Monday, June 30, 2008

FLLC Featured Stamper #6


Flourishes Featured Stamper #6

Barb Schram

Congratulations, Barb!!!

When I run through the challenge entries each Sunday evening, as I told all the players from the onset, I really have no preconceived idea as to what I'm looking for. I'm just looking for really great cards, and beyond that I go with whatever strikes me at the moment. And I always like pretty. Well, this week's Featured Stamper excels in the *pretty* department, and what also caught my eye about her entries was that they were all made with some of the older Flourishes sets. Barb just did an outstanding job on all of these cards.



This card is made using Love Nest, a fun set of 21 stamps filled with a variety of sentiments surrounding love and home. Barb did an amazing job with just one stamped image of the pair of love birds as her focal point. The pretty designer paper is from the Sultry pad by Basic Grey and her ribbon is the Pink Sheer. I also find it interesting the way she used her Martha Stewart scalloped punch on this card. A great job using these darling little love birds!!! A whole lot of pretty comes through here!!!


Barb did another beautiful job on this card using the largest floral image in Fantasy Floral Garden. Just love her color choices on this card and the way she colored in her flower using her reinkers and a water brush. The background stamping on the lower portion is also a stamp in Fantasy Floral Garden. Her Celebrate sentiment is from Flourished Words, a set containing 27 small and beautifully scripted words. As Barb explained in her post, using clear stamps gives you the option to somewhat alter the shape of your image, and she curved her sentiment on the block to make it take on the shape she wanted. Barb finished this card off nicely with the Black Sheer Ribbon and some pretty little gems.

Although Barb didn't enter this card in the challenge, she uploaded it this week and I found it in her gallery as I was preparing this article. I just love this card and wanted to include it in this post as it, too, uses one of the older sets by Flourishes, O Christmas Tree. This very realistic looking Christmas tree comes with just a ton of ornaments to decorate it with, but Barb, cleverly, chose to decorate it with buttons -- how fun!!! She actually inserted brads into the holes in the gingerbread men buttons, and how cute is that!!! She ran linen thread through the holes on the more standard buttons decorating the tree. The style of this card is rather rustic/country, and that just suits this tree so perfectly!!! Just LOVE what Barb did with this fun Christmas tree!!

Thanks to all who played this week!!! We all at Flourishes just love to see what you do with our images, and your creativity and talent never ceases to amaze us!!! Barb's name will now be thrown into the hat for the prize drawing on July 1, which is tomorrow. The prize is one Flourishes stamp set of your choice, plus a ribbon bundle that will be selected and put together by the Flourishes team. Please check back in tomorrow for the announcment of the winner over in the Flourishes Forum at SCS, and please also continue to play. This is a challenge with no end!!! All entries from now through July will have a chance at being the prize winner for the month of July, which will be drawn on August 1.

You may visit Barb's Blog here.

Thanks so much for stopping in and hope to see you all soon over in the challenges in the Flourishes Forum at SCS!!!

Sharon Johnson

Saturday, June 28, 2008

A Sweet Love Story!!!

You’ve heard all of us at Flourishes mention Marcella Hawley from time to time. I’d like to introduce you to her today. Marcy is the artistic talent behind so many of the beautiful images in Flourishes stamp line, the latest being our series of beautiful botanical images. Marcella Hawley was founding art director of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion, a pioneering art-centered decorating magazine. Previously, as assistant to the art director at Martha Stewart Living, she was part of the creative team that launched Martha Stewart’s premiere television show and Weddings magazine. Now home in St. Louis, Missouri, Marcella is a devoted gardener, illustrator, decorator, and maker of things. Husband Patrick Hawley is her partner in life and business, as web developer and IT maestro for MHCreative. They have two children, Tallulah and Finn. For more information on her work, please visit http://www.marcellahawley.com/.


