Sneak Peeks.... Day 4!

When I first laid eyes on the concept for this next set, I actually shook my head and said, now that's creative! I thought of all those main streets in America where the lamp post is the conversation piece. It's the place where cities announce big events, holidays, and celebrations! It's a charming way to connect with the community. So, why not bring that same feel and that same message to a card sized creation? That's exactly what illustrator Lauren Pope did!

Introducing......

This set not only has the lampost that you can deck out, it has a half dozen "flags" that you can perch on your post as a way to say "hi" or celebrate! Celebration was on the brain when I whipped up my Lamp Post Greetings creation! I wanted to make a fun coordinating card... to match a little bit of birthday sweetness! When I saw this flag - a cupcake flag popped into my head! And, when you see this set in full, you'll see how many FUN cupcake flags you could make! Welcome, baby, patriotic, birthday, holiday, Mom's Day, Dad's Day... you name it! TOO FUN!

Here's a close up of the cuppy cake! And, this is a peek at the flag before I wrapped it around a toothpick - I left a little tab of paper to glue to the pick.... Now for the deets on my creation! Easy peasy! I stamped in Versafine Tuxedo Black and colored with watercolor pencils, blending with a blender pen. The light blue accent around my flag was done with the BG11 Copic marker and then blended with the Blender Pen. For the color on my lamp post image on my card, I simply sponged on some blue and green ink. I left my spellbinders Nesabilities die on my Mega Rectangle shape to serve as a mask while I sponged. Add some fun decorative paper, some fun ribon and some bling.... and that's pretty much it!

And, as you're about to see when to take a trip around to the Senior Design team, this set can be used in so many different ways! It can even be combined with other Flourishes stamp sets to make an even bigger impact! So stop by these fine ladies' blogs to check it all out....

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

Would you like to win this set? Hop on over to the Flourishes Newsletter and leave a comment to be in the running for the daily drawing!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR MORE FUN AT FLOURISHES...

Did you see our Favorite Things Challenge? If you play, you will have a chance at winning all FIVE of our new releases for November! That's one valuable prize - you could even call it an early Christmas present! Click HERE for the details.

Speaking of the release, you'll want to join us this Friday for our POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY! It's a super duper fun time full of games, goodies, and prizes up for grabs! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time. As the party wraps, all of our sets that we peek this week will be put in store for your shopping pleasure!

Tomorrow's set will have you relaxing and sipping some tea with winter dreams swirling through your head! Stay tuned! We'll see you back here tomorrow!

Flourishes Sneak Peaks.... day 3!

Did you see the latest offerings from Flourishes? The sneaks continue! To see the goodies, click HERE to check them out and leave a comment for a chance to win them!

I'll be back tomorrow with another creation of MY own! :-) See you then!

Flourishes Sneak Peeks.... day 2!

How many times have you searched and wanted just the right touch for a package or gift? You knew you wanted a fancy element, but after searching your stamp room, you came up empty handed.

Today's sneak peek from Flourishes has you in mind! This fanciful set from Lauren Pope is sure to give all your gifts and homemade creations a dash of elegance!

Introducing.........

This set full of tag elements, sentiments and frames is perfect for gift giving. Some of them, as you can see in the sneak peek above have been created to fit some of Spellbinders most popular Nestabilities dies like Labels 2, Labels 3, and Labels 4!

Now, to my creation! It really is as easy as a label and a tag! I'll even have a recipe and pattern for you with this one! I was surfing the other day and found some fun recipes for home made spa gifts and thought -- why not?After making some Lilac scented body scrub, some rose shaped Shea Butter soap (this is so easy if you've never made soap before - just melt a soap brick and pour into a mold!) and a cotton spa cloth, my gift needed a fun tag and label!

So, I used the soon-to-be released Fancy Labels to frame my label after printing off the text on my home computer. Like I said, I love how elements of this set fit perfectly inside the shapes created by a handful of the Spellbinders Nestabilities! I used Labels 4 for my creation! I used Violet Mist ink from Vivid!

And, here's the tag I made for my homemade knit spa cloth!

Just as easy as pie to give a classy look to your homemade creations! Now for a few recipes!

