Climbing Rose - IO Challenge!

Hi all! Hope life is treating you all well! We actually had a nice day that turned into a big thunderstorm! Do you ever sit on your front porch just to hear those thunder bumpers go by? I love it. Don't know why.. but I love it!
My kiddos were jumping around saying.. "God got another strike!!" Followed by "God rocks at bowling!" Just made me chuckle!

I digress! Today's post is all about an Impression Obsession DT challenge! This one was a ton of fun to do! You couldn't use any kind of decorative paper at all on your card.......

Gosh, with gorgeous images like that -- who needs decorative paper! I used two stamps here -- Climbing Rose and Heart Scroll Border! The rose was stamped with Versamark ink onto kraft card stock and embossed with black detail embossing powder. The Heart Scroll was stamped with Dazzle Versamark in Champagne. I love that stuff! It just lets off the most delicate glimmer while still keeping that watermark look. After I embossed the rose, I colored it by picking up marker (Tombow) that I scribbled on a plastic palette with a waterbrush and then painting my rose and leaves. (Marker colors are... Persimmon, Crimson and Avacado with a bit of sand on the tag) Here's a close up!

After that, mat it up, add a decorative border punch (Martha Stewart), use a ticket corner punch (SU), some self stick gold pearls (Mark Richards) and some fabulous ribbon and... bam! Done!

Now make sure you make the rounds and see what the other IO gals cooked up! I am sure you won't be disappointed! ;-)

Daniela Dobson
Deborah March
Dina Kowal
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Laura Fulcher
Shirley Ross

Kelli Richardson

Until tomorrow!

Swinging the day away!

Hi all! How are things in your neck of the woods? Here it is a bit colder than the norm (not cold but not really warm either) and a little too rainy for my liking! One of my friends who lives in another part of the country asked... "Are you getting webbed feet yet?" and... I thought -- just might be! :-)

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine who is a SU demonstrator (Sheila Barthel) taught a class where you made ten cards in one fell swoop - two each of five designs -- great class!

Well, I was flipping through my cards and realized that I never posted them here!

Isn't this just a cute design? Thanks Sheila! I just think it's a great all occassion card-- one that could have really any kind of sentiment stamped on the inside! Obviously all products were Stampin Up. The set is called Branch Out. I love this set - it's the one that has all the elements that you can add to the tree! I think what I like the most is the little pop of black too.
That's it folks! Hope you're having a great week! See you back here soon!

Mod Topiaries!

Hi all! Hope you are having a great start to your week! I got a little something to show and tell today that I think is kind of fun! Quick post for a quick to create card!

When I first saw this image from Impression Obsession, I immediately thought Christmas - Christmas topiaries, Christmas stars-- you know-- it should be done up in green and red! Then, I said - Nope! Not going to do it! I chose pink and green and decided there's no reason why this cute image called Mini Topiaries needs to be Christmas at all!

This card was really easy peasy! I stamped the image using Memories Tuxedo Black and then colored the pots and greenery with watercolor pencils and blended with a blender pen. The Pink portions of the "trees" were actually paper pieced using the decorative paper from the same Stampin' Up decorative paper pack (all paper except for base and main image are from Raspberry Tart, white is Whisper White from SU). Paper pierce the edge, add some grosgrain ribbon and some bling and you are done! Like I said -- easy peasy -- and cute!

Happy Tuesday everyone! See you all back here soon!

Sneaks Are Over!

All good things must come to an end and such is the case for the Hot Summer Sneak Peeks from Flourishes. But... the good news is... now the stamp sets are in the store and you can see them in their full glory!!



Waterlilies

Lemons

Patriotism on Parade

If you missed the announcement about the Patriotism on Parade and Flourishes effort to make a difference in the lives of wounded soldiers, you'll want to read HERE! It's pretty special!

Before I go, I wanted to show you one more sample with one of the new sets! This one is an easy peasy lemon squeezy kind of card!

