that goes with the Tiny Flowers and Tags. While I did not use it on my first card I did on the card you will see at noon.

There is still lots going on, a new challenge today at noon, the pre release challenge for a chance to win all the stamps, and one set to see tomorrow. Don't miss out! And don't forget to leave a comment for the mystery blogger!!

Stop by to see what everyone has designed using the Tiny Flowers and Tags stamp set.

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Jan Marie
Beate Johns

Be sure to stop back by a 12 noon to see what the challenge for the day is. I will have another card to show you!! There several ways to win stamp sets each day as well as the whole release. Here is just one of those ways.

DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD WIN OUR ENTIRE FEBRUARY RELEASE? Have you checked out our Black and White Plus 1 Challenge? Just click HERE to find out how to play! You can also play in our Noon Time Challenges! Be sure to tune in today at noon for another fast paced way to win! In fact check out all of the challenges because there is still time to enter. All challenges will close this Friday at 5 PM EST and winners will be announced Saturday in our Winner’s Circle blog post! So get those fingers inky and good luck!

Calla Sneak Release!

2012-02-08T01:01:00.008-05:00

It is Time for Flourishes to release those beauties!! Did is seem like January went by way too fast?? I can't believe it is the second Wednesday of the second month already! It comes around fast when the month starts on a Wednesday doesn't it? Well, the set being sneaked for February first is a real beauty.

If you are like me and have reached the age that sympathy cards are becoming more and more necessary in my life. Flourishes and Marcella Hawley have come out with a stunning lily with arrangement. I love the sentiments as well as the images in this group of stamps. How many times have you needed a thinking of you, or a praying for you card?? Even after the sympathy cards have been sent it's a beautiful way to let friends and family know they are still in your thoughts as well as your prayers.

My first card is a simple design and easy to color. After I embossed the white panel I used colored pencils to add a touch of peach inside the embossed edges. I stamped my lily image on white card stock and cut part of the image with an e-xacto knife so that I was able to slip a Spellbinder die around the cut edges of the flower to cut the die shape. Then I stamped a portion of the image again, colored it, and cut out a couple of the lilies to pop up for added dimension. I trace cut the peach panel by using an exacto knife around the outside edge of the same size die I used to cut the white panel. I had seen a card very much like this one on Linda Duke's blog a while back, I thought it was such a easy to do design with the maximum punch!

After the finishing touch of a silk ribbon bow, I put one on my large flat backed pearls from my stash I purchased from SU years ago. I keep wondering what in the world am I going to do with all of those large pearls, I can see some additions of my scrap book pages coming up!! I am sure I could come up with more ideas if I really put my mind to it.

My next card is one of my favorites of this release, so far. I had in mind to make a card with a window through to the inside so I stamped my image on vellum because I wanted the color to show on both sides, I even colored the image from both sides. Then I decided to go in a different direction with a frame over peach shaded dp.

I fell in love with the delicate shades of peach, green, and violet on the vellum paper, what really wow'd me was the way the background paper made the flowers look like parchment! Just a hint of color without any color actually on the paper. Pair up the parchment like image with the 5x7 embossimg folder (Flourishes is very patiently, or not so patiently, waiting on our pre order of imported folders) and pearls and you have a match perfect for an elegant card.

I lightly brushed peach colored chalk over the raised crosshatch design and added the pearls at each crossed along the bottom portion. The background and white frame is cut with Spellbinder die.

I have seen some of the pre sneak pictures of other dt members so stop a moment to check out everyones blog.

Barbara Anders

Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Jan Marie

Don't forget to check Flourishes blog to see how you are able to be in the running to win all the stamps released this month!!

Stamp Set; Calla Lily
Ink; Black Momento, Copic
Paper; Classic White, vellum,
misc; Spellbinder die, silk ribbon, embossing folder (5x7)

Black & White Plus 1- A Friday Focus Challenge

2012-02-03T09:24:00.000-05:00

It is that time of month again, can you believe that January went so fast?? Now with the beginning of February Flourishes has started another challenge were the winner will receive the new stamps for the month of February. Don't forget to add the keyword listed above when or if you post your card on a public forum.

I was at CHA this week when I learned what the Friday Focus challenge was going to be. I immediately started working on my card (in my head) as I knew I would have one day to get my card made and posted. One day is really as much time as needed to make a card, but some days it takes me several days just to think of and decide on a sketch/design.

It just so happens I had seen a demonstration at the Spellbinder booth at CHA on the day I learned that white, black, plus 1 would be the inspiration........ That accounts for the black and white cut, fold, tuck medallion on my card. New at Flourishes soon! I really like the instant dimensional design you get with these.

I stamped on the white Fleur De Lis accent with S S Thank You Tulip stamp set and sentiment background. I colored with just a hand full of Copic markers (RV32, RV34, Y21, G17). The lace is two of Flourishes newest additions, and the three little Candi's in the upper corner, well those are coming soon too!

Don't you just love the little dimentional paper "brad" looking circles. They come in a number of different colors, patterns, as well as white shimmer that you can color to match the papers you use. Fun!

I can't wait to see what the team has designed, lets take a look.......

Barb Anders
Julie Koerber
Cindy Lawrence
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle

Stamp: SS Tulip

Paper: Classic white, Bo Bunny, Vellum

Ink: Black Momento, Copic, distress angle pink

Spellbinder: Angle Approach (cut for me at CHA), Fleur De Lis Accent, white & black lace, pink wrinkled ribbon, grunge stripe embossing folder

Flourishes Focus Friday- Oldies But Goodies!!

2012-01-27T01:01:00.017-05:00

Today's Friday focus is on Angelic Love. A small thirteen piece set with two main images and 11 sentiments.

Here at Flourishes, the design team is picking up one of our older sets to give it a little attention! With the season of love upon us, we thought Angelic Love should be in the spotlight! So, in addition to getting some fantastic ideas today from the design team on how to use this stamp set, we're having a one day only sale! Buy today and you get 15% off! Simply use the code ANGEL in the coupon code box at the time of checkout.

I have always loved the locket image that comes with this set, it reminds me of a locket I've had for years. Mine does not have any ingraving on it but it does have a place for pictures inside. I colored the locket as close to gold as I can with my Copic markers.

I have to admit, when I made my card I used several die cut pieces of card stock left from other projects. I used Spellbinder dies a lot and try out different combinations of shapes and colors. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. If they don't work I put them in a box for another day.

I found one of the sheets of designer paper from MME Blush paper pad that matched the cranberry crisp shade of the Stampin Up papers. That small strip of striped paper is the reverse side of the dot paper.

The more I use the papers from My Mindes Eye the more I like them. Each pad has a coordinating design on the reverse side which sometimes it is hard to decide which side of the paper to use as the main design.

Barbara Anders

Julie Koerber
Cindy Lawrence
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle

Paper: Classic Ivory, Cranberry Crisp, MME blush

Ink: Ranger Distress ink walnut stain, Copic Y23, Y28, E23, E28, cranberry crisp

Embellishments: crystal hearts, key charm, ribbon, Spellbinder dies

Hearts Wide Open

2012-01-20T20:15:00.000-05:00

This is the card I was suppose to have posted early today, BUT......the cord to my computer finally bit the dust! It has been a little iffy for the last few weeks and I knew I would have to splurge soon by replacing the cord. Little did I know that most stores do not carry cords for computers, they have to order them.

I told the salespeople that I could do that myself. So I will.........sometime. For right now I am "borrowing" my DH's cord from his laptop! I just wish I had thought of that last night.

I spend more time thinking about the design of my cards than I do making them. This card started very early one morning while I was still in bed and not wanting to get out. I was picturing an image in a see through window with a frame around it. What could be more appropriate for this time of year than a heart of flowers.

In response to some of the comments on Flourishes blog post I started out with a simple card. One image, one layer over the base card, and one frame. I liked the simple look.........but

Then I added the lace trim along the left side and liked that too so.......

I added a small sentiment on the outside with rhinestones along the edge of the lace as well as at the corners of the frame. I didn't like the looks of that as well, so I took off the rhinestones. Sometimes you can go too far!

For the first time in ages I stamped a sentiment on the inside of my card. You can see it just a little when the card is closed. I place the stamped floral image between two rectangles of clear card stock then adhered them to the inside portion of the window.

Stamps: Hearts and Blossoms

Paper: Classic White, Romantique, clear card stock

Ink: Black Memento, Copic Y02, Y04, Y06 and E25, E27,

Accessories: Spellbinder Parisian rectangle, Vinese Lace

Just for argument sake which of the three looks do you like the best??

Day Three With Love Sweet Love

2012-01-13T01:01:00.061-05:00

Love is in the air with these incredible stamp sets designed by Marcella Hawley and Becky Fleck, here is the last one for this month and the most delicious by far.

Day three brings the design that I could not show you yesterday. Isn't this basket of my favorite flowers gorgeous?? How did she know?? My two favorites together, tulips and lilacs. Just imagine all of the stunning colors you could use on this basket of Valentines flowers.

I love how you can make these flowers jump right off of the paper with color. I can smell Spring right around the corner........in a couple of months for us Floridians. For now you can enjoy the sights of these flowers or better yet own the set to enjoy year round.

Today's set is called Love Sweet Love and I wanted to make a bright fun card for my box of chocolates today, what could be more bright than shades of pink, after all pink just screams VALENTINES DAY. And what screams Valentines more than flowers and chocolate, unless you combine the two in one image.

I pulled out a few papers, pearls, lace, trim, with the classic Spellbinder dies octagon and scalloped octagon then I used the same pink color of Copic Markers (Linten Rose) that I used on the vintage heart card a couple of days ago.

I hope you saw some things that inspire you to make a card using one or all of the sets being offered this month. There is still time to make a card for any of the challenges this week and win one or all of the release stamps featured.

Barbara Anders

Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen
Beate Johns
Cindy Haffner
Mona Pendleton
Jan Marie Caruso

I thank you for coming by to take a peek at the cards we made this week, the images are truly a joy to work with. Hope to see you soon.

2012 Challenge! Limited Supply

2012-01-12T13:01:00.002-05:00

Lets start the New Year off with a limited supply challenge! As we ring in the new year, let's be inspired by the numbers we'll use for the next 300 plus days! It's a limited supply challenge that revolves around 2012! So, here's your recipe:
Do you know how hard that is?? For someone that takes More the Merrier seriously. Think simplicity! 2 colors, 0 bling, at least 1 embellishment, 2 layers, not counting the base. Do I see an "way out" in the guide lines?? At least 1 embellishment!?! Does that mean you can use more than 1? YES, but I did not.

Let's see that creativity shine! If you upload to a gallery, please use the key word FLLCJAN12. Entries must be in before Friday, January 13th at 5PM EST.

When it says two layers, does the base card count as a layer?? Now it does not, my first card uses two layers with the base being the first. But the two colors, does grey/sliver and black count as two colors or is it just a different hue of the same color?? What ever your definition is, mine was to use metallic black, grey, with silver trim. I am happy to say that challenges usually give you a bit of leeway in the creative process.

I used those colors because that was what was used in the graphic image, that and I wanted to use the iron work Spellbinder die and the silver trim with dark metallic reminds me of iron. Following the exact letter of the challenge I made a very simple design.

Here is a card in red and kraft/brown with a little more pazzaz and still following the challenge as written, or real close, maybe.

With a new embossing folder and my old Scor Pal I designed this card in a flash. All of the embossing comes from one folder called Debonair Edges. New embossing folder made in Australia and new to Flourishes store this last week.

Tomorrow you will see the inside of my card as it is not suppose to be shown till then and I will have another card to go along with it. For today, check back at 12 noon CST to see what we have cooked up as a challenge for you to win the sentiment set shown today, and don't forget that there is time to do the other challenges listed on Flourishes blog too.

These ladies have more impiration to get you started today.

Julie Koerber
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Stacy Morgan
Sharon Doolittle

Release Day 2 - Heart Lines

2012-01-12T01:01:00.027-05:00

Heart Lines with the 1 2 3 Create Kit

Hello,welcome to day two of Flourishes' fabulous sneak peeks for January!

My card to day is all about the paper, with a stamped simply sentiment. This set is for those of you that do not like to color but still want an elegant card. It was an easy combination with the designer paper from the Sweet Nothing collection by Kaiser.

The only pieces of paper I added to the dp was the Classic White cs that I stamped the sentiment on, and some mirrored card stock behind the butterfly panel. I tired to play up the mirrored gold that is prevalent in the Sweet Nothings pad.

Of course I used a few Spellbinder dies like Classic Heart, Scalloped Hearts (this is the first time I have used the smallest dies that come in nesting set of dies), and Labels Seventeen.

Beautiful silk bows, Kaiser pearls (both included in the kit), and embossing folder completes the card

I like how the pearls look in this close up, they look like they have vintage elements around them, but no, this is one of several paper borders that comes in the designer pad from Kaiser.

I used very little ink and for once I did not use Copic Markers, just SU soft sky and Ranger Antique Linen distress ink.

Oh yes, there is a Mystery blogger again today, what an easy way to win the stamp set of the day called Heart Lines.

One of the ladies on our link list below will be picking a name from the comments on her blog post today. We don’t know which one it is… so the more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances you have to win!

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen
Beate Johns
Cindy Haffner

Mona Pendleton

Jan Marie Caruso

New Year Release Time At Flourishes

2012-01-11T00:01:00.001-05:00

From The Heart

Hello and welcome to day one of Flourishes' fabulous sneak peeks for January! We have three new sets coming your way designed to deliver a little love to someone else's life! The calendar might say winter but we're sure these Valentine sets will WARM your heart!

This classic set -- called From the Heart -- penned by Becky Fleck offers an antique flavor for Valentine's Day! An ornate heart stands as a focal point and is a perfect companion to Spellbinders Classic Heart Nestabilities die (S4-136) and Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Heart Nestabilities Dies (S4-137). A curled banner is the perfect accent -- allowing a few of the sentiments to be stamped inside!