HOMEMADE BODY SCRUB
1 c. Epsom salts or Cane Sugar
1/2 c. of carrier oil: Sunflower, Olive, Grape seed or Almond Oil
8 drops of essential oil or fragrance
Decorative jar
Optional: food coloring

DIRECTIONS

To make the scrub all you need to do is stir your salts or sugar with your oil and mix well. Add the essential oil, one drop at a time. Add food coloring, stirring until you achieve an even color. The next part is bottling and packaging it up!

SPA WASHCLOTH
For you knitters out there, this spa cloth couldn't be any easier! I used some orchid colored cotton (Cascade Yarns) and did a broken rib stitch - CO 29; K3, P1 to the last stitch, K1.
Continue this pattern on every row until your project is the size you wish. Bind off. This pattern was from hometown knitter Kim Haesemeyer.

That's it my friends! The Senior Design Team and some of our Friends of FLourishes have let their creativity flow and has some fun samples! So... stop on over and see what these ladies cooked up!

Christine Okken
Latisha Yoast
Stacy Morgan
Maki Jones
Kimberly Crawford
Betty Wright
Dee Jackson
Silke Ledlow

Would you like to win this set? Just hop on over to the Flourishes Newsletter and leave a comment for our daily drawing!

You'll want to stick with us this week for more sneaky peeks! Tomorrow, we have one Christmas themed set that will allow to add a colorful dash of whimsy to all of your holiday creations!

Thanks for stopping by!

Let the sneaks begin!

This Friday, Flourishes will unveil a bevy of stamps just in time to help you finish up your holiday gifts this year! And, lucky for you, our Senior Design team has been letting those creative juices flow. All this week, they will share not just cards, but projects fit for the season! You will LOVE what you see!

Today's sneak peek involves a gorgeous spray of greenery full of holly sprigs, pepper berry, cedar fir, and who could forget beautiful pomegranate and amaryllis!

Introducing....

This breathtaking bouquet was drawn by the ever so talented Marcella Hawley. It's such a classic image and delivers a dose of sophistication!

For my project, I thought that this beautiful bouquet would be a great focal point for a set of coasters! I got the idea rummaging through the clearance aisle at Michaels.... when I found a set of four "naked"circular wood shapes. Here's a peek at the packaging and a look at the finished base after I painted them up with some Decor It! Gold Paint (fast drying) from Ranger.

I cut a circle using my Classic Circle Nestabilities dies so that it was slightly smaller and would show a hint of the gold paint underneath. I stamped the bouquet up with Memento Rich Cocoa and then colored up the bouquet with my Copic Markers. I used Spring Greens, Forest, Poppy, Dahlia, and the Flesh Tones collections arranged by Flourishes. I edged the paper by sponging on some Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress Inks. I adhered it to my gilded circle and then sealed it with Modge Podge - it's a glue medium that seals your work and makes it waterproof! Here's a peek at my set of four!

And, here's a close up!

When all was said and done, I tied them up with a bow and paired it up with one of my favorite winter time drinks... Fireside Coffee! It's an instant drink that you can add two heaping teaspoons to warm milk or hot water for just a delicious coffee, cinnamon, chocolate flavor! I shared this recipe last year at this time, but just in case you missed it, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:
2 cups of Cocoa Mix
2 cups of non-dairy creamer
1 cup of instant coffee
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of cloves
1-1/2 cups of sugar

Here's a peek at the set!

Want to see what the rest of the Design Team cooked up? Hop on over and see....

Leslie Miller
Christine Okken
Julie Koerber
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Stacy Morgan
Cindy Lawrence
Sharon Doolittle

Would you like to win this set? Who wouldn't!! Head on over to the Flourishes Newsletter and leave a comment there to win!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR MORE FUN AT FLOURISHES...
Did you see our Favorite Things Challenge? If you play, you will have a chance at winning all FIVE of our new releases for November! That's one valuable prize - you could even call it an early Christmas present! Click HERE for the details.

Speaking of the release, you'll want to join us this Friday for our POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY! It's a super duper fun time full of games, goodies, and prizes up for grabs! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time. As the party wraps, all of our sets that we peek this week will be put in store for your shopping pleasure!

It's going to be a fun week at Flourishes! Tomorrow's release is one that will give all your packages a truly fancy feel! You'll see why when you come back tomorrow!

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!

Another IO Challenge!!