OK, so that’s who Marcy is on a professional level. Some pretty impressive names listed on her resume, but on a personal level, she’s just like the rest of us – a devoted wife and mother who loves her husband and her children – and she’s also someone who likes to have a little fun! And in that vein she nominated her husband, unbeknownst to him, as the Hottest Husband of 2008 through Redbook Magazine. And Patrick OBVIOUSLY is hot, as he was one of the finalists in the contest!!!! Huge Congrats!!! to both Patrick and Marcy!!! How fun!!! You can see the Redbook article along with an adorable photo of Patrick and their children by clicking here.

We at Flourishes are so honored and privileged to be able to work with both Marcy and Patrick. Patrick was instrumental in helping Flourishes get their original site up and running and he still lends a technical hand from time to time!!! Not only is this couple hot, hot, hot!!! in many respects, but they are a part of what makes Flourishes what it is today, and we’re so pleased to share this fun news with you!!! Thank you, Marcy and Patrick, for your part in Flourishes success!!!!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

May I Suggest...

…some simple and effective storage solutions. We all know the problems that are inherent with this hobby — so much *stuff* — such a big *mess* — well, that’s how it is for me, anyway! And I am making headway in my never-ending quest for organization, one baby step at a time. I’ll share just a bit here today, and I’ll start with stamp storage.

When clear stamps are purchased, they typically come on acetate type sheets in a plastic sleeve. We really do need a better way to store them on a permanent basis. The buyers at Flourishes have found a wonderful solution — Clear Boxes that easily house two small (4 x 6) sets, or one large (8 x 6) set. The boxes measure 4 x 6 and are a full 1/2″ thick. The hinge opens in the middle, they lay flat when opened, giving you two sides for storage. Here’s what they look like:

More on these boxes, including photos, can be seen on the full post of this article on my personal Blog, linked at the end of this article.

Another very effective product I'd like to suggest to you is a wonderful Clear Stamp Cleaner for your clear stamps.

This cleaner does a wonderful job cleaning your clear stamps and makes them feel silky smooth, which is so nice, but this cleaner’s claim to fame in my book is its smell — it has the MOST declicious scent of citrus!!! It makes me WANT to clean my stamps!!!! Gotta love it!!! The pad and cleaner can be seen here.

And I'd also like to suggest using the tag dies available by Spellbinders, and share a few tips and hints as to their use. Here's a pic of some of the tag dies available:
You may read this entire post which includes many more photos and tips on my peronsonal Blog, No Time To Stamp? Hope to see you over there!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in here today!!!

Sharon Johnson

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Flourishes Featured Stamper #5

This was another week with so many absolutely gorgeous entries!!!! Thank you so much ladies -- I just wish there was room to put them ALL up here!!! But to narrow it down, I chose two stampers to feature today and here they are:

Flourishes Featured Stampers #5
are
DeborahLynneS (Debbie)
and
stampininthesun (Erin)

Congratulations, Deb and Erin!!!

Our first card is a beautiful wedding card that Debbie made using one of Flourishes latest releases, the gorgeous Peony set.

Deb (DeborahLynneS) colored her Peony with Copic markers and what a gorgeous look she achieved. Can you see the little dew droplets of water on her leaves? They are done with a Spica Glitter Pen -- amazing!!! They look sooooo realistic!!! I love the vibrancy of the leaves while the flower itself looks soft and lovely, and Debs layout, background stamping and embellisments add up to make this one gorgeous card!!! Thank you so much Deb for sharing this with us!!!


And Deb had another entry this week I'd like to share with you as well. This time Deb used the Siberian Iris and colored this one, as well, with her Copic markers. Again, I love the vibrancy of her colors, which she took from a photo in a gardening book. I think it is so neat how so many using these beautiful floral images are taking the time to research them in an effort to achieve a natural look!!! After stamping and coloring her image, Deb used one of the Oval Nestabilities to cut out and emboss her image -- such a lovely look! The background is a Cuttlebug embossed sheet of vellum. Another beautiful card Deb, thank you!!!

And the third card we are featuring today takes on a totally different look. Erin (stampininthesun) made this fun and casual card using another of Flourishes most recent releases, Coffee with Friends.


