Running With Scissors...

Flourishes Preview, Day 1: Wedded Bliss

 

 

 

 

 

Flourishes illustrator, Lauren Pope, has come up with one of her wonderful silhouette image stamp sets for you this month, and I’m very pleased to share my first card with the Wedded Bliss set.  How nice that Flourishes has chosen this time of year, when our attentions turn, not only to outdoor activities, but to summer wedding preparations, to bring along such an easy set with which to create.  Best of all, it’s a multi-purpose set – wedding, anniversary, engagement – a little something to see you all through the year.

Today, I’m thinking of summer weddings – easy, breezy, light and fresh – a garden party sort of celebration.  I scored the Flourishes Classic White cardstock on the diagonal to suggest a lattice framework, and gave it summer colors, pearls, layered Prima flowers, and a banner wafting in a gentle breeze.  The happy couple were embossed with detail clear embossing powder on Classic White cardstock, then sponged over with blue ink.  Loving my Spellbinders dies, I combined these shapes:

• Classic Circles Small
• Labels Eighteen
• Ribbon Banners

All the dies were cut simultaneously in my Grand Calibur.

If you haven’t already taken a moment, please do visit the rest of the team to see more ideas for the Wedded Bliss set.  I know you’ll enjoy them:

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

This month Flourishes has a lot of fun activities lined up for release week, and a lot of chances to win BIG!  Check the Newsletter today through Friday to see what’s happening.  Chances are by the time you’re reading this the full set has been revealed and is ready for purchase in the store.  The reveal is scheduled for 9 am CST and the first challenge is up at 12 noon CST.  The winner takes all!  It’s a busy week!

Don’t forget the Pre-release Challenge, either – yet another chance to win.  You could walk away with the entire May release.  One little card = four stamp sets.  There’s a winner every month, and this month it could be you!

I so appreciate the time you took to stop by here today.  I wish you all a happy day, and I hope to see you again for the next new set sample tomorrow.  Take care!

Stamps:  Wedded Bliss  Paper:  Bashful Blue textured, Flourishes Classic White, Wild Asparagus designer paper  Ink:  Versamark, Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue  Accessories:  Spellbinders Classic Circles Small, Labels Eighteen,  and Ribbon Banners, Prima Flower, Zva pearl flourishes, Kaiser flat backed pearls for flower center, detail clear embossing powder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Word to Your Mother: Flourishes Pre-Release Challenge

It’s that time again!  Flourishes new stamp sets will debut next Wednesday and today is the beginning of the festivities surrounding the release.  We’re starting with a challenge:  Consider a Mother’s Day sentiment, or perhaps any words pertaining to mothers, and make a card with the sentiment as your focal point.  You’ll be in the running to win Flourishes entire May release.  When uploading to an online gallery, please use the Keyword FLLCMAY11.  Deadline is May 13 at 5 pm Eastern.

I fully intended to use the new Motherly Love set today.  With its many lovely motherly quotes it would have been ideal for our challenge.  I do not know what fate has befallen my set, but I can’t find it anywhere.  I’m sure it will turn up in the least likely place.  I was happy to know I could reach for last year’s Spring Bouquet and this sentiment which gives me a little choked up feeling.  Isn’t it the truth?  No matter how old, independent, or far away, our sweet children are always held close in our hearts.

I’ve used Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden designer paper, satin ribbon, and pretty Prima flowers for decoration.  The green leaves are a ribbon trim you can find here.  Very cool stuff for one who loves designing botanical cards.

Flourishes has a LOT of activities lined up for your stamping pleasure next week, and there are MANY chances to WIN!  Check it out on the Newsletter!

The rest of the Flourishes designers are sharing a word or two and would love to have you stop by:

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

Thank you for visiting!  I hope to see you again soon!

Stamps:  Spring Bouquet  Paper:  Pale green Bazzill textured, Flourishes Classic Ivory, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden designer paper  Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa  Accessories:  Satin ribbon, ribbon leaf trim, brads, Prima flowers, Spellbinders Double Ended Tags, Fancy Tags Three, and Classic Ovals Small

Go Retro Wednesday

Flourishes still has a few of those 65% off stamp sets, so the team will be putting on a little Retro Wednesday showcase through the merry month of May.  We’ll make an exception for release week, of course.  That begins next week, and we’ve got fun stuff and fabulous sets lined up for you.

