Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Shimmery Vintage Snow Scene


Doesn't that look like the perfect winter scene?  I thought this pretty scene from the Flourishes set Vintage Postcard would be lovely for some shimmery winter fun.  First I stamped the image, gave it some pretty icy blue color with loose Copic coloring, and then overstamped the image again in VersaMark ink and embossed it with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder.    I framed up the image with a pretty Spellbinders die, Foliage Frame I believe.  The card is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 so I'd have room for the elegant die header.   


A cool, crisp, sparkly day in the snow...and some Warm Winter Wishes to you!  I'll be back late Thursday night with something new from Flourishes - it's very fun, as well as timely :)  That's all the hint you're getting!  

Monday, November 28, 2011

Vintage Santa Tag

Hello everyone.

Well, the company is all gone :(   and the cousins have all cried.  In this past week, we've celebrated two brother's Birthdays (my husband and his younger brother - born 1 day apart - 8 years apart), American Thanksgiving, and two beautiful baptisms of our older two children, with a big celebration afterward with our Church.   It was a precious, beautiful, unforgettable time.  I am pretty weary now after all that excitement and a very busy house.  :)  But big blessings all around.

I will love to show you pictures another day.  As we were doing the baptisms we were in the tank with the kids and had one of our students take pictures.  So, as soon as we get them from him, I'll share a bit.

Today, I thought I'd show you a pretty little tag that I made quite some time ago for a magazine submission.  I really loved how it turned out, but it didn't get accepted, which is ok too, because I've been saving it to show you :)


I took out this pretty vintage Santa set from There She Goes called Season's Greetings

I love the vintage style Santa in the set and the pretty whimsical trees.  I colored them up with Prismacolor Pencils and trimmed them out, popping them up on some of the sentiments from the set that I had stamped on the "hills", which I had sewn on and glittered up.   Some pretty trimmings and it's all done and ready for a package. 

Thanks for dropping by today.  Take care!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Joy!



Welcome to Friday everyone!


As many of you are cyber-shopping or braving the stores in the US today, we want to invite you over to Flourishes for the Black Friday Sale!  Its 25% off in the store!  EVERYTHING today and tomorrow is 25% off, which also means anything on the sale page is being offered up at an additional discount for even bigger savings! Keep in mind, this sale is only 48 hours long – so shop early for the best selection! All you need to do is use the code BLACKFRI11 to get 25% off your entire order!

I thought I'd show you a little something to celebrate.  


I put together this pretty Christmas card using a couple of older Flourishes Sets you may want to consider in your shopping, Lace Edges and Holiday Greetings.  It is actually a really simple and easy card.  The lace trims are embossed on the designer paper and onto the main sentiment panel, and the sentiment panel is sponged.  Ribbon is velvet and lace from the store as well.  

I'm really taken with these new Spellbinder's Dies.  This one is Ornate Artisan Tags, and it has some really beautiful and unique shapes.  I think it makes the card!  I've finished the bottom with the Classic Petal Edgeabilities.  


I'm thinking of doing the same card style in several different color palettes.  Quick and easy!  

Have fun shopping today!

If you're looking for more fun shopping inspiration ....see Dawn, and Stacy today too!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

For Our Daughter

As promised I'm back with the card we'll be giving to our daughter to celebrate her baptism.  She is the pioneer, the first-born, the trail-blazer :) , and to see her walk out her faith and beliefs, to see her stretch and grow in her gifts and abilities, to see her heart for following God has been so beautiful to us.  Just the other day she saw God do something powerful (and quite unexpected) in restoring a broken friendship and healing some wounds and I could see how powerful that was in her walk with God.  I love these moments in raising her.  And it's been our privilege to be a part of beginning to watch her fly :)


I.love.this.card.  It's special to me, because it's for our girl.  I also spent a lot of time on the coloring, pulling in a lot of shading techniques and trying to give it as much realism as possible.  Plus I love that I tied in the roses theme to the papers (MME Blush) and beautiful rose ribbon too.  It's the very lovely Lenten Rose set from Flourishes. I've die cut it out with the new Classic Keyhole Tailor-Made die from Flourishes as well.  Boy I love this die!  And then added the sentiment on a Labels Eleven Die.  

