Stamp Happy

Flourishes Oldies-but-Goodies Friday

2012-01-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

The Flourishes Sr. Design Team is picking up one of our older sets today to give it a little attention! With the season of love upon us, we thought Angelic Love should be in the spotlight! So, in addition to getting some fantastic ideas today from the design team on how to use this stamp set, we're having a one day only sale! Buy today and you get 15% off! Simply use the code ANGEL in the coupon code box at the time of checkout.

For my card, I of course used the Angelic Love stamp set, along with some "Kissing Booth" paper from Basic Grey. I think this paper pad has got to be one of my most favorite Valentine-themed designs in a few years! I just love the shades of red and pink, and beautiful patterns. I borrowed inspiration for my card from Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge #150 for the layout. I used the Nestabilities Classic Heart die behind my angel, and some Kaisercraft rhinestone for embellishment.

(this card is for sale on my "Cards for Sale" page!)

See what the other Flourishes designers have to share with you today using this beautiful stamp set...

Barbara Anders	Christine Okken	Cindy Lawrence	Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth	Julie Koerber	Sharon Doolittle	Stacy Morgan

InLinkz.com

Remember, you can purchase this gorgeous Angelic Love stamp set today for 15% off! Head over to the Flourishes online store and do some shopping!

Happy stamping!

Cards for Sale

2012-01-26T19:12:00.000-05:00

I'm finding it harder and harder these days to keep up with posting my cards on Etsy, so I've decided to try to just list my cards for sale here on my blog. My plan is to try to note within my blog posts when a card I've created is for sale, but in the meantime you can always check the "Cards for Sale" tab just under the header here on my blog!

Thanksabunch!

Color Throwdown #176

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

The Color Throwdown team, with Joan Ervin as our hostess, has another challenge for you this week! This color combo has some beautiful options, and we can't wait to see what you create! Stop at the Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and to link your own creation.

For my card, I decided to combine the Throwdown challenge with the TCP Tuesday challenge #194 this week from The Cat's Pajamas. I used the Heart Trio Cut-Ups die for my embellishment, cutting the large heart from felt, and a smaller one from Kraft cardstock. And I used the Ewe Complete Me stamp set. The papers I used here are "Love Story" from Fancy Pants.

See what my Color Throwdown sisters have created using today's colors, too...

Barbara Anders	Broni Holcombe	Danielle Kennedy	Joan Ervin	Kerri Michaud	Keva Brown
Kristin Eberline	Lori Tecler	Lynn Put	Wanda Cullen	Stacy Morgan, January Guest Designer

InLinkz.com

Happy stamping, and thanks a bunch for stopping by!

Timeless Tuesday #153

2012-01-24T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday again, and that brings us to another Timeless Tuesday with the Friends of Flourishes blog team! Cindy Haffner is our hostess this week, and she's challenging us to create Center Step Cards. You may think these are really hard to do, and I did too the first time I tried to make one, but they're super easy and fun to do! Check out Frances Byrne's great tutorial on Splitcoaststampers HERE. I decided to scale my card down and make it so it'd fit in an A2 envelope. My card base measures 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". In Step 1 of the SCS tutorial, my cuts were made from 1" to 5 1/4" (instead of 6 1/2"). In Step 2, I still scored at 1" and 2" at the bottom, but scored the top folds at 5 1/4" instead of 6 1/2". And in Step 4, I scored at 4 1/4" (instead of 5 1/2"). I hope that makes sense! If not, just email me!

I used the beautiful Pears stamp set for my card, coloring on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock with Copics from the New Leaves, Sunflower, Evergreen and Flesh Tones 2 collections. My sentiment is from the Tag Lines stamp set, and this designer paper is from the Picadilly 6x6 paper pad from Basic Grey. I cut out my pear image with the Labels 8 Nestabilities die. Below is a side view of my card, showing the "steps."

Be sure to visit the Timeless Tuesday team members for plenty of Center Step inspiration...

Cheryl Lea, January Guest Designer

Silke Ledlow

Mona Pendleton
Makiko Jones

Heather Jensen

Cindy Haffner

Beate Johns

And stop over at the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details! Just by playing along with this fun challenge, you can be in the running to win $10 to spend in the Flourishes online store!

Happy stamping!

Flourishes Friday

2012-01-20T00:30:00.000-05:00

Since it's Friday, that means it's time for the Flourishes gals to share some inspiration with you using stamps from the recent new release! Be sure to check out all their blogs links below for some great reminders of the new release from last week!

For my card today, I'm using the beautiful new "From the Heart" set. I just can't get enough of the stunning heart in this set! I stamped the heart in Victorian Velvet distress ink on paper from my Glitz "Pretty in Pink" 6x6 paper pad. I cut out the heart and mat with my Classic Heart and Classic Scalloped Heart Nestabilities dies, and embellished with some rhinestone flourishes and a seam binding bow.

See what the other Sr. Design Team members have created for today as well...

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

And don't forget, today is the last day that you can take advantage of 10% savings by purchasing all three of the new stamp sets in the New Release Bundle! Check out all the details here.

Clean and Simple Thanks

2012-01-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

I needed a couple of thank you notes recently, so I came up with these three quick, clean-and-simple designs using a variety of my favorite stamps, dies and cut files!

This first card uses Vegtastic from Paper Smooches, and some assorted scraps of designer paper.

This second card uses the Rainbows & Clouds dies from Lil' Inker Designs with the coordinating stamp set. The clouds are cut from white felt.

And this last card uses my favorite Occasional Labels cut files from My Time Made Easy and a stamp from Stampin' Up! and paper from October Afternoon.

Thanks for checking out my CAS cards! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!

Color Throwdown #175

2012-01-18T00:01:00.000-05:00

It's that time again.... Color Throwdown day! Danielle is our hostess today, and she found this photo of a very romantically-set hammock that inspired our colors. We'd love to see what you do with these colors, so stop by the Throwdown blog and play along with us!

For my card, I decided to use a brand new Tiddly Inks image, Wryn New Nest! Wryn is a newly illustrated character at Tiddly Inks and SO freakin' adorable! Check her out in seven different images on the TI website! I paired my image with some Simple Stories "Happy Day" papers, and some twill ribbon. The "Tweet" sentiment on the tag is from the "Spring is Sprung" stamp set from Flourishes.

Again, stop over at the Color Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and please join us! For more inspiration, visit my Throwdown sisters, too!

Barbara Anders	Broni Holcombe	Danielle Kennedy	Joan Ervin	Kerri Michaud	Keva Brown
Kristin Eberline	Lori Tecler	Lynn Put	Wanda Cullen	Stacy Morgan, January Guest Designer

InLinkz.com

Wryn and I say thanks for stopping by today!

Timeless Tuesday #152

2012-01-17T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday again, so we're ready to roll out another Timeless Tuesday challenge with Flourishes! With Valentine's Day approaching, his week Heather is our hostess and she's challenging us to anything but a card. Maybe you could make a Valentine treat box or bag, or make a tag to go on a basket or other item!

