Thursday, May 31, 2012

Strawberries


Welcome to Friday!  I have a DOUBLE post for you today :)  Flourishes Friday and a sample for Becky Fleck's new CardMaps Sketches!  Be sure to scroll all the way through!


Nothing more delicious than your own strawberries!  It's a spring/summer treat we love.  Our everbearing strawberry patch took a beating this winter, so we bought 6 more plants, and that will hopefully keep us supplied. 

This lovely Flourishes Strawberries set showcases some gorgeous strawberries, greenery and sweet sentiments.  Today I colored it up with Copic Markers and gave it that country feel with these pretty MME Rosy papers and lots of gingham, even in the ribbon.  Of course I forgot that I wanted to use this set with our other set Basketweave that pairs so well...oops!  I know the other girls remembered so you'll get lots of peeks at it.  

Spellbinder's Picot Edge Circles frame the image out, and some simple sewing to also frame it out.  


Someone asked me recently if I was going to give up Copics because I've some some watercoloring again....NOPE :)  I'm an equal opportunity colorist!  I love it all!  I love picking up different mediums for different effects, so copics, prismacolors, watercoloring...you'll hopefully see it all here.  
(Copics R81, R35, R39, G82, G94, G85, YG0000)

and now...some of us from the Flourishes Family had the privelage to design cards with this month's CardMaps sketches from Becky Fleck....here's mine...be sure to check out Becky's sketches this month by clicking on the CardMaps link on her site!


I used one of Becky's own sets she designed for Flourishes called Country Charm Labels, which works perfectly with the Spellbinders' grommet labels.  I've embossed the labels on graduated colors of cardstock and used the other elements from the set to stamp the background, pulling all the colors together.  A few Icing Sugar Candi act as the "grommets" and some lovely satin ribbon.  

Now please head on over to the rest of the DT to see their fabulous Basketweave and Strawberry creations.  Delicious!

Monday, May 28, 2012

I Have Two Teenagers

I wake up this morning to having two teenagers in our house :)  It's our middle son's 13th Birthday today! I can't quite wrap my head around that!  He's such a great kid.  Warm, loving, talented, athletic, goofy, loyal and witty.  I feel very blessed that he and I have a very strong bond too.  I think it will help us navigate the years ahead.  Because he has a ball hockey game tonight on his BD night, we celebrated a night early with a family party, and this was his card.


I pulled out TSG's set Out of This World for a little atmospheric fun.  Astro boy is colored with Prismacolor Pencils.  The star die is SU, the numbers are PTI.  I had to really pull this together quickly, because I left it till the last minute, so it's pretty straightforward as far as design goes. I'm also feeling like it won't be long and I'll have to find more "grown-up" images for him to up the "cool-factor".  But so far, we're good :)  


And here's my BD Teen :)  Handsome isn't he?  I know it won't be long before the girls come calling...AH be still my heart, THAT I'm not ready for!  
Thanks for dropping by!  

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Project 365 - Week 21

I am having the worst time with iPhoto right now it's just taking forEVER to get my pictures to load for editing and watermarking.  I started this post at 7:30 pm and now here we are at 9 pm and I'm just getting to add the pictures to the blog, all that time for 7 photos.  I've never had this problem before with my mac so this is a WEE bit frustrating!

May 20 - Some lovely flowers my husband bought me.  What a beautiful bouquet it was... I love the sunflowers and the contrast of these gorgeous purple ones too!  And look at those funky spiney ones too!




May 22 - Rainy Day - We had two straight days of rain this week.  On this day, our youngest had the day off from school, and he joined Daddy outside.  My husband was finishing up his Bible study and our youngest went out there to draw :)  



May 23 - Rain on the Day Lilies - I love how the water beads in different ways on the leaves. 



May 24 - Cherry Blossoms!  And after the rain, the blossoms come.  This is my favourite shot all week.  You'll have to click on it to make it larger.  I love the light, I love the bokeh in the background and the detail on the cherry blossoms.  This is our sour cherry tree that I love so much.  Awesome pies and jam!


May 25 - Tulip.  My favourite color of our tulips.  I wish MORE of these gorgeous burgundy ones would grow!



May 26 - Ball Hockey Babes.  Our daughter and one of the other coaches daughter's.  These girls love each other a lot.  Check out her light blue eyes too!  She's a cutie!  

Short and sweet tonight since it took me so long to get it done!  Thanks gang!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Cheerful Daisies



Just as the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers and at Flourishes -- we are watching the daisies sprout!   Just take a trip to see all of our Flourishes designers today and you're sure to be inspired as they show off our creations using our set Gerber Daisies
Here is mine....

What I love about Gerbera Daisies is the vibrancy you can find in some of their flowers.  So many colors and varieties and an abundance of color!  I wanted to give these that cheerful theme.  Coloring is done with Flourishes New Letraset Aqua - Watercolor markers.  I am having a lot of fun re-learning how to watercolor again :)  I'm a little out of practise!  But these markers are deeply pigmented and with such control because of the tips, and easy to blend with the blending pen.  

