Create for a Cause!!!

 

Ever wanted to do something great for someone special?  Ever want to use your crafting ability to do that?  Well here's your chance!!!

Catherine, the owner of the Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine paired up with Crafting For a Cure, an amazing charity that SCT has worked alongside with at the Creativ Festival for years this past weekend.  You can read all about the wonderful participants and sponsors did for the Crafting For a Cure charity, HERE. They created more than 200 cards to send to hospitals all over Canada.

In taking with Pamela, the even organizer this past weekend, SCT came up with a new initiative for the magazine...

Here's how it works.  Create a card for a child with an inspirational message (not a 'get well soon' card as sadly, not all the children have a positive outcome), sign your name and send it to our offices with an envelope to:

Scrapbook & Cards Today
Cards for Kids
139 Church Street
Markham, Ontario
L3P 2M2

They will take all these amazing cards and provide them to Crafting For a Cure who will then send them to hospitals across Canada and the US.  Easy right?  Just knowing we've brought a smile to a child facing a difficult time is uplifting.  So let's get to work and see if we can help create 1,000 cards this summer for the cause!

Please take a moment to visit their website and see if there is something you can do too!

~ Ally ~

Designer Focus: Nautical Sunsets

 

Good morning everyone!  Happy Hump Day to you!

Have you taken a moment to check out one of Flourishes' newest challenges?  It's all about getting to know the Flourishes Designers; it's called Designer Focus.  Each Friday, when it's not a release week challenge or a Reveal Day, a new Flourishes Designer is interviewed and she shares some of her favourite creations.

This week our Designer Focus is on Christine Okken. This challenge began actually last week but I didn't get a chance to play along as I was feeling under the weather most of last week. The challenge is to take one of the designer's many creations posted with the intro and CASE it!  I know... super simple and SO many incredible pieces of inspiration to choose from!!!

I finally decided upon CASEing this stunning card by Christine.  Something about the design just called to me!

And here is what I created...

Nautical Sunset

First I created the pattered back ground using the fabulous Fancy Pants Designs' "Down by the Shore" paper collection.

I die cut the paper ring from Flourishes Classic White Cardstock using Spellbinder circle dies and then I scored it to resemble a life preserver.  I cut another same sized piece of cardstock to back the ring and then stamped the lighthouse scene from the stamp set, "A Guiding Light" using Memento "Black Tuxedo" ink.

I then created a mask for the lighthouse and water and airbrushed my sunset using my Copic markers.  I removed the mask and coloured in my image.

I assembled my entire card including the "Happy Father's Day" greeting and the sailor's knot, as from the "A Guiding Light" stamp set, adding some cut airbrushed buttons from Flourishes and my card was born!

I hope you enjoyed my nautical inspiration today.  Make sure to check out the interview with Christine (and also of Julie Koerber from last week too!) and come and play along!!!

~ Ally ~

Sponsored by:  Flourishes LLC.

Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (A Guiding Light)
cardstock: Flourishes Classic White, Bazzill
patterned papers: Fancy Pants Designs
die cut shapes: Spellbinders
ink: Memento, Copic
buttons: Flourishes
tools: Copic Airbrish
other: thread.

Timeless Tuesday ~ Think Summer!

Hey fellow stampers! It's Tuesday and time for another fabulous Timeless Tuesday Challenge over at Flourishes!

This week our super talented hostess Deborah, is challenging you to create a card or project with Summer in mind and to incorporate sheer ribbon into your project (FTTC222)!  Yup... think summertime ~ beaches, playing in the water, camping, vacationing, sunshine, gardening... whatever you think of when you hear the word 'summer'!

So the first thing that I think of when you say "summer" is the beach! My family and I LOVE the beach. We're so lucky to actually live on a lake here in Alberta so we get to see our little version of a beach everyday.

I began by creating a Slider Card base. You can see how I made my card using this Splitcoast tutorial right HERE.

