Let the Colors of your Flag Show!

Hi all and welcome to another Flourishes Release Week Challenge! It's a time when Flourishes rolls out the red carpet to try to get a spark of excitement going for its new releases! Play along and you could win Flourishes entire June Release! So, let's see what the challenge is....

HOW TO PLAY: As we get ready to honor the independence of the good ole U.S.A, let's see your patroitism shine! Use red, white and blue if you hail from the United States. If you live in other parts of the world, turn to your nation's flag for inspiration! Use your country's color combo and you’ll be in the running to win the entire new release bundle! Use the keyword FLLCJUNE11 if you upload to Splitcoaststampers.com. You have until next Friday, June 10th at 5 PM EST to enter. The winner will be announced Saturday on the Flourishes Blog! Just click HERE for all the contest rules!

On to my creation! Every year at this time, I *have* to reach for Flourishes' Patriotism on Parade set -- I just love the darling kid images in this set and love the homespun charm this set has. So, my card is pretty predictable!

I used some fun patterned paper that I had in my stash, added a punched border, some gingham ribbon, a matching button and then matted up my stamped image that I had stamped on Flourishes Classic White and colored with Copic Markers. I only needed a few markers because the colored portions of this image are so small -- no real need to layer color! I used R27, R29, B41, B000, B0000, and then some of the Flesh Tones to color skin and hair. The shading on the bottom was done with the Tonal Neutrals. And that, my friends, is it! Easy Peasy!

Here's a closeup of those cute little kiddos!


Need a little inspiration to get those creative juices flowing? Just check out the fabulous creations from our senior design team!

Barbara Anders
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

Thanks everyone for stopping by! I can't wait to see what you create, and can't wait to show you all the fun new stamps Flourishes is about to reveal! See you back here soon!

Stars and Stripes Forever!

Hooray for the red, white and blue! Hope my American friends have plans of kicking back, relaxing and enjoying some fireworks! We have plans all weekend to do just that!

Since we are getting on the road and Blogger has been unkind when it comes to scheduling posts - I thought I'd give you all a sneak peek at Sharon's Stamp Simply Challenge!

Here it is! ssnotime94 - In honor of the 4th of July Sharon thought today it would be fun to incorporate stars and stripes into our work. Making a patriotic card is totally okay, but you don't have to make your card patriotic. As long as you have some stars and stripes somewhere in your creation, we will call you good to go! Later tonight, you can check out her official post HERE and see the list of ladies playing!

So... here is my creation!

I used the Patriotism on Parade set from Flourishes. It appears to be temporarily out of stock but if you like what you see and want to purchase this set - just email flourishesllccustomerservice@cox.net and I am sure they can help you out. I wanted to add that because proceeds of this set are going to help the Wounded Warrior Project -- an amazing cause -- so -- we need all the help we can get to help these soldiers out! We also have a VERY cool promotion surrounding this set and you can read all about it HERE! There are some nice prizes on the line!!!!

Back to the card! To make my "stripes" I simply cut up some strips of decorative paper, tacked them down and let my sewing machine "drive" to create some wavy lines. After stamping my image with permanent black ink onto my Classic White (the best paper for Copics EVER), the images were colored with Copics and featured the Delphinium, Poppy, Skin Tones 1, plus the Cool Neutrals for shading. The sentiment flag below my image is also a sentiment in the Patriotism on Parade set. Wham bam,colored, mounted with some pretty paper and some fun ribbon I got at Hobby Lobby to give my creation some starts and.... done!

Here's a close up!Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a fabulous week! Make time for play time and join us in the Stamp Simply challenge!

Tomorrow, you'll have to check out the Flourishes Newsletter for details on the By The Sea challenge! It's one way you can whip up a card for a chance at winning all of Flourishes' releases for July!!!

See you back here soon!

Hot Summer Sets -- Grand Finale - plus a challenge!

Hi all! I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the summer fun that's being cooked up by Flourishes! Today.... is the grand finale complete with fireworks!! Keep reading too because this set we are unveiling today is on a mission - one that we sincerely hope you will help us with!


Introducing......

For my project today, I combined the Stamp Simply challenge (ssnotime91) with my sneak peek! The challenge? Half circles! All you needed to do was create a project with a half circle as a part of the layout! You can stop by Sharon's place for all the official details HERE! And, you'll have to check and see what the other Stamp Simply gals cooked up! Sabrina, June Guest Designer, Janine, Jennifer, AJ, Becky, Tammy, and Deb.

Well, if you saw the Patriotism On Parade set - you'd know, a half circle is pretty easy to pull off!

So, off I went making "firecrackers!"...
I have to start by saying - this wasn't my idea! I picked it up in the June/July issue of Family Fun magazine. See?

Basically, you cover lifesavers with decorative paper and add the "sparkle" thanks to that metallic packing material that people put in gift baskets and bags. You twist some wire around it and then insert it into the center of the lifesaver! Easy peasy!

