Flourishes Sneaks Day 2: Handmade Snowflakes!

Hi  all -- time for day two of Flourishes fabulous sneak peeks for October! Today, it's all about the whimsy of those winter months when the temperature drops and the flakes start to fly!

These whimsical snow flakes are just ready and waiting to be added to all of your winter and holiday themed creations! These hand-drawn flakes, created by Marcella Hawley, offer a dash of charm and style. This 4" by 6" set also offers three scripted sentiments that will give your cards the perfect punch.

On to my creation!

I'm not going to give you details on this creation because this card is one of three cards in Flourishes Class In A Box Kit for October! Here's a peek at all three!

This rustic card kit with country charm comes with the stamp set, plus all the pre-cut paper, embellishments, trim and ribbon needed to make 6 cards -- two each of three designs! Just stamp, and put these beauties together. It's quick and easy card inspiration delivered right to your door! When you're done, save the full-color, glossy instructions to make all of these cards on your own in the future! This kit also features the 6" by 6" paper pack by Bazzill called Nordic Pines. What fun! Click HERE to see this kit in the store!

The Design Team created some wonderful creations showing off these Handmade Snowflakes! While you're out and about, don't forget about....

Hidden among the Design Team’s blogs today is our Mystery Blogger of the day. Comment on her blog and you could be chosen to win today’s set! The more you comment, the better your chances of winning!

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Heather Jensen
Julie Koerber
Maki Jones
Silke Ledlow
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

Do you want to win Flourishes' October Release?

• If you would like a chance at winning all three of our soon-to-be released October sets…you can play in our Christmas with a Twist Challenge – we will have multiple winners there! Deadline for entries is FRIDAY October 11th at 5 PM EST. Check out the link for the official rules!
• All three of our October sets can be pre-ordered now, even before you see them all! Take advantage our New Release Bundle and get 10% off when you purchase all three sets together in a bundle. This discount will only be available through October 18th, so you have to act fast! 
• Keep in mind, all of these sets will be live first thing Friday morning in the Flourishes store along with the coordinating cut files for this release. 
• And, don't forget to come back to the Flourishes Blog Saturday, October 12th for the Winner’s Circle where we’ll announce all of our winners of this weeks’ challenges!

Be sure to stop on by tomorrow when we take the lid off our October release and show off a striking botanical beauty that is ready to shine this holiday season!

~Julie

Flourishes Sneaks Day 1: Winter Berries

Hello all and welcome to day one of Flourishes sneak peeks for October! The clock is ticking to get those cards and creations done before the holidays hit. We're happy to report Flourishes has a handful of new sets guaranteed to help you shine this Christmas! Our first set is one that delivers an elegant flair!

Flourishes has taken the beautiful Cotoneaster plant and gave it a holiday flair with this new 4" by 6" set illustrated by Sam Pickard. The long and lean berry spray will add a dash of elegance and pop to all of your holiday cards and creations. We've paired this lovely image with six scripted sentiments crafted by the talented Dina Kowal.

On to my creation!

This card is pretty straight forward -- so let's get to it! I started by stamping this beautiful spray of berries using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink and then, I colored using Copic markers (look below for the supply list!). I had so much fun adding dimension with a stippled background. If you ever want a lesson from the queen of this technique, you need to check out THIS tutorial from Christine Okken! I just wanted a soft background and had fun with all those dots! ;-) When I was done coloring, I also accented the berries with a white gel pen. 

The fun thing about this card is also the sentiment. I stamped using Versamark ink and then embossed using gold detail embossing powder onto a shape that was cut thanks to the coordinating Silhouette cut file for this set. This set has shapes for the sentiments -- making it appear that you have a custom die for these beautifully scripted words! These cut files for this release will be live Friday -- so be sure to check them out! And that, my friends, is it!

The Design Team created some wonderful creations showing off these beautiful winter berries. While you're hopping and looking at their cards, don't forget to try to figure out....