I knew I wanted to create a fun shaker aspect to my card so I cut out 2 copies of the Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Hourglass Dies using Flourishes' Classic White Cardstock.  I also cut a piece of Clear Cover Cardstock to use as well.  I began by cutting out the center of one of the white cardstock die pieces and adhered the clear cover cardstock to the back.  Then I stamped my masked shells from the "Seaside Life" stamp set on the solid die.  Adding an entire ring of 3D foam adhesive to the back of my window, I added some clear glitter and then adhered the shell images to the window front.

I used the following Color Made Easy cardstocks for matting: Emerald Coast (Rain) and Candy Pink (Sweet Tart).

I coloured my shells using the following Copic Collections:  BG000, BG11, BG32, R000

 

Here's a close up of my shaker...

My slider card, when you pull on the ribbon at the top, a secret card pops up on the top and the bottom. For my ribbon pull I combined some fun White Seam Binding, some Metallic Silver String and a fun Color Made Easy - Emerald Coast Light button.

For both of my pop-up cards, I again stamped some sea life image from the "Seaside Life" stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you'll join us for our summertime inspired challenge this week!

Take a moment and leave some love on all of our designers' blogs.

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Katie Sims
• Iulia Pasca, our May guest designer

Come and hop along and visit with all of our super talented designers and join us in our challenge this week for a chance to win!!  Good luck!!!!

~ Ally ~

Sponsored by:  Flourishes LLC.

Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (Seaside Life)
cardstock: Flourishes (Classic White, Candy Pink, Emerald Coast), Bazzill
patterned papers: My Mind's Eye (Kate & Co.)
die cut shapes: Flourishes, Spellbinders
ink: Stampin' Up, Versamark
ribbon, button, string: Flourishes
edge punches: Fiskars
glitter:  Martha Stewart
gems: Kaisercraft
other: thread.

Timeless Tuesday ~ Butterflies

 

Howdy everyone!  Hope you had an amazing long weekend if you are Canadian like me! This week, our fabulous hostess, Jenny, has a great challenge for everyone!  We want you to use butterflies on your card or project this week (FTTC221).  I know!  Cool right!?  So grab your butterfly stamps or dies or hand cut one and come and create with us this week. 

Here's how I began creating my own card...

Step One:
I first cut a die cut shape out of our incredible Flourishes Classic White Cardstock.  Then I grabbed some "Tuxedo Black" ink by Memento and began stamping my 3 different butterfly images from the "Old Tea Rose" and "Butterflies & Blooms" stamp sets.  I made a mask for each one of the butterflies I stamped using Post-It Notes.

Step Two:
With all my masks on my butterflies, I stamped the script from the "Thank You" stamp set using "Tuxedo Black" ink by Memento again (stamping off first to get a lighter shade of ink).

Step Three:
Next I grabbed my Lilac Collection of Copic markers and my Copic airbrush to create my back ground.

I began by airbrushing the center of my panel with V12...

Step Four:
Next I grabbed, V15 and airbrushed edges.

Step Five:
Then I grabbed, V17 and further airbrushed the edges.  I added a little bit of spatter using V99.

Step Six:

I peeled off my masks and coloured my butterflies using a variety of grey Copic markers...

 

Then I created the remainder of my card using the amazing Flourishes Classic White Cardstock and also the light and dark shades of the Color Made Easy "Crocus" paper collection; Purple Palisades & Bouquet.

Here's my final card...

I used some fun Lavender seam binding ribbon, cool silver metallic string and the cute "Hello!" stamp from the "Tiny Flowers and Tags" stamp set to finish off my card details.

I hope you've enjoyed my little tutorial today.  Can't wait to see what you create with our "butterfly" challenge this week.

Take a moment and leave some love on all of our designers' blogs.

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Katie Sims
• Iulia Pasca, our May guest designer

Come and hop along and visit with all of our super talented designers and join us in our challenge this week for a chance to win!!  Good luck!!!!

