Flourishes 4th Birthday Bash!

Flourishes, my favorite stamp company is celebrating their 4th Birthday, and everyone is invited to join in on the fun :) They are having a Birthday Card contest in celebration, and the prize is a bundle of stamps!! You can read all about it here on their blog: Flourishes.

This is the card I made for their contest.

I used Flourishes "Sweet Pea" for the flowers, "Seeds of Friendship" for the frame (flipped upside down), and Flourishes "Flourished Words" stamp set. I colored the Sweet Peas in with my Tombows, then cut them out with my craft knife and popped them up on popdots. I used Cosmo Cricket "Making Plans" and October Afternoon "Sleeping Bag" paper, clipped into scallops with my corner rounder punch. The cardstock is a metallic "Bronze" from The Paper Company and "White Scallop" paper from my LSS shop. I used some old lace I picked up at a Garage Sale, stick pins from Maya Road, a gold ribbon from My Favorite Things, and pearls from Kaiser Kraft.


I love, love the blue/green papers, they're just so soothing to look at and use :) The only bummer is I wish I had picked up more of these papers, I love how soft and easy they were to pair together :)

Tree of Life

Creative Sketches has a sketch and a Halloween/Fall theme to challenge us this week! I'm so excited to jump back in, after being gone for so long :) Here is their sketch:

 I apologize for the blurriness I just can't get a sharper image.

 Here is the card I made from the sketch and Fall theme.

 I used an old PSX stamp my Mom sent me, colored in with Prisma Pencils. The paper is from Melissa Francis, Graphic 45 and K&Co. The pearls are from Kaiser Kraft, and the transparency is from an old My Mind's Eye called "Bohemia". I loved that line!

 I have never used that stamp before and wanted a rustic look for the image, so I stamped it on textured paper. I did try to water color the image with my Tombows but wow, it didn't work, so you'll have to put up with my less then stellar colored pencil talent, this week  ;)
It is a dark card, so it was hard to photograph, but I love how it turned out. It's different and I like the deep fall colors :)

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

If you haven't noticed yet, I'm a total Flourishes fan. And if you knew that about me, you would know it's time for my favorite day of the week: Flourishes Timeless Tuesday!! ;) 


This week Cindy Haffner is challenging us to use: Sentiments. You can find out all of the details plus details about the Crazy4Challenges contest that Flourishes is also doing, here at the Flourishes Blog!

I used Flourishes "Lenten Rose" for my flowers, stamped in Brilliance "Moonlight White" and a Flourishes sentiment from "Sweet Violets" stamped in Versafine "Onyx Black". The images are colored in with Tombows and cut out with a craft knife, then popped up with popdots. I layered two of the Spellbinders Fancy Tags #3 under the sentiment in Bazzil Basics "French Vanilla" and a co-ordinating piece of blue cardstock from an old My Mind's Eye line. I used a cheery yellow gingham checked paper from The Girls Paperie, that I stitched along the edges of. I added a detailed diecut border at the bottom, from the backside of the gingham paper using a Lacy Die from My Favorite Things. The pearls are from KaiserKraft, the brads and ribbon are from Making Memories.
I used the following Tombows: 020, 025, 991, 947, 761, 847


I was so happy with the last card I made that I embossed in white I wanted to try it again, and I noticed that Maki Jones, from Flourishes DT, also used white :) I love, the look, like you don't notice the lines and that the coloring takes center stage. I was also inspired by all the bright and bold colors everyone is working with, so I pulled every bright piece of paper I had and had fun with it :) Next time I'm in a scrap shop, I am promising myself that I will ONLY buy Cheery colors.
I am also combining my TT Challenge with Flourishes Crazy 4 Challenges Contest. 
 

