Thursday, January 31, 2013

I Care


Welcome to a Friday where we show off some of our favorite sets from the past.  Today we're going to show off creations from A Year in Flowers - 1, 2 and 3.  These are some of the most perfect flower sets, a flower for each month and the perfect size and scale for cards.  A number of us played with A Year in Flowers 1 today and this gorgeous crocus image.  


I stamped on Flourishes Classic White with Memento Tuxedo Black, then trimmed it out with Flourishes Classic Pierced Classic Window Die.  I sponged some Memento Lulu Lavendar ink inside of the die, after I had coloured it up with Copics.  I framed behind the image with a Perfectly Pierced Victorian Ovals die in Flourishes Color Made Easy Crocus Collection of cardstock.  



I've finished the design with some Edgeabilities "ruffles" cut from the Emerald Coast Collection of paper, with a little Tag and some pretty bling, a little seam binding bow.  The little sentiment is from our recent Inside and Out - Just Because set.  

So... my husband is still in the hospital.  There have been numerous complications since his surgery to remove his spleen.  An infection source we could not pinpoint, a new procedure to get ride of where we finally thought the infection was coming from, some improvement but still fever.  So we're not there yet.  The past 10 days have been really challenging.  We've been really cared for by friends and our Church, so we're so grateful, but really worn out.  So, I'll keep things short today.  

Check out the rest of the beautiful design team girls today....

Monday, January 28, 2013

Pink Lemonade


I love pink lemonade.  It's a sweet summer treat that tastes so good.  Tuesday it's supposed to be -25 degrees Celcius, with winchills in the -30's.  Super cold.  So I need to create my own sunshine.  

Thanks for all of your sweet words about my husband, you are such an encouragement.   I spent the afternoon and early evening with him, helped him shave that scruffy beard so he feels more human, and generally just had some time together.  When he stays ahead of the pain, he's doing much better.  Still not 100% with the fever that comes back now and again but, I can see he's getting stronger which I'm so grateful for.  I'm hopeful he'll be home later this week.  Though I haven't heard anything definitive yet.  I'd like the stability of having him home that's for sure.  No more being on the road back and forth all day.  

This is from Flourishes pretty set - On the Porch, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Flourishes Classic White cardstock.  Coloring is with Copic Markers, with some pretty accents in crochet velvet and seambinding from the Color Made Easy Collection, and some Candi.  





Sunday, January 27, 2013

Water You Up To?


Water you up to?  What am I up to?  Well, it's been an upside-down unexpected week for us.  If you've been following along you heard me say that my husband broke his wrist playing hockey a few weeks ago.  He went back to our doc because he was still having some lingering side pain,  she send him for an ultrasound and a few hours later told him to get to the hospital, his spleen had to come out ASAP.  Long story short....eventually that's what happened.  Your spleen is supposed to be the size of a fist and my husband's was more the size of a football.  So, he's still in the hospital, spleen-less, in lots of pain, still struggling with a fever from a source we can't pinpoint, and I've been bouncing back and forth between the hospital, basketball tournaments, kids and a wee bit of crazy-ness.  And right now...real exhaustion.  

So I may not be around much in the days ahead...or I may just pull out some designs you haven't seen yet that were for submission that didn't get accepted.  Time is a bit precious here.  I know that many of you are faithful prayer warriors and we appreciate your prayers.  

This watermelon card is stamped on Flourishes Classic White with Memento Tuxedo Black with the set called  Wild for Watermelon, paired with Pistachio Color Made Easy Cardstock and Poppy Cardstock, colored up with Copics.  The background is scored with the Scor Bug tool and the little "watermelon seeds" are Candi colored black with copics.  

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Outside the Box

One of the fun posts we get to do with the CardMaker Blog Team is to find a past project from the magazine and be inspired by it to create something new.  Today on the CardMaker Blog it's my turn and I hope you'll check it out.

We all have designers we admire, and at the top of my list is Debbie Olson.  She is an amazing colourist and I love her eye for just the right elements in design.  I remember when I went to CHA a couple of years ago and went to introduce myself to her, she looked up and said "hey, I know you!".  And she was as delightful as could be.  Talk about a little smile for my heart!  So, I've pulled out a Debbie design from a book we were published in together - Coloring Techniques for Card Making.  Here's just a wee sneak peek of what I did....go check out the CardMaker Blog for more...



Wednesday, January 23, 2013

May Arts Ribbon Hop!


Welcome to our monthly blog hop with CardMaker!  You should have come from Sandy Allnock's Blog here....thanks for joining us!