The first time I saw the design for the Acanthus heart I freaked thinking it would be hard to color. Boy was I mistaken!! Not only was it easy but it was tons of fun making my card. Then once I finished I set the finished card on my desk so every time I look up from my chair I see what looks like a vintage valentine.

Stamp set is From The Heart, with paper in the 1 2 3 create kit Sweet Nothing (limited supply so don't wait), Spellbinder Classic Heart and Scallop Classic Heart die. Copic colors R81, R83, R85, and touch of R89. Range distress ink Antique Linen was used on both hearts. After this picture was taken I darkened the ink on the scalloped heart, that gave it an even more vintage feel to the card. The lace comes in the Create Kit.

Would you like to win this set? All you need to do is leave some love in the form of a comment on the blogs below! Why? You need to try to figure out which DT is the...........

Each day there is a Mystery Blogger on the design team. To win today's stamp set, leave a comment on the mystery bloggers blog and you will be in the running. How easy!! It does take time to leave a comment, I know and trust me, I am very appreciative of each and everyone of the heart felt messages.

One of the ladies on our link list below will be picking a name from the comments on her blog post today. We don’t know which one it is… so the more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances you have to win!

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Cindy Lawrence
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen
Mona Pendleton
Cindy Haffner
Jan Marie

DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD WIN OUR ENTIRE JANUARY RELEASE? Have you checked out our A New Year Challenge? Just click HERE to find out how to play!

You can also play in our Noon Time Challenges this week! To do that, all you need to do is check in -- right here on the Flourishes blog Wednesday and Thursday at noon! These fast-paced challenges are designed to spark creativity and give you another chance to win some wonderful goodies! All challenges will close this Friday at 5 PM EST and winners will be announced Saturday in our Winner’s Circle blog post! So get those fingers inky and good luck!

Can’t wait until all of our sets are revealed Friday morning? Well, you can pre-order them now if you like what you see on our designers’ blogs! Just click HERE. You’ll also see that we are offering our special New Release Bundle again – 10% off if you purchase all four stamp sets in one bundle!

Thanks all for stopping by! We’ll see you back here (Flourishes blog) at noon!

New Year Challenge, Father Time VS Baby New Year.

2012-01-06T01:01:00.004-05:00

It is Friday Focus at Flourishes today, as well as a New Year Challenge (FLLCJANRW2)

Ring in the new year with “Father Time” or “Baby New Year” – this challenge is a fight between new and old! To be in the running, simply use a card that showcases an image of time (i.e. one of our calendars, the Moments in Time set) or one that showcases little baby new year i.e. a baby card. Either will get you in the running.

AND with the release of the January 1 2 3 Create Kit!! All kinds of exciting things going on and I almost forgot. Imagine that, I have been working on my card all week, (it took me an extraordinary amount of time to come up with the finished card) I took pictures earlier before the sun went down, then the TV and knitting called my name. Here it is late in the day............. Here is the sweetest kit ever, and

Here is the card I made using Sweet Nothing. Well darn, I forgot I have not downloaded the pictures yet. I think all the fats and sugars I eat has rotten my brain. I will be right back!!

Here is the card I made using Angelic Love and Moments In Time and 1 2 3 Create Kit Sweet Nothing and the SCS technique Six Fold Card.

I love dies! They make it easy to add distictive touches to any card. I also love kits, they put things together that takes all of the quess work out to creating. All you need is a little imagination and stamps.

You can find the directions for a six fold card Here. Over all is was very easy to score, cut, and fold. I can see more of these little cards in my future. See http://www.flourishes.org/ blog for all the details on the challenge.

Plus all the design team has made a card for our viewing pleasure.

Barbara Anders - newly retired

Sharon Doolittle - retired three years (almost) and still wake up with a silly grin on my face.

Paper, Ribbon, Prima hearts are all in the 1 2 3 Create Kit (limited edition).

I added stamps, Angelic Love and Moments In Time. Copic Markers and Die, Lace Doily Accents

black and White With A Touch Of CHA!

2012-01-03T01:00:00.021-05:00

Fresh from CHA with a card designed with one of Spellbinders cut and fold dies in white on black and a touch of".....

Tin Tins On Friday Focus

2011-12-30T01:01:00.099-05:00

Here is a quick and easy way to present a small gift. All I did was make a paper cover from one sheet of Lost & Found Blush designer card stock and a 8.5x3.75 strip of rose card stock from my scrap bin. The tin slips in and out with ease.

Don't you just love those designer papers with the coordinating designs on the flip side. I started with a 8.5x3.75 inch strip scored at 1 7/8-7/8-2.5-7/8-2 3/8. You will find that the back flaps will overlap to the edge at one side, if that makes sense. Second layer will be slightly more narrow, mine is 3 inches wide with a strips of rose that are 3/4 inch wide with only 1/8 inch showing.

The sentiment is from Medallion set.

I am sure you can find many fine examples of how to use and decorate these sweet little tins and at a great price of only 75 cents.

Julie Koerber
Tammy Hershberger
Stacy Morgan
Christine Okken
Dawn Burnworth
Barabra Anders
Danielle Kennedy

Don't forget, this is the last day of Flourishes after Christmas sale with 25% off your total order.

Perfect Light!

2011-12-24T15:38:00.000-05:00

Many Blessing to you and your family this night!

From My Neighborhood to Yours!

2011-12-24T13:09:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas Eve!

It has been a long standing tradition of travel the neighborhoods close to home looking at all the festive lights. First with our kids then in later years with our grand kids.

Some years we deck out our house with tons of lights with the more recent times it becomes fewer and fewer (as we age it gets more dangerous climbing up on the roof). Thankfully we have sons that will do it for us.

Instead of snow we have lots of green!

Have a Merry Christmas Eve with many Blessing in the coming year!

Friday Free For All

2011-12-23T01:01:00.008-05:00

From the looks of my last few posts I must be on a striped kick!! I love the look of strips with the paper I have been using and this one is no exception. I have made my card today using the new Pear set that Flourishes has just released, I also combined it with the Timeless Tuesday Challenge of making a telescoping card. I have tired this technique before without much success but thanks to Beate's easy to follow instructions I have succeeded. Now all I have to do is work on the coloring from layer to layer, or maybe it is just my camera and taking pictures late at night.

I made the layers using different widths apart as well as different styles. I am not sure how I like the effect, it think it would have a little more cohesiveness if I had made all the layers the same width apart.

I concentrated mostly on cutting and coloring the telescoping image that I did not give much thought to the rest of my card, well it could be because there is so much activity going on at my house right now with the holidays (no, I did not make my card ahead) that I had to finish between hands of the card game I was playing with my BIL, DH, and niece. I have always found fruit, especially pears, hard for me to color so this is a challenge on my part.

The paper is from MME Breeze collection and Sweet Nothing from Kaiser (sh, don't tell anyone I use that paper) that will come out next month. The green strip was a perfect match for the YG Copic markers I used to color the pear leaves.

Don't forget that today is the last day you are able to purchase Flourishes Dec release bundle of Pears and Snow Wonderful at 10% off.

If you find a spare minute or two during this season stop and hop a bit to everyone blog and see what we have cooked up.

Stacy Morgan
Bar Anders
Tammy Hershberger
Christine Okken
Julie Koerber
Dawn Burnworth
Danielle Kennedy
Sharon Doolittle (you are here)
Jan Marie

Christmas Is In The Air!

2011-12-17T12:01:00.000-05:00

Each year makes Christmas memories more and more special. I love any occasion that allows me to get out the camera to snap a few pictures. Last summer as I was looking through magazines I had seen a picture of mature women taken with Santa Claus and I thought "Why not!" I had never had my picture taken with Santa, neither had my mother, and I certainly have never seem a picture of my sister with the jolly guy.

What a fun memorable picture to have in my scrap books.

I had just received my kit of the month from My Creative Scrapbook. I found these fun and festive papers from Echo Park. They are double sided so two sheets of paper gave me the three designs I have on this page. I love the vintage Santa with poinsettia along the edge, I did not want to cover too much of the paper, nor did I need to add too much for embellishments. I know, there a number of embellies on there but for me that is not much.

I added a little stamping along the edge and in the journaling box, but that is so light it is hard to see with the printing. I found a great hint when stamping from Linda Duke's blog yesterday. She said she always tests the color of ink she picked out to make sure it is the right color or shade she thought it would be. I did that today with SU sahara sand and Memento's desert sand. She said to test it on the same paper you are using, if possible. Which I did, on the strip I cut off the edge. I was able to see that Desert Sand was going to be the better match. Don't you just love the font used for Believe and Ho Ho Ho? It came from Flourishes Santa I Believe set.

Supplies used

Paper, Echo Park -Vintage Santa collection Chip Board Accents, Echo Park-Season's Greetings Lettering, Authentique- Classic Type Flowers, Petaloo Stamps, Flourishes- Santa I Believe Fibers, cotton trim and gold sequins.

Hope ya'll are enjoying the Season!

1 2 3 Create December Kit!

2011-12-16T01:01:00.003-05:00

WOW! Lots of ribbon with plenty of bling and buttons too! This stylish little number is just for you. What could be more appropriate for the Season than a Little Black Dress?

Here is a kit with plenty of potential with black velvet, slinky sparkle ribbon and those designer buttons and don't forget the braided trim and ivory lace! I paired the dynamite kit with a cozy winter scene from the stamp set Snow Wonderful. Most everything on my card came in the create kit, the only thing I added was the Keyhole and Ironwork Accent die, and the Classic White Paper. Of course your inks, stamp set and coloring medium is not in the kit.

Don't forget that the two stamps released this month will be on special at 10% off when you buy them both. You have a week to purchase the dynamite duo so don't delay, they come off special on Christmas eve.

Evey lady has made a special card for today using a 1 2 3 create kit. check them out to see which kit they used.

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen

Yes there is a mystery blogger today, just leave a comment for a change to win a prize. Thank you for stopping by to visit and leaving me so many kind comments. I will see you back here soon.

PS. I am not suppose to be posted yet but I hit the wrong button.............

What a Pear of Days!!

2011-12-15T01:01:00.003-05:00

Winter Warnings!! Pears Ahead.
There is cold weather ahead but we will keep warm with signs of spring from Flourishes newest stamp set, Pears.

I put off making a card using the pears for as long as I could, I was under the impression that it would be hard to color. Making a pear look like something you want to eat was going to be hard, or at least I thought so. I could not be more wrong. To start off I stamped the pear image using SU basic brown........Yikes, basic brown was by far the dark shade I was looking for but heavens it is water based. No big surprise you say, it has always been water based. Well, yes! But, I have not used anything but Copic Markers for coloring in the last two years. Yikes! Can I do it with, with.....chalk?

Pears designed by Marcella Hawley has to be one of the easiest images to color, like all of her images the shading lines are indicated when you stamp. A little yellow here, a touch of red over the green, then darker along the shaded lines...........

I want to be able to use my dies for more than the obvious, and as often as I can, so I cut the Keyhole die and stamped along the long side. All of the dp is from My Minds Eye called Breeze. What a fun paper to work with. It is double sided so used just a couple of pages that gave me four designs in coordinating colors. Then I paired the Breeze paper with some Tim Holtz I had purchased at my LSS the day I made my card. It

is one of his distress papers that shows a different, in this case, lighter color, when distressed. How easy is that? There is just a slight amount of distressing on my panel.

Hop along here for more delicious treats presented by the Flourishes design team.

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen
Beate Johns

Stamp Set: Pears by Flourishes Paper: Breeze by MME, Classic White, distress collection by Ranger, vellum Ink: Basic Brown by SU, chalk Embellishments: ribbon, Prima crystals, bead cap, tailor made Keyhole die from Flourishes.

Again there is a mystery blogger among us. Leave as many comments as you can as you hop from one blog to another and be in the running to win this stamp of the day. I thank you for your time and comments, I have come to realize just how precious our time is.

As always you will find the stamp sets at 10% off when you buy the bundle. That price on the bundle is good until midnight a week from Friday.

See you back at Flourishes at noon (CST) for the challenge of the day.

Warm and Cozy Release!

2011-12-14T01:01:00.001-05:00

It is time again to see what Flourishes has coming out for December. What better way to start the winter season than with a cozy fire deep in the woods.

I know I have said this on more than one occasion but Marcella Hawley has gone over the top in her design of these collage sets! There is something that really appeals to me about collage stamp sets and now that Flourishes has the dies made in partnership with Spellbiner I can use 2 of my favorite things, stamps and dies!! How excited could I get?? Excited enough to make several cards as well as find new ways to use the dies.

Flourishes unveiled their tailor made dies last month along with the stamp set Petals & Peace, well this month we have another winter theme set to show off, Snow Wonderful. I had a bit of fun keeping these birds "warm" with the winter chill in the air. I added snow to the fir trees with dimensional paint. That is the only 'special' effect on this card, the rest is pretty straight forward.

The paper is North Country, stamp set is Snow Wonderful, ink is Copic (I really need to branch out) and Momento black. Finished with kraft trim, holly die cut border, and brown pearls.

There are some wonderful creations to feast your eyes on, just take a look

As with every Flourishes release there is the change to win the whole stamps released this month by leaving a comment on as many of the design team that you can. One team member is the mystery blogger and someone leaving a comment on her blog will be in the running.

Then at 12 noon (or anytime after) please come back to see what we have for a challenge to win the stamp of the day........ Snow Wonderful.

Feminine Flair With a Twist

2011-12-10T15:24:00.000-05:00

As I said in my previous post, I would try the same card with different color flowers..... how about flowers with no color? By changing just the flowers and first oval scallop layer it dramtically changed the look and feel of this card.

I used the same papers by Kaiser (Bonjour) with the same inks except I used the tonal and cool grays in Copic Markers. I highlighted the edge of the oval with a silver sharpie poster paint pen.

Flourishes challenge is still going on with all the details listed below or visit Flourishes blog to see all the sights there are to see.

