Out To Impress: October 2012

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fall Into Friday!

Hello all! The Flourishes Design Team is feeling a bit "earthy" this week and decided as a team to all show off a Flourishes oldie but goody stamp set to create with! Forest of Trees has been on the all time favorite list for a while now and we are sure you'll agree once you see what my fellow designers did today with this gorgeous set! If you have't seen this set before.... here's a peek!

So pretty, don't you think? This set makes terrific "guy" cards too! On to my creation! I knew that whatever I did using this set, I wanted to make it clean and simple. And, I have no idea where this idea came from but I just started masking and grabbing inks. Before I knew it I ended up with this....

After deciding on a long and lean creation (one that would fit in a business sized envelope), I cut a piece of card stock to measure 1-1/2" and used that to trace a square on Flourishes Classic White. I used the square as a guide for masking and then lined up Post-It Notes along the trace lines. I grabbed some sponges and 4 different colors of Memento Ink and that's where the fun began! I used Lulu Lavendar, Moroccan Orange, Pear Tart mixed with Bamboo Leaves and Summer Sky. After the ink was sponged, I took some Versafine Onyx and stamped four different trees in different orientations on the squares while the masks were still on. The rest is just matting it all up! I used black card stock and some paper from Authentique called Gathering. Add a sentiment from the Life Lines Stamp set, some paper piercing, some ribbon and some bling and... ta da! Finished!

Here's a close up so you can see the trees a little better!

And, here's the sentiment!

Now, you'll have to head on over to my fellow Flourishes' designers to take a gander at their Mother Nature inspired creativity!

Before you go.... I do have one more bit of FUN NEWS to share!

Are you ready to take a gamble? Starting today, Flourishes will be hosting a progressive sale called our Gambler’s Sale! We’ll start the sale at 10% off all items on our SALE page and then, each Friday afterward, we will drop prices another 5% until all the items are going, going, GONE! Quantities are limited – so take a gamble and see how low these prices will go and risk losing the sale or buy them before they get snatched up! There will be no back orders on any of the products facing retirement. So, get these items before they are gone for good! Since we have to make room on our shelves for new products, this sale is bound to be good! Click HERE to take a peek at our sale pages!

Thanks for stopping by everyone! Have a fabulous weekend. I hope it's one filled with fun and creativity!

SUPPLIES USED:

InLinkz.com

Thursday, October 18, 2012

It's a Free for All!

Hi all! Just as in release week’s past — the week after release the Flourishes' design team hosts a free for all — where they pick up their favorite sets of the release and play with any or all! So, get ready for a feast for the eyes today! And, TODAY is the very last day to take advantage of the October New Release Bundle — when you can get all five sets for 10% off the retail price. Just click HERE to see the bundle in the store!

On to my creation!

For my card, I knew I wanted to take that darling apron from the Fresh Baked set and do a little paper piecing. So, I grabbed the oldie but goodie paper called Olivia and stamped a few times on coordinating papers. I should say, before I did this, I actually used my Silhouette Cameo and the Fresh Baked Silhouette Cut file and cut out my image first. And then, stamped the apron and wooden spoon on Flourishes Classic White using Rich Cocoa ink. Then.... I let the paper piecing fun begin!The little wooden spoon was colored up with Copic markers (see the supplies list below to see the collections I used). From there, I used a Spellbinders Classic Circles Lg die, a Blossoms die and then started the fun by matting it all up. While the dies were still on the shape of paper, I did sponge on some Spun Sugar ink. Add some fun seam binding ribbon, some stitching, lace and .... ta da! All done!

Here's a close up of that fun apron!

And then, on the inside, I stamped another image from the set using Spun Sugar ink just for funsies!

And that, my friends is it! Just a fun and easy creation to send to a friend. I figure this would be a good congratulations card -- with that sentiment "How Sweet It Is!", a good card to attach to some baked goodies -- the sky is the limit!

Now be sure to hop on over and see what the design team has in store!

That's it from me this Friday. I hope you have fun plans for the weekend! Mine includes some girl time, some kid time, some time watching my DS play football and then... some time to kick my feet up. What could be better? Hope life treats you well this weekend in your neck of the woods! :-)

SUPPLIES USED:

InLinkz.com

Have a bewitching Halloween!

Hi all and happy Thursday! Today, I have a sweet treat for you -- because the Impression Obsession Design Team is ushering in a little Halloween Challenge to get you in the mood for the 'night of fright!'! All you need to do is grab your IO stamps and have some Halloween fun! Want more info on the challenge? Just head on over to the IO Blog HERE for more!

On to my creation! For starters, I have to say that my layout this week was influenced by this week's Mojo Monday! You can check out the fabulous sketch HERE.