Today I’m going retro all the way with a previously made card using the Summer Blossoms set.  With some graceful solid botanicals and a few lovely flowers to color, this set was one of my early favorites.

At the time I made this card I needed a thank you, so I used a sentiment from the retired and sold out Many Sentiments, but there is a “Warmest Wishes” included with the images.  There’s also a dainty solid image dragonfly which would have looked wonderful on this stamped panel.  Why didn’t I think of it then?  I still love this card and, frankly, I find the simpler the card, the longer it holds appeal for me.  Isn’t that generally the case with classic styles as opposed to trendy?

You may like to take a moment to enjoy more flashbacks from the team:

Christine Okken

Julie Koerber

Just in case I missed someone or left out some important information, please refer to the Flourishes Newsletter to get the full details.

Today’s journey back in time has been nice for me, and I hope you found it pleasant, too.  Thank you for dropping in!

Stamps:  Summer Blossoms  Paper:  Flourishes Classic White, BasicGrey Perhaps designer paper (retired)  Ink:  Celery, pink, mustard  Accessories:  Kaiser flat-backed pearls, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Rock-A-Bye Bye Baby

I’ve said this before – I enjoy creating baby cards.  Not only does the look of them appeal to me, but they celebrate such a joyous occasion.  What a wonderful reason to stamp a card!  Seldom have I come across a set of baby stamps which captures my heart quite as thoroughly as this Rock-A-Bye set from Flourishes.  I was a little surprised when I saw it on the retirement list (sob).  It is now on sale for 65% off the original price, as are all of Flourishes’ retiring sets.

Which brings me around to the reason for today’s post – in the coming days the Flourishes Team will be paying our last respects to those sets we have known and loved and will soon no longer be available.  Choosing the set I’d be sharing today was an easy decision for me.

My favorite cards with Rock-A-Bye have been paper pieced.  In the past I’ve done them up for baby girl and baby boy, so today I thought I’d round that out with the card above, which is meant to be gender neutral.  I paper pieced the moon face and the baby blanket with a mix of baby papers from my scrap drawer, but colored the remainder of the image with Copics.  As it happens, my next door neighbors are expecting in September…

The following cards were created when my friend’s two daughters delivered their babies on the same day.  Double delight for a doting grandma!  First, a baby girl:

And this one for a baby boy:

It’s hard to beat a 65% mark down.  All retiring sets and other items can be found on the sale page in the Flourishes store.

I’m sharing this day of fond farewells with a few of the other girls as they, also, pay homage to some of their past favorites:

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

In case you missed it yesterday, Barbara and Danielle shared some very inspiring cards which made me fall in love all over again, and you can check the Newsletter to see what’s coming up next.

How about something new and luscious in the store?  Check out the brand new Copics collections.  With names like Dogwood, Raspberry, Black Cherry, Copper, Lenten Rose, and more, these sets incorporate Copic's newest colors.  Oh, how I love color, and these are simply mouthwatering!

Thank you so much for your time today.  Wishing you all a beautiful weekend!

Sweet Violets in Two Colors

Hello, friends, and welcome to Tuesday!  I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend.  I planted flowers Saturday till I ran out of potting soil, and now the rest will have to wait for another day off.  Well. . . if I can’t plant flowers, I can at least color them.

I’ve been meaning to color some yellow violets like those growing in our woods, and for fun I thought I’d do some blue violets at the same time.

The yellows are colored with Copics on Flourishes Classic White cardstock.  The colors, the Copics, and the bright white paper yielded a crisp image.  Loving its cheerful countenance, I decided to turn it into a birthday card.

The blues are watercolored with markers on 90 lb hot press watercolor paper and mounted on a Classic Ivory card base.  Softer in appearance, classic and clean – I thought it would make a nice sympathy card.

Both sentiments are included in the Sweet Violets set. 

For the life of me, I couldn’t get the color of the blue violets to reproduce accurately under my Ott light so I photographed them again under tungsten, and this is the actual color.  Even the green is more true.  It almost looks like I colored three images, rather than two.  I like the photo under tungsten light much better, as they look more like the violets in my garden. 

