Sunday, October 30, 2011

Surprise 75th for Mom

Hello there Friends,

We had a very full weekend here.  Friday we had youth events, and then on Saturday my brother and I (and our spouses), threw a surprise 75th Birthday Party for my mom, with forty of our family and her friends there.  My husband and I were in charge of cooking the meal and decorating for the party.  My mom's and my birthdays are just one day apart.  So we actually celebrated her birthday on my birthday.  I was her best birthday present (wink!).  It was a very busy but very great celebration.

My mom loves orchids.  They are her favourite flower, and we got her an orchid corsage just like these orchids in the card I made for her.   She also loves purple, and though it's not as much my color, I knew she would love these Orchids I colored from Flourishes.


It's a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 size card to give me the room I needed for the design.  I wanted a sort of classic vintage design so I used numerous Spellbinders Dies, and a Sizzix die too, (see recipe for details).  The satin ribbon is paired with a gorgeous crochet ribbon from Flourishes .  And then some beautiful Sparklets from Kaiser.  


I added quite a bit of detailing on the bottom of the design with my Spellbinder's Edgeabilities Classic Petal dies, as well as a sizzix die for that fan like detail under the crochet lace.  


The sentiment is from the little mini set Motherly Love.   And it's a perfect tribute to my mom.  


And here's my cute little mom at the party.  

And this is the three of us on Sunday Mom, me and our daughter who all celebrate October Birthdays :)



Recipe:  Stamps:  Flourishes - Orchids, Motherly Love;  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black;  Paper:  Prism Iced Amethyst, Flourishes Classic Ivory, My Mind's Eye - A Beautiful Life;  Accessories:  Grand Calibur, Spellbinders - Classic Petal Edgeabilities, Sizzix Border Plate Die, Classic Oval Nestabilities, Labels Eighteen, Labels Twenty Nestabilities, Crochet Lace, Kaiser Sparklets, Satin Ribbon, Bow Easy, Victorian Embossing Folder, Dimensionals, Copic Markers.  (V01, V04, V05, V06, V09, BV000, BV00, Y38, G40, G82, G94)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Sunshiny Friday

Welcome to another Flourishes Friday Gang!  The Design Team is putting together some lovely inspiration for you today.  Today I have a Thank You card I made for the Pastor and Family that we stayed with in Mexico City.  They are SO dear to us.  


I was able to use the beautiful Sunflowers Set from Flourishes as well as just a part of the sentiment from the gorgeous Flourishes FLIP set this year.  I wanted to make something that had lots of warmth and vibrancy to reflect the Mexican culture.   Sorry for the bright sunshine and shadows in the photo, I had to take the pic quickly before we left on our trip.  


I went with some red tones and yellow for the flower petals in my Copic Markers, and then paired the image with the pretty papers from MME Rosy paper pack.  And then I added the pretty flower shaped button from the Rosy button accents in the store to match.   I've used some really pretty pleated Plisse Satin ribbon.  I've also used a number of Spellbinders dies, Nested Pennants, Labels Five Nestabilities, and Fair Isle Border Petites.  

And here's a picture of our wonderful friends on the day of their son's wedding.


Now head on over to see what the other awesome girls have been up to:


Hope to be back to some more regular creating and commenting next week, I'm still catching up! 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A Week Around the Continent

Hello Friends!

A whirlwind week for us.  My husband and I just returned on Monday night from a week in Mexico.  Our primary reason for going was to celebrate a wedding.  Most of you know that my husband and I are Youth Pastors here in Canada and every other year we take our High School students on a Mission Trip to help with two churches in the Mexico City area.  We've become really close to the Pastor's family there and their son was getting married, and we were invited.   It was really important to us to go, but I asked my husband if there might be some way we might also add a few days of warm weather vacation along with it.  Turns out, because its the end of hurricane season in Mexico, it's quite inexpensive to go to a resort, so we also added 5 days in Cancun together!  In our 17 + years of marriage, and our 15 years of being parents we've never left our kids for more than a weekend, so this was a huge deal for all of us.  Gratefully my parents, and a number of our good friends were able to help us with the kids.  And though we all missed each other -  everything went great and we had an amazing, meaningful and precious time there together.

The wedding was amazing.  They are the most lovely, kind, warm, faith-filled and in-love couple!    I can't tell you what an honor it was to be a part of the celebration.   I feel so very blessed to know them and to see them begin their life together, and to see that God continues to use them in their community.


The wedding was outdoors in a garden type setting.  The weather was crazy beautiful.  Complete blue skies, and even after being in the sun in Cancun, I burned horribly that day!  

