Creating

 I'm back. But where has the time gone? Where has the creativity gone? I don't know about you, but I used to have endless creative ideas. But then life takes over and when you finally have a minute, you're creatively done. Nothing. Toast. 

It used to bother me until I realized, that's life. There's an ebb and flow to everything. It's been a year or more since I have had the energy to create. And that's ok. I re-joined my favorite craft site, SplitCoastStampers, and I'm using their weekly challenges to inspire some new ideas in me.

This week's CAS (Clean And Simple) challenge is : Recycle. You can recycle anything to use on your card.

A couple weeks ago, I attended a store that was closing and found a badly damaged hymnal with many loose pages. This was the perfect way to reuse them in a way that they would be appreciated again.

So, I created the following card from the challenge.

I stamped out my image and colored it in with Copics, fussy cutting it out.
I cut down my music sheet to what size I needed. Then, I matted it against some Chiffon Bazzil Cardstock, that I matted over some Kraft cardstock, making them the base of my card.

I Cut out a frame, using Avery Elle's Pierced Birthday Frame die, and put PopDots under the frame to pop it up a hair off the card, for some small form of depth. After that, I glued my chipboard down, and placed the colored in image of the Cross on top of it, and added a few pearls for some interest.

I'm not certain if I can actually call it a CAS card anymore, but I love how it turned out!!

So, if you're ever finding yourself stuck in a crafting rut, or feeling uninspired, don't let it get to you. Eventually, it'll come to you! Until then, don't be too hard on yourself, it's all just the ebb and flow of life :)

Flourishes Release Week: Greatest Gift

Hello Flourishes Friends! Have you enjoyed the Release Week? Are you ready for Flourishes last release day? It's a great one!

This set is called Greatest Gift and it's beyond beautiful!

I stamped the Greatest Gift image onto Flourishes Classic White cardstock in very black ink, coloring it in with Copics. After that I fussy cut out the image and placed popdots under it to lift it off the page and give it a 3D, life-like effect. I mounted the image onto a Kraft paper with black foil designs. Then I mounted the design paper onto black cardstock to make the design paper and image pop.

This has to be the quintessential Christmas card image for the ages. Mary is lovingly looking at baby Jesus and Joseph is looking in wonder and love, at his wife, Mary. You cannot get a more beautiful Christmas card image anywhere!

In honor of Flourishes, I am offering another blog prize during this Release Week! I am offering 3 Flourishes stamp sets, 2 yards of Flourishes May Arts Silk Ribbon: Mauve and Burgundy, plus some other laces and ribbons!

All you have to do is subscribe to my blog newsletter and leave a comment on ALL four days of the Flourishes Release Week. I will announce the winner August 14th. Be sure you remember to subscribe to my blog post emails, because you don't want to miss that announcement!

Please check out the other great designs from the rest of the Design Team, using the Greatest Gift stamp set, image!

                                               Amanda Havon - you are here

Beverly Cole

Nancy Nickel

Naomi Gong

Vicki Dutcher

Have a great day and I will see you back here on Sunday, August 14th, to announce the winner of this month's blog candy giveaway, on my blog!!

~ Amanda

Flourishes: Happy Father's Day!

Good morning friends, today I am showing you a card I made for Father's Day coming up.

 

I used In Nature and Mountain View, stamped out on Flourishes Classic White cardstock. I colored them in with my Copics, and fussy cut out the majestic buck. For my back ground image I created a twilight scene using Distress Inks and a blending sponge, and stars by flicking paint on my sponged background. After that, I placed popdots under my fussy cut buck image, and placed it in front of my stamped background.

I wanted to create a card that was both masculine and bold. Masculine cards can be hard to create, because sometimes I like ribbon and lace on my cards. But when making a masculine card,  you can go bolder on the coloring and really make it pop or stand out. This way, you don't feel as though you have to add extra embellishments to make it look nice, because it already does!

 I'll be back soon with another Flourishes card. Don't forget to subscribe to my blog, that way you won't miss out on another card!

Splitcoast Product Review: Action Card Templates!

