May Beautiful Blossoms Challenge : Birthday Wishes

 Welcome back again to another fun Beautiful Blossoms Challenge! I really do look forward to these every month, and this month is another good one!

Our challenge photo is :

Look at those beautiful flowers and lovely blue color of fine china! So inspiring! I was inspired by the blue and the details on this photo. I love the clean white flowers and on the china, so I left a lot of white space on my card, and added a few hints of blue here and there. I was also inspired by the details of the vessel, so I added a few details to inspire the eye.

I stamped out tulips in a bucket from Flourishes (gone out of business) "Tulips for Friends" stamp set, cut it out, and colored it in with Copics. I cut the main "base" under the tulips in white cardstock that I stamped some decorative edges around (I decided to leave them unconnected because it was more interesting that way, and I wanted the main focus on the tulip bucket) the outer edges. I used Echo Parks "Stitched Squares" die set for my main "base" on top. I stamped a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp from their "Tiny Words" set, on the base after I'd stamped the corner decorative images. Then I cut out a blue cardstock using MFT "Scalloped Squares" die set, after that, I cut out another white square from Echo Parks "Stitched Squares" die set, as my "bottom base". As I added each "layer", I placed 1/8" foam tape under them, to give "lift" and spacing so the card wouldn't seem "flat" and uninteresting. Then I put my main image on last, with more popdots under it to pop it off the card even more.

As you may have noticed the challenge photo is both small and detailed, so I kept the idea of that scale and detail in mind when I created my card. It is both small (3 1/2 x 3 1/2) and detailed. I know there isn't any yellow in the photo, but remember, it's for inspiration only. You can be inspired by the colors, subject, details, size, theme, or anything else you find inspiration in!

I hope this month's photo, and our design team's examples have given you plenty of ideas to create something. We're looking forward to seeing your submissions and lovely inspirations, and I'll see you next month, Crafty Friends!

Flourishes Sneak Peaks Day 2

Hi all! We're in the thick of things now here at Flourishes and it's on to day 2 of Flourishes Release Week Sneaks! (If you missed Day 1, feel free to click HERE!

Today, we have the end of a fabulously popular collection that is designed to give the inside and outside of your cards an endless supply of mix and match sentiments!
Introducing…..

Give the inside and outside of your cards a bit of pizzazz with these mix and match sentiments that are perfect for those 'Atta Boy' cards of congratulations! These fun scripted and print words are designed to be used together or apart on the inside or outside of your creations! This set, by Becky Fleck, measures 4" by 3". If you like what you see on the designers' blogs, you can pre-order this set HERE now! You could also find it HERE as a part of our New Release Bundle for March (you save 10% when you purchase as a bundle!) All three of our new sets will be unveiled on Friday. So.... stay tuned!

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!

I chose some paper and cut out a window with an oval diecut. I used some Scor-Tape and adhered a piece of Clear Cover Cardstock, then stamped Congrats in Staz-On Black ink. For the inside of my window I stamped the sun and clouds image from April Showers onto Classic Ivory cardstock, and colored it in with Flourishes Sunflower, Burnt Orange and Warm Neutrals Copic Collections. I stamped out the April Showers umbrella image and colored it in with Sunflower, Ice Blue and Green Grass Copic Collections, then fussy cut it out, placing it on top of the window, and attached it to my card base of Emerald Coast cardstock, which was cut out slightly larger, for accent.

Before we get to the link list of talented ladies, we did have some fun and inspirational news for you!!! If you've ever struggled to come up with card concepts while creating, have we got a deal for YOU! As you know, earlier this year we released our 2013 Catalog that is chocked full of samples, tutorials and of course, photos of all of our stamp sets! Well, because our catalogs are packed with creative inspiration, we decided to package our 2012, our Christmas and our new 2013 as a bundle at a special price!

When you put all three catalogs together, you have more than 150 samples to gaze at plus 12 full color, step-by-step tutorials. All this for just $20! Get your Catalog Bundle HERE!
Ready to see what our ever-so-talented design team whipped up with our newest Inside and Out set? Just head on over and see.....

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

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 a brand new fanciful and floral set that is bound to help share bouquets of gratitude! See you back here then!