I recently got this neat clear tubes, so I decided to make a quick little heart-shaped tag to tie on my tube full of candy red hots! My heart was cut from the Classic Heart and Classic Scalloped Heart Nestabilities dies, available in the Flourishes online store. I stamped the sentiment from the new Heartlines stamp set, embossed with clear embossing powder, then stamped some hearts from the Love Notes stamp set over the sentiment in shades of pink and red. I embellished with a pearl flourish (colored with an RV25 Copic marker from the Dogwood collection, and some metallic white curling ribbon.

On the inside I stamped the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment from the Love Notes stamp set.

See what the rest of the Timeless Tuesday team has created for today's challenge by visiting their blogs! And then don't forget to head over to the Flourishes blog, and play along with us for the chance to win $10 to spend in the Flourishes online store!

Cheryl Lea, January Guest Designer

Silke Ledlow

Mona Pendleton

Makiko Jones

Heather Jensen

Cindy Haffner

Beate Johns

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and please play along with us this week!

Happy stamping!

Flourishes New Release Day 3

2012-01-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

We've got the final day of sneak peeks today for the January New Release at Flourishes with the final stamp set Love, Sweet Love. There are fabulous images in this set, and I know you're going to love it! And the best news is, this set as well as Heartlines and From the Heart are now available for purchase in the Flourishes online store! If you want all three sets, take advantage of the New Release Bundle and save 10% off your purchase, too!

I created my card with the heart-shaped candy box from the stamp set, and paired it with some "Love Me" papers from My Mind's Eye. My image was stamped on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock and colored with Copics from the Peony, Dahlia, Hollyhock, Copper and Warm Neutrals collections. My image is die cut and layered with Petite Oval Nestabilities, and the Labels 18 Nestabilities. I embellished with some Prima rhinestone flourishes and Ivory Crochet Trim.

I didn't leave room on the front of the card for the sentiment, so I put it on the inside this time.

Want to win this set? All you need to do is leave some love in the form of a comment on the blogs below because you need to try to figure out...

Barbara Anders
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger <-- that's me!
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen
Beate Johns
Cindy Haffner
Mona Pendleton
Jan Marie Caruso

Thanks so much for hopping by today, and all the fabulous comments this week! This release has been wonderful, and I'm so glad to hear how much everyone loves the new stamps sets!

Happy stamping!

Flourishes New Release Day 2

2012-01-12T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's day two of the sneak peeks for Flourishes' January New Release and I hope that you've enjoyed the offerings so far! This next set we're peeking is all about creating a note or two for the friends you truly care about, both near and far. These messages are from the heart and perfect for Valentine's Day, but also good for the whole year through!

My card uses my most favorite sentiment from the "Heartlines" set because I love the "open" letters that I can color in! I stamped my sentiment on a Labels 11 Nestabilities die cut, added some die-cut Spellbinders hearts, and some rolled roses. Then I embellished with some black rhinestone flourishes for a great finish. The papers I used here are "Yours Truly" from Echo Park.

Want to win this set? All you need to do is leave some love in the form of a comment on the blogs below because you need to try to figure out...

One of the ladies on our link list below will be picking a name from the comments on her blog post today. We don't know which one it is, so the more blogs you leave comments on the better your chances are to win!

Barbara Anders
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger <-- that's me!
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen
Beate Johns
Cindy Haffner
Mona Pendleton
Jan Marie Caruso

Did you know you could win the entire January New Release? Check out our New Year Challenge HERE. You can also play in our Noontime Challenges! The first one, The Year of the Dragon, can be found HERE. The second one will be unveiled at noon Central time today, and you can check it out on the Flourishes blog. These challenges are all fast-paced and designed to quickly spark your creativity, hence the deadline of Friday, January 13th at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time to enter. Just upload your creations to an online gallery or your blog and link them to the appropriate post on the Flourishes blog using the Inlinkz widget. Winners will be announced on Saturday!

Can't wait until all the sets are revealed on Friday morning? You can pre-order them all now if you like what you see on the designers' blogs! Just click HERE for the New Release Bundle, and get 10% off by buying them all together!

Good luck, and happy stamping!

Flourishes Noontime Challenge: The Year of the Dragon

2012-01-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

Since it's New Release Week at Flourishes, we've got a couple of Noontime Challenges for you to participate in for a chance to win ALL the new stamps! Here's the first one...

HOW TO PLAY: According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, which begins on January 23, 2012 and ends on February 9, 2013. So, what does this predict for 2012? Success and happiness! To play, simply be inspired by the colors of this beautiful dragon with rich shades of red, orange and even pink. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers, please use the keyword FLLCJANRW1. You have until Friday, January 13th at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time to enter. Once you're done with your creation, be sure to link it up to this post on the Flourishes blog using our Inlinkz widget to be eligible to win!

For my card, I was highly inspired by the red of the dragon and paired it with a lot of pink. I LOVE how the swirly flourishes of this heart from the new "From the Heart" stamp set so nicely mimic some of the dragon's features, don't you? My heart was stamped second generation with Melon Mambo ink, then I stamped my sentiment with Riding Hood Red ink and embossed with clear embossing powder to make it stand out. The heart and sentiment are stamped on a piece of paper from the Basic Grey "Kissing Booth" 6x6 paper pad. I added a couple more flourishes to the card front, did some distressing on the edges, and embellished with some Kaisercraft rhinestones and a seam binding double-bow. I spritzed the whole thing with some Perfect Pearls too for added shimmer, and added a little gold heart button to my bow with some baker's twine. (That little gold heart button is a leftover from a Valentine jumper I sewed for my oldest daughter years ago!)

See what some of the other Sr. Design team members have created using the inspiration piece for today's challenge...

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Dawn Burworth

Stop by the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details, and please play along for your chance to win some spectacular stamps!

Flourishes New Release Day 1

2012-01-11T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's that wonderful time of the month again.... Flourishes New Release week! This week, love is most definitely in the air as we've got some beautiful Valentine-themed, lovey-dovey stamp sets to share with you starting with "From the Heart" today! This heart is designed to fit with the Spellbinders Classic Heart and Classic Scalloped Heart. I paired this beautiful heart stamp with some new "Kissing Booth" paper from Basic Grey, and added some Prima rhinestone flourishes, some Ivory Crochet Trim, a seam binding bow and a heart button from my stash. The heart is stamped on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock with Riding Hood Red ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.

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

Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Cindy Lawrence
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger <-- that's me!
Sharon Doolittle
Heather Jensen
Mona Pendleton
Cindy Haffner
Jan Marie Caruso

DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD WIN THE ENTIRE JANUARY RELEASE? Have you checked out our A New Year Challenge? Just click HERE to find out how to play! Or check out the Timeless Tuesday challenge for this week by clicking HERE. You can also play in our Noon Time Challenges this week! To do that, all you need to do is check in on the Flourishes blog Wednesday and Thursday at noon! 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 5:00 PM EST (except for Timeless Tuesday) and winners will be announced Saturday in our Winner’s Circle blog post! So get those fingers inky and good luck!

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!

Color Throwdown #174

2012-01-10T23:59:00.000-05:00

It's time for another Color Throwdown challenge, and this week Broni is our hostess with these beautiful colors! There are so many directions you can go in with this color combo, as you'll see by checking out the inspiration from the design team (see links below). Stop over at the Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and play along!

