Another Easy Peasy Card!!

Ok, after yesterday, now I am on a kick to crank out some more Christmas cards with ease! I pump up the Christmas Carols on my i-pod and... voila... just the fuel I need to create! Love it!

This is one I came up with over the weekend. I love the elegant design of the stamp and love that fact that this image is so beautiful on its own, you don't need a lot of "stuff" on the card to send a powerful message!

This card was super duper simple - stamp the nativity using Adirondack Denim Ink - trim 1/4" around edge, edge with silver leafing pen and then mat onto navy cardstock. Use a denim blue cardstock base, attach your nativity piece and then, using a Quickie Glue pen add the die cut corner image (Cuttlebug Vintage Die). After my card was together, I did add a hot fix rhinestone for my star. The inside was done by matting a piece of white card stock that measured 4 by 5-1/4" on the inside.

Here's a peek at the sentiment.....
And... this is how many you can make in an hour!

That's it my friends... another easy peasy Christmas card... just in case you needed some last minute inspiration! ;-) I should mention, this card qualifies for Penny's Paper Challenges! The challenge this go round was "Christmas Stars" -- well I think my little rhinestone bling over the nativity qualifies! :-) Click HERE to check out the challenge! It runs until December 23rd!








Stamps: Inkadinkado (Nativity), Stampabilities(sentiment)
Paper: Bazzill, Flourishes Classic White
Ink: Adirondack Denim
Extras: 3mm hot fix rhinestones, Pilot silver leafing pen
Dies: Cuttlebug Vintage Dies (corner die)

Thanks for stopping by!

p.s. I almost forgot.... check this out! Click HERE to check out the sale! :-)

Need a last minute Christmas Card.... or two.. or six?

Can you believe I am still working on Christmas cards? I laugh because now I'll be lucky to get them sent by New Year's! So, if you're like me and need to make a few more -- I have a fabulously easy design that I actually CASED!

This card is very similar to one that was in the Stampin' Up Holiday Mini Catalog. I loved the clean lines - the pop of red and the trees. Well, I had a lot of the elements -- only my stamps are from Impression Obsession!

The details are pretty easy to see! Iused a nesties die for my main shape. Stamp a small and large tree and emboss with white detail embossing powder on some red and green paper. Cut out -- layer (the small tree has foam tape behind it). Add some red ribbon, some bling and a fun sentiment (also from IO) and... bam.. before you know it... you have 6 cards! I actually did all of these in less than an hour!

Thanks for stopping by! I have a few more easy peasy cards to share this week. So, if you need a few designs -- stick around! I've got you covered!

Stamps: Swirl Tree, Small Swirl Tree by Impression Obsession

Ink: Versamark and white detail embossing powder, Vivid Olive Green

Ribbon: Martha Stewart

Bling: Kaiser Red Rhinestones

Extras: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8

Paper: Bazzill and Stampin' Up decorative paper

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you have a great start to the week!

A shopping we will go! :-)

We had a blast this week sneak peeking the gorgeous creations by Marcella Hawley! After enticing you all week, we are happy to report that the sets are now in the Flourishes store!

Need a little more eye candy? Check out....

A Year of Flowers, Calendar Set 1 or click HERE to see it in the store!


A Year of Flowers, Calendar Set 2... or click HERE to see it in the store!

A Year of Flowers, Calendar Set 3... click HERE to shop!

Thanks everyone for joining me this week!!! See you back here soon! I have some super duper easy Christmas cards I'll be posting soon! So, if you need some last minute ideas.... be sure to hop on back! :-)

A Year of Flowers... the final day!

You can almost smell fall in the air when you look at these beauties drawn by Marcella Hawley! This set... our final sneak peek of the week for Flourishes features four beautiful flowers and the months they represent! Marcella even created a customizable and downloadable calendar that you can deck out with these florals! The calendar was created just for these sets so it is a perfect match with fonts and colors! The download will be available tonight on the Flourishes store-$2 on its own or FREE with the purchase of all three sets!

I printed it off for my post today to show you just how beautiful these flowers are and how these blossoms paired with the calendar would make the most perfect gifts! Above is a peek of the fall set I made, and I made it to fit in a small picture easel. It's perfect for your desk top!

September's month is Aster and I found some fun My Mind's Eye and SU paper to pair up with my flower! I used the Violet, Daffodil and Fields Copic Collections grouped by Flourishes to color my image and outlined with the palest yellow in the Daffodil group and then blended with a blender pen. The tag was done with Spellbinder's Fancy Tags.

October is actually my favorite month of the set! I love those rich shades of rust! To color up my mums, I used the Falling Leaves and Fields Copic Collections grouped by Flourishes. The paper is 7 Gypsies.