All it takes is some decorative paper (Bo Bunny), some paper piercing, a large oval punch (SU), some fun yellow gingham ribbon, a button and some watercolor paper and you're pretty much there! I stamped my lemon image with Hybrid Pallete Noir ink and then colored with Cantaloupe and Dandelion Memento ink pads and Bamboo Sprout (Memento) and Vintage Green (Vivid) ink pads with a water brush. Make a watercolor wash out of Stonewashed Adirondack and that's pretty much it! The dots were added with a fine tip permanent black marker and my paper piercing template (from SU). Add the button and.... voila!

Hope you enjoyed the peeks this week and that you love the sets as much as we do!

Thanks for stopping by! 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!

Hot Summer Sets-- Day 2!

Hi all! Ready for day two of some hot summer sets courtesy of Flourishes? We sure are! In fact, we can't wait to share them! This next set (drawn by the ever-so-talented Marcella Hawley) that we are sneaking will hopefully have you puckering up with joy!

Introducing....

Well, when I first saw this set - I thought -- WOW!!!!! You can make this a lemon OR a lime! How fun is that? I turned to the lime when I saw these candies at our local old fashioned candy shop....

They are Key Lime flavored hard candies and they are GOOD! In fact, they are my hubby's favorite. I think, in part, because it reminds him of the time we had a getaway just him and I down to Key West. It was a great trip - sun, fun, snorkeling, Key Lime pie ..... ah.... I digress!

Edited To Add: A few of you have emailed me asking -- Who makes these candies? Where can I try them? Well, I investigated a bit. The Peerless Confection Company made them and turns out - they went out of business a year ago!!! Guess these candies weren't the most fresh - but they were good! They had been in business since 1924 and just found that folks didn't want hard candy any more! How sad!

I knew I wanted to make a project out of these little sweeties!

I started with a "box" that I made out of a 10" by 7" piece of paper. I scored it at the 1", 2", 5.5", 6.5" and 9" marks off the long side of the paper. then, I scored 1" from both the bottom and top. I also cut off some of the flaps so that it looked like this!

After that - I cut out the center part of the front part of my box so that it looked like this.... I wasn't too careful because I knew it would be covered up! I also added a piece of clear card stock behind my "window"From here, cut out some curved rectangle shapes from some decorative and white paper so that you have this.....
You can see, I stamped my "lemon/lime" image onto some European Watercolor paper and colored it up. Then, I cut it out and accented my box with it. Add a sentiment, some apple green polka dot sheer ribbon for a handle, some fun little buttons and you are almost done! The only thing left is to add your candy and secure the top flaps with THESE little beauties! It's a magnetic snap from Basic Grey. I love these thingies!

Here's a close up of my "lime".....

My hubby is trying to read this over my shoulder and I am hoping to keep this a secret til he leaves tomorrow for work (hoping to slip these treats into his briefcase!)

Be sure to stop by the rest of the Flourishes DT! They have some amazing projects to share - you won't want to miss them!

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

Please check out the Flourishes Newsletter for all the details on our daily giveaway (you could win this set), our Power Hour Release Party and your last chance to win all three of our new release sets that will make their way into the Flourishes store this Friday!

Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow, we'll tell you about a project Flourishes is working on that is sure to tug on your heartstrings! We are so excited to share this news. So.... stay tuned!

Hot Summer Sets From Flourishes!

What I love about summer is that peaceful easy feeling that it truly ushers in. Kicking back and watching sunsets, cook outs with friends and neighbors and just taking in the beauty around you!

Well, as Flourishes gets ready to reveal their newest hot summer sets, the Design Team is teasing you with a few sneak peeks!

Today we introduce you to......

If you don't have a watergarden, I bet you know someone who does! This set, drawn by the talented artist Marcella Hawley, truly captures the beauty and serenity of a water pond full of gorgeous waterlillies and Koi. And, when I first laid eyes on this set, I knew that I wanted to pull out my European Watercolor Paper and my brush... and get to painting!