For my card, I couldn't resist using my brand new Clearly Swanky stamp set from The Cat's Pajamas, Warm Fuzzies! This set is right up my alley because yes, even though we just had Christmas I am MORE than ready for Spring to get here! TAMMY. DOESN'T. LIKE. WINTER! I added some embossing to my card for today too in the form of big polka dots for the TCP Tuesday challenge.

See what my Throwdown sisters have created for today, too!

Barbara Anders	Broni Holcombe	Danielle Kennedy	Joan Ervin	Kerri Michaud	Lori Tecler
Lynn Put	Wanda Cullen	Stacy Morgan, January Guest Designer

InLinkz.com

Thanks for stopping by, and happy stamping!

Timeless Tuesday #151

2012-01-10T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's another Timeless Tuesday challenge with Flourishes, and this week I'm the hostess with a simple inspiration challenge! Check out the photo below and be inspired... maybe by the patterns, the colors, the ribbons, the tree itself... whatever floats your boat! Have fun with this!

For my card, I was inspired by the topiary, the colors and the patterns so I pulled out my DIY Topiary stamp set to get started. Since the lovey-dovey Valentine season is almost upon us, I decided to make a Valentine-themed card, using a sentiment from the Tag Lines stamp set. My image was cut out with a Labels 8 Nestabilities die, and I colored my Topiary with Copics from the Poppy, Dogwood, Evergreen, Flesh Tones 2 and Warm Neutrals Copic collections on Flourishes Classic White cardstock. The designer papers I used here are from Doodlebug Designs, and I added some red curly grid ribbon to my button/tag combo to mimic the curly-Qs in the inspiration photo.

Be sure and see how the other Timeless Tuesday designers were inspired by the photo today...

Cheryl Lea, January Guest Designer

Silke Ledlow

Mona Pendleton

Makiko Jones

Heather Jensen

Cindy Haffner

Beate Johns

Be sure to stop at the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details, including some changes to the rules for playing that I think a lot of people will like!

Thanks for stopping by, and happy stamping!

Flourishes Pre-Release Challenge Friday

2012-01-06T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's time again for my favorite part of the month... Flourishes New Release! It’s a new year and a new round of Flourishes stamps is just about ready to be revealed! So, let’s ring in this new year, with a release week challenge designed to honor the changing of old…to new!

HOW TO PLAY: 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 or one that showcases little baby new year i.e. a baby card. Either will get you in the running! After you’re done making your creation, don’t forget to link it up on the Flourishes blog post using the Inlinkz widget! You have until January 13th at 5:00 PM to get in the running! Use Flourishes stamps if you have them, but if you don’t, play along anyway — you could win some! The winner will recieve all three sets that are a part of our January release! If you upload to Splitcoaststampers, don’t forget to use the keyword FLLCJANRW2.

I don't currently have a baby stamp set from Flourishes, so I pulled out my Moments in Time set to create my card for today's challenge, and paired it with some new Echo Park "Yours Truly" paper. I stamped my clock face and embossed with clear embossing powder and embellished with a pearl stick pin and some black Prima crystal swirls. For the layout on my card, I used Karen's Sweet Sunday sketch #149.

Please visit the other Flourishes Sr. Design team members for more inspiration and join us for this challenge! AND stay tuned next Wednesday through Friday for sneak peeks of all the new stamp sets! You're going to LOVE them!

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Sharon Doolittle

Stacy Morgan

Many thanks for stopping by today, and happy stamping!

Color Throwdown #173

2012-01-04T21:16:00.000-05:00

The Color Throwdown team is back for the year, and we've got a few exciting changes for you, too! Barbara Anders is working on some fabulous new color graphics for us, starting with the one above with the colors for this week! I think you'll really like what we've got in store for 2012!

Now, I'm running late with my card today because I had a screaming migraine yesterday and couldn't get my card done, but I happily have it done now! I had to use my sweet Key to My Heart ala' mode stamp from My Favorite Things, along with a little heart cut with my Hearts a'Plenty Die-Namics die, and used the MFT Wednesday Sketch #53, too. The papers I used here are the "Love Me" line from My Mind's Eye.

Stop over at the Color Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and play along! We'd love to see what you create with these colors! And visit my Throwdown sisters for some great inspiration, including our January Guest Designer, my sweet friend Stacy Morgan!

Barbara Anders	Broni Holcombe	Danielle Kennedy	Joan Ervin	Kerri Michaud	Keva Brown
Kristin Eberline	Lori Tecler	Lynn Put	Wanda Cullen	Stacy Morgan, January Guest Designer

InLinkz.com

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy stamping!

Timeless Tuesday #150

2012-01-03T01:00:00.000-05:00

The Flourishes Timeless Tuesday team is back again to kick of 2012 with a fun challenge being hosted by Mona Pendleton! Check out this tutorial on Splitcoaststampers for Cami's Tri-Fold card, and join us for the challenge! These are easy cards to make with a fun twist!

For my card, I'm using the Tokens of Affection stamp set and some new Valentine papers from Doodlebug Designs. Here's the front of my card with a sentiment and tea cups from the stamp set. My image is colored on Flourishes Classic White cardstock with Copics from the Poppy, Dogwood and Flesh Tones 2 collections.

And here's the inside of my card, with another sentiment from the stamp set.

The Timeless Tuesday team will surely have more awesome inspiration for you with their tri-fold cards today, so be sure to stop by their blogs as well as our new January Guest Designer, too!

Cheryl Lea, January Guest Designer
Silke Ledlow
Mona Pendleton
Makiko Jones
Heather Jensen
Cindy Haffner
Beate Johns

Be sure to stop at the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details, including some changes to the rules for playing that I think a lot of people will like!

Thanks for stopping by, and happy stamping!

Happy New Year-2011 Favorites

2012-01-01T16:06:00.000-05:00

I have always found it fun the last few years to take a look back at my blogging year and pick my favorite cards from each month, so here goes. I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I always do!

In January, this card for Color Throwdown #125 using a beautiful stamp from Verses Rubber Stamps was at the top of my favorites list for the whole year, too.

Do you ever make cards that you're so pleased with that you can't help but keep going back to them and looking? This February Timeless Tuesday birthday card using the Friendly Reminders set from Flourishes was like that for me!

As I recall, I had quite a few favorites in March and had to do some serious narrowing down of the competition. In the end, this Penny Black duck still just stole my heart, from another Color Throwdown challenge.

This special birthday card back in April, combined with another Timeless Tuesday challenge was a no-brainer as far as my favorite for that month. I used the Lenten Rose stamp set from Flourishes on this card, along with my recently-acquired High Tea Party Doily Die-Namics die from My Favorite Things of which I am still madly in love with 8 months later! :)

The beach scene created on this card for May had me dreaming of warm temps and sunny shores, for sure. This vacation-themed card for the Crazy 4 Challenges team was high-ranking for May, using the Beach Life stamp set from Flourishes.

Another Timeless Tuesday card took top honors for June using the Butterflies & Blossoms stamp set from Flourishes.

