Running With Scissors...

Pretty Peacock

Today, I have a quick card with most of the stamping on the inside.  I thought I might use the elegant peacock from my Strut Your Stuff set with this, oh, so gorgeous paper, but somehow I couldn't settle on a design other than this.  Too many other things calling for my attention, but I intended to have a bird card today, and this is my bird card:

It's very simple, using my Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue and WonderFALL designer paper.  Just a sentiment, ribbon and a rhinestone were added.

 

All the stamping is embossed.  The sentiment on the inside is another from my Fiskars Birthday Quotes, which I purchased locally.

 

And now Wally is waiting for me to come and watch a movie with him, and who am I to say "no" to Wally?  It's not so much the movie he's interested in as it is the treats that go with it.  At movie time, they're called "best friend treats" -- little pieces of broken up dog biscuits.  I say, "Are you my best friend?", and he says, "Oh, boy, movie time!"  I get popcorn, he gets dog biscuits, but he thinks I'm eating the dog biscuits, too.  Must run!  Have a super nice day!
 

Stamps:  Strut Your Stuff (Peacock from Flourishes), Fiskars Birthday Quotes (inside)  Paper:  Black textured, Pink Pirouette, Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue and WonderFall designer paper, Classic Ivory (inside)  Ink:  Versamark  Accessories:  Ribbon, rhinestone, black embossing powder

Birds and Sympathy

Continuing on the bird theme. . .  I think birds make a nice focal point for sympathy cards, and since I hope to never go sympathy card-less again, I replenished my stock by two today.  It seems the worst time to be without the card you need is when you need a sympathy card.

Both cards use JustRite Backyard Birds and Sympathy Nested Sentiments.  This is the best grouping of sympathy sentiments I've come across, so I wasted no time adding it to my collection.  The first card is colored with Copic markers.

 

I also made use of my Nested Frames Custom Dies again today, and both cards use BasicGrey Curio designer paper.

The second card is watercolored:

 

I'll keep this brief today, as I'm spreading my time over a lot of different activities while I'm home from work.  I hope you're enjoying the remainder of the holidays.  Take care!

Stamps:  JustRite Backyard Birds and Sympathy Nested Sentiments  Paper:  Prism Suede Brown Medium and Dark, Classic Ivory, Always Artichoke, Arches 140 lb cold press watercolor, BasicGrey Curio designer paper  Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa (for Copic colored outline), Palette Umber (for watercolored outline), Always Artichoke (for sponging edges of second card), various Stampin' Up! dye based inks for watercoloring, Copic markers  Accessories:  Ribbon, brads, Spellbinders Square, Circle, and JustRite Custom dies, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Three Songbirds

Hello, and happy holidays to you!  We're in the post-Christmas haze at my house -- still enjoying some family time, more than enough chocolate around, and best of all, I don't have to go back to work till after the first of the year.  The time will go too fast, so I aim to appreciate every moment of it.

I plan to focus on some of my many bird stamps this week.  I accumulate more of them all the time and could post a month of Sundays in bird cards, but I'll share just a few this week.  Today, I've used a Hero Arts stamp called Three Songbirds.  I don't know how new it is, but it's new to me.  It's a happy image, so I made a birthday card:

 

I colored with Copics, including the Prima flowers, and matched everything up with my BasicGrey Sugar Rush papers.  The retired Stampin' Up! sentiment is nested in the new Spellbinders custom made for JustRite, which, in this case, was just right for my skinny SU! sentiment.   The sentiment Nestie matched the Eyelet Borderabilities, too, so I used that along the lower edge of the image.

And that's it for today!  I hope to be back with more birds soon.  Have a happy, joyful day!

Stamps:  Three Songbirds (Hero Arts), Small Sayings (Stampin' Up!)  Paper:  Certainly Celery textured, Apricot Appeal, Flourishes Classic White, BasicGrey Sugar Rush designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Rose Red, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Brads, Prima flowers, Spellbinders JustRite Nested Sentiment Custom Frames and Eyelet Borderabilities

A Christmas Greeting to You

These last few days have been filled with shopping, cleaning, baking, candy making, get togethers with friends, neighbors and family, and exchanging early Christmas gifts.  Thankfully, I've been off work since Tuesday so I've been able to enjoy all of it.

As you can imagine, I've done no stamping at all, but I'd like to take a moment this Christmas eve to wish. . .

A merry Christmas to all. . .

 

And to all a good night.

 

 Happy Holidays!
 

Watercolored Blossoms

Well, here we are in the count-down days till Christmas.  Are you ready?  I was feeling a little stressed about not being ready, but today I'm feeling a little more in control.  I was fretting over what to get our son for Christmas, as everything paled in comparison to last year's lap top.  Believe it or not, what he wants more than anything is a good blender for making fruit and vegetable drinks.  Not a juicer, which leaves all the pulp behind, but a blender so he can slurp down the whole works.  He's into all that healthy stuff.  I spent a good portion of an evening researching blenders/food processors and, all things considered (and I mean all), it came down to the Waring MBB18 Professional Quality Food and Beverage Blender (in case you're interested).  Amazon will have it here by Tuesday.  Happy day!