They had asked that everyone attending wear something purple, so the whole wedding coordinated so beautifully!


The reception was on the same site, just inside a larger building with an open air style to the garden where the ceremony had been.  We had a wonderful time.  Mexican weddings are full of celebration!  Lots of music and fun and laughter, our food was Carnitas (amoung many other yummy things) for supper which was delicious, with an amazing cake with mangos as the wedding cake.  And we saw many fun Mexican Wedding traditions along the way over the day.  


To match the wedding theme here is the card that I made for them. 


I just love the Cherry Blossoms set from Flourishes, and love the wedding theme that some of the sentiments have, especially the verse from John that's in it "love one another".  I know that cherry blossoms aren't purple :)  but it worked for the wedding.   Yes, I cut out the blossoms myself with my scissors - painstakingly, but it's worth it for the effect.  

I colored up the blossoms with Copics in different mixes of the Violet and Crocus Collections.  I used my Grand Calibur to make the largest circle card I could that would fit in a square Envelope I had.  As well as the Grand Scalloped Circle Dies and Grand Circle Dies, as well as as the sentiment on the Doily Heart Circle Dies.  I wanted it all in Spanish so I just printed the sentiment out on the computer, cut it out with the die and then sponged it with ink.  


For accent I have a lovely pearl fan spray, velvet metallic ribbon and then some silk ribbon along the bottom of the card ruffled up.  


Inside....


It reads something like  "Love one another.  As I also have loved you, so you must also love one another".  John 13:34 .  It's so hard for me to pull out the correct Spanish from my Spanish Bible because I'm still so elementary in my speaking and understanding - but it's coming.  Nothing like being immersed in Espanol for a week to help your language learning along!  I think it actually reads "also you must love one another".  

So...I'll try to show you some more photos of Cancun in the days ahead.  As soon as I get caught up.  My head is in a fog from being so far away and in another culture for a week.  Thanks for joining me to day! 

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Dreamy Reader

Today our beautiful daughter turns fifteen.  Oh my word, where are the years going!  Here are a few goofy pictures from my Hipstamatic app on my phone.


She is at such a great age.  I really am enjoying this time with her.  She's becoming more independent and really growing up, and yet still wants a relationship with us (for which I am so grateful!).  She's easy to talk to and spend time with, she's fun and so very bright, thoughtful and faith-filled.  She'll text me randomly just to chat when she's away from me - which I love.  She's a good big sister, a great friend and turning into this beautiful young lady.   Tonight her small group leader from Youth Group is taking her and her two best friends out for supper.  Very fun :) 


Last week my dear friend Julie Koerber was chosen as the Featured Stamper over at Splitcoaststampers and I couldn't let that go by without casing her - so her card was the inspiration for our daughter's Birthday card.  Ever since our daughter was tiny (and I do mean tiny) she has had a love for books and reading.  As a baby she would intently page through board books, and she was a very early reader at 4 years old, and honestly outside of reading to her - she really figured it all out on her own!  She still LOVES to read, so this image from Flourishes Sweet Days of Summer reminds me so much of our girl.  

Here is the link to the beautiful card of Julie's that I cased.  I've used some beautiful new My Mind's Eye paper called Vanity Fair, and sanded the Labels Eight layer like Julie loves to do.  It really adds a neat effect on Designer paper to have the core white show through.  The butterflies are also a part of one of the DP pages, so I just trimmed them out, and popped them up.  The pinks actually do have a much closer match in real life.  


And here is the inside of the card.  

So Happy Birthday my first-born love!  We are beyond blessed that you are ours!  

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Christmas Candles


We're down to the last day of Sneak Peek Previews of all these gorgeous sets at Flourishes this October.  Haven't they been wonderful?  Today we have a double bonus, a great new set called Christmas Candles, and a gorgeous new 1 2 3 Create Kit called Sunshine!


Sometimes wonderful papers give you new combinations you might not have thought of before.  This Sunshine Kit did just that for me.  It combines deep black, cream, mustard and a soft sky blue that looks fabulous together.  It's one gorgeous kit - the papers are amazing - but even more-so the fantastic accents to go with them.  

I colored this up with Copics trimming it out with a Labels Fourteen Die, then adding some pretty scallops under the trims and along the bottom.  What I think is SO cool, is the deep yellow ribbon has iridescent blue in it.  So when you turn it - or pull the threads on the ends like I have, that gorgeous blue show through. 


And because I put the sentiment on the inside of the card I'll show you that too. 