Because I used an out of the box technique with the leaves, I added the rhinestones on the left side to balance out the card too.  


plus:  R89, YG17, YG61, G21, G0000, BV00, BV0000, BG15

Alright gang, all the family is here now and I'm sure it's crazy and filled up with excitement in our house, so I'll close for now.  I'll be back on Friday for Flourishes Friday and something yummy for Christmas to celebrate the Black Friday Sale at the store too.   

For my American Friends, Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope that no matter what your circumstance right now that you are able to see blessings vividly!  

Monday, November 21, 2011

A Faith Rejoicing Week

It's a very joy-filled week in our household.  Our older two children, our 15 year old daughter and our 12 year old son, have asked to be baptized.  For us as parents there is no greater joy than to see our kids make their faith their own.  That's my greatest hearts desire for them;  to know and live a personal walk with the Lord.  So, this is a real faith step for each of them, and we feel very blessed and joyful for them.

And equally special and profound, because we are not only their parents, but also their Youth Pastors, they have asked us to baptize them.  I don't even know how to put into words how this feels.  And I doubt I'll get through it without a lot of tears.

We also have family coming for the special occasion this week, my husband's brother, our sister-in-law and their five children are coming today from the United States.  Our kids are very close and bonded to their cousins, and aunt and uncle, so you can imagine the excitement in our home.  We'll have 12 people in our little house this week.  It will be VERY full :)  And because it's not Thanksgiving for us, we'll also be pulling the kids out of school so they don't miss any fun!

I've worked on the cards for the kids for their baptisms ahead of time because I know once the family comes I won't have a spare minute!

Here is our son's card, and tomorrow I'll show you our daughter's card:


From the time our son was tiny (and I've probably told you this before), we've called him the joy child. He's always brought joy to the world with his big smile, happy heart, and fun loving spirit. As well, he's been working on his testimony he'll share, and he talks about wanting to be a light to his world.  So, I've combined two Flourishes sets, Christmas Candles, and Petals and Peace.  I've used Copics in these Flourishes Collections



Plus YR12, YR14, YR30, BV04 and B0000

I wanted to give it a clean design with a masculine feel, so no fluffy elements :)  I've used the Diamond Nestabilities to create some framing and to also carry over the theme of the candlelight radiating. 



The inside verse reads "Arise for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord shines upon you"  Isaiah 60:1.  


Thanks for sharing the joy with us too :)  Back tomorrow!

Stamps:  Flourishes - Christmas Candles, Peace to You;  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Danube Blue;  Paper;  Flourishes Classic White, Brilliant Blue, K & Company DP;  Accessories:  Big Shot,  Large Labels, Diamond Nestabilities, Grommet Tags, Pinked Hearts Border Punch, Brilliant Blue Brads, Piercer, Dimensionals, Copic Markers, Glitter pen.  

And the Winner Is....

Random.org has helped me choose a winner of last week's Blog Candy and it's.... (it was out of 46 but for some reason when I copy the random thingy over it shows out of 100)


True Random Number Generator  27Powered by RANDOM.ORG


and #27



Anonymous said...
Very interesting idea! Love the scarf and all the great details! I am sure she will love it! Thanks for offering some great blog candy! Love visiting your blog for inspiration.

Chris R. from Iowa


Congratulations Chris!


You have 24 hours to contact me please (clicking my profile link for my email) and you can give me your mailing address, and I'll get this out to you!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Julieicious Blog Hop!

How could we not celebrate today?  Huh?  It's Julie Koerber's Birthday!  And as our fearless DT Leader, and invaluable Flourishes Go-To-Girl for everything - honestly she deserves to be celebrated.  We are beyond blessed to have her.  And her life is a gift to the world, she gives so much to it :)  I also feel very blessed to call her friend.

So today, the many Girls of Flourishes -  from the Senior DT, the Timeless Tuesday Girls, to the Bring Back Beautiful Team are joining together for a little Blog Hop in honor of Julie.  Enjoy my friend, we all love you!


