Flourishes June Release Challenge!!

June is such a beautiful month!  At least in my neck of the woods it's full of green, and blooming outdoor colors and textures.  In just a few short days we'll be unveiling a new round of stamps at Flourishes inspired by the outdoors.  We're really excited to show them to you.  So today,  we're challenging you to be inspired by the TEXTURES of Nature!

HOW TO PLAY:  Create something with an outdoorsy texture in mind - or use an element from nature as part of your design.  It could be the texture in an embossing folder that has woodgrain, leaves or vines, it could be a leaf rubbing behind your image, something glossy like rain or shiny like a berry.  The interpretation is up to you!  If you play along with us, you could win Flourishes entire June Stamp Release!  If you upload to SCS please use the keyword FLLCJUN13.  You can enter as many times as you like, but we want you to know if you use your Flourishes stamps, your entry counts twice!  You have until Friday June 14, 2013 at 5 PM EST to enter.  Just be sure to enter your creation below using our InLinkz Widgit.  Enjoy exploring those nature textures!

I was inspired by the soft textures of baby chicks so I pulled out my Easter Wishes stamp set.

I stamped my Easter Wishes out on Classic White cardstock in Versafine Black Onyx ink on top of a Perfectly Pierced Classic Frames diecut. Then I colored my image in with Copics and mounted it on popdots on top of a Spellbinder die shape, which I matted some cardstock from the Color Made Easy in Rich Browns, behind it. I added some yellow flocking to my chick image for my texture and then used some Color Made Easy ribbon from the Sunflower collection in Antique Gold, a black button and some Metallic Silver String cording tied to a Tailor Made Classic Tag die with my sentiment from Easter Wishes, as my finishing touch.

How would you like to be inspired by our Senior Design Team before you get started?

Hop on over to:

 Amanda Havon
 Christine Okken
 Cindy Lawrence
 Danielle Kennedy
 Heather Jensen
 Julie Koerber 
 Maki Jones
 Silke Ledlow
 Stacy Morgan

And be sure to welcome our NEWEST Senior Design Team Member - Tosha Leyendekker

!!  See more about her HERE. We're so excited to have her with us!

THE OFFICIAL RULES:
     Simply create a card using any textures from nature, or inspired by nature!

Entries need to be in by Friday June 14th, 5 PM EST

Those entries using Flourishes Stamps will be counted twice

You must link your creation on our InLinkz Widgit to be counted

You must have a link to our challenge in your blog post or gallery post

Please DO NOT combine challenges.  Only those entries that don't combine will be in the running

If you upload to SCS please use the keyword FLLCJUN13

We'll announce the winners on Saturday in our Winner's Circle Post here on the blog on Saturday June 15th, so check back then to find out if you are a winner!

Thanks for stopping by today and we look forward to seeing what you create!  We'll see you here on TUESDAY June 11th when Sneak Peeks start!

Flourishes Release Week Challenge: Summer Lovin'!

Ahhhh..... summer will be here before we know it and... that means longer days, hotter nights, sitting under the stars and soaking up the nice weather. We know the grass is just starting to green up and spring flowers haven't even really begun to see their full glory -- but that doesn't mean we can't celebrate those warmer days ahead! We're getting in the spirit of outdoor fun now and if you play along with us, you could win Flourishes' entire April release! All you need to do is play in the...

Summer Lovin Challenge

HOW TO PLAY: To join us in this challenge, all you need to do is be inspired by this beautiful color palette above OR create with summer in mind! This one can be loosely interpreted -- bottom line, we just want to see the fun things you create! If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword FLLCAPR13.  Enter as many times as you like, but know that if you use Flourishes stamps, your entry counts twice! You have until April 12, at 5PM EST to enter. Just make sure you link your creation up below using our Inlinkz widget. As we said, winner gets our full April Release. So get those fingers inky!

I love so many things about summer, but I've always loved to travel, so I pulled out my Dreaming of Florence set.

I stamped Dreaming of Florence out on watercolor paper and colored it in with Letraset Aqua Markers, then matted it with Color Made Easy Rich Brown cardstock, then tucked some Chocolate Laurel Venise Lace underneath. I wrapped some Ivory Jute Twine around the matted image, then added Ivory, Emerald Coast, and True Blue buttons from the Color Made Easy line.

The OFFICIAL Rules…..
    