Hi all! A couple times a month the Impression Obsession gals get together for a fun-filled challenge. This time, we were challenged to make a wreath using (of course) IO Stamps! And, you know what? You can play too! There is even a gift certificate there for the taking! All you need to do is visit the IO Blog HERE to find out the official details!

Moving on to my creation! As I was flipping through my IO stamps, THIS one called Circle Elements #2 hit me. I have no idea why - but when I looked at it, I saw a mod wreath that could take on a kind of retro feel! So, I grabbed some Lettuce and Meadow Adirondack ink and some Red Vivid ink and... I went for it! There was some cutting involved but.... I love the result!

I traced a circle on my white card stock and then stamped one of the images around it to form the base of my wreath. Then, on a scrap, I stamped another one of the elements from the sete in the darker green ink and then cut them out for the top layer of my wreath. Add some bling, a bow from THIS set and you're pretty much done! The rest is just layering paper, adding a fun corner punch and some green rhinestones!

I did want to show that the top layer of the wreath is popped up with some mini pop dots. On the bow, I added two layers of the pop dots. And that, my friends, is it! A wreath made from stamps found in the least expected place! Want to see what the rest of the DT whipped up? Visit....

Shirley
Dina
Deborah
Jeanne
Laura
Kathy
Daniela
Jenny

Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you back here soon!

Look what happens....

.... when you can't make up your mind! Honestly, I have never had such a moment in my stamp room where I create a card, rip it apart, do it again, rip it apart, do it again, rip it apart. My husband just heard me swear under my breath (his office is next to my stamp room) and I think, scratch that, I KNOW, he thought I was nuts.

So, want to take a crazy journey with me? It all started when I took a little scrap of Flourishes Classic White paper, embossed some beautiful leaves on it with gold detail powder and started to color away with my Copics. (I used a mix of Spring Green, Evergreen, and Tigerlily Collections from Flourishes) I added in some rust satin ribbon, some decorative paper and some bling and..... this is what I came up with....
I liked it.... but I didn't love it. Was the ribbon too distracting? Not sure! Let's rip it off and see. Oh, the bling could move to cover that space left by the ribbon.
Is that too plain? Hhhhhhmmmm... I think it is! But, how can I jazz up the sentiment? I know -- I'll stamp it on a piece of white and pop it up. And, I think I need to bring that snipet of ribbon back..... Let's forget the bling. I need a little gold pearl instead I think.
Maybe I don't even like the vertical card. Maybe I need it to be horizontal. Do I just turn this card on it's head, quite literally? I think the answer is yes. After all that, I decided I didn't like my decorative paper. I grabbed my purse and said, "Well this card might not be saved, but that won't stop me from shopping for paper!" And, off I went. I am happy to report, I found some new paper that called my name and helped me forget all about my little psycho stamping moment. Ahhhhh....... that's why I love this craft!

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat... smell my feet... gimme somethin' good to eat!!! HA! Hope all of your little ghosts and goblins are getting excited for the night of fright! Mine are! And, we already have a hefty sugar high!

This is what we did this week to take to school for my daughter's Halloween party Friday. Too easy. Too fun! They are chocolate witches!

And, when I say easy... I mean easy! Melt some chocolate...
Do some stirring........(a few giggles won't hurt either)

Pour them into the mold, set, wrap and throw them in the box!

The tag was made with a stamp Ellie's Nana gave her. (You might know her Nana as the Rubber Maid!!) I thought they turned out cute!

Speaking of cute, I got this darling card from Flourishes owner Jan Marie this week! I can't believe the creativity behind this one!

After painting up her night sky, she used a tag as a template to draw in her tombstones. She drew in some grass and used Flourished Elements to make her white swirls that she used to hang the lit chandelier from the Summer on the Patio set. TOO CUTE! Thanks Jan!!!

And, to the rest of you that stopped by for a trick or a treat.... here's hoping you have a happy weekend and a........

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Stamp Simply--- grab your accordian!

When I think of accordian cards, I can't help myself, I think polka! I think - 'roll out the barrell... we'll have a barrel of fun!' Well, today's Stamp Simply challenge is both - it's about accordians, and it's about a barrell of fun!

The challenge today courtesy Miss Sharon Johnson is to make a three panel accordian project or card! It can be as large or as small as you like it! Anything goes -- just do a 3 panel accordion card. But beware -- they are ADDICTING! Be sure to check out all the DT girls links to get some GREAT ideas and to get your juices flowing!