Hidden among the Design Team’s blogs today is our Mystery Blogger of the day. Comment on her blog and you could be chosen to win today’s set! The more you comment, the better your chances of winning.

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Heather Jensen
Julie Koerber
Maki Jones
Silke Ledlow
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

Do you want to win Flourishes' October Release?

• If you would like a chance at winning all three of our soon-to-be released October sets…you can play in our Christmas with a Twist Challenge – we will have multiple winners there! Deadline for entries is FRIDAY October 11th at 5 PM EST. Check out the link for the official rules!
• All three of our October sets can be pre-ordered now, even before you see them all! Take advantage our New Release Bundle and get 10% off when you purchase all three sets together in a bundle. This discount will only be available through October 18th, so you have to act fast! 
• Keep in mind, all of these sets will be live first thing Friday morning in the Flourishes store along with the coordinating cut files for this release. 
• And, don't forget to come back to the Flourishes Blog Saturday, October 12th for the Winner’s Circle where we’ll announce all of our winners of this weeks’ challenges!

Be sure to stop on by tomorrow when we share a set that will have you longing for those days when the snow starts to fly!

~Julie

SUPPLIES:

InLinkz.com

A little Pagemaps fun!

Well, I plum missed Pagemaps Monday! So, just pretend it's Monday while you're reading this post! :-) The goal here is to take one of the fabulous card making sketches on the Pagemaps site HERE and bring them to life! I love, love, love sketches and so having so many different creative options really floats my boat as they say!

So, here's the sketch....

And, here's my card! As you can see, I decided to change the orientation a wee bit! Instead of doing a rectangular card, I chose to mix it up and make it square! That's the fun thing about sketches -- it truly is a creative starting point.  

For my creation, I used a mix of Echo Park Reflections Christmas paper and paired that with Penny Black's Christmas Tags stamp set that was designed by Becky Fleck!

I stamped the tag stamp on decorative paper and colored the outside frame with a red Copic marker and white gel pen to help make it pop a bit! Stamp the candies on white card stock, color with Copics and add a little razzle dazzle with the help of some glitter glue. I stamped the sentiment from the set on a piece of white card stock, punched it out with a 1" punch and then matted it on a piece of red decorative paper that had been punched with a 1-1/4" circle punch. I threaded the tag with some iridescent cording. From there,  add some borders (Teresa Collins' Santa's List), and... ta da.. done!

If you ever need a little inspiration, it's only a click away HERE over at Pagemaps.com! Becky has tons of card sketches, scrapbooking layout ideas and now, she also has....

online classes that are designed to bring out the best in you creatively! You'll have to hop on over to Pagemaps to see all she has in store!

Thanks for stopping by today! I'll be back tomorrow with.... FLOURISHES SNEAKS FOR OCTOBER! Fun stuff! Can't wait to share all that I've been creating in my stamping space!

~Julie

Happy World Card Making Day!

  

 Hello all and Happy World Card Making Day!  The Flourishes gals thought it would be especially fun and fitting to extend a challenge that has to do with your corner of the Cardmaking World! So, here goes:  Create something that represents or is inspired by your state or province.  We're leaving the interpretation up to you but you could be inspired by your state or province flower, your slogan, the scenery you'll find there, colors, or your state or provincial flag.   Then make sure you describe to us what the connection is!  Fun right?

On to my creation! I have to start by saying my interpretation is very loose. When I think of the area that I live in, I think of a rural, down home country feel. Right now, all the leaves are turning so it is definitely fall.

Here's a peek at the park land right behind our house....

And here is how I was inspired by the colors in that photo! I loved the golds and greens and so that's what I really decided to play up in this creation! I used Flourishes Autumn Blessings....

I stamped my image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored it all up with my Copic Markers (See below for a list of the colors that I used!) After I was done, I did cut out  my image using Flourishes Classic Keyhole die and then cut out a mat from Echo Park's Reflections Fall paper pad. In fact most of the paper came from that pack -- such beautiful falls shades! Add some ribbon, twine and a fun brad and you're pretty much done! 