~ Ally ~

Sponsored by:  Flourishes LLC.
Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (Tiny Flowers & Tags, Thank You, Old Tea Rose, Butterflies & Blooms)
cardstock: Flourishes
patterned papers:  Teresa Collins
die cut shapes:  Spellbinders
ink: Memento, Copic
ribbon, string: Flourishes
edge punch: Fiskars
gems: Prima
other: thread.

Stamps & Scrap ~ Magic Masks

 

Howdy all!  I hope everyone is having a blast this long weekend.  I'm just hanging out at home with my 7year old.

Join me on the Flourishes Blog today to see how I take the beginning of this page...

 ... all the way to this finished product!  All with the help of MASKS! Super easy and fun to use!

For my full tutorial and final layout, CLICK HERE!  I hope you enjoy it!

~ Ally ~

Sponsored by: Flourishes LLC.

Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (Sweet Nature, Moments in Time, Simply Charming, Seaside Life, Just My Type,  Lace Edges)
cardstock: Bazzill, Flourishes Classic White
patterned papers:  Simple Stories
die cut shapes:  Flourishes SVG Files
inks:  Memento, Ranger, Copic
mist:  Tattered Angels
stars: BasicGrey
charm, leaves: Prima
tools: Klic N'Kut
gems: KaiserCraft
other: thread.

Blog Candy Winner!!!

Happy Friday everyone!  I thought I'd take a moment and pick a winner of my Blog Candy Giveaway...

Congrats to commenter #3....

Auntie Em!!!

Please email me with your full name and mailing details.  My email can be found under the "Contact Me" page at the top.

~ Ally ~

CardMaker Blog Hop with Flourishes!

  

Today the CardMaker Magazine Blog Team is pairing up with the Flourishes Design Team to bring you some fabulous inspiration with our most recent Flourishes May Release sets! It’s a taste of creativity you’re sure to love! Flourishes loves CardMaker Magazine and its endless source of inspiration in each edition. You’ll find gorgeous photography; beautiful creations, step-by-step instructions and card and paper-crafting designs from the simple to the elaborate; and we love that a number of our Flourishes designers have been published in its pages!

So hop along today and be doubly inspired by two great teams, and you'll want to be sure to comment by Friday, May 17th 5pm EST because we're giving away our entire May stamp release valued at more than $70...one prize here at the Flourishes Blog and one prize hidden along the blog hop!

If you have happened upon this post and you wish to start at the beginning... please CLICK HERE!

Howdy everyone!  I am so honoured to be joining such an amazing group of designers today!

Today we're high lighting the AMAZING new May stamp release from Flourishes and I just couldn't help using one of my favourite new sets, the "Call Me" stamp collection.  This fun collection includes 3 detailed line images along with 6 corresponding whimsical sentiments and would be a fabulous find in your stamp collection...

I started off created my fun card today by die cutting one of the Flourishes Tailor-Made Dies, the "Classic Keyhole" shape using Classic White Cardstock.

Leaving my cardstock in the die, I carefully added some Ranger "Dried Marigold" Distress Ink to the inside edges of the die and then I stamped my telephone image using Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink.  This ink works like a dream with our smooth white cardstock and it's the only paper I use for colouring with Copic markers.

Then I proceeded to colour my image in using the following Copic Collections from Flourishes:

W0, W1, W2, W3, W4, N0, T3, T5, T6, T7, BG000, G0000, E19, E21 and E25.

 

 

 

I even added a little "gloss" to my telephone using a Sukara "Gloss" pen. For the books, I paper pieced them both.

All my patterned papers are from the Authentique "Gathering" Collection.  My seam binding is a Flourishes product: "Tiger Lily".

Thanks for stopping by today!!  I hope you've enjoyed my card today.

You next stop on our Blog Hop today is...

AJ Otto

Thanks for joining us today and good luck!

 ~ Ally ~

Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (Call Me)
cardstock: Flourishes Classic White Cardstock, Bazzill
patterned papers: Authentique (Gathering)
die cut shapes: Flourishes Custom Dies, Spellbinders, Cheery Lynn Designs
ink: Memento, Copic, Ranger
ribbon:Flourishes
tools: hole punch
gems: Prima
other: thread.

