Monday, March 18, 2013

Happy BD - You Dig Me?



Feel like something cheerful today?  TSG's Challenge this week is Anything Goes!  Well, I kind of like  all that wide open space, so I played along.  As I hadn't used these cutie gnome themed stamps from My Little Friend in a long while, so it was time to bust them out again and make some spring on paper.  I went a little kooky on my colors to match with this DP from MME - Remarkable.   Very fun :)


I have 4, yes count them four different patterns going on here, but the blue and yellow sheets sort of read like a plain colour, so I think it's ok.  Coloring with Copics for that vibrant touch....and check out the inside, it will make you smirk :)


Mr. Bossypants Gnome wants to make sure its a good birthday!

That's all for today!  

Copics:  BG0000, BG10, BG11, BG13, BG18, BG53, BG57
Y15, Y35, Y38
R29, R39, R59
E43, E44, E47
G40, G43, G46

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Pitcher of Tulips

I have a few more cards to show you this week from our March Release at Flourishes...I think that would probably be ok with you right? :)


Oh there's not much prettier than a bouquet of tulips!  I love the variety of color they come in and what the colors and the greens look like together.  It's so full of spring!  Which we're going to be in short supply of this March.  It snowed another 12 inches this past week..blech.  We're a long way from feeling like spring here.  

I stamped the pretty Tulips for Friends onto Flourishes Classic Ivory Cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black, die cutting the image out with the Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Classic Window Die;  framing it out with some Flourishes Classic Black Cardstock.

The Designer paper is MME Unforgettable, which I also paper pieced on the pitcher.  I've added some embossing on the ivory layer, some wooden buttons tied with twine and a wee bit of seam binding, and ivory crochet lace to edge it out.







Above is a list of the Copics I used.  

Thanks for dropping by, and I hope Spring is finding your neck of the woods this week!

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Photography 52 - 11


Basketball City Champs!  Woo Hoo!  My husband coached our oldest son's JH BB team to a City Gold Medal!  Great game, great season, great guys :)  Sorry for the shiny background - they were too closet to the wall and I should have had my flash pointed more upward.  


Two of our son's youth leader volunteers came to watch the finals.  Wonderful guys that we're so blessed to have in our kids' lives.  These young men are really special to us.  



Crazy hair day dreads - It was crazy hair day on Friday for our youngest son.  He chose to wear a Jamaican Dreads hat we picked up somewhere along the line in youth ministry.  It's always good to have props :) He's so cute isn't he?  Ya-mahn.  



Saturday morning breakfast.  Yum, heart shaped waffles with chocolate chips (of course!) and warm berries.  Delish.  

Friday, March 15, 2013

Love Friendship Loyalty


I had this set Irish Blessings out for the past little while wanting to use it before St. Patrick's Day, and I realized if I don't do it soon....March 17th will be over!  Wow, where has this month gone!  I just LOVE this bouquet of oxalis tied together in a bundle.   My husband asked me the other day why I don't use more burgundy in my cards (he obviously likes that colour), so I added it in as accent (just cause I love him :) )  and I love how it makes the green look so rich.  The bundle is stamped on Flourishes Classic White with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Copics.  I trimmed the bundle out with a tiny white border.  The white is a gorgeous new die from Spellbinders - A2 Locking Loops.  I thought it had that celtic feel to it.  



I added the vining elements from the set onto Flourishes Color Made Easy Pistachio cardstock with Memento Bamboo Leaves ink, and then a little bit of wrinkled burgundy ribbon woven through the open loops of the die, with a little accent of white pearls.  Sometimes simple cards have the most visual impact don't you think?

Hope you enjoy your Saturday, thank you for stopping over and blessing mine!  

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Forget Me Not Notes


Welcome to our last day of March Sneak Peeks at Flourishes!  Today's set, Forget-Me-Not Notes is a beauty!  Dainty, sweet and meaningful.  It's perfect for journals, cards, special stationary...making that sweet little Forget-Me-Not flower shine.  

I have a couple of projects to show you today so it's a longer post with lots of pictures.  



I began with a pretty card focussing on this lovely forget me not bouquet.  I used the same colours that are in our Pre-Release Challenge this month because they work so perfectly with these little blooms.  I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Flourishes Classic White card stock, and then  coloured up the blooms with some copics.  


I love the windowed design, I've been very fond of it lately, so I overlayed an embossed layer of True Blue Cardstock that I had clear embossed the smaller corner blossoms on.  Then a little sunflower seam binding bow to match the bow in the image, and some pretty white crochet lace and gems.  


Now this next project is more sentimental than it is polished, but I love it :)


This is a special journal I've made for our family.  At the Church where my husband and I work as Youth Pastors, we are blessed to be in an environment where after 7 years on staff you earn a sabbatical, four months of time off, plus you can add your vacation in there too.  Due to some scheduling we had to wait till our 8th year, but we've finally arrived at our sabbatical time.  We're so excited, and it means a lot to us.  Youth ministry is a very intense pace of life, while also trying to raise 3 kids of your own, two of which are teens, so we really want to treasure this time.  I made this special journal for us as a family to recount our sabbatical together.  Some of you might have heard of Ann Vosskamp who wrote the book 1000 Gifts.  In it she talks about how choosing to count 1000 things she was grateful for changed her life, and has changed her relationship with God and her world.  This is that sort of journal.  Ann Vosskamp has a list of items to look for gratitude in each day  - for instance today March 15th is "3 gifts given away", and as you look for them in your life, and name them you see how MUCH you have to be grateful for.  