I knew right away that I wanted to make my half circle the bunting stamp from this new set. I stamped it, and colored it with Copic Markers (R27, R29, E33, and B29.) Then, I started to work on my box. I made it 5" by 9" and scored at the 2", 4", 6" and 8" mark so that I had a 2" square box with a 1" flap to secure my box. I also scored an 1-1/2" from the bottom to cut and create my flaps to secure the bottom. The rest is just decking out with decorative paper (the Paper Studio) and I did add some ribbon (Hobby Lobby) and bling.

I also added a little message on one of my firecrackers!

Now to the touching part about this set! This story is a bit long - so I hope you stick with me!! When this set was first crafted,one of the things Flourishes really, really wanted to do was use a portion of the proceeds to benefit a military cause of some sort. After digging into the issue,we found a great cause!



Friday night when this set is released - part of the proceeds will go to benefit The Wounded Warrior Project. Here's a little history about this non-profit...

"The Wounded Warrior Project began when several individuals took small, inspired actions to help others in need.One night while watching the evening news, a group of veterans and brothers were moved by the difficult stories of the first wounded service members returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq. They realized then and there that something needed to be done for these brave individuals beyond the brass bands and ticker tape parades. The resulting objective was to provide tangible support for the severely wounded and help them on the road to healing, both physically and mentally. What had been initially viewed as a small contribution (compared with what the warriors had sacrificed while serving our country) has become WWP's signature program:WWP backpacks delivered bedside to wounded warriors."

As I went through their website, I was amazed, absolutely amazed at the wide ranging programs this organization initiated. They have training programs to help wounded soldiers transition into the workforce. They have caregiver training focusing on PTSD. They have support groups and rehabilitative retreats that they fund. I started to cry when I saw all the good this organization does.

Having deep ties to our country's military, Flourishes wanted to be a part of the solution. We are proudly donating a portion of the proceeds of our brand new Patriotism on Parade set to the Wounded Warrior Project. We believe in the work they do and we can't wait to support this group's amazing efforts.

Before you go - please stop by and see what our Design Team crafted in honor of this special set!

Leslie Miller
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Julie Koerber
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Stacy Morgan

Do you want to win this set? Simply leave us a comment over on the Flourishes Newsletter -- the winner will be announced first thing tomorrow morning! Speaking of winning sets... did you check out our Easy Breezy challenge HERE? All you need to do is create a ten minute card and link it on THIS post by 5 PM Eastern tonight and -- you're in the running for the drawing for all three of our new release sets! We'll announce the winner during our Release Party!

FYI: Before I go-- don't forget the Flourishes Power Hour! It's our fast paced summer release party over at the Flourishes Forum on Splitcoast! We know you all love to be outside and have more family commitments - but we don't want you to miss out on the fun! So join us for an hour of reveals, games, chat and fun! The party starts at 9 PM Central TONIGHT!


Thanks for sticking with me and thanks so much for stopping by! See you back here soon!

Let's hear it for the red, white and blue!

Hi all! The Impression Obsession gals have a bi-monthly challenge that they like to usher in and this time, it's all about patriotism! It's a color challenge using red,white and blue!

I scoured my IO stamps and came up with some star spangled fun!

The bottom panel was stamped with the Star Spangled Text. The stars are paisley stars in two sizes. THIS is the larger one and THIS is the smaller one. The rest is simply layering some dp. I actually used scraps and accented some of the pieces with a silver leafing pen. I added some silver cording and punched a couple stars out of silver mirror paper to add a little more pizazz. The tag was made using a small oval punch and THIS fun Celebrate! sentiment.

Now...be sure to hop on over to see what the other IO gals cooked up!

Daniela Dobson
Deborah March
Dina Kowal
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp ---- our new DT member!! :-)
Kelli Richardson
Laura Fulcher

Shirley Ross --- she has blog candy too!

Hope you are all having a great week! See you back here tomorrow for another Stamp Simply challenge!

Proud to be....

For my American friends - you don't need me to tell you it's the day most of us have been waiting to be over. Won't you be glad when the airwaves are silent and no one is shouting at us about the "other guy?" I hate to wish a day away but I also hate the bitterness and animosity that has been brewing for the last 18 plus months. I just pray we heal and move on and work to solve some of the grave problems we face in this country. In the meantime... get out and vote!

So, on this election day, I bring you an old to me, new to my blog card! I made it last summer for the Paper Craft Gallery Idol competition but realized, it's never been posted here! I think it's kind of appropriate today -- don't you think?

The small star is a stamp from Impression Obsession, the larger stars are actually die cuts that my friend Phyl cut out for me with her handy dandy Cricut! The little saying was from a Studio G set that my bud Janine gave me. papers are unknown! Can't remember -- it was too long ago! LOL!

Before I go... Have you all heard of... It's an online community created by paper crafters FOR paper crafters! Membership has exploded the last few days and more are joining every hour! There are discussion groups, places to upload cards and there is even a group for Flourishes (one of my fave stamping companies). Click HERE to join and while you're there, check out the Flourishes page!

That's it for now my friends! Until tomorrow!