I pulled out this beautiful set from Flourishes that was this years FLIP Program Incentive Set.  I remember when Julie and I first talked about the proof for this set and our jaws both dropped at how beautiful it was.  That Marcella, she never disappoints in her illustrations!   Plus I love this particular sentiment for Julie.  It suits her perfectly.   Inside I did stamp Happy Birthday too :)

I colored up the little bell-flowers with Copics:



Plus a little BV0000, BV00, V25, B0000, B00

I created a window in my DP (MME's A Beautiful Life), using a Spellbinder's Labels Twenty Die, then framed that out with Floral Flourishes, and Fair Aisle Border Petites, and the sentiment with Holiday Tags.  Accents are Prima Crystals  - Fall, and some beautiful ribbon and twine.  Finished card is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2.  


So, to continue on in this sweet little hop in celebrating Julie....here's the master list :)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Jingle All the Way

It's another Flourishes Friday where the Design Team gets to show you a little something more from our latest release.  :)  Good news right?  


I think this is such a stunning set.  It's the new Petals and Peace, along with Flourishes Tailor Made Spellbinder's Custom Die - Classic Keyhole.  I love the sheet music in the background of the amaryllis, bells and greenery, and I remembered this music sheet from the new Memento pad, Yuletide.  And then went to coloring all in neutral tones with my Copic Markers Collections from Flourishes.  


plus YR14, YR24, YR30

I sponged the edges of the DP with Ranger Distress - Vintage Photo to deepen the tones, then added some pretty shapes with my Spellbinders using Blossom Tag Accents and the Snowflake Die.  


I added the sentiment to the smaller window/label of the Classic Keyhole dies using cardstock vellum that I had sponged with Distress ink as well.  See the pretty Prima Crystals again?  I love these.  The facets really make them unique.  The ribbon is from last month's Sunshine 123 Create Kit.  

Have I swayed you enough :)  ???  Remember that the New Release Bundle is available at a discount only till the end of the day today - November 18th!  

The rest of the very talented Design Team will show you MORE yummy things today....


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Parisian Dress Form & Christmas Candy

One of the things that we (The Flourishes Girls) really enjoyed at CHA this past summer was looking at all the wonderful alterable items at the Kaiser booth.  They have some really lovely wooden pieces that are of excellent quality to make something special.

Today a few of us on the DT are going to focus on some of these great items.  I was able to work with this beautiful dress form and all along planned on making something for our daughter's new room.  



The dress form is amazing, it's 14 inches tall, so it can really be a show piece.  I began by painting it with some Acrylic paint, mixing some white with some shimmery white, and putting several coats and and letting dry overnight.  I probably put 5 coats and and still could have done more, but I also didn't want it to be bright white either.  More distressed white. 

Then comes all the fun :)  You can decorate it any way you please!  I started with some swatches of fabric that I ordered on-line that we're thinking of using for our daughter's room. Here's the web address (www.OnlineFabricStore.net).  Swatches are $1 a piece for probably a 4 x 4 square.  The ones we're looking at are from the Amy Butler Collection.  I took one of the swatches and added it behind the top bodice of the dress form, attaching the fabric behind the form using Scor Tape, trimming off any excess.    Then I added a peblum to the front of the dress around the waist area with the rest of that same swatch cutting it into waves with a Spellbinders die (Fancy Scalloped Border).  I attached that with Scor Tape and puckered the waist a little, trimming it up with some crochet lace and velvet.  I also added a fabric rose from one of the swatches using the Spellbinders Spiral Blossoms One .  I would advise running it through your die-cutting machine several times/passes, and you still may need to trim some of the threads in the cuts with a scissor because of the weave of the fabric.  


Then using the dress form as a pattern I laid it down on some Navy cardstock and traced out the size of the bottom skirt, trimming it out, then stamping with elements from Country Charm Labels Set and white Craft ink, again attaching with Scor Tape.  

I gave her a cute little ribbon scarf, because our daughter loves wearing scarves.  


Just a little ribbon accenting and some faceted Crystal jewels from Prima to complete it! So now, when we get everything done in her room, she'll have a custom Shabby Chic Parisian dressform, that perfectly matches her room!  

Be sure to check out the Flourishes Blog, Cindy and Stacy today who also are showing off some Kaiser Alterable fun!

