ChristineCreations

Project 365 - Week Four

2012-01-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

Back for another week of Project 365. I've been doing this for almost a month now :)

January 22 (top left) - A very cool story. When we were in Mexico City two summers ago with our High School Students on our Missions' Trip, one of the ladies we worked with came to show us some old Mexican money. Because of the many battles and revolutions through Mexico, people would hide money in boxes within their concrete walls. This was one such box, and it contained many coins. Many of them are decomissioned and she very kindly gave the team the box. The Project 365 Theme from a week ago was "Antiquity" so I thought of these old coins. I took them all out to find a little envelope hidden in the bottom of the box with old Mexican paper currency too. Such a surprise. This bill is from the 1914 I believe!

January 23 (left middle) - Our oldest son had a small surgery on Monday to remove a cyst from his ear line, by a plastic surgeon. It really hurt him for a few days :( I love the shadow in the picture and his sad little face!

January 24 - (Middle) - Our room. I was spending a lot of time in that bed for a few days battling my second round of the stomach flu. Blech.

January 25 - (bottom left) - A Park Bench at the elementary school. That morning it had snowed and then warmed up beautifully to be above freezing, so the snow melted. I captured the melting snow and the sunshine on the bench.

January 26 - (top right) - Our Church Sanctuary. I love this beautiful haven of faith, worship, hope and healing. This was a day in the mid-week when no one was there and I could just snap a few pics of the quiet.

January 27 - (middle right) - Dutch Blitz! Woo Hoo, one of my favourite card games. It was Games Night for our JH/HS girls ministry and this was one we played.

January 28 - (bottom right) - Our sweet little one, on the couch and sick with a fever. Armed with his favourite blankets and stuffed animals, Snippy and Sock Monkey. Hope he's better quickly!

I Love You

2012-01-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today the Flourishes Design Team is going to focus on a lovely little set - and Oldie but Goodie, Angelic Love. It has an adorable little cherub on a cloud, a locket and some wonderful little sentiments you can use in the locket or the banner the cherub is holding. And guess what - JUST TODAY it's 15% off it's already perfect price of $8.50. Simply use the code ANGEL in the coupon code box at the time of checkout :)

It's great for Valentine's, New Years, babies, and friendship throughout the year. I love it :)

I am also nutty about these MME papers, this is My Mind's Eye Blush, and I've used it in the 6 x 6 pack as well a the Blush buttons. This was last weeks Mojo Sketch.

Some pretty copic coloring on the angel and some sewing, plus these great Doily Heart Circles Spellbinders die.

Be sure to check out the Design Team's creativity with this fantastic set....

Tick, Tock...Love

2012-01-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'm sort of in between DT Assignments this week and so I can stamp with whatever my little heart desires just for fun. Plus I've had a lovely 2nd round of the stomach flu (blech), so I'm just sort of putzing around here and there when I have the energy, and crafting soooooths me :). I pulled out some of my TSG sets looking for something Valentiney to do and found this adorable clock again from the set Good Times and played with this weeks' TSG Challenge to use love and hearts. The sentiment is from another TSG set, Buckets of Love.

Isn't that the cutest little Cuckoo Clock? Bunny Clock? I love the hearts stringing down on the chimes/chains - or whatever they are called. Sorry - I see in my picture the ribbon slipped up on the right side. It isn't crooked now in person.

I've used Jen's Deconstructed Sketch this week.

And here's one last close-up. MME papers - Blush as well as MME Blush buttons.

Thanks for dropping by :)

Stamps: TSG - Good Times, Buckets of Love; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Lilac Posies; Paper: Rose Red, Early Espresso, Kraft, Flourishes Classic Ivory, MME - Blush; Accessories: Copic Markers, Sewing Machine, MME - Blush Buttons, Heart Punch, Kraft Seam Binding, Twine, Glue Dots, Dimensionals.

Love You Sweetie

2012-01-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

Just doing a little Valentine's Day playing :) I used the Greeting Card Kids and Little Friends sets for the cutie Valentine girl and the sentiment. I colored with Copics and also paper pieced her dress with these great papers from Basic Grey - Indie Bloom. This was last week's Sketch Challenge over at SCS.

A doily heart punch along the bottom and the pretty SU Sizzlit buttons on top, a touch of skinny velvet ribbon and a few tiny rhinestones, make for one sweet little Valentine!

Ode To Waterlilies

2012-01-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

Last year I did a few "Ode To..." posts with some of my older Flourishes sets, reminding me (and you) why they're still wonderful. I create something new, as well as remind you of some older cards I made with this set too. Today I pulled out my Waterlilies set, penned beautifully by Marcella. It contains some koi fish, lily pads, waterlilies and buds, and as always some lovely sentiments.

This card I created is a bit of a departure in style for me, it's a bit "scrappy". I'm trying to stretch a little :)

I began with my Grand Calibur machine and the Grand Creative Book Pages Dies and Grand Creative Book Pages Two, creating this tall and narrow shaped card. I took a few pieces of dp I had and sewed them on in a scrappy style.

Now...for the waterlilies. This set looks beautiful stamped on it's own, stamped and colored or layered like I have done - paper tole style.

As you can see I colored up three layers of flowers with my Prismacolors and layered the waterlily up. Waterlilies have this sort of vein-like coloring to them so you can see the sharper lines in the coloring.

alright now for a trip down memory lane with this set:

A little water swirling in the koi pond with some copic markers....

Some reflection technique in the water with copics and metallic pencils.

Some rich watercoloring and pretty piercing.

Soft and romantic with Copics

And some more prismacoloring with a similar palette to the card today.

So, you can see how I've changed, my styles and coloring have changed over time too, and hopefully you've seen all the potential in this lovely set!

Have a great Monday everyone!

Project 365 - Week Three

2012-01-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

It was a very cold week here. We had -30's Celcius with windchills in the -40's C. And then it snowed....and my parents and brother and sister-in-law left for a week in Mexico. Equally a bummer! :) But we made the best of it here. You can click on the photo to make it larger.

January 15 - Right Side Middle - a beautiful sunny day though it was so cold, I took a picture of the newly fallen snow on our Adirondack chairs in the back yard.

January 16 - Bottom Middle - the little guy very bundled up coming home from school. I love his geometric coat and his orange scarf.

January 17 - Top Left - on our day off my husband and I went for a lunch date to a restaurant called Milestones. It has some fun decor with warm woods and deep colors. This was a picture above our booth toward a really large mirror. So lots of orange reflective light.

January 18 - Bottom Right - Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and milk. After school snacks don't get any better!

January 19 - Bottom Left - our fireplace mantle. My husband made this a few years ago for me. I love the decorative moulding, and the pretty tassle on the runner my mom made me.

January 20 - tiny Middle - My mom's sewing machine that she gave me. It's a treasure to me. She's sewed us hundreds of garments on it growing up. And now I sew on paper with it :)

January 21 - Top Right - ROYGBV numbers and hearts out of paper, using some PTI dies and some heart punches.

Next week I hope to get in more of the other kids in the photos! It's exam week for our daughter so she'll be around more and our middle son has his first Basketball game!

Love for Cookies and Cream

2012-01-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

Good Friday to you all! We actually have the night off tonight! That rarely happens as Fridays are normally youth nights.

Today the Flourishes DT are showing you one more round of beautiful New Release creations. Today is the last day to purchase the New Release Bundle at a 10% discount. And you don't want to miss out on that right? :)

Of COURSE you know I'd pull out this beautiful Love Sweet Love set right? I mean seriously, look at all that beautiful sweetness to color! I was inspired by these great papers from My Mind's Eye called A Happy Heart because I just loved the black, red, pink combinations, and thought it would be perfect for this confectionary scene.

I wanted them to look like a chocolate or gingerbread cookie with lots of pretty icing on them. So the coloring is with Copics. Some pretty ribbon, rhinestones and buttons and there you have it!

Be sure to check out the DT Designs today!

Stamps: Flourishes - Love Sweet Love; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Lilac Posies; Paper: Flourishes Classic Ivory, Purely Pomegranate, MME - A Happy Heart, Basic Black; Accessories: Big Shot, Standard Circles Dies, Labels Twenty Nestabilities, Rhinestones, Two Toned Ribbon, Ruffled Ribbon, Copic Markers (YR20, YR24, E33, W3, W7, R14, R32, R35, R37, R39, RV04, RV14, RV63, RV17, RV25), Sewing Machine, Bow Easy, Button, Glue Dots, Dimensionals.

Presents for You

2012-01-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

I really like what Kim Hughes is doing with her stamp company Paper Smooches. The designs have such CUTE factor, and nice clean lines. I was perusing the Paper Smooches blog and found a couple of challenges to do...this one is an inspiration challenge with this pretty room:

and here is where I went with it....

I've used two cute digi images from PS, and they're free too! Then I created the card to really have the same feel as the inspiration room, the tufted white headboard, the polka-dotted walls, the black borders on the lamp...all done in paper, with some scoring and some circle punches. I did add a little detail to the image with my multi-liner (the stripes in one present, the polka-dots in the other).

