Saturday, August 31, 2013

Photography 52 - 35

Woweee, welcome to September!

Tuesday begins school here...so the last days of summer freedom for the kids are drawing to a close.  We're back at work, but we're enjoying the warm summer weather, and can already feel the chill in the air at night.  

This week was a milestone for our Church.  We began demolition to make way for a rebuild!  The 60 year-old portion of our Church is being take down and we are reconstructing a more usable facility for where our ministry is now and will be into the future.  We're pretty excited  - but a little wistful too.  The Church isn't a building - it's the people;  but we've also got a lot of fond memories here in this building.  Like, the spots our kids went to the Nursery and Sunday School, taking books out of the Library...meals and fundraisers in the old kitchen...meeting people in the foyer, all the behind the scene spots the kids discovered over the years - now needs to give way for new.  So, even though demolition day was our day off, we had to go by and check it out.





Hearing the wood beams splinter and crack was pretty amazing.  It was so well constructed all those years ago, almost entirely by volunteer labour.  I'll be so excited in a year or so to see our new facility and be back in the building.  Right now we're meeting in a school during construction.  


One afternoon this week, we went with some friends to a small town near here that's near the river.  We brought a picnic along and let the kids goof around.  These kids have been friends since birth.  They had fun wading in the shallow water, skipping rocks, and generally just enjoying the day.  


Hope you enjoy this first day of September in your neck of the woods.  Thanks for dropping by!



Thursday, August 29, 2013

Ferns and Fiddles

Free for All Friday with Border

Today you're going to see some fun creations from the Design Team with a couple of our still beautiful but older sets Ferns and Fiddles and Falling Leaves ...perfectly inspiring sets for the upcoming season of Autumn!


I chose to work with Ferns and Fiddles and create a very botanical feel design, with lots of rich color but (shock!!) no colouring!  There's a real earthiness to this pretty set and I wanted to show it off in a different way.  I began by stamping some of the fern elements with VersaMark ink onto Flourishes Classic Ivory card stock, then clear embossing those parts.  After that had cooled I took some other inks in our Color Made Easy - Evergreen collection Olive Grove and Pistachio ink pads and stamped other elements of the set, as well as sponging to give it lots of colour depth.  

You'll also be able to see that I stamped the ferns onto the Evergreen Collection card stock keeping the design quite simple with the addition of some lace, an olive button, ribbon and Ivory Jute twine and a little sentiment flag. 


As I tipped the design you can see that I added some pretty Mister Huey's Color Mist in Shine to the design giving it all-over shimmer.  I found these on our trip at an Archiver's store.  What a fun field trip that was! 

Be sure to stop by the Flourishes Blog today - it's your LAST chance to play in our Designer Focus this summer and you'll be introduced to our newest Senior Designer!  Play along in the CASEing challenge and you'll be in the entry for winning a Flourishes Goodie bag!

Now you can head on over and visit the rest of the team...
Thanks for dropping by everyone!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Apples Framed


It's almost apple season here!  Our tree has produced an abundance of apples this year, which we're thrilled about.  The ones I picked last week weren't ready yet, so the wait is on!

While we were on the American Adventure one of our stops was staying with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law in Colorado Springs.  While we were there I was wracking my brain trying to come up with something that would be a nice gift to say thank you for letting us stay with them.  Then I thought about making something for them once we got home.  My sister-in-law has a sort of fruity/apple theme in her kitchen, so I thought I'd try to create something with that in mind.  So, here is what I'll be sending them,  a 8 x 10 framed piece of art and a card.   I have a lot of pictures because once the glass was in the picture I wasn't about to take it out again.  


I'll start with the framed piece.  I took the Flourishes set - Apple of My Eye and stamped it on Memento Tuxedo Black onto Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock two times.  I coloured up the image with Copic Markers finishing one whole design.  Then I decided which parts of the design I wanted to come forward (like a paper tole feel) and coloured a second image of those parts, cutting them out and popped them up.  I didn't do a alot of "popping", but just a few parts and it really looks awesome in person.  