Ok, how many of us love those action cards that are so hot right now? I know I do! Today the Splitcoast Stampers Product Review Team is reviewing the Green Sneakers Action Card Templates on Splitcoast, HERE, and you're sure to love these!

I used them to make this Father's Day Slider Card.

When you slide it open, it looks like this! Isn't that fun? The possibilities are endless!

So hop on over to the Splitcoast Stampers Product Review page HERE and read more about them and what the rest of the PR Team and I think about them!

Thank you for visiting and please visit the rest of team's creations with these Action Card Templates! I promise, you won't be disappointed!!

Flourishes Release Week : Spring Blossoms

Hi all and welcome to day 1 of Flourishes April Sneaks! Oh my goodness, where does the time go? We are excited though because our April release brings a bevy of beauty that is ripe for spring. Starting with this little number......

Did you recognize the flow of these flowers? Well, you should! This gorgeous stamp set is the final set in our Blossoms Collection, this beautiful array of spring blossoms illustrated by Marcella Hawley features a bouquet, corner stamps, and pieces to create your own borders or frames. Add in four of all occasion sentiments and you have the perfect set to create cards for every day correspondence. Set measures 4 by 6" and is the perfect companion to sister sets Happily Ever After, and Letters in Blossom. If you like this set, you might also like our Summer Blossoms set featuring summer florals, our Autumn Blossoms set featuring Autumn florals, our our set Winter Blossoms with gorgeous late winter/early spring blooms.

I used Spring Blossoms, coloring it in with Lenten Rose, Dusty Rose, Dahlia, Fuchsia, Poppy, Sweet Pea, Sunflower, Daffodil, Beehive, Terra Cotta, New Leaves, and Olive Green Copic Collections. I fussy cut the image out and popped it up on popdots and placing it on a small die cut for stability, then mounted that onto a piece of old lace I found at a Garage Sale. I matted my background paper on a dark piece of Color Made Easy Rich Brown cardstock, then mounted them on to a lighter Rich Brown cardstock that I cut with a decorative punch along the side of the card. I added some Ivory Laurel Venise lace, some Color Made Easy ribbon from the Poppy Collection, called Basque Red, and a hatpin I made.

I enjoyed this stamp set so much I made two cards! So my second is a little softer and a little more pink!

Once again, I used Spring Blossoms and colored it in with Lenten Rose, Poppy, and Olive Green Copic Collections, that I fussy cut and popped up on popdots. I used the dotted frame image from Flowers and Frames set stamped in Memento Angel Pink (under my popped up flowers) and stamped out my sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I used a Antique Frame and Accents, Spellbinder die cut, to center my image and give it some presence and stitched around the card. With some pink ribbon and Kaiser Blush Pearls, my card was complete.

Well, just as we have done in past release weeks, we offer our little guessing game of….

We don’t know which one of these ladies below will be the Mystery Blogger but one will, so leave comments on all of our designers’ blogs and you’ll be in the running to win today’s Spring Blossoms Stamp set!  Want to see all the beautiful things you can create with this gorgeous array of spring blooms? Head on over and see…..

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

As you make your way around blog land to visit Flourishes’ designers, you might notice that some of them are using a brand new 123 Create Kit called… Stationery Noted! Check out the lovelies in this kit!

To find out all the goodies in this color-coordinated, elegant kit, just click HERE! DO YOU WANT TO WIN OUR ENTIRE RELEASE?
If you want a chance to win all three of our soon-to-be released sets, you can always play in our Summer Lovin' Challenge – there will be multiple winners here! OR, play along with the gals for this week’s Timeless Tuesday Challenge! Check out the links for the official rules! Also, if you like what you see on our designers’ blogs today, you can pre-order this set (along with the other two sets as well). You can also take advantage our New Release Bundle and get 10% off, when you purchase all three together in a bundle. All sets will be live first thing Friday morning along with the coordinating cut files for this release. So, be sure to stick with us this week as we unveil a whole new host of paper crafting goodies!
We’ll see you back here tomorrow for another new release sneak peek! This one is blossoming with beauty as well!

