Sueded Snowflakes

So how do you like my new Blog Digs?  My little cyber-home has undergone a makeover!   What do you think??? I'm so happy with it!  I've been wanting a new design for some time but really didn't know what I wanted or where to start.  Enter my very kind friend Julie Koerber and viola!  She's a master at this!  I'm so very grateful to her for all her wonderful talent and ability.  {{{Julie}}}  You are such a blessing to me!

The little brown truck arrived late this afternoon, always a fun sight!  He almost gave me someone elses box too - woo hoo that would have been fun!  But I restrained myself and told him only one was mine. 

It's like 30 degrees celcius right now (somewhere in the 90's F), so the thought of snow is way far away, but if you use your imagination, you can picture the snow falling. 

I love the idea of sueded snowflakes so I combined Soft Suede, Confetti Cream, Kraft and the new Christmas Cocoa specialty paper from the Holiday Mini and this gorgeous Serene Snowflakes set together.   The snowflakes are stamped in Craft Vanilla, and Soft Suede and sponged heavily on the edges with Soft Suede.

I created a snowflake medallion by stamping the largest snowflake 3 x once in Craft Vanilla and once in Soft Suede on Soft Suede paper, then cut them out and added them together slightly off center, and added the 3rd layer with a Build a Brad.  Just yummy!

Can you see this gorgeous embossing folder?  OY!   It's the new Petals a Plenty and WOW does it impress beautifully.  I sponged Craft ink over top lightly to give it even more definition.  It even has the feeling of suede! 

Recipe:  Stamps:  Serene Snowflakes, Berry Christmas;  Ink:  Soft Suede, Vanilla Craft;  Paper:  Confetti Cream, Soft Suede, Kraft, Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper;  Accessories:  Sponge, Vintage Brads, Dimensionals, Big Shot, Petals a Plenty Embossing Folder, Build a Brad, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, Modern Label Punch

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Sueded Snowflakes

Copic-ly Certified!

I had a fun day yesterday getting my Copic Certification!   Yep I'm certifiable :)  It was so fun to take the course from Sherrie Siemens, one of the wonderful girls I shared some time on the Dirty Dozen with.  I just find it so enjoyable to make some of the real life connections to people you've worked with and chatted with on-line.  She's so talented, and it was so fun to see some of her designs in person too.  Even better than on the screen!

So here's the class of girls...some of them got caught with eyes closed :(   

And here is Sherrie and I.  Thanks Sherrie for a great class!  It really was fun to meet with you and chat!

I learned a lot of new technique, and understand a lot more about Copics now.  Hopefully I can translate that to the page!   Check back with you tomorrow.  I'm getting a lot of NEW things this week, including my SU Holiday Mini preorder, so I hope to have time to play with it all!

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Copic-ly Certified!

Baskets and Berries

Oh this just gives me the feeling of summer.   We'll have strawberries growing in our backyard for as long as it doesn't freeze here, which I hope is a lot longer :)  

The Flourishes Design Team has a great product to show you today, Eclipse Masking tape. Cindy has a wonderful tutorial today on the Flourishes Blog on Eclipse Tape for you to check out.   

Having recently picked up this item from Flourishes, and now having used it, I'm so mad at myself that it took me so long!  This masking tape is fabulous!  The perfect tackiness to hold tight to your images, but never to rip your paper, and it's sticky all over, not like the post-it notes I had been using.  PLUS it's just the right thickness to still stamp over without getting those white edge lines. 

Here's how I used the Eclipse Masking tape on this creation.  I began with my stamped image colored with Prismacolors. 

Here is the image masked with the Eclipse Tape covering the colored image.  Then with the mask on I stamped the Basketweave Background over top in Certainly Celery and sponged it with So Saffron. 

And here is the image once I've pulled the mask off.  See how precise the tape holds so you can even sponge around it.  Fantastic!   Any white spaces you see were areas I didn't cut the mask around. 

And here is a closeup of the card.  Isn't this new ribbon gorgeous!?  This lighter green/cream shade is out at the store, but will be back in soon. 