I stamped the lilly pads one by one masking each new pad I added. Almost all of the inks I used were Adirondack (Lettuce and Meadow for the lily pads, Terra Cotta for the fish and Stream for the water. The lily was colored with Tea Rose Vivid) After I stamped, I went to town with my water brush, blending the existing ink and adding more color when I had to. I really made my "water" background wet so that I could pick up some of the color with a paper towel. I wanted a real splotchy look to make it appear more like peaceful waves of water. I stamped the flower, cut it out and then popped it up with foam tape. The rest, is just layering and matting! The edge punch is from Fiskars, the dark turquoise paper is Kaleidascope and the green mat is just from Hobby Lobby.

While we can't show you the set until it's Friday night release, you can hop on over to the "pads" of our talented designers and see what they crafted using this beautiful set!

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

Do you want to win this set? Leave a comment over on the Flourishes Newsletter under today's post and a winner will be announced first thing on Thursday!

And, mark your calendar for 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 committments - 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 on Friday, June 12th!

See you back here tomorrow to savor some of summer's best! This one will have you puckering up it's so yummy! :-)

Quick and Easy Teacher Gift!

Hi all! Hope you had a fabulous weekend. Friday was the kiddos last day of school which meant--- a way to thank the men and women who spent a good chunk of their year trying to make my kids smarter! ;-)

I found some fun papers at Hobby Lobby, a twill ribbon that looked like a ruler and also found some Jolee's stickers that would also be fun to add to my project. Then..... I headed over to the jar/container aisle at HL and found a fun jar. From there - it was just cutting and gluing to come up with this combo!

Could this be any easier?? I took some of the scraps to make a card and then added a punched edge, the ribbon and another one of the Jolee stickers. The dark grey paper doesn't show very well, but it looks like chalk board in real life.

Here's a closeup of the jar. It's full of mini candy bars - which Ellie's teacher said was her fave!

And, this was the top!

So, a fun way to tell a Kindergarten teacher that they are just the best! I felt bad. Tonight as we were putting Ellie to bed, she got HUGE tears in her eyes and I looked at her and said - "What's wrong sweetie??" She said, I'm going to miss Mrs. Studer!! Wow. Most kids are excited about summer vacation. My girl is having some separation issues! Poor thing!

I guess this weekend was a continuation of the easy peasy projects! I stopped into Jo Ann Fabrics and found a baby quilt kit for a whopping $17.00!! This one was darling it has some really fuzzy soft brown fabric, pink satin and then pink, green and hot pink patterns. I got home, cut it up, sewed it back together and added a backing on in...... 3 hours! It turned out so cute! The photo isn't the best. The dark fabric almost looks black but honestly -- it's like a chocolate brown. I am going to get some fun embroidery thread and hand tie it this week. It's going to be donated to an auction that my mom is helping to put on as a fundraiser to send foster kiddos to camp.

Ok.. I'm a bit too chatty today! Hope life is well in your corner of the world and I will see you back here soon!

Ultimate Card Showdown!

Well, I had some free time this afternoon and you know -- I love a great challenge! So, off I went to try to tackle the 2 Sketches 4 U Ultimate Card Showdown!

All you needed to do was follow Laura's fun sketch!!!

After taking a peek at this sketch, I couldn't do just one card.... I had to tackle TWO!

So, here's my first one.....

I had some Crafty Secrets goodies still on my craft desk from yesterday's creation. So, I put my thinking cap on and just went with it! I love these cotton scraps! I used some of the Radiant paper pack also from Crafty Secrets. Add a fun little clip and a metal sentiment and... done!

And... here's the SECOND card!

I took some fun scraps in red and brown and a clear set from Impression Obsession and just went to town! I paper pieced some of the cups in my main image, paper pierced added a sentiment tag, sponged around the outside and added some accents thanks to a white Inkssentials pen. Add a loopy brad with some ribbon and.... an actual coffee bean and that my friends is pretty much it!

I had so much fun with this one, you'll have to click on the link above to see what all of the other -- hundreds-- of entries did with this sketch! It's pretty darn impressive!

Happy Saturday!

The Easy Breezy Challenge!

