Thursday, October 31, 2013

Candlelit

 
November 1st already, wow!  As the wind is whistling out my window  - the year seems to be blowing past me as well!  Today, we’re delighted to bring you another Friday round of creations with the Senior Design Team at Flourishes!  We’re getting in the cozy Christmas mood and showing off to you all that’s beautiful about the holidays at Flourishes, you’ll see some of our beautiful newer offerings for the season and some of our equally lovely past sets too.  Time to be inspired for one of our favorite times to create cards for others! 


I put out a number of sets on my desk that I want to be sure to play with to create Christmas cards this year.  This set, Christmas Candles was on the top of my list.  It has a real elegance and yet simplicity and it’s really easy to colour which I love.  I pulled out my paper pack from Echo Park - Reflections, which isn’t even a Christmas pack, but the colours are patterns are gorgeous.  I thought this almost-minty green would be lovely for the greenery and the candle.  I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Flourishes Classic Ivory and trimmed it with our Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Classic Window Die.  Then I coloured it up with Copics giving it a lightly glow around the candle and hurricane lamp.  


Then it is simple accents, some faceted gems, taffeta ribbon, iridescent string and some delicate crochet lace.  


+YG41, YG45

Stop on by and see the rest of our cozy Christmas today!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Spirit of Christmas


Tonight I thought I’d show you a cozy Christmas card with one of Flourishes September Christmas Releases - Home for the Holidays.   I love the boughs on this beautiful set and placed them on the top and bottom of the sentiment to make it festive.  



The images and sentiment are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock and die cut it with our gorgeous Perfectly Pierced Classic Frame die.  



A little highlighting of the text with my Copic Markers always looks nice I think,  and then some pretty iridescent ribbon and some pretty hat pins finish off the design, with some matching Color Made Easy Evergreen cardstock.  

Below are the Copic collections I used from the Flourishes store. 




And now for some sale fun…


TRICKORTREATSALE

The night of fright is drawing near. Instead of tricks, it's treats, you hear? Flourishes is having a SALE as sweet as can be With Sale Page items discounted 25%, you see? Just click HERE to see all goodies on SALE With TREATS in the coupon code box, simply buy, and we'll mail! We hope you've enjoyed this sweet little rhyme Happy Halloween -- have a scary good time!

PLEASE NOTE: Sale will run for 24 hours on Halloween only and only on SALE page items.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Happy Candy


Well here we are on October 29th and it’s my Birthday!  My beloved friends on the Flourishes Teams totally surprised me yesterday with a fun Birthday Hop full of beautiful creations.   There’s a chance for you to win too, so be sure to check it out!  But today, just like last year at this time, besides me turning another year older, I’ve decided to give some blog candy of my own.  It’s my way to say thank you for always stopping by and all the kind words you’ve given me over the year.  I really do love blogging and the wonderful connections it’s given me with many great people.  I am incredibly grateful and blessed.  

So to say thank you I have a couple of things I’ll be giving away 2 things to one winner….



Just leave me a comment on this post to enter telling me:  “What’s something you’ve learned about your self since your last birthday?”  

One post per person.  Deadline - 10 pm MTN on Saturday November 2nd.  Please leave your email in the comment - it’s my only way to contact you if you’ve won.  

I’ll draw a name and post it on Sunday the 3rd!  

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Layered Snowflakes

We had a dusting of snow last night!  Our first of the year.  I know it will melt in a day, but winter is sure coming!  

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I made a number of cards with Flourishes new set Handmade Snowflakes in the same colour palette.  Last week I showed a 10 Minute Tutorial on the Flourishes blog and today I’ll show you the last card I made in the same palette of Flourishes Classic White, Color Made Easy - Cool Neutrals and Color Made Easy Emerald Coast.  


To give the snowflakes the feeling of a hanging ornament, I began with cutting out the snowflake shapes onto the cardstock with the Silhouette Cameo machine and our Silhouette cut files that match this set.  It’s so great because it does all the cutting for you, and you could do multiples of this card easily!  Then I stamped some in Memento Ink - Teal Zeal and Gray Flannel and embossed the smalled teal snowflake with some iridescent powder.  


Then it’s just the simple matter of layering the snowflakes behind a open windowed oval cut with my Spellbinders dies (Opulent Ovals), some pretty rhinestones accents, some teal seambinding and metallic silver string.  

That’s it for a Monday!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Photography 52 - 43

Some lovely autumn shots to show off today, taken just outside my doors.  


This is my view when I’m stamping - out my front window…it’s a beautiful tree with great golden colour.  


The leaves on our cherry tree are really pretty this year too…and the sky is so richly blue in autumn here, I just had to take a couple of shots because of the amazing contrasts.  





Lots of volleyball this week.  A game and a weekend tournament.  Our middle son has been serving really well this year for the team.  I’m not the best at action photography yet, I still have lots to learn, but I wanted to try some shots of him playing.  


Getting ready to go for a block.  