You'll want to see what all the other Flourishes girls have created today....here's the links of the girls playing today: 

Cindy Lawrence, Faith Hofrichter, Julie Koerber, Latisha Yoast, Leslie Miller

Recipe:  Stamps:  Flourishes - Strawberries, Basketweave;  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Certainly Celery, So Saffron;  Paper:  Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, Flourishes Classic White;  Accessories:  Prismacolor Pencils, Blending Stump, Sponge, Eclipse Masking Tape, Scissors, Gingham Check Ribbon, Kaiser Pearls, Dimensionals, Scor It, Oval Punches

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Baskets and Berries

My First PTI Blog Hop!

I have long admired the classy nature to PaperTrey Ink's stamps, and now I finally have some of my own! So, it's my first opportunity to participate in the Blog Hop. This time around Nichole challenge us to put on our fall sweaters and create something with the theme of Autumn, colors, textures, patterns or motifs.

When I think of autumn I think of the depth of color, so warm rich greens and golds and deep blue skies that have a new crispness in the air. For us in Canada Thanksgiving comes in October, so I always think of it as a season of Thankfullness too. Fall always gives me that feeling of a fresh start and gratitude for all we have.

I've colored these pretty flowers from Friends Till The End with Prismacolor Pencils trimming and layering them. On Kraft I stamped the leaves in some fall colors as well as the deep blue and gave it some good sponging. I created a background for the main card with a few of the sentiments and lots of sponging for depth.

A simple sentiment treatment with the scalloped square punch, some twine and brads in the opposite corner for balance.

Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully I'll catch up with you somewhere on the Hop Tonight!

Recipe: Stamps: PTI - Friends Till The End; Paper: Not Quite Navy, Kraft, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Dusty Durango, Pumpkin Pie; Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Blending Stump, Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch, Sponge, Brads, Scalloped Square Punch, Twine.

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My First PTI Blog Hop!

Enjoy This Sip

I can feel Autumn in the air in the morning the last few days. It's a big crisp when we get up. Just right for a cup of Java. Well not for me, but for my hubby. I've never quite been able to DO coffee! You could brew it all day, I love the smell, just not the taste! My husband on the other hand is a coffee connoisseur, and loves a really good cup of coffee.

So when the colors were posted tonight I thought I'd pull out this set for a tower of warm coffee. I like the sentiment too, enjoy the little things, make the most of each moment, don't be in a rush. Something we're really holding close to us in the year ahead.

I created the coffee rings in VersaMark and Chocolate Chip on the main card base. The coffee perk is done in VersaMark and the cups are paper pieced, colored and stacked.

I can't remember the name of this patterned paper, it was from several years ago, just after Au Chocolate came out too. but the patterns are kind of fun and funky.

For the ribbon/button, I attached the top of the striped grosgrain then fed the twine through the cord button, tucked it under the grosgrain, fed it through the other hole of the button and cinched it tight into a bow. This gathers the striped ribbon nicely.

I'll be back later on Tuesday, I'm going to do my first PTI Blog Hop!

Recipe: Stamps: Sip by Sip; Ink: VersaMark, Chocolate Chip, Basic Brown; Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Real Red DSP; Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Red Striped Ribbon, Chocolate Corduroy Button, Twine, Dimensionals

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Enjoy This Sip

For my Brother

Monday is my brother's birthday, and we had a family celebration last night.

When I asked a number of weeks ago what YOU would like to see on my blog, one of the most requested things was masculine cards. I have to admit, it's not something I excel at! I went through my stash of cards yesterday thinking I might have something on hand for his birthday already, and NOPE not one masculine card. Yikes! Guess its something I have to work on.

So, this card actually fits for 3 challenges this weekend, the Limited Supply Challenge for Masculine cards from Friday, Sharon/notimetostamps challenge for polka dots and Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge.

To keep this masculine I used very deep masculine colors, no frilly ribbon. The accents are metal oriented with the clip and brads, and the texture gives it a masculine feel too, with a little white craft sponged over. I created the feel of my own designer paper with stamps on several of the layers. The sketch was for a square card, so I trimmed it to 4.25 x 4.25. I put a gift card inside for his present.

Recipe: Stamps - Party Hearty; Ink: Soft Suede, Night of Navy, White Craft; Paper: Soft Suede, Whisper White, Night of Navy, Soft Suede Patterns DSP; Accessories: Big Shot, Texturz plate, Circle Punches, Mini Clips, Silver Brads, Modern Label Punch, Piercer

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For my Brother

Distressed with Back to School Shopping?