Here's a close up of the coloring for you! 

And here's a close up of the fun brad that just so happens to be a part of the 123 Create Kit called Isabella from Flourishes! LOVE this antiqued look!

And that, my friends is it!! Now, on to all the important stuff....

THE OFFICIAL RULES!

• Your keyword for online galleries is WCMDFLLCCorner, but remember you must use our InLinkz button at the bottom of the post to be entered.    
• Entries using Flourishes stamps will be counted twice.

Playing along could win you a Flourishes stamp set of your choice!!  Now that's always fun! Here's some inspiration from our Design Teams' Corner of the World...

• Allison Cope
• Christine Okken 
• Cindy Lawrence
• Julie Koerber
• Silke Ledlow
• Stacy Morgan
• Tosha Leyendekker

Keep in mind -- the deadline for entries is Friday October 11 at 5:00 PM EST and we'll announce the winner in our Saturday Winner's Circle on the Flourishes Blog. Happy creating and Happy World Card Making Day!

~Julie

SUPPLIES:

Ready for a little challenge?

Happy Friday Flourishes friends! Can you believe there are only 81 days until Christmas? In a few days we'll be giving you our October edition of new Flourishes Stamps all with a Christmas theme. And because we know YOU want a chance to win these beauties, this month we have a Color Challenge with a twist!

What's the challenge?

Your challenge is to create a Christmas Design without the use of the color Red or Green! Get creative and give all of those other colors in the wheel a chance to show their holiday style! Play in the challenge and you could win our whole October Release! Your keyword for entering into online galleries is FLLCOCT13.

On to my creation!

Because of the challenge, I decided to make my creation a breeze and pick up Flourishes 123 Create Kit called Isabella. I love, love, love the tones in this kit - lovely shades of grey and pink! And the embellies are great too! I took one of my shapes that I had already cut with my Silhouette for the Naturally Merry stamp set and then chose Copic Collections that matched the paper (see my supply list below for the colors that I used. After I was done coloring -- I just matted up my image with papers in the kit. I stamped my sentiment using Gray Flannel Memento ink onto a die cut shape from the Perfectly Pierced Classic Frames set. While my die was still on the shape, I sponged on some Spun Sugar Distress Ink.  Frame it with a snippet of silver paper, add some bling and... ta da!

Here's a close up of the holly that I colored up....

and here's a close up of the sentie!

And that, my friends, is it! Want to know more about the Christmas with a Twist Color Challenge? Just click HERE for the official rules! Keep in mind, you only have until Friday, October 11th to enter -- so get those fingers inky and join us in all the fun! While you're hopping, don't forget to see all the wonderful ways that the design team took on this challenge! It's sure to give your Christmas creativity a jump start!

• Allison Cope
• Christine Okken
• Cindy Lawrence
• Heather Jensen
• Julie Koerber  -- you are here!
• Maki Jones
• Silke Ledlow
• Stacy Morgan
• Tosha Leyendekker

Thanks for stopping by today and we look forward to seeing what you create! I'll be back tomorrow with a fun creation just in time for WORLD CARDMAKING DAY! And, of course, I'll be back on Wednesday October 9th when Flourishes' gorgeous October Sneak Peeks start!

~Julie

SUPPLIES:

Holiday Sketchiness!

Hi all and happy Monday! I'm back with another Pagemaps sketch today to get those creative juices flowing this week! I didn't have to look far for this sketch -- because it was one of the new ones just released with the September 1st CardMaps over at pagemaps.com! Want to see?

I loved the layers of decorative paper and really, the only element that I didn't incorporate were the little flags at the top. Other than that, I broke it down pretty literally!

On to my creation! I started by using the Winter Blossoms set by Penny Black.

So, to make my card, I stamped the holly and spruce with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, and then colored it all up with Copic Markers (see supply list below). Add a little burgundy ribbon, a lattice rectangle die cut shape, and then, a fun little sentiment flag and... ta da! Done!

Here's a close up for you! 