Now, isn't this just plain old fun!!! The kraft paper used adds to the casual feel of this card. Erin used punches to create her scalloped border and her sentiment panel, and then she further embellished her card with coordinating pieces of gingham ribbon in different widths -- a great look!!! Her main image cup from Coffee with Friends was simply done by paper piecing. This card is eye-catching, but yet quick and easy to reproduce -- a perfect example of a Stamp Simply card!!! So glad you shared this with us, Erin!!! Thanks so much!!!

Both Deb and Erin will have their names added to the hat for the prize drawing on July 1. You have one more week to enter to get your name in the hat this time around. If you'd like to play, you can find the Featured Stamper Challenge in the Flourishes Forum at SCS. Be sure to check it out!!!

Sharon Johnson

Saturday, June 21, 2008

May I Suggest ...

Hi everyone!!! Today’s May I Suggest… is showing up here a few days late, but better late than never! Today's May I Suggest... is going to be a little different than it has been the past few weeks, but change is good — right? What I am going to suggest today is a technique — masking. Probably one of the first techniques you learned as a beginning stamper, and if you don’t know how to mask, well, we’ve got a video tutorial for you to watch, so you’ll be ready to go in no time at all. Here’s the card I made using Coffee with Friends, which is a sample of quick and easy masking (combined with paper piecing):






















To read more detail on the making of my Coffee with Friends card, you can check it out on my Blog (Sharon J).

And here is a card that Susan Roberts did, using Peony, which is still easy masking, only she repeated it many times over for this lovely effect of a huge bouquet of Peonies:


Now, is that a gorgeous bouquet of peonies or what? Just love that Peony!!!! To read more detail on the making of Susan's Peony card, you can check it out on Susan's Blog.

To view a tutorial on masking done by Nancy Kirk, you can click here. She used Cake Decorating 101 to do her video, so if you've never seen that cake and plate come together, this is a great sample of that as well!!!

To view an SCS tutorial on masking done by Beate Johns, you can click here.

Masking -- super simple, fun, with fabulous results giving your project some depth and dimension -- give it a try!!!

Sharon Johnson

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Flourishes Featured Stamper #4

As more and more of you play, this job continues to become more and more difficult!!! WOW -- what fabulous entries we had this week!!! What I decided to do this week is to feature Spring Ephemerals as so many of you used it this week. I can tell that everyone is really loving this set and it's potential for a great variety of card styles and techniques is limitless. I will showcase four cards entered this week made using the so popular and versatile Spring Ephemerals, which is the first solid image stamp set produced by Flourishes. It was drawn by Marcella Hawley and her beautiful work with florals certainly comes through in this gorgeous set!

Featured Stampers -- Week #4

btexpress (Barb)

Joan Ervin

1busymomof2 (Latisha)

clownmon (Lois)



The first card is this beautifully created black and white beauty by btexpress. Barb used the Bleeding Heart on the left edge of her card to create a very unique and interesting border and embossed it in white on black paper -- how striking! Then she stamped the Forget-me-not in black ink on white paper for her main image panel. The striking contrast created here is wonderful!!! This card just jumps right off the page. Thank you Barb for this lovely creation!!!

And I wanted to show this beautiful card by Joan Ervin following Barb's card so you can see the difference in the Bleeding Heart. Barb's above was embossed in white whereas Joan's Bleeding Heart is stamped in black craft and then clear embossed. The black and white Joan used up against the pink is truly so striking here. It is truly so easy to create such a dramatic effect with these solid image stamps! For the background Joan used Damask, again stamped in black. So striking!!! Joan cut, embossed and framed her Bleeding Heart with the Oval Nestabilities. Thank you, Joan, for this beautiful card.

This card by 1busymomof2 was made for the Inspiration Challenge at SCS. The inspiration pieces were gorgeous, rich tiles. WOW, did Latisha do a fabulous job or what!!! Using Basic Grey papers, Chocolate Sheer Ribbon and the Forget-me -not image and sentiment, Latisha created this rich and elegant card, which she plans to use as a sympathy card. I never would have thought to use the Forget-me-not sentiment on a sympathy card, but I think it is incredibly clever and quite perfect!!! I love the overall feel this card evokes!!! What a wonderful job, Latisha. Thank you!

