In the Limelight!

With August comes a sad farewell to the lovely and talented Theresa Momber as our Limelight Designer. I don't know about you, but each week I seemed to have to pick my jaw up off the floor with another one of her drop dead gorgeous creations! Thank you Theresa! I loved the way you showed us each step in your creative process!

As we say goodbye to Theresa, we say "hello" to another fabulously talented artist, who will be gracing the pages of the Flourishes Newsletter each Sunday in August! Let's give a warm welcome to.....

I came across Makiko's work during one of our challenges that we use to kick off a new release. I clicked on one of her cards, then went to her gallery, then found myself hopping over to her blog just amazed at the way she puts a very unique style into each and every card and creation. I was over the top elated when she said that she would be love be here with you on Sundays in August to share some of her creative process!

To get ready for her debut next weekend, we asked Makiko to share a little bit about herself!

Konnichiwa minasan (Hello everybody!). My name is Makiko Jones. People call me "Maki" or "Makiko" and my husband calls me "monkey" sometimes. :) I have been married to Troy for 14 years and we have one daughter (11) and one son (8). I also have 3 furry kids (cats) - Handy Andy, Mustang Sally and Titanium Ty.

I was born and grew up in Tokyo, Japan until I got married. After 13 years of moving around the world as a military family, we finally settled in the small town of Waskom, Texas. Although I was blessed to live in different places and meet many wonderful people, I'm very happy the moving life is over!

My love of arts was started at very young age. My late father was an oil painter and I used to watch him painting in his studio for hours. One of my favorite things to do when I was a child was coloring. I guess it was natural that I was immediately hooked on stamping when I was introduced to it at an SU! workshop. I've enjoyed this hobby for about 5 years now and have become more serious about it in the last 2 years -- ever since I started uploading my cards on my SCS gallery. All the encouragement and kind words make me keep stamping!

When I got my first Flourishes stamp set, I fell in love with their classic & elegant style. I just enjoy the process of making cards every time I use their stamps. I'm still shocked they've asked me to be the Limelight Designer for August . I don't even know what kind of mess I will make next few weeks :O Hopefully it will be a beautiful mess and you will enjoy seeing my projects as much as I enjoy creating them :) Thank you Flourishes for giving me this wonderful opportunity. xoxo

Thanks Makiko! We know when you create, it won't be a "mess" at all! :-) Just to prove that point to the rest of you, we thought we'd share some of our favorite Makiko Jones creations.....

I absolutely love this tag that she created to adorn a seashell jar using our Seaside Life set.

When she made this creation using the Life, Love and Lemons set, she just brought this fruit to life on paper!

And isn't the coloring gorgeous on this vibrant card using our Poppy Patch set? I think so!

We hope you'll join Makiko each Sunday during August! We know she is sure to WOW and we can't see what she cooks up!

Thanks for stopping by!