Lilacs and Easter Wishes

 Been having some fun with some sketches this week. First off, played with the newest Deconstructing Sketch and some fun lilac stamps!

 Gingham Lilac

Then I had fun playing with a cute little chick and some great pastel papers and this sketch from Sweet Sunday Sketch!

 Tweet! Tweet!

 Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope you're having a great week!

Gingham Lilac Supplies: 
stamps: Flourishes, KaiserCraft
cardstock: Flourishes Classic Ivory
patterned papers: Farmhouse Papers 
inks: Memento, Copic, Ranger
gems: Prima
other: thread. 


Tweet! Tweet! Supplies: 
stamps: Flourishes
cardstock: Bazzill
patterned papers: Authentique
inks: Memento, Copic, Ranger
tool: Klic N'Kut machine
gems: KaiserCraft
other: thread.

 

Timeless Tuesday ~ All That Glitters!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I hope your week has had a happy beginning and just keeps getting better and better!  Now let's see what the newest Flourishes' "Timeless Tuesday Challenge" has in store for us this week...

This week our lovely hostess Broni has an awesome challenge for us.  She is challenging you to create a card or project (FTTC209) using something that sparkles or shines!!  Easy peasy right!!!

I began creating this week by grabbing some cool cardstock that I've had in my stash that I just never knew what I was going to do with.  It's a cardstock with a LOT of sparkle!  You can see it below.  I was prepping it for stamping using my Perfect Printing Pouch.

Here is my first card...

Teal Damask

For this card, I grabbed my "Fanciful Flourishes" stamp set, my Versamark ink pad and my black embossing powder and stamped my damask pattern all over my sparkly cardstock.  I created a double mat for my damask paper using the Flourishes "Color Made Easy" cardstock from the Emerald Coast collection using the medium and dark tones of the teals.  All of my card bases were created using Flourishes Classic Black Cardstock.

I wrapped some gorgeous Flourishes "Sheer Line Edge Teal and White Ribbon" around my card front and tied a pretty bow with some of our silver metallic string.  I added a super sparkly "well-deservedly" named "Sparklet" in crystal with a fun pin from my stash.

I wanted to make a card set, so I created another similar card in tones of red.

Crimson Damask

I created the damask focal paper using the same technique as my teal version except I flipped my damask stamp from the "Fanciful Flourishes" stamp set in reverse for the outer stamped images.

I finished off my card by wrapping my card front with the Flourishes "Color Made Easy" ribbon collection, "Poppy - Basque Red" and the same silver metallic string. I again added a fabulous crystal coloured "Sparklet" to my bow and two simple heart pins.

Instead of some die cut layers at the bottom of my card this time, I stamped the "hello friend" sentiment from the "Inside & Out: Hello" stamp set using Versamark ink and silver embossing powder.

*******

Come along and play with us this week!  Let's see a little SPARKLE on your cards and projects.  Grab some pretty mists, try a sparkly brad or two or even try some cool glitter!  Link up your creations to the Flourishes blog for a chance at winning a little guilt free shopping!

Now, take a peek at what my fellow Timeless Tuesday designers have created for today's challenge…

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Cindy Haffner
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Makiko  Jones
• Bridget Finlay, our February guest designer

You can find all the challenge details at Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge FTTC209.

Supplies: 
stamps: Flourishes (Fanciful Flourishes, Inside & Out: Hello)
cardstock: Flourishes Classic Black, "Emerald Coast", Bazzill
embossing powder: Stampendous!, PK Glitz 
ribbon, string, heart pins: Flourishes

sparkle cardstock: Worldwin
teal pin: My Mind's Eye
die cut edges: Spellbinders
gems: KaiserCraft 
inks: Versamark
accessories: thread.
 

Butterflies and Blooms

Happy Sunday everyone!  My son has been quiet due to illness today so I took some quiet time of my own and found a sketch that called my name to use as inspiration.  I chose the newest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And here is the card I created using this week's sketch.  I flipped the sketch to create my card.

Swallowtail

My card is JAMMED with all kinds of glitter!  I stamped my butterfly twice and created a #D version on the top of the image.  I coloured all of image using Copic markers and then inked it up with Versamark ink and added some sparkly clear glitter embossing powder.  You can see I even added it to my black cardstock as well.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I'd love to hear what you think about my card today!