HOW TO PLAY: Lace, pearls and flouncy ribbons – these are the things that make up a creation with a truly feminine flair. That’s what is at the heart of this month’s challenge. To enter, let’s see how you add a dose of femininity to your cards or creations! Link your project up here (below using our inlinkz widget). If you upload to SCS, please use the key word FLLCDEC11. Use Flourishes stamps if you have them, but if you don’t please play anyway! The winner will recieve our entire December release. You have until December 16 at 5 PM Easterm time to submit.

See you again soon!

The Feminine Flair Challenge

2011-12-09T01:01:00.003-05:00

Lace, pearls and flouncy ribbons - these are the things that make up a creation with a truly feminine flair. That's what is at the heart of this month's challenge. To enter, let's see how you add a dose of femininity to your cards or creations! Link your project up here (link to blog) and if you upload to SCS, please use the key word FLLCDEC11. Use Flourishes stamps if you have them, but if you don't please play anyway! The winner will receive our entire December release. You have until December 16 at 5 PM Easterm time to submit.

My card has been in my mind for days but it took me the night before posting time to put it onto paper. I was refining it as I created and as you know once you add something to paper it can not always be removed, especially ink. I did not have time to make any mistakes but if I did I will just have to live with them (like the color of the flowers) that I will change if I had time.

I cut two ovals, stamped using Gratitude (free with qualifying order) cone flower then colored with Copic YG, Y, with a touch of E33. That is layered on scalloped ovals.

The vertical panel is embossed using Lace and Trim. A retired stamp set that is back by popular demand! Available for a limited

time only! At only $10 while our limited supply lasts.
I stamped the image on Bonjour paper and embossed with Silver Pearl embossing powder.

Sentiment is stamped on Technique Tiles then inked with Rangers weathered wood and walnut stain. I finished it off with a silk bow and snow white pearls.

I tried like heck to add more lace and bling but just could not come up with a good look so I left well enough alone.

Did you see all of the inspiration samples? If not follow the links below.

Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Dawn Burnworth
Tammy Hersberger
Danielle Kennedy
Barbara Anders
Sharon Doolittle (you are here)

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. Your comments are treasured each and very one. Thank you again.

Stamp Sets: Lace & Trim, Gratitude
Paper: Bonjour by kaiser, Little Black Dress (kit released next week) by basic grey
Ink: Copic YG01, YG21, YG23, YG13, Y02, Y11, E33, black, distress ink walnut stain, weathered wood
Misc: silk ribbon, pearls, sm chip board oval, Spellbinder dies classic oval, scallop oval

It's A Great Pumpkin CB!

2011-12-03T00:01:00.002-05:00

I was surprised as well as very pleased with the bright orange colors in my pictures, I don't know that I did anything when I had them printed. I think it was Sam's (that is were I take my pics to have them printed) that was using bright colors. Just the time of year maybe, but for what ever reason the brightness of the colors gave me the opportunity to use bright papers.

Not only did I use bright colors, I used tons of buttons and even the felt petals that were given to me a year ago by a scrapper that did not want them in her stash any more. Well felt is back in style again which proves that if you hold on to something long enough it will become popular again.

The other thing of note on my layout is I adapted my page from a digital layout I had seen on Scrapbook.com, here is the link to the one I cased from MaryinAZ gallery. I did not notice it was a digital page right away, then once I realized it was digital I figured "What the heck, let me see how I can to a traditional page from a digital page". I am quite please with the results.

The paper is Bo Bunny Garden Girl collection with dark brown as the mat layers. My title cut out is also from one of the GG papers, I used a Spellbinder die to cut the center portion out then adhered it to dark brown. Do you have a lot of buttons you have collected over the years and can't seem to use them up? Well get creative and think outside the box, layer them, stack them, made them into flowers, make a trail of buttons around your page. I wonder how long it would take me to use up all the buttons I have, how about you??

My grand son does not like having his picture taken!! Can you tell from the expression on his face in the bottom picture. In fact it can be VERY tricky getting a few good shots of him. I wonder what is going to happen when I take him and his great grandma to the mall to have their pictures taken with Santa. Bribery comes to mind!!!

Looking Forward To Next Year!

2011-12-02T09:29:00.001-05:00

Getting ready for the New Year at Flourishes! What is the first thing you buy for the next year, even before the old year is done? Why a calender of course, I have three so far including a down loadable one.

I love the cards that can be done using a single month with the important date circled. I have done this type before for birthdays. This time the New Year seems like the best place to start my new resolutions for next year. Let me put my plans out here for everyone to read (gulp), I am going to join a year long "class" called

Move More Eat Less. Ok I did it in public, now for the follow through.

My card was much easier to do, I printed January, stamped on Classic White card stock with January's flower of the month from Year In Flowers 1. I embossed with gold glitter powder then colored lightly with Copic Markers R00, R01 and G21.

I layers the white on dark chocolate, all designer paper is from the Kaiser pad Bonjour. Even the die cut and little tag came from that pad. I made a little "flower" out of bead caps and crystals although it is very hard to see how bright and shinny it is in my picture. With a little touch of ruffled ribbon, gold Toile Lurex and three little pearls finish my card.

Flourishes has come out with their new calender for 2012 in new dimensions from the previous years. You will find 2012 calenders here wirh easy to download instructions.

More inspiration for using the calenders take a visit with

HO HO HO!

2011-12-01T00:01:00.058-05:00

The first day of December means that Christmas is just a few weeks away! It is also time for a new NOEL CHALLENGE.

Are you done with your Christmas shopping or at least have a good start? I do not shop early for Christmas for a couple of reasons the main reason being I forget that I bought anything, then don't find the gift till the middle of summer. My family is not longer surprised when they get last years Christmas gift in July. It has happened every single year I started shipping early so I just quit. Now I leave them out in the open until I am ready to wrap.

Santa has really made a splash this year after being released Christmas 2010. It has to be one of the hardest stamps to keep in stock. I have seen some lovely cards made using this image, with one of my favorites Here! Would you like a change to win this stamp set?? Keep reading!!

I stamped on metallic card stock in brown, added just a touch of color in the holly & berries and a bare minimum of color in his cheeks. A darker metallic was used as a layer behind Santa. My designer paper is North Country with a layer of silver mirror card stock (it looks black in the photo) between the print and red panel.

I had a small leftover piece of paper on my work desk from another card, I took a MS border punch to cut a design to place behind the stamped image. I also had that bit of red left from the large red panel and since the punched border did not show up all that well by itself, I stuck the red strip behind it. The Prima lace finished the look.

Now the challenge is FLLCNOEL19 called Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas, well what would Santa be without a HO HO HO! I stamped on vellum because I did not want to hide any of the back ground paper. Follow the link to FLLC HO HO HO challenge to have a change to win the Santa set.

I am done making my Christmas cards for this year, if I make anymore (I probably will because they are my favorite stamps) I will be saving them till next year. Now I am working on writing in each card before mailing. My mother always told me "If you are not going to write in a card why bother sending them your signature, they already know what your name is!" Of course a form letter just will not do!

You have all month to make a card to be in the running for a Santa I Believe!! Come join the fun.

Stacy has made a card too so hop on over to her blog to see her card and find any details about the challenge that I might have missed!!

Great Pumpkin

2011-11-30T08:30:00.002-05:00

The Great Pumpkin Hunt

Every year is the same.....running thought all of the pumpkins looking for just the right size, the right shape, the right surface for carving. Not too small but not too big either.

Living in the South insures that we will have warm (if not hot) weather with plenty of sunshine for the outing.

Today I started out using a sketch provided by Ally Cope designed especially for us on Flourishes blog. I made a few changes along the way but then that is the beauty of scrapping, no two layouts will look exactly the same using the same sketch.

This layout was made with the intent of making stamped embellishments to coordinate with my papers and/or pictures, hence the blue flower on the witch hat. The stamp set is Witching You by Flourishes, colored with Copic inks. Papers are Garden Girl by Bo Bunny. I love the look of the garden girl papers, not only are they double sided but it gives me the orange, brown, and green colors of Fall without all the black or witchy designs of Halloween papers. In fact I had to add my own black with some lace!

The end result of the hunt for the perfect cut out! Devil Cat.

Check out Ally's sketch, she does a new page every month for Flourishes and shows you how to make your own embellies with stamps and supplies you already have.

Thank you for stopping by today, I will see you back tomorrow with a new challenge.

Try This One!

2011-11-26T21:15:00.000-05:00

The inspiration challenge for today was uploaded yesterday evening, as soon as I saw the pictures I know I had to run with it. Here is my card based on this picture. Love the looks of these bedroom ensembles even if it looks totally out of reach. My inspiration challenge card.

I tried to bring the feminine charm of elegant papers, images, and ribbons to my card. All of the designer paper is from Bonjour paper pad by Kaiser, even the cameo was part of the die cut pages. Two of the papers are what is called "spot varnish" and gives a shine when caught just right in the flash from the camera.

The stamp set is Feminine Charm by Flourishes with the only embellishments pink silk ribbon and a small portion of pearls from a Prima sllp swirl.

I am letting the paper do the talking for this card!

BLACK FRIDAY AND SATURDAY!!

2011-11-25T01:01:00.009-05:00

Hello Flourishes Shoppers! Before stores even opened on Friday morning, the “elves” behind the scenes at Flourishes were busy adding new items to the store’s sale page. EVERYTHING today and tomorrow is 25% off, which means anything on the sale page is being offered up at an additional discount for even bigger savings! Keep in mind, this sale is only 48 hours long – so shop early for the best selection! All you need to do is use the code BLACKFRI11 to get 25% off your entire order! Yes, we mean everything in the store is on sale and will be shipped anywhere in the world!

I would have a card for you today but I am off shopping...................... FLOURISHES

BLACK FRIDAY! Not Quite

2011-11-23T12:01:00.001-05:00

Here is a little pre Black Friday sale card I did using a simple silhouette stamp and embossing powder. Once I finished the card I realized how much clean and simple cards appeal to me. Don't get me wrong, I love the 2 pound cards with all of the layers and added embellishments but sometimes......... simple says it best!

What can be more striking than black and white? OK, black, white, and a touch of red........ in this case my touch of red is very minimal. Antoher thing about CAS cards, there is not much you have to remember for a discription.

My paper is Flourishes classic white, the black was pulled out of my scrap folder. The stamp is

Seasons of Celebrations, I inked with Versa Mark and sprinkled it with detail black embossing powder then added just bits of color in the string of lights and the girls dress. I scored the front panel after embossing so I could be sure of the placement of the image. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

Looking at this card reminds me that shortly after Thanksgiving my dear husband will get our tree out of the attic and start setting it up. I have a feeling he will (again) be getting the smaller of our trees out to decorate. This might be a good year to donate the 10 foot tree, that way not only will if not be taking up space in our attic, someone can be getting some use from it.

I will be posting my card in the Less Is More clean and simple challenge blog and at Splitcoast Stampers CAS challenge.

Flourishes will be having a Black Friday sale, more details to follow!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! SURPRISE!

2011-11-19T01:00:00.035-05:00

Horns and whistles are blowing, I am singing and you are turning a year older......

I did not want the day to past without letting you know how much you are loved and appreciated by one and all. You are the glue that holds us all together and keeps us on the right path. Your talents are many and I could not get through a week without knowing you are ready willing and able to lend a hand on any occasion with an e-mail or phone call.

May all of your wishes and dreams come true!

I have seem glass beads used recently on cards and pins. It reminded me that I have had a jar of glass beads for some time (all of my supplies are beginning to get older) and have not used them since I bought the jar at a scrapbook store. I have only one color of beads in clear. I wanted a blue border of beads so I put a few clear beads in a paper bowl, added a drop of Stormy Sky distress ink and a drop of water. It took a little time to get the ink and beads to blend but they did and I was happy with the results.

After stamping my design and coloring it with Copics, I covered the front with Super Tape (told you my supplies are old) then dipping the edges in the blue tinted beads. Once the edges were covered I poured the clear beads over the top and dumped off the excess.

Stamp: Feminine Charm
Paper: Romantique
Ink; black, rich cocoa, Copic, distress reinker
Misc: punched border, lace trim, SB die, pearls, glass micro beads

As you can see Julie, you are well loved, just follow the links to plenty of Birthday greeting.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
from Auntie Sharon

I have a feeling my link list is not going to work as advertised. I will check it and get it corrected. Oh My!! I think it worked!!

Flourishes Friday

2011-11-18T00:01:00.004-05:00

Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning,

Red sky at night, sailors delight.

I always think of that when I see a red sky in the morning, this morning was no exception and with the fog that rolls in during the night in the fall and winter............ well I just had to grab my camera and run out the door in my night clothes to get that shot before the sun comes up completely.

The view from my front door!!

Then the sun comes up and all the fun colors return to normal, blue sky's, green grass, trees, and gray fog.

What a morning to start a winter card for Flourishes Friday Focus with the focus being on the stamps released last week. Mine is from the set Joy Is In The Air.....the set has 3 Christmas images that fit inside a snow globe.

The sentiment comes from a small set called Sentimental Christmas. One of the things I did different, for the snow, Santa's beard, and the fur trim was add three different 3D paints. The snow is glittering crystal, the fur trim is shiny white, and Santa's beard is platinum pearl. After all of the carefully applied paint, I covered it up with dazzling diamonds glitter to give the affect of a just shaken globe. You can still see (slightly) the different effects each paint gives the image in the photo, but IRL the glitter takes center stage.

The letter background paper is from a pack I bought years and years ago, probably when I first started scrapbooking (which lead to stamping) and almost threw it out several times. When I was cleaning out and saw this paper again, I immediately thought of Sentimental Christmas stamp saying "Dear Santa". The rest of the dp is from the December 25th paper pad and if you did not get the pad before it was sold out, then you can purchase it in the 1 2 3 Create Kit for November. The kit comes with ribbons, trim, bling, mirror card stock! All coordinated and ready for your creations.