I used this months' SFYTT from Jen and just tipped the main panel because of the style of bouquet which shares a bit of that diagonal design.   The papers are MME - Howdy Doody.   



Some new ribbon in the store, and this awesome Prima Monarch Flower Center (on sale!).  


Now head on over to see what the rest of the Design Team has cooked up with these daisies this Friday!


And, if you like what you see on their blogs, you should know that today and tomorrow only - you can add this set to your collection for 20% off! Just use the code DAISY at the time of check out! 

Monday, May 21, 2012

Go Forth and Eat Cake

Good evening on a lovely Victoria Day for us in Canada.  Which means, we had a long weekend, and it was a good one!  Family time, dinner with friends, kids with friends over, my husband and our middle son joining other Dads and sons in the youth group for paint-ball, all good stuff.

I managed to SQUEEK in the TCP Challenge from this past week tonight.  It's a Sketch Challenge and I made a fun little HB card - as in Happy Birthday.


I thought it had a sort of Americana look - in a fresh new palette.  Mr. Bunny is colored with Copics and paired with MME Dolled Up DP, with some stitching and scalloped accents.  Because the paper has some woodgrain in it I highlighted that on the "hb" circle with a woodgrain texture plate, and then mimiced that in the corduroy button.  


So I encourage all of you....Go Forth and Eat Cake!  Birthday or not!  :)

Thanks for dropping by!  

Stamps - TCP - Forget about the Cake; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Paper:  Flourishes Classic White, Soft Sky, MME - Dolled Up;  Accessories:  Big Shot, Woodgrain Textured Impressions Plate, Eyelet Scalloped Punch, Corduroy Button, Twine, Seam Binding, Sewing Machine, Copic Markers - R35, R37, R32, C1, C3, C5, B01, B05, B07, Y38

Make A Splash - 'Cause You're Fabulous!

A happy Monday to you!  And a special Happy Birthday to Jessica Knutsen of There She Goes Stamps!

Tomorrow is her Birthday and we're hopping to celebrate!  Jessica I hope you have a great time and a great day!  Hugs to you!  And, as always I love your stamps!  :)


Thought I'd do something fun and whimsical for the celebration :)  I pulled out TSG's Make a Splash set and did a little loose watercoloring with Letraset markers to create this underwater scene, cutting out the characters and popping them up.  By loose I mean not overly blended, a little more earthy feeling (if that makes sense :)  I sponged the circle shape adding some seaweed along the bottom to give it an underwater feel, and also adding seaweed to the lower sentiment (from another TSG set - Fabulous).  And I've got a bubbly/circle theme going on in the paper, embossing, shapes and embellishing.  

I used a recent Denconstructing Jen sketch for the layout.  

Now, join us for the rest of this Big Birthday Bash Hop!  Click on the links below!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Project 365 - Week 20

It was a very full and fulfilling week at our place.  Here are the pictures to prove it!   Any too small for you can be clicked on.


May 13 - Mother's Day!  Here's my mom with us (her two kids - my brother far left top, and myself, plus all her grandchildren, our three and my brother and sister in law's two.  My niece is frowning a little, and our youngest has bubble gum between his teeth....but overall a nice shot!  :)  It was a lovely day where the men cooked us steak, twice baked potatoes, salads and meringues, custard and berries for dessert.  Delicious.  I'm so grateful to be a mom to these three kids!  



May 14 - Grapevine Hyacinth.  Such a delicate little flower!   I love their little seeded purpley-blue heads.  




May 15 - Greenhouse Day!  Our planting trip takes us to a huge greenhouse south of our city where we buy our bedding plants, tomato plants and any perennials we might need.  Just look at this amazing display of the different colors of coleus!  Amazing!  I love going here.  



May 16 - AWANA Year End Banquet - Our youngest son goes to the mid-week program at Church called AWANA and it was the year end banquet with a pirate theme.  Is he not the cutest "tough" pirate?  The eyeliner moustache and soul patch is wearing off a little.....and below is my beloved who also dressed up for the occasion, he's trying to snarl which cracks me up!




May 17 - Double Blossom Crabapple - This tree that sits outside our office at Church is AMAZING.  It produces the most beautiful blooms and for a few days in May (depending on the wind!), it's drool-worthy so I had to snap a few shots.  


May 18 - A little spot to read - A spot on our front porch area where you can soak in the afternoon sun and read a little.  

May 19 - Bleeding Heart - Such a unique flower.  This one is just starting to bloom.  

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Lemonade


Lemonade.  Could there be a more perfect summer drink?  On my dream-house porch that I've fashioned in my head we'd be sitting on the porch and sipping a nice lemonade and chatting.  Sounds nice doesn't it?

Well, now we can do that in card form :)  This gorgeous little lemonade service is brought to you by Flourishes new set - On the Porch.  I had a lot of fun coloring it up in some sunny yellows and soft blue greens for the glass.  The papers are MME Fiddlesticks.  And I love the combination of yellows, purples and soft blues.  This Spellbinders' die is stunning too, super detailed (Splendid Circles) And the satin finish cotton ribbon Jovial button and rhinestones are also from the FLLC Store.  I paper pieced the dishtowel/napkin and add a little color to the accent seams with a copic.  