This beautiful tri-paneled card was made by clownmom. Lois colored direct to the stamp with markers to get the two colors on her image and what a soft and lovely look she achieved by applying her ink in this fashion. Also you will note, when comparing this to the card above by Latisha, it appers that Latisha stamped her image once and then cut it into four squares. Lois merely stamped her image 3 times onto 3 different squares. Both are very lovely looks!!! Thank you so much Lois!!!

And this week I have made an executive decision - LOL!!! I will be throwing the names of all the artists featured each week into the hat. And I will go back for the entire month of June and do the same each week that more than one artist was featured. There is just so much talent out there that I can not possibly just pick one each week. Also, on a week such as this, I feel it is especially fun to show a series of cards using the same set on weeks that we have a lot of entries using the same set. It shows me what you all are liking and doing with a particular set, and I'd like to share that with others!!!

Again, thank you all so much for playing. This challenge is never-ending with 6:00 p.m Eastern Time on Sundays being the dividing line between each week. One winner will be drawn from all names in the hat on the 1st of each month. So that means we have one more week to play and then I'll draw the prize winner on Tuesday, July 1. And as a reminder, the prize is a Flourishes stamp set of your choice plus a ribbon bundle package. So everyone, get busy -- there's still time to get your name in the hat!!! You can find the challenges listed in the Flourishes Forum at SCS. There are several different challenges running.

Thanks so much for stopping in!!! I hope these beautiful cards inspire you to get stamping!!!

Sharon Johnson

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Beautiful Peonies

Yesterday as I spent a bit of time cleaning up a flower bed I was inspecting my peonies, which are nowhere near ready to open for quite a while yet. As I was working, I was reminded of all the beautiful Peony cards I've seen this week in the galleries and blogs, and I thought I'd like to share them all with you here -- oh, what a breath of fresh air they are!!!!

As I was gathering all these cards to upload here, I found it rather interesting to note that no two of these cards were created with the same technique. All different, all unique, all beautiful. The only consistent factor is that they were all created using Peony, one of Flourishes latest releases. Would you care to take a look?

This gorgeous card, with a real vintage flair, was created by Leslie Miller. Leslie stamped the image in Creamy Caramel ink and colored it in with chalks. Her design is gorgeous and finished off so beautifully with that gorgeous Chocolate Sheer Ribbon. What a treat for the eyes! Please click on Leslie's name above to get to her blog for more complete details on how she achieved this look.
This beautiful card, again with a distinct vintage and romantic feel, was created by Julie Koerber. Julie's technique was to apply ink directly to the stamp and then after stamping it she used an aquapainter to meld the colors together. Oh my, what a simple, but beautiful technique. Be sure to stop in at Julie's blog to get all the details.
This beautiful peony was created in a somewhat similar fashion to Julie's peony above, but with a bit of a variation. Sharon Doolittle created this simple beauty by first inking the image, direct to polymer, just as Julie did, but Sharon then finished her peony off by coloring it in with Stampin' Up! markers. What a a gorgeous peony Sharon created, and how simply! You can check in at Sharon's Blog for more of her design details.

This bright and bold peony was created by Dee Jackon -- how striking in its cheerful orange tones!!! Dee achieved this look by stamping her peony onto orange cardstock with black ink and then coloring it in with Stampin' Up! markers and then using her Prisma colored pencils to go over it and finish it off. The sentiment Dee used is from Many Sentiments, and how perfect it looks here!
Linda Duke, who is so well known for her dimensional work using a technique called Paper Tole, created this mouth-watering beauty using just that technique. Linda has achieved such a soft and pretty look with her Copic markers for color. Linda's card is large, at 6" x 6". We're hoping Linda can share a few tips and techniques with us in the not too distant future!!! Oh, wouldn't it be fun to learn to do this!!!

And Flourishes own Jan Marie Caruso created this elegant and stunning, classic beauty by stamping her image with the Palette Stamp and Stick Gluepad and brushing on a Pure Mica powder for a rich, gorgeous sheen!!! Her addition of pearls just tops off this formal beauty perfectly!!! Be sure to check out her Blog for more details.
And last, but certainly not least, we have this soft and lovely pink beauty by Julie Koerber. Julie's image is stamped onto vellum and colored on the reverse side with Prisma colored pencils. All of the layers, colors and pretty ribbons on this card just say PRETTY!!!