I dig how it turned out :)

Thanks for taking a look! We are still in the deep-freeze of winter here, and I hope it ends soon!

Stamps: Paper Smooches - free Digitals; Paper: Regal Rose, Flourishes Classic White, Basic Black; Accessories: Big Shot, Eyelet Circle Nestabilities, 3/4 inch circle punch, 1/2 inch circle punch, ruffled ribbon, Scor Tape, Dimensionals, black twine, Score Buddy, Copic Markers (RV04, RV14, RV17, RV, C1, C3, C5, C7, .005 multiliner), corner rounder.

Dear Friends are Close to the Heart

2012-01-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

Isn't that true? I have a friend from college, which seems like a lifetime ago. Since college we both married, moved away, have had families, and she lives in the US Midwest. But because of the quality of friendship we have had, I could call her at any time and we could pick up right where we left off. She's a treasure. Boy do I wish we lived closer.

This lovely sentiment comes from the new Flourishes January Releases. This set is called Heartlines and it's full of lovely sentiments perfect for people you care about. I used an awesome Spellbinder's Die, Twisted Metal Tags and Accents to create the framing aournd the sentiment on lovely Kaiser Paper - Miss Nelly, and gave it a layout and sewing to feel a bit like a cozy quilt, finishing it with some hearts along the bottom. I've also added some Spellbinders butterflies and little faceted hearts as accent.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Perfect Adventure

2012-01-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hello on this late Sunday night! I made this card for someone I know who is turning 50. I love the sentiment "every day is the perfect adventure", because you know what? No matter what your age, you have the chance to look at each day ahead as a gift, and the perfect adventure. I know she'll agree.

This is a really lovely SU! Set called On the Grow. The scooter sold me. I just love the cute factor here, especially with the wire basket on back. Colored with Copic Markers (G21, G24, B0000, B02, B72, E43, W1, W3, W7, R14, R22, R27, R01). And wait till you see the little puddle I put under the scooter....

I colored it up and then added Crystal Effects overtop to give it that shiny effect. It's so cute! Papers are Basic Grey Picadilly.

I've used last week's Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday Sketch, I love the detail in it and the many layers.

Okey-dokey....off for tonight. Catch up with you later this week, and I hope that you find this day to be the perfect adventure :)

Project 365 - Week 2

2012-01-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

Back for week two of my Project 365 shots. A busy week for us, and as you can see I've got a little nature and some hands and feet. You can click on the picture and it will increase the size.

January 8 - Bottom right. Our little guy after Church. Grandma and Grandpa bought him the suit he had been longing for and he was so excited to wear it. He looked so handsome. But if you'll notice he quickly put on Daddy's shoes for the picture. The size 13's are a tad big for the little guy.

January 9 - Top right. On the way home after work that day I stopped at a park and took a few detail shots. You can't see the whole photo here, but I was proud of how my apeture worked with the detail of the baby spruce and the fuzzy background.

January 10 - Middle. Supper that night was a new Recipe from Skinnytaste, Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup. We love anything Mexican and it was a great recipe. Healthy too!

January 11 - Bottom left. The little guy again doing something he loves, playing Wii :)

January 12 - Top left. My lone plant because it survives my neglect :) It's a lipstick plant and its just started blooming. I can get such awesome detail with this camera, you can see the little hairs on the lipstick cups!

January 13 - Middle left. The BIG feet of our older son. This was a spectacular night. We truck in 10 000 pounds of sand to our youth building, crank up the heat and have a beach party for our HSers and JHers. Way too fun in the middle of winter!

January 14 - Top middle. Our beautiful daughter's hands playing piano. She really has a lot of musical ability, and beautiful hands, and beautiful long nails!

I'm learning, it's good to keep taking pictures because I think it helps develop your eye to see things differently. And I'm slowly learning! Thanks for joining me!

Love Sweet Love

2012-01-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

Sweet, Sweet Love....and a sweet, sweet set today gang! I could've made 10 cards with this set because I like it so much! :)

Isn't it romantic, sweet and dreamy? Sigh! This little set celebrates all kinds of sweet Valentine and love ideas with lovely sentiments. I colored this basket of tulips with Copic Markers, sponged the inside of the postage stamp Spellbinders Die, and then added some quilt-like papers from My Mind's Eye Blush Collection, buttons from the MME Blush card and also some pretty faceted Prima Crystals too. Dreamy I tell ya! I love the little pennant banners cut from the Spellbinder's Pennant and Lacey Pennant Dies too. Just wait till you see the other images too!

A closer look at the coloring.

Today all the sets are available in the store, and for one week, the New Release Bundle of all 3 sets is at a discount. These sets will set you up beautifully for Valentine's and love in the year ahead.

Check out the rest of the Design Team Today.....they'll have beautiful things to show you...and remember we have one last day of....

One of the Design Team today is the Mystery Blogger, comment on her blog and you could be chosen to win the set today!

Jan Marie Caruso

Thanks for joining us this week for the January Sneak Peeks. I know I loved showing them to you!

Don't forget you only have one week to be able to purchase the New Release Bundle at a discount!

Heartlines

2012-01-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

Are you sentimental about love? Then today's set will be perfect for you. I think it's an outstanding little sentiment set perfect for those friends you love bunches, and it works not only for Valentine's but all year round.

I am really really loving all the Spellbinders Specialty collections, this one is called Ornate Artisan Tags and Accents. The unique shapes are really fun to play with. I've paired the die with some My Mind's Eye papers, Vanity Fair. Then I colored up the open letters with the Lenten Rose copics in a gradient fashion light to dark, dark to light.

Some pretty ruffled textured two-toned ribbon and a bow as accent.

Today in amoung the Design Team is the Mystery Blogger...if you find her and comment on her blog you could be chosen to win today's set!

Heather Jensen
Beate Johns
Cindy Haffner
Mona Pendelton
Jan Marie Caruso

Don't forget to stop by the Flourishes Blog for Today's Noon Time Challenge (12 o'clock Central).

All of the sets are available for pre-order HERE.

Join us in the challenges this week to win!

Year of the Dragon

2012-01-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to today's Noon-Time Challenge! Today it's all about the Year of the Dragon 2012 and this awesome image. Use it as your inspiration to create something wonderful, enter your link on the Flourishes Blog on today's challenge post and you could be chosen as a winner!

One of my loves (still) that I don't do often enough is watercoloring. I embossed this gorgeous heart in white onto some watercolor paper and pulled out my watercoloring pencils and gave the heart some vibrant oranges, pinks and reds. It has a really cool effect around the swirls of the heart. I also embossed on the background paper (Garden Girl Cardstock) layer with the smaller scroll image. This paper has fabulous rich colors for Valentine's and also goes with the original Garden Girl pack from Bo Bunny.

Isn't that ribbon gorgeous? It's Fleurs Chiffon Leberty. Under the ribbon I've added a double layer "topper" style to the card using the Fleur De Lis Squares Spellbinders.

Take a look at the other DT members playing in today's Noon Time Challenge and then join us!

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken (you are here)

Cindy Lawrence

Dawn Burnworth

Tammy Hershberger

From the Heart

2012-01-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the January Sneak Peeks at Flourishes :) It's such a lovely and lovey month, and I'm so excited to show you the sets this week! This classic set -- called From the Heart -- penned by Becky Fleck offers an antique flavor for Valentine's Day! An ornate heart stands as a focal point and is a perfect companion to Spellbinders Classic Heart Nestabilities die (S4-136) and Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Heart Nestabilities Dies (S4-137). A curled banner is the perfect accent -- allowing a few of the sentiments to be stamped inside!

I love the gorgeous wood-cut styled images in this set, very romantic :). So, I went with a romantic styled card. I pulled out some older Webster's Pages, and then stamped my larger heart on vellum cardstock. The nice thing about stamping on vellum is that you can use regular water-based ink and still emboss the image. Which I did with clear embossing powder for both the card and for the little heart tin.

Isn't this tin precious? We got it from one of our leaders' weddings as a little thank you, and I've saved it ever since, knowing I'd use it on a project. This was the perfect one. I adhered the vellum heart to the bottom of the tin with glue dots and then surrounded the tin with pretty laces, and added pretty faceted hearts to the top, in the shape of a heart underneath the pretty scrolly label. I stamped the label on designer paper and added a little copic coloring to the shadows to give it more realism.

Here's a bit of a closeup on the card, the shiny vellum heart, the rhinestones (colored over with copics), and then laces.

Isn't this a wonderful set? You'll see more fabulous goodies at the rest of the Design Team. Don't forget to comment on each of them, you might find the Mystery Blogger of the Day and be chosen to win this set!

