Flourishes Newsletter

Nesties, Needle and Thread

2009-11-22T00:01:00.001-06:00

I love my Nesties! Who doesn't, right? Today I am sharing a few simple ways to enhance Nestie Die Cuts. Yes, I said needle and thread in the title, which is usually a turn off to me -- but all of these tips are simple and easy. I am showing three different ways to "dress up" your Nesties.

I started my card out by creating a simple background, stamping the Flourishy Outline image from Oranamental Elements set. I colored the flourish in using a R29 Copic and then used a fine tip red pen to fill in the really small lines as needed.

I gold embossed the sentiment from the Holiday Greetings set.
I used Versamark ink and Gold Detail Embossing Powder.

I die cut all my elements to build my card using various Nestie shapes.

When I die cut the Gold Square Scallop, I left it in the Nestie Die.... using the die's edge as a guide to place holes in each scallop. I used my Japanese Screw Punch, but you could easily use a hole punch for this as well.

Using some red fuzzy fiber and a large craft needle, I just threaded the fiber around the square Nestie, going up through the back of each hole. I used a little piece of tape to hold the start and finish of the fiber string to the back of the Square.

On the Oval for the Sentiment. I used the Petite Scallops - there are four die cuts here and they are already adhered together as seen in this picture. I used some gold sparkly embroidery floss for this one - separating two strands to use from the group of floss.

Again, secure the end of your floss on the back of the oval using a piece of tape and just start winding the floss around the oval, using the notch in between each scallop for your floss to "nest" in. Continue until the floss nests between each scallop of the oval.

This picture shows a red scallop square glued to an ivory base. I then used my Japanese Screw Punch, with the 1/16" hole tip, to add little hole punches around the edge.

Using one strand of the gold floss doubled up, I then used my craft needle to stitch around the edges of the Ivory Square. I use a large paper crafting needle to to all of the threading. It is large, with a dull point, easy to handle and most importantly has a large eye to easily thread your fiber or floss through. It is not as tedious as sometimes a small sewing needle can be.

I am starting to pull all my elements together, building the card from the base upwards. I added some pearls to cover up the holes on the Ivory Square to give it a "different" threaded look. I use the tip of my craft knife to pick up and place my adhesive pearls on to the card.

Not having any Ivory pearls in my stash, I used a Copic to color some white pearls..... adding these now "ivory" pearls to the outermost Red Square's edge.

Here is an up close pic of how it all came together. Finishing it off with a tiny silk bow. Final card size is 4.75" Square. Click on any pictures above to enlarge for a better view.

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Thanks for letting me share my tips on Nesties and Needles! I hope you picked up something useful from the pictures or my instructions!

--Jenny Gropp--
visit my little corner in Blogville: One Krafty Kat

Tag.... you're it!

2009-11-20T00:00:00.002-06:00

Hi all! Julie here! And.... welcome to another Friday Flourishes Focus! This time, instead of sharing a technique or highlighting a fun product, I thought I'd just throw a whole bunch of ideas your way to get you ready for holiday gift giving.

I absolutely love using bags to "wrap" my gifts. Why? Because you don't have to wrap! ;-) I am an awful gift wrapper. What's funny is -I was trained to be a professional gift wrapper at a department store while I was in high school. I never made it.

So, what I do now instead is, I buy bags! When I see a cute one, I pick it up knowing I can deck it out with a fun tag or some fabulous ribbon!

I gathered up some of my favorite Flourishes holiday stamps and went to town!

And, see what you can create? I picked up this plain brown bag for 50 cents. Add some fun holiday ribbon by running it through your Xyron and attach it to the front of your bag for a dash of holiday color!

Both of the tags above were created literally in minutes thanks to a little prep work! I decided that I would stamp off some images on some marbled ivory/tan paper that I got for free from my brother-in-law (works to have family in the printing business -- you get free paper sometimes!)