One of the things that I really love about Kaiser paper pads are the sheets included of "die cut" shapes and borders. The work is done for you and they coordinate with the papers, of course! That is what the sentiment is stamped on as well as the little 25 border behind the top panel.

While we are at the end of this post let me remind you that today is the last day of the release bundle that is 10% off if bought separately, at Flourishes, now!

Stamps; Joy Is In The Air, Sentimental Christmas

Paper; Classic Ivory, December 25th, Paper Pizzaz

Inks; Memento Black, Copics, Ranger Liquid Pearls, 3D Scribbles paint, Distress inks fired brick & brushed corduroy

Fibers & Bling; Net and green ribbon, MayArts: button, BG Pearl head pin

Spellbinder die; Labels 3

Join the design team today for a peak............

Thank you for stopping by to visit.

Father Christmas

2011-11-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

No time to stamp? Yes I have time but I have a number of papers that have great designs on them that I wanted the paper to be the main focal point instead of a stamped image. It is also a great way to use sentiment stamps with a wonderful image.

This is a card I put together using the inspiration challenge and the sketch challenge at SCS today. My inspiration came from Father Christmas and the sketch is here. With two parts of the creative process already done all I have to do with choose the paper and embellish with a ribbon and a few pearls.

Did not take much time at all to complete.

Paper; Father Christmas by Bo Bunny, ivory and black card stock

Misc; deckle oval Spellbinder die, May Arts ribbon, Kaiser ivory pearls

Have a good day!

The First Noel

2011-11-11T01:01:00.002-05:00

The last day of release with the first Noel......

stamp set. Large silhouette stamps are scary! Scary until you see how quick and easily you can make a card with no coloring. Stamp, emboss and you can be done, or a very simple version of stamp and go with monochromatic inks and metallic paper.

I had this piece of suede brown card stock on my work table that was left over from another project. I love the "soft" brown look to that paper and knew it was work great for the gold embossing I wanted to do for this card. I started the card with gold mirrored card stock, then the Dec 25th dp with holly in the corner. I layered a dark brown then a burgundy and gold foil paper from the December 25th paper pad (you will find it in the November 1 2 3 Kit of the month) the suede paper with gold embossing is the top layer as you can see.

The December 25th paper pad has it all! I stamped the sentiment on one of the spot varnish papers, the scallop dot border comes from one of the 4 pages of die cuts in the pad. I finished the card off with gold curly ribbon, gold metallic ribbon, and Prima fauceted crystals.

Here is the stamp and go card using Rich Cocoa ink on metallic card stock, with the sentiment added along the bottom. Takes about 2 minutes, well you do have the cut the card stock in half. This is the perfect set for those last minute cards and a frugal alternative to the many layered ones.

Sometime people say they have a hard time with large silhouette stamps. If that is you, I have a suggestion that will be worth the cost. I use a Fiskers Stamp Press for all of my large stamps. It is a large acrylic square with a grid in the center and orange sponge feet. The sponge feet allow you to place the image over your paper, line it up where you want it (the inked image does not touch the paper) then press down. The acrylic square/rectangle is large enough so both of your hand will fit on it allowing you to hold it down with one hand while you move the other hand around to apply even pressure over the whole image.

Have you had a change to do any of the challenges? There is still a bit of time to get in on the action and create a card to be in the running to win some of these awesome sets. There is so much inspiration by the design team to get you started.

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Jan Marie Caruso
Heather Jensen
Beate Johns
Cindy Haffner

Thank you for a week of fun.

A Christmas Color Challenge for Release

2011-11-10T12:01:00.009-05:00

What could be sweeter than winner the stamp set being released today at Flourishes?? OK maybe, just maybe the cupcakes but they don't last as long and you will be spending hours getting the extra calories off your body.

Christmas has never been so sweet!

I made these little party favor boxes from the technique I had seen on Splitcoast last week. They are a snap to make, the perfect size to add a bit of candy, a small gift, or even use them for place cards during the Holiday gatherings. It is made from a single sheet of 6x6 paper that is folded into a square box. The 6x6 square is scored at the 2" and 4" mark, turn and marke again so it forms a tic tack toe sort of pattern. Add a 2"x4" piece of patterned or plain paper, folded at 2" along the 4" side and adhere to back of box. I cut the front at a 45 degree angle to form a tab.

These worked out well. It looks like Santa is getting ready to slid down into the box. Here is the link for the box as seen on SCS.

Paper: dp Bo Bunny, red, Classic white
Ink: Memento black, Copic
Misc: white flat back pearl

There is still time to enter Timeless Tuesdays challenge. Here is mine.

I made another little box for the Timeless Tuesday challenge of double embossing. I was never able to make my mask quite thick enough to give me the look I was going for. This is not my first time trying this technique and I will try it again, sometime, if just to see if I can "getter done" with deeper impressions.

Stamp set; Sentimental Christmas

Paper; Classic White, North Country

Ink; Memento black, chalk

misc; silver cord, extra thin red ribbon

See you tomorrow for the last day and full reveal.

Flourishes Day 3 Release -Joy is in The Air

2011-11-10T00:01:00.008-05:00

Day Three

There is plenty going on today with Flourishes third day of release, there are challenges each day to win the stamp set featured, there are challenges to win the whole release of 4 stamps. The new tailor made die that was unveiled yesterday will fit with today's stamp images, so lets get started with..............!!!!

Snow globes have always held a fascination with people. Who can resist picking one up to shake just so they can watch the "snow" dance and swirl around the globe? It is easy to come up with a card design with these beauties.

I used Flourishes new Keyhole die to cut the layers for my snowglobe.

I am so pleased that I happened to be reading on SCS forum a few weeks ago that linked me to a blog that showed/told how you can cut a shape slightly bigger than the Nesties shape. It was kind of one of those duh moments but still......I am happy to learn new ideas........http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/general-stamping-talk-f17/ask-beate-cutting-shapes-slightly-bigger-then-nestabilities-shape-t539954.html

This is what I did to get the colored layer behind the white panel and will continue to do whenever I need a slightly bigger accent shape instead of cutting the .25 inch increments nesting dies use. And while Flourishes tailor-made die was not designed specifically to fit the Joy is in the Air set, like most dies It can be adapted

If you followed Flourishes Hop this week you know this is not the stamp set specifically designed to fit the keyhole tailor made die, no matter, you will be able to find plenty of images that this die can be used with. I even cut the sentiment panel with the key hole die. I placed paper approximately the size I wanted for my sentiment, cut out with the die, then used my rotary cutter to trim off the top portion.

Paper; North Country, Classic White, Pretty in Pink

Ink; Memento Black, Copic

Dies; Flourishes Keyhole die, SB Ironwork Motifs die, MS pine branch punch

Embellishments; Sparklets, Spica glitter pen

The paper used in both of these card is from the North Country by Prima, while not necessarily your traditionally colored Christmas papers I find I like it just as much as the muted vintage Holiday colors I usually go for. A nice change of pace with teal, brown, and tomato red.

There was something about this paper design that caught my eye, I love the suggestion of movement with the falling snowflakes and connected circles.

I had fun coloring the candy cottage with red, brown, green, and yellow Copic markers. I did add plenty of sparkling glitter to the snow but it is very hard to catch it in a photo. I feel happy just to get a good shot of my card let alone showing off all of the accents.

Stamp set; Joy Is In The Air

Paper; North Country, Classic White, sahara sand, baja breeze

Ink; Memento black , Copic
Spellbinder die; Flourshes Classic Keyhole , Blossom Tags & Accents

There is a noon time challenge today that affords you the oppertunity to win this stamp set just by posting and linking a card or project to Flourishes blog. Ya'll come back now take a look and enter the challenge!

The Snowy Delights challenge is still going on with the change to win the whole release!

You still have time as well as Tag You It to win.

Beautiful things going on with the desgin team, check them out.

Julie Koerber
Barbara Anders
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle (you are here)
Jan Marie Caruso

Thank you for taking the time from your busy day to visit. Your kind comments are always much appreciated.

Tag Your It! A Release challenge.

2011-11-09T18:00:00.001-05:00

I made a small tag for the challenge today at Flourishes. Here is HOW TO PLAY: Simply create a tag or use a tag on your card or creation and you’re in the running! If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword FLLCNOVRW1. You have until Friday, November 11th at 5PM to play along. Once you are done with your creation, be sure to link up to this post using our inlinkz widget. You need to do that in order to be eligible.

I made a quick little tag using the new release shown today; see below. In that post I talked about a blue Amaryllis as was wondering how stunning it might look....... well here was my change to see.

Inside the tag has the to and from stamped.

I wanted silver bells but I do not have a opaque metallic ink. I colored with a Sharpie poster paint on a q tip to spread it very thinly over the bells. The image was colored with Robins Egg blue Copic collection and several shades of green and blue green for the pine boughs.

You have a couple more days to make a tag and win!

The official rules can be see on Flourishes Blog.

Petals & Peace

2011-11-09T00:01:00.006-05:00

Release week time at Flourishes! How about a peek at what is coming this month!! There are stamps, there are games and there are new tailor made custom dies. Come join the fun!

What a cool name for a stamp set. Both images are over the top cool, but then I love love love collage type stamps. It makes it a stamp and go kind of set. Well maybe not quite a stamp-n-go design, because there is such great detail in the images that they are well worth the time it takes to color.

I can't begin to tell you how much I will be using this stamp set. Not only does it make stunning cards ( as you can see from hopping to each designers blog) it will make a real statement as a gift tag. You can bet I will be putting one on my gifts this Christmas.

Traditionally, I have seem only red and white Amaryllis and usually during the holidays. I wanted to do something a little less traditional, hence yellow and white flowers. I can't say that I like them better than red & white, they are just different. Wouldn't blue ones be spectacular??

This is the first card I made since finding out the directions (with link in the Nov. 10 post) of that "duh" moment in regards to getting the narrow colored layer behind the Flourishes Custom Die or any die for that matter. That is going to be one technique that I will be using LOTS! Of course it works best on the less

ornate dies but those are the ones I want that extra thin layer behind my main image anyway.

Oh, did you get the part about a Flourishes Custom Die. Flourishes thought it was the perfect time to come out with a die designed just for Flourishes, and coordinates with this divine set by Marcella Hawley, as well as another one coming out next month and who knows what they have in store beyond that. These custom made dies are made by Spellbinder Paper Arts.

I have tons of bead caps, those little things that are used in jewelry making, I have them in gold and silver so you can imagine how excited I was to see how Becca has shown us ways to use them other than as their intent use, to get technical it is capping a bead of sorts. It's just that that bead is on a stick. I have taken a gold bead cap, flattened it then rolled it around the pearl pin head. It surprised me as to how simple it is to work with these bead caps, all I used was a pair of needle nose pliers.

Recipe for card

Stamp set; Petals & Peace

Paper; December 25th (soon to be released kit, like tomorrow!), Flourishes Classic White, kraft, always artichoke

Ink; Memento Black, Distress ink; walnut Copic Buttercup Creamy, and Evergreen collection, with Y28 for the bells.

Misc; Flourishes tailor-made Keyhole die set, Spellbinder Prima lace, stick pin with bead cap, seam binding bow, button with brown half pearl on top.

As always Flourishes Fabulous designers have cards to show along with designers from our Timeless Tuesday team. One of the ladies on the list below is the mysetry blogger this month. The more comments you leave on blos the more of a change you have to win this stamp set with tailor-made die.

If I don't have all of the names listed at post time got to Flourishes blog to find who is showcasing Petals & Peace. I am sure you will find other ways to use the set as Flourishes designers really like to think outside the box.

Sharon Doolittle (thats me)

Still more going on today. How about a challenge?? An easy one too, so easy

everyone will have time to play. Visit Flourishes blog as 12:00 noon for the latest challenge

Just Waiting!!

2011-11-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

The later I go to bed the earlier I wake up and with the time change today.......... well just say that I have not THAT time of day for months!! What else to do quietly while the rest of the house is still sleeping, (DH and dog) that to surf SCS. Someone is always there.

Today 1Wacky women is the featured stamper so after cruising her gallery I choose Let It Snow for inspiration to CASE for my card.

I stayed with a Christmas theme and used the same basic layout, but changed the shape of a few things as well as the colors. I used an embossing folder on for the background and an old classic Spellbinder die, circles. With the addition of a couple of rouge Sparklets I was finished with my card in no time. If I was to do this card over I would change the position of the sparklets and put then on the diagonal instead of in line with the 25 circle.

The paper is from Kaiser December 25th collection and Prima North Country paper pad.

Hope you enjoyed your visit, I know I love to read your comments. Thank you and come again soon.

Snowy Days Ahead!

2011-11-04T00:01:00.090-04:00

Whoa, my favorite time of year!! Snowy winters! Yes, that's easy to say for a Floridian. If we get snow it is news worthy and memorable. And like I say just about every year, I still miss the winters of my memories of growing up in Northern Iowa. We had so much fun in the snow, from making snowmen as tall as the house, to shoveling snow off the roof (that one made the local papers) so it would not cave in, to sledding across the lake on the hood of a car with a parachute attached. But the is another story!!

Today my snow delights are done indoors with glitter, Spica Pens, flowersoft, a dimensional snow writer by Deco Arts, a Inkssentials pen or a combination of those.

For my first project I made some Christmas gift tags. I am always trying to find fun ways to slow down the gift exchange during the holidays. One year I make tags for every member of the family. Each person had their own design and I did not put names on the tags. I made a master copy of which tag was for which person so every time a gift came out from under the tree my eldest grand daughter had to go to the master copy to see who the gift went to. We are unable get together as a big family group every year now days.

I used the A Gift For You stamp set. It coordinates with Spellbinders Labels 14 and 15, it also has images that will fit in the center of many of the motif style dies as well as squares or circles. If you do not have those label dies, and I do not have them all, others will work just as well. I used #5 of labels 4 for the bigger tag, and #3 of labels 16, for the holly wreath tag.