Barbara Anders

Julie Koerber

Cindy Lawrence

Christine Okken (you are here)

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Stacy Morgan

Tammy Hershberger

Sharon Doolittle

Heather Jensen

Mona Pendleton

Cindy Haffner

Jan Marie Caruso

Don't forget to come back at noon Central time today for the Noon Time Challenge, another chance to play and win this week! These fast-paced challenges are designed to spark creativity and give you another chance to win some wonderful goodies! All challenges will close this Friday at 5 PM EST and winners will be announced Saturday in our Winner’s Circle blog post! So get those fingers inky and good luck!

You can also play in the Pre-Release Challenge listed here on the FLLC Blog, deadline is Friday and you could win the whole set of January Releases!

Can’t wait until all of our sets are revealed Friday morning? Well, you can pre-order them now if you like what you see on our designers’ blogs! Just click HERE. You’ll also see that we are offering our special New Release Bundle again – 10% off if you purchase all three stamp sets in one bundle!

Forget about the Cake

2012-01-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

Forget about the cake...go for the icing :)

The Sketch for You to Try (SFYTT) is up and running again for the year and it's a fun sketch with The Cat's Pajamas as the sponsors. So I dug out some TCP fun from my stamps, and the sketch for a Birthday card to have on hand. This set is called Forget About the Cake.

Here's the January SFYTT Sketch

Copic coloring, some fun paper from My Mind's Eye called Lost and Found Rosy. A few buttons, twine and the ric rac die from MFT. It's vibrant and fun I think.

Back on Wednesday with some FANTASTIC Flourishes January Sneak Peeks!

Blog Candy Winner!

2012-01-08T18:45:00.001-07:00

Hey gang,

Sorry for the delay, Church and nap were priorities :)

Here's the random.org pick for the Blog Candy... # 21 who is.....

Bobbi's Paper Trail said...

WE have to pick just one? How is that possible? They are all so gorgeous! But, after much pondering, I have to choose Warm Thoughts. Those little birds look so cute and cuddly (and so in love) :-) The color combo is one of my favorites, browns and blues. You are so talented and I've been following you for quite some time. I am always inspired ! Thanks for sharing your beautiful creations and thanks for the chance to win! Happy New Year !

Congratulations Bobbi!!! you have 48 hours to send me your mailing address to my email (check in my profile link).

Thanks everyone for your kind words on my Favourites of 2011!

Project 365 - Week One

2012-01-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

How about a new adventure on the blog? This Christmas we were blessed with a gift of money and we decided to invest in a DSLR Camera. Something that will last for a long time that we can expand upon when we're ready. Before this we just had a point and shoot camera. SO, we are now the proud owners of a Nikon D3000. This is all new to me, so I'm learning a lot, and what a better way to learn than to practise right? You've probably seen others around blog land that have done Project 365 as well. It's basically taking a picture every day of the year. I'm doing it to catalogue what life is like for us in a year, and also to learn more about photography. It's not because I am an expert by any means! And while I'm doing it...you'll get to know me better too I suppose :) So Sunday's here at ChristineCreations this year will hopefully be photos from my week. Right now I've put it into a collage on My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up!, we'll see how that goes - it really does make the collage kind-of small, and you can't see the quality of the photos as well, but you can double-click on the picture to make it larger if you like. I still have to play around with MDS.

Jan 1 - Our youngest son, giving me a toothy smile. His eyes are this cool combination of blue/gray/green and you can really see it in this photo. His face was dirty from something he was doing!

Jan 2 - My new runners, Mizuno Nexus Wave. I love Mizunos, I think this is my 3rd pair. They're so light! It also symbolizes one of my goals this year, health, and weight loss. I've been on the treadmill 5 x this week. :) Yay me!

Jan 3 - Tickets to Adventures of Tin Tin, we took the kids to this movie one afternoon, our last day of vacation together before my husband had to be back in the office and I had to work at home. Such a fun movie! Really adventurous and amazing animation.

Jan 4 - Ribbon :) Just some pretty pink ribbon bunched together from a project I was working on. Pretty crochet and pleated satin.

Jan 5 - Mom and Daughter Date - A glass of lemon water and our cactus cut potatoes :) My daughter and I had supper out together, then watched The Help at home. Notice the water and not a glass of coke?

Jan 6 - Glasses. I had my eyes checked this week and then ordered new glasses, these are the 8 pairs I chose from :) Guess you'll have to wait till a future week to see which ones I chose :)

Jan 7 - Copics - Just a simple shot of my pretty beloved markers I was using on a project on my kitchen table which is where I work on projects. I was working on apeture (depth of field of focus) on this one, and I like the limited focus on the center of the copics and the fuzzy outsides.

Here's the same pictures as a collage on Keynote. If you prefer one over the other let me know.

Thanks for joining me today friends.

New Year's Cherub

2012-01-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first Design Team Challenges of 2012 and the January Releases next week for Flourishes!

Here's the Pre-Release Challenge this Month: Ring in the new year with “Father Time” or “Baby New Year” – this challenge is a fight between new and old! To be in the running, simply use a card that showcases an image of time (i.e. one of our calendars, the Moments in Time set, etc) or one that showcases little baby new year (i.e. a baby card). Either will get you in the running. :)

I chose to create a little New Year's Cherub that could be a New Years card, or a baby card. I've colored up this very pretty Angelic Love set and some pretty copic markers. The paper is MME Vanity Fair. and I've used several dies from Spellbinder's: Labels Fourteen Nestabilities, Ribbon Banners, and Twisted Metal Tags and Accents, and then a few gems as accents - Prima Crystals , and then some pretty ribbons Crochet and irridescent cream.

So sweet isn't it?

Join us on the challenge and you could win the January Releases, which you will LOVE, I'm tellin' ya! I had SO much fun with them this month! Can't wait to show you next week! Upload your link to the FLLC Blog on today's post.

Now check out what creative juices the rest of the Design Team put together for the Challenge!

Stamps: Flourishes - Tag Lines, Angelic Love; Ink: Pool Party, Soft Sky, Memento Tuxedo Black; Paper: Pool Party, Flourishes Classic Ivory, My Mind's Eye - Vanity Fair; Accessories: Big Shot, Labels Fourteen, Ribbon Banners Shapeabilities, Twisted Metal Tags and Accents Dies, Ribbons, Martha Stewart Quilt Edge Punch, Sponge, Copic Markers, Dimensionals, Prima Gems

Crazy Quilt

2012-01-04T18:58:00.001-07:00

I have never played in the MoxieFab Challenges before, but this week I had time, and could not resist this gorgeous quilt as the Tuesday Trigger Inspiration.

If I could quilt, that's how I'd quilt. I love this style of quilting with the repeated rows of stitching in between all the numbers. It makes for a super pretty soft effect, and a soft quilt too. So it's pretty obvious how it inspired me in my card above.

I began by taking a 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 inch piece of Vanilla cardstock, tacking down some of my PTI number dies, cutting them out, using the negative space and then backing those with different colors of cardstock. Then the busy fussy part, I crazy stitched all around the numbers, pretty randomly. This took quite a while, and lots of patience, broken thread and hand cranking :) But it was fun. And though it's not perfect in execution, it was cool to do. Thanks Tuesday Trigger!

Stamps: PTI - Friends till the End; Ink: Marina Mist; Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Pool Party, Peach Parfait; Accessories: PTI - Numbers Dies, Bauble, Vanilla Seam Binding, Glue Dots, Sewing Machine, Dimensionals.

New Mercies I See

2012-01-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

How is 2012 treating you so far? We've had a good "last" day of vacation together today, and all went to see the movie, Adventures of Tin Tin (fun!). Tomorrow it's back to work for my husband and I. For me, I'm able to work at home tomorrow while the kids are still home, but my husband has to head back to the office.

A new year is a wonderful time for new starts isn't it? I'm not a big New Year's Resolutions person, because let's be honest, most of us fail at that. But we do sit down with the kids before the new year and ask them what kind of things they'd like to set goals for in the next year. Things they'd like God to help them with in the year ahead. So each of us set one personal and one spiritual goal. What I like about this is that it's something to help motivate us all, but we recognize it's not by "willpower" that we'll be accomplishing it, it's with God's help and we're depending on Him. And the beautiful thing is, each day is a new day filled with Grace. Morning by Morning new mercies I see. :)

This card is with this weeks Mojo Sketch and the SCS Color Challenge this week too. I've done some repeated stamping with this pretty Verve set New Mercies. And then added a little sunshine for the new day with some Copics. Sweet and simple and still classy!

I hope you see New Mercies today as well friends!

Stamps: Verve - New Mercies; Ink: Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Basic Gray, Memento Tuxedo Black; Paper: Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Basic Gray, Whisper White; Accessories: Big Shot, Pinked Circles Nestabilities, Twisted Metal Tags and Accents Shapeabilities, Copic Markers, Dimensionals, Teal Cording, Sparklets, Sewing Machine, Embossing Folder.

Ringing in the New Year - Part III

2012-01-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Last section of favourites from 2011 gang! Blog Candy at the End!