Supplies: 
stamps: Flourishes, Northwood Rubber Stamps
cardstock: Flourishes Classic White, Bazzill
embossing powder: Stampendous!
inks: Versamark, Copic
gems: HeroArts
accessories:

Happy Birthday Jan Marie!!!

Light the candles, cue the music and get ready for a little bit of birthday fun! It will SOON be a very special lady's birthday and so we rallied the troops to send some birthday wishes her way a little early! On Monday, February 25th, Jan Marie Caruso, the fearless and creative force behind Flourishes will be another year older -- what a wonderful thing to celebrate! So, we've asked Flourishes' designers from all of our teams to join us to help make this day super special with a......

Here's the scoop, there's a way YOU can help Jan celebrate and win some Flourishes stamps as well! HOW? Simply be inspired by the photo above and create a birthday card for Jan. Just that simple! We just love creative challenges at Flourishes and so, why not usher in another one! One randomly drawn winner will get a $25 gift certificate to the Flourishes store, just for playing along! You can find out more about the "official rules" by clicking HERE!

Here is the card I created using the inspirational photo above:

Dearest Jan Marie:

We hope this little celebration fills you with same joy and happiness that you express to each one of us here at Flourishes!  We wish you the BEST birthday ever, spent with wonderful family and friends.  May you be blessed with a year of great happiness, good health and much love!

Super big hugs,

Allison. 

Here's a peek at the inside too...

One extra note? Jan may be the head of this company but one thing she doesn't get a ton of is happy mail from customers using her stamps? Let's change that for her birthday and flood her with some creative "love" by sending her your Berry Sweet Birthday Blog Hop creations! Here's her address so you can pop them in the mail!

Jan Marie Caruso

4140 Lyric Lane

Pensacola, FL 32514

I know she would love to see "in real life" what beautiful work you all do and I know it would bring a huge smile to her face!  So, join us in singing her a special little birthday song! Be sure to check out all the fun and festive wishes and grab some great ideas for birthday cards along the way!

Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence 

Danielle Kennedy 
Heather Jensen 

Julie Koerber
Silke Ledlow
Stacy Morgan 
Allison Cope  - You are here!
Broni Holcombe
Cindy Haffner 
Maki Jones
Aleksandra Mihelič
Dina Kowal
Iwona Palamountain
Kathy Jones

Meredith MacRitchie
Sasha-Marie Holmes
Deborah Anton 
Amanda Havon      

Thanks for stopping by and helping us wish Jan Marie a wonderful and fabulous BIRTHDAY on Monday!

Supplies: 
stamps:  Flourishes (Berry Sweet, Inside & Out: Hello, Sentimental Favorites, Old Fashioned Florals)  
cardstock: Flourishes (Classic White, Color Made Easy: Poppy)
patterned papers: Simple Stories
ribbon: Offray, Micheals
pins: Flourishes, MME
die cut shapes: Spellbinders 
inks: Memento, Copic 
gem: KaiserCraft
accessories: thread.
 

Timeless Tuesday ~ I'm Seeing Red!

Hello everyone!  Hope your week is going well!  It's that time of week again... time for another amazing Timeless Tuesday Challenge at Flourishes!

This week our challenge comes from the super talented Denise Marzec!  Denise is challenging us today to create a project with the colour red (FTTC208).  See... super easy!!

Red Bouquet

 

I began my card this week by first loading up my Flourishes Winter Bouquet SVG File for my digital die cutting machine.  I cut the largest file using Flourishes Classic White Cardstock.  Then I stamped the large bouquet image using Memento "Black Tuxedo" ink into my die cut.

I coloured my image using a variety of the Flourishes Copic Collection sets:

I mounted my pretty bouquet onto of the Flourishes Tailor-made Die, Perfectly Pierced Classic Frames.  I used a bit of Ranger "Fired Brick" Distress Ink to highlight the embossing left by the die.

I finished off the front panel of my card with some Flourishes 'Color Made Easy' "Poppy" cardstock, some "Basque Red" seam binding ribbon, some fun patterned paper and some cool die cuts.

I wanted to incorporate the outside of my card to the inside of my card so I used a few of the same elements of my card front on the inside.

I used the simple greeting of "Congratulations!" from the "Sentimental Favorites" stamp set to finish off the inside.