July's favorite card led me to this creation for a Bellarific Friday Sketch challenge, using some distress inks for the background and a few Stamping Bella stamps.

In August, I pulled out some Kitchen Sink Stamps that Maria was kind enough to gift me with when she visited Ohio back in June to create some fabulous hot pink cowgirl boots on this card! I'd love to have a pair of boots like these!

Several times in 2011 I was honored to join the fabulously talented girls on the Stamp Simply Store team in some challenges, and this card from a suede ribbon challenge back in September was hands-down a fave!

In October, another card created for a Color Throwdown challenge was the front-runner featuring one of my most favorite characters in stamping... Mavis!

November's favorite card was this Timeless Tuesday creation for Flourishes using the Vintage Postcard stamp set, and the Dryer Sheet Technique. I find it hard now to contemplate trying this technique on another card, because it just seems so perfectly suited for this stamp set! LOL

And finally in December, one of my most-recent favorite cards was this one using the newly released Pears set from Flourishes. This stamp set can have you dreaming of warmer weather and fresh fruit, for sure!

On top of these cards, a LOT of my favorites for 2011 were also created for the Dirty Dozen galleries at Splitcoaststampers... a team I'm incredibly proud to have joined this past year! I can't show you some of those cards here on my blog as yet, but if you're a Fan Club member at SCS you can hop over to my gallery by clicking here to see them!

AND if you're not a Fan Club member, you really should be especially if you're someone like me who has gotten years of encouragement and inspiration from visiting SCS. Yes, it's a free site to use but I have always been a Fan Club member as a way to give back to a community who has given me so much. Please consider a half or full year membership if you feel the same way to show your appreciation!

I wish you many of God's blessings in 2012, and happy stamping! Thanks for stopping by!

Flourishes Tin-for-All-Friday

2011-12-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's Free for All Friday with the Flourishes Sr. Design team, and today we're feeling a little tin-like! Jan Marie sent us all these great alterable tins awhile back and today our challenge was to see what we could create with them! I think you'll find some great ideas from all the designers listed at the end of my post, and you'll want to pick up a few of these tins yourself... especially since they're on sale right now for only $0.75! You can find them by clicking HERE. (The After-Christmas sale ends tonight at midnight, so don't dawdle!)

For my tin, I'm feelin' a little Valentine love! I used the Tokens of Affection stamp set, stamping the "kiss" token on a piece of paper from the "Love Me" collection from My Mind's Eye. I have some of these old circle tags from Buttons Galore laying around, so I adhered the Good For One Kiss token to the tag for more stability. Then I just tied a ribbon in a bow snugly around the tin, and attached the tag with some red and pink baker's twine. The ribbon can just slide off the tin for opening, and inside....

... are three tubes of Burt's Bees lip balm so that you can give out plenty of Valentine kisses! The "or 100!" is computer-generated and I added a die-cut heart stamped with a Valentine sentiment from the Tokens of Affection set. I cut and scored three small scraps of paper from the "Love Me" paper pad to make little "boxes" around the lip balm to keep them from rolling around in the tin, and added another piece of paper from the pad to the inside of the lid.

Be sure to visit the other Flourishes Sr. Designers to see what they've done with their tins today...

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Sharon Doolittle

Stacy Morgan

My little tin was a lot of fun to make, and I hope I've inspired you today! :)

Happy stamping!

Happy Retirement, Bar!

2011-12-30T00:00:00.000-05:00

Someone very special to me is celebrating a very special day! My BFF Barbara Anders (better known as "Bar") is retiring today from the daily grind! I know how anxiously she's been waiting for this day, so I thought it'd be fun to help her celebrate! I gathered up a few stamping friends to have a little Happy Retirement Blog Hop for her today, so be sure to check out the list of bloggers at the end of my post, and check out the celebratory cards for Bar today!

For my card, I thought the beautiful new Always Time for Tea stamp set and Die-Namics from My Favorite Things would make a beautiful retirement card! I computer-generated the "Retirement suits you...." sentiment for the front of the card, and...

... I added this on the inside. "To a" is computer-generated and "Tea" is from the stamp set, along with the teapot stamped at the bottom.

Please hop over and also check out the Happy Retirement cards from these friends...

Broni Holcombe

Lynn Put

Wanda Cullen

Lori Tecler

Joan Ervin

Jody Morrow

Cindy Haffner

Christine Okken

CONGRATULATIONS on your retirement, Bar! I know how much all your co-workers are going to miss you, but I also know how much you're going to enjoy this next phase of life! Happy stamping, happy gardening, happy everything!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you! :)

Always Time for Tea	High Tea Party Doily	Prima Say It In Crystals	LilyBee "Head Over Heels"
Jenni Bowlin Stick Pins	Textile Rectangle Frame	Ribbon Banner Spellbinders dies

InLinkz.com

Snowflakes and Storage

2011-12-28T20:30:00.001-05:00

We had a few gifts cards to give out for Christmas this year, so I used my Snowflake Cut-Ups die from The Cat's Pajamas to dress up the envelopes a little bit. The purple envelopes are what we put our gift cards in at the store, and these were for my niece's two young girls, so I wanted to dress them up with some sparkle so they'd be a little more excited over boring gift cards. (At ages 2 and 5, they don't yet realize the value of a gift card, but they really seemed to love the sparkly snowflakes and ribbon!) And the gift card holder on the right is like some similar ones I made for the Dirty Dozen gallery this month at Splitcoaststampers.

And I just have to share one of my new Christmas "toys" too.... my sweet hubby took me to Harbor Freight to get this awesome revolving 4-tier unit for storage! I just LOVE it, and even after doing a little reorganizing of my supplies, I still have room for more things on it! :) I love it!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

Flourishes After-Christmas Sale

2011-12-27T18:37:00.002-05:00

If you have Christmas money to spend, Flourishes has 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!

Christmas at the Gas Station

2011-12-25T12:44:00.001-05:00

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just couldn't find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through.

Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and warm up. "Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the stranger. "I see you're busy, I'll just go."

"Not without something hot in your belly." George said.

He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't much, but it's hot and tasty. Stew ... Made it myself. When you're done, there's coffee and it's fresh."

Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway bell. "Excuse me, be right back," George said. There in the driveway was an old '53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front.. The driver was panicked. "Mister can you help me!" said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child and my car is broken." George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead.

"You ain't going in this thing," George said as he turned away.

"But Mister, please help ..." The door of the office closed behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good."

George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck, their tires were shot too. That 'ol truck has brand new ." George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at least he got something in his belly," George thought.

George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the the block hadn't cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to himself. So he put a new one on.

"Those tires ain't gonna get 'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of his wife's old Lincoln . They were like new and he wasn't going to drive the car anyway.

As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, "Please help me."

George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease.

"Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in there, I'm going to get you an ambulance."

The phone was dead. "Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio.

He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. "Thanks," said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area."

George sat down beside him, "I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain."

George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take it?" he asked.

"None for me," said the officer..

"Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts." The officer laughed and winced at the same time.

The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before.

"That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer.

"Son, why are you doing this?" asked George, "You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt."

The young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!"

