Flourishes Focus.... Flower Soft!

Hi all! You've likely seen that fluffy colorful stuff called Flower Soft popping up on cardmaking blogs recently. But, have you tried it? If you haven't and needed a how-to before you dive in, then you will have to check out the Flourishes Newsletter this week as Cindy Lawrence gives us all a fabulous tutorial! Just click HERE!!


As Cindy was putting together her tutorial, she challenged the rest of the Flourishes DT to try their hand at it too! I remember when we first got this product in the store. The "Flourishes" all sent us a little to play with and in the note, one of the owners (I won't say who) warned us -- don't try this technique if you have a moving ceiling fan in the room! I got a laugh out of that -- but it's true. Flower Soft is a light and fluffy way to add texture!

So.... here's my card!

I knew I wanted to use the new Swing Set and I wanted to keep it simple. I stamped my image colored it, paper pieced it with this darling Jenni Bowlin paper and then grabbed my Flower Soft glue. At that point, I just pressed some of the Shamrock Green Flower Soft into my tree! Just a simple way to add a pop of texture and color.

Here's a close up! See the clouds in the background? I used an old template I had and just sponged in some ink. But, if you don't have a template, cut some reverse cloud shapes into a piece of text weight paper and use that as a mask!

You'll have to make the rounds to the rest of the Flourishes Senior Design Team! As you'll see with each hop, there are so many ways to use Flower Soft. You can get pretty creative with it.... or you can grab it like I did for a simple pop of texture!

Flourishes Newsletter
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller


Thanks for stopping by!

Getting In The Swing.....

Hi all! Happy Sunday!

Since the weather here in little ole Billings, Montana has been easy breezy - I thought, why not let my card be the same?? Easy and breezy!

So..... here you have it!

I used the new Swing Set from Flourishes! And, I also broke in my package of their new European Watercolor paper! This stuff is fabulous! It's amazing artist quality and so thick! You could actually make your card base out of this stuff! I stamped my images in Sepia Versafine, heat set, and then colored with watercolor markers - I actually scribbled all my colors on a plastic pallette and then picked up the color with an aquaflow brush. The background wash was created by wetting my paper first and then brushing the watered down blue maker over my background. For the ground, I actually inked my stamp with Adirondack Lettuce ink, stamp, and then go over the image with a damp water brush to soften the look.

From here... do a little paper piercing, add a scalloped edge, some ribbon and buttons and then mat it all up! I used a mix of Crate Paper, Bo Bunny and Memory Box Rhubarb Tart papers. Add the sentiment from the set off to the side of your main image. The lady's dress was paper pieced with the same Memory Box paper. And.... done!

Here's a close up! I just LOVE the watercolored effect. It's so soft looking...Well, my friends, that's it for this Sunday! I hope you are enjoying your weekend! I am! We're just having some lazy family time. Nothing better than that!

Thanks for stopping by and I will see you back here soon!

Swing Into Spring - Day 2!

Remember as a kid swinging the day away? You never seemed to get tired and the butterflies in your belly always found a way to make you giggle. If you still have those memories fresh in your mind, then do I have the perfect stamp set for you!

Introducing....

This set drawn by Lauren Pope is just full of whimsy! The sentiments in this set offer everything from an invitation for a friend, to get well wishes, to a note of encouragement, to an everyday kind of card. Really! It's that versatile!

EDITED TO ADD: here is the link to Swing Set!

For my card, I was dying to play with the new European Watercolor Paper that Flourishes is now carrying. This paper is a very strong weight which means, when you add water, it won't buckle easily and it really absorbs the color very nicely! It's a true artist quality paper.

Here's a peek at my card!
I stamped the tree from this set using Versafine Sepia. Then, using the tops of my ink pads, I colored up my image with a damp aqua painter brush(Adirondack Lettuce for the foliage and Stonewashed for the sky). The tree limbs were done with a brown Tombow marker that I scribbled on a palette and then picked up the color with my waterbrush. For the grass, I inked up my stamp with lettuce and then added the red flowers with a marker, stamped, and then went over the entire image with a watercolor brush to blend the color. The little girl was done the same way, stamp, and then pick up color with the waterbrush to paint. Just that simple!!

To make my card, I used the scalloped edge punch from Stampin' Up and then also the circle and scalloped circle punches from SU as well! Add some sheer ribbon and... done!

Make sure you swing on over to the other design team members to check out their creations!

Leslie Miller
Faith Hofrichter
Cindy Lawrence
Laura Fredrickson
Latisha Yoast
Stacy Morgan
Jan Marie Caruso
Sharon Doolittle

Be sure to check in too at the Flourishes Newsletter for your chance at winning this whimsical set! There's also all the details there for this Friday's release party! Can you say games, giveaways, and more fun samples???

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow for our final day of sneak peeks! This one will have you turning to an older Flourishes set to capture a real vintage feel! (Yes, that's your hint!)