I just went through my daughter's closet with her the other day taking out what doesn't fit, what she doesn't like, making a list of what she needs. The boy's are next though that will be more work :) I always remember the fun and excitement of back to school shopping. But, when you're the one paying for it, and not getting anything for yourself ...it maybe loses some of it's appeal (lol!).

I was looking at a flyer the other day that said a teen trend is for that shabby torn jean look. I remember that look from college! How did it become a trend again? Anyway it got me thinking, it's another Flourishes Friday and this time the Queen of Clean Stacy has challenged us to something far more distressing! Getting that shabby distressed look on your papercrafting creations. She's written a great tutorial on the Flourishes Blog.

So that shabby trend and back to school shopping left me with this idea:

I've used a number of different styles of distressing on this card: distressed edges, sanding of the paper, sponging and crumpling. Then I mixed it with as much GLAM to contrast it so it really had a fashion feel.

This "look at what I found mom....oh by the way I used your credit card" girl, is colored with copic markers. I've added some paper pieced bags (Lime Rickey DP) which were sanded down a bit. After she was colored I masked her with Eclipse Masking Tape and then did the background sponging.

The edges are distressed with my fancy little fingernail (no wonder I never have nice nails!), and then I also crumpled the sentiment and sanded it down too.

But then you throw in some gorgeous silk ribbon and rhinestones and you've made a fashion statement!

Here's the links to all the other Flourishes Senior Design Teams' Distressing creations, be sure to check them out!

Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Julie Koerber
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

Recipe: Stamps: Flourishes - Gigi and Chloe; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Certainly Celery and Tempting Turquoise for sponging; Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Garden Green, Basic Grey Lime Rickey DSP, Flourishes Classic White; Accessories: Big Shot, Labels Three Nestabilities, Deckled Rectangles Nestabilities, Modern Label Punch, Kaiser Rhinestones, Sander, Sponge, Silk Ribbon, Dimensionals, Copic Markers, Eclipse Masking Tape.

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Distressed with Back to School Shopping?

Dog Days Dirty Girl Challenge

Oh it's the dog days of summer isn't it? Those last few weeks of the sun giving all it's warmth! How quickly time has gone this summer. It's already August 20th and time for another Dirty Dozen and Alumni challenge over at Splitcoaststampers. I can't believe it's been a year since I finished my term on the Dirty Dozen!


Val challenged us this month to celebrate the dog days of summer. We had to use doggy or related images and sentiments, nothing fuzzy and warm summer colors.


Here's my cute pup...the only dog image I own (gasp!) I'm not a dog person, not because I maybe wouldn't want to be - but because I've always had really bad allergies to dogs/cats etc, (even the supposed non-allergenic ones), and our middle son is the same way. Because of this, I've just never been a furry friend person. But I can appreciate them :) (hey I cried at Marley and Me).


I colored this pampered pup on his fancy schmancy pillow with copic markers. I added Zig Painty gold accents to the pillow, and then added sponging in Crushed Curry and Ruby Red. I had a hard time deciding which pic to use so I'll give you a few views. Above you can see the gold pen and the embossing a big better. Below is actually a better representation of the true colors.

I really love the Spellbinders Frameabilities, this one shows the pretty embossing (I also sponged and added gold accents to the frame). I also gave it some pretty piercing with my Fancy Scallops Pierceabilities, and added gold accents to the designer paper and to the ribbon edges.

I hope we have many Dog Days of summer left! Catch up with you tomorrow! Be sure to see all the Dirty Girl submissions this month by using the search words DCDOG809 on SCS!

Recipe: Stamps: Flourishes - Chairs to You; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Encore Gold, Crushed Curry, Ruby Red; Paper: Crushed Curry, Ruby Red, Classic White Flourishes Paper, Basic Grey June Bug DSP, K & Co Que Sera Sera DSP; Accessories: Big Shot, Foliage Frameabilities, Finishing Touches Brads (Flourishes), Dimensionals, Gold Zig Painty, Copic Markers. Sponge, Red Taffeta Ribbon, Fancy Scallop Pierceabilities, Ornare Piercer.