Timeless Tuesday ~ Reminds Me of the Sea!

 

Hello Flourishes Fans!  Did you a load of all the new and fabulous stamp sets released last week?  They're all amazing.  Did you know that you can also purchase the...

The New Release Bundle includes ALL four of our new stamps sets at 10% off the total price of buying all four separately!  WOW... what a savings!!!  You have to act fast, however, to cash in on this deal. This offer only lasts through May 17.  Happy shopping!!

I also want to take a moment to honour one of our fabulous Friends of Flourishes Team members... Cindy Haffner!  Cindy has been a part of the FOF team for 5 years and this week she has decided to step down from the team.  She is off on a new life adventure, to a new home and to lots of other fun firsts!  I wish you all the best Cindy!  I sure hope you'll join us for the odd TTC!!!  Best wishes Cindy!!  I'm going to miss you!  Big hugs!!!  Safe travels!

Welcome to this week's edition of the Timeless Tuesday Challenge!  This week's challenge comes to your from our super talented hostess, Broni this week!  She is challenging us to create a card or project using the colours... blue and green (FTTC220)!  And I have to tell you... these are my favourite colours for creating cards so I was tickled pink this week to be using this colour combo for my project.  It reminds me of the sea...

I started off my card this week by die cutting one of our Perfectly Pierced Classic Window die shapes from our delicious Flourishes Classic White Cardstock.  Leaving my cardstock in my die, I stamped my rose and rosehip image from the NEW "Old Tea Rose" stamp set using Memento "Black Tuxedo" ink.

Then I created a mask as seen below.  Typically, I like to create masks for stamping out of Post-It Notes.  This allows me to create a mask that isn't too thick as to distort my inking along its edges.  Sometimes I use just good copy paper like I did for today's mask. First I took the copy paper, fussy cut out my stamped images and then ran it through my Xyron Sticker Maker with Repositionable Adhesive in it. Works like a charm for making masks!!!  Instead of throwing this out, I put my masks back on their waxy paper backing and slide them in with my stamp set... ready for next time!

After I carefully laid down my masks over my stamped images, I loaded up my Copic Airbrush with just two simple markers (BG01 & BG13) and worked my way around my image.  Once my colour was laid down, I left on my masks just a little longer and inked up one of the sentiment stamps from the same stamp set, "Old Tea Rose", and stamped it across my images.

I used the following Copic Collections to airbrush and colour my card:  BG01, BG13, T1, T2, T3 and T4:

 

I hope you've enjoyed my creation today.  Make sure you take a moment and stop by all of our fabulous Friends of Flourishes Team members' and guest designer's blog today...

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Jenny Gropp  - welcome Jenny!
• Judy Rozema  - welcome Judy!
• Katie Sims  - welcome Katie!
• Iulia Pasca, our May guest designer

I'm also giving away some Flourishes BLOG CANDY!  Take a peek HERE! *NOW CLOSED*

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Ally ~

Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (Old Tea Rose)
cardstock: Flourishes Classic White Cardstock, Bazzill
die cut shapes: Flourishes (Perfectly Pierced Dies)
ink: Memento, Copic
tools:  Tim Holtz (Piercing tool & ruler).

Happy Mother's Day Blog Candy!!!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED!

Wishing all of your fellow Mother's out there today a very Happy Mother's Day today!!!  I hope you all get pampered today!

In honour of this special day, I have a small giveaway today for one lucky commenter...

This little package contains die cut and stamped images from 3 of the 4 new releases from Flourishes this past week.  Each one is stamped onto Flourishes Classic White Cardstock using Memento "Black Tuxedo" ink. PLUS... I think I'll also throw in a mystery Flourishes stamp set or two.


All you have to do to win is leave a comment below telling me:

How did your children/grandchildren/nieces/nephews honour you today?

 Leave your answer below along with your email address and I'll pick one random winner on Wednesday.

~ Ally ~

Take a Picture!