Aside from all that, I made time to stamp a little something:

 

I'm so out of practice with my watercoloring I've almost lost my feel for it.  I don't want that to happen, so whenever possible I plan to use this medium for coloring.  Copics are so much more portable and easy to pick up and put away quickly, I've fallen under their spell.  It seems I pack my life around with me in a tote bag to and from work, much like a traveler lives out of a suitcase, but I'll need to find more time to spend at my stamp table if I'm to pursue this practice.

Today I've used my Butterflies & Blossoms again... sigh... a new favorite from Flourishes.  I watercolored on 90 lb hot press watercolor paper.  There are pros and cons to different watercolor papers.  This is very smooth and lightweight, comes in big sheets which they cut into smaller sizes for me at the art supply store.  Inks blend very smoothly on it, but the wet paper won't carry or "float" the ink very far.  Floating is not a necessity, it's just a different technique.

I know you're all busy, too, so I won't keep you longer.  Supplies are listed in the recipe.  You take care, and have a very nice day!

Stamps:  Butterflies & Blossoms (Flourishes)  Paper:  Bordering Blue textured, buttercream textured, BasicGrey Wisteria designer paper, 90 lb hot press watercolor  Ink:  Palette Umber, Brocade Blue (sentiment), various Stampin' Up! inks for watercoloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, paper doily, Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Circle and Classic Oval Nestabilities, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Lilacs and Butterfly Bling

Hello, and happy Friday!  I'm finishing out the week today with something I hope you'll find pretty.  I made this card last month for this month's edition of Papers and Pixels online magazine.  The December edition went live on the 15th, so I'm now at liberty to share.

   

 Are you familiar with Papers and Pixels?  It's quite an attractive magazine with lots of good information within its pages.  Best of all, it's free.  To see the current month's edition, you can subscribe before the 18th to receive it in your email.  Previous editions can be viewed with a click.  It's nice to download it to a disc so you can come back to it whenever you please.  Just tuck it away like you would any magazine until you're ready to sit down and leaf through its pages.

This card was part of a little tutorial I wrote about masking.  Masking is one of the first tricks I learned as a new stamper several years ago.  Once I tried it I was surprised with how easy it was and, in turn, fascinated by the concept of building a scene, placing flowers in pots, or creating an entire bouquet from a single stamp.  One simply needs to remember that when you mask an image, anything you stamp over the mask will appear to be behind the first image when the mask is removed.

In this case, I started by stamping the word and the first lilac in the lower part of the image panel.  I masked the first lilac, then stamped the second... just working my way up the panel in that manner with the masking.

These lilacs are one of Flourishes' earlier botanicals, and still one of my favorites.  Initially, I designed this tall card so I could use my butterfly bling, which I find incredibly fabulous.  I used the entire champagne & chocolate flourish on this card, but you can also shorten it and use the tail end of the flourish separately.

 

I colored the lilac spray with Copic markers on Flourishes Classic White Cardstock.   It's just a colored image on a pale green Bazzill cardstock base with some beautiful bling.  A simple design, actually.

With it being Flourishes Friday, you can hop around to visit the rest of the team and see what they've created today with their awesome Flourishes stamps -- so many beautiful images to choose from:

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Laura Fredrickson

Stacy Morgan

Just a reminder:  Today is your last chance to take advantage of December's New Release Bundle -- purchase both of our newest sets and save 10%!

Have an absolutely wonderful weekend!  If all goes well, I might actually get to stamp and have something to share next week.  See you soon!

A Christmas Card

I spent most of Wednesday addressing Christmas cards.  I had a few other things that needed doing, but very few of them got done.  Mostly, I addressed Christmas cards.  And still I didn't finish.  I fell short... ran out of cards... after all that time spent making them.  So... back to the drawing board, or, rather, the stamping desk.

You'd think I'd come up with a simpler design for one of those last minute cards, wouldn't you?  In fact, this card was nearly finished; I just added the ornament.  I've used my JustRite Christmas Ornaments set.  This one is embossed in silver on 90# hot press watercolor paper, and watercolored with Stampin' Up! dye based inks.  I added the punched branches and ribbon, and hung my ornament on a narrow white panel to set it off.  The branches and parts of the ornament are glittered up with Stardust Stickles.

I went JustRite all the way with one of the Christmas Nested Sentiments (and another on the inside), and framed the sentiment with a Nested Sentiment Custom Die by Spellbinders.  I tried not to overdo the card, but, still, when I look at it, I think how many different "toys" are represented here.  You certainly don't need all these things to make cards, but I do enjoy playing with them!

I'd hoped by starting my cards months ago I'd be further along than this by now.  Isn't it amazing how quickly the days go by after the calendar turns to December?  It's barely more than a week till Christmas!  With all the activities this time of year, I've not had much time to spend on the computer, so please forgive my absence.  I hope to get back in the swing of things soon.  Take care, and enjoy this beautiful season!