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Dog Days Dirty Girl Challenge

Blooms from Our Home to Yours

Just a quick post tonight...I have to work in the morning but wanted to do this pretty sketch tonight from SCS. It has lots of layers and I thought it would work well for some great papers. I really love Bella Bleu DSP. The patterns range in size which also works well on a layered card too.

I used my markers to ink the blooms, and I just have to say that the Soft Suede marker actually works well with these vanilla/kraft shades. As you can see I popped two up and tied a half bow. Which I think looks really cute with the little flowers.

I added the three horizontal medallion type flowers at the VERY end, and wouldn't you know it they're not aligned perfectly. Sigh. But it's late, so I think that we'll just call it a day! Thanks for stopping by. I hope to get caught up on my blog commenting soon!

Recipe: Stamps: Bella's Bloom; Ink: Not Quite Navy, VersaMark; Paper: Not Quite Navy, Kraft, Confetti Cream, Bella Bleu DSP; Accessories: SW Markers, In Color 10 Markers, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals, Scallop Edge Punch, Piercer.

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Blooms from Our Home to Yours

Beautiful You

Hello everyone!

Well, we're home. You probably didn't know this, but we were in the mountains all last week. My fav place to be. It was the first time we had a vacation as a family where we weren't all there. Our daughter went to camp while we were in the mountains. It felt very strange not being a "five family" as our son calls us. We all missed her, and she missed us a little too, but she had a great time, and me and my 3 boys had a great time too.

Today's color challenge is a pretty one Taken with Teal, Close to Cocoa and Vanilla. I fudged a teeny bit and changed the Vanilla to Confetti Cream, but they are very close in hue so, I think I'm ok. :)

This pretty rose is colored with SW markers (Bermuda for the main color, Teal for the deeper), and I added some sponging on all the Confetti layers to warm it up. I love that Chinese symbol for Beautiful.

I work with teenagers, and as you can guess, this is a stage where they feel least beautiful. It's a time of transition, of such growth and change, and so much pressure from their world. They need to hear of their true beauty.

But you know I don't think that we adult women are immune to the lie that we fall short in the beauty department either. When my husband compliments me, I'm terrible for saying " oh please...". Why do we do that? Somewhere we bought into someone's crazy definition of perfect beauty, rather than true beauty and inner beauty.

Anyway...preaching a sermon here sorry! There's a great song by Jonny Diaz that I'm going to be playing for my girls this fall, I'll leave you with the lyrics today, my beautiful friends!

Beautiful You

Little girl fourteen flipping through a magazine

Says she wants to look that way

But her hair isn’t straight her body isn’t fake

And she’s always felt overweight

Well little girl fourteen

I wish that you could see

That beauty is within your heart

And you were made with such care

your skin your body and your hair

Are perfect just the way they are

There could never be a more beautiful you

Don’t buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through

You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do

So there could never be a more beautiful you

Little girl twenty-one the things that you’ve already done

Anything to get ahead

And you say you’ve got a man but he’s got another plan

Only wants what you will do instead

Well little girl twenty-one you never thought that this would come

You starve yourself to play the part

But I can promise you there’s a man whose love is true

And he’ll treat you like the jewel you are

There could never be a more beautiful you

Don’t buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through

You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do

So there could never be a more beautiful you

So turn around you’re not too far

To back away be who you are

To change your path go another way

It’s not too late you can be saved

If you feel depressed with past regrets

The shameful nights hope to forget

Can disappear they can all be washed away

By the One who’s strong can right your wrongs

Can rid your fears dry all your tears

And change the way you look at this big world

He will take your dark distorted view

And with His light He will show you truth

And again you’ll see through the eyes of a little girl

Cause there could never be a more beautiful YOU!

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Beautiful You

The Show's Not Over Yet!

I have a few last samples of the Flourishes New Releases....the store is now open! Come shopping!

This one is one of my favourites...I love the fresh colors against the white. I colored this one with Prismacolor pencils, added silk ribbon, some pretty scoring lines, and tiny pearls.
On this card I colored the pretty butterflies with copic markers to match this Jenni Bowlin paper. I sponged the butterfly layer with cream caramel to warm it up, and added Floral Accents with my Nestabilities.

Don't forget that your $100 purchase in the Flourishes Store before taxes and shipping entitles you to be a part of the FLIP progam at Flourishes, thats the Flourishes Loyalty Incentive Program, special incentives and sales for FLIP members only, plus a fabulous Flourishes bag!