Now... how about some Christmas Blog Candy to get ready for the Season?  It snowed here finally, just a bit, so it really does feel more like Christmas is coming :)

Here's what I have to offer....


A pack of 7 Gypsies Venice 6 x 6 paper
October's Release of Christmas Candles Set
Brand New November Release of Sentiment Christmas set

All you have to do is comment on this post :)

**Please leave me your email address within the post so I can contact you if your name is chosen. 

Winners will be chosen and posted by 10:00 PM MTN Time Monday November 21.  You will have 24 hours to contact me to claim your prize :)  I know that's a little short notice with American Thanksgiving coming - BUT you do want your stamps to be able to use for Christmas too right? :) 

Monday, November 14, 2011

Polar Penguin Present

This weekend our 7th grade son is invited to a BDay party of a new friend.  They've had fun being typical goofy grade 7 boys.  This friend has a good sense of humor and in fact the birthday invitations were of a penguin, and he said that everyone had to come dressed as a penguin to the party.

So in that sort of tongue in cheek theme, here's the card that will be for him.  Oh - and he also likes purple - so that's the purple part here.  Trying to still make it subtle purple/gray and manly for him :)


Cute hey?  I've really missed giving my TSG Stamps some love, so I decided to play in their Recipe Challenge today.  Ingredients:  Birds, Snowflake, Ribbon, Button.   I think I've got it all :). 

I used the cutie Penguin Pals set, masking the penguin to add the present in his arms, coloring him up with Copics, then masking both the penguin and present to sponge on the Wisteria Wonder purple night sky.  The card is 5 x 5.  


I used a lot of stroking technique on the coloring to get the feel of the texture of his penguin - um fur...feathers?  As well as some little touches of sparkle in the Shimmer White paper, and the Sakura Stardust pen on the snow and sentiment.  

Stamps:  There She Goes - Penguin Pals, Wrapped in Joy (sentiment);  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Whisper White Craft;  Paper:  Wisteria Wonder, Shimmery White, Basic Gray, Flourishes Classic White;  Accessories:  Big Shot, Labels Twelve, Blossom Tags and Accents, Grand Labels One, Snowflake Shapeabilities, Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Corduroy Brad, Copic Markers:  BV00, BV02, BV20, BV23, BV25, BV29, C00, C1, C2, C3, C5, C7, YR12, YR14, YR18, Dimensionals, Glitter Pen, Snowflake Embossing Die, Scor-Buddy.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Brief is Life but Love is Long


"Brief is Life but Love is Long"  Alfred Lord Tennyson.  A lovely quote in this set from Verve.  I've had a tough couple of weeks recently, lots of tough events and things going on in life.  But in the midst of all of it, my husband has been as solid as always to me, and for me.  He is good to me, takes care of me, and cares about how I am doing.  So, here is a sweet and simple card for him with this weeks Mojo Sketch.


Inside the tiny type reads the quote from Tennyson above, as well as "Have a heart that never hardens and a temper that never tires and a touch that never hurts" - Charles Dickens.  


Sorry,  to get the inside of the card to "hold" for the picture it looks wonky!  :)  

Hope you're able to hug someone you love today and tell them what they mean to you!

Stamps:  Verve - Text Objects;  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Lady Bug;  Paper:  Kraft Cardstock, Flourishes Classic Ivory Cardstock;  MME - Rosy DP, Riding Hood Red;  Accessories:  Big Shot, Picot Edged Circles Dies, Basic Circle Dies, Twine, MME - Rosy Button, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Wide Striped Grosgrain, Copics - R14, R27, R29, R89

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Star of Wonder, Star of Night...

Lest We Forget...November 11th.  Thank you to the many of you who have served and continue to serve - fighting for freedom.  



Here we are at Friday and showing you a last beautiful set that celebrates the hope and meaning of Christmas for me.  It's a beautiful new silhouette set from Lauren Pope.  


I began by inking up the stamp with a brayer and some teal water-based ink.  You need to ink it up and lay it down quickly because water based ink beads up even on a polymer stamp.  Another way to do it is to ink up the stamp with a brayer and then lay the paper on top of the stamp, pressing and smoothing it onto the stamp with your fingers.  Craft ink, VersaMark or chalk inks all have the sticky-ness where this wouldn't be a concern, but I wanted that teal color :)   Then I inked up the stamp a second time with VersaMark ink, lining it up to the teal image and pressing down, then adding Iridescent Ice Embossing powder and embossing.   