And with this card from Julie we have a special treat to share with you. Julie has prepared a very clear and concise tutorial explaining exactly what she did here, so each of you can very easily achieve the same results. You can read Julie's turorial here.

As I wait for my own peonies to bloom, I know all of us here at Flourishes anxiously look forward to seeing what type of peonies will be blooming in your gallery or blog!!! Please keep us informed, as we TRULY would love to see all of your creations. And remember, the keyword for uploads using Flourishes images in the SCS gallery is FLLC. We can't wait to see what all of you come up with!!! Happy gardening -- or coloring --whatever the case may be!!!

Sharon Johnson

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

May I Suggest...

What I would like to suggest today is that you… Stamp Simply. Yes, of course!!! And I’d like to suggest paper piecing as well. It gives your card a lot of punch for very little effort. And here are two simple cards that fit this Stamp Simply concept well:




These two cards are made pretty much the same, using Coffee with Friends, and a very simple plan of attack! We start with:

1) A simple design.
2) Use of designer paper for interest.
3) A large main image panel with a simple image, paper pieced, and elevated for dimension.
4) The addition of ribbon or an embellishment.
5) In this case, the omission of a sentiment, though we would often add one.

You may see the rest of this lengthy post which includes design tips and a little paper piecing tutorial on my Blog, No Time To Stamp?

Thanks so much for checking in!

Sharon Johnson

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Flourishes Releases Stamp Simply and Peony

Flourishes is pleased to announce the release of it’s first set in the Stamp Simply line, called Coffee with Friends, and another beautiful floral drawn by Marcella Hawley, called Peony. Spring Ephemerals, Flourishes first solid image set also drawn by Marcella Hawley, was released last week. Here’s a look at all three of June’s releases:


Coffee with Friends, Peony, Spring Ephemerals

Are these gorgeous sets, or what!!! I am so pleased to be able to work with these gorgeous images, but even more pleased to be able to show you what our fabulous Design Team has done with these images. Please check out the following Blogs for some super fantastic samples: Leslie Miller, Julie Koerber, Linda Duke, Susan Roberts, Faith Hofrichter. And here is a gorgeous sample by Jan Marie and some by me, Sharon Johnson.

These sets are now available for sale and you may find these sets by clicking on the links right under each set.

Thanks so much for stopping in!

Sharon Johnson

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Flourishes Featured Stamper #3

I do a lot of different things in the course of a week but, I must admit, the very hardest thing I do is choose our weekly winner – truly, a difficult task with all the gorgeous uploads coming in!!! It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it – LOL!!! This week I chose 2 winners as I truly could not decide. Each of these entries had qualities I love, and that is where the similarity ends – they both represent two distinctly different styles – and I LOVE them both:

Flourishes Featured Stampers for Week 3

are

Joan Ervin and 1busymomof2

Congrats to Joan and Latisha!!!

I’ll start with Joan’s card. Joan uses our Lilac set drawn by Marcella Hawley. These are such gorgeous lilacs and Joan certainly used them to their fullest. She stamped 3 lilac stems, colored them and cut them out – and check out her cutting job – it is meticulously done around each and every little blossom – just amazing work, Joan!!! And Joan’s layout is so rich and elegant looking with the dry embossed background and perimeter flourish images and her pretty ribbons. What a wonderful lilac creation, Joan!!! Thank you so much for playing, and good luck in the July 1 prize drawing.


Next is Latisha’s card that I just love. Latisha’s entry is much more modern and contemporary. Latisha has tied together many fun elements. First of all she used Spring Ephemerals, another set drawn by Marcella Hawley, and Flourishes first solid image stamp set. Latisha went with dark silhouette type images stamped on 3 panels and matted in blue—so striking. Her *Dream* sentiment is from Fantasy Floral Garden, and these were mounted onto clear cardstock with a bright inside back. She added on two types of fun sheer ribbons and that finished off her card just perfectly!!! Thank you so much, Latisha!!! Your name will also be added to the winners list with a chance for the July 1 drawing.