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The Show's Not Over Yet!

He Loves Me....He Loves Me Not...

I believe the most requested set ever at Flourishes is a Daisy set....well have I got a surprise for you today !!! It's Day Three of Sneak Peeks at Flourishes and today will not disappoint you. It's a gorgeous new set using daisies.

Here is my traditional daisy sample for you:

I love the look of white colored with Prismacolor pencils on Kraft paper. I've probably mentioned that before! It gives it such a softness, yet pop. Here I spotlighted a smaller circle of flowers in the yellows of a daisy too. I haven't done a spotlight in a long time!

I thought that a vellum double ended tag would work well for the sentiment with the checkered ribbon too.

And a bit more non-traditional for this second one. I'll show you first where I got my inspiration:

These are flowers from one of my front flower beds. I believe they are Asters. They bloom this gorgeous almost neon shade of purple. With their puffy yellow centers they are really pretty.

So I made some purple copic-colored daisies. I used the Crocus and Violet Collections with a little bit of Hydrangea.

I used a sentiment and the butterflies from the set as background for the sentiment and the Mellow Moss panel. And then I added rich velvet ribbon, tucked behind the nestie layer and a Finishing Touches Brad.

Join us tonight for the release party at the SCS Forum it's always so much fun, and the store will be open with the new releases after the party!

To win this set today see the Flourishes Newsletter.

Here are the other's Design Team Girls wonderful creations with this set!

Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Julie Koerber, Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

Recipes: Spotlight on Daisies: Stamps: Gerbera Daisies; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Craft White; Paper: Kraft, Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Cardstock Vellum; Accessories: Big Shot, Borderabilities (Victorian), Double Ended Tags Nesties, Checkered Ribbon (Flourishes), Prismacolor Pencils, Circle Punches, Kaiser Pearls

Fluttering Daisies: Stamps: Gerbera Daisies; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Mellow Moss; Paper: Mellow Moss, Basic Grey Euphoria Paper; Always Articoke, Always Artichoke DSP; Accessories: Big Shot, Octagonal Nestabilities, Labels Two, Velvet Ribbon, Silver Finishing Touches Brads, Border Punch, Dimensionals.

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He Loves Me....He Loves Me Not...

Baby Love

Isn't this precious? There's just nothing like the sweetness of a new baby. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law are expecting their 5th! (whew!) child in December, so I'm already thinking about baby announcements. They have a boy and three girls so far...so we're routing for another boy!


This is a sneak peek of a beautiful new set from Flourishes to be released this Friday. This pretty wicker basket of baby is colored with Copics (Sky Collection and Flesh Tones 1 & 2 and a W2 for shadows)). And then the part I so wish you could see better, I came back and added my Stardust Clear Glitter pen over parts of the basket and the sentiment, it looks so delicate and pretty in person. Teeny tiny Kaiser pearls too.


Do you notice the panel underneath the sentiment? It's the new Basketweave Background. I thought it fit perfectly with the basket.



I've only used a part of this sentiment in the set. The whole sentiment comes from the poem about leaving all the *so called important* work behind and *rocking my baby, cause babies don't keep*.

Precious moments rocking a baby that's for sure!

See the other Design Team Creations with these links:


Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Julie Koerber
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan


Want to win this set today? See the Flourishes Newsletter for details.


Recipe: Stamps: Flourishes - Baby Love, Basketweave Background; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tempting Turquoise, Bashful Blue; Paper: Flourishes Classic White, Jenni Bowlin Mini Papers, Chocolate Chip, SU Parisian Breeze DSP; Accessories: Big Shot, Octagonal Nestabilities, Word Window Punch, Square Nestabilities, Kaiser Pearls, Eyelet Border Punch, White Crochet Ribbon, Glitter Pen, Dimensionals

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Baby Love

The Bountiful Orchard

It is New Release Sneak Peeks at Flourishes! I am absolutely in love with today's set! The way Marcella drew the detail and realism in these stamps is amazing.

I have two beauties to show you today. One with Peaches....one with Cherries

The Sweet Life

I colored these images while we were on vacation with my Prismacolor pencils and used a stump for blending. As a coloring medium I really love these pencils. You get such smooth blending, and you can build color so easily. I used our Classic White paper too, it's a great fit for Prismas too, not just Copics.