And that’s about it for this week.  Not too many weeks left of this year can you believe it!  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Joy!


Hello Friday!  

Today the Flourishes Senior Design Team is pulling out some of our sets that are on the overstock or retiring list and giving them a new spin!  I always love when we can do that, because it makes you fall in love with those sets all over again.  

I chose to work with this gorgeous set Peace and Joy, which is also on sale!  (Woo Hoo!)  I think the design and lines of this set are really wonderful.  We also have a new Silhouette cut file for this set and its awesome for all those pretty curvy lines.  I stamped the image on Flourishes Classic White with Memento Tuxedo Black after I had run it through my Silhouette machine, as you can can see I also cut out two holly and berry leaves with the machine and coloured them up too.  


Then I placed it on our Perfectly Pierced Hourglass Die that I had sponged with Pistachio Memento Ink.  I used some lovely Carta Bella - So This is Christmas designer paper, I love how the holly and berries matched from the paper to the stamped images.  Then I added some seambinding, Teresa Collins Santa’s List enamel dots, and some Pistachio Color Made Easy Cardstock.  


Here’s the Copic Collections I used:  


 +R56


Take a trip over to the rest of the Design Team to see what they have up their creative sleeves with these great sets today:  


Please be sure to give some extra love for our lovely Designer Maki Jones…Maki is taking a break from the design team and we’ll miss her very much while she’s gone!  She’s such a talented lady who has treated us to some amazing and creative designs these last few years on the Timeless Tuesday Team and the Senior Design Team.   We send big hugs out to Maki!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

10 Minute Tutorial



Hello Stamping friends!  Want an idea for a quick Christmas card that still has lots of design and colour punch?  I have a tutorial fitting that bill on the Flourishes Blog today - hope you can check it out, 'cause this was just a wee sneak peek!  

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Cozy




I haven't had nearly enough time lately to stamp for no specific reason, so it was good to sit down today and play a little with some of my favourite stamps from The Cat's Pajamas!  This month they have a challenge that's all about "Anti-Embellishement".  Creating without the extras besides paper.  That sounds like a good challenge to me!  I pulled out this cute cozy girl from an older TCP set that I can't seem to find in the store "You Suit Me".  Stamped on Flourishes Classic Ivory Cardstock, colored with Copics and framed out with TCP Toppers Cutups.  There's NO Embellishing!  GASP!  It's all about the paper!  A paper bow from one of my Silhouette files, some small accent circles from the inside of the topper die and some pretty Carta Bella designer paper.  


Doesn't she look cozy?  

Monday, October 21, 2013

Sweet Seventeen


As I mentioned on the weekend, our daughter turned 17.  And since she's my only girl, I love making things for her that are girly :)  Here's her BDay card.  I began with Flourishes Pinwheels and Popsicles set that I love so much for all kinds of celebration occasions.  I think this cake slice is my favourite of the images in the set.  Some of her favourite colors are teals, blues, pinks, so I found this pretty pack of paper in those tones MME Cambridge Court and played!  Totally fun because I tried Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday Sketch too.  I knew the banners would look great with this paper.  




The image is stamped on Flourishes Classic White with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Colouring is with Copics with really simple accents, pink twine (that has the same feel as the chevrons) and enamel dots.  I used Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Victorian Ovals die to accent the cake oval.  The cardstock I paired with it is Color Made Easy - Emerald Coast in the lightest shade, and I added the sentiment and inside stamping in Memento Teal Zeal.  


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Ice and Snow

I was cleaning out some supplies a few days ago and found a whole package of clear cardstock and thought I'd put it to good use in making another Christmas card.  


I had this lovely skate image already coloured up from the Flourishes set Snow Day, and I found this cute sketch from Deconstructing Jen, that I thought I'd put to good use.  As I was making it I thought ooo, wouldn't cute snowflakes on the clear cardstock go nice?  Unfortunately, I didn't have any white Stazon and tried out some other chalk ink....took forever to dry, so I thought I'd be smart and emboss them on.  Yeah... don't do that.  It's almost impossible not to have your clear cardstock warp, which you can see above right in the photo.  Nonetheless, it's still a cute card, just a bit warpy, much like outdoor ice you skate on :)

Here's what the sketch looks like


The skates were stamped on Flourishes Classic White cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I framed it out in Flourishes Color Made Easy True Blue Cardstock.  Then I added some die cut circles in True Blue and Color Made Easy Cool Neutrals card stock, inking them up with our new set Handmade Snowflakes and Memento Summer Sky, Gray Flannel and White Craft ink.  


For accents I added some gray cording, some swirly sparkly white iridescent string and some pretty silver sequins.  


Here's what the inside of the card looks like!  Thanks for dropping by today!  

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Phototgraphy 52 - Week 42

Happy Sunday to you!  