The image is so striking, but with colouring alone it looked a little bare.  My sister-in-law has some blues throughout her kitchen and living area so I wanted to give it some blue in the design as well.  I traced where the matting of the frame would hit and then used my B91 and B93 markers to colour long stripes of blue along those edges.  Just the colouring alone would have been to stark a contrast so I took out an old wash-cloth and dampened it with Copic Blender solution and pressed onto the blue areas lifting some of the colour away in the same texture as the washcloth.  It really leaves the design with softened edges and a real organic feel.  I also added some B91 in the shadows with a little pointilism to tie the parts together.  


Then to keep that organic print feel going I inked up the APPLES sentiment in Memento Rhubarb Stalk ink and stamped and stamped off the word going vertically and horizontally.  In this picture above you might be able to see some of the dimension as well.  Several of the apple blossoms, a leaf, and one section of the apple in the foreground.  I'm quite delighted by how it turned out.  

Now for the card:


Simple and very traditionally apple :)  I used one of the smaller apples cut out with one of our Perfectly Pierced Classic Frames die, paired with Echo Park Beautiful Life dp and Color Made Easy Pistachio cardstock.    


It makes a nice set that I think they'll like!

Thanks for popping by today!  See you Friday for more!


Sunday, August 25, 2013

For the Simple Things


The season of Thanksgiving is coming up soon!  Especially for us in Canada as we celebrate Thanksgiving in October.  So I'm so grateful to have this fantastic new set from Flourishes to use this year.  It's called Autumn Blessings, and I really love this old wheelbarrow full of lovely pumpkins and gourds.  It's perfectly seasonal!

I went for the no-line look in the colouring again with this image because it seems to suit it so well.  So the image is inked in Memento Peanut Brittle ink on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock and then die cut out with our Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Classic Frames Die.  Colouring is done with Copics in rich Autumn shades.  



The papers are MME, paired with Terra Cotta Color Made Easy cardstock.  I've inked the sentiment in Potter's Clay and Peanut Brittle ink. I love how the no-line look really gives that rusty or worn feel to the wagon too.  



And here's the inside of the card too.  Just some simple touches to make it pretty.  Hope you enjoyed today's visit and have some simple thing to give thanks for today.  

Thanks so much for dropping by!  



Saturday, August 24, 2013

Photography 52 - Week 33 & 34

Hello friends!

I had zero time last week for photos, it was the last chance for us to finish up last minute things around the house and with the kids before we headed back to work.  But I have lots of photos this week.


I snuck in on our youngest son one night after he'd fallen asleep.  He still has that baby face, and how precious is a child sleeping?  I realize that the days as him as my "baby" are going quickly.  It's good to capture some of these moments.  



My mom's dahlias are just beautiful still.  So much more abundant in size than mine, of course I was gone for a month and she feeds hers plant food.  Aren't the colours in this one amazing?  



Here is a dahlia bud, do you see the little ant in there?  I wonder if it's like peonies and they need the ants to help them bloom.  


We had gone to help my dad cut down his cedars in front of their house.  As you can see they had long since grown too high and were becoming straggly.  So my husband did the chainsaw and my dad and our oldest son pulled so it would fall in the right direction.  I love seeing my son right alongside of my dad.  



He was just so happy to have them cut down, so I'm glad I captured this smile on his face.  




While they were cutting down trees, my mom and I were making cherry pie filling with the cherries from our tree.  



It's all in the eyes.  When you can capture light in the eyes of your subject - it's always great.  This son of ours has grown SO much this summer.  Taller than me, and growing every day it seems, with a new tone in his voice :)  



Oh I just love these little toes of my nephew.  He was perching on tippy toes to try and help his daddy open birthday presents.  "This one daddy!  This one next!"  



Reading with the big cousin is always fun for a little princess.  My big princess enters grade 12 this fall, and I can hardly believe how quickly it's gone.  




More and more candles on that cake for my brother.  The little guy thinks he's helping blow too :)  I love his little face!