After cutting two layers of white card stock with the labels 4 die, I stamped the image on one of them and colored. I colored my tags and card with Evergreen Copic Collection, Poppy, Daffodil, and/or blue jeans.

I added dimensional "snow" with what is call a snow writer. I picked it up several years ago at Michael's. They may still carry it during the holidays and I find it a wonderful addition for dimensional snowy accents.

I scored the second layer about 1/2 inch from the top, I
placed Scor Tape along the top of the score line and attached
the top layer. I stamped on the inside and added silver cord to
make a gift tag.

The second tag is cut and assembled the same way. This time I used labels 16,

I added diamond sparkles, a dimensional glitter, then inked with Inkssentials over the glitter (once it dried) with a little more white ink on a few of the leaves. You can see how is shines and glitters in the photo.

Did I mention there is a challenge with the theme Snowy Delights?? Link up using inlinkz widget on Flourishes to qualify, if you use a keyword use FLLCNOV11, winner receives the entire new release, the contest closes next Friday, Nov. 11 at 5PM Eastern.

Everyone needs a few thank you cards during the holidays. What a nice way to thank the hostess for the Office party, how about that Bunko party hostess?

I cut a 12x12 sheet of white card stock in half, I ran it through my Big Shot with a BG card die. I took a small piece of December 25th designer paper from my 6x6 pad, I placed it over the top flap portion of the die, with a slight extension past the scoring area on the die, and ran it through. Next I took a snowflake embossing folder, placed it over the bottom portion of the (white) card and ran that through my machine. I folded at the score lines and decorated!!

The stamp images are from Warm Winter Wishes, the Copics listed above were used here too. The two ribbons are a ruffle and silver net. For the snow along the flap edge I used Polar White Flowersoft. The sentiment is stamped in black, cut with Spellbinders snowflake die, and inked with Antique Linen distress ink. Rouge Sparklets by Kaiser finishes the card with a little glitz.

You will find many delights by following the hop.

Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Christine Okken
Dawn Burnsworth
Daniuelle Kennedy
Barbara Anders
Tammy Hersberger
Cindy Lawrence

Thank you for stopping by and don't forget the big release next week. We have a fun filled week starting on Tuesday!!

Give Thanks

2011-11-01T16:00:00.001-04:00

After handing out candy last night for Halloween I spent a little time in my studio surfing SplitCoast and checking out Tuesdays challenges. I found the color challenge had just posted using the stunning Fall colors of mustard, artichoke and burgundy. Since I have a late cup of coffee (not to mention a sugar rush from Halloween candy) I was too wired to go to bed .

There is a challenge on Flourishes too, to make a round card, and being as I did not read the directions right the first time I made a card with a round wreath on it and a round bezel. When I re read the instructions I realized I could not use the original card so I started thinking on an appropriate design. When I saw the color challenge at SCS I used the design I had been thinking about for the Noel challenge as a color challenge instead.

The round shapes are cut using the Samantha Walker Spellbinder design called Blossom Tags and Accents. At you can see I did three largest round shapes in the three colors of the challenge.

I added a rectangle tag from Nunn Designs with a sentiments stamped on ivory card stock then added the pearls around the edge. They are by Want 2 Scrap. I got carried away and bought a ton of these in all colors last summer at CHA super show for $1 apiece.

After I posted my card to Splitcoast last night I was too tired to post it on my blog. Once I saw the picture on SCS I decided it needed a little more something so I added a bow.

Thank you

Bezel Card

2011-10-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

I was making this card for the Noel Challenge at Flourishes starting on Tuesday. Silly me! I went back to read the guide lines and found that I got it all wrong!! Oh my, and I had so much fun making the pendent. I made it for the Midnight Madness Challenge at Priscillastyles challenge too.

I had found a blog ( probably on a SCS thread or from another blog I was reading) that showed the technique she was doing to create pendents, Pennywise Arts.

I started with a huge brad that I had purchased who knows how long ago. I could never find a use for them and was afraid I would never use these humongous things.

I cut off one of the tings on the brad and bent the other one back to form a loop. I cut a circle the size to fit inside the brad and stamped it with an image from Flourishes Christmas Candles. Then I colored with Copic markers then taped it inside the brad. Next I put is layer of of Glossy accents over it and let it dry for most of the day. I saw that the paper was starting to lift and I very carefully glued it down with The Best Glue Ever (That is the name of the glue, I would have to agree, it is!) then filled the brad with more Glossy accents. This time I let it dry overnight.

The glossy accents washed some of the color out of the image, especially on the ornaments but not bad. Just before the glossy accent set completely I sprinkled on some gold glass glitter. I was able to catch some of the sparkle in the photo.

It is hard for me to see the full effect of my photography as my computer screen image is dark. Now if I use the battery power my screen is much lighter, but alas my battery is old (in computer years) and does not hold a charge very long. It really makes it difficult to adjust the color after downloading the photos. I don't want to put the money in a new battery as I figure I will have to replace the PC in the next couple of years anyway.

The mistletoe image is a border from Met Me Under The Mistletoe that I was able to twist into a ovalish shaped circle and stamped on Ivory Classic card stock, also colored with Copic Evergreen collection. Being able to "reshape" photo polymer stamps gives you some great options in changing the shape of some of the images.

The sketch used. The dp paper is Bo Bunnies new Christmas pad with the card stock is out of my scrap folders. Probably from SU and at none of it new. I have not bought 8.5x11 card stock for over a one year and I still have enough to last for as long as I make cards. I went shopping in my studio for the ribbon, SU silver cord, pearls, and Creative Book spellbinder die.

Glad you stopped by and thank you for your comments.

? Do I Have A Title?

2011-10-28T00:01:00.005-04:00

I picked up a few samples of Authentique scarp book designer papers. I find that I really like the quality of the papers, they are a little on the heavy heavy side but I don't know that paper can be too heavy for scrapbook layouts. The paper is made in the USA which I think is a GREAT plus, at least in my humble opinion.

I love the black and grays in the rose design. I found it a little unusual maybe a little unexpected too. It does allow for a few great black accents!

I really love how the big wrinkled ribbon bow turned out and as a finishing touch I placed a stick pin in the bow made from a pearl pin with silver bead caps that have been flattened and reshaped. The journaling tags are from Tattered Angels, I just cut and reshaped them to my needs. One by adding a Wordsworth quote sticker and the other hand written.

The little bunch of flowers add about two inches of height to the page, so much height that I have put it in a shadow box and will add it to the wall decor. I will be able to display my bow without it being smashed flat like it would it I add the page to an album.

Flowers seem to be one of those trendy items that I have in great abundance. I am always looking for unique and not so unique ways to use them. Personally I think they multiply when the lights go out.

The week end is coming up fast, I want to make another card and one more scrap page before Saturday arrives with all the birthdays, anniversaries, soccor games, Fall Festival food delivered, treats for Halloween party at school due, then somewhere in there I would like to get more pictures developed. Wow, how do families with kids do this day after day, week after week.

See you soon!

New To Me, Less Is More

2011-10-27T12:29:00.001-04:00

I had recently organized my favorites bar on my P C. I made folders for the different things I am interested in. The card challenge folder it just one of those folders and while it has only a few sites in it, I revisited all of them to see what was happening.

"The Less is More" , a clean & simple challenge blog, is a recent addition. I have not entered that challenge before but saw the Polka Dot challenge and thought "I could whip up something quick enough today" between cookie baking, child care, errands......

I do plenty of scraping as well as cards, I find it much easier to leave "white space" on a card than in a scrap book page. The embossing folder I used is a new Sizzix through Basic Grey called Winter Bouquet. I love the full size image it produces and with a die cut reindeer using a Spellbinder die I was almost done.

I just added a sentiment and polka dot ribbon!

Thanks for visiting.

Cooling off in the Summer Heat.

2011-10-25T19:50:00.000-04:00

Just playing a little catch up with a few of the pictures I took this summer while in NC. Guess what?? It was as hotter in North Carolina as it was in Florida. How do you beat the heat?? You don't! I was in the sun during Coast Guard Day festivities for as long as I could tolerate it then I went back to the house for a little AC. The younger people, my son and grand daughter in this picture, stayed to enjoy all of the free activities, drinks, food. The biggest hit, no surprise, was the snow cones.

I captured a few great pictures that I will be working with for the next few days. Do you know the very best thing about over purchasing craft supplies?? I love to "go shopping" in my studio! I started with my background paper, then chose the two background papers which happened to be leftovers from the layout below.

Then I picked out a few embellishments, like the white Petaloo flowers at the bottom, the Prima butterflies and flowers on the upper right. I also used a couple of MS punches as well as two Spellbinder dies to make other embellishments. All of these came from my stash, although the dies were new just a few months ago.

The Petaloo flowers started out white, they did not match the butterflies I wanted to use so I took some Glimmer Mist (antique lace) and sprayed then. The flowers already had a little glimmer to them and the mist just added a bit more. The quote is a rub-on from Cloud9.

I plan on adding a couple more flowers (not that it needs more, I want more) just below the butterflies and floral on the upper right side. Now all I have to do is find where I put them for safe keeping! My studio is just about as full as it can be, I don't know why it has to eat everything I set down!!

Hope you enjoy looking.

Summer Heat

2011-10-22T20:41:00.000-04:00

My goal was to capture the glow of heat on my grand daughter's face, I think I did that very well with the added bonus of how her shockingly green eyes look in this photo. Her eyes are more hazel than green but on this 100 plus degree day, and the shade of the pavilion her eyes look as green as they can be.

We had spend a good portion of the day outside at the USCG Station in Elizabeth City NC. It was HOT!

I decided that I just had to use green papers to bring out the color even more. This photo is a little dark which it is IRL too, but if you step into the sunlight the green eyes pop!

I have used papers from a pad that I bought at Michaels when they had a sale on their paper. I have taken the cover off of the pad for some reason so I don't know who the paper is manufactured by. I loved the bright colors in the pad and found three designs in green within the pad along with a coordinating yellow. The orange is a leftover piece of Bo Bunny paper from their beach collection.

I used a natural cotton ribbon to frame it. I have decided I should have used the .25 in ribbon instead of the .5, but after cutting them all at a 45 degree angle and adhering it to the page I was not about to change it now.

Bath Time, 1st Time

2011-10-21T21:50:00.001-04:00

I am making time to finish and post three pages that are COMPLETED for my goal of 6 pages this month. I have been taking pictures, I have been buying papers, I have been making cards, NOW it is time to scrap!

All papers are not created equal! In the past I have done several pages using the distressing technique of wadding your paper into a ball, wetting it, smoothing it out, and then inking for a distressed look. Some DP is very dense and hard to soak up water, well that was not the case with this dp, it fell apart! But, I used it anyway!!

I wet my paper and wadded it up, well it soaked up the water so well it started to disintegrate. It was hard trying to get the paper smoothed out again and I could tell it was going to be complicated, so I wadded it up and threw it away. It stated in the trash for about 15 minutes before I pulled it out again thinking that it was my last two pages of that collection and I really wanted it. Then I took it as a challenge to see what it would look like if I could smooth it out enough to us.

I was right! It did take a long time to work the wet paper apart, soomth it down, then let it dry. I don't know how well it looks but at the very least it really gives the page a distrssed, bumpy, ripped look.

I had enough texture on my page with my salvaged paper so I went light (kind of light) on the embellishments. Some of those embellisments I have had for over 6 years. A good case for the "I don't over buy club, I am collecting for just the right moment" stratagy.

Paper; Deja Views

Misc; Spellbinder border die

Stamping Staion picture tags

Reflections flowers

large pearl brad

vellum sticker envelope

coloroasis thoughts- stickers

real sock

It's a Treat!!

2011-10-19T14:30:00.001-04:00

See what happens when you don't go to ALL of the school functions for the grand kids??? My son called from school and wanted to know if I wanted to be signed up to bring something for the class parties by grand kids have for the holidays. I did say yes, but I also said sign me up for one time, either Christmas or Halloween and sign my mother up for the same holiday. Well...........we are signed up for both holidays.

I probably should have used these cute boxes I found a Micheal's for Christmas treats. I hope the class does not expect something as cute as these!!

I thought the little scoop was so darling and probably the main reason I bought them to decorate. I also bought a new Halloween stamp set as I do not have one with small enough images that work best for 10-11 year old.

Plus I knew that stamping on acrylic can be slippery.

Did you know that Stazon pads dry up if not used for a couple of years and no matter how much you re ink them the pad stays dry and hard??? I was able to use the pad for a short time once I re inked it but after using almost a half of a bottle of reinker I figured it would be better to buy a new pad. I should have done that to begin with as it made the whole process go so much smoother.

I filled them with m&m's or Sixlets for those with allergies. I have all 22 ready to go, all there is left is to attach a seal over the hinged lid and pack them up. I think it would be fun to hand them out Halloween night but the bags are more frugal, besides the kids only want the candy anyway.

Thanks for stopping today!

Celebrate With Candlelight

2011-10-14T00:01:00.006-04:00

DAY 4 of Flourishes release bring what is sure to be a favorite with me, I hope it will become one of your favorites too.

This is one of the first cards I made this month with the new release stamps. I love candles so it was a natural but instead of masking the large image, I carefully cut the single candle from the group of four then stamped it on one of the shaped pieces that came in the paper pad.

I found that Spellbinder label 16 was the general shape of the green and cream panel that came in the pad, so I used the die to cut the red layer. I have to say this Kaiser pad in my favorite for the Christmas season, it has so many wonderfully coordinates patterns plus specialty papers (foil) and die cuts (4 sheets-all different ).

The sentiment is stamped on ivory and slightly distressed with ink to match the lighter shade in the main panel, then it is cut on an angle with labels 16 also but I cut off the top and bottom portion to get this shape. The cream lace is adhered over red ribbon.