I'm excited that today we get to partner with my favourite ribbon manufacturer - May Arts to bring you today's inspirations!  We got to play with an assortment of wonderful ribbon, so I have a couple of projects to show you.  And...be sure to read all the way through...May Arts is having a wonderful giveaway too!  



I thought I'd begin with a little ribbony Valentine for you.  I began by die-cutting two layers of Classic Scalloped Hearts from Spellbinders keeping the negative image of the die cut and creating a layered window design, lining the smaller opening with rows of this pretty double striped pink ribbon from May Arts.  All you do is outline the back of the heart with Scor Tape and lay the rows of ribbon down. Then I embossed the lighter pink layer of cardstock with this Fireflies embossing folder.  



A little bow, some gems and this pretty sentiment from Flourishes Inside and Out You stamped onto a little Tailor Made Classic Tag and trimmed out and you have a perfectly pink Valentine!  



For this card, I wanted the ribbon be the center of attention and make a big beautiful statement...so I decided to create a ribbon rose.  (Here's the tutorial if you're interested in making one).    This pretty houndstooth ribbon creates such a pretty rose!  I paired it up with this Sweetness of Friendship stamp from Flourishes stamped in turquoise ink, again using a die as a framing piece by instead keeping the negative of the die cut.  This one is the Floral Ovals from Spellbinders.  To match the ribbon I used a Houndstooth embossing folder on the turquoise cardstock, and added some felt leaves cut with a Sizzix die.  I think the leaves add just the right pop of colour.  Finally I added some pretty gems with this Lacey Ovals Nestabling.  



Such a fun accent don't you think?  




Now you'll want to stop by the May Arts Blog today and enter because they are giving away something special!    FOUR Spools of ribbon of the winner's choice!  How awesome is that?  

Now I'm going to send you off to Dee Dee Catron's Blog to see some more ribbon goodness!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!





Thursday, January 17, 2013

I Love You, Valentine


Welcome to another Flourishes Friday!  This week we want to show you another peek at the beautiful sets we released this month.


Today I created a 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 square card with the gorgeous new set Roses are Red.  Isn't that just a stunning bouquet?  I cut out the shape using our Silhouette cut file for this set, inked the bouquet in Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Flourishes Classic Ivory.  I really love using the cut files because it results in such a polished look.  I mounted the bouquet on our Perfectly Pierced Classic Windows Die cut from some pretty MME - Market designer paper.  Because of the peachy/rosy reds in the paper I coloured up the roses with a mix of peachy red and rosy red Copics.    


Then I added some lovely Color Made Easy seam binding in a crumpled double bow, accented with a Color Made Easy Emerald Coast Button and a little iridescent string to accent, and the sentiment stamped in Love Letter Memento Ink.


And here's the inside of the card, isn't the little {heart} for the apostrophe in the word Valentine's adorable?  




The very talented Design Team that I'm blessed to be a part of will have some gorgeousness to show you with these January sets today too:


Don't forget that the January New Release sets are available at a discount for one last day, today!  Don't miss out on the great deal and these beautiful stamps.  I enjoyed sharing them with you again :)

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

10 Minutes on a Thursday

I have something fun to show you over on the Flourishes Blog today....it's called 10 Minute Thursday,  and its a design that has the wow factor, but really only takes a few minutes to do.  Here's a sneak peek, and I hope you can check it out!


Back with you Friday for another peek at this month's Flourishes New Releases!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

South Dakota Pasque Flower

I have the privelage of showing you a beautiful set illustrated by my CardMarker Blog Teammate Melanie Meunchinger today.  It's especially cool because we lived in South Dakota when we lived in the US, and the sister-in-law I'm sending all these card sets to lives in SD.  So, it's really fun that I can show off the SD State Flower, the Pasque Flower, from Melanie's Stately Flowers 5 set.


I began by stamping the image with Memento Toffee Crunch ink to get that no-line look for colouring.  Then I coloured up the pasque flowers in deep purples shades of Copics.  These flowers have a really textured petal, so I tried to capture that lined look in the colouring.  Then I trimmed them out carefully and used some Ranger Distress ink to age and stamp the background behind the flowers.  


On this card you can see I added texture behind the flower with an embossing folder, and on the other card I added designer paper.  Each it's own look.  A little grossgrain and faceted gems as accent.  

Isn't it a pretty flower?  Its called a Pasque Flower because of the time of the year it blooms, which is right around Easter.  Fun fact that I thought I'd share today!  