And that's what this week looked like from my view!  Thanks for joining me!


Thursday, August 22, 2013

Watercoloring Wonders


Welcome! Today the Flourishes Senior Team is going to do something a little different!  We're going to spend this Friday on a Technique Focus we think you'll enjoy.  It's one that's very "hot" in the cardmaking industry right now, watercolor.  You'll see many examples of some great watercoloring techniques along the way with the Design Team.

We're also going to focus on a product we have in store that's great for watercoloring, AND it's in our OVERSTOCK Sale too! It's our Letraset Aqua Markers, which are perfect for watercoloring, and on sale - who can beat that!

Here's the details about the sale:  If you click HERE, you can take a trip to our SALE page you’ll find hundreds of items with prices that will be slashed at the time of check out! Just add the coupon code OVERSTOCK25 and 25% will be deducted from your total. This coupon code will ONLY work on SALE  PAGE items. We have inks, paper, embellishments, ribbons and even overstocked stamp sets. On those items with sale prices, you will be able to take an ADDITIONAL 25% off! It’s the deal of the season! So click HERE to shop early for the best selection! As well we wanted to remind you that today is our last day to purchase the August New Release Bundle at a discount.   Here's a reminder of how beautiful the August sets are:


SS256-2
   

SS249-2

SS241-2

Now...we'll get to what I created with some watercolouring!  It is a technique I really do enjoy, and it's a real peaceful and patient process for me, which is sometimes really good for the design brain :).  


I began with the beautiful Old Tea Rose set, stamping it with Versafine Vintage Sepia onto watercolor paper.  Then I took out our Letraset Aqua Markers and went to work.  What I like about these markers is that there's a good level of control to your colouring.  What I'll often do to start with is to use the markers to pool a little colour directly on my acrylic block or some palette type surface.  Then I'll use the empty Aqua Marker Blender (works like an empty felt or water brush), pick up the amount of colour I'm looking for and then colour it onto my image.  With watercolouring you want to build layers of colour.  Then as you get colours built to the way you like them you can also add the marker directly to your paper for those areas of deeper colour or saturation.  After colouring I die cut out the image with our Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Victorian Ovals die (so great that the piercing is right in the die!).  The little sentiment is done on the smallest die from our Perfectly Pierced Classic Hourglass die.  I overstamped other parts of the stamp set onto Color Made Easy Tiger Lily Collection of card stock that I had cut from a Spellbinders Grand Labels Four die, just trimming off the little point of the shape for the card base. 


Another fun detail was how I coloured the seam binding.  Sometimes you run out of your favourite colour and what can you do?  Sticking with the watercolouring theme, I spritzed water on my cream seam binding and coloured with my Letraset Markers right on the seambinding, crunched it up and heat setting it a bit to let it dry.  I got this pretty variegated ribbon in return :)  The markers are really versatile and even better because they're on SALE!  



So now you can head on over to the Design Team and see their lovely Focus on Watercolor today.  But don't forget to keep reading on the Flourishes blog...there's more for you in a Designer Focus on Tosha Leyendekker!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Sugar and Spice


One of our friends house-sat for us while we were on our American Adventure this summer and today I had coffee with her and gave her a gift to say thank you.  She's moving out soon on her own, so I got her an Apron, dish towels and a very fun YELLOW mixer (her favourite colour).  This was the card I made for her.  It uses Flourishes Fresh Baked set with this pie that I just LOVE.  I stamped it on Flourishes Classic Ivory with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and cut it out with Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Classic Window Die (I SO love these dies and their built in piercing.  So classy!)  

I did some pretty playing around with designer paper sewing in 3 panels on the Color Made Easy Emerald Coast card stock, adding some seam binding and a very fun bottle cap accent for the sentiment.  It's great because it looks JUST like the pie plate!  You just punch a 1 inch circle to fit inside and then cover with an epoxy dot.  


So cute!  I paper pieced the dish towel too, and coloured up the scene with Copics.  

Here's the Collections I used:








+ BG10, BG11, BG13, BG15, BG18

I love the country kitchen feel!