I looked for some DP that would work with the orange colors in the peaches...and I found this great sheet in my Lime Rickey Basic Grey. Then to make a total 180, I put it up against this teal shade from Prism papers, what a fun and fresh match.

Chocolate Cherries

This card was totally inspired by the Basic Grey Sultry papers, as soon as I saw the gorgeous rich mix of red/purple shades, the bright greens and the chocolate, I knew exactly what I'd make.

I watercolored this gorgeous bunch of cherries with reinkers and then sponged over the nestie template with chocolate ink. It gives it a real richness.

Adding the smaller Pinked Circles under the Labels 4 image gives it a lot of pattern and a pretty detailed layout.

I LOVE cherries - really tart ones too, especially in pie! We've had our cherry tree for 4 years now, and this year was the first year it produced cherries! I'll be making a pie in a week or two!

Well, you won't want to miss the other sneak peeks with this set. A number of the girls will also be showing you a new background being carried at Flourishes too!

Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Julie Koerber
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

Nancy Kirk

Want to win this set today? See the Flourishes Newsletter!

Recipes: The Sweet Life: Stamps - Flourishes Cherries and Peaches; Ink: Mememto Tuxedo Black; Paper: Prism Frosted Teal, Basic Grey Urban Prairie, Basic Grey Lime Rickey, Classic White Flourishes; Accessories: Big Shot, Labels 4 Nestabilities, Victorian Borderabilities, Modern Label Punch, Crochet Ribbon, Silver Brads, Finishing Touches Silver Brads, Dimensionals, Prismacolor Pencils, Pencil Crayons (for the extra teal background), Blending Stump.

Chocolate Cherries: Stamps: Flourishes Cherries and Peaches; Ink: Brown Stazon, Chocolate Chip; Paper: Flourishes European Watercolor paper, Basic Grey Sultry DSP, Vanilla, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Big Shot, Labels 4 Nestabilities, Pinked Circles Nestabilities, Finishing Touches Copper Brads, Flourishes Satin Ribbon, Reinkers, Sponge, Dimensionals

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The Bountiful Orchard

Candlelit

Each year some special friends of ours let us stay in their home in the mountains. It is pretty amazing to say the least, and it has come to be a very special place to us of peace and restoration. We are so grateful to them for their continued generosity. A couple of years ago when we went for the first time I made them a Hostess gift of candles and a tray. The husband teased me a few weeks ago that they had burned the candles down so much - could I make them some more? Well, that's the LEAST I can do.

Here's their new set

Their home has neutrals with shades of chocolate, rust and suede accents. I kept the same sort of colors as the first set I had made for them. These are all candles from Ikea. I used a combination of PTI's Damask set and SU Lovely Letters, which really seem to go together don't they? I made each candle with an initial of a family member, theirs as a couple together and then their children on the smaller ones. One thing you can't see is on the largest candle there is a whole wrap around double row of smaller damask images too.

Have you made candles before? It's so easy, stamp your image on tissue paper, cut to size, and lay your image over your wax candle. Take a piece of waxed paper cinched tight around the entire candle and use your heat tool to melt the wax from the wax paper into the candle wax sealing your tissue paper in. Wider candles are much harder than small ones, the larger candle makes it more difficult to pull the waxed paper tight enough without ripples. But none the less a very personal gift that they will use all year long.

Recipe: Stamps: PTI Damask, SU Lovely Letters; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Dusty Durango; Paper: Tissue Paper; Accessories: Heat Tool, Waxed Paper

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Candlelit

Victorian Celebrate

We needed a second wedding card this weekend for a wedding tomorrow. Their colors are greens and ivories. So when I came home tonight and saw the Inspiration Challenge, I found the perfect vase as my inspiration.

Here is the picture from this site full of Vases: Bellacor Victoria Green Damask

And here is the wedding card I created using PaperTrey Ink's Damask set. I embossed the background, and then sponged Vanilla Ink overtop. The main damask images are also embossed. I think the silk ribbon and Vanilla hardware go nicely here too.

Thanks for coming by again today! I so appreciate your visit and kind words!