Yellow, blue, purple -- I hope you enjoy them.  Have a very nice day!

Stamps:  Sweet Violets  Paper:  Flourishes Classic White and Classic Ivory cardstock, 90 lb hot press watercolor  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Wild Wasabi, Copic markers (yellow violets), Palette Noir, Always Artichoke, Tombow markers (blue violets)  Accessories:  Ribbon, Flourishes Stunning Slides

Back to the Orchids

Oh, happy day – Friday has come at last!  It’s a Free For All day at Flourishes, which means the team stamps whatever they choose from last week’s release.  Well, loving flowers as I do, it’s no surprise I’ve come back to the Orchids.

I watercolored the image with markers on 90 lb hot press watercolor paper.  Ordinarily I’ll choose my papers first and match the ink colors accordingly, but this time I simply enjoyed the painting process and figured I’d find something among my vast supply of designer papers to coordinate.  Once I sat back and looked at the finished painting, I realized immediately these colors could be found in the BasicGrey Lemonade collection.  Funny, too, the particular sheet I used was never a favorite, but with just this bit of border showing it’s perfect!  Stitching, pearls, and a tiny silk ribbon bow finished it off and it’s ready to be mailed.

Today is your last chance to take advantage of the New Release Bundle -- all three of the April release sets in a bundle for a 10% savings.  In case you'd like some inspiration, there’s beauty to be seen when you click on the following links.  These girls never seem to run out of fabulous ideas:

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

I wish you all a beautiful Spring weekend.  Not so sure about the weather here, but I bought flowers to plant in the pots and plant them I will.  See you again soon!

Stamps:  Orchids  Paper:  Pink textured, Flourishes Classic Ivory, 90 lb hot press watercolor, BasicGrey Lemonade designer paper  Ink:  Palette Noir, Pink Passion for sentiment, various water-based markers for watercoloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, pearls

New Flourishes Sets Now Available + Speed Sketch Challenge

Is it just me, or do the weeks fly by faster than ever?  They certainly do when you're having fun, and Flourishes release week is always a good time.   We've wrapped up another great Release Party and now the new sets are ready for you in the store.  Here's a look:

Orchids

  

April Showers

Motherly Love

 

The team will be sharing samples with the April Showers set on Friday.  Cute stuff!

Now for the details on our fun, fast paced, heart racing, get those creative juices pumping challenge -- it's our SPEED CHALLENGE!  If you have some time to play along, you could win our entire April release.  Follow the sketch below and get your card linked on the Flourishes blog here by  12 Noon Central Standard Time on FRIDAY and you could be the lucky winner.  So, let the paper fly and see if you can nab our new release for trying.  Use Flourishes stamps if you have them, but play along anyway if you don’t… the clock is ticking!

 Enjoy, and see you soon!

Flourishes Preview, Day 2: Motherly Love

Moving right along to the next set of samples, today the team is showcasing a sentiment set called Motherly Love.  Timely, with Mother’s Day right around the corner.  However, when looking at these sentiments, I realize there’s one which would be beautiful on a baby card, and others which work perfectly for Mom’s birthday, or anytime you’d like to express your love and your gratitude for her nurturing influence.

I’m especially enjoying the cards for today’s preview as we’re pairing these sentiments with a variety of Flourishes florals.  So many gorgeous images to choose from, and lovely to see each team member’s selection.  I’ve chosen one of the first florals Marcella Hawley illustrated for Flourishes, and it’s still a favorite – Lilacs:

I’ve made a Mother’s Day card, but can you picture this sentiment on a baby card, as well?  I think it would be wonderful.  My lilac is colored with Copics.  I chose a soft pink with peachy undertones to coordinate with the Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden designer paper.

Take a trip down the garden path and enjoy more sentimental florals:

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

Remember:

• Flourishes’ Spring has Sprung Challenge is still going strong.  You could win Flourishes’ entire April release.  Check it out here.
• Join us for chat, fun, games and prizes at our Power Hour Release Party which starts tonight, April 14th at 9 PM Central time.  You’ll find the party at the Flourishes’ Member Company Forum on SCS.  After the party, the new sets will be available in the Flourishes store.
• Save $$ with Flourishes New Release Bundle – a 10% savings when you purchase all three sets in a bundle.
• Would you like to get your hands on our new sets now?  Pre-order them here!

