More Lovelies

I  have some more lovelies to show you for the Friends of Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenges.  Today I'll show you my card for Silke's all Pinks Challenge (FTTC52D), and then Kim's Frame it up Challenge (FTTC52E).

In real life these colors match so much better than in this picture.  I colored the gorgeous roses from A Year in Flowers Calendar Set II with Prismacolor pencils blending a little with my blending stump.  I know a lot of people use gamsol, ordorless mineral spirits or baby oil to blend...I just don't like the mess of it too much.  So generally I blend with just my paper blending stump.  I used my Octagonal nestie as a mask to sponge in some color on the main image behind the coloring too. 

I also used my copic marker to color on parts of the designer paper with RV32 to match it better to the roses, and take away some of the yellow, and then colored the Rhinestones to match. 

Now how about this one for a Frame it Up Challenge?! 

The new Angelic Love set is SO cute!  I love it, and it's not just for Valentines either, it's a great friendship set too. 

I did this one entirely in Apricot shades, and I'm so happy with how it turned out!  The angel and clouds and banner are colored with Copic Markers (hmm what did I use...I think Y11, YR000, YR01, and YR02), then I sponged the background with Apricot Appeal Ink.   I used my Foliage Frame Frameabilities for framing, cutting the bottom off and adding it as another layer on the top to really set it off.  Below you can see the double layer of the frame better. 

I added some very fancy piercing and bordered the bottom with my brand new Martha Stewart Hydrangea border punch, then a cut out a few extra of those hydrangeas for accent by the angel.  Love how cheerful this turned out. 

So I hope you're jumping in on these fun challenges with the Flourishes girls.  See the Flourishes Newsletter for more info! 

Recipe:  Pink Roses:  Stamps:  Flourishes A Year in Flowers Calendar Set II, Strawberries;  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pink Pirouette;  Paper:  Purely Pomegranate, Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Flourishes Classic White, Basic Grey Lemonade DSP; Accessories:  Big Shot, Octagonal Nesties, Dots Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Rings Border Punch, Clear Rhinestones, Copic Marker, Prismacolor Pencils, Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, Bow Easy, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Sponge.

Love our Friendship:  Stamps:  Flourishes Angelic Love;  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Apricot Appeal;  Paper:  Whisper White, Apricot Appeal, Apricot Appeal Prints DSP, Flourishes Classic White;  Accessories:  Big Shot, Labels One Nestie, Labels Four Nestie, Foliage Frameabilities, Oval Punch, Martha Stewart Hydrangea Border Punch, Ecstacy Piercing Template, Sponge, Apricot Appeal Grosgrain Ribbon, Bow Easy, Dimensionals, Glue Dots.

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More Lovelies

Timeless Tuesday Celebration!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenges is Celebrating its First Year Challenge Anniversary! Thanks so much for all of you who have played along this past year! The Friends of Flourishes Blog Design Team have some fun challenges planned for you, and today I get to play along too!  I first started participating in the FTTC challenges way back when - just to possibly win some of the beautiful Flourishes Stamps, and look where that took me.  :) 

Today, the Friends of Flourishes Blog team are hosting six different challenges offering up 7 prizes, and one GRAND PRIZE! Check out the info below my samples today to find out how to play and what you need to do to win!

Here's my sample for Dee's Fruity Birthday Challenge (FTTC52C)....I pulled out one of my favourite fruity Flourishes sets - Cherries and Peaches for this one.

This new Nook and Pantry paper from Basic Grey is perfect for these cherries set with all the fruit on the paper, so I paired the colors and prints to give it a homey feel. The cherries are colored with copic markers (Poppy and Meadow Collections). Then I overstamped the tiny cherries on the sentiment layer.  And I also added a little zig zag stitch sewing and some pretty embossed dots on my nestie layer. 

Now...here's how we invite you to get involved. 

How to Play!  Keyword: When loading to online galleries make sure you use the correct challenge keyword for that challenge (FTTC52A, FTTC52B, FTTC52C, FTTC52D,FTTC52E, or FTTC52F) along with FTTC, Flourishes, FLLC

Link your card with Mr. Linky on the Flourishes Newsletter to be eligible for the drawing!  Make sure to give an active link to each challenge in your card write up at your blog or online galleries!

For more info on any of the challenges or the prizes or the rules, and to see the links of all the fabulous samples please stop by the Flourishes Newsletter.  