Thanks so much for stopping in. Hope you all keep playing. We all LOVE seeing all of your uploads every day – keep them coming!!! You can check out the challenge in the Flourishes Forum at SCS. Wishing you all a wonderful week!!!

Sharon Johnson

Stamp Simply -- The Story Behind the Series

Flourishes Stamp Simply Series debuts on Tuesday, and I couldn’t be more excited!!! I know a lot of you have questions about our new Stamp Simply Series, so I thought it would be appropriate to explain to you how the series came about, what it actually means to *Stamp Simply* and to let you know what you can expect from the Stamp Simply Series.

Stamp Simply means, first and foremost, to keep the process simple, but at the same time, make it beautiful! And that perfectly sums up the way I like to stamp. I like to keep things simple, but at the same time, I want the end result to be beautiful. With that thought in mind, the Stamp Simply Series was born. I wanted to create stamp sets that were easy to use, that had gorgeous images that maintained the Flourishes signature style of timeless and classic beauty, and I also wanted the sets to be able to stand alone – meaning that if you’re in a rush (and aren’t we all), you can just reach for a small Stamp Simply set and know that everything you need to complete a beautiful card is contained in that one set.

Each Stamp Simply set will allow you to create gorgeous cards, very simply, when you keep the Stamp Simply concept in mind. Those of you who are regular readers have heard me say this time and again – but it bears repeating: When you use beautiful things, you don’t have to DO much. And this is so, so true. Beautiful cards are easily achieved with the use of gorgeous images, quality papers, and luscious ribbons. Really, that’s all it takes. Start with a simple design, add a bit of your favorite paper, attach your stamped image, add a sentiment and finish it off with a beautiful ribbon or other embellishment. Simple, beautiful, done!!!

I also promise you that as far as those simple designs go, I will be regularly posting with the Stamp Simply sets, offering you a wide range of designs to choose from. And to assist you even further, I have created a Stamp Simply tab at the top of my Blog, No Time To Stamp? Here I will provide a concise index of Stamp Simply samples for your reference. I think it will serve as a quick and handy reference tool for you.

And a question I have been asked a lot of recent is whether I am drawing the Stamp Simply sets. No, I am not. I can not draw. I am not an artist. But I am filled with ideas -- so many, many ideas -- and that’s where it all begins. The original concept for a stamp set is transferred into rough drawings, sketches, photos, and the written word – whatever it takes -- to communicate the concept to the artist. Flourishes uses both artists and calligraphers to create our final stamp sets, and these personal touches are what set the Flourishes images apart from the rest. Each and every Flourishes stamp set is a labor of love, a collaboration of many, many women, with many hands laid upon it before it is complete and final. Truly, a melding together of many hearts and minds, giving us the best of all worlds.

And as for the artist behind our first Stamp Simply set -- once the overall style, shapes, sentiments, etc. were decided, the actual artwork was a collaboration between Jan Marie Caruso (Flourish #1) and her sister, Diane Roche. Diane is a self-taught glass artist who is very computer savvy and uses the computer to her advantage in turning out awesome pieces of glass art. Diane is the only licensed glass artist for Louisiana State University and last year Diane was the designer chosen to create the art for the Breast Cancer Awareness Program in the State of Louisiana. After the main images were drawn, the detail work was pulled from some of Flourishes previous images – Lace Heart and our Flourishes Logo – and some detail was drawn by Diane. I couldn’t be more pleased with our first Stamp Simply set, and I thank these talented ladies immensely for their work and effort in bringing our first Stamp Simply set to life!!!

Hope you’ll check back in on Tuesday to see the debut of our Stamp Simply line!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in today!!!

Sharon Johnson

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

May I Suggest...