 
I picked : Brads, Flowers & 2 or More Designer Papers (I'm counting the DP in my Diecut border).
Whew! Now I need to go pick up my daughter from school :)

Flourishes and Page Maps BasicGrey Contest

This will be a short post. Flourishes and Page Maps are teaming up for a BasicGrey-Flourishes Card Contest starting today that ends Sunday at midnight. They are offering a sketch to follow and try to win :)

I used fall colors and papers since it is now school season and just because I love and and all it's glorious colors ;)

I used Flourishes "Peaches & Cherries" and their "Seeds of Friendship" stamp sets stamped in Brilliance "Moonlight White" and Versafine "Onyx" ink. I used Tombows and Distress Inks to color in the image. I used papers from S.E.I, Webster's Pages, MME & The Girls Paperie. Then I used some chocolate ribbon to finish it off.
I used The following Tombows: 020, 991, 985 & 977 


I love how the white embossing turned out on my peaches, although my husband thinks embossing in the brown would have been better. I think it would look great either way, but I stayed with the white for something different. I like it so much I might try making another card with this technique :)

While I was gone Blogger has decided to revamp the system a bit, so I'm trying hard to get used to the new Posting format. Did I mention I don't like changes to things, especially computer related?  I'm absolutely not a techie kind of person at all. When a change happens to computers I'm completely lost in the weeds. I'm so bad at them, in fact, I actually researched on how to Blog for 3 months, before starting mine up. I was doing searches like "What Do You Write In A Blog?". I wish I could say I was kidding, but I'm not :) Every blog I encountered seemed so effortless looking, so I took the plunge figuring how hard could it really be? And I'm really enjoying it :)


So I was feeling rather creative last night and had all the pieces to make a card that happened to fall together with some remnant paper I had left and some scattered embellishments that had almost fallen perfectly on it! Trust me, that Never happens. I put it all together but somehow it doesn't look as good as when I first saw it. It looks "flat" to me, but I still love the idea and how it turned out.

I used Flourishes " From The Garden" & "Lenten Rose" sets. I used the Classic Oval Spellbinders Die and colored the image in with Tombows and sponged it all in with "Old Paper" Distress Inks. I used Graphic 45 paper with a few old tags from an old My Mind's Eye line with some pearls from Prima, then a few soft acetate butterflies scattered around from a Martha Stewart punch, to finish it all off.




So as I was making this card, my husband had the fortuitous audacity to remind me to start thinking of what kind of Christmas cards are we going to make this year....so soon? Notice I said WE :) My husband is very hands on when it comes to our Christmas cards, he insists each year I need to top the previous Christmas card. Last year we went to no less then 3 scrapstores (we live an hour away from the nearest one), and even backtracked to one of them, deep in discussion as to what should be used in the "windows" I had created on our Christmas card. I mean this was one for the records as to one of the deepest discussions we've ever had about cardmaking :)
Here they are: 

I think they turned out Great with his help...but I'm having a hard time thinking of a card to make for this year. I'm hoping to come up with something soon, since I love his help and the fact I almost have his blessing to buy more "supplies" to expedite this venture ;) 

By the way, Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Rheanna, who turned 6 this evening. Happy, Happy Birthday my Precious; we prayed so long for you!! I still can't believe 6 whole Years have just Flown by! May the next 6 slow down so I can enjoy them :)

I'm Back !! :)

My family and I are back from a long, long visit with my family in Minnesota! It's been so long since I have posted. I apologize, I didn't have good reception up in Northern Minn, so I thought I'd wait until I got back to post :) 
I'm just going to jump right in with Flourishes Challenge this week. Boy, did I miss these Timeless Tuesday Challenges. I see I also missed a few new releases!! I've missed so much!
This week, Heather is challenging us to use Pink, Lace, Ribbon & 1 Button.

 

I used Flourishes "Spring Has Sprung" set for the bird and the sentiment from their "Life Lines" set. I used the Classic Square & Lacy Square set to frame the image and sentiment. Then I sponged the image with "Worn Lipstick". The image was colored in with Tombows. I used Bo Bunny, My Minds Eye Paper & a piece of diecut paper from S.E.I sponged in "Old Paper". Then I used Flourishes Ribbon & Lace combo with some pearls and buttons from Martha Stewart to finish it off.

