Thursday, October 27, 2011

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

Hi everyone, I'm back with my entry for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday's Challenge. I have been trying to get my house in order for fall house cleaning and wait for a warm day to shampoo my carpets, but alas, I may just end up waiting for Spring at this rate ;)


This weeks TT Challenge is: Trees & Leaves
Perfect for the season, thank you Maki, for a great theme! You can find out more about the challenge and the details HERE.




I used Flourishes "Flourished Christmas" & "Peaches and Cherries". I used the small cherry cluster from "Peaches and Cherries" that I colored in with my Tombows and added Glossy Accents, then cut it out with a craft knife and popped it up on popdots . I used paper from My Mind's Eye under a paper doily with a Spellbinder "Renaissance Hearts" diecut. I stamped the Christmas tree from "Flourished Christmas" sideways on a Spellbinders Labels #20 in white then sponged on some Distress Inks. I used some remnant ribbon, lace and pearls with some bling to finish it off.


I apologize for the frayed ribbon edge, I clipped the one side but I forgot to clip the other side :(  That was literally the very last of it too! Except for the images, everything is a scrap piece or end of something, from my scraps bucket. I love it when I can put those to good use :)


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wild Honey

It's Release week at Flourishes and during the week they offer up challenges at noon, that you can enter to try to win their newest releases!! Today's noon challenge is: Name Game! 
The idea is that you take your First, Middle and Last initials to come up with creations that has things that start with your initials :)
Mine are:


A ~ Adhesive (Couldn't think of anything that started with "A")
N ~ Neutrals
H ~ Honey (a bit of a stretch so I used a stamp set with "honey" in it)




I used Flourishes "Bee My Honey" stamp set, colored in with Copics. I used a Spellbinders Butterflies diecut, cut from an old Hambly paper & a My Mind's Eye Lost & Found paper under that. I used the Spellbinders Classic Lace die to make my lacy border, to which I added pearls. I embossed a single frame around my card matting, at the end.


I apologize for the color and clarity of my picture. I had to keep the lighting low so you could see the embossed frame around my card.

I kept everything, including the coloring of my picture, very light. To keep with the neutral "rule" and I love it. I really hemmed and hawed about adding the pearls, since I seem to add pearls to everything I do. But I think I will keep adding them to my cards, and not worry about them being over used. Besides, I love them too much to give them up, it's what makes me happy - LOL  ;)

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

Flourishes has a really neat challenge this week for their Timeless Tuesday and in honor of their Release Week, if you join in, you might win all FOUR of their new releases!! You can read all the details HERE on their blog.The challenge this week is : Christmas cards that feature an ornament or create an ornament. In honor of their Christmas releases :)




I used Flourishes "Drummer Boy" French Horn image, that I colored in with Copics, cut out and popped up on popdots. I added Glossy Accents to make it stand out and I used the Spellbinders Renaissance Hearts Pendants die as my ornament base. Then I added pearls from Kaiser Craft and fishing line to hang my ornament. 
 ~ I apologize for the horrible background in my pic and the coloring. I am using Neenah Solar White paper and for some reason I can't seem to get a great photo when I use this paper. My main images get "washed" out so I had to use my photo tent outdoors. That's why it looks so yellowy-pink colored.

I had so much fun creating my ornament, this is one of those challenges I love! I love trying something new. I enjoyed it so much I think I will try to squeeze in one more, if I can :)



Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Ode To Julie :)

Splitcoast Stampers has a Featured Stamper, and this time it's none other then Julie Korber, from Flourishes!! SCS is asking us to pick a card from her Gallery and CAS it, as a fun challenge. I really, really had a hard time deciding on what card to CAS! She has some super talent, and some of her cards gave me some great inspiration :)
But I decided on this one:




I really love the shape, the colors and the use of stitching and punched borders :)
Since I am supposed to CAS it and not copy it exactly, I did keep many things the same, including the color scheme, but I decided not to use a ribbon and stitch on the edges.




I used Flourishes "Clematis & Butterflies" butterfly stamp, stamped in Memento "Desert Sand" ink and colored in with Tombows. I used: 243,451,373,990.
Then I added the Crackle Glaze, let it dry, cut it out and added B01 (Mint Blue) Copic color just to enhance the blues in the wings. I cut out a base from a Spellbinders Classic Circle die and layered that over a Spellbinders Scalloped Circle diecut. I stamped the butterfly image on the circle diecut too. I used Bazzil "Aloe Vera", "River Reed" and "Creamy White" CS and paper from K&Co. I used the Lace Doily diecut from MFT for my border edge, then I added silver pearls for some sparkle.