Here's a closer look at the flower. I just love Marcy's take on a mum!

November is Cyclamen with it's beautiful red or even pink tones! I colored up my flower with the Poppy and Fields Copic Collections. The paper is Making Memories - Sabrina collection.

Here's a closer look at this unusual and beautiful flower!

And last, but not least is the beautiful buds found in the amaryllis.. gasp! I just think this illustration is to die for! This flower is just so elegant looking! I used the Dahlia and Fields Copic Collections to color it up. The paper is K & Company.

And that, my friends is it! All you need is this download, some pretty decorative paper, an oval die cut shape and a fun tag. Then, you can stamp and just enjoy coloring up these beauties!

Moving on....the anticipation is already building too for tonight's POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY! It starts at 9 PM CST with fun, games and giveaways! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE! As soon as the party wraps up, all of our sets for December will be in the Flourishes Store for your shopping pleasure!

Want a closer peek at the flowers of fall? Hop on over and pay a visit to.....

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

Would you like to win this set? Jump on over to the Flourishes Newsletter and leave a comment to be in the running! One more note! Time is running out to enter our Floral Finesse Challenge. Click HERE for the details! You could win all three of the sets we'll show this week. You have until this Friday at 5 PM Eastern to enter!

We hope you had as much fun as we did this week! See you tonight at the big party! :-)

A Year of Flowers.... day 2!

A bouquet of summer sweetness.... that's the offering today from day two of Flourishes' A Year of Flowers sneak peeks! This second beautiful set drawn by Marcella Hawley offers up the perennial beauties you know and love!

You might have noticed that the Flourishes Design Team is also using a down loadable calendar with these gorgeous sets! When our stamps are unveiled and in the store, this download will also be available for order on Friday. It will be $2 on its own, or FREE if you order all three sets! I made up part of a calendar and will share that with you tomorrow... so stay tuned!


For my creation today, I actually wanted to use the beautiful rose in the set to make a gift set!

First things first, the card is actually a 4 by 4 creation. I used the Labels 1 Nestabilities die and kind of color blocked it by strategically cutting the pink piece so it would serve as a layer. Do some paper piercing, add a strip for your sentiment (from the Doves in Holly set) and a button and... almost done! The image was stamped and embossed with gold detail embossing powder and colored up with Copics -- the Dahlia and Fields Copic Collections grouped by Flourishes! My base card is actually Flourishes European Watercolor Paper -- not only is it a dream to paint on -- it's a beautiful weight for card bases too!

Now to the box! I cut two strips of European Watercolor Paper measuring 3" wide and 6-1/4" long. Then, I scored at 2-3/4", 3-3/4", and 5-1/4." You will layer the 2.75" sides to create a sturdy bottom for your box. For those visual folks -- here's a peek at the process!

And, here's what it looks like done up!

You can see above that the pink piece is actually the base of your box. I cut it to measure 4.75" square and scored one inch around my box, cutting and folding in the flaps. Then, you glue it to your watercolor paper strips to actually form the jacket for your box. The handles were created by the Labels 1 die shape that I cut in half, sewed with gold thread along the bottom and then used a small Stampin' Up oval punch for the handle holes.

Now, the tricky part was how to keep the box closed! Thankfully, there's Basic Grey Small Magnets! These are on order with Flourishes and will be in the store soon! I used them on both sides of my handles...

Then, I created an exact opposite to my handle and covered up the magnets by covering them with paper.

Here's a peek at the inside of my box! I lined it with text weight gold paper and set a rose shaped scented soap inside! You might remember the soaps from THIS post! ;-) I made some more!

And that, my friends, is it! I have a decorative box and a matching small card to deliver to one of my friends!

Want a closer peek at the flowers of summer? Hop on over and pay a visit to.....

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


Would you like to win this set? All you need to do is travel over to the Flourishes Newsletter and leave a comment! Time is running out on the Floral Finesse Challenge! Click HERE for the details! And, mark your calendar for Flourishes' POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY this Friday! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time! Get ready for fun, games, giveaways and of course... lots of chatter! ;-) As soon as the party wraps up, all of our sets for December will be in the Flourishes Store for your shopping pleasure!

That's it my friends! See you all back here tomorrow! :-)

A Year of Flowers... let the sneaks begin!

It's sneak peek week at Flourishes!! And, today the DT is giving you peeks at a stamp set that will be released on Friday! It's one that beautifully captures the flowers of the year and does so in a way and in a size that can be incorporated into gift sets, calendars, or card sets! Marcella Hawley put her pen to paper and created this truly beautiful series of sets! Today, we "meet" the first set in the series -- the flowers from January through April! If you'd like to see the beautiful creations that our DT has to offer, head on over to these fine ladies and take a peek!