Such a beautiful verse  - especially for Christmas.  

JUST BREAKING NEWS....Flourishes is decking the halls to get ready for the Christmas season and we’ve stocked the shelves with a brand new 2011 Flourishes Christmas Catalog. This 20 page full color catalog offers a look at not only every Flourishes Christmas set that is available, but a handful of tutorials showcasing projects that are perfect for the Christmas gift giving season. It even offers a sneak peek at some of our Christmas sets for November! At just $6, this catalog is a must have!


Now please go ahead and enjoy more with this lovely set Christmas Candles, and you'll see more of the 1 2 3 Kit along the way with Julie and Dawn!  


LAST WARNING.... :) 

  • There is one last Mystery Blogger, if you comment on each of the DT posts you increase your chance of finding the Mystery Blogger, and you could be chosen as the winner!  Winner will be announced as usual – on the Saturday Winner’s Circle post on the Flourishes Blog and you will win the set of the day.
  • Don't forget to play in the Heavy Metal Challenge this week!  You could win the entire New Release!  Tonight is the deadline!
  • You still have time to play in the Noon Time Challenges.   See the  Flourishes Blog  for the listing of Wednesday and Thursday Noon Challenges. And if you play you can WIN!
  •   You can already order the New Release Bundle – and receive 10% off all four sets!  This discount will only be available for one week following the release

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A Season of Celebrations


I can't really believe Christmas is coming when we've had such a beautiful warm Autumn season.  But I know very quickly that cold weather will come sweeping in and it will feel much more like Christmas is coming.  This sweet set illustrated by Lauren Pope is wonderful for all those sweet celebrations - Christmas, winter - or however your imagination desires!


Decorating the Christmas Tree is still one of the highlights for our kids each year and this stamp really captures that celebration.  I've stamped this beautiful silhouette in a deep hunter green, and then to capture some of the tones I was looking for, I came back with a deep teal marker over top - especially in the tree.  Then to add the sparkle: I inked just the tree with VersaMark ink and then embossed it with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder.  It takes on the perfect blue/green tones with tons of sparkle. 


The gorgeous paper is from My Mind's Eye called Breeze.  It's GORGEOUS.  I've added lots of detailing with my Spellbinders dies and my Grand Calibur, Using the Fleur De Lis Rectangles and Classic Rectangles behind the main silhouette embossing and sponging for some texture, the sentiment on Ribbon Banners Shapeabilities, and the beautiful bottom detailing with my Edgeabilities Classic Bracket.  I have really enjoyed these Edgeabilities dies.  


I also inked the sentiment first in a deep teal and then just inked the edges of the sentiment in deep green to get that two-toned effect.  

You can also see the pretty ribbons....velvet and the lovely iridescent cream ribbon I love so much.  

Join these wonderful girls for some more beautiful samples of this great set!

 -    Each day we have A Mystery Blogger, if you comment on each of the DT posts you increase your chance of finding the Mystery Blogger, and you could be chosen as the winner!  Winner will be announced like usual – on the Saturday Winner’s Circle post on the Flourishes Blog and you will win the set of the day.
·         Don't forget to play in the Heavy Metal Challenge this week!  You could win the entire New Release!  Deadline is tomorrow (Friday)
·      TODAY please stop back at the Flourishes Blog at Noon Central time. Each day a Noon-Time Challenge will be given.  And if you play you can WIN!
·        TOMORROW we will release the 1,2,3, Create Kit – and it's UBER gorgeous :)  Just sayin'! 
·         Do you know you're already in love with the sets?  You can already order the New Release Bundle – and receive 10% off all four sets!  This discount will only be available for one week following the release.

The Name Game Challenge


Hello Again Friends!

What's in a name?  By another other name would a rose smell so sweet?  How about making a name a source of creative direction?  This week Julie has invited some of our Flourishes Fans to create the noon-time challenges and Suzanne Czosek joins us this noon to usher in one fun-filled challenge that is all about the name game!  Simply use your monogram as the inspiration for your creation. Keyword: FLLCORW1 Deadline for challenge would be Friday, October 14th at 5 
PM EST.


So here's where I went with my initials...CCO.  Cream, Coloring and Ovals



I used the beautiful hanging ball of misteltoe from the set and added lots of elegance in shape and texture.  I colored up the misteltoe with some blue green copics using the Spruce Collection as well as adding some touches of green with my G40, and then the Creams with the Creamy Collection of Copics.  


I used numerous Spellbinders Shapes:  The fancy flourishes are new Shapeabilities called Floral Flourishes , Scalloped Ovals, Lacy Ovals, and Lacy Squares (for the bottom border).  