The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away," George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here now."

He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve. If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I got. Now put that pea shooter away."

George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week."

George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can."

He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this thing out."

The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. "Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer."

"Shut up and drink your coffee " the cop said.

George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the wounded officer.

"Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?"

"GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man.

Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran."

George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other.

"That guy work here?" the wounded cop continued.

"Yep," George said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job."

The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?"

Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy ... and you too, George, and thanks for everything."

"Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems."

George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day."

The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means something to you."

"And now it means something to you," replied George. "I got my memories. That's all I need."

George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours."

The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier.

"And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too," George said. "Now git home to your family."

The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. "I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good."

"Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said. "See ya the day after."

George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. "Where'd you come from? I thought you left?"

"I have been here. I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?"

"Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by myself and besides I was gettin' a little chubby."

The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor.

The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man."

George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. "And how do you know all this?" asked the old man.

"Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again."

The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned."

George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room.

"You see, George ... it's My birthday. Merry Christmas."

George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus."

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS!

(Thank you, Joann at Old Hippie for sharing this story!)

Flourishes Friday Free-for-All

2011-12-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

It may be almost Christmas, but as usual the Flourishes Sr. Design team has some Free-for-All Friday cards to share with you! You'll find everyone today using stamps from the recent new release, so hopefully you'll be inspired!

I couldn't resist inking up these beautiful Pears once more. I'm so excited for more opportunities to use these stamps... the images are so beautiful and unique. This time I decided to stamp directly onto some designer paper and let that be my "coloring" for today. I simply accented the shadows under the pears with a Warm Grey #3 marker, and the leaf with a YG95 marker. The papers I used here are Prima "Madeline" and I accented with some brown gingham, Prima flowers and chocolate Kaisercraft pearls.

Remember, today is your last chance to pick up both of the newly released stamp sets, Snow Wonderful and Pears in the New Release Bundle and save 10%!

Stop and see what the other Sr. Designers have created today, then leave a little note for hubby to do some Christmas shopping for you in the Flourishes online store! :)

Barbara Anders
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Sharon Doolittle
Stacy Morgan

Happy stamping, and thanks so much for stopping by today!

Timeless Tuesday #149

2011-12-20T01:00:00.000-05:00

Since it's Tuesday, we've got one last Timeless Tuesday challenge for you in 2011! Beate is our hostess today, and she's got a great technique for you to try! I know you're probably super-busy this week getting ready for Christmas, but take a little time for yourself to do some stamping and give this Telescoping Image technique a try. It may look a little intimidating but trust me when I say it isn't, especially if you check out Beate's easy tutorial over on the Flourishes blog!

I have to say, it was a relief to stamp something other than a Christmas card for today's challenge! Whew... I love the holidays but I am tired of Christmas stamps, papers and colors! :)

For my card, I decided to use the beautiful Gerber Daisies stamp set and the Labels 11 Nestabilities for my Telescoping Image. I matted everything on the Lattice Rectangle Nestabilities with a piece of gray gingham paper from the October Afternoon "Farmhouse" paper pad. My daises were colored with Copics from the Sunflower and Warm Neutrals Copic collections on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock, and I embellished with some dark gray seam binding, silver cord, a button and some Kaisercraft pearls colored with a W3 Copic marker.

Be sure you visit the other Timeless Tuesday team members today because I'm SURE they're going to have some beautiful inspiration for you using this technique!

Theresa Pollack, December Guest Designer

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure to visit the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details, and play along with us for your chance to win some Flourishes spending money!

Happy stamping!

Beary Christmas

2011-12-19T00:42:00.000-05:00

I needed to get one last Christmas card done this weekend, so the weekly TCP Tuesday challenge at The Cat's Pajamas, and the sketch from CardPatterns were a perfect combination for me to get the job done. My sweet polar bear here is Big Bear from The Cat's Pajamas and I added a Cut-Ups Snowflake die as an embellishment. (And I honestly did use the Big Scallop Cut-Ups die... it's the strip of snowflake paper on the left side! But it ended up being covered by the center panel, and if I'd read the challenge closer and realized it was actually a major part of the challenge, I would have changed up the layout! LOL *smacks forehead*)

My snowflake is cut from white felt, and I applied a boatload of Rock Candy Distress Stickles to it for sparkle. Hopefully you can catch a little of it by clicking on the photo below. I also spritzed the circle behind the bear with Perfect Pearls, but unfortunately my poor photography doesn't show it.

So, we're down to the wire now... are ya' ready for Christmas! :) If not, you better get busy!

Happy stamping!

Quickie Christmas Treats

2011-12-17T23:56:00.004-05:00

There are several families at our church who have little kids that I just adore and every holiday I have to have a little special treat for them. Since I've been sick all week, I didn't think I'd get anything done but luckily I felt better tonight. The Christmas Ornaments Die and Stamp set from My Favorite Things came to my rescue to make these quick tags for each candy cane! Now I have a little something for all of my favorite kiddies at church!

Happy stamping!

Flourishes New Release Day

2011-12-16T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's the last day of sneak peeks for Flourishes' new release this week, and instead of a new stamp set today, the designers are all showcasing the 123 Create Kits that are available in the Flourishes online store! The newest one for December is shown above. Details for this kit can be found HERE. There are kits from other months also available in the Flourishes online store, so be sure to check them all out HERE.

With my card today, I'm showing you the November 123 Kit that contains a beautiful pad of paper from Kaisercraft along with matching metallic gold cardstock, ribbons, lace and pearls! For my card I used the new Sentimental Christmas stamp set, along with the Forest of Trees stamp set.

Want to win a 123 Create Kit? All you need to do is leave some love in the form of a comment on the blogs below! Why? You need to try to figure out…..

One of the ladies on our link list below will be picking a name from the comments on her blog post today. We don’t know which one it is… so the more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances you have to win! And, if you need some more eye candy, all you need to do is pay these ladies a visit – they are all showcasing one of Flourishes’ 123 Create Kits!

And then be sure to hop over to the Flourishes online store and do a little pre-Christmas shopping for yourself! All the new stamps sets are now available!

Please forgive my short-and-sweet post today, but I'm battling bronchitis. It's back to bed for me!

Happy stamping!

Flourishes New Release Day 2

2011-12-15T01:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it's ap-pear-ant that everyone loved the new "Snow Wonderful" stamp set from Flourishes that we sneak peeked for you yesterday.... the comments were just FULL of gushing praise! So I hope you'll continue with the gushing when you see what we've got for you today... the beautiful new "Pears" stamp set! The images in this set are gorgeous beauties, yet this set is really fun and kinda' whimsical at the same time! Trust me.... YOU. WILL. LOVE. IT! Be sure to hit the blog links down below to see what the other Flourishes designers created today with these beautiful pears!

For my card, I pulled out some gorgeous Crate Paper to go with my blushing pears, and borrowed the layout from Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #147 from this past week, inverting the sketch to fit my image and panels better. My pears were colored with Copics from the collections shown below.

Want to win this set and matching die? All you need to do is leave some love in the form of a comment on the blogs below! Why? You need to try to figure out…..