Recipe: Stamps: PaperTrey Ink - Damask; Ink: VersaMark, Certainly Celery, Vanilla Craft; Paper: Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla; Accessories: Big Shot, Labels Four Nestabilities, Pierceabilities, Clear Embossing Powder, Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, Sponge, Dimensionals

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Victorian Celebrate

Royal Friday!

With Flourishes celebrating our second birthday, we know our customers are worth their weight in gold! To get ready for our smash release in August, we wanted to set the scene by honoring our customers who we consider - royalty!

So...the DT has come up with some Royal looking cards today and we'd like to invite you along!

We have two weddings coming up, one my husband is performing tomorrow and my mom was looking for a card for a great-nephew's wedding. So this will be for one of the weddings.

I made it look regal by adding lots of embossing, the white layer is embossed with my Texturz plate and the black layer is heat embossed in black with the Flourished Elements set. I watercolored the rose with reinkers and then added Royal Red Shimmerz overtop to give it that gorgeous sparkly shine. A Floral Accent with Spellbinders, Kaiser pears, and gorgeous satin ribbon give it that royal shine and shimmer.

So, will you join us?

HOW TO PLAY: Try to create a card fit for a king or queen! Use regal embellishments, a lavish paper, a beautiful image, glitz it up! Link yourcreation to the post on the Flourishes Newsletter or upload to Splitcoast using the keyword FLLCAUG. You have until Friday, August 14th 10th at 5 PM Eastern to have your creation uploaded! We can't wait to see what you come up with!

WHAT YOU COULD WIN: All of our new releases that will be revealed starting nextWednesday, August 12th over on the Flourishes Newsletter.

Here's the links to all the other DT girls to see their Royal Court of design. You won't be disappointed!

Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Julie Koerber
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

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Royal Friday!

Golden Birthday

Today our sweet little boy turns 6. Our kids say that when the date of your birthday (say today the 6th) matches the number of years you are, then it is your Golden Birthday! :)

So, I thought I'd share some summer pictures with you of fun things we've done as a family. Nothing crafty and creative today, just my little family.

This was the three of them this morning. In our house on your Birthday you can choose a meal you like, well, in his case since it's a Golden Birthday we're letting him choose 2 meals. He requested pancakes for breakfast :)

This is our new breakfast bar, in the renovated kitchen. I will show you more kitchen pictures another time, but the tile on the back splash still isn't done, and I want to give you the full before and after effect (wink!)

One fun thing we did just a few weeks ago was take the kids to a nearby lake, where friends have a place and a gorgeous ski boat. It was a perfect day, hot weather, and a calm lake. We went tubing which was so much fun.

Our youngest had never tubed before, and he was so brave, even after getting dumped. He loved it!

They even let the kids drive the boat which was a huge highlight for them.

They whipped the older two around over the wake so well it was a hoot, our daughter had a big wipe out, and this is her after her last run of the day....she has a few bugs left in her eyes!

But no matter what we did, we couldn't get our middle son to fall off the tube. He's wiry!

My husband however, whew! He had him going so far over the wake back and forth (he had the most dramatic wipe out.) that this was him after the end of 2 runs, exhausted. I love this picture, so funny! One of my favourites of the day.

This is at the end of the day on the way back, it tired our little guy so much he fell asleep! One of those...you know you've had a good day when....kind of moments!

Monday of this week was a holiday for us, it was a bit of a cool day, so we took the kids to one of their favourite places. We have a historic site here that celebrates our city's history. It's a wonderful place where they've restored different eras of our history. All the employees are in authentic character and costume to each period. It has an early 1800's Fort (the city started as one of the Hudson Bay trading posts), an 1885 town street, a 1905 street, a 1920's street, a 1920's Midway, and the park boasts a beautiful working train, old fashioned streetcars and wagon rides.

Here we are at the beginning of the day taking the train to the Fort.

This is inside the fort walls in front of the Big House.

Outside the fort...the teepee, they were drying saskatoon berries here too to add into pemican.

On the Midway where they played in the penny carnival.

This carousel is so beautiful! All hand-carved and painted.

I love that she's not too old to enjoy some child-like fun! Aren't these horses gorgeous?

At the end of the day...

That's all for today, the cake is baked and we're going to party later! Hope you're enjoying those sweet moments this summer too!

Back tomorrow!

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Golden Birthday