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Missing You


One of our kids' absolute favourite things about our Sabbatical, and our trips was the amount of time they got to spend with their US cousins.  I am always amazed by how close they are and how much they love to spend time together.  They absolutely treasure it, and that's always made us really happy.  This Sabbatical they spent a week in Cancun together and 2 weeks this summer, you'd think they'd get tired of each other but no, there is much wailing and crying going on when we have to say goodbye.  

So we have a few things to go with in a package for them, and I thought I'd send this card along too.  It's with TCP's cute set Hare Today.  The TCP Challenge this month is to create a Long Tall Card that fits in a business size envelope.  Since I often create with standard sized A2 cards, it was fun to do something with a little different real-estate.   

The bunny is coloured with Copics to match this very fun paper from Glitz called Uncharted Waters.  
There's some really fun papers in this pack.  



Simple details including fishtale banners to go with that long narrow look.  The sentiment was perfect because that's exactly how the kids feel about their US cousins right now.

Thanks for stopping by gang!  Always delightful to "see" you!


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Autumn Blessings



Welcome to our last day of August New Releases at Flourishes! We're thrilled with your response to these beautiful fall-themed sets, and to finish our week out we know you'll love today's little treasure too! You can celebrate all that Autumn has to offer with a spirit of thanksgiving. This beautiful and earthy set penned by Marcella Hawley features three main images, two accent images and six mix and match sentiments. Set measures 4 by 6.  It has a wonderful homespun feel and the Design Team had a lot of fun playing with it. You'll also be glad to hear that it has it's own cut-file for extra creating options.  Welcome to Autumn Blessings!

Marcy has done it once again in creating these little vingnettes for Fall that are gorgeous! 


Isn't that awesome?  I really enjoyed colouring this one!  I went for more of the no-line look by stamping the image with Memento Peanut Brittle ink, and then colouring with Copics.  The tones work really great for an autumn image.  I die cut it out with our Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Victorian Ovals die.  Then I paired the image with this pretty pack from MME  - Indie Chic Saffron, some Flourishes Classic Ivory and Flourishes Color Made Easy Candy Pink cardstock.  



Finished with Terra Cotta buttons, some jute twine looped through them and a strip of lovely ribbon.  




I was really undecided about an outside sentiment, I just couldn't find a place I thought it would work.  So I opted to go without and stamped one on the inside instead.  The pretty little leafing element is part of the set too.  Memento Lilac Posies and Peanut Brittle ink.  I think each day does provide it's own blessings if you're willing to look for them!

 So while you're visiting the rest of the Design Team remember that you're also looking for one last...



Hidden among the Design Team's blogs today is our Mystery Blogger of the day. Comment on her blog and you could be chosen to win today's set! The more you comment, the better your chances.

In addition to this beautiful stamp set - we have something even more exciting to offer. This month's...

  Classinabox-AugGfx

If you like what you see with the cards above, you should click HERE and pick up our August Class in a Box Kit. The last one sold out in a matter of hours! With each kit you receive pre-cut paper and detailed instructions to make the three cards and 2 of each design for a total of six cards. Just stamp, color and put them together! When you’re done, save the full-color, glossy instructions to make all of these cards on your own in the future. It's inspiration delivered right to your door! The instructions are great layout ideas for any and all of Flourishes sets! The kit comes with the Autumn Blessings stamp set (SS256) embellishments, twine, buttons, trims and pre-cut decorative paper, the remaining Autumn Harvest 6 by 6″ paper pack plus card stock for card bases.You can check it out HERE! But, hurry before this kit is gone! Also, have you heard about our Overstock Sale? All sale items are an additional 25% off when you use the code OVERSTOCK25 in the coupon code box at the time of checkout. Keep in mind, this discount only applies to Sale Page Items. We have paper, ink, ribbon and even overstocked stamp sets! Click HERE to see for yourself and pick up some goodies before they are gone!  

DO YOU WANT TO WIN OUR ENTIRE RELEASE?