I used the Following Tombows: 761, 772, 847, 177, 249, 942, 947, 977


I'm so happy & excited to be back and enjoying making cards, and I just missed all of you too :)

Happy Mother's Day!!

I'm sure you may have noticed I've been "Out to Lunch" for a while. Well, I am excited to say that I have been "training" for my second Revlon Walk/Run for Women's Cancer, tomorrow!!! It's a 3K, and I have been training hard, walking 8 miles a day so I can be in tip-top condition to beat my time of 1 hour 44 minutes, last year. It's not a contest, but I want to get more exercise and raise awareness too. Many may or may not know but we lost my sister-in-law, Julie, last January to Breast & Bone cancer, so this is pretty important to me. I am also walking for our family friend Sue Larson, who passed away in February, and a young 16 year old lady who has a rare form of cancer, who is the niece of my favorite LSS owner. My husband and two girls (one will be in a stroller - LOL ) will be with me this year :) I say all that to also say that some will not be able to have a Mother's Day this year, so please remember to hug your Mom today :)


So since I have been absent Flourishes has thrown down a few challenges. One is Bring Back Beautiful "The Beauty of A Flower" and a Release Week "Word To Your Mother" Challenge. So I was able to combine two of them into my Mom's Mother's Day card.



I used Flourishes "Cherry Blossoms" flowers and the sentiment from "Spring Bouquets" colored in with Tombows, cut out and popped up on popdots. The paper is from Graphic 45 Baby 2 Bride "Endless Love" and the last pieces of a Melissa Francis decorative edge paper. The pearls are from Kaisercraft. I used the following Spellbinders:


Classic Square
Lacy Square
Fleur de Lis
Large Scalloped Circles
and a Corner Rounder


I am happy with how the card came out, I had quite a few glitches on it :) The inside joke is that every card I make has a mistake on it, the trick is to hide what went wrong. This one I forgot to do two things, one being to stitch along the edge of my DP and to add my coordinating cardstock under the DP!! Hopefully Mom won't notice - LOL! :) I hope you can see the Melissa Francis decorative edged paper in the back ground, it's So Hard to photograph! If I have time this weekend, I'll try to retake it so you can see it better. My hasty picture isn't doing it enough justice as it looks better in person.


It feels good to be creative again, and I'm glad to be back :) I hope to balance the great exercise progress but still have enough time and energy to make cards!

Happy Mother's Day, Ladies!!! May you have a Weekend/Day worthy of all you do! You deserve it, speaking as a mother myself !! :)


Update: I took another pic, but that one washed out the coloring and you couldn't even see the decorative edges along the card :( So I changed it back to the original card picture :)

Rejoice

It's time for Creative_Sketches Thursday challenge! This week is the "Holiday" challenge, which is perfect! I know it's almost May, but I have been itching to do a Christmas card for the last month! So Yeay me! :)
This is the card idea I had rolling around for a while, and it turned out almost like I had imagined.

 

I used Flourishes "Rejoice" & "Alleluia Angel" sets colored in with Tombows and a couple SU markers. I used a Spellbinders Label Eight to cut out the center, and cut the angel out and popped both up on popdots. I added some glitter to the wings of the angel to make them look more angelic. The clear printed overlay is Hambly "Grandma's Wallpaper", My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Madison Avenue "Sisters" & Madison Ave "Girlfriends" papers. The bottom "trims" are from MFT "Open Scallop" & "Lace Doily" dies. The "Red" pearls are from KaiserCraft and the velvet ribbon was from my stash.

Although you can't tell by the way I took the picture, the inside red CS perfectly "frames" the front of my card on the outside and you can't see the cream part from the front.

I used Tombows : 761, 847, 947 & 098
Stampin Up : Old Olive & Always Artichoke

I love Christmas cards, but sometimes it's just hard to get in the mood for them until Christmas, which is often much too late to make them - LOL! If your anything like me, I put off making them until November! So it's challenges like CS has that helps me try harder to make them sooner :) Thank You Creative_Sketches!! :)