Summer's here and the time is right..... for easy cardmaking! We are all busy going here and there in the summertime. But, our cardmaking can't stop! It's in our blood! So, what's a cardmaker to do? Flourishes says... create easy breeze cards!

Flourishes is trying to help you get you in the swing of summer with a challenge and a chance to win all three of their new releases that the DT will start sneak peeking next Wednesday!

Here are the rules! Make a card that would not take more than ten minutes to create. Use Flourishes stamps if you have them, but if you don't we still want you to play! After all, you could WIN some Flourishes stamps. Once you are done with your card, link it up here on THIS blog post OR upload your creation to your Splitcoast gallery and be sure to use the keyword: fllcjune. Check out the Flourishes Newsletter for more of the official details!

On to my creation!

This card was really too simple! I reached for my Vintage Wallpaper background, the Spring Ephemerals set and my Sweet Violets set for those fabulous sentiments! Just a couple layers, some sponged ink, a silk ribbon, some bling and a nice ribbon slide sentiment and you're done!

I used Vivid Lavendar and inked up my background - I stamped it off so that it would be a second generation image when it hit my white paper. I stamped some of the Lillies of the Valley from the Spring Ephemerals set over top with Violet Mist ink and then went over top that with the Bleeding Hearts using Versafine Black Onyx. I used the Spellbinder's Tag Trio die for my ribbon slide tag and then left the die on my tag so I could mask the edge when I sponged the Violet Mist ink over top. Add a sentiment from the Sweet Violets set and you're almost done! I did paper pierce the edge and sponged some Violet Mist ink all around the distressed edges.

Want a little more inspiration? Hop on over to the rest of the DT's blogs to check out their 10 minute, easy breezy creations!

Stacy Morgan
Leslie Miller
Latisha Yoast!
Christine Okken
Faith Hofrichter
Laura Fredrickson

We hope you make time for play time and join us in this challenge!

Stamp Simply--- it's gone to pot!

Well this week our challenge has gone to pot -- literally! It's Sharon's play on words! All you need to do for ssnotime90 is to incorporate some kind of a pot into our work-- flower pot, coffee pot.. whatever your creative mind can cook up! You can click HERE for all the official details!

Onto my creation!

I really played up the Stamp Simply part of this challenge and while there is no stamping on this card - it was a 10 minute creation! That's it!
To make my card, I used some Crafty Secrets Journal Notes (birds and botanicals), and some of the fabulous paper they sell in pads (I used the Radiant paper pad). See the flower pot??? ;-) FYI: While I got my goodies from Crafty Secrets - Sharon is now selling these fabulous items herself HERE!

Gosh, this card is too easy - no real explanation needed - mat up the journaling note, add some self stick gold pearls, some sheer ribbon, a button, some rounded corners and paper piercing and.... done!

Here's the fun part! I liked the first card so much, I made two others to give as a set! I used all the same ingredients! It took me less than a half hour to make all three cards!

Card #2
Card #3

And... here's a peek at the whole set together!

Be sure to hop on over to the rest of the Stamp Simply crew to see what they cooked up this week!

Sabrina -- our June Guest Designer!
Janine
Jennifer
AJ
Tammy
Deb

Thanks for stopping by everyone! 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!

Home Sweet Home

Hi all! Hope this week is treating you well! I got a chance to color up some of the new images from Impression Obsession and I have to tell you - there is nothing like taking some quiet time.... just to color!

I got my hands on one of the new offerings from Gary Robertson, illustrator for Impression Obsession called House. And, boy oh boy, was it fun to color!

I stamped it onto some ivory paper with permanent black ink and then colored it with watercolor pencils, blending with a blender pen. After I was done, I sponged some Tea Dye and Antique Linen distress inks all around the edges. Mat it up onto some black cardstock, add some black silk ribbon, accent it with a word window punch (Stampin' Up) and add some fun pearls and then mat it onto the front of a dp covered card front (decorative paper is from My Mind's Eye)

Here's a close up!

That's it my friends! Not much else to report - kids are getting out of school in two days and then... let the summer fun begin!

See you back here soon!