If you would like a chance at winning all three of our now released August sets…
  • You can play in our Colorful Creations Challenge – we will have multiple winners there! Deadline for entries is TODAY FRIDAY August 16th at 5 PM EST. Check out the link for the official rules!
  • All three of our August sets are NOW AVAILABLE and you can check them out HERE.  Take advantage our New Release Bundle and get 10% off when you purchase all three together in a bundle. And, for even more creative options, there are Silhouette Cut Files for some of the stamp sets in this release -- Chrysanthemum Silhouette Cut File and Autumn Blessings Silhouette Cut File!
  • Join us back here on the Flourishes Blog tomorrow for the Winner’s Circle where we’ll announce all of our winners of this weeks’ challenges!
Thanks for your great support, and encouraging words again this month and we look forward to what you create with our August Releases!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Mountain View

MountainViewGraphic

There is something so majestic about seeing mountain wildlife in their element, and today we have an amazing scenic set to show off to you.  It's an elk standing ready with a beautiful mountainside in the background - that's the centerpiece of this 4" by 3" set penned by Lauren Pope.  Perfect for the guys in your life, this set features one main image as well as three sentiments. We think you'll love Mountain View.


I really enjoyed creating with this set and I hope you can tell in the card.  I began by stamping in the image in Memento Tuxedo Black onto Flourishes Classic Ivory, then die cutting it out with our Flourishes Perfectly Pierced Classic Window die.  It fits perfectly.  Then I began by colouring in the buck like a normally do.  For the background though, I wanted to do something a little different to the scenery.  I started with my lightest colours of Copics and did a light layer of those colours in the areas I wanted to add the deepest color, just straight colouring.  That provided a nice base and some direction to where I wanted to do the pointillism.  It gives that muted dreamy effect to the mountains and trees that I really like.  

I framed it out with some of our new gray cardstock -   Color Made Easy Cool Neutrals, some of our Classic Kraft, some Bo Bunny Designer Paper and finally laying it all on some gorgeous Color Made Easy Evergreen.  I love all the rich shades.  


Simple accents finish it all off because I wanted it to remain with that masculin feel, Smoke Grey seambinding and a button with some linen thread.  

Because I was playing around so much with colour I used a lot of Copics.  Well worth it though, it was a lot of fun to do!









We think it's an impressive and stately image and the rest of our Design Team is ready to show it off to you bringing it to life!

Don't forget to look for:
Mystery Blogger Graphic

Hidden among the Design Team's blogs today is our Mystery Blogger of the day.  Comment on her blog and you could be chosen to win today's set! The more you comment, the better your chances.

DO YOU WANT TO WIN OUR ENTIRE RELEASE?

If you would like a chance at winning all three of our soon-to-be released August sets…
  • You can play in our Colorful Creations Challenge – we will have multiple winners there! Deadline for entries is FRIDAY August 16th at 5 PM EST. Check out the link for the official rules!
  • All three of our August sets can be pre-ordered now, even before you see them all! Take advantage our New Release Bundle and get 10% off when you purchase all three together in a bundle, this discount will be available for only 1 week following the release.
  • All sets will be live first thing Friday morning along with the coordinating cut files for this release.
  • Come back to the Flourishes Blog Saturday for the Winner's Circle where we'll announce all of our winners of this weeks' challenges!

And... as you are hopping and making your wish lists -- don't forget about our...

  OVERSTOCKGRX

 .....Overstock Sale! If you click HERE, you can take a trip to our SALE page you'll find hundreds of items with prices that will be slashed at the time of check out! Just add the coupon code OVERSTOCK25 and 25% will be deducted from your total. This coupon code will ONLY work on SALE  PAGE items. We have inks, paper, embellishments, ribbons and even overstocked stamp sets. On those items with sale prices, you will be able to take an ADDITIONAL 25% off! It's the deal of the season! So click HERE to shop early for the best selection! Join us back here tomorrow for a thankful Autumn set that will bless you! Join us back here tomorrow for a thankful Autumn set that will bless you!