Come along and play with us this week!  Let's see a little RED on your cards and projects.  Link up your creations to the Flourishes blog for a chance at winning a little guilt free shopping!

Now, take a peek at what my fellow Timeless Tuesday designers have created for today's challenge… 

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Cindy Haffner
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Makiko  Jones
• Bridget Finlay, our February guest designer

You can find all the challenge details at Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge FTTC208.


Supplies: 
stamps: Flourishes (Winter Blossoms, Sentimental Favorites) 
cardstock: Flourishes (Classic White, Poppy)
patterned papers: Simple Stories
inks: Memento, Copic, Ranger 
embossing folder: Cuttlebug
die cut shapes: Spellbinders
digital cut files: Flourishes
ribbon: Flourishes
gems: KaiserCraft
 

Stamps & Scraps - Take a Peek!

Happy Family Day everyone!  Yes... today is Family Day here in Alberta and I'm lucky enough to have my son and husband home today to share it with and then it's back to reality tomorrow.

Today is Create With Me Monday on the Flourishes blog!  It's my turn to share something fabulous.  This month's article is all about paper piecing.  So take a moment and stop on by to take a peek at my creation this month... click HERE!

Find out what I do with this...

 See you there!

Supplies: 
stamps: Flourishes
cardstock: Flourishes, Bazzill
patterned papers: My Mind's Eye 
washi tape: My Mind's Eye 
embossing powder: Hero Arts
inks: Versamark, Memento
tool: Klic N'Kut machine
mists: Tattered Angels
mask: Crafter's Workshop
gems: Kaisercraft
accessories: thread.
 

Super Simple Homemade Valentine's Cards

There is nothing more stressful than realizing that you have forgotten to make cards for important people.  This year I bought Valentine's Day cards for my son to sign and hand out to his friends.  He some how got into them early and there was no longer enough to hand out to his 2 teachers (and his principal and vice principal as he had wanted to! :) )

Being strapped for time this week, I knew I had to whip up 4 cards that were easy to make but yet super fun too!  So I came up with these super, simple cards...

Quilted Hearts

Here's how to make them:

1. Die cut 4 identically shaped hearts out of 4 different patterned papers.
2. Holding ALL 4 hearts lined up together in one hand, cut them into 4 different pieces with scissors. (This could be done with 3 hearts and 3 cuts or 2 hearts and 2 cuts! EASY PEASY!)
3. Assemble each heart so that you have one of each patterned paper as part of the heart.  I put a piece of tape across the back of the pieces of each heart to hold them together while adhered them down.
4. OPTIONAL:  Adhere them to another slightly larger heart die cut.  I used a slightly larger scalloped edge die for mine.
5. Stitch the edges where your patterned papers meet.  If you don't have time to sew, use a fine tipped marker and make faux stitches instead!
6. Adhere your patchwork heart to your card and stamp a simple greeting!  I used the "Happy Valentine's Day!" greeting from the Flourishes "Token of My Affection" stamp set.

Here are the other 3 cards I produced using this technique...

I hope you enjoyed this super easy tutorial.  Try adapting your shape to a star, a circle or even a simple square!  I hope you try it yourself. 


Supplies: 
stamps: Flourishes 
cardstock: Flourishes
die cut shapes: Spellbinders
patterned papers: My Mind's Eye
inks: Memento
accessories: thread.
 

Timeless Tuesday ~ Have a Heart!

Hey everyone!  It's Tuesday!  Time for another Timeless Tuesday Challenge at Flourishes!  Valentine's Day is only two days away and sadly I have made many beautiful cards but just haven't sent them out yet.  Oh well!  I know they'll be appreciated even if they are a little late!

This week's challenge from the super talented Maki!  Maki is challenging us this week to create a card or project with hearts on it (FLLC207)!  Yup... it's as easy as that! 

I knew just what kind of card I was going to create! I found out this week that my "brother" (he's like my brother! - known him since he was a baby!) and his wife are expecting their first baby!  So I knew I wanted to use the super cute "Hello Baby!" stamp set.

I began my card by first stamping the onesie image from the "Hello Baby!" stamp set onto some Flourishes "Color Made Easy" light pink cardstock from the "Poppy" collection using Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink.  I also stamped in on to some cute heart patterned paper.  I fussy cut each image out and applied the heart papers to the top of the pink cardstock.  I also added some white pen detail to the snaps and mini tag on the image using a Inkssentials™ White Opaque Pen.