Amy, October Guest Designer
Janine
AJ
Tammy
Deb
Barbara
Jenny
Barb-- she's filling in for Jennifer Buck who is taking time off!

This card was also created as a part of the Flourishes Focus this Friday hosted by the ever-so-talented Latisha Yoast! She challenged the rest of the DT to "Color Up the Season!" and to let coloring take center stage. I picked Christmas and.... I picked up my Copics!

For mine, I grabbed a tag accordian card from my stash. I had a pre-made one from the Paper Cut. I know, I cheated! It was actually a 6 panel tag accordian card that I cut in half. I then took some fun Christmas paper and created mats for each panel. The next part was the super duper fun part! I stamped the images from the Drummer Boy set from Flourishes onto Flourishes Classic White card stock. Using the Poppy, Spring Greens, Fields Collections to color up the holly, the drum, the soldier and part of the French Horn. I also have a tad bit of a preview for you here because I used some of the soon to be released Copic collections that Flourishes just got in house! They aren't on the store site yet but.... they will be.... SOON! The collections I used were the Sunflower and Holly collections!

Here's a peek at the solider! The antique gold shade on the soldier's uniform and hat is thanks to the Lionel Gold Copic marker. It was covered over by the Gold Copic Spica Atyou pen for a little glitz! Sorry, my camera didn't pick up that sparkle! I highlighted the laces on the boots with a white gel pen.

Here's a peek at the center panel. The sentiment is from the Christmas Music set and I put it on a punched shape from my Curly Labels Punch from Stampin' Up!
And here's the last panel showing the french horn! That, my friends, is it! A fun tag accordian card literally wrapped up with a bow! I am not sure how I will use this card but I love the sparkle and vibrant color.

Want to see how the other ladies 'Colored Up The Season?' Just hop on over and see.....

Leslie Miller

Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Stacy Morgan
Cindy Lawrence

Thanks for stopping by! See you back here soon!

Just sitting here dreamin'........

Don't you find that there are times when you just have to dream of the ocean. And, since I live in Montana -- the ocean seems worlds away. So, what do I do to combat that? Well, I "stamp" the ocean instead!

I dug deep and picked a stamp that is long gone when it comes to images. It's a retired PSX stamp called Portland Head. Here's a little history for you. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow often visited this area and wrote a poem about this very lighthouse....

The rocky ledge runs far out into the sea
And on its outer point, some miles away,
The lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,
A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Lighthouse"

Enough dreaming.... here's my card! I made it pretty simple because my image is so pretty. I colored it up with Copic markers using Flourishes Copic Collections - I used the Water, Poppy, Spring Greens and Flesh Tones 2 collections. I added some Snow Green from the Pastels Collection to the clouds and while my Nesties Labels 1 die was still on my shape, I sponged some baby blue and Antique Linen inks around the upper edges for my sky. Add a sentiment, on a punched oval, some rustic cord and you're almost done! The papers are from Prima and Crate Paper (blue). I also paper pierced the edge of the blue for a little extra pop.

Voila! Now if only I could zap myself to the coast to smell that ocean air in real life. Oh well.... I can dream! :-)

Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you back here soon!

Here's a funny story for you...

Ok, I am somewhat laughing as I write this post -- it just goes to show that trying something new is not ALWAYS a good thing! I found some beautiful holly berry paper at my local scrap store and thought I had a good idea!

Well.... not so much!

I took the Santa from Flourishes new Santa, I believe set and stamped it directly on my paper. After layering it up, I added a scallop, some fun red satin ribbon and one of my new faves -- a tag cut and embossed with one of Spellbinders' new dies.

After I got it all together, I showed hubby. This is what he said, and I quote....

"Who shot Santa in the face?"

OH MY GOSH!!!! After he said that, that was all I could see!!! UGH!

Needless to say, I found a scrap of the paper, stamped Santa again, matted him up, added some bling and then added him to my card front making sure to fully cover the 'bloody' Santa! LOL! I also added some color to the holly and berries with the help of some tombow markers and also added some color to Santa's cheeks with some pink chalk. Much better... don't you think?

At least now, I won't scare small children! Hope you are all having a fabulous weekend! I'll see you back here soon!

Flourishes Friday... Fancy Folds!