If you like this sketch and want to give it a try -- I would love to see what you come up with! Just be sure to link your creation by leaving a comment on this post so I can come over to your place and see what you whipped up! And, of course, if you ever need sketch inspiration, it is only a click away HERE at PageMaps.com! 

And that, my friends, is it! Another card to sock away for the holidays! I love the fact that I am making a dent early this year! Hope your week is off to a great start and I will see you back here soon!

~Julie

SUPPLIES:

A Boo-tiful Card for a Saturday!

Hi all! I had a little something fun to share today in between softball games and football games! Yes, with active kids, you have to steal the time when you can get it!! :-) If you stop by my blog from time to time, you might have heard me rave about Birdie Brown and all the fun over on her blog HERE. She has digital stamp releases and once a month, she offers a free image with a challenge. If you use her image and are randomly chosen with the challenge, you win three digi stamps of your choice. So, how could I refuse that offer?

You can find this month's freebie and challenge HERE.

And... here is my creation!

This card is as easy as printing it off, coloring it up with Copic Markers -- I used V04, V06, V09, YR04, YR07, YR08, YR18, YG21, YG23, Y32, Y35 and then accented my little pumpkins and B with a white gel pen. You can see I also added some shading underneath thanks to C00, C03, and C05. Mat it thanks to a Spellbinders Wonky Rectangle, some foam tape, a loopy brad that a threaded with some fun orange and black gingham ribbon. the paper was some old K and Company Halloween paper that I had. The punch is a Martha Stewart punch that I sponged with some Brilliance Moonlight White ink. And last, but not least, the background was accented with the help of a Stampin' Up Spider Web embossing folder that I embossed and then sanded. 

Want to see a close up of these darling little pumpkins? So cute!  

And that, my friends, is it! If you've never gone over to Birdie Brown's site, you really need to -- darling images there!

Hope you all have a fun and relaxing weekend! I'll see you back here soon!

~Julie

It's a Fun-filled Flourishes Free For All!

 

Today the Flourishes gals are excited to bring you one more look at this month's New Release Sets! It's our chance to show off some more using our favorite sets this September. With five gorgeous stamps this month, there's so much to choose from!

That lovely graphic above shows just a snippet of what the Flourishes Design Team cooked up this week! So, after taking a gander at what I created, you'll have to stop by and see their creations in their full glory!

On to my creation...

My creation is actually one of the cards from this month's Class in a Box - I have to tell you, if you haven't checked out this class, it's one heck of a good deal! You get pre-cut paper, embellishments, ribbon and more for FIVE cards plus the two stamp sets -- Snow Scenes and Sentimental Christmas -- that you need to make the cards. Throw in a 6 by 6" decorative paper pack and man, you can't buy this kind of creativity for what Flourishes is offering it for! You can check out all the details HERE on our Class Page on the Flourishes website. And, if you want a peek at some of the other cards, here's a look see below!

I'm not going to share how I made this card above, that's one of the perks of buying the class. Just think - when you're done, you have ten cards made for your holiday season with step-by-step instructions to make many, many more! That's fun stuff!

Moving on, you'll have to hop over and see what beauties the rest of the Design Team has to show off for you today!

• Allison Cope
• Christine Okken
• Cindy Lawrence
• Heather Jensen
• Julie Koerber -- you are here!
• Maki Jones
• Silke Ledlow
• Stacy Morgan
• Tosha Leyendekker

And, before I go, don't forget that today is the LAST day you can purchase Flourishes' New Release Bundle at a discount -- all five sets for 10% off when you purchase it as a bundle! Don't miss out on this deal! So glad you stopped by -- I'll be back with more creativity soon, I promise! In the meantime, have a fabulous weekend.

~Julie

A little bit of masking fun!

Hello folks and happy Wednesday! I'm the hostess today over on the Flourishes blog and I'll be sharing some masking techniques with Flourishes' newest set That's a Wrap! Here's a peek at the card below that I'm making over there! If you want to see the full post, just click HERE!

See you back here soon! Thanks for stopping by!

~Julie