Using Vivid Red, Green and Taupe inks I stamped the poinsettia from Poinsettia and Boxwood, the Christmas Music background, the Santa from Santa, I Believe, and the Holly Background. Some of these I didn't use, mind you, but I have them now on standby!

Using these fun shipping tags I picked up for .50 cents, I started my journey!

I covered the front of my tag with a portion of the stamped off poinsettias and then used a scrap of that same paper to stamp not only some fun brackets from the Fancy Labels set but a great sentiment from the Holiday Greetings set! Add some rhinestones, mat it up using the Labels 4 Nestabilities die, punch a hole and add some ribbon and... done!

The santa tag was done by coloring with chalks, and then just matting it up with part of my Holly background and then some fun decorative paper. Again, punch a hole and add some ribbon and... voila!

Another thing I love to do is color! I will stamp off some images just to have on hand so that when the moment hits and I need a coloring break, I have something that I can color up easily. I always give my images some space because I have no idea when I stamp them what I will use them for.

So, I took the stacked cups from Christmas Tea and colored it up! The image was accented by a little bit of chalk. To color my image, I used Copics - R24, R27, and R29; Y03 and y63; B000 and B00; and E33. These are markers in the Poppy, Spring Greens, Pastel, Flesh Tones 2 and Sky Copic Collections.

I love the little tag with the fun sentiment... also from the Christmas Tea set!

Isn't it fun when you can find a bag that matches your stamp set? Look at this fun bag I picked up at the dollar store! It just is a perfect match to the Christmas Borders set! I colored up the candy using the Poppy, Spring Greens, Daffodil, Meadow and Holly collections. I did use the lightest shade too from the Dahlia collection. Use some Distress inks in Tea Dye and Antique Linen to antique it. Add fun Christmas ribbon and some stitching and you're almost done....

I added some faux sugar (it's a chunk glitter that is actually called faux snow -- but looks more like sugar!) to my gum drops! The "dots" of antique ink were created by a really old stamp that is just that... dots! Sometimes I turn to it to just create some extra "texture" on my image.

This next one was super fun! I wanted my drummer from the Drummer Boy set to have a monochromatic look. So, I stamped him in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored him up with Copics! I edged my drummer with chalk, masked him and then stamped over top of him with the Christmas Music background stamp. I added some silver stitching, a tab, a fun glittered button and silver cording to attach my tag and... done!

This last tag is really pretty in real life but didn't photograph all that well. I took some of the 7 Gypsies paper and stamped the angel from the Rejoice set over top with Versamark and silver detail embossing powder. Add some rhinestones and some fun sheer ribbon and silver cording and that's it! I did line the edge of my decorative paper with some silver leaf pen. I also added a punched snowflake and a larger rhinestone for a little something extra.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing how I like to deck out my holiday packages! For those packages that "have" to be wrapped, I love getting a simple silver or gold wrapping and letting my ribbon and tags do the talking! I am glad I have some tags ready in my holiday gift wrapping arsenal -- ready to go for Black Friday! :-)

Be sure to stop by to see what some of the other members of our fine and fabulous DT have created to help get you in the spirit!!

Latisha
Christine
Laura
Stacy
Leslie

See you back here soon!

~Julie

Bringing Santa To Life...

2009-11-19T10:07:00.002-06:00

I had to literally pick my jaw up off the floor recently when I laid my eyes on one of Linda Duke's recent creations. I couldn't believe that with the help of her Prismacolor pencils, she literally brought Santa from the Santa, I Believe set to life!

I love how she added Polar White Flower Soft and Liquid Applique to give this Santa texture!
Can you believe the depth in her coloring? I can't! If you'd like to check out all the details on this card, all you need to do is head on over to Linda's place HERE!

Thanks for stopping by! We'll be back tomorrow with another Flourishes Focus and this one will have you getting ready for all that holiday wrapping! :-)

~Julie

Are you ready for a Color Throwdown????