Thank you so much for sharing your time with me today.  Tomorrow brings a sample with the third set of the month.  I hope you can come back and visit me then!

Stamps:  Motherly Love (sentiment), Lilacs  Paper:  Peach, blush, Flourishes Classic Ivory, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Satin ribbon, BasicGrey Sugared glazed brad, Spellbinders Labels One Nestabilities

Flourishes Preview, Day 1: Orchids

Hello, everyone!  Are you ready to see the first preview of Flourishes’ April release?  Let’s start out with one of Marcella Hawley’s beautiful florals.

Gosh, the above graphic makes it look pretty tempting, doesn’t it?  The girls have colored up some exquisite images and turned them into stunning cards.  Orchids!  I’ve never had an orchid stamp before.  Very exotic flowers, but in such a wide array of colors you simply cannot go wrong with your coloring.  And with all those colors to choose from, what did I do?  White, with just the lightest blush of pink and deep rose throats.

My orchids are watercolored on 90 lb. hot press watercolor paper.  I wanted to display them on a black background and, rather than paint in the black, I chose to cut out the flowers and mount them on black velvet.  It’s actually black sueded paper which I’ve had in my stash for years.  The velveteen effect is lost in the photo, but it’s quite elegant in real life.  A click on the photo will give you a closer look.

Love these new Spellbinders shapes, too, and I used them for the first time on today’s card.  I found this combination interesting:

• Labels Twenty
• Labels Eighteen
• Grand Ovals

And, of course, all cut with my Grand Calibur die cutting machine.

Be sure and visit the team for lots more ideas, and all of them very colorful:

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

Jan Marie Caruso

• You can preorder the Orchids here if you’d like.
• All sets will be released this Thursday night, the 14th, after the Release Party in the Flourishes Forum on SCS.  The party begins at 9 pm Central and lasts one hour.
• Would you like to win the Orchid’s set?  Just leave a comment on today’s Orchids post on the Flourishes Newsletter.
• How would you like to win the entire April release?  Now, that would be fabulous!  Read up on the Pre-release Challenge and link a card.  This may be your lucky month!

I do hope you’ll come back tomorrow for another preview.  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Orchids  Paper:  Flourishes Classic White, pink textured, black sueded  Ink:  Palette Noir, water-based markers for watercoloring  Accessories:  Silk ribbon, pearls, oval punch, Spellbinder’s Labels Twenty, Labels Eighteen, and Grand Ovals Nestabilities, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Flourishes April Pre-Release Challenge

It’s a color challenge to bring in the Spring!  I think Spring needs all the help it can get.  It actually snowed a little here this morning.  Come on!  This is the Oregon coast.  It barely snows here in Winter!

Let’s see some green grass, Robin’s egg blue, and a dash of daffodil.  Use this color combo and you’ll be in the running to win the entire April New Release Bundle which we’ll begin previewing next Wednesday.  Use the keyword FLLCAPR11 when uploading to an online gallery, and be sure to link your creation on the Spring has Sprung Challenge on the Newsletter so we’ll be able to check it out and get you in the game.

I went very light and airy with my colors, but they’re all there, with a healthy dose of white:

I used this sweet bird and bluebell image from the (appropriate for the challenge) Spring is Sprung set.  It’s colored with Copics, layered, framed, wrapped with silk ribbon and embellished with pearls.  Very simple, really, in a lighthearted, ready for Spring kind of way.

Let’s get the party started with a sampling of Spring cards:

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

Jan Marie Caruso

Everyone sees these colors in their own way, and we’d love to see your way, so please join us!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Stamps:  Spring is Sprung  Paper:  Flourishes Classic White, pale lemon  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, green, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Silk ribbon, Kaiser flat-backed self-adhesive pearls, Cuttlebug Grace’s Frame embossing folder, Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities and Classic Circle Nestabilities, Scotch brand foam mounting tape