Copics used:  

 
+ Y0000 and Y26

BG0000, BG11, BG70


Remember today is the LAST day you can purchase the May New Release Bundle of Sets at a discount.  

A HUGE Shout Out today to our very special Flourishes Shipping Guy Mike Caruso!  What a wonderful guy he is, (so much more than just the "shipping guy").  He's such a giving and supportive husband to Jan Marie.  He's so good to all of us in the Flourishes Family, and today is his Birthday!  Mike you are a blessing!  I pray for a year ahead of joy, fulfillment, health, and hope for you!  Thank you so much for all you do for us.  

Join the rest of the Flourishes Senior Design Team for their Flourishes Friday creations!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

More Flourishes for May

How about a few more cards over the next two days from the May Release at Flourishes?  I had so much fun this month and have more to show you!


A little Hydrangea sunshine for each of you!  Aren't these blooms just amazing?  I combined two of the stand alone images of the hydrangea mounds into a sort of framing for the beautiful sentiment.  Several of the blooms are popped up to really give that feel of depth and dimension.  Coloring is done with Flourishes Sweet Pea Collection, one of my all time favourite collections.  


Here you can see the dimensiona of the flowers, the pretty Spellbinder's Heart Circle die and I mimicked it in the border die.  Papers are the very lovely MME Howdy Doody.   

Now for some masculine for Father's Day


I think this is a very sweet sentiment for a Dad.  I've stamped it in a dark grey ink and used the really great Glitz papers - Happy Travels.  I added some distressed photo corners behind the image to set it out a little and these pretty MME buttons.  Simple design, but the read really helps it pop.  


Come back tomorrow, I'll have my favourite of the three to show you in our Flourishes Friday!

Remember the May New Release Bundle is available at a discount till Friday only!  

Monday, May 14, 2012

The Sky's the Limit


The Sky is the Limit!  These were the last four cards I made for our guy volunteers to say Thank You.  I went really CAS, but still fun and unique.  This The Cat's Pajamas set is called Away We Go!  All the balloons are paper pieced with Basic Grey's Picadilly Square pad, and then copics added for shading on the hot-air balloons and also to color Mr. Bun Bun.  He's so cute and pint sized in this set!


I embossed each of them with the Diamond Shadows Embossing Folder and added some cute clouds.  with a little gingham ribbon.  


A wee closeup of the dimension and cute bunny :)  

Hope you're having a happy Tuesday!    Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Putt, Putting Along

At our big picnic to end off the youth ministry year we say thank you to our volunteers who work with us with the students all year.  This year I made cards for each of them and we gave them some gift certificates.  We had 11 volunteers with us this year, and I realized that I had NO masculine thank you cards.  Not good since I had 6 male leaders!  So I had to work fast and try and keep them simple.

Here's a couple of them that I did.  


You can click on these to make them larger, I know it's a wide shot.  

I used The Cat's Pajamas VERY adorable set Take Off.   What was fun was that one of our volunteers that one of these was for works for the airline.  So it was perfect.  


These papers are Authentique Loyal (getting sick of them yet?).   And I added some flags along the side after popping up the bunny and paper pieced plane.  You know the coloring is smoother in person...for some reason I have trouble with grays.  Especially photographing them. 


Love how they turned out!  Aren't these Glitz  - Happy Travels papers perfect for this other one?  

They just make me smile with the big ears, fun papers and this cute plane!  LOVE it!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Project 365 - Week 19

Wow, what a week for us, so crazy busy, anyone else out there like that right now?  This next week will be better though.  I did manage to take some shots that I love along the way.  Hopefully you enjoy them too.  


May 6 - New Restaurant Digs for the Birds - my husband found this new birdhouse and I love it!  Isn't it darling?  Even little cedar shingles!  


May 7 - New Bike Path - on our day off my husband and I took the bikes out for a little ride and we found a new ravine path.  Really fun.  This is just coming up out of the ravine.  



May 8 - Hydrangeas!  On a little trip to the grocery store I found some bluey/purple hydrangeas and had to pick them up.  I'm going to try and transplant them in my flower bed.  We're Zone 3 Growing (yes very north) so it's a wee bit harder to keep them, and they need a little babying.  BUT I really love them, so I'm hopeful I can make it work.  


May 9 - Merge on The Rails.  



May 10 - Green Green Green.  Love.  I delight in spring.  



May 11 - Lover's Leap.  The most fun picnic game ever.  Our youth ministry is gearing down into summer mode so we end off the year with a big picnic for our youth families.  One of the games we love to play is this one (and we make parents play too!), you have partners going in opposite circles until the leader calls a "position" you have to get into as a pair.  It's absolute hilarity and chaos.  This position is called Man on a Mountain.  That's our youngest son and me in the middle (I'm in the green hoodie).   Other positions include Bouncing Chickens, Man Overboard, Bird on a Perch, Dog in a Doghouse, Bob in a Shower....you get the idea.  It's so much fun! 


May 12 - Petals falling.  These tulips were just about done, and as the petal was getting ready to fall I could see it was good light for a nice detailed backlit shot.