One of the ladies on our link list below will be picking a name from the comments on her blog post today. We don’t know which one it is… so the more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances you have to win! So, head on over and see how our fabulously talented DT used this beautiful new set and matching die combo that is sure to be a holiday fave for years to come!

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

Tammy Hershberger <--<-- you're here!

Jan Marie Caruso

Sharon Doolittle

Heather Jensen

Beate Johns

There are several other ways that you can win, too! There's still time to join in with the Pre-Release Feminine Flair challenge from last Friday, there's the Noontime Challenge from Wednesday, and there will be another one at noon Central time today! Check 'em all out over on the Flourishes blog!

Flourishes New Release Day 1

2011-12-14T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's that time once again.... Flourishes New Release! This week we've got two wonderful new stamp sets to share with you and as always, you're going to LOVE them! Up first for today is Snow Wonderful, a beautiful stamp set for Winter that coordinates with the new Tailor-Made Classic Keyhole Die Set that was released last month. Now you've got even more uses for that beautiful new die set with two stunning images in this new stamp set, and loads of wonderful sentiments.

I chose to use these sweet birds nestled in the pine trees for my card, stamping directly onto some designer paper from the "Breeze" 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye and lightly coloring with Copics from the collections shown below. I added some more papers from the 6x6 pad to my design, some chocolate Kaisercraft pearls, some stitching, and some white cotton lace trim. My layout was inspired by Iwona's Sketchbook Saturday challenge #41.

Want to win this set and matching die? All you need to do is leave some love in the form of a comment on the blogs below! Why? You need to try to figure out…..

One of the ladies on our link list below will be picking a name from the comments on her blog post today. We don’t know which one it is… so the more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances you have to win! So, head on over and see how our fabulously talented DT used this beautiful new set and matching die combo that is sure to be a holiday fave for years to come!

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

Tammy Hershberger <--<-- you're here!

Sharon Doolittle

Heather Jensen

Beate Johns

Good luck, and happy stamping!

Color Throwdown #172

2011-12-13T23:59:00.000-05:00

It's Wednesday again, and that means we've got another Color Throwdown challenge for you and actually it's the last one for 2011! We'll be taking a little holiday break, and will be back on January 4th with more challenges and a few neat changes for you to see in 2012!

Today, Kerri is our hostess and she's picked a really neat color combo for you to try! I just loved this combination, and could think of so much I wanted to do with it. Unfortunately, I'm also really pressed for time this week so I went with a very non-typical (for me anyway!) clean and simple design using some new Paper Smooches stamps! This peach and sentiment are from the Fruitastic set, and I paired them with some old Bella Blvd. paper I had in my stash that I knew contained all of these colors (and then some!)

You'll love seeing what all the girls on the Throwdown team did with these colors too, so be sure to stop by their blogs...

Barbara Anders	Broni Holcombe	Danielle Kennedy	Joan Ervin	Kerri Michaud	Keva Brown
Kristin Eberline	Lori Tecler	Lynn Put	Wanda Cullen	Lydia Fielder, Guest Designer

InLinkz.com

And extra-special thank you goes out to the fabulous Lydia Fielder for being our Guestie for November and December! It was great to have you join us, lady!

Happy stamping, peeps!

Timeless Tuesday #148

2011-12-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's time for another Timeless Tuesday challenge, and this week Makiko is our hostess with a fun idea.... Opposites Attract! Make two cards that use the same image, but make them completely opposite! Maybe one can be clean and simple and the other full of layers and embellishments. Or one card masculine and the other card feminine. One card for a child and one for an adult. One with a colored image, and one with no coloring. Get the picture? Whatever you interpret as opposite!

Now for a small disclaimer... don't take MY samples as examples of what to do! I didn't read the directions closely enough. My cards are opposites, but I missed the part about using the same image! Whooops! But I hope you'll enjoy my version of the challenge anyway!

I just had "opposites" in mind when I started working on the challenge for this week, so my first card shows a sparkly, snowy Winter scene using the Season of Celebrations stamp set. And my second card....

...shows where I'd rather be right now on a warm, sunny beach! For this card I used the Beach Life stamp set. So, you see I did get quite opposite with my creations, but need to improve in reading instructions! LOL (Supplies used on both cards are listed down below.)

Please stop over at the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details, and join us! YOU could be the lucky winner of $10 to spend in the Flourishes online store!

And for more inspiration, please see what the other Timeless Tuesday designers created for today...

Makiko Jones
Mona Pendleton
Silke Ledlow
Beate Johns
Cindy Haffner
Heather Jensen
Theresa Pollack, December Guest Designer

Happy stamping, and thanks for stopping by!

Winter card: A Season of Celebrations (Flourishes); SU! cardstock, Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock, "North Country" designer paper (Prima); Versafine Onyx Black ink (Tsukineko), Tumbled Glass distress ink (Ranger); Petite Ovals, Labels 18, Create-a-Flake 3 dies (Spellbinders); Metallic White curling ribbon; Snowflake embossing folder (Provocraft); glass glitter.

Beach card: Beach Life (Flourishes); SU! cardstock, Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock, "Yacht Club" designer paper (Webster's Pages); Memento Tuxedo Black ink (Tsukineko), Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen, Wild Honey distress inks (Ranger), markers (Copic); twill ribbon (May Arts).

Christmas Card and Coupon

2011-12-11T01:04:00.001-05:00

The Praise & Worship team at our church is having breakfast together this morning, and we got an Applebee's gift card for our director and his wife for a Christmas gift. I offered to make a card for everyone to sign, and this is what I came up with. I love the reference to music in this sentiment, and decided to pair it with this Bo Bunny "Father Christmas" paper and some old sheet music. The sentiment is computer-generated. My BFF Barbara Anders has been using the Upsy-Daisy Die-Namics from My Favorite Things for the past month or so to make beautiful poinsettias, so I just had to get that die recently to make my own. I just love how these turned out!

One of the women I'm on the P&W team with said she was going to offer to babysit for free when Aaron and Amanda decide to use their gift card, and she asked me if I could also make a babysitting coupon. So I used some various October Afternoon papers to create this little coupon tag. The letters were cut with my new By the Letter Die-Namics from My Favorites Things, and the ticket was created using the Just the Ticket Die-Namics and stamp set.

Happy stamping, and thanks for stopping by today!

Flourishes Pre-Release Challenge - Feminine Flair

2011-12-09T01:00:00.000-05:00

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 on the Flourishes blog, and 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 Easterm time to submit.

For my card, I decided you can't get more feminine than our Feminine Charm stamp set, so I used that along with some pretty lace, ruffles and pearls. My "lace" is from the Lace & Trim stamp set, currently on sale in the Flourishes store... see that pretty border across the bottom? It's such a neat way to add a lacy touch to a card without the bulk of real lace. I embellished with some Kaisercraft pearls (colored with a Warm Gray Copic marker) and used several Nestabilities here including the Labels 8, the Nested Pennants, and the Long Classic Scalloped Rectangle.

The rest of the Flourishes Sr. Design Team members are also using the beautiful Lace & Trim stamp set today with their Feminine Flair designs, so be sure to check them out for inspiration...