Hi all! It's Friday, which means it's time for another Flourishes Friday and this one is all about Fancy Folds! Christine Okken is heading up the Flourishes Newsletter today and she has a fabulous tutorial on a fancy fold card that is just too.... FUN! So, click HERE to see what she is up to today!

My card today is a fold I've done before here on my blog! In fact, I have a tutorial HERE on the card in a box. I learned this fun card/box when I first started to stamp ages ago and I am thinking it was orginially a Stampin' Up pattern.

Now... my show and tell! Here is my box/card closed. I used the Doves and Holly - a new set recently released from Flourishes. I stamped it in Vivid Taupe ink and colored it with some of the new Pastel Copic markers.

I used BGOOOO, WOO, RVOOOO and then I added in some RVOO and RVo2 for the berries. I sponged some Antique Linen Distress Ink around my oval and also added some sparkle from a Stardust Gel Pen to my berries as well. The scalloped oval and oval were made with a Classic Petite Oval and Oval Petite Scallop Nestabilities dies. Add some pearlized paper, some Champagne Pearls and some paper piercing and that's it for the front! Here's a look at the card/box open. I stamped the sentiment in Rich Cocoa Memento Ink and then stamped some of the single holly leaves next to the sentiment and colored them up the same way as I did in my dove image. Add some champagne pearl paper, a fun corner punch and some self stick pearls and that's the inside of the box!
Here's a close up of my image. Can you see the sparkle? Again, if you want to check out the step by step tutorial, all you need to do is click HERE!

Don't forget to see what other fancy folds the Flourishes DT cooked up this week! They are all over the top stunning!

Cindy Lawrence has done an Easel Fold Card
Latisha Yoast has made a Criss-Cross Fold Card
Laura Fredrickson has done a Swing Card
Leslie Miller has an Accordian Gate Fold
Stacy Morgan has a Wallet Tri-fold to show you.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous weekend and I'll see you back here soon!

Stamp Simply.....Hip to be Square Style!

Hi all and TGIF! It's time for another Stamp Simply challenge and this one is all about feeling square! Here's the deal - NO rounded corners on todays card. No ovals, no circular punches or die cuts, only square shapes. The card must be square and all layers added must have squared corners. Want to see the offical rules? Just click HERE to head on over to Sharon Johnson's site!

Now... to my super duper easy peasy card! This is truly a 10 minute card.....

I stamped my floral corner (Penny Black) using Ancient Page Coal. I colored it up with watercolor pencils, blended with a blender pen and then added some hot fix crystals in yellow. I added the sentiment in the lower right corner and then decided to add a punch of color in a square. I used post it notes to mask off a square and then sponged the color (Dandelion Memento) in the square. Remove the mask and... then it's time to add your green and yellow mat onto a 4-1/4" card. Add some fun ribbon from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store and you're done!

Wanna be square too? Join us in this week's challenge! If you need a little extra inspiration, just visit these amazing Stamp Simply designers! ;-)

Sharon
Amy, October Guest Designer
Janine
AJ
Tammy -- is taking the night off! Rest up Tammy!
Deb
Barbara
Jenny
Barb-- she's filling in for Jennifer Buck who is taking time off! :-)

Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you back here soon!

Timeless Tuesday.... Watercolored Christmas!

It's Tuesday, which means there is some fun going on over on the Flourishes Newsletter with Timeless Tuesday! This week for FTTC38, Dee Jackson is the hostess with the mostess. She challenged everybody to whip up a watercolored card.

Since my mom is visiting, I didn't want to make a super duper hard card. I wanted a 15 minute creation and I found it using some fabulous ribbon, paper and an elegant image!

I used the reindeer image from the Sleigh Ride set, embossed with gold detail powder, and colored by picking up some waterbased markers with a water brush. To get the watercolor effect, I stamped my reindeer onto Flourishes European Watercolor paper! After I was done, I added a 2mm rhinestone to the nose to make my deer.... Rudolph! Mat it up with some Labels 8 Nestabilities and you're almost done! the paper is actually some leftover glittered Christmas paper that Flourishes sold last year. I stocked up because I knew this would be one of my favorite papers!

Here's a close up of the reindeer....

Well my friends, that's it! If you want to see the official rules, please visit the Flourishes Newsletter for more! Thanks for stopping by! More to come later this week! My mom and I have been busy in my stamp room and the paper is flying! ;-)

See you back here soon!