September

Flourishes - Thanksgiving Place Setting

Verve - Come Boldly

October

Flourishes - Celebrate the Season

Flourishes - Mistletoe

November

Flourishes - Amaryllis and Bells

Flourishes - Joy!

Flourishes - For Our Daughter

December

Flourishes - Warm Thoughts

Flourishes - Happy Days are Here

And that's finally all of my favourites!

So now comes the fun. Go back over the 3 days of Ringing in the New Year Favourites Posts

Ringing in the New Year I

Ringing in the New Year II

and today Ringing in the New Year III

There are 32 projects (the Fairy Project I just counted once even though it's two photos).

1. Pick YOUR #1 Favourite Creation of the Year and Tell me Why

2. Leave me your email address in the comments (you can use the aaaa at email dot com version if you prefer).

I'll randomly draw a winner for Blog Candy (pictured below). DEADLINE to Comment is Midnight January 7th MTN. I'll post a Winner January 8th. You'll have 48 hours to contact me with your mailing address to win.

Blog Candy includes

2 Flourishes Sets, Christmas Candles and Meet me Under the Mistletoe AND one of the coming February Flourishes New Releases.

Pink Paislee Sweetness 6 x 6 pad (a few sheets used)

Fancy Mirrored Paper in silver, gold, red and green.

Ribbons - 7 or 8 lengths of pretty romantic ribbons

Prima assorted flowers, satin, paper, fabric etc. I've tried to work with these flowers, and they're gorgeous, but just not my style.

Hat Pins, Embellishments, fancy brads.

Thanks so much for joining me and celebrating my favourites and for all of your kind comments that are so encouraging over the year. I sincerely appreciate you coming by and the ways you encourage my creativity. It's always such a blessing to connect with you! Looking forward to more in 2012.

Ringing In the New Year Part Two

2012-01-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Back for round two of my creative favourites for 2011. Believe it or not (shy wink) I'll still have ONE more post after this with the last round of months, then we'll have the contest with Blog Candy :)

May

PTI - Bouquets of Tulips

TSG - Groovy Grayscale Shadow

June

Flourishes - Zinnias

Flourishes - Hi Sweet Peas

Flourishes - A Window at the Yacht Club

Verve - Fluttery Butterfly

July

TSG - Fairy Paper Dolls and Tin

Flourishes - Eat Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

August

TSG - From the Heart

Flourishes - Lighthouse Birthday

TSG - Freeze the Moment

Ringing in the New Year

2011-12-31T22:32:00.001-07:00

Happy 2012 Friends!

How was your New Year's? We had a nice time at supper with some friends and then came home so our daughter could have her friends over. They want to stay up till all hours at night. I'll probably toast the midnight hour with my beloved and head to bed :)

This year I was finally organized enough to collect together some of my favourite creations from this past year in one place to show you. Problem was....I couldn't always choose just one favourite from each month! Is that bad? It feels like you're choosing one kid over the other! Some months I appeared to be more creative than others too. I'll show you some today and some tomorrow if that's alright with you :) At the end of my 12 months I'll have a contest on what's your #1 favourite, and then I'll give away some blog candy. Sound alright?

January

Verve - Stamping in Snow

TSG - Dramatic Black

PTI - Journey in a Jar

February

Flourishes - Grand Victorian Box

Flourishes - Hyacinths

March

Flourishes - Poppies in Dimension

Flourishes - Lenten Roses

PTI - Hand Puppets

TSG - Sun Tomorrow

TSG - Greetings Earthling!

Flourishes - Cheery Wishes

April

Flourishes - Rainy Puddles

Celebrate on Your 74

2011-12-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight we celebrated my Dad's 74th Birthday. It was a really nice time to get together with my immediate side of the family, have a meal together, celebrate his life, and the gift of another year. Just over a year ago my Dad was in the hospital with serious complications from heart disease. That always puts things in to perspective for me. He's doing much better now, but we know that every day, every year is a gift - for all of us!

I pulled out a couple of PTI sets to create this more masculine and yet kind of funky birthday card. I haven't ever had a chance to use these number dies from PTI but boy are they great! Perfectly personalized :)

Happy end of 2011 everyone! We'll be keeping it low key here, hangin' with the kids and our daughter's twin best friends over for the night.

Thanks for the blessing of knowing you this year! I look forward to another year of creativity with you in 2012!

Stamps: PTI - 2011 Birthday Tags, Mat Stack 3 Collection; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Potter's Clay, Buckaroo Blue; Paper: Kaiser Hunt and Gather, Marina Mist, Flourishes Classic Ivory; Accessories: Big Shot, By the Numbers PTI Dies, Buttons, Twine, Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Copic Markers.

Tin Tin Tin

2011-12-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

**Scroll down a wee bit if you'd like to see Barbara's Retirement celebration card :) **

Welcome to another Flourishes Free for All Friday. Today the Design Team is going to focus on how to use some really great tins we have in the store. If you stopped by yesterday you saw the pretty barrettes I created for my nieces for Christmas, and today I'll show you how I packaged them all up to be special for each niece.

Each of the little nieces received two barrettes and two little tins, especially made for each of them; the tin matching the barrette that was inside. I have two nieces with "A" names that that's why they're are four A's. To customize each tin I pulled out some new and fun Basic Grey paper called Indie Bloom . It has great vibrant colors in it with fun patterns. I traced each tin and trimmed out the paper, covering the inside and outside to match, using ScorTape so it would stay secure.

I labelled each tin with Flourishes Country Charm Labels sets, and the Spellbinders Grommet Tags. Finishing the tins off with some fuzzy chenille ribbon attached with Scor Tape along the bottom, and some pretty gem embellishments.

Now check out the inside with the barrettes! See how each barrette fits perfectly inside the tin?

Join the rest of the DT today for some creative ideas with tins! Best news? They're only 75 cents in the store!

Happy Days are Here!

2011-12-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Someone special is happy today has arrived :) Today Barbara Anders is celebrating her LAST day of work and retirement! Woo Hoo! I know she's been counting down the days on her blog for a long time to finally be here. So today Tammy Hershberger and a bunch of Stampy Girls have gotten together to wish Bar a very happy Retirement Day!

I really, really love this set from Flourishes, it's called Spring is Sprung. It's one of my fav's from the past year of releases. And I love the theme of new beginnings in it, perfect for the new beginning of retirement life!

I've used some pretty Copics to give it a fresh dose of springy color and this week's Mojo Sketch for some round fun. The papers are from MME Sunshine pack.

Now isn't this sentiment perfect for the inside of the card?

Happy Retirement wonderful lady! And many happy stamping days ahead!

Here's the rest of the girls playing in the celebration so go and check them out:

Broni Holcombe

Lynn Put

Wanda Cullen

Lori Tecler

Joan Ervin

Jody Morrow

Cindy Haffner

Tammy Hershberger

Stamps: Flourishes - Spring is Sprung; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Pool Party; Paper: Flourishes Classic Ivory, My Minds Eye - Sunshine DP, Cool Caribbean, Crumb Cake; Accessories: Grand Calibur, Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Circles, Spellbinders Grand Circles, Standard Circles Die, Spellbinders Creative Book Pages, Copic Markers (BG0000, BG11, BG70, BV000, YG17, YG61, E43,E44, E47, E81, E87, W2), Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Twine, Assorted Buttons, Glue Dots, Dimensionals.

Cute Custom Flower Barrettes

2011-12-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

How is your post Christmas week going? We had a great Christmas, but unfortunately the stomach flu found our home right after Christmas, meaning we didn't go to the mountains as planned. Really a bummer :(

I enjoyed the giving this Christmas :) We have four little nieces under the age of 7. They are all girly girls, with pretty hair that begs to be "embellished" :) So this year for Christmas, I made them each special hair barrettes. It's actually a very easy project, and they turned out SO cute!

I started out with some felt, my Grand Calibur and this great Spellbinders Spiral Blossoms One Die from Flourishes (and the die is on sale right now :) ). A heavier wool felt is far superior for this project, cuts like buttah! But, you can also use regular crafting felt too. You'll just have to run it through your machine more than once and be willing to snip any fuzzyness. I taped my die to the felt so that when it ran through the machine more than once (this was the crafters felt), it would stay in place and not slip.

Here are the other supplies I used: The leaves are made from the Blossom Tags Accents Die (also on sale!). Then I found some barrettte hardware at the craft store, and my hot glue gun.

Starting from the outside of the flower and working in, roll up the blossom allowing the petals to become "rose-like".

With your hot glue gun, add a small blob of glue onto the center of the wide-est part of the petal middle and attach your rolled flower. Allow to cool.

Add a line of hot glue to the top of the barrette hardware. Lay leaves overtop of hot glue.

Add a larger circle of hot glue onto center of leaves and attach rolled felt rose. When cool snip any threads of glue.

DONE!

And seriously aren't they the cutest? I'm so happy with how they turned out. They are so simple to make and yet make such a pretty custom hair barrette for pretty little girls! I even put one on my 15 year old daughter, and it looked so great in her hair too.