Barbara Anders
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Sharon Doolittle
Stacy Morgan

Be sure to tune in next Wednesday when we begin sneak peeks of the newest releases from Flourishes!

Color Throwdown #171

2011-12-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

Our Color Throwdown challenge this week is being hosted by Wanda, and she's chosen some great Christmas colors for us to work with this week. I pulled out my old Wassail paper pad from Basic Grey and found these colors, so I ran with them! The sentiment here on my card is from the new Sentimental Christmas stamp set from Flourishes and I embellished with some gorgeous caramel-colored satin ribbon and a few felt poinsettias I found in my stash.

As a finishing touch, I spritzed the whole card with some Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls for a little shimmer. Hard to see in the photo, but looks awesome in real life! :)

See what my Throwdown sisters have created today to inspire you....

Barbara Anders	Broni Holcombe	Danielle Kennedy	Joan Ervin	Kerri Michaud	Keva Brown
Kristin Eberline	Lori Tecler	Lynn Put	Wanda Cullen	Lydia Fielder, Guest Designer

InLinkz.com

We'd love to see your creations using these colors! As always, if you don't have the exact colors specified just use whatever you have that is similar.... it's not rocket science, anyway! Just have fun, and get inky! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Timeless Tuesday #147

2011-12-06T00:09:00.008-05:00

It's time for another Timeless Tuesday challenge, and this week Silke is our hostess with this fabulous sketch shown below. As always, it'd be great to have YOU play along with us! You could win $10 towards your purchase of beautiful stamps in the Flourishes store!

For my card, I used the December amaryllis stamp from the Year in Flowers 3 stamp set. I stamped my amaryllis on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored with Copics from the Fuchsia and Evergreen collections. The ribbon I used here is from the November 123 Create Kit, and I paired it with some Ivory Crocheted trim. I cut out my image with Small and Large Circle Nestabilities, and matted on a Picot Edge Circle Nestabilities.

On the inside, I stamped the amaryllis again using Versafine Smokey Gray ink, and a sentiment from the new Sentimental Christmas set, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink.
See what the other Timeless Tuesday designers have to share with you today by visiting their blogs...

Beate Johns

Cindy Haffner

Heather Jensen

Makiko Jones

Mona Pendleton

Silke Ledlow

Theresa Pollack, December Guest Designer

Don't forget to stop by the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details!

Happy stamping!

Mark Your Calendar

2011-12-02T01:00:00.002-05:00

It goes without saying that 2012 will be here before we know it and what better way to keep track of your days than to custom create a beautiful hand stamped calendar? With all of the beautiful botanicals and the A Year in Flowers series from Flourishes, there are so many ways to beautify your own calendar and truly make it your own! Just like in years past, Flourishes is offering a calendar created by Marcella Hawley designed for just that reason! It’s available to download right from our site and is a bargain at just $2! Once you purchase the file, it is yours to print as many times as you like! The .pdf download is sized to print at 4″ by 6″ – perfect to fit inside a little frame! What a wonderful and personalized Christmas gift! Visit the Flourishes blog for information on how to purchase and download.

For my calendar page, I decided to use July and one of my favorite Flourishes sets, Patriotism on Parade. I'm planning to get all the months done though over the coming weeks and use a Zutter Display-it-All stand I bought a few years ago to make a desk calendar for my Mom.

Today all of our fabulously talented designers used this fun calendar blank to fashion some pretty inspiring creations! You’ll have to hop around to check them out!

Happy stamping, and thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #170

2011-11-30T01:00:00.001-05:00

It's Color Throwdown time again, and this week Lynn is our hostess with these traditional Christmas colors. For my card, I just HAD to color up Mavis decorating her Christmas tree in this new digital stamp called Christmas Wishes from Tiddly Inks. This is another image that I badgered Christy to draw since I adore Mavis so much, and she did not disappoint! :)

I printed my image on Copic X-Press It blending cardstock and colors with Copics, then paired my image with some Cosmo Cricket papers. My sentiment on the tag is from the Sentimental Christmas set from Flourishes.
Check out the creations from the rest of my Color Throwdown sisters...

Barbara Anders	Broni Holcombe	Danielle Kennedy	Joan Ervin	Kerri Michaud	Keva Brown
Kristin Eberline	Lori Tecler	Lynn Put	Wanda Cullen	Lydia Fielder, Guest Designer

InLinkz.com

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

Timeless Tuesday #146

2011-11-29T01:00:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! We're back to business this week with the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge, and I hope you'll join in. Today Cindy is our hostess with a recipe challenge... use a flower, ribbon, and a tag on your creation.

For my card, I decided to use the newly released Petals & Peace stamp set, but decided to CASE Cindy Lawrence's recent idea to make this a non-Christmas card. By pairing the image with some Basic Grey "Picadilly" paper, I created a birthday card instead. My image is colored on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock with Copics from the Dahlia, Evergreen and Flesh Tones 2 collections. The image was cut out with the Tailor-Made Classic Keyhole Die set, exclusive to Flourishes. I used Tag Lines to stamp the sentiment on the tag, and embellished with some Prima rhinestones, a seam binding bow and a Classic Scallop Edgeabilities border.

See what the other Timeless Tuesday designers have to share with you today by visiting their blogs, too...

Beate Johns

Cindy Haffner

Heather Jensen

Makiko Jones

Mona Pendleton

Silke Ledlow

Miriam Napier, November Guest Designer

Be sure to stop at the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details and play along with us!

Happy stamping!

Flourishes Black Friday Sale!

2011-11-25T01:00:00.002-05:00

Hello Flourishes Shoppers! Before stores even opened on Friday morning, the “elves” behind the scenes at Flourishes were busy adding new items to the store’s sale page. EVERYTHING today and tomorrow is 25% off, which 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!

Color Throwdown #169

2011-11-23T00:01:00.003-05:00

It's Wednesday once again, and that means we're throwin' down some more colors for you to try! Lori Tecler is our hostess this week with a great set of colors! You can do a lot with this... something for Christmas or winter, a great masculine card, or even something cheerful and flowery! Be sure to stop at the Color Throwdown blog for some great inspiration from the whole team!

For my card, I went with a Christmas/Winter theme and used my new Holiday Hugs snowman stamp from My Favorite Things. These colors just seemed perfect for this little guy, and I paired him with some old Bo Bunny paper from my stash that had all the right colors!
Check out the creations from the rest of my Color Throwdown sisters...

Barbara Anders	Broni Holcombe	Danielle Kennedy	Joan Ervin	Kerri Michaud	Keva Brown
Kristin Eberline	Lori Tecler	Lynn Put	Wanda Cullen	Lydia Fielder, Guest Designer

InLinkz.com

I wish all my American friends a most blessed Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow! I hope you have plenty to eat and tons of family and friends to share the day with!!! God bless you!

Timeless Tuesday #145

2011-11-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's time for another Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge and this week Heather is challenging us to try the Dryer Sheet Technique. You can find instructions on how to do this technique HERE on Splitcoaststampers. It's super-easy to do, and gives your card a very unique, stunning effect! I encourage you to give it a try!