Stamp; Christmas Candle, Ink; Copic inkssentials pen Paper; Kaiser December 25th Misc; Spellbinder dies Label Sixteen May Arts red ribbon Product From Abroad lace

If you have not seem what all of the designers and bloggers have made with the three previous sets release this week now is your chance to check them out.

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Jan Marie Caruso

Thank you for stopping by this week and for all of the kind comments ! I am even more excited by next months sets.......... Ya'll come back now.

Oh wait, I just found out that Flourishes has just gotten new holiday catalogs in the store.

Flourishes is decking the halls to get ready for the Christmas season and we've stocked the shelves with a brand new 2011 Flourishes Christmas Catalog. This 20 page full color catalog offers a look at not only every Flourishes Christmas set that is available, but a handful of tutorials showcasing projects that are perfect for the Christmas gift giving season. It even offers a sneak peek at some of our Christmas sets for November! At just $6, this catalog is a must have!

Celebrate the Season

2011-10-13T00:01:00.005-04:00

We are clebrating in style this holiday season with new Christmas stamps at Flourishes this week and next month too! So check out what can be done with this new stamp.

We have another of Lauren Pope's fantastic silhouette stamp sets with a Christmas holiday theme from kids in their flannel jammies to fun on the snowy hills.

I stamped my image on blue matellic card stock then embossed with white. Two of the panels are silver mirrored paper but since we have not had much sun here for the last few days I have not been able to capture a good picture of the shine on the mirrored paper. No matter there is no shine as the white embossed panel carries a shine all its own, and I have plenty of that.

I stamped the sentiment on classic white cut it out with Spellbinder-----------then used stormy sky distrssing ink around the edges. The last and only embellishment was a white sheer bow. A great card with great images for those that have to do mass productions.

As always Flourishes desginer have done a fabulous job with stunning cards, take a look.

We still have one more day to go!

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe.

2011-10-12T00:01:00.004-04:00

Here is another stunning set designed by Marcella Hawley for Flourishes. Who can pass up the chance to meet under the mistletoe.

This is a pretty simple card using Spellbinders 2011 heirloom ornament dies and Prima North Country paper pad collection for a slightly non traditional Chriastmas card with olive green, brown, and teal.

I stamped the image on Classic white paper then cut it out to place in the opening made by the ornament die.

Thats not how it happened! My original idea did not work, I messed up the coloring around the image by trying to add distressing ink around the mistetoe because I did not like all of the white showing. I figured I would have to start over again and just did not have the time to do that so I tried to come up with an idea to salvage the card.

The sentiment was stamped on the inside of my card with colored seem binding to make the bow and a red acrylic gem attached to the bow.

Head on over to Flourishesllc and check out what all of the creative cards ladies have made with this set. Then don't forget to check out Flourishes blog at 12 noon CST to see what the new challenge is to win stamp sets.

Add a Little Sparkle!

2011-10-11T22:00:00.001-04:00

Holiday sparkle is just the tip of Flourishes holiday releases. This month there are four spectacular sets designed by Loren Pope and Marcella Hawley, the first one is Holiday Sparkle, by Marcella.

There are so many possibilities with this set, you have seen just a few of them today with the designs from Flourishes design team.

I have chosen to make three in a row, well it's just my luck that I could never come up with three in a row. That's why I don't gamble!! I have no luck. Anyway, my card uses two of the small ornament images stamped on classic white paper and colored with Copic Markers. I layered it on mirrored gold card stock then on a musical paper panel from Kaisers December 25th paper pad. I used some gold net ribbons (left over from last year) and brown Plisse as an accent.

Stamp set: Holiday Sparkle All dp is from December 25th pad, gold mirror card stock, classic white,

Spellbinder: labels 16, Ribbon: gold net and brown Plisse.

All of these ladies have cards out today, hope you had a change to check them out.

Beate Johns
Cindy Haffner
Heather Jensen
Makiko Jones
Beata Johns
Silke Ledlow
Tammy Hershberger
Rosemary Dennis, October Guest Designer

And the senior design team with

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Jan Marie Caruso
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger

More to come in a few hours.............. I had trouble with my last post. It took me so long to redo the whole post once I noticed that what I had written and copied & paste a few days before did not "save" as I thought. It took me right up to posting time to get it complete, then I did not have time to post my Flourishes card before the Keep Swimming.
Thanks for stopping by......

Blogging For A Cause!

2011-10-11T00:01:00.007-04:00

C with a capital C for CANCER.

This fundraising cause is near and dear to my heart. CANCER I though the reason I know more and more people with cancer had something to do with the age bracket I am in, but NO, it has no age group!

I have been following Katie's blog for over a year now, she has cancer, and unlike many people or anyone close to me that has had cancer, Katie has written about her day to day life living with this disease. Her writings have given me a look into what it must like for a cancer patient to cope with their life as it is now. What she feels, what she misses, what she hates, and what she loves. Her writing gives you a glimpse to what your loved ones with cancer feel but may not have the words to say or maybe they don't know how to share that anger, fear, struggles, and hopes. Some people don't even want to share what they are going through but I have to say, it does help those of us who care but feel helpless to do anything.

I have never met Katie, I will never met Katie on this side. One day I hope to see her in all of her glory but until then I am doing what I can to help provide, just a little, support for her family most particularly her boys.

From October 10-12 some of the best stampers are joining together to support and encourage our friend and fellow stamper, Katie Renz, who is currently battling inoperable gastric cancer. If you're not familiar with her, Katie’s cancer story started just before Christmas last year. This young, beautiful, healthy, vibrant mother of 3 with her infectious smile was suddenly diagnosed with an inoperable cancer, virtually overnight. A few tummy aches and then stage 4 gastric cancer. Her first post about it is here. The idea of “Swimming for Katie” came from her recent post here.

This exclusive stamp used in my sample, designed by Becky Oehlers is available as a clear stamp, as well as a digis or a dig and SVG cut file. 100% of the profits go to Katie's fund to help her and her young family. Her husband Kevin and her three young children need our help and support. In addition to the Keep Swimming Octopus, Marianne Walker and True =D Doodle Designs both also donated digis that are for sale. Direct donations are also being accepted. Information central, This is a permanent page that will stay active at i {heart} papers with current information and the full 3 day blog hop listing, as well as the donation button.

My card today is in honor of Katie and for anyone that needs to KEEP SWIMMING!

For my card I used the faux silk technique that I found on SCS this summer. I have made several cards using this technique and napkins that I have collected from parties I have been to. Being that I live on the Gulf Coast most of the parties are decorated with a beach themed. This napkin with the star fish fit the stamp image and colors I have used.

I colored with Copic on Classic white paper, I added a touch of sparkle on the crown and wand. Then cut with Spellbinder dies, labels fifteen, I finished it off with a bow made from some blue seam binding that I was given for my birthday (I received a rainbow of colored seam binding in two yard lengths) and a white button.

Here are the stamps for sale.

I am either having computer problems, I am severely handicapped when coming to adding all the links and downloads to my blog, or blogger is having fits tonight. I have copied and pasted the links several times to my post but it will just not stick! What ever the reason there are so many many top designers that are posting for this cause. Kick back with a cup of coffee and go hopping!

Ashley Harris
Amy Kolling
Angela Thomas
Angelica Suarez
Angie Blom
Ashley Cannon Newell
Becky Oehlers
Betty Wright
Bev Gerard
Brenda Weaver
Carolyn King
Chari Moss
Charlene Driggs
Charlene Merrick
Cindi Bisson
Claire Brennan
Clare Buswell
Connie McCotter
Corinna McGregor
Craft Critique
Eva Dobilas
Heidi Van Laar
Jessica Diedrich
Judy Rozema
Karen Hunsaker (Rubbernecker Stamps Designer)
Karen Maldonado
Keely Yowler
Kelly Schirmer
Keri Lee Sereika
Kim Hughes
Kimber McGray
Kittie Caracciolo
Kristin Eberline
Lisa Somerville
Lori Craig
Melissa Phillips
Sharon Doolittle (you are here)
Tifany DeGough
Tosha Leyendekker
Wendy Price
Windy Robinson

Bits n Pieces

2011-10-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

I have been working on a number of things over the last few days. I was not able to go to my LSS this week end for their annual Pink Crop. I have learned over the last few years how to pack for a crop so I am able to get a number of pages done over the three day event. Now that I am not able to attend I am having to really work at play!! How sad is that when your play time becomes work?
It is probably more a loss of mojo or "I don't feel like getting out of my chair" than anything else. I always feel like I have accomplished something whenever I finish a scrap book page.

This first picture I have had for a few years. It was one of those shots that I over exposed just for fun. I wanted it for his baby album but once I added the bulky fabric flowers I knew it would not fit the book. Now I think I am going to purchase shadow boxes from Micheal's and make a wall of framed pages.

I used a combination of papers from a Deja Views paper pad, Memory Box, and MME. The lace, buttons, ivory flower as well as the metal flourish in the corner are by Prima. I have never been one of those people that purchase matching/coordinating supplies to use together. I love to mix and match from my stash.

BUT, sometimes I do use all or most all the elements that come as a coordinating set, like the page below.

This page came together pretty quickly, it will go into the A B C baby album that I worked on during the virtual scrap book challenge last week end. I finished just a few pages for the challenge this time as I found the longer I tried to make my pictures fit within the challenge guide lines the less I could come up with ideas on how to complete the layout.

Most everything came from that same Deja Views paper collection called little ones by Sharon Ann. I bought it at Micheal's probably 3-4 years ago and I have to say it has been wonderful to use. The only things I added were the ribbons, letter sticker, red and white card stock, all the rest was in the paper & punch out tablet.

On another note, I finally did it..........and not a good finally did it. I melted a spot on the carpet with my heat gun. This is the same carpet that has had black permanent ink pad dropped on it. Amazingly the ink disappeared over time, like a few years, but it is gone. Now there is a melted spot next to my work space. Not very pretty but I can cover it up with the electrical outlet that sits on the floor or move my storage unit out from the wall slightly to hide the spot. At least it is in the one room we have not redone the floors in yet. I want to put in laminate floors but have not wanted it done badly enough to move my all the supplies out! Too many more accident and I will get that new floor.

Thank you for stopping today.

Wacky World Card Making Day!! A Challenge.

2011-09-30T00:05:00.001-04:00

In honor of World Card Making Day on Saturday, October 1st, we're kicking things off one day early in a wild and wacky fashion! Have we got a challenge for you! It's all about that inner kid and why we love card making in general - we get to be creative! So, think like a kid and share your favorite animated character. Find a picture of that character and then, be inspired by the colors for one fun-filled color challenge! We'll take entries through next Thursday, October 6th at 5PM EST. The winner of this challenge gets a fun-filled prize pack with 5 Flourishes stamp sets of our choice. Once you're done with your creation, simply link up on this post using our Inlinkz widget. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers, please use the keyword FLLCWCMD11. Th-th-tha-that's all folks!

For my favorite wacky character I chose Cindy Lou Whoo. Just look at that sweet face, and big blue eyes, there is nothing wacky about it.

Today my card is a little wacky, at least for me. I am one of those people that seem to need a rectangle or square card base...not this time! I am in love with dies, can ya tell?

This card base was cut using one of Spellbinders newest additions by Donna Salazar called Ornate Artisan Tags. I cut another layer out in the pink, then after cutting off the end pieces I used the smaller die to cut inside to make a frame. The #3 Lacy Oval fit perfectly inside the frame. If you don't have the lacy ovals then any of the ovals the same size will work.

The paper for my card was a 12x12 sheet of bazzil and the pink was from my stash of 6x6 papers. Sometimes you just have to hunt through all of your papers to find a matching shade, especially when doing a color challenge. When using your stash it also makes you feel vindicated for buying all of that paper in the first place.

I stamped the hat image from Feminine Charms on some heavy cover weight paper I had collected. It was the color of card stock I was looking for to match my wacky color scheme. I used Copic to color and a few pearls from Kaisers line pearls to add a little bling to my hat, and finished it with ivory silk ribbon.

Flourishes desgin team each have their own animated character along with their own color scheme. If you have not checked them all out yet take a hop over to.........

Sharon (thats me)

Hope you had fun with our wacky world card making..........lets try a few for yourself.

Tres Chic

2011-09-17T09:01:00.000-04:00

Here is a card that I whipped up quick and easy for the Inspiration Challenge on SCS to day.

As soon as I saw the challenge pictures I thought of this image from Flourishes new release set called Feminine Charm. While I am not much on fancy fashions I do like this shoe with it cascade of floral petals down the front.

I stamped the image on Classic Ivory card stock and colored with R24, R27, R29, R59 for the flower. For the shoe base I used Y28 and E 51, E55. A touch of white with a galaxy marker finished the shoe. I cut the shoe out and adhered it to designer paper by Prima called Romantique. The small squares are cut from one of the embellishment pages that come with the same paper pad.

A bit of trim and fauceted crystals that coordinate with the paper finish the look. Like I said quick and easy! The coloring took 5 maybe 10 minutes to play around with adding color for depth while cutting out the shoe took me 1 commercial break from some program I was watching.

Thank you for all of the kind comments! Come visit again soon.

Fall Harvest.........want I miss

2011-09-16T00:01:00.002-04:00

Fall Harvest.... that has to be what I miss the most in Florida!

The smell of dried leaves, the bonfires, the crisp days and chilly nights, the colors of burnt orange, russet, reds, and yellows of the trees and flowers. The abundance of pumpkins, dried corn stalks, bails of hay, Indian corn, bittersweet, and of course a harvest moon... all of that is what I remember about the Fall season in Iowa.

With those images in mind I designed my card using the newest stamp set from Flourishes called A Season of Thanks.