Come back tomorrow for Flourishes Friday and I'll show you how I packaged them. Too cute :)

Looking For Some Stamping Fun?

2011-12-27T11:01:00.001-07:00

Here in Canada we've just had Boxing Day....that's where you will find all sorts of deals and shoppers looking for them, much like Black Friday in the US. At Flourishes the team has been busy at home base trying to go through all of our shelves to prep for our end of year inventory. After walking through the warehouse, it was clear…. FLOURISHES NEEDS A SALE!

So, if you have Christmas money to spend, we’ve got a great deal you won’t want to miss! From now through Friday, everything in the store is 25% off. Even the goodies on our sale page that have already been reduced for quick sale are 25% off the sale price!

TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SALE…

Simply use XMAS11 in the coupon code box at the time of checkout.

Be sure to hit the recalculate button on the page so that your total adjusts to the sale price. Keep in mind, there are no rain checks or back orders. Once some of these items are gone, they will be gone for good! So, shop early for the best selection!

Cozy Cabin

2011-12-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe, tomorrow is Christmas Eve! In our family we celebrate Christmas with the Christmas Eve Service at Church and then come home to open presents together. After presents we have a big meal full of yummy appetizers late at night. On Christmas Day its Church again and a big meal with the family at our place. Then after Christmas this year we're then heading to the mountains for a few days, which we're really looking forward to. It's not a cozy little cabin like this, but I feel very cozy in the mountains :)

This cozy little mountain retreat is brought to you today from Flourishes with the brand new Snow Wonderful Stamp Set and our new Tailor Made Classic Keyhole Die. I really love when stamps and dies go together. It's perfectly polished! I've colored up the scene as a sunrise/sunset, in some very warm Copic Colors to go with this great paper from Kaiser aptly called December 25th.

Some accenting with the Parisian Accents and Motifs Dies from Spellbinders, and a sentiment with Holiday Tags Dies, all sponged to age them.

Copics Used:

+ E31, E23

+ W00, W1, W3, YR30, YR24, B0000

Remember the New Release Bundle at a 10 % discount is only available till tonight (Friday)! Don't miss out on these great sets!

Blessings to each of you this Christmas! Thanks for being a treasured part of my creative day!

Join the rest of the Design Team to see some other wonderful inspiration with this month's sets.

A Little Note Card-Victorian Box

2011-12-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone! Good News! I think I got my Christmas shopping done today! Woo Hoo! I have to unpack everything from it's hiding place now and sort out what is for each person, to see for sure - and compare to my list; but it was a good day to accomplish things, and that feels great. By tomorrow I'll have all my Christmas cards out the door too. How are you doing on getting things done?

Another quick installment of a gift I did for our staff Gift Exchange at the office. We had to do a homemade-style gift (SO difficult hey? Wink!) Many months ago I made another Grand Victorian Box for Splitcoaststampers HERE is a link to the tutorial I had done, and hadn't shown it to you yet, so I made some note cards quickly to go with it and put it together for the Gift Exchange.

Here is the box with the beautiful Zinnias set: You can click on any of the pictures to see them larger if you like.

And here are the note cards and envelopes that went inside. Super simple and straightforward on each of them:

And one more look at the top of the box:

I just love the Zinnias set!

Last Minute Gift Projects

2011-12-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hello there Christmas Shoppers....only 5 shopping days till Christmas....are you done yet? I'm not. But I'm getting much closer. It irks me that I can never get to the shopping BEFORE the last week of Christmas when I really want to be soaking in what Christmas means and preparing for my Emmanuel again. BUT I will just take my list one thing at a time, and choose an attitude of watching for Him at work. The opportunity for that kind word for a shop worker, letting someone in line, a smile for someone who needs it. The "stuff" isn't what Christmas is. But you need to keep reminding yourself of that don't you?

Good news is, I finished my Christmas cards, letters and photos (about 80!), we finished making 37 single pounds of fudge for our youth staff and the kids' teachers for Christmas. So those are two huge things off the list.

OK. You didn't come here for all that. Last week I told you that I made some things for our middle son's band fundraiser gift baskets. Here's the last two things I put in the baskets.

The first was another bookmark for the Book Lovers Basket. This one a little more masculine.

This is for your fishing fan...who might be a reader too :) Some pairing with the What A Catch set and Kaisers Hunt and Gather paper. They seem to be made for each other.

Do you see the raised shine in the paper? Really awesome. Copics used: E81, E43, E47, E44, E87, W2, BG11, BG53, BG70, R22.

And a quick pic of the top details, including a silver maple leaf charm I had. And a paper circle from the Hunt and Gather Paper, there's lots of extra accessories in this pack.

And then for the Pampered Mom Gift Basket I made a simple trio of cards. I was looking for something quick and all occasion as well as feminine. So I pulled out my Kids Play set, some distress ink (Ranger Wild Honey on the images)and went to town with these Kaiser Vintage Timeless Papers.

I tried to go with similar layouts, styles and embellishments for each of these.

Short and sweet on details today. If you need more info you can let me know :)

Have a great Monday!

123 Create Kits

2011-12-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today we've got a brand new 123 Create Kit to show you from Flourishes!! It's called Little Black Dress and it's a beaut :) Some of the girls will be showing you Little Black Dress, and others of us will show you some of the past Kits that we have a few left of in the store. Today I'm showing you the Sunshine Kit. It's one of my favourites we've had so far. :) All of these items above come in the kit. I've loved mine so much, there's not much left of it! I think the kits are great because they give you everything you'll need to create very pulled together projects, without any guesswork on what should match.

Our middle son's band is having a fundraiser at the Band Concert tonight (Thursday) and the band teacher asked every family to contribute to the Raffle Baskets they're making. Amoung other things, I'm contributing to the Book Lovers Basket with this pretty bookmark.

I've used the Sunshine Kit in the papers and the ribbons for this bookmark as well as last month's Petals and Peace set. I've created a window in the paper with the Tailor Made Classic Keyhole die to show the design. And it also helps to create a window because it won't add bulk to the bookmark.

Here's the Copics I used to color the amaryllis design:

+ Y21, YR14, YR24, YR30, E81, E50, E51, W7 and W3 as well as Black.

The ribbons and button are all from the Kit (just not the twine). Aren't they pretty? I've cut out the top of the Bookmark with a Spellbinder's Labels Ten to give it that rounded and scalloped shape.

I've added sparkle with one of my black Spica pens which may be a little more visable in this shot. It' just adds adds that little touch of depth and sparkle. Plus I think Jingle Bells should be a little sparkly!

So head on over to see what Kit the DT have in store for you today :) It's worth the trip!

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken (you are here)
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen
Jan Marie Caruso

Don't forget that: There's one last round of Mystery Blogger today. Comment and find the Flourishes girl who is the Mystery blogger, and you could be a winner!

All challenges will close this Friday at 5 PM EST and winners will be announced Saturday in our Winner’s Circle blog post! So get those fingers inky and good luck!

The New sets are all revealed Friday Morning! Just click HERE. You’ll also see that we are offering our special New Release Bundle again – 10% off if you purchase all the stamp sets in one bundle!

Perfect Pear

2011-12-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

We're back with today's Noon Time Challenge at Flourishes. An extra chance for you to win these gorgeous new December Releases. Today it's a color challenge with Cream, Red and Green, perfect for the season.

Marcella has illustrated some beautiful elegant and realistic pears for this set. It's just SO pretty. I pulled out my Prismacolors and colored this trio of pears and blossoms, adding some red for the ripening color in the fruit and blending with OMS. I love how pretty the green chenille ribbon is :)

A little quilt edged punching to accent and the pretty Parisian Die behind the Labels Ten die, and a little sewing and embellishing and it's done. :) Hope you can join us on this challenge! It's a great way to enter to win this set!

Pretty Pears

2011-12-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

Now I know that when you see this beautiful image of pears you're all going to do a little cheer! :) I've been hoping for pears for a long time from Flourishes, and this one will meet up to all your expectations. You might be expecting something in traditional pear-like colors right? Well, not this one :) I colored up these pear blossoms in more like - prickly pear colors because I wanted to use this pretty paper from MME A Beautiful Life.

I've gone for a sort of vintage, feminine romantic feel with the layers of scallop ruffles (Creative Book Pages and my Grand Calibur), and I've framed out the pear blossoms with the Eyelet Circle Nestabilities die weaving some pretty narrow velvet ribbon through some of the holes. And I also fed the velver ribbon through this gorgeous crochet ribbon to accent the ruffles.

I've embossed and distressed the background layer with the new Pear and Vine Embossing Folder

And another look at the pretty ruffles. :)

Come back at noon and I'll have a "traditional" pretty pear card for you for the Noon-Time Challenge!

Join the Design Team again today for some beautiful pears!

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken (you are here)
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen
Beate Johns

REMEMBER THIS WEEK :)

Somewhere along the way today one of the Design Team is the Mystery Blogger today. If you comment on her blog and your name is chosen, you win the set of the day!