This past week was Canadian Thanksgiving, so I put a few jars of some of the canning from our produce on the mantle as a decoration.  Homemade roasted tomato and pepper sauce (it's really yummy), and cherry jelly.  Full canning jars are so pretty :)




Volleyball season has begun.  Our middle son is on the Senior team this year and he was asked to play setter, so here he is waiting for the play to start. It's a new position for him this year with a lot more responsibility.  He's on the floor 100% of the time and he's expected to be in charge of the play and his players.  That was a bit overwhelming to him at first, but I'm so proud of him.  He's doing a great job.  


Today our daughter turns 17!  I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that one!  This shot above is one of my very favourite childhood shots of her.  She was about 2 and was eating brownies (ear to ear) at a friend's house.  


And this was little Miss in Kindergarten.  That teeny-tiny quiet little girl has turned into a beautiful young woman full of grace, authenticity, with wonderful gifts and abilities that she's already using.   We are very proud of her!  


I cropped a couple of recent shots of her...she's changed a lot in 17 years!  


Happy Birthday beautiful one!  We're so blessed that God gave you to us.  We know you're going to have a lasting impact on your world becoming who He's made you to be!  

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Long Winter Berries


The Senior Design Team is back today with another round of beauties created with our October Release Stamp sets.  It's our chance to show them off some more while you can still purchase the October Stamp Bundle at a discount!  Today is the last day it's available and we don't want you to miss out!  


I wanted to show off this beautiful Winter Berries set again with all its colouring potential.  And because of it's long design, I thought a long and narrow card would work really well.  (These photos can be clicked on to see the pictures in a larger format).  I began by stamping the long berry spray with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Flourishes Classic White cardstock and trimming out the bottom of the leaves to do an out-of the box style with this gorgeous Spellbinders die (Radiant Rectangles).  I colored up the leaves and berries with Copics, and paired it with some Color Made Easy Evergreen Cardstock and Teresa Collins - Santa's List designer paper.  


A fun thing I found out is that this pretty Spellbinders frame (Fancy Tags Two) can be paired with our Perfectly Pierced Victorian Ovals die for perfect framing.  I inked the Sentiment in Memento Olive Grove ink.  A little accenting with some Teresa Collins Santa's List Sequins, some lace and seambinding fishtale ribbons and it's complete, and fits into a business size envelope.  




Now you can hop on over to see what beautiful things the rest of the Design Team has put together with this month's releases again:



Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Branching Out with Melanie

One of the really wonderful things about this hobby is the joy of making connections with people.  You meet people creating that are around the world, and yet you know if you'd be together in person, you'd be friends.  I was blessed to work with Melanie Muenchinger recently at CardMaker Magazine Blog and she's just one of those lovely people.  Melanie invited me to play a little with one of her sets - Branching Out which is part of her new book focus Fabulous Stamped Frames.  I'm happy to show off some new ideas for you.  

This set incorporates a number of framing elements that can be mixed together, or used with some of the smaller elements in the set too.  I had a lot of fun looking at the pieces in a different way. 

One of the frames in the set is a square box.  I decided it would be fun to create a boxed wreath for Christmas with the smaller leafed elements in the set and the outlined box.  


I began by stamping the square frame in a dark green Memento Ink and then adding numerous inked leaves onto the box to form a wreath in 3 different Memento greens (Bamboo Leaves, Olive Grove, Northern Pine).  Stamp until you feel like you have a full enough wreath to your liking.  Then I added the small berries from the set in Memento Lady Bug ink.  Then I trimmed out the wreath and centre carefully with my scissors, popping it up on the rich green card stock and adding some rhinestones as extra berry glitz.   A silk ribbon makes it hang, as if it was from a door, and a pretty sentiment (from Melanie's set Stately Flowers 5) makes it festive.  


Isn't it neat that you can make the frame into a wreath?  

Now for something a bit cooler...


I wanted to create the feel of a moon-lit night with the circular frame from the set, so I embossed it in white and punched out a little 1/2 inch circle from Eclipse Masking tape.   Then I sponged some gorgeous Memento Paris Dusk ink around the design and the mask, leaving a hint of light around the moon for it's glow.  I added the pretty black bird popped up on the vine giving him a wee bit of white gel pen for a highlight on the moon side.  I've embossed vines on the deep purple cardstock as well as the sentiment.  


I always think its the coolest when you take off a masked element to a design and see something like a crisp and pretty moon behind it.  

Now for the last creation today, 



An easel design that shows off how to add accent with embossing and Copic markers.  I embossed the oval frame from the set with white and added some pretty flowers to the vines.  Then after the embossing was cooled I added some light outlines with my BG57 Copic Marker, which is just deeper than the tones of the cardstock.  It gives the white a real pop on the design.  You just have to be careful not to touch your Copic nib to the embossing or it will clog it, but the effect is really great.  


I also stamped the leaf elements from the set onto the designer paper to really tie everything together.  The sentiment is from Melanie's set A year of flowers.  So pretty don't you think?  

Be sure to pop by Melanie's blog to see this great set she's showing off and tell her I sent you!  Thanks Mel for a fun round of creating with your wonderful designs!