I'll be playing in 4 of the challenges ....so stop back for more pics this week!

Recipe:  Stamps - Flourishes Cherries and Peaches; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red; Paper:  Flourishes Classic White, Blush Blossom, Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Basic Grey Nook and Pantry DSP; Accessories:  Big Shot, Labels One Nesties, Fancy Label Punch, Basic Grey Rhinestones, SU Satin Ribbon, Bow Easy, Copic Markers, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Dimensionals.

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Timeless Tuesday Celebration!

Flourishes Friday Favourites

Wow, where did this week go, we're already at Friday!?!  It's been a busy one at our household, so it's good to be at Friday - though my husband is away again this weekend, this makes it 3 out of 4 weekends in this month.  But at least at this one he'll be home each night for a couple of hours :)

Today Leslie Miller challenged the Flourishes Design Team to showcase for you our favourite things in the Flourishes store.  Well for me that's both easy and hard!  I love pretty much everything in the store!  So the hard part is choose which to showcase!

I am IN LOVE with this card.  Is that bad to say?  It just is so ME.  The vibrant colors, the piercing, lots of space to color a beautiful beautiful image, the ribbon.... I'm happy with how it turned out. 

Last week when I was putting a few projects away I had three ink pads in my hand and they looked really good together, so I put them in my "to do" idea list so they inspired the colors.  (Night of Navy, Kiwi Kiss and Melon Mambo)

So what are my Favourite Flourishes items here?   Well I couldn't narrow it down to one.

1.  The STAMPS of course :)  This is the Waterlilies Set an absolute beauty. 

2.  Eclipse Tape - Getting this tape has made my life SO much easier.  It is seriously the best for masking images, and it lasts forever too.  My roll is almost a year old, and I've used maybe 1/2 of it. 

3.  Copic Markers - Flourishes really does all the work for you by setting up the Color Family Collections so well in the store.  In this card I've used Hollyhock Collection, Delphinium Collection, Evergreen Collection (out of stock right now), and a bit of Spring Greens

4.  Silk Ribbon - there's nothing like it to give richness to a card.  And it ties so beautifully! 

Oh, did I mention also on this card is another Favourite - Basic Grey (Lime Rickey) DSP, and gems....see I could go on and on!   I added some beautiful piercing with an Ecstacy Template and also sponged some Navy ink onto the water to give it even greater depth. 

Be sure to stop by the Flourishes Blog to see how Leslie showcases her favourites today, and these DT members are showing their favourites too:  Julie Koerber and Laura Fredrickson. 

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Flourishes Friday Favourites

February 14 Flower

A friend of mine has asked me to make some Valentine's for some women in a Beth Moore study they are doing.  So I'm adding to the stash with this one, and today's Sketch Challenge at SCS :)

She's so cute :)  I colored this little girl with Prismacolor pencils and a blending stump.  The color gets washed out a little in the photo...it's less white on the background of the girl and there's a soft sky colored in behind the cloud.  Pulled out my sewing machine again for a little sewing.  The sentiment is from SU's Happy Heart Day. 

Here's a huge close up....

Thanks for popping in...I have tons to do today, including a very large pile of laundry.  Yesterday we did a bunch of work in the basement converted a spare bedroom into a spare bedroom/toy room, so my family room space downstairs isn't always all about toys!  I've still got a lot to do on that...but it's a big improvement. 

Recipe:  Stamps:  - MFT Pure Innocence Flower Girl, SU - Happy Heart Day;  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Soft Suede, Ruby Red;  Paper:  Ruby Red, Soft Suede Textured, Soft Suede Patterns DSP, Bella Rose DSP, Sewing Machine, Buttons, RHR Taffeta Ribbon, Bow Easy, Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Circle Punches Sponge, Prismacolor pencils.

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February 14 Flower

His Eye on the Sparrow

Well, today is a fun day because at the Our Daily Bread Designs Blog you get to spend a little Time With ...ME :)  And I'm going to show you a sneak peek of a set being released in February!

This is what I created for today and it's very much a card with a story, so read on if you like :)

There was a time about 5 and 1/2 years ago that my husband and I were on a Staff Retreat at a camp on an Island, called Keats Island off the coast of Vancouver, BC.  It's a beautiful place, you can only get there by boat, and it's right on the Pacific Ocean.  An amazing location with luscious scenery. 