Then I stamped up a second image of the stamp, die cutting out Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus in the manger, with a Labels Twenty-Two die.  Then using a matching marker to the ink, I darkened all the inked areas to deepen the color - then followed the same embossing steps to make it shimmer.  


Finally, I popped up that Spellbinders shape onto the main image matching it up to the image beneath.  The shine and shimmer looks awesome in person.  

I've paired it with the beautiful Velvet Teal ribbon, and the very elegant Toile Lurex in Silver.  

As you can see I've given the bottom some fancy edging with the Fleur De Lis Squares die, then accented the card with my new FAV Kaiser Sparklets in Sea Breeze.  

The girls will have beautiful cards to show you today...

And Don't Forget...

We have one last Mystery Blogger - be sure to comment on all the DT Girls' beautiful cards, and if you find the Mystery Blogger of the day you could be chosen to win this beautiful set!

You can also still play in the two Noon-Time Challenges listed on the Flourishes Blog and the Snowy Delights Challenge - deadline is today (Friday at 5:00 pm Eastern) 

Tommorow all the Winners will be announced in the Winner's Circle at Noon Central on the Flourishes Blog.  


The New Release Bundle is NOW AVAILABLE HERE!  For one week only you can get all the new sets at a discount, and don't forget our new beautiful die set!  

Christmas Sweets Challenge


Welcome to the Noon-Time Challenge from Flourishes for today!  I'm so excited about this wonderful inspiration picture with these great colors....and I love how my card turned out!


As I was looking at the inspiration picture I loved how the concentric circles of the plate stand looked, so I decided to try out a Telescoping Card with this design....I have lots of pictures....

I've combined both the Joy is in the Air set with the Sentimental Christmas set from Tuesday.  

I've used my Grand Calibur and the Grand Scalloped Circles, Grand Circles and Regular Standard Circle Dies for this card, as well as the pretty Snowflake Pendant die.  


Here is the card open


Standing, which is really hard to get it to do!  I think it would be a great door hanger too wouldn't it?


As you can see I've added Decorative Snow and Polar White Flower Soft to the bottom of the snow globe.  


On this largest circle I've stamped the sentiment and pretty little flourish from the Sentiment set on sparkly paper.  

So join us for this Noon-Time challenge using the colors in the Inspiration Photo.  Upload your link to the Flourishes Blog, and you have another chance to win these new Releases!

Copics:  G0000, G21, G40, G94, R14, R27, R29, E43, E44, E47, C1

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Joy in the Air!



We're back for day two of Sneek Peaks gang!  Today's set is such a fun one....who doesn't LOVE to play with a snow globe right?  It's so sweet to make a snowstorm on the little scene inside.  Well Marcella captured that beautifully in this new set from Flourishes, and the parts are interchangeable - which is SO great!


Isn't it adorable?  I love this little gingerbread type scene!  I've paired this beautiful set with some very fun Prima Papers called North Country, for that really warm cozy cabin feel....sort of like a quilt you can curl up in.   

I've colored with many Copics...but didn't keep track of this one - sorry!  


The pretty ribbon is May Arts Crochet from the store.  And the circle behind the Snow Globe is the very lovely Doily Heart Circles Die from Spellbinders.  Do you see that I've added glitter pen to the snow in the scene.  It has really nice sparkle in person.  

Be sure to check out the Design Team today for more gorgeous snow globe fun!  I'll be back at NOON Central with a fun card for the Noon Challenge that I LOVE!  
IMPORTANT DETAILS THIS WEEK:  

Comment on all the Design Team Blogs to increase your chance of finding the Mystery Blogger!  
How easy is that?  If you find her and your name is chosen...you will win the set of the day!  

You can win the entire release by playing in our Snowy Delights Challenge.

Join us today at NOON Central at the Flourishes Blog for the Noon-Time Challenge for another chance to win!

You can pre-order these sets already at Flourishes!  You'll love tomorrows set too!