Then I began to assemble the remainder of my card.  I designed to be a Surprise Pop-Up style of card.  You check out the video tutorial here for Splitcoaststampers.  It's a super fun card to make!

I die cut out the frame for the onesie from the Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Victorian Ovals die set and mounted it on my card front.

When you pull on the tag at the top, you reveal a message of "Best Wishes... Congratulations!"  Both sentiments are from the "Sentimental Favorites" stamp collection.  I used Memento Rich Cocoa ink to stamp all of my sentiments and verses.

The upper portion of the tag created using Flourishes Classic White cardstock, reveals the message:

A baby is a blessing,

a gift from heaven above,

a precious little angel,

to cherish and to love.

This verse is from the "Hello Baby!" stamp set as well. Such a sweet verse too!

I hope you'll join us this week for our fabulous challenge!  We also have our February Pre-Release Challenge that you can enter to win our new release stamps too! Click here to find out what that challenge is all about!

Our February stamp reveal begins TOMORROW on the Flourishes blog!  Make sure to check out what the Senior Design Team has created using this month's amazing new stamp sets!  I promise... you'll want them ALL!


Now, take a peek at what the Timeless Tuesday designers have created for today's challenge… 

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Cindy Haffner
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Makiko  Jones
• Bridget Finlay, our February guest designer

You can find all the challenge details at Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge FTTC207.


Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (Hello Baby!, Sentimental Favorites)
cardstock: Flourishes (Classic White), Bazzill
patterned papers:  Carta Bella
die cut shapes: Spellbinders
pin: Making Memories 
pen: Inkssentials 
inks: Memento
ribbon: Offray
accessories: thread.
 

Timeless Tuesday ~ It's Sketchy!

Hello everyone and happy Tuesday to all! I want to take a quick moment and welcome our newest designer to the Friends of Flourishes Team, Deborah Anton!  Welcome Deborah!  We're so happy to have you as one of the Flourishes family.

Our challenge this week, FTTC206, comes us from me this week.  I am challenging you to create a card using the following sketch this week...

 

Please feel free to flip or rotate our sketch this week to fit your project.  You may also substitute the heart for anything your heart desires.

Here is the card I created for this week's challenge that you saw on the Flourishes blog today...

Thank You

So instead of sharing it again, I decided to create another card using the sketch to showcase to you here on my blog.

Thinking of You

To begin my second card creation, I first created my card base from the rich dark purple cardstock from the Flourishes "Color Made Easy", the Crocus collection, and then cut three different pieces of patterned paper to fit within the matting of my Flourishes Classic White Cardstock. I then cut a long strip of patterned paper and matted it as well with a fishtail cut at the end.

Then I used my electronic die cutting machine, using the "Stitched for You" SVG Cut File (also available for the Silhouette, here!), cut out my shape and stamped my "Stitched For You" image on the Flourishes Classic White Cardstock using Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink.

I then coloured my image in with a variety of Copic Collection markers; 

Here's a close up of my coloured image...

I stitched all my patterned panels and then added my final greeting strip of paper.  I used the "Botanical Bookplates Volume 2" stamp set for my simple greeting.  And voila... a card was born!

I can't wait to see what you do with my sketch this week! Good luck!

Take a peek at what the Timeless Tuesday designers have created for today's challenge… 

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Cindy Haffner
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Makiko  Jones
• Bridget Finlay, our February guest designer

You can find all the challenge details at Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge FTTC206.


Supplies ~ "Thank You": 
stamps: Flourishes (Botanical Bookplates Vol.2, Inside & Out: Thank You, Tiny Flowers & Tags, Pears)
cardstock: Flourishes (white, black), Bazzill, vellum
patterned papers: My Mind's Eye
ribbon:  Flourishes (Primrose)
die cut shapes: Spellbinders
inks: Memento, Ranger, Copic
gems: Queen & Co.
accessories: thread.

Supplies ~ "Thinking of You": 
stamps: Flourishes (Botanical Bookplates Vol.2, Stitched For You)
cardstock: Flourishes (white, dark purple)
patterned papers: Bo Bunny
inks: Memento, Copic
gem: Prima
accessories: thread.