For us it was a very important time, we had only a few months previous, left our jobs at another place.  They were jobs that paid the bills and kept us "secure", but the working environment was very toxic, emotionally and physically.  And we were still very bruised...I've alluded to this time in our lives before if you've been with me for a while. 

But since that time, we had been hired "Interim" at our church to work with Student Ministries:   Junior High, High School and College Age kids, and really sensed this was a renewed calling in our lives, we loved these kids we were working with.  And we were on the retreat with this staff at our church (all wonderful people).  During this retreat we had a talk with our Executive Pastor and Senior Pastor and they offered us the permanent postion to work together as Pastors of Student Ministries at the Church, so in that we were thrilled, but the offer came with a significant cut in pay from where we were at before.  So much so that we just weren't sure we could survive on it.  We just didn't know what we should or could do.  

There was one afternoon after we found this out, where my husband and I sat on the patio of the retreat center, in a big Adirondack chair looking out at the ocean, sitting under the overhang of the building.   We spent a long time there, well over an hour, talking about the job offer, talking about how on earth we could make it financially, still feeling bruised over our last job, trying to seek what God wanted us to do, was this really where we were supposed to be?  Feeling fear for our family, thinking about our 3 kids, feeling such uncertainty.  We just didn't know what to do.  We cried we prayed....and after a while I sensed something above me.  I looked up into the rafters of the building's overhang, and saw a sparrow up there, "sitting with us".  That little bird was there the whole time, and it was still.  And it stayed there the entire time we talked.  And the song just swept over me "His Eye is on the Sparrow.....and I know He watches over me"...and the verse from Matthew came into our heads and we knew that we too could say "So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:31).

We really knew in that moment that God had sent that sparrow to remind us of His truth.  We knew that God would care for us, and we knew what decision He was leading us to. It was a profound moment for us.   We accepted the positions for us, and God has abundantly taken care of us these past 5 1/2 years.  I can't imagine my life any other way.  This is where we are supposed to be.  I won't say it's always been easy, but I know for certain that He watches over us.  And we feel very blessed.

So today, if you find yourself at the end of your own rope - I would encourage you to take a step of faith toward a God who loves you and desires to show you how precious you are to Him as He takes care of you. 

So, today I'm giving this card to another young couple, just starting out in their marriage and ministry - not sure where God is leading them, feeling like they have more questions than answers, I hope it will be an encouragement to them as it was to us.

Thanks for stopping by friends!

Recipe:  Stamps:  Our Daily Bread Designs - He Watches Me;  Ink;  Memento Tuxedo Black, Rich Razzleberry ;  Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Flourishes Classic Ivory, SEI Juliette Velvet Paper, SU - Lovely Flowers DSP;  Accessories:  Big Shot, Labels 2 and 3 Nestabilities, Scallop Edge Punch, Stitched Satin Ribbon, Basic Grey 1/2 Pearls, Prismacolor Pencils, Blending Stump, Sponge, Martha Stewart Rings Corner and Border Punch, Dimensionals.

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His Eye on the Sparrow

Grace

"My chains are gone, I've been set free, my God my Saviour has ransomed me

and like a flood His mercy reigns, unending love, Amazing Grace"  - Chris Tomlin

LOVE that song.  Check out my inspiration link too:  Floral Bliss from a great site called Echo.  It's such a beautiful room. 

This design really came about because of these gorgeous papers.  I haven't used them in so long, but they're really so lovely, and the texture really adds something to the design.  I colored the Cross and dove from the Confirmation set with Copic Markers to mirror the colors in the paper, I like how the Baja blue with the deep brown of the cross. 

The Sentiment is actually just a part of Confirmation and  Baptism Verses, I took the word Grace from one of the verses and inked it with a Chocolate Chip marker in the center of the Fancy Tags die. 

Thanks for stopping by again today....see you soon!

Recipe:  Stamps: ODBD - Confirmation, Baptism and Confirmation Verses;  Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Parisian Breeze DSP, Flourishes Classic Ivory, Baja Breeze;  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Chocolate Chip;   Accessories: Copic Markers, Big Shot, Deckled Nestabilities, Lattice Borderabilities, Fancy Tags, Baja Breeze Satin Ribbon (Valet Ribbon Originals), Dimensionals, Bow Easy, Glue Dots

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Grace