I made 3 sections in the journal.  The first will be for listing our gratitude items, the second will be for a trip we're taking with the kids in a few weeks, and the third for our summer vacation plans with them too.  All special times I want us to recount as a family and be grateful for.  



So I love all the pieces that this set provides to make a journal perfectly like this one.  I want us to see God's hand in the great to the small, and be grateful.  




It's simple and useful, but perfect for what we're going to need it for, so I thought I'd share it with you.  


You can get all three new sets now — just click HERE to see them in the store! Or… would you like to try to win today’s set? Just leave some love in the form of a comment on all of our designers’ blogs and try to guess….
Mystery Blogger Graphic


We don’t know which one is the mystery blogger and which one will draw a name from their posts to win this beautiful new set!Before we get to the link list, there is another new item to the store -- Silhouette and Cut files for our brand new set called Tulips for Friends! Just click HERE to see the SVG version and click HERE for the Silhouette Studio file! We just love the perfect cuts and mats you can create, just with one simple cut and your electric cutting machine! Fun stuff! Do you want to see what gorgeous creations our designers created with our new Forget-Me-Not Notes set? Hop on over and see….
 

DO YOU WANT TO WIN FLOURISHES’ MARCH RELEASE?

If you want a chance to win all three soon-to-be released sets, you can always play in the Colorful Creations Challenge! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY FOR ENTRIES — YOU HAVE UNTIL 5 PM EST!! There will be multiple winners here! OR, play along with the gals for this week’s Timeless Tuesday Challenge! Check out the links for the official rules! If you can’t wait — don’t forget about our New Release Bundle a special that gives you 10% off when you purchase all three together in a bundle HERE.

We’ll see you back at the Flourishes Blog tomorrow as we dip into our lucky hat and draw some winners’ names! See you back here tomorrow at noon for our WINNER’S CIRCLE POST! 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Leap and Soar

It's on to day 2 of Flourishes Release Week Sneaks!  Today, we have the end of a fabulously popular collection that is designed to give the inside and outside of your cards an endless supply of mix and match sentiments!
Inside&OutCongratsGraphic

Give the inside and outside of your cards a bit of pizzazz with these mix and match sentiments that are perfect for those 'Atta Boy' cards of congratulations! These fun scripted and print words are designed to be used together or apart on the inside or outside of your creations!

I really had so much fun with this set.  When I saw the longer secondary sentiment an idea popped in my head and here's where it went....


So unusually CAS for me, but I really love how it turned out!  I began by stamping congrats from this awesome set with Summer Sky Memento Ink onto Flourishes Classic White cardstock.  Then I curved the longer sentiment on my clear block and stamped it in Memento Love Letter ink.  Then I formed some clouds as a mask and used my ink blending tool to softly sponge in the cloudy sky with Summer Sky ink.  Then I just folded a mini paper airplane out of computer paper so it was light and easily foldable and added it to the card.  The background cardstocks are Color Made Easy - Poppy and Color Made Easy - True Blue.


If you like what you see on the designers' blogs, you can pre-order this set HERE now! You could also find it HERE as a part of our New Release Bundle for March (you save 10% when you purchase as a bundle!) All three of our new sets will be unveiled on Friday. So.... stay tuned! Would you like to win this set? All you need to do is leave some love in the form of a comment on the blogs below! Why?


You need to try to figure out who is the Mystery Blogger!  One of the ladies on our link list below will be picking a name from the comments on her blog post today. We don’t know which one it is… so the more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances you have to win! Before we get to the link list of talented ladies, we did have some fun and inspirational news for you!!! If you've ever struggled to come up with card concepts while creating, have we got a deal for YOU! As you know, earlier this year we released our 2013 Catalog that is chocked full of samples, tutorials and of course, photos of all of our stamp sets! Well, because our catalogs are packed with creative inspiration, we decided to package our 2012, our Christmas and our new 2013 as a bundle at a special price!

catalogbundle
When you put all three catalogs together, you have more than 150 samples to gaze at plus 12 full color, step-by-step tutorials. All this for just $20! Get your Catalog Bundle HERE!

Ready to see what our ever-so-talented design team whipped up with our newest Inside and Out set? Just head on over and see.....

THE CLOCK IS TICKING TO WIN OUR MARCH RELEASE!

If you want a chance to win all three of our brand new sets, you can still play in our Colorful Creations Challenge – there will be a trio of winners here! BUT, you have to act fast — the deadline to enter is 5PM EST Friday, March 15th! You can also play in this week’s Timeless Tuesday Challenge and win as well. Just click on the links for the official rules! Coming up tomorrow — we’ll share a brand new fanciful and floral set that is bound to help share bouquets of gratitude! See you back here then!