I was inspired by this card by Danielle Kennedy to create my card for today using the Vintage Postcard stamp set. My images were stamped on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock. I colored the bottom image with a few miscellaneous Copics. The top layer was stamped in Versamark ink and embossed with silver embossing powder. I accented my design with a Lattice Rectangle Nestabilities die cut from some Prima "North Country" paper, and a Ribbon Banner die with the sentiment. On the left side I added a seam binding bow, and a Spellbinders Snowflake die cut accented with some chunky glass glitter.

See what the other Timeless Tuesday designers have to share with you today by visiting their blogs, too...

Beate Johns

Cindy Haffner

Heather Jensen

Makiko Jones

Mona Pendleton

Silke Ledlow

Miriam Napier, November Guest Designer

Be sure to stop at the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details and play along with us!

Happy stamping!

Happy Birthday, Julie!

2011-11-19T01:00:00.003-05:00

Our Flourishes Fearless Leader, Julie Koerber is celebrating a birthday this weekend, so all the Flourishes teams have banded together for a blog hop to extend to her our best birthday wishes! Julie is just so amazing and so much of what goes on with the teams at Flourishes just wouldn't happen without her vision and organization. Plus she's just one of the sweetest people I know (and I've had the pleasure of meeting her in person, too... as well as her fabulous momma, Pat!) So please be sure to hop over to Julie's blog, Out to Impress, and wish her a Happy Birthday!

For my card for Julie, I pulled out my neglected Mix-n-Mugs stamp set and some new Authentique "Blush and Delight" papers. My mug is paper-pieced, and the flowers are stamped on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock. I cut the image out with my Labels 10 Nestabilities, then matted on a Petite Oval Nestabilities. I colored with a variety of Copics, then embellished with some seam binding, some Ivory Crochet Trim and Hot Pink Kaisercraft rhinestones.

Stop and see the beautiful birthday cards for Julie from the rest of the Flourishes girls today...

Jan Marie Caruso

Barbara Anders

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Sharon Doolittle

Stacy Morgan

Tammy Hershberger

Beate Johns

Cindy Haffner

Heather Jensen

Maki Jones

Silke Ledlow

Iwona Palmountain

Kathy Jones

Mona Pendleton

Yvonne Hagane

Laura Fredrickson

I wish you the happiest birthday EVER, Julie! Enjoy your day, and we love you!

Flourishes Friday Free-for-All

2011-11-18T01:00:00.004-05:00

It's Friday so that must mean that it's time for another Free-For-All with the Flourishes Sr. Design team! Today I'm sharing with you one more card using one of the recently released stamp sets, Sentimental Christmas. I paired my sentiment with this beautiful evergreen from the Forest of Trees stamp set. I also used papers, ribbon and pearls from the November 123 Create Kit.

The Kaisercraft pearls in the kit were perfect for decorating my tree!

Remember, today is your last chance to pick up Sentimental Christmas and the other three newly released stamp sets at a 10% discount by purchasing the New Release Bundle! Don't miss your chance to own these beautiful stamp sets!

The rest of the Sr. Design team have some beautiful creations to share with you today, so be sure to go check them out...

Barbara Anders	Christine Okken	Cindy Lawrence	Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth	Julie Koerber	Sharon Doolittle	Stacy Morgan

InLinkz.com

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #168

2011-11-16T00:01:00.006-05:00

It's time for another week at the Color Throwdown and this week Keva has her turn at hosting for the very first time! She picked this really pretty, rich color combo for us today and at first I was stumped but now I LOVE it! I hope you'll like it too! Remember, you don't have to have the exact colors listed... just whatever you have that is most similar. Stop by the Color Throwdown blog for all the details!

For my card, I turned to what has become my go-to stamp set, my Sentimental Occasions from My Time Made Easy (designed by my friend and fellow CTD-member Kristin!) and paired the stamps with the Occasional Labels stamp set, and the Occasional Label cut files.

I added a doily cut file behind the labels, and some silver pearls to go with the dark gray of my card.

Check out the creations from the rest of my Color Throwdown sisters...

Barbara Anders	Broni Holcombe	Danielle Kennedy	Joan Ervin	Kerri Michaud	Keva Brown
Kristin Eberline	Lori Tecler	Lynn Put	Wanda Cullen	Lydia Fielder, Guest Designer

InLinkz.com

Thanks SO much for stopping by, and hope your day is great!

Timeless Tuesday #144 - Flag, You're It!

2011-11-15T01:00:00.002-05:00

It's time for another Timeless Tuesday challenge, and this week I am the hostess! My challenge is “Flag, You’re It!” Today I am challenging you to add a flag to your card in some way… whether it’s a flag to show your patriotism, or maybe you have a race fan in your life and need something with a “checkered” flag? Or you could do something with a banner or pennants (a form of a flag) or a sentiment flag like I’ve used on my card here.

My card uses the Moments in Time stamp set, papers from the My Mind’s Eye “Sunshine” 6×6 paper pad, and the new Tailor-Made Classic Keyhole Die Set behind the hourglass. I embellished with someblack Kaisercraft rhinetones, some May Arts twill ribbon and a stick pin. I also used the Classic Scallop Edgeabilities die for the border beneath the ribbon.

See what the other Timeless Tuesday designers have "flagged" on their cards today by visiting their blogs, too...

Beate Johns

Cindy Haffner

Heather Jensen

Makiko Jones

Mona Pendleton

Silke Ledlow

Miriam Napier, November Guest Designer

Be sure to stop at the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details and play along with us!

Happy stamping!

Flourishes New Release - The First Noel

2011-11-11T01:00:00.001-05:00

It's the last day of sneak peeks of the November New Release for Flourishes! All the beautiful Christmas sets you've seen this week are NOW available for purchase in the Flourishes online store. Get yours now, or pick up all 4 in the New Release Bundle at 10% savings!

Our last stamp set for today is The First Noel, and depicts another one of Lauren Pope's wonderful silhouettes with this beautiful Nativity! This is truly a most outstanding stamp set, which includes two Scripture verses, and the Merry Christmas sentiment you see on the front of my card. (I stamped one of the Scriptures on the inside, but forgot to photograph it.)
I decided to go with a rustic look for my design, stamping the image on River Rock cardstock and adding some distressing on the edges of the papers from Authentique. I embellished with some gingham ribbon, a small evergreen branch and some buttons with my sentiment tag.

Want to win this set and matching die? All you need to do is leave some love in the form of a comment on the blogs below! Why? You need to try to figure out…..

One of the ladies on the link list below will be picking a name from the comments on her blog post today. We don’t know which one it is… so the more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances you have to win! So, head on over and see how our fabulously talented design team used this beautiful new set and matching die combo that is sure to be a holiday fave for years to come!

Barbara Anders

Julie Koerber

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Stacy Morgan

Sharon Doolittle

Jan Marie Caruso

Heather Jensen

Beate Johns

Cindy Haffner

Also, don't forget the Snowy Delights Challenge still going on, the Timeless Tuesday challenge and the two Noontime Challenges where you have the chance to win ALL the stamps from the new release! If you're not playing along, you're just plain ol' crazy! :)