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

For my creation, I wanted to do a card set that had the same look but mixed up the colors a bit... so I got to "sketching!" I came up with this basic layout....

And... then I went to town! Here's how the whole set turned out! Every card was done sewing along the sides of a strip of decorative paper. The oval was done by using two Stampin' Up oval punches - I punched the small oval and used it as a mask to sponge ink and then used the larger punch to actually punch the shape. January is Crocus! I used Memory Box decorative paper and Basic Grey Eskimo Kiss. The crocus was sponged with blue ink while the Labels 1 Nestabilities die was still on and then colored with the Crocus and Spring Greens Copic Collections put together by Flourishes! Add some Kaiser pearls and.. done! For the Primrose, I used Basic Grey Porcelain and Lime Rickey. The set up is basically the same! I sponged on some Memento Angel Pink while the Nestabilities Labels 1 die was still on. The flower was colored with the Dahlia, Fields and Falling Leaves Copic Collections. Add some champagne pearls and... done! For the Pansy, I wanted a softer look, so I actually used watercolor pencils and blended with a blender pen. The ink I sponged around my Pansy was Memento Lulu Lavender. Again... add pearls and... done!
For my Daffodil, I used Lime Rickey and Porcelain paper from BasicGrey. The ink I used to sponge is Memento Canteloupe. For my Daffodil, I used Copics in the Daffodil and Tigerlily collections for the flower and the Fields collection for the leaves.

And that, my friends, is it! Would you like to win this set? Head on over to the Flourishes Newsletter, leave a comment and you'll be in the running!


DON'T FORGET....

Time is running out to enter our Floral Finesse Challenge! Click HERE for the details! You could win all three of the sets we'll show this week! You have until this Friday at 5 PM Eastern to enter!

And... mark your calendar now! There will be some serious fun brewing for our POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY this Friday! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time! Get ready for fun, games, giveaways and of course... lots of chatter! ;-) As soon as the party wraps up, all of our sets for December will be in the Flourishes Store for your shopping pleasure!

Thanks for stopping by! We'll have more fun to unveil tomorrow!

A Sweet Surprise!

I just love this time of year when the mail box starts sharing little notes from friends far and wide and some of those friends... go above and beyond! I got this little surpirse this week.... I just think it's darling!!!

I am not 100% sure but I am thinking this is a Paper Trey set. I love the fold my bud Janine used (she's my sister that my parents never gave birth to! LOL! I've just adopted her! ) And that little frame? I love how she painted and distressed it adding some fun bling/berries to her wreath inside!

And, in my Entertainment Center - there are cubbies that I love to deck out with the season - this little frame found a perfect place!

Thanks Janine!

I'll see you all back here soon! Wednesday starts the sneak peeks for Flourishes! If you're a fan of Marcella Hawley's floral delights -- man, oh man, you'll want to stay tuned! ;-)

Until tomorrow!

Floral Finesse Release Challenge!

It's almost that time! We are less than a week away from our sneak peeks for Flourishes December release! We, in the Flourishes Design team, are literally giddy! We can't WAIT until you see what we have to unveil for December - beauty doesn't even begin to cover it! To get you in the mood for our release, we're offering up a challenge where YOU can will all three of our new release stamp sets for December!

THE CHALLENGE: This challenge is all about the colors we love in our gardens and those feel good floral feelings. Use your favorite flower as the inspiration for your card or project's color scheme. Maybe you choose dusty pink and sage because it reminds you of the tea roses in your garden. Or, maybe you choose golden shades with hints of brown to remind you of the sunflowers you love in the field nearby! You choose! The contest closes at 5 PM Eastern on December 11th. To enter, all you need to do is link up your creation on THIS POST using the Mr. Linky box! Random.org will pick a number and the winner will be announced both at the RELEASE PARTY set for December 11th starting at 9PM Central Standard Time and also here on the Flourishes Newsletter!!

For my creation, I turned to two of my favorite colors found in those beautiful violets ~ rich purples and greens! While this challenge is just a color challenge, I thought - hey - I have a beautiful violet stamp set-- why not use it! :-)

After stamping the violets on my petite oval (Spellbinders die) in Tuxedo Black Memento ink, I used the Violet and Spring Greens Copic Collections to color my flowers. I accented the centers with an Inkssesntials pen and then outlined the flower with B0000 and blended with a Copic Blender pen to soften the lines. The rest is just matting! I used some My Mind's Eye and (green polka dot is unknown) and matted it up on a Flourishes Classic White Card Stock Base. The oval scallop is paper by Core-dinations. Add some ribbon, a button and some paper piercing and... you're pretty much done!