Come back at NOON EST today for the NOON Time Challenge. See the Flourishes Blog for more details

Play in our Feminine Flair Challenge and if you win - you could win the whole release!

The New Release Bundle is 10% off for one week only and you can Pre-Order Now!

Midnight

2011-12-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Good Noon Hour to you!

I have another gorgeous showing of this amazing Snow Wonderful set for you...the Challenge Theme for this noon challenge is to be inspired by the colors of a time of day....so I went with Midnight.

I so love how this pretty cottage looks. I wanted to give it a very neutral cool feel with Cool Grays and this gorgeous deep blue of that late night hour, and used a little Copic Coloring in these Flourishes Collections: The Warm Neutrals were used moreso to create the authentic birch tree bark coloring, and a little on the brick work of the cottage.

I've added some shimmery accents with a glitter pen to the snow and house. This is this month's SFYTT from Jen .

As you can see I found some pretty glittery snowflake buttons I had from a quilting store a long time ago. I just cut off the back fastener and added thems with dimensionals. As well as the pretty snowflake Spellbinders. And then the Edgeabilities along the bottom and some pretty Lurex Silver Ribbon

So gang, it's your turn to be inspired by the colors of a time of day and join us! Enter at the Noon Time Challenge post on the Flourishes Blog.

Snow Wonderful!

2011-12-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Flourishes Sneak Peeks for December! We have some beautiful things to show you over the next 3 days. Today's set is just my style. I love it's cozy richness, the beautiful illustration by Marcella Hawley, and the versatility of the set. And you'll love another offering to add to the Custom Made Classic Keyhole Die we released last month!

I {{{heart}}} this card! I think it's the partly the color scheme, it evokes the cozy feel that I was going for. Aren't those little birds amazing? Sigh!

I've colored up these beauties with Copics, this is what I used on the spruce branches...

And then E43, E44, E47 and E50, and E53 on the birds, and some BG53, and BG0000 on the sky.

I've used a couple of Spellbinders Dies including Decorative Frames for the pretty corners above the Classic Keyhole Die and Classic Bracket Edgeabilities. The beautiful papers are My Mind's Eye Breeze, and the embellishments are Prima Crystals - Harvest.

Amazing - right? Love it!

To see more of the set please check in with our Awesome Design Team...

Somewhere along the way today one of the Design Team is the Mystery Blogger today. If you comment on her blog and your name is chosen, you win the set of the day!

Come back at NOON EST today for the NOON Time Challenge. It's a good one :) and I love my card I'll be showing you! And by playing along you are entered to win this set as well!

Play in our Feminine Flair Challenge and if you win - you could win the whole release!

The New Release Bundle is 10% off for one week only and you can Pre-Order Now!

Bless Your Heart

2011-12-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends, long-time-no-talk-to :)

As I'm sure many of you are experiencing - this is a really busy time of the year for us. And I've had zero time for this little blog of mine. Last week Friday started the Feminine Flair Pre-Release Challenge at Flourishes, and I wasn't able to participate because my very lovely Lace and Trims set hadn't arrived yet. Here's the Challenge:

Lace, pearls and flouncy ribbons – these are the things that make up a creation with a truly feminine flair. That’s what is at the heart of this month’s challenge. To enter, let’s see how you add a dose of femininity to your cards or creations! Link your project up here (below using our inlinkz widget). If you upload to SCS, please use the key word FLLCDEC11. Use Flourishes stamps if you have them, but if you don’t please play anyway! The winner will recieve our entire December release. You have until December 16 at 5 PM Eastern time to submit.

Today I finally can show you this pretty set on my card.

This lace set is really unbelievable. It's actually a close representation of some very special vintage lace that had been in Jan Marie's family. And it stamps like a dream. You really feel like you are looking at actual old-fashioned detailed lace on the paper. The fantastic news? This set is on sale for $10. Amazing buy!

I stamped the wide double lace with Kraft ink onto Flourishes Classic White Cardstock, cutting it out with my Grand Calibur and these gorgeous Grand Shapes, Creative Book Pages and Creative Book Pages Two. They really have some of the most amazing detailed shapes in these sets. I've used some matching lace styled paper from the Sunshine Kit in the store, and then added some beautiful laces and pearls from the store as well. It all adds up to some feminine elegance.

The sentiment is from our beautiful Medallion Motif set

So, we hope you can join us in the challenge. It means all new and gorgeous Flourishes sets....Gorgeous Sneak Peeks start tomorrow!

Showy Boxed Christmas Set

2011-12-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm back with another Gift Set I put together for our Women's Christmas Event this week at Church. Today I'm going to show you a set that has the showy factor to it. It's packaged in a clear box so all the inside parts are visable.

These are all the elements wrapped up in the pretty clear box (an old stamp box from PTI). I've re-purposed it, giving it a pretty header and it's ready for something lovely inside. In this box are 3 cards, matching envelopes and 3 Gift Tags.

I've used a couple of Flourishes sets again...Doves and Holly and A Gift for You. These two sets are so pretty because the coordinate. I've stamped all the images in shades of Memento Ink, and then sponged each of the Nestability Shapes heavily to match.

Here's a close up of the cards, as you can see I've added Dazzling Diamonds around the card borders for some pretty shimmer. The cards are cut with Labels Seventeen Spellbinders, Ribbon Slides, and then the Tags with Lacey Circles.

Pretty, simple, and easy to do! And a great gift set. It's all ready for Christmas packaging!

Joy to the World Set

2011-12-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

Good Monday to you all (or Sunday night depending on when you're here!) How are your Christmas preparations coming? I have to admit I have done very little this year. We have not had a spare minute to do anything shopping wise, let alone decorate the house, or send cards and bake. We just returned from a 3 day work retreat, and while it was a great time for us as a staff, I'm starting to run out of days here before Christmas!

This week is a Ladies Christmas Banquet at our Church, and I usually do some type of give-away, so I just finished up this Gift Set to show you. I love doing card sets, because if the winner is behind like me :) then it's a nice jump start on their preparations!

For this set I formed a box out of the Grand Labels Four Spellbinders Die, using my Grand Calibur machine. I wanted something large enough to hold regular A2 sized cards and envelopes. I've used two mini sets from Flourishes - Alleluia Angel and Rejoice. Both are inexpensive ($8.50 each) and well worth it!

I've accent the box top with various beautiful laces from the store, pearls and Copic Coloring (R27, R37; G82, YG61, E00, E50, E51, E53, E43, E44, E33)

Here is the box open. As you can see I have my cards inside as well as envelopes, and then a hinged box lid.

Here is the set, on the lower left you can see a bit of the decorated envelopes.

The touches of designer paper in the paper piecing and the card bases is from My Mind's Eye - Rosy, not a Christmas paper, but perfect with it's red and green palette.

As you can see I've added some copic coloring onto the paper pieced angels' dresses to give it more realism.

Back tomorrow with another set I'm giving away!

Stamps: Flourishes - Alleluia Angel, Rejoice; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Rhubarb Stalk, New Sprout; Paper: Flourishes Classic Ivory, MME - Rosy DP; Accessories: Grand Calibur, Fleur De Lis Rectangles, Ribbon Banners, Grand Labels Four Nestabilities; Victorian Embossing Folder, Laces, Organdy Ruffled Ribbon, Scor Tape, Dimensionals, Copic Markers.

Gift Calendar and Notes

2011-12-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

A Happy Friday to you everyone! Flourishes has a wonderful treat for you today! Back by popular demand, our Calendar template for 2012! Today the girls are going to show off some Calendar ideas pairing the template with some of our Flourishes sets.

Today I'm going to show you a page from March 2012. I thought a great idea for the Calendar would be to make it up as a gift for a friend, and then also include little note cards to go along with the calendar page for each month. That way, you are set for little notes or Birthdays in the month.

So, here we have March and the beautiful Irish Blessing set from Flourishes. I think that the bouquet of Oxalis or clover is stunning and wanted to showcase it on the Calendar page. The page is 5 x 7 inches.

I've added the clover trails along the bottom with some pretty stretchy green gingham ribbon. Coloring is done with this Copic Collection

+ R81, R83, R85, R89

I also wanted to use some of the other elements in the set, the tinier bit of clover and the Claddaugh ring. So I used them in the 3 x 3 notes.

And then to gift and store the little notes, I just added a regular A2 envelope with Scor Tape on the back of the calendar page to hold the 3 x 3s and envelopes. This way everything is handy!

Check out the other great ideas with the new Calendar Template for 2012 with the rest of the Design Team. The Template is now downloadable and will cost just $2. And you can use it as many times as you like!

Stamps: Flourishes - Irish Blessing; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento New Sprout, Memento Rhubarb Stalk; Paper: Flourishes Classic White, SU- Wild Wasabi, SU - Bravo Burgundy, assorted DP Scraps; Accessories; Big Shot, Picot Edge Circles Nestabilities, Circle Nestabilities, Doily Heart Circles, Gingham Ribbon, Adhesive Pearls, Scor Tape, Dimensionals, Copic Markers.