~ Splitcoast Stampers "Featured Friend" - Julie Korber

~ Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful "Beauty of a Technique Challenge" : Crackle Glaze Medium


Saturday, October 8, 2011

Flourishes Wants Your Heavy Metal

Did I get your attention? Flourishes is having a Release Week challenge called : Heavy Metal. They want you to use Copper, Silver, Gold or any other metallic on your card. You can join in  and maybe win some stamps, too! All the details are found HERE, in their blog.
Honestly, I don't use metallics much so this really was a challenge. Especially since I wasn't even sure if I had any metallic CS in my stash. Glitter paper, sure! But metallic? I was fortunate enough to find 2 pieces of brushed silver to work with, though! 




I used Flourishes "City of David" stamp set stamped in Anna Griffin "Grey" ink. I colored the images with Tombows and Distress Inks, then cut out and popped up on popdots. They were placed on a sponged Spellbinders Large Ovals background and backed with a Spellbinders Labels 18. I used DCWV "Pearlized & Metallic" Luxury stack paper scored at 1/4 intervals for a textured background, matted with metallic brushed silver CS. I used the Spellbinder Classic Lace die for my border, I added pearls then used a dark gray grosgrain ribbon and a hat pin for my accessories.


After I finished Flourishes Design Team's Release Week's blog hop, I was faced with the undeniable - Christmas is only 3 months away and I haven't even started my cards! So I used this challenge to make a Christmas card, hoping that I would be motivated to get started on them...soon :)



Thursday, October 6, 2011

Fall Inspiration

It's finally fall here in the desert! It rained yesterday which sent me into a fall baking tizzy, on top of fall house cleaning :) In between all of that, I was able to squeeze a quick card in for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday. It's all about priorities ;)


Every week, Flourishes picks a random winner, from the entries to win a store GC! For more info please visit their blog HERE
 Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge this week is this fall picture:


I just love front porches, don't you? Growing up, my Mom insisted every evening meal be eaten out in our back porch, during the summer weather. I cherish those wonderful memories and conversations :)




I used Flourishes "Seeds Of Friendship" and "Bee My Honey" stamp sets, colored in with Tombows. I used TCP Studios paper and bronze metallic cardstock, and I pulled out a decorative edge scissors to cute the edges of my CS. The ribbon is from American Crafts and the pearls are from KaiserCraft.


When I saw the inspiration photo, I thought of fall being harvesting time. But since I don't have Flourishes "Garden Fresh" or "Season of Thanks", I decided to start at the beginning. It all starts with seeds. If we don't plant anything, we don't reap our harvest :)


Monday, October 3, 2011

WCMD

World Card Making Day was this past Saturday, did you join in? I didn't, I was at my local scrapbooking shop at their 5th anniversary sale. I picked up some Copic markers for $4 a piece about $3 less then retail! That is a pretty good deal, I am told. Because I'm still so new at this, it still seems hard to believe these things are cheap - LOL :)


As you know, Flourishes is my favorite stamp company and for WCMD they are issuing a challenge: "Think Like a Kid and Make a Card Inspired By the Colors Of Your Favorite Animated Character!"  
I'm combining this challenge with Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful: "Techniques".


Ok, not to be difficult or anything, I don't have a favorite animated character :( I lived in Northern Minnesota growing up and it was a rural farming community.  We didn't get the greatest TV reception for many years, so I didn't watch much TV. After some thought, I decided to use this image from our girl's nursery fairy decor for my inspiration piece.
The art is from Cicely Mary Barker, who painted the most amazing fairies, in the 1920's or 30's. I have been a fan of her art ever since I found this image in wall decals, for our nursery a few years ago.
I really love this picture because my little girls look almost exactly like these two fairies, it's crazy! 



I used Flourishes "Apple of My Eye" because my inspiration image has Apple Blossoms. I colored my apples in with Copics and double heat embossed them for a shiny look so it wouldn't look dull next to the clear and shiny transparency overlay from MME, placed over a Pink Paisley paper. The frame is also from MME and the blinged out ruffled ribbon is from Prima. I used some extra butterflies left over from a topiary I made for Brigette's birthday, where I used velum, a pearl and an image pattern from Flourishes "Fanciful Flourishes" stamp set.


~ For the WCMD, I used Pink & Brown for my inspired colors.
~ For the BBB "Techniques" challenge I am using the Double Embossing technique.

Even though I was really struggling with what to inspire me and what to create, I really enjoyed these challenges and adventure! Thank you Flourishes DT for all your unique and fun challenges! :)

Sunday, October 2, 2011

September's Blessing

Blessings. They seem to come when you least expect them to :) This month I was blessed by being asked by Julie Korber, to be Flourishes October Limelight Designer! This is an absolute surprise and dream honor. I hope you will come and to Flourishes blog HERE every Sunday starting today, and visit, please :)