Flourishes Free For All Friday!

Hello and welcome to a Flourishes Free For All Friday! It's so nice to see you back again, did you like Flourishes beautiful releases, last week? I really did, so I made a card with one of the new sets!

I loved the Tulips so much that I made another card with them.

I used the new Tulips set, stamping and embossing it in gold ink, then coloring it in with the Lenten Rose, Olive Green and Flesh Tones 2 Copic Collection. I fussy cut it out and popped it up on popdots on top of Clear Cover Cardstock, that I made into a cardbase. I embossed a piece of Classic White cardstock and using Scor-Tape, I adhered it to the Clear Cover Cardstock, stamping my sentiment in gold ink. I added a White ribbon, a Candy Pink button and some Iridescent String to embellish it all.

Come and visit with the rest of the team for more Friday Favorites!

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

 Thank you for visiting and have a wonderful day!

Flourishes Sneak Peaks Day 1

Hi all and welcome to day 1 of Flourishes' Release Week fun! Today, we have a bouquet that is ripe for the picking and these flowers have a bit of a spring flair! Are you ready for the first peek?

A beautiful single tulip or a bouquet poised and ready to deliver to someone special - that's what you get with this Tulips for Friends illustrated by Marcella Hawley. Paired with six scripted sentiments, this set is perfect for all kinds of cards or creations for your friends! You'll want to stay tuned because we also have a Silhouette and SVG cut file to match this set! All sets and files will be available Friday so, you'll want to stick around and see what we have in store! 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 who is the…

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!


The first time I'd ever seen a real tulip was in a bouquet my husband sent me when we were dating, and they were the most extraordinary pink I'd ever seen on a flower! So when I think of tulips, I think of those pretty pink ones, so I colored the single tulip like the bouquet I received.

I stamped out my Tulip image in Memento Rich Cocoa on Flourishes Classic White cardstock and chose not to heat emboss my image for a softer look. I colored my tulip in with Flourishes Lenten Rose, Green Grass and Olive Green Copic Collections. I cut out my image with Perfectly Pierced Victorian Ovals then matted it with Perfectly Pierced Classic Frames, to which I matted that with the largest Perfectly Pierced Victorian Ovals diecut. I placed all of my diecut layers on top of the large Romantic Rectangles and a Color Made Easy Pistachio cardstock to create my cardbase. I chose to use the Olive ribbon, a clear Sunflower button, some Metallic String and a diecut tag using the Tailor-Made Classic Tags die.

Because this is Day 1 of our release, I got carried away and made two cards, and this is my second one.

I stamped the Tulips out in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then colored them in with the Evergreen, Sunflower, and Beehive Copic Collections, then fussy cut it all out. I placed it on popdots over a Perfectly Pierced Frame diecut, matting it with paper from Teresa Collins and Sunflower cardstock from Color Made Easy. I used some Golden Rod ribbon from the Color Made Easy line, two Leaf Pins, an Ivory Button, Ivory Jute Twine and a Tailor Made Classic Tag, for my embellishments.

Before we get to the link list of talented ladies, you should know that if you like what you see on our designer's blogs, you can pre-order Tulips for Friends now right HERE! You can also order all three of our new releases as a part of our New Release Bundle! Click HERE to save 10% on our entire March release when you purchase all three sets in a bundle.

Ok, it's time to head on over and see the fresh picked beauties that our ever-so-talented design team created with our new Tulips for Friends set!

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

THE CLOCK IS TICKING TO WIN OUR MARCH RELEASE! 
If you want a chance to win all three of our brand new sets, you can still play in our Colorful Creations Challenge there will be a trio of winners here! BUT, you have to act fast — the deadline to enter is 5PM EST Friday, March 15th! You can also play in this week's Timeless Tuesday Challenge and win as well. Just click on the links for the official rules!

Coming up tomorrow -- we'll share one final set in a wildly popular Flourishes collection! It's a collection designed to keep the insides and outsides of your cards -- looking creative and sharp! So, stay tuned!