First I choose the designer paper that included the colors of Fall, in this case it was Kaiser paper from their Vintage Timeless collection. Then I choose the colors of Copic markers I wanted to use in my air brush system for the background of the image. After cutting out the Classic white card stock using Ornate Artisan Tags and placing a circle mask where I wanted my setting sun, I started with the lightest color of green G12 and sprayed the whole piece, then with the next darker color G21 I sprayed staring half way down my SC, then with the darkest green G95 I sprayed the lower 1/4. I removed the circle and put on a reverse mask and sprayed the sun using Y04, Y38 with a touch of YR04.

I stamped the image with rich cocoa Memento ink and colored with a variety of YR Copic markers. The molted green and orange of the one gourd came about by coloring over the air brushed section before it had dried. I LOVED the effect that reminded me of gourds that I had seen with those shades of yellow-red and green. When I colored the pumpkins the same thing happened even though the background had dried the alcohol reactivated base colors so they blended. I will have to look up the terminology for coloring that way but it is really kind of cool.

Once I finished coloring my image I decided it needed a little "grounding" on the panel. The only way I could get that was by making a mask of the image and air brushing E33, E25, E37 with the Spellbinder die I cut with as a stencil. I did not remask the setting sun so that is how it ended up with the shadows.

The chocolate metallic layer is cut using the largest die from Ornate Artisan Tags, I cut the end tabs off and used them as additional elements. The orange layer is cut with Lacy Doily Motifs, the edges are inked with Versa Mark Dazzle. All colored card stock is from SU. Classic white and Metallic is from Flourishes.

You can always find plenty of inspiration to look at with Flourishes DT,
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Danielle Kennedy
Tammy Hershburger
Dawn Burnworth
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence

Barbara Anders

Jan Marie Caruso

Hope you enjoyed hopping this week to see what has been done with this harvest set. Don't forget the noon challenge for a chance to win the whole Flourishes release bundle.

Well, Bless Your Heart

2011-09-15T00:01:00.016-04:00

When you hear those word you know you are going to hear a good story as told by a Southern lady or you may have just hear some oral history (gossip) as told by a Southern lady. What ever you are about to hear...........sit back relax and have a good time!

Did you hear the screech when I made this card?? It was the paper hoarders delight at seeing paper that is about 12 - 15 years old being used. A sheet of this designer paper was given to me by a very good friend several years ago she has had it for about 12 years, and it came from Florance Italy. It is also what inspired me to emboss the Medallion image and color with twinkling H2Os. Now there is something that has been sitting in my closet for a time. I have to admit it was fun using a different color medium than Copic markers.

I like the different looks I get depending on how the light shines on the card front. I cut the image out with SB the largest octagon and largest scalloped octagon. The blue layer was cut with a rotary cutter and embossed around the edges with MS score pad.

Join Flourishes team at 12 noon for a new challenge this release, it's an easy one but sure to please. In the meant time go blog hopping to see what the ladies have done with this fun Medallion designed by Becky Fleck.

Stacy, Julie, Dawn, Christine, Cindy, Tammy, Barbara, Danielle, and Jan

A Little Time, A Little Paper..........

2011-09-11T10:00:00.007-04:00

At the rate I am going I should have his baby book done by the time he graduates from school!! Good thing I don't make albums for special occasions I just scrap pages to in everyday albums. Once in awhile I will work on a specific book but not very often, my creativity does not work well that way, or maybe it is the fact that I can't stay at one project long enough to finish in a timely fashion.

Whatever my reasoning I do have fun putting paper, pictures, and embellishments together!

Do you ever have embellishments that you have collected over time, you begin to have such a big stash of them, and by the time you find the perfect occasion for them they have gone out of "fashion"? It happens to me all the time but usually with designer paper, or do I have to count the prima flower bottle with a gazillion little flowers that people bought for the bottle and not for the contents because those color coordinated bottles look lovely on a shelf ?? Anyway, that is what happens with all of the buttons that I have.... This little pack of buttons was sitting on my work table. Now I am not sure if buttons have really gone out of fashion, but I thought a pile of buttons would be just the thing for my page.

All of the dp came from Sharon Ann's little ones collection by Deja Views. With the help of decorative scissors, Spellbinder dies, and pop dots I embellished the page using the card stock embellies that came in the pack of papers.

I was going to work on another page today but we are going sailing instead!!

Today is a day of rememberance for 9/11... May we NEVER forget!

Noel Challenge

2011-09-06T20:58:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Flourishes Christmas Spirit Challenge 17! Can you believe it is September already? The first week is almost gone! We are getting closer to Christmas, how are you doing on your Christmas cards? Flourishes has been keeping the spirit alive all year trying to get you prepared and ready for the holiday season.

Check right here to see the details on how you can win a Christmas stamp set. It is so easy peasy to be in the running and there are going to be 10 winners this month. The red and white inspiration picture should get you going, it did me!

This is another quick and easy style, I used Spellbinder dies but if you don't have any dies it would be just as easy to cut a rectangle or square in the center of your top layer, put a plain piece of paper under that and another, smaller rectangle or square in the center. The sentiment is embossed with red.

Paper; scraps of red, white scrap that I had cut a rectangle from for another project, white card stock for base. The smaller rectangle was cut from another card base with the medallion cut from the same base but a little lower and off to the side. Why did I do it that way?? It was handy, I did not want to take the time to find the shade of white I needed, nor did I want to cut it from a whole sheet of paper.

Misc; Spellbinder dies Fleur De Lis rectangle, Blossom tags and accents, Sizzix embossing folder, red detail embossing powder.

Ink; Versa Mark, red Memento marker

Please leave a comment, I love hearing from you.

P. S. Leslie you would be proud of the "white" white color I was able to capture taking this photo!!

Always a Challenge

2011-09-06T18:30:00.000-04:00

This is the card I submitted yesterday for the TLC ( technique lovers challenge) on split coast. The challenge was to use designer papers (which I have a great fondness for as attested to by the hordes of paper in my studio) to use dp in a different way besides using as a background paper that I normally do.

I have just received several new Spellbinder dies. Why do they come out with so many fun ones each year?? Now other companies are getting in on the die craze which is kind of cool as you can buy just one die at a time. The dies I used are wonderful wings and blossom tags and accents and cut my dp with those instead of using plain card stock.

Once I cut the tag I used the die as a stencil and and sponged white ink over the surface then stamped the sentiment once the ink had dried. I did the same thing to the solid pink layer on the butterfly The white base card is embossing with a Sizzix folder. As you can see it is easy peasy!!

Thank you for stopping today!

Fond Memories and Great Inspiration!

2011-09-02T00:01:00.122-04:00

SURPRISE LESLIE!

Does this card look familiar?? It should it is one of yours Leslie, it is the one I CASED. Oh that is not quite what yours looks like, go to the original to see what a beauty it is.

Another Surprise is the card I made, I know everyone is going to be making farewell type cards with floral or just sentiments but my card is a little out of step with the theme. I choose a non Flourishes image to case with a Flourishes image.

While it is with sadness that I bid you a fond farewell as a designer for Flourishes I know that you will be in the wings watching all we do. You have been a great inspiration to many customers, as well as other dt, and to me over the four years Flourishes has been in business.

What better way to give you a fine send off (semi retired?) than with a gift. OK, so Christmas is a few months away but the sentiment fits "Choose Joy" and I think you have, joy in your family, your dog, your home, and your garden. And when you are in your garden in the mornings with a cup of coffee think of me, when you are in your garden in the evening with a class of wine think of me, Oh, just bring the whole bottle and I may just join you some day in that beautiful garden!!

Not only has Leslie given me inspiration for card design, she has great insight on how take great photos. Have you even noticed all of the detail that goes in to one on Leslie's cards?? Not only are her card fabulous IRL but even in photos! Her whites are white, her soft colors look soft and not washed out. I will be spending more time on getting my photos to look good.

Yes yes the card is coming, I am just waiting for the perfect picture to post. I have tried several times but have not been satisfied with the results. I have read your post Leslie on how to take good photos, I even have a camera very similar to yours, I have plenty of sunlight.......... What I need to do is get the instruction book for the camera and learn how to turn off the flash!

FINALLY

It has been a joy Leslie and I look forward to seeing you one day. In the mean time I will continue to visit your blog and try out your tips and techniques, watch your garden grow, and see how Wally is doing. Take care and see you around the web.

My card uses Memory Box Yuletide paper, card stock is SU and Bazzil, white card stock is Classic from Flourishes. I cut a piece of gold sheet metal then ran it through my Big Kick with the scallop square Spellbinder die and a No More Shim from Score Pal. I love all of the detail embossing that I get. I do not have a Spellbinder cutting machine so the No More Shims rubber pad gives me the results I have been looking for without having to buy a new die cut machine.

Stamp; Christmas Classics Ink; Copic, SU markers and water pen, Dies; classic square, scallop square, and Fleur De Lis square, circle punch, MS circle cutter

There has been plenty to see, if you have not made the rounds go to

Danielle Kennedy (if she found wifi after Irene)

Flourishes is where it all starts

Take care Leslie!!

Summer Afternoon

2011-08-31T18:00:00.001-04:00

I have had this site as one of my favorites for a long time but this is one of the few, if ever, times that I have used a sketch from creative scrappers to design my page. This is the sketch and below is my page.

I wanted to summer feel to my pages so I choose brighter colors (brighter for me) along with dp from a number of different paper companies. As you can see I used multiples of the same photo to arrange on my page. I kind of like the look plus, and it is a big plus, I get to use all of those duplicate pictures.

The base paper is from October Afternoon, the half circle is Crate Paper, and the strips are left over pieces of BG that I used on another page which happens to look similar to this one. The fact that both girls had on pink tops and stood in front of the same house and there are multiples makes it "feel" the same.

I have added a number of embellishments like the cotton zig zag lace, paper and crocheted flowers, a line of pearls and the chip board stickers along the bottom edge. The sentiments are cut from a Cosmo Cricket paper called junk drawer.

Thank you for stopping by today. I will see you next time and you can be sure that I will use another sketch from creative scrappers again soon!

Scraping In August

2011-08-30T13:29:00.002-04:00

From cards to scrap book pages, but always paper crafting. I don't know if I will ever do digital scrapbooks as I love to have my hands on paper! That, and computers and I have a love/hate working relationship. For now I have to use all of my supplies that take up the whole studio and part of another closet.

Have you ever wondered what to do with multiple photos of the same pose?? I don't remember why I had four prints made, at the time I did not plan on using all of them on one page, and yes lets face it, I take all my photos with scrap book pages in mind. Being a mild hoarder I do not throw pictures away. Since we have all changed to digital it is easy to only go with your best shots.

For this layout I picked a sketch that uses four photos, I just happened to use the same pose for each. I also used a number of stickers that came in a kit from My Creative Scrapbook Kit Club . This kit had papers, stickers, and chip board from echo parks collection Life Is Good. The trim is Prima and the title letters are called thickers. I had never used any of them (thickers) before and they are kind of cool, although I wished they had more adhesive on them, but it is easy to add a little glue.

From Summer to Winter! This next one was for a couple of challenges on Split Coast. Both were SIC (scrapbook inspiration challenge) just for two different week. Since we had just been working on an ABC-123 virtual album the challenge was to make a page with babies or kids and add a quote to it. I was just finishing the layout for a winter themed challenge and was planning on adding a quote for it anyway.

These are some of my favorite pictures taken with my telephoto lens one winter morning. I was standing in the doorway nice and warm while my DGD explored the back yard after the first snow. Can you tell she does not often get the opportunity to play in snow??

Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I will have more a little later (and this time I won't pre schedule my post, I will wait until I have time to write it) as well as a surprise on Friday!

1 2 3, It's All In The Name!

2011-08-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

Have you seen what different looks and styles can be created with one kits?? There are a few kits left for this month.

In the name of the kit, 1 2 3 create your own card with a kit picked especially to coordinate. One of the things I love about these kits is that not all the products are from the same company so while it does "coordinate" you don't have to use all one companies products to do so.

I tried my hand at creating a design from something I had seen on SCS, it was an embossed image using a die and it was placed in the middle, or there about, on the card. I had one of those duh moments (too many of those lately) why had I forgotten that the Spellbinder dies can be used to just emboss with and not always to cut/emboss.

I tired my hand at embossing around the central image with one die, labels fourteen, then cut with big scallop oval and framed it all with pink sc in the lacey oval. I used the die as a stencil to color inside the cut with Copic Y0000 then with BG0000. The image is from the With Gratitude stamp set from Flourishes and colored with BG72 and BG75, YG's were used for the leaves.

The designer papers came from the same pack of paper with very little in the way of embellishments added, just ribbon (also in the kit) I did not want to distract from the design on the paper. The yellow base layer is also from the Trendsetter kit but the design is mutted so it does not show in pictures as well as IRL.

Flourishes always has great designs and inspriation.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Winter in August

2011-08-14T15:46:00.000-04:00

I have been neglecting my pictures the last couple of months. I did not scrap a single page in July and I am not sure where the month of August is going, hard to believe it is the middle of the month all ready. School starts here in one week and from the looks of the stores this week end everyone should be well supplied and ready!!

I am ready for a little down time, I don't wish for down time too hard as I know the grand kids will be grown before I know it and life can make big changes in just a short time. It makes me wonder how old the oldest active scrapbooker is, how about cards?? Maybe that is a question I should pose on Splitcoast some time.

Christmas in August!! That was one of the challenges this last week on SCS. I have a never ending supply of Christmas pictures. Here is the first of three I have planned as well as the first page in two months.

I wanted to bring out the pinks in Makays shirt, I liked the soft look of it and wanted the page to reflect that without necessarily using winter/Christmas paper to do it. I started out with dp from Daisy D's, I wadded it up and stuck it under the faucet to get it wet. Wow, then I have to very gently unwad it and spreed it out to dry. The paper is very light weight so I really had to be careful, fortunatly I wanted that distressed look so a few tears and holes were ok. Once it was dry (with a little help from my heat gun) I inked the edges and adhered it to paper from K&Co. The pink behind the photo is a cloud9design with another blue dp from the same K&Co pad. The wild paper is a new one from Bo Bunny called Garden Girl. I threw that in for a little pazzaz. Lets not forget the kraft paper from a MME paper pad I bought in CA a year ago.