Stamps:  JustRite Christmas Ornaments and Christmas Nested Sentiments  Paper:  Pink textured Bazzill, classic white, 90# hot press watercolor, BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses designer paper  Ink:  Versamark, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Soft Sky  Accessories:  Ribbon, silver cord, Stickles Stardust glitter glue, Martha Stewart branch punch and edge punch, Spellbinders Nested Sentiments Custom Dies, Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder, silver embossing powder

Something Free from Flourishes!

No strings attached. . . no purchase necessary. . . Flourishes has a downloadable 2011 calendar template for you  ---> here.  How do you download a calendar template from the store?  Well. . . Julie has prepared a complete tutorial to help you through the process.  You can find her tutorial right here.  If, for some reason, that link doesn't work, just check the Flourishes Blog and you'll find the tutorial there today.

These pages make beautiful calendars, especially when printed out on Flourishes' bright Classic White cardstock.  But what more can you do with a calendar page?  Well, it's a little like designer paper and, heck, it's free, so I had this idea for a Mother's Day card:

 

I circled the day, trimmed down the page and stitched it to a mat.  Added some pearls, and now it's a pretty companion for this sweet bouquet from the new Mix-N-Mugs set.  Of course, you could do this for any special day -- birthdays, Valentine's Day, anniversary, wedding. . .  I used Nook & Pantry designer paper with a bow made from May Arts Two-Tone peach taffeta ribbon.  This ribbon and paper seem to have been made for each other.  Another absolutely perfect match for the paper is Flourishes Sweet Pea Copic collection -- one of my favorites.  It's the peachy-pink tone I used on some of the small flowers.

The team has more samples to share with you, as well.  Take a look:

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Laura Fredrickson

Stacy Morgan

I hope you've enjoyed seeing all the team's offerings this week.  Have a very pleasant weekend!

Stamps:  Mix-N-Mugs  Paper:  Wasabi textured, Classic White, Sweet Blush, BasicGrey Nook & Pantry designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Garden Green, Barely Banana, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, pearls, 2011 calendar from Flourishes, Spellbinders Classic and Lace Edge Circle Nestabilities, and Scalloped Heart Nestabilities, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

New Sets are in the Store!

After being tempted and teased all week with the Design Team's delicious samples, we are happy to report that the sets are now live and ready for the picking in the Flourishes Store!  Just click HERE to go shopping!! Here's a peek at.... Butterflies & Blossoms

Mix-n-Mugs Keep in mind, if you buy both of the sets just released in the New Release Bundle HERE, you get all three sets for 10% off!  This offer is only good through December 17th.  We hope you had fun this week! Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see what our design team whipped up with one of our new... FREE... offerings!  See you then!

Flourishes Preview: Mix-n-Mugs

Today's Flourishes preview brings a set which I think we've all been having a lot of fun designing with.  The images are darling and the set is aptly named, as there are dozens of mixing it up possibilities.

 

Every image in this set represents a familiar, everyday part of our lives.   Add to that a collection of infinitely usable sentiments, and the sum of those mixable parts equals a lot of fun cards in my future.  You get three different mugs, four collections of items to put in the mugs, multiple sentiments, and a few decorative accents.  Each image can be used independently, as well. 
 
 
I chose the kitchen utensils for my first card with this set, thinking how nice this would be as a thank you for that person who's always bringing home-baked goodies from their kitchen.  I can think of a few people I might give this card to right now.  Or I might save it for the next time a friend serves lunch at her home.  But, use one of the other sentiments and the card could take on new meaning.  How about making a tag to attach to your own baked goods?  Gosh, and that's just the kitchen utensils!  It really goes on and on with this set!

To assemble this composite image, I stamped the utensils first, then stamped the mug on a separate scrap, adding the sentiment and decorative accent to the mug.   After I colored the mug and utensils with Copic Markers, I cut out the mug and glued it in place.  Easy!

Of course, I had to use my Nook & Pantry paper for my kitchen card, and I thought the mosaics would be perfect, too -- see the border of white tiles.  Considering my questionable expertise in laying tiles, it's a good thing we hired a professional to do our kitchen.  Very cute for a card, though!

• Please visit the Flourishes blog and leave a comment on the Mix-N-Mugs post for a chance to win this set.
• Check out the Winter White Challenge to try your hand at winning the whole release.  You have until Friday at 5 pm Eastern for that.
• You’re invited to our Power Hour Release Party tonight at 9 pm Central.  The party ends at 10 pm CST when all of our new sets will be on Flourishes’ store shelves.
• The New Release Bundle  will be available until December 17th.  That's a 10% savings when you purchase the works!

Enjoy seeing what the rest of the team has created with the Mix-N-Mugs set today: 

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Laura Fredrickson

Stacy Morgan

Thank you for your time today.  I hope you'll drop in for another sample tomorrow!  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Mix-N-Mugs  Paper:  Flourishes Classic White, Chocolate textured, Wasabi, BasicGrey Nook & Pantry  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, Crystal Mosaics (tiles), Scotch brand foam mounting tape