Shimmery Vintage Snow Scene

2011-11-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

Doesn't that look like the perfect winter scene? I thought this pretty scene from the Flourishes set Vintage Postcard would be lovely for some shimmery winter fun. First I stamped the image, gave it some pretty icy blue color with loose Copic coloring, and then overstamped the image again in VersaMark ink and embossed it with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder. I framed up the image with a pretty Spellbinders die, Foliage Frame I believe. The card is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 so I'd have room for the elegant die header.

A cool, crisp, sparkly day in the snow...and some Warm Winter Wishes to you! I'll be back late Thursday night with something new from Flourishes - it's very fun, as well as timely :) That's all the hint you're getting!

Vintage Santa Tag

2011-11-28T20:40:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone.

Well, the company is all gone :( and the cousins have all cried. In this past week, we've celebrated two brother's Birthdays (my husband and his younger brother - born 1 day apart - 8 years apart), American Thanksgiving, and two beautiful baptisms of our older two children, with a big celebration afterward with our Church. It was a precious, beautiful, unforgettable time. I am pretty weary now after all that excitement and a very busy house. :) But big blessings all around.

I will love to show you pictures another day. As we were doing the baptisms we were in the tank with the kids and had one of our students take pictures. So, as soon as we get them from him, I'll share a bit.

Today, I thought I'd show you a pretty little tag that I made quite some time ago for a magazine submission. I really loved how it turned out, but it didn't get accepted, which is ok too, because I've been saving it to show you :)

I took out this pretty vintage Santa set from There She Goes called Season's Greetings

I love the vintage style Santa in the set and the pretty whimsical trees. I colored them up with Prismacolor Pencils and trimmed them out, popping them up on some of the sentiments from the set that I had stamped on the "hills", which I had sewn on and glittered up. Some pretty trimmings and it's all done and ready for a package.

Thanks for dropping by today. Take care!

Joy!

2011-11-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Friday everyone!

As many of you are cyber-shopping or braving the stores in the US today, we want to invite you over to Flourishes for the Black Friday Sale! Its 25% off in the store! EVERYTHING today and tomorrow is 25% off, which also means anything on the sale page is being offered up at an additional discount for even bigger savings! Keep in mind, this sale is only 48 hours long – so shop early for the best selection! All you need to do is use the code BLACKFRI11 to get 25% off your entire order!

I thought I'd show you a little something to celebrate.

I put together this pretty Christmas card using a couple of older Flourishes Sets you may want to consider in your shopping, Lace Edges and Holiday Greetings. It is actually a really simple and easy card. The lace trims are embossed on the designer paper and onto the main sentiment panel, and the sentiment panel is sponged. Ribbon is velvet and lace from the store as well.

I'm really taken with these new Spellbinder's Dies. This one is Ornate Artisan Tags, and it has some really beautiful and unique shapes. I think it makes the card! I've finished the bottom with the Classic Petal Edgeabilities.

I'm thinking of doing the same card style in several different color palettes. Quick and easy!

Have fun shopping today!

If you're looking for more fun shopping inspiration ....see Dawn, and Stacy today too!

For Our Daughter

2011-11-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

As promised I'm back with the card we'll be giving to our daughter to celebrate her baptism. She is the pioneer, the first-born, the trail-blazer :) , and to see her walk out her faith and beliefs, to see her stretch and grow in her gifts and abilities, to see her heart for following God has been so beautiful to us. Just the other day she saw God do something powerful (and quite unexpected) in restoring a broken friendship and healing some wounds and I could see how powerful that was in her walk with God. I love these moments in raising her. And it's been our privilege to be a part of beginning to watch her fly :)

I.love.this.card. It's special to me, because it's for our girl. I also spent a lot of time on the coloring, pulling in a lot of shading techniques and trying to give it as much realism as possible. Plus I love that I tied in the roses theme to the papers (MME Blush) and beautiful rose ribbon too. It's the very lovely Lenten Rose set from Flourishes. I've die cut it out with the new Classic Keyhole Tailor-Made die from Flourishes as well. Boy I love this die! And then added the sentiment on a Labels Eleven Die.

Because I used an out of the box technique with the leaves, I added the rhinestones on the left side to balance out the card too.

Copic Collections used:

plus: R89, YG17, YG61, G21, G0000, BV00, BV0000, BG15

Alright gang, all the family is here now and I'm sure it's crazy and filled up with excitement in our house, so I'll close for now. I'll be back on Friday for Flourishes Friday and something yummy for Christmas to celebrate the Black Friday Sale at the store too.

For my American Friends, Happy Thanksgiving. I hope that no matter what your circumstance right now that you are able to see blessings vividly!

A Faith Rejoicing Week

2011-11-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

It's a very joy-filled week in our household. Our older two children, our 15 year old daughter and our 12 year old son, have asked to be baptized. For us as parents there is no greater joy than to see our kids make their faith their own. That's my greatest hearts desire for them; to know and live a personal walk with the Lord. So, this is a real faith step for each of them, and we feel very blessed and joyful for them.

And equally special and profound, because we are not only their parents, but also their Youth Pastors, they have asked us to baptize them. I don't even know how to put into words how this feels. And I doubt I'll get through it without a lot of tears.

We also have family coming for the special occasion this week, my husband's brother, our sister-in-law and their five children are coming today from the United States. Our kids are very close and bonded to their cousins, and aunt and uncle, so you can imagine the excitement in our home. We'll have 12 people in our little house this week. It will be VERY full :) And because it's not Thanksgiving for us, we'll also be pulling the kids out of school so they don't miss any fun!

I've worked on the cards for the kids for their baptisms ahead of time because I know once the family comes I won't have a spare minute!

Here is our son's card, and tomorrow I'll show you our daughter's card:

From the time our son was tiny (and I've probably told you this before), we've called him the joy child. He's always brought joy to the world with his big smile, happy heart, and fun loving spirit. As well, he's been working on his testimony he'll share, and he talks about wanting to be a light to his world. So, I've combined two Flourishes sets, Christmas Candles, and Petals and Peace. I've used Copics in these Flourishes Collections:

Plus YR12, YR14, YR30, BV04 and B0000

I wanted to give it a clean design with a masculine feel, so no fluffy elements :) I've used the Diamond Nestabilities to create some framing and to also carry over the theme of the candlelight radiating.

The inside verse reads "Arise for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord shines upon you" Isaiah 60:1.

Thanks for sharing the joy with us too :) Back tomorrow!

Stamps: Flourishes - Christmas Candles, Peace to You; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Danube Blue; Paper; Flourishes Classic White, Brilliant Blue, K & Company DP; Accessories: Big Shot, Large Labels, Diamond Nestabilities, Grommet Tags, Pinked Hearts Border Punch, Brilliant Blue Brads, Piercer, Dimensionals, Copic Markers, Glitter pen.

And the Winner Is....

2011-11-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Random.org has helped me choose a winner of last week's Blog Candy and it's.... (it was out of 46 but for some reason when I copy the random thingy over it shows out of 100)

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:27Powered by RANDOM.ORG

and #27

Anonymous said...

Very interesting idea! Love the scarf and all the great details! I am sure she will love it! Thanks for offering some great blog candy! Love visiting your blog for inspiration.

Chris R. from Iowa

Congratulations Chris!

You have 24 hours to contact me please (clicking my profile link for my email) and you can give me your mailing address, and I'll get this out to you!

Julieicious Blog Hop!

2011-11-18T23:00:00.000-07:00

How could we not celebrate today? Huh? It's Julie Koerber's Birthday! And as our fearless DT Leader, and invaluable Flourishes Go-To-Girl for everything - honestly she deserves to be celebrated. We are beyond blessed to have her. And her life is a gift to the world, she gives so much to it :) I also feel very blessed to call her friend.

So today, the many Girls of Flourishes - from the Senior DT, the Timeless Tuesday Girls, to the Bring Back Beautiful Team are joining together for a little Blog Hop in honor of Julie. Enjoy my friend, we all love you!

I pulled out this beautiful set from Flourishes that was this years FLIP Program Incentive Set. I remember when Julie and I first talked about the proof for this set and our jaws both dropped at how beautiful it was. That Marcella, she never disappoints in her illustrations! Plus I love this particular sentiment for Julie. It suits her perfectly. Inside I did stamp Happy Birthday too :)

I colored up the little bell-flowers with Copics:

Plus a little BV0000, BV00, V25, B0000, B00

I created a window in my DP (MME's A Beautiful Life), using a Spellbinder's Labels Twenty Die, then framed that out with Floral Flourishes, and Fair Aisle Border Petites, and the sentiment with Holiday Tags. Accents are Prima Crystals - Fall, and some beautiful ribbon and twine. Finished card is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2.