I think I covered just about all of the different papers I used on this page. While I buy papers from the same company that coordinate, I do not always use them together. I find I like to mix and match my papers and add a few pearls, ribbons, and stickers.

Thank you for stopping!

The winning number is!!

2011-08-14T12:00:00.012-04:00

Here I am eating lunch and just remembered that I am posting the winning number a noon CST so I hop on to my computer and what do you know!! It posted!! I forgot I set my internal PC clock to EST. YIPES!!

I would like to thank all of you that have left me such kind comments and thank you for visiting my blog. I am new to using random.org so it may take me a bit to get it figured out, then when I post the number I hope it sticks! IT DID NOT

I have a feeling that anyone can put in numbers on this and generate a result but I am not sure. I will have it generate a winning number then do a new post with the result in case the number is able to be changed. Boy, if feel a little out of my depth on this one and it should be so easy!!

The number did not stay when I went to copy her comment. The winning number is 40

12 August, 2011

Heather said...

Ooohhh . . . your cards are beautiful! Love how you sponged the images; it makes them even more spectacular!

I will email you and get your address..........

Sweet Days Of Summer!!

2011-08-12T01:00:00.003-04:00

This set, Sweet Days Of Summer, is sure to be a winner for all papercrafters whether you make cards, scraping pictures, or make projects for gifts.

This newest set by Lauren Pope is a great addition to Kids Play. This set is going to get a lot of use at my house, each and every image creates instant memories of summers past and present. As you can see I have already made several cards.

I used one of my least often used pads of ink called pumpkin patch, it is a spectrum ink pad that when slid together gives you a range of colors from yellow green to red orange. It is the only spectrum pad I have but I do like the fall like colors, or a sunset blend when it is brayered onto white card stock. You can brayer the colors right over the black.

The first two cards were made using the new 1 2 3 create kit. We supply the coordinating materials, you supply the creativity all at a special price. Some of the products that you find in the kits are not sold separately on the store.

Trendsetter 1 2 3 create kit!!

This next card has a touch of color added to the silhouettes with distress ink applied behind. All dp is from the create kit with white added for a natural and blue as an accent. I love those bit organza flowers although I did take this one apart and use a small portion (by the bow) on the previous card.

This next one is my favorite card and image of from this set. I have a granddaughter that has found the love of reading this last year and when I first saw this image I fell in love with it. I read tons of books (I would be more productive if I did not read so much) which makes me thrilled when I can share my passions with other family members.

Again I used Spellbinder dies (hey, maybe I should post a challenge to make a card with tons of layers without using die cuts!! I wonder if I am able to create that way any more??) along with vellum to stamp on.

The die is Fleur De Lis Rectangles (love that one) for the little frame and for the frame around the main image.

I went through my 6x6 paper pads to find a pink floral to use on this, it is from Primas sweet fairy collection. I thought it fit with the use of a lot of white, as in the ribbons, pearls, frames then I threw in a couple of pink pearls too. A fun card to make and a joy for me to look at! Maybe I ought to frame this!!

All images and sentiments are from Sweet Days of Summer

Oh and remember that I mentioned blog candy last month?? Well I am not the only one that has some today!

Be sure to vist Stacy for candy as well as all of the DT for their specal cards.

Julie, Danielle, Cindy, Tammy, Leslie, Christine, Barbara

It has been a long time since I have had any goodies to give away. I have picked a few things like Vintage accents, pearls, droplets, 4x4 paper, 4x4 prefolded cards, clear boxes, and a Flourishes stamp set Apple Of My Eye, I have ribbon that is not shown.

Leave me a comment and I will post the winner on Sunday noon (CST) using random.org

Thanks for visiting this week as Flourishes winds down their new releases. I will be working with a few of my pictures and see if I can get caught up with some scrap book pages.

Herbs And Tomatoes

2011-08-11T01:00:00.003-04:00

We are on day 4 of the new stamps Flourishes has available this month, as you know the set shown on Monday is for FLIP customers only. I was out of town and did not get the set myself until Monday BUT, you can see it here and with details on how you can receive this set.

Today's peek is of the Italian Garden set.

Oh my, I tried my hand at watercolor after two, going on three years coloring with Copic Markers. The picture I took, even aside of the fact that my coloring is not all that great, do not do this card justice. It all started when I was letting my future DIL try out some of my Glimmer Mist products to see how they worked. I was in a hurry and pulled out a sheet of watercolor paper and let her spritz the sheet a few times. There I had red spots all over a sheet of good watercolor paper, what to do with it!! Everyone knows that it is very difficult to use Copics on moisture sucking paper, so out came my long forgotten watercolor crayons.

When I took the first pictures I had big whitish blobs in the center of my tomatoes. That just would not do at all ssooo I got out my Copic markers (in truth I forgot I used watercolor) to touch up the tomatoes. It took several trys to come out with an acceptable picture, and I even like the red shimmery splotches from the Glimmer Mist on the background.

One of the tools that I find to come in handy when using the finely detailed sets that Marcella designs is my Fiskers Stamp Press. It has a wide hard surface that you can see through, there is a grid pattern that helps with aligning sentiment stamps, and the wide surface allows me to apply pressure all over the surface area of the stamp without any movement of the "acrylic block".

The orange sponge feet lets you press completely down on your paper without any slippage.

You can use your whole hand and even move your hand around, back and forth on the surface of the press. You can even use two hands if you want. It is possible to reink your stamp, align the image, and stamp over it again. It does take a little work to make sure you have it aligned right, but with the spongy feet you can get close to the surface of your paper without touching the paper until you are ready.

As you can see I was doing a mask over the tomatoes, stamped the background then removed the mask and colored. I wanted lots of pressure to make sure the background stamped completely the first time. Not only is the stamp press great for fine detailed stamps but for large stamps.

Here is my full card make using the soon to be released Trendsetter create kit.

The things I added were Spellbinder dies, fleur de lis rectangel, watercolor paper, Flourishes classic white card stock at the base and a rolling ball writer that I used for the faux stitching along the edge. The background stamp is from Sweet Nature.

There are some fantastic cards to see (as always) from Flourishes DT so follow along to

Don't forget there is a mystery blogger again today.

And

See the details at noon (CST) on Flourishes blog.

I will see you back tomorrow with new stamps to reveal, new cards, new create kit, and another mystery blogger.

Thank you for all of the kind comments

Can't Think of a Title............

2011-08-10T01:01:00.095-04:00

Some days are like that, I have a hard enough time coming up with a design for a card let alone coming up with a title too!! KWIM? These days it is all I can do to get half of what I need to accomplish done each day, then to try to be creative too, well forget that today!

I can't even say that this card came out as I had envisioned it. I took it to NC last week to work on it, that did not pan out. I brought it home again on Sunday but have not had time to work on it until last night, just in time to post before I headed off to bed.

When I picked the colors I used a color selector, you pick your starting color then point/rotate the wheel to that color then you match the value of each color for a harmonious combination!! Did it work??

I cut a window in my base card, framed it with the red paper and backed the frame with the image. All cuts were made with Spellbinder fleur de lis rectangles. The paper and ribbon I used are from the new 1 2 3 create kit to be released later this week.

It is hard to mess up an image drawn by Marcella Hawley, with the detail she puts in a stamp image it makes coloring a dream. There are a number of sentiments with this set, all I have to do is decide on which one I want to use.

Don't forget there is a mystery blogger this week, all you have to do is leave a comment on that persons post to win, PLUS

There is a challenge at noon today on Flourishes blog, check it out!!

To make it all easier go to these blogs to leave comments, we all love comments.

Tammy (joining us this week)

Barbara

Check out all of the details for each daily challenge at Flourishes. The fun will last all week. OH! and you HAVE to come back on Friday to check out my personal favorite of this release!!

One in a Melon!!

2011-08-09T07:01:00.000-04:00

I was given a yellow watermelon recently, it took me a few days to to cut into it then another day to start eating it. For some reason I kept expecting it to taste like a yellow vegetable (maybe squash ??) each time I took a bite. It tasted like a watermelon!! Big surprise huh?? I don't know, but watermelon should be red to taste as sweet.

Here is a sweet deal, a cute and stylish watermelon set by Marcella Hawlley that is just hitting the store this week at Flourishes along with several other treasures, plus a challenge where you are able to win a stamp set.

I don't often stamp a sentiment on the inside of my cards, it is usually on the outside of the card with a hand written message on the inside. In this case I decided the sentiment looked better on the inside.

One of the newest products to hit Flourishes store is from Score Pal called No More Shims. I have to say that is an unusual name for a product but it does describe this embossing very well. I am going to absolutely love this product. I have not had much luck with a number of my embossing plates making an embossed image without a lot of work. Those Spellbinder Impressabilities have left me very unsatisfied with any results achieved with the plates, that is until I use the No More Shim embossing plate! The very first time I achieved amazing detail using the No More Shim and my Big Kick and a sheet of shiny black paper that came in the packages with some product or other, probably pearls by Zva. Anyway, those backing pieces come in handy for embossing, especially in this case with the white core that I sanded lightly over the image after embossing.

The other thing that I have fallen in love with is the basic pads from Basic Gray, this one is the basic white pad. I have found them great accent/neutral papers with just about any style of paper pad. I topped the card off with a little ribbon and a few red pearls.

Take time to see all of the creations today with Wild For Watermelon as well as the entries for the challenge.

Monday is CAS Day!

2011-07-25T16:37:00.000-04:00

I try to get a chance to play along with SCS challenges I love it when I can find the time to get something done and posted early in the day. If I don't get it done early I usually don't bother after all there is going to be one or two more challenges tomorrow not to mention all the challenges that can be found on www.

This morning I whipped this one up in a matter of a couple of minutes (If you don't count the time finding the paper and deciding which stamp to use) then another few minutes to photograph it and up load.

For today's challenge to use tag I immediately thought of all those premade tags that have been in the drawers for three years. I layered the three tags in a row, I placed the antique map stamp on the Fiskers stamp press, then stamped all three at the same time.

I distressed them with antique linen and brushed corduroy Ranger ink and added just the barest touch of color in the compass looking thing using a couple of Copic markers.

The sentiment and rope knot are from the A Guiding Light stamp set. Another of those ivory tags was used and distressed, after adding burgundy jute I was done with my card. How much easier can you get??

It was fun getting my finger inky again after CHA where I spend all of my time looking at new product for Flourishes store and meeting some of our designers. What a blast!!

Hope you like what I have done at can take a few minutes to play along on SCS at some point. Thank you for stopping by today.

Time in the Sun...Flower

2011-07-22T00:01:00.019-04:00

We have spent the week at CHA and are just arriving home with lots of goodies on order for Flourishes store. We are making up more 1 2 3 Create Kits for the up coming months. Here is another card using July's kit, I hope you did not miss out on snagging one of these!

There are jewels and trinkets and dimensional stickers that can be purchased separately as well as some of the paper pads and coordinating dot card stock. I used some of the "kit add on" jewels for this card, the twill and burgundy cord come with the kit.

I used two of the designer papers from Time Piece as well at one of the double dot (meaning double sided, dots on one side solid color on the other) card stock that has a white core. I sanded the edges lightly so some of the white would show through.

The sunflower is stamped on Flourishes classic white paper and colored with...............my old stand by...Copic markers. LOVE those things!! Then three panels are wrapped with jute string The bee and sentiment are from Flourishes newest set...Honey Bee.

You can't tell from the picture but the bee and flower center is highlighted with atyouspica pens. I keep forgetting that I have all those pens in a variety of colors.

This is a free for all Friday so visit Christine, Julie, Barbara, Stacy, Leslie, Dawn, Danielle, Cindy, and Jan Marie for more creations in a vast variety of styles.

Did you know that the price of Copic markers is going up the 1st of August?? Not by our choice but by mandate from Imagination International which markets Copic. This is your last week to purchase Copic markers at the low price of approx. $5.20 per marker. The markers come in collection of three to five markers in one color family.

Take Time!

2011-07-15T00:01:00.006-04:00

DAY THREE OF FLOURISHES RELEASE

Not only is it the third day of release, this is the day that the new kit of the month is being revealed called Time Piece.

Time Piece create kit has some wonderful embellishments in it!! I just love the gears and sprockets. I loved them so much I used them way before the kit was released on scrap book pages and on my Fathers Day altered frame in memory of my father.

There is still enough paper and embellishments to use for numerous cards, two which I have shown already and the third one using today's highlighted stamp. The last of the four stamps shown this week is the Moment in Time collection of time pieces. This set was created by Loren Pope

You could not ask for a better masculine stamp set. Not only can it be use on masculine cards and creative projects but it makes wonderful collage and ephemera cards and scrapbook embellishments. Don't forget to look for the other Bo Bunny "add ons" that correspond with time piece.

My card today turned out to be so easy peasy I wondered what took me so long to finish it. Too much contemplating how I wanted it to look, not one has ever said I make hasty decisions. I cut out the circle and stamped the clock in black Memento ink. The sentiment is stamped right on the designer paper in burgundy ink. I tied a bow with the double dot ribbon then tied it onto the cover. The cover on the card, which is impossible to see, is clear card stock. I punched a hole in the clear card stock and threaded the brown twill through the holes tied a knot on the back side and adhered to the dp panel with Score Tape. The hands on the clock are Timepiece dimensional stickers.

Have you be one of the lucky ones yet this week?? There is still time to win the whole release as well as today's set. Leave a comment on each blog and if she is the mystery blogger, you will be in the running to receive the stamp of the day!! For the chance to win the whole release bundle check here for all the details.

Christine, Dawn, Barbara, Cindy, Leslie, Danielle, Stacy, Julie, Sharon (me), and Jan

Thank you for all of the kind comments, come back and visit soon. Next month during release I am going to put together some blog candy. See you then.