Copics:  V01, V05, V06, V09, BG90, BG93, BG96, Y23, Y26, YR24.  

Monday, January 14, 2013

Faith Is...

Back with another set for the SIL!

I picked some cool colours for this one.  One thing that has been really fun about doing this project has been digging out old papers that I haven't used forever.  While it's really fun to use what's new, I'm not a person who ever likes to waste, so it bothers me when I have older papers just sitting.  Papers that are perfectly great still.  This is some older SU paper, with a retired colour - Sage Shadow.  I always thought it was the prettiest shade of cool green.


I was going for a design that could still be a little masculine, so I cut out the Plain Jane - Hebrews 11:1 with Spellbinders Hexagons die.  Angular always seems to work for guys don't you think?  And I love how just a simple switch of papers gives a different look to each design.  


Along with the Plain Jane, I used some leaves from the Dream Big Set, stamped in Sage Shadow, trimming them out and accenting with a little corduroy button and some twine.  

We're limping along a little here with my husband's broken wrist.  I feel so bad for him!  He's still in quite a lot of pain and he's trying his best to live life as a lefty, but it's really hard!  Can't wait till we can get some news from the surgeon this week!  Otherwise I'm going to have to learn how to shave his beard for him :)  That could be interesting!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

In Bloom Sets

I'm continuing to work on some card sets to send to my sister-in-law for her Birthday that I started showing you last week.  I've decided that I'm going to focus on sentiments in these sets, which is really unlike me :).  But I've been having fun with them, and the freedom to do something different with whatever I want to create with.  I've created 10 sets that I'll show you over the next weeks. 

My sister-in-law is a Bible Study Fellowship leader so I know she'll appreciate having the Scripture stamps.   You can click on these to make the pics larger.  I know when I show two at once it makes them look so small.  


This is made with another Plain Jane from Verve Psalm 3:3, and I've paired it with some MME paper I picked up from Michaels, In Bloom.  It's pretty isn't it?  I'm trying to create very similar cards, but with some change-ups in papers.  I sponged the sentiment in some soft Blush Blossom ink from SU, framing it out with some elegant Spellbinders dies.  


A little closeup, using this last week's Deconstructed sketch.  

A quick post for today! Hope this finds you well! 

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Photography 52 - 1

Hi Gang :)

Thanks for dropping by today!  As I told you last Sunday, I'm switching things up a little this year in my photography posts.  Last year I did Project 365 a photo a day for a year.  This year I'm trying to continue with the photography, and continue shooting and learning, but with a little bit of an easier pace.  Some weeks it might just be one photo, some weeks more.

So, with this is the first full week in 2013...it's a little of this and that. First week back in school for the kids, basketball season began for our older son, and we had beach night for our youth ministry.  My husband also fractured/dislocated his wrist playing hockey, and he is in a cast and waiting to see a plastic surgeon this next week to see if he needs surgery.   Always adventure in our lives :)



Winter Frost.  We've had some really chilly and humid days here...it makes for gorgeous hoarfrost on the trees.  


Beach Night!  If you've been around the blog for a while, you know that each year to kick off January we throw a huge Beach Night for our JH & HS students in our ministry.  We transform our youth building into a beach with 4 yards of sand we wheelbarrow in one load at a time, we crank up the heat and PLAY!  Above the kids are playing dodgeball, to the right of what's in the picture is our cabana where we serve slurpees and snacks.  Behind me in the picture is the stage where we have Wii Fit Resort, Fooseball, and pink pong.  We play volleyball, build sand castles and do the limbo.  It's a great night!  



Basketball Tournament - First games of the season were in a tournament this weekend.  And here's our son in the middle waiting for the whistle to get out on the court.  This year he made the Sr. BB Team even though he's a grade younger than everyone on the team.  So, he's so excited, nervous and learning :)  



Up for a shot!  He made his first basket of the season today :)   I sure love basketball.  You can also see my husband in the left background - he's the coach again this year for the team, and you can also probably see his cast on his arm.  The guys won first place tonight in a nail-biter game.  Great start to the year!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

You....

So much you could fill in before or after that little one word above :)  And today's new set at Flourishes shows off all you can do with YOU :)


When Julie made this graphic for us an idea popped into my head right away with what I wanted to do with today's set....


What's better than to brighten someone's day with a little sunshine?!  I combined this great set,  Inside and Out You and one of our older Flourishes sets...April Showers because I knew they'd work perfectly together.  Really there's a lot of sentiments in this new set that you'll just love.  I inked up "you" and "Brighten my Day" with Memento Teal Zeal ink on Flourishes Emerald Coast Cardstock, trimming out "you" very carefully.  The sunshine and clouds are stamped on Flourishes Classic Ivory, and coloured up with Copics, using a little pointillism for the blue skies.  