So, to continue on in this sweet little hop in celebrating Julie....here's the master list :)

Jingle All the Way

2011-11-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

It's another Flourishes Friday where the Design Team gets to show you a little something more from our latest release. :) Good news right?

I think this is such a stunning set. It's the new Petals and Peace, along with Flourishes Tailor Made Spellbinder's Custom Die - Classic Keyhole. I love the sheet music in the background of the amaryllis, bells and greenery, and I remembered this music sheet from the new Memento pad, Yuletide. And then went to coloring all in neutral tones with my Copic Markers Collections from Flourishes.

plus YR14, YR24, YR30

I sponged the edges of the DP with Ranger Distress - Vintage Photo to deepen the tones, then added some pretty shapes with my Spellbinders using Blossom Tag Accents and the Snowflake Die.

I added the sentiment to the smaller window/label of the Classic Keyhole dies using cardstock vellum that I had sponged with Distress ink as well. See the pretty Prima Crystals again? I love these. The facets really make them unique. The ribbon is from last month's Sunshine 123 Create Kit.

Have I swayed you enough :) ??? Remember that the New Release Bundle is available at a discount only till the end of the day today - November 18th!

The rest of the very talented Design Team will show you MORE yummy things today....

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken (you are here)

Parisian Dress Form & Christmas Candy

2011-11-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things that we (The Flourishes Girls) really enjoyed at CHA this past summer was looking at all the wonderful alterable items at the Kaiser booth. They have some really lovely wooden pieces that are of excellent quality to make something special.

Today a few of us on the DT are going to focus on some of these great items. I was able to work with this beautiful dress form and all along planned on making something for our daughter's new room.

The dress form is amazing, it's 14 inches tall, so it can really be a show piece. I began by painting it with some Acrylic paint, mixing some white with some shimmery white, and putting several coats and and letting dry overnight. I probably put 5 coats and and still could have done more, but I also didn't want it to be bright white either. More distressed white.

Then comes all the fun :) You can decorate it any way you please! I started with some swatches of fabric that I ordered on-line that we're thinking of using for our daughter's room. Here's the web address (www.OnlineFabricStore.net). Swatches are $1 a piece for probably a 4 x 4 square. The ones we're looking at are from the Amy Butler Collection. I took one of the swatches and added it behind the top bodice of the dress form, attaching the fabric behind the form using Scor Tape, trimming off any excess. Then I added a peblum to the front of the dress around the waist area with the rest of that same swatch cutting it into waves with a Spellbinders die (Fancy Scalloped Border). I attached that with Scor Tape and puckered the waist a little, trimming it up with some crochet lace and velvet. I also added a fabric rose from one of the swatches using the Spellbinders Spiral Blossoms One . I would advise running it through your die-cutting machine several times/passes, and you still may need to trim some of the threads in the cuts with a scissor because of the weave of the fabric.

Then using the dress form as a pattern I laid it down on some Navy cardstock and traced out the size of the bottom skirt, trimming it out, then stamping with elements from Country Charm Labels Set and white Craft ink, again attaching with Scor Tape.

I gave her a cute little ribbon scarf, because our daughter loves wearing scarves.

Just a little ribbon accenting and some faceted Crystal jewels from Prima to complete it! So now, when we get everything done in her room, she'll have a custom Shabby Chic Parisian dressform, that perfectly matches her room!

Be sure to check out the Flourishes Blog, Cindy and Stacy today who also are showing off some Kaiser Alterable fun!

Now... how about some Christmas Blog Candy to get ready for the Season? It snowed here finally, just a bit, so it really does feel more like Christmas is coming :)

Here's what I have to offer....

A pack of 7 Gypsies Venice 6 x 6 paper

October's Release of Christmas Candles Set

Brand New November Release of Sentiment Christmas set

All you have to do is comment on this post :)

**Please leave me your email address within the post so I can contact you if your name is chosen.

Winners will be chosen and posted by 10:00 PM MTN Time Monday November 21. You will have 24 hours to contact me to claim your prize :) I know that's a little short notice with American Thanksgiving coming - BUT you do want your stamps to be able to use for Christmas too right? :)

Polar Penguin Present

2011-11-14T10:52:00.001-07:00

This weekend our 7th grade son is invited to a BDay party of a new friend. They've had fun being typical goofy grade 7 boys. This friend has a good sense of humor and in fact the birthday invitations were of a penguin, and he said that everyone had to come dressed as a penguin to the party.

So in that sort of tongue in cheek theme, here's the card that will be for him. Oh - and he also likes purple - so that's the purple part here. Trying to still make it subtle purple/gray and manly for him :)

Cute hey? I've really missed giving my TSG Stamps some love, so I decided to play in their Recipe Challenge today. Ingredients: Birds, Snowflake, Ribbon, Button. I think I've got it all :).

I used the cutie Penguin Pals set, masking the penguin to add the present in his arms, coloring him up with Copics, then masking both the penguin and present to sponge on the Wisteria Wonder purple night sky. The card is 5 x 5.

I used a lot of stroking technique on the coloring to get the feel of the texture of his penguin - um fur...feathers? As well as some little touches of sparkle in the Shimmer White paper, and the Sakura Stardust pen on the snow and sentiment.

Stamps: There She Goes - Penguin Pals, Wrapped in Joy (sentiment); Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Whisper White Craft; Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Shimmery White, Basic Gray, Flourishes Classic White; Accessories: Big Shot, Labels Twelve, Blossom Tags and Accents, Grand Labels One, Snowflake Shapeabilities, Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Corduroy Brad, Copic Markers: BV00, BV02, BV20, BV23, BV25, BV29, C00, C1, C2, C3, C5, C7, YR12, YR14, YR18, Dimensionals, Glitter Pen, Snowflake Embossing Die, Scor-Buddy.

Brief is Life but Love is Long

2011-11-13T13:20:00.001-07:00

"Brief is Life but Love is Long" Alfred Lord Tennyson. A lovely quote in this set from Verve. I've had a tough couple of weeks recently, lots of tough events and things going on in life. But in the midst of all of it, my husband has been as solid as always to me, and for me. He is good to me, takes care of me, and cares about how I am doing. So, here is a sweet and simple card for him with this weeks Mojo Sketch.

Inside the tiny type reads the quote from Tennyson above, as well as "Have a heart that never hardens and a temper that never tires and a touch that never hurts" - Charles Dickens.

Sorry, to get the inside of the card to "hold" for the picture it looks wonky! :)

Hope you're able to hug someone you love today and tell them what they mean to you!

Stamps: Verve - Text Objects; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Lady Bug; Paper: Kraft Cardstock, Flourishes Classic Ivory Cardstock; MME - Rosy DP, Riding Hood Red; Accessories: Big Shot, Picot Edged Circles Dies, Basic Circle Dies, Twine, MME - Rosy Button, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Wide Striped Grosgrain, Copics - R14, R27, R29, R89

Star of Wonder, Star of Night...

2011-11-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

Lest We Forget...November 11th. Thank you to the many of you who have served and continue to serve - fighting for freedom.

Here we are at Friday and showing you a last beautiful set that celebrates the hope and meaning of Christmas for me. It's a beautiful new silhouette set from Lauren Pope.

I began by inking up the stamp with a brayer and some teal water-based ink. You need to ink it up and lay it down quickly because water based ink beads up even on a polymer stamp. Another way to do it is to ink up the stamp with a brayer and then lay the paper on top of the stamp, pressing and smoothing it onto the stamp with your fingers. Craft ink, VersaMark or chalk inks all have the sticky-ness where this wouldn't be a concern, but I wanted that teal color :) Then I inked up the stamp a second time with VersaMark ink, lining it up to the teal image and pressing down, then adding Iridescent Ice Embossing powder and embossing.

Then I stamped up a second image of the stamp, die cutting out Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus in the manger, with a Labels Twenty-Two die. Then using a matching marker to the ink, I darkened all the inked areas to deepen the color - then followed the same embossing steps to make it shimmer.

Finally, I popped up that Spellbinders shape onto the main image matching it up to the image beneath. The shine and shimmer looks awesome in person.

I've paired it with the beautiful Velvet Teal ribbon, and the very elegant Toile Lurex in Silver.

As you can see I've given the bottom some fancy edging with the Fleur De Lis Squares die, then accented the card with my new FAV Kaiser Sparklets in Sea Breeze.

The girls will have beautiful cards to show you today...

And Don't Forget...

We have one last Mystery Blogger - be sure to comment on all the DT Girls' beautiful cards, and if you find the Mystery Blogger of the day you could be chosen to win this beautiful set!

You can also still play in the two Noon-Time Challenges listed on the Flourishes Blog and the Snowy Delights Challenge - deadline is today (Friday at 5:00 pm Eastern)

Tommorow all the Winners will be announced in the Winner's Circle at Noon Central on the Flourishes Blog.

The New Release Bundle is NOW AVAILABLE HERE! For one week only you can get all the new sets at a discount, and don't forget our new beautiful die set!