Happy Saturday everyone!  Today I'm sharing the latest sketch from Let's Capture Our Memories!

This week's fabulous sketch was design by our ever talented Isabelle Doucette!

And here's what I created using Isabelle's sketch this week...

Take a Picture

This layout contains pictures of some of the waterfowl I've seen on the Lake this past month.  We have had visits from a Northern Shoveler (Spoonbill), a Sharp Shinning Hawk, a few pairs of Hooded Merganzers and LOTS of Common Golden Eye Ducks.  These are only a handful of the kinds of waterfowl we've seen!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you'll play along with our sketch this week!

~ Ally ~

Introducing... Simply Charming!

It's our last day of May Releases at Flourishes! We know you've enjoyed all the Sneak Peeks this week of these fabulous new sets! And we've enjoying showing them to you! All our May Release are now LIVE HERE! Now how about showing you one more?

A very popular trend in jewelry right now are charm-bracelets, and today we've made it possible in stylish paper-crafting form. Here's...

Use this set when nothing but a "Simply Charming" card will do! With more than a dozen mix-and-match sentiments and six charms that you can mask and add to the "Tiffany's" style charm bracelet, this set is one of a kind! The options are endless and the uses are downright fun! Let's see what kind of "charming" cards you can whip up with this one! Plus, with a Sihouette Cut File there's no problem combining the bracelet links and charms. All of our Silhouette Files are available now HERE.

Come and be inspired by the Design Team's creativity with this set on their blogs,

And today is your last chance to find the...

Hidden amoung the Design Team is one person who's today's Mystery Blogger, comment on her blog and you could win today's set! How easy and wonderful is that?!
Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Heather Jensen
Julie Koerber
Maki Jones
Silke Ledlow
Stacy Morgan

The first time I laid my eyes on this stamp set I was thrilled!  I knew exactly what I was going to do with it... make a mini album... about "my charming life"... LOL!!...

I grabbed my package of patterned papers from the new 123 Create Kit - "Prairie Chic" and some white cardstock and started designing my album.     

My So Called Charmed Life 

Mini Album - 5" x 5 3/4 "

First I pieced together my front cover and added some stitching and a simple title. I stamped my 2 charms on to Flourishes Classic White Cardstock using Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink. Then I coloured them using a variety of Copic markers. A list of the colours I used can be seen at the bottom of this post.

For my second page, I first stamped the solid heart charm and then masked it off and stamped the ornate heart charm beside it to create a layered effect.  I once again used Flourishes Classic White Cardstock with Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink.  I stamped the "Love" sentiment using Memento "Lady Bug" ink that I had stamped off first to get a lighter pink hue.

For my third page I chose to use the solid heart charm again but paired with the cute little key charm.  For each page, I used some Metallic Silver String to "hang" my charms on.

For my fourth page, I chose the sweet star charm.  I coloured it a bright yellow and added some matching adhesive stars to my page.

For my fifth and final page, I chose to use the circular charm and the cute little shamrock charm together!  I had fun using some pointillism to colour in my charm!

For all of the colouring of my charms, I used the follow Copic Collections:

I hope you've enjoyed my little "Simply Charming" project today!  Don't forget to comment on all the Designer's blogs for your chance to WIN the entire May stamp release!  Don't forget about the other ways you can win this week, you still have time to play in our Colorful Creations Challenge - the deadline for entries is tonight at 5 PM Eastern.

This week's Timeless Tuesday Challenge is another way to win. Click HERE to find out more.

And all our winner's will be announced tomorrow on the Flourishes Blog. Be sure to tune in to see if your name is chosen!

Thanks for joining us in a fun and creative week Flourishes Fans!

~ Ally ~

Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (Simply Charming)
cardstock:  Flourishes Classic White, Bazzill
patterned papers: 123 Create Kit - Prairie Chic
ink: Memento, Copic
binding:  Zutter 
string: Flourishes (Metallic Silver)
tools:  Klic N'Kut
stars: BasicGrey
other: thread.