 Simply create a card and be inspired by the photo above or by... SUMMER!

 Entries need to be in by Friday, April 12th at 5 PM EST.

 Those that use Flourishes stamps will be counted twice for their entry.
 You must link your creation on this post using our inlinkz widget in order to qualify.
 You must have a link to our challenge in your blog or gallery post.
 Please DO NOT combine challenges. Only those that don’t combine will be in the running.
 If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword FLLCAPR13
 We’ll announce the winners Saturday in our Winner’s Circle Post  on Saturday, April 13th, so check back then to see if you’re one of the lucky winners!

If you need a little inspiration, it’s never far away with our design team’s creations! Hop on over and see…


Amanda Havon
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Heather Jensen
Maki Jones
Silke Ledlow
Stacy Morgan

Thank you for visiting and have a great day!

Sweet Birthday Peas

Today is the start of Flourishes Release Week Noon Time Inspiration. Here is their Pinterest inspiration photo:

After some thought I decided to go back to one of Flourishes previous Release Week's challenges: Black + White and 1 more color. I do not have any black and white patterned paper in my whole stash (which is an amazing feat, since I thought I owned all the paper in the world -lol), save for one piece. So you will recognize the black and white patterned paper pieces from a few days ago - LOL ;) 

I used Flourishes "Sweet Peas" stamp set (also used on my other black and white card), colored in with Distress Inks and Tombows. I cut it all out with a craft knife and popped it up on popdots. I placed that in a frame made from Flourishes "Seeds Of Friendship" stamp set that I cut out with my craft knife and popped that up on popdots, too. The sentiment is from Flourishes "Flourished Words" stamped in Versafine "Onyx Black". The lace is from a garage sale, the hat pins are from Maya Road, the pearls are from Prima and the pink ribbon is from My Favorite Things.

I apologize for the awful lighting. Just as I thought I had this photobox thing figured out, I can't seem to get rid of the shadows that are suddenly showing up in my pictures. So I took these outside, after the sun had gone down (it was cloudy out).

When I saw the colors for the challenge I went back to the previous Flourishes challenge, I mentioned earlier. But what really got me excited was that beautiful satin ribbon all rolled up. It intrigued me, so I decided to use some satin ribbon on my card too, and I'm glad I did. I think it softens all the black and cream I have going on, plus helps pop the Fuchsia tones in the sweet peas. You can't tell, but the black and cream scalloped paper sat the bottom are all "ruffled" out. I tried to get a pic of it but it was pretty hard to tell against the black cardstock.

Now, I need to get going on a birthday card for my dear MIL. I am hoping tomorrows Flourishes challenge with coincide with what I need to make ;)

Flourishes Release Week Challenge

I'm back after a long absence from scrapping and blogging, and boy did I miss it!
I'm just in time for Flourishes Release Week challenge. This challenge is a :



We need to use Black & White plus 1 extra color. I decided to use Yellow as my extra pop of color because I love the Black & Yellow color combination.

I used a Flourishes set I had forgotten I had: "Sweet Peas". I colored them in with my Tombow markers: 025, 026, 090, 991 and Distress Ink "Peeled Paint". I cut it all out with my craft knife and popped it up on popdots, then used a Clear Glitter Gel Pen to highlight certain areas on the flowers. I used Creative Imaginations paper and Flourishes "Classic Ivory" Cardstock paper behind the flowers. The Spellbinders "Labels One" is used to frame the flowers.


As you can see on my last post date it was before Christmas. My family and I had decided to spend all of Christmas break together and to try not to use our computers, but to just enjoy our family time together :) It was different not making cards and blogging, at first, but then I got used to it and enjoyed our vacation time. Then at the end of Christmas break, someone introduced me to "Pinterest" and I was hooked!! This year our whole family is going to go all handmade, no matter what, and if we need anything we can't make, it has to be from a Garage Sale, Second Hand Shops or from Craig's List. So Pinterest is a Gold Mine of ideas for me :)
Just when I was going to jump back into crafting and making cards, one of our immediate family members domestic partner passed away unexpectedly. It was such a shock to all of our families. My heart goes out to them and I am just broken hearted about it. Please pray for that situation, everything's been so overwhelming on my family member. It just makes understanding the "why" so hard.


Thank you for visiting and Happy (very) Belated New Year :)