Hi everyone! It’s time for Wednesday’s May I Suggest… and this week I have a lot of pretty suggestions up my sleeve. Here’s a sampling of 2 cards made with this weeks suggestions in mind:

Is anyone getting the idea that I am totally IN LOVE with this bleeding heart image from Spring Ephemerals, which is Flourishes newest release. LOL!!! Yes, I AM in love with this beautiful image, especially since my own bleeding heart is just starting to get some blooms on it!!! And the fact that these 2 cards are the same, but different, is by no mistake. I wanted to show you how these solid image stamps in Spring Ephemerals look stamped as a black silhouette and as a white silhouette (the white is embossed) . Both equally as beautiful, just different.

The paper I want you to get a good look at this week is Scarlet’s Letter by Basic Grey — again, in the 6 x 6 pad that I so love to work with — great, manageable size! Both cards are made with papers from Scarlet’s Letter. The prints in this pad are GORGEOUS — rich, luxurious, fairly large-scaled patterns — and they all seem to just be MADE to go with our new Spring Ephemerals stamp set — or maybe it was vice versa — LOL!!! Whatever the case, they are a fabulous pairing!!!!

And of course, with paper, we need ribbons -- LOTS of ribbons!!! I have plenty to show you!!! Also, I'd like to talk about scallops and show you 2 alternative ways to make scallops that are so super quick and simple!!!!

This complete post, along with photos and tips, can be seen on my personal Blog, No Time To Stamp? So head on over there and see what I've got planned to show you!!! Thanks much for checking in!!!

Sharon Johnson

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Flourishes Featured Stamper #2

Well, I said last week that selecting a winner for our Featured Stamper Challenge was difficult – well, it only continues to get MORE difficult –WOW – the entries were fabulous again this week and each and every one deserves to be a winner. And my criteria for picking the winner is very simple – I just want to see a wonderful card made with Flourishes images – but what do I do when they are ALL so wonderful – LOL!!! Well, this week I picked one winner and one runner up!!! And the winner of

Flourishes Featured Stamper #2

is

Sleepy in Seattle


Huge Congrats, Joanne!!!!


Joanne had several entries this week, but I chose this card using the Lilac set.


And the reason I chose this card is because it is so pretty, but yet it is such a simple card to make – and I LIKE simple!!! Joanne chose to use the smaller of the lilacs in this set. She stamped it on a small square panel and colored it in, then narrowly framed it. Joanne then chose to use some of the gorgeous designer paper in the Sugared 6 x 6 pad by Basic Grey to add a whole lot of interest and pattern to her card. Joanne’s use of designer paper on this card is a great example of how simple card-making can be when you rely on designer paper for pattern and interest. And Joanne added another delicate, but simple, detail that I love – can you see her edge piercing around the perimeter of the card – love that!!! Joanne then added some pretty embellishments around her main image panel and was done!!! A totally fabulous and very pretty card without a ton of work!!!

Thank you so much, Joanne, for sharing this gorgeous creation with us. And for being the winner of Flourishes Featured Stamper #2, your name will be thrown in the hat for the prize drawing on July 1. Good luck!!!

However, I could NOT pass up this opportunity to show you another card – this one made by Lois, a/k/a Clownmom -- so we’re calling Lois the runner-up today – LOL!!! Lois has displayed great creativity using this set, and that’s what I love about this card. She used a set called Easter Blessings, and Lois was able to see beyond the Easter Sentiment and create a gorgeous floral card.


To let you better understand what Lois did, please click here to see the stamp set. OK, see how the floral arrangement is actually on a wooden cross? Well, Lois merely masked off the top of the cross, creating a beautiful, vintage floral spray that is suitable for ANY time of year. I love that!!! I have used this image (on the cross) for sympathy cards and I think this set makes up into a gorgeous sympathy card. Additionally, Lois took her design a step further and created an *out of the box* image as well – can you see how she stamped her image first, and then cut the cardstock, cutting around a portion of the image to create the *out of the box* effect. Wonderfully done, Lois!!!! Thanks much, Lois, for this great example of not only stamping *out of the box* but also of thinking *out of the box*!!!!

Thanks to all who played this week. We are all looking forward to your entries in the weeks to come!!! And remember, the first prize drawing is on July 1.


Sharon Johnson