Then I embossed a layer of Flourishes Sunflower Cardstock with the Fireflies Embossing folder, paired with the Teresa Collins Now and Then DP.  






As you can see I used a little copic multiliner to frame out the square and then added some pretty seam-binding and a Now and Then accent.  So cute, it just brings sunshine to my heart too :)  


The good news is...all three of our new sets are now live -- RIGHT HERE! As always, we have our special New Release Bundle as well -- which will give you 10% off all sets when you purchase them in a bundle. The set we are showcasing today is part of a collection of sentiment sets aimed at giving you oh-so-many options for the insides and outsides of your cards!

If you like this set, you might like our others called Inside & Out Just Because , Inside & Out Thank You or Inside & Out Happy! Be sure to check them out as well.

Would you like to try to win this set? All you need to do is leave some love in the form of a comment on the blogs below! Why? You need to try to figure out who is the…

   


One of the ladies on our link list below will be picking a name from the comments on her blog post today. We don’t know which one it is… so the more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances you have to win! Before we get to the link list of talented ladies – we do have some fun news to share! First up, we have a brand new Silhouette cut file designed to coordinate with our new Roses are Red stamp set! You can find it right HERE in the Flourishes store. The SVG file will come along as well very soon! So, stay tuned for that! And so, without further ado --- hop on over to see our fabulous design team and the gorgeous creations they fashioned using our brand new and ever-so-versatile set that’s perfect for.... YOU!
THE CLOCK IS TICKING TO WIN OUR JANUARY RELEASE!

If you want a chance to win all three of our brand new sets, you can still play in our Love Letters Challenge – there will be multiple winners here! BUT, you have to act fast -- the deadline to enter is 5PM EST today! OR, play along with the gals for this week’s Timeless Tuesday Challenge!

Thanks for dropping by again today!  

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Roses are Red...

Welcome to day two of Flourishes’ January Sneak Peeks featuring three of our newest sets! Today's sneak is all about love and a sweet little poem we all seemed to learn when we were kids! Only now, it's paired with a few beautiful botanicals that are just screaming to be colored up! Are you ready?

  RosesAreRedGraphic

Roses are Red by Marcella Hawley puts a new spin on that old, sweet poem! Roses are Red, Violets are Blue --- you finish the phrase with these mix and match sentiments!  It's so pretty!  


I took the smaller rose and violet stamp from the set and stamped it twice with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Flourishes Classic White Cardstock, creating a bit of a swag to accent this pretty poem.  I coloured up the flowers with Copics and then trimmed them out.  The poem has been cut out with Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Victorian Ovals Die and sponged in the center softly with Memento Love Letter ink.  


I've accented with some pretty organza roses and thin velvet ribbon.   And then I created my own "ruffles" using the Classic Edges Two Edgeabilties die, accenting those with little Kaiser pearls.  The paper is Flourishes Color Made Easy Poppy Collection.  And you might recognize this pretty palette from the card I did for the Love Letters Challenge the other day.  I think it's perfect for this set.  





 Would you like to win this pretty set? Well, why don't you play our little blog comment game......

  Mystery Blogger Graphic 

We don’t know which one of these ladies below will be the Mystery Blogger but one will, so leave comments on all of our designers’ blogs and you’ll be in the running to win today’s Roses Are Red set! Want to see all the fun things you can do with this little number? Head on over and see…..
  FacebookFLLC

Another little tidbit for you? Have you "Liked" us on Facebook yet? We'll have some giveaways there this week as well and you won't want to miss out on the fun! Just click HERE for more of our Release Week FUN!

DO YOU WANT TO WIN OUR ENTIRE RELEASE?

If you want a chance to win all three of our soon-to-be released sets, you can always play in our Love Letters Challenge – there will be multiple winners here! OR, play along with the gals for this week’s Timeless Tuesday Challenge! Check out the links for the official rules! Also, if you like what you see on our designers’ blogs today, you can pre-order this set (along with the other two sets as well). You can also take advantage our New Release Bundle and get 10% off when you purchase all three together in a bundle. All sets will be live first thing Friday morning along with the coordinating cut files for this release. So, be sure to stick with us this week as we unveil a whole new host of paper crafting goodies!

We’ll see you back here tomorrow for another new release sneak peek! This one is another way to add to your sentiment collection! It's a fun one so stay tuned!