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

Gosh, just think... we only have to wait 6 months before we can see these beauties in real life! :-) Thank goodness I can stamp them at least! LOL!

Want to see what the rest of the DT created to spark some floral inspiration? Stop by and pay a visit to:

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

Stamp Simply... tag it pretty!

Hi all and happy Friday! It's time for another Stamp Simply challenge! Last week, the team showed you some fun ways to wrap and package gifts. Today, it's all about decking out your packages with a pretty gift tag! Create something you can just hang on a gift, a bag handle or box -- just a little bit of handmade loveliness that tells the recipient they are special to you!

My creation couldn't be easier! Let's take a peek!

I started with a Crafty Secrets Christmas Cotton Square using this fun Santa! (I got my cotton scraps from Craft Secrets -- but I know Sharon has them in her store too!)I added some fun silver stitching by literally letting my sewing machine "drive!" I wanted to create squiggly and uneven lines to add a dash of whimsy! The rest is matting - I used some Eskimo Kisses and some Bo Bunny decorative paper. I used the Stampin' Up tag corner punch and then added a tab at the top using another Stampin' Up punch. The button is one of my all time favorite buttons - it's one of the American Crafts Glitter Buttons that I wove through some red and white gingham ribbon. In my tab at the top, I did punch a small hole - when the time comes to attach this to a package, I'll grab some of that fun metallic cording and tie it around a bow or a bag handle! Easy as pie!

I can't wait to see what tag-a-licious creations the rest of the Stamp Simply team created! Be sure to stop by and see for yourself! :-)

Sharon
Michelle Woerner -- our guest designer for December!
Janine
Jennifer
AJ
Tammy
Deb
Barbara
Jenny
Barb

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you back here soon! ;-)

Winter White

Hi all! It's time for another Impression Obsession challenge and this one is all about.... white! That's the only rule -- a white creation! Oh, and yes, you have to use Impression Obsession stamps. There are some serioius goodies on the line if you enter! The winner receives a $25 gift certificate to use in the Impression Obession store! You only have until Saturday - so click HERE for all the details!

Now, to my creation!

I wanted my card to have a white feel with some silver and pastel accents. I just love this image -Ice Skate Stockings -illustrated by Leah Hannan. I inked it up using Versamark ink and embossed it with detail silver embossing powder. Then, I picked up my Pastel Collection of Copic markers to color my stockings and give it just enough color to create a soft tint! Add some pearls, a silver pearl rectangle to mat my oval on and then mat it again onto a white piece of cardstock that's been embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder and edged with a silver leaf pen. Put it on a white card stock card base and.... done! This really was a quick card and I love how soft it looks!

Want to see what wonderful and white creations the rest of the IO team cooked up? Stop by and see....

Shirley
Kathy
Dina
Laura
Jenny
Deborah
Daniela
Jeanne

Thanks for coming by! I'll see you back here tomorrow! :-)

Little Snow Tree

I don't know about you, but when I set my eyes on any kind of snow globe, I just can't help but pick it up and turn it over to magically stare at all the snow and glitter. It's like an instant stress reliever! So, when I saw this little snow globe stamp from Impression Obsession, I thought... "Awwww!" It just looked like a little Charlie Brown tree, which only adds to the sweetness!

I started by cutting out my Labels 8 shape (largest die) from some Stampin' Up decorative paper. I edged it with some silver stitching and then created my card stock base by making it smaller than my labels shape so that the die would, in essence, hide the card. Before I adhered my shape to the card base, I added some grosgrain ribbon by wrapping it and securing it with glue dots.

The Snowy Tree Globe was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink twice - one for the base image and a second time so that I could pop up the actual globe with some foam tape. Before I attached my globe, I put the Labels 8 die back on and sponged some light blue ink around my globe. Then... I attached the globe and colored it up with Copic markers - I used B21 and B24 for the snow globe base, YG91 and YG93 for the tree branches, and the Snow Green Pastel BG0000 to create some color on my snow. After I was done coloring, I took a Quickie Glue Pen and painted on some areas of my snow and then accented with some fine Diamond glitter.

See that button? there is a method to my madness there. The button (glittered button by American Crafts) actually hangs over my front image - which - you can't tell but it is actually a mini card on my card front. The button is placed so that it will hold the flap on my mini card down.

Here's a peek inside the mini card...The sentiment is also from IO and can be found HERE. And, here's a peek at how the button actually holds it in place! And that, my friends is it! It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas -- not only here on my blog but in my house too! We spent the night starting to decorate and pumped up the Christmas music. Are you getting in the holiday spirit??? It will be here before we all know it! :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by! See you back here soon!