I just love the little kitty and pumpkin that I used for my main image! It's called Cat in the Jack and is one of those cute images by Gary Robertson! I love the name too! I stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and then colored it up with Copic Markers and used these markers - YR09, YR04, YR01, C00, C03, C05, Y38. I also shaded around the one side of the pumpkin with those grey shades as well. And... one of the funnest things? I added glitter to the inside of the pumpkin to make it sparkle and shine! See?

I also added a couple little extras - I don't know if you can see it but in real life - but I used Orange Vivid ink and stamped the Cover-A-Card Thick Chevron as a background on the orange piece of paper. I used on the bottom.

I also used the sentiment called Boo Eyes. on the little shape above my pumpkin and added some white gel pen and sparkle to the "O"s. Fun stuff! Mat it all up using a mix of decorative paper (Bo Bunny, The Paper Studio and Crate Paper), a little zig-zag stitching, a few different ribbons and a little bit of bling and.... done!

Here's a close up of the fun sentiment!

And that, my friends, is it! Want to see what the rest of the Impression Obsession gals did to serve up some bewitching creativity? Just head on over and see.......

Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Jeanne Streiff
Julie Koerber ---- you are here!
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you join us by creating and scaring up some Halloween fun! Remember, if you play along - there's a $25 gift certificate to the IO store on the line! Fun stuff! I'll see you back here soon with some more card making fun! Have a fabulous day!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Flourishes October Release is HERE!

Hi all! We hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s peeks and we are excited to say that all of the stamp sets that we’ve been showing off this week are in the Flourishes Store HERE! And, instead of calling this last set a "peek" let's just show it to you in its full glory!

Introducing.... SENTIMENTAL FAVORITES!

For a little while now, Flourishes has gotten requests to bring back an all occasion stamp set that can fit the bill for a variety of different kinds of cards. And that's what Sentimental Favorites is all about! From Happy Birthday and Thank You creations to sympathy cards and notes of Congrats, this set has all the sentiments you need packed in a 4" by 6" set. It will, no doubt, be a "go to" with all those beautifully scripted words!

On to my creation!

Since this is a sentiment set, I reached for an oldie but goodie for my card. I have to say, I kind of cheated with this card! :-) Since I stamp with my mom a lot - instead of dragging my stamp room with me to her house, I often stamp off a handful of images, she brews the coffee and we color! So, this is an image I literally colored up probably 6 months ago and then grabbed when I saw this sentiment set. I mean... what's more "happy" than a window box full of tulips in bloom? I thought it was perfect.

I stamped my image on Flourishes Classic White card stock using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. And then, I grabbed my Copic markers to color it all up (see my Supplies Used list to see the color combos I used). I thought the My Mind's Eye Fiddlesticks Wood Grain paper was just perfect for this image. Mat it all up thanks to the Spellbinders Beaded Squares die, a pennant sentiment using the new Sentimental Favorites set and you're almost done! I added a cotton linen ribbon bow and colored up a little bling with a pink Copic marker to match and... done! Oh yes... I did sand the embossed die shape and then added some stitching to the outside of my card front.

Here's a close up! You can see I did add some glitter glue to the flowers to bring a little sparkle!

And that, my friends, is it! Would you like to win the new Sentimental Favorites stamp set? All you need to do is guess….

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! So what are you waiting for? Head on over and see…..

Some fun news and a few reminders!

Don’t forget, you have a chance to win Flourishes' entire October Release! Have you checked out the Think Pink Challenge? Just click HERE to find out how to play! Play along in this week’s Timeless Tuesday challenge! You can also play in the Noon Time Challenges, which kicked off yesterday with the Inside and Out Challenge. And, the Go Natural Challenge too! All challenges will close this Friday at 5 PM EST and winners will be announced Saturday in our Winner’s Circle blog post! So get those fingers inky and good luck!

Have you checked out our New Release Bundle? It gives you 10% off all our new sets when you purchase it in the bundle!

And... another exciting bit of news! Three out of the five sets released have a Silhouette Cameo cut file available as well. AND, for those folks who asked for SVG files so that they could also use our cut files in other digital cutting machines, Flourishes now has cut files available in an SVG format as well! Just click HERE to visit these files in the Flourishes store!

And FINALLY.... have you missed Flourishes' FREE SHIPPING with all domestic orders over $75 program? Well, they are bringing it back... just for YOU! That's right! Now, any order you place over $75 (excluding our 40 packs of Classic card stock or clear boxes), will include free shipping! That's one heck of a deal!That's enough news and excitement for one post. If you want to see all the new sets in their full glory -- just click HERE to visit the Flourishes store! I hope you have had a blast seeing all the new goodies this week. I'll be back with more creativity soon! :-)