Twice as Nice Friday!

I have another double duty challenge for you this Friday so... get ready!

First, It's amost time to unwrap the latest batch of sets from Flourishes! And, to get ready, we are issuing a challenge to you. We call it ... the Favorite Things challenge. How does it work? All you need to do is be inspired in some way by the words of the decades old Christmas favorite from the Sound of Music! Be sure to tell us which line of the music inspired your card! :-)

Here's just a snipet of the lyrics....

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When I read the lyrics, I thought immediately of the brown paper packages tied up with strings line! So, I grabbed some-- think it's kraft paper? Think again! It's actually brown paper that I bought on a roll at the beginning of the school year to cover my son's books! Because it was on a roll, I had to really use a lot of tape to make sure that my edges didn't curl or buckle.

I stamped the evergreen tree from Flourishes' Forest of Trees set using Olive green Vivid! ink. I added some Crystal Stickles and then, masked off the bottom of my tree and sponged on some white ink. I also used a small dot stamp to create my "snow" around my tree. Add a sentiment from the Holiday Greetings set and mat it on a lovely tag from the Spellbinders Fancy Tags die set and you're almost done! I had to add the string! So, I picked up some May Arts Burlap string. Add some bling and mat it up and you're good to go! For all the official details... visit the Flourishes Newsletter! If yours is the lucky name drawn, you could win all FIVE of the new sets that are soon to be released! Be sure to check out these fine Flourishes Designers!

Cindy Lawrence
Christine Okken
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Stacy Morgan
Leslie Miller

Now... the second challenge? Well, Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge this week is to... THINK THRIFTY! She loves the simple and natural look of brown postal wrap (kind of like I used!) or brown grocery sacks. So... she challenged us to use these things in our cards! It's a fun and inexpensive way to get creative! If you play, be sure to check out the official challenge rules HERE over at Sharon's place. If you upload to Splitcoast, don't forget the keyword ssnotime112. And, don't forget to hop on over and see the rest of the Stamp Simply gals!

Bethany, November Guest Designer
Janine
AJ
Tammy
Deb
Barbara
Jenny
Barb Schram

Thanks for stopping by everyone! Hope you have a fabulous weekend!