For accent I've added some thin Teal Velvet ribbon threaded through some lovely fancy crochet ribbon.   The pretty sparklets are new in the store too Kaiser - Sea Breeze.  Super classy!


So for more inspiration on this great challenge please visit....  Tammy, Stacy, Maki and Suzanne

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Merry Mistletoe



It's day two of Flourishes October Releases and it's another pretty day on the horizon!  I said yesterday that it would be so pretty you'd want to kiss me - and now you can see why, it's Mistletoe!

I created this pretty card with that circle theme of the berries of mistletoe, with some crisp cool greens. 



Coloring is done with some very light blues and greens (BG0000, BG11, BG70) (G0000, G40, G21, G12).  There is a pretty bough stamp in the set as well - and I curved it to match the circular shape.  I cut all the shapes with my Grand Calibur, using the Grand Circles, and Grand Scalloped Circles Dies.  It makes larger circular cards so easy!  And I love that the scallops make it easy for the card to stand too rather than roll around.  



  
I've added some luxurious white silk ribbon and metallic velvet ribbon (I love these metallic ribbons - so shimmery!) as well as some white pearls and a little sentiment flag.  You can see above touches of glitter in the coloring with my Sakura Gelly Roller pen.  


Now here are the important details for the week ahead:  



  •   Each day we’ll have the Mystery Blogger, if you comment on each of the DT posts you increase your chance of finding the Mystery Blogger, and you could be chosen as the winner!  Winner will be announced like usual – on the Saturday Winner’s Circle post on the Flourishes Blog and you will win the set of the day.
·         Don't forget to play in the Heavy Metal Challenge this week!  You could win the entire New Release!  
·      Today and Thursday please stop back at the Flourishes Blog at Noon Central time. Each day a Noon-Time Challenge will be given.  And if you play you can WIN!
·        Friday we will release the 1,2,3, Create Kit – and it's UBER gorgeous :)  Just sayin'! 
·         Do you know you're already in love with the sets?  You can already order the New Release Bundle – and receive 10% off all four sets!  This discount will only be available for one week following the release!

Now for some KISSABLE inspiration drop on over to:
Drop back at Noon Central Today....I'll have more to show you in the Noon-Time Challenge!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Holiday Sparkle


A very fun week ahead for you as we preview the October Stamp sets and new kit from Flourishes!  You'll see some fantastic creations beginning today with our very lovely Christmas ornament set Holiday Sparkle.  I love it because it pairs really well with an older Flourishes set All That Glitters and yet has it's own wonderful fresh appeal.  I just love Marcy's illustrations! 


I thought I would have some fun with this adorable Santa ornament and do something in a more non-traditional color scheme.  Santa's can be dressed in green right?  I love the longer pine branches in this set too, really classy looking and perfect for hanging ornaments. 

I put a lot of shimmer and shine into this card.  The embossed artichoke layer has been sprayed heavily with Glimmer Mist in Iridescent Gold, and I also sprayed the sentiment oval (though less heavily).  After I colored Santa in two shades of Copic Greens (Evergreen Collection and Fields Collection ), then I added Spica pen shimmery accents overtop.    I also had to create a great big double bow with two silk ribbons in Champagne and Moss Olive Green.  


I added some skin tone accents in Copics Flesh Tones 1 Collection, and some warm greys for shadows (W1, W2).  


Trust me - lots of pretty sparkle here.  :)

So today the Design Team is teaming up with the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Team to create a card that is an ornament - or has an ornament on it....so you'll find lots of inspiration today!

and


Now here are the important details for the week ahead:  



 -    Each day we’ll have the Mystery Blogger, if you comment on each of the DT posts you increase your chance of finding the Mystery Blogger, and you could be chosen as the winner!  Winner will be announced like usual – on the Saturday Winner’s Circle post on the Flourishes Blog and you will win the set of the day.
·         Don't forget to play in the Heavy Metal Challenge this week!  You could win the entire New Release!  
·      Wednesday and Thursday please stop back at the Flourishes Blog at Noon Central time. Each day a Noon-Time Challenge will be given.  And if you play you can WIN!
·        Friday we will release the 1,2,3, Create Kit – and it's UBER gorgeous :)  Just sayin'! 
·         Do you know you're already in love with the sets?  You can already order the New Release Bundle – and receive 10% off all four sets!  This discount will only be available for one week following the release!
I think that covers it all.  Hope to see you again tomorrow when I get to show off some more...you'll want to kiss me it's so pretty (wink!)