2009-11-18T12:51:00.006-06:00

This week the challenge over at the Color Throwdown is sponsored by the one and only Flourishes! YEAH! If you've never tried a color throwdown challenge, look at these gorgeous colors above? What are you waiting for! The Color Throwdown Design Team created some GORGEOUS samples using Flourishes images. So, head on over to the Color Throwdown blog and check out all the official details HERE! The prize is a Flourishes stamp set!! Like I said, what are you waiting for? ;-)

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC42)!

2009-11-16T23:01:00.001-06:00

It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC42)! Thanks so much to you all for playing along in last week's boxes and bags challenge! Keep reading to find out who won!

Let's see what Silke Ledlow has created using this fun sketch! Silke is using the Flourishes Dove and Holly set. She used Flourishes Copic Color Collections in Warm Neutrals, Holly, Fuschia, and Cool Naturals. She added an embossed layer for visual interests and bedazzled the holly leaves with touches of glitter. She finished with a red gingham bow with a button and silver pearl accent. Beautifully done, Silke!!!

To see what the rest of the blog design team created for you this week with the sketch, please click the blog links below to check them out.

Kimberly Crawford

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Winner(FTTC41)!!!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:8
Timestamp: 2009-11-17 02:55:27 UTC
Peggy Elms(marilynprestonn) You won!!! Congratulations!

Please private message gbedwright at SCS for your coupon code!!!!

Now, it is your turn to play! Here is what you need to know!

Anyone can play whether you have Flourishes stamps or not. Of course, if you have Flourishes stamps, by all means, use them.
Use keyword code FTTC42 when linking to SCS or public gallery.
Be sure to use the Mr. Linky to be eligible for the gift certificate drawing!
If you use either your blog link or online gallery, please give an active Flourishes Blog link.
By all means combine this challenge with other blog challenges.
The challenge runs from Tuesday, 12:01 am until Monday at 8 pm EST Enjoy yourself!!!

We also have the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday blog button working properly again. If you need the code, check here.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by and playing Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge with us! Your comments are alway greatly appreciated, too!!!

Your Flourishes Friends!

Need some creative inspiration???

2009-11-16T08:27:00.003-06:00

Recently Beate Johns used her incredibly creative eye and whipped up a gorgeous Joy Fold card with the Dove and Holly set over on Splitcoast. I thought we should share it here just in case you missed it!!! Thanks Beate!

Frame it with Ribbon!

2009-11-15T00:01:00.001-06:00

Today I have some ribbon tips to share with you. I do love ribbon, any and all kinds! I am using the new Christmas Tea set on this card and working with some yummy Red Velvet Ribbon.

I first stamped my teapot image, I knew I was going to paper piece the teapot so why mask it if you don't need to??? Shortcut is my middle name! So you can see I just added in the holly branch images under the tea pot.

I colored the holly with Copics. I was going for a centerpiece type look with this image. So I wanted to ground it by adding a line to use as the base. I just added a simple Black line using a Fine Tip pen and a ruler. I used a Rectangle Nestie to cut out my image, drawing an inner frame before removing from my die.

Hmmm... a little explaining for this pic, at the end I decided that I did not like the paper I used for the Tea Pot.... it was too grey, so in the end I switched it out. Sometimes things just don't look right and you have to change it up! You can see I added color to my Holly Berries and also airbrushed a bottom layer in my picture using Copic W5.

Using my drawn frame line around the edge as a guide to keep me straight... I used double sided adhesive tape to line the edges of the stamped panel.

Removing the adhesive backing one side at a time as I worked around the frame, I added my velvet ribbon. I let the ends overlap on each other in each corner. Gently lifting them up a tiny bit, enough only to get my scissor tip in there.... I cut the two ribbons at the same time, insuring the cut ends would match up just right. This leaves a perfectly clean looking mitered corner.

My little scalloped table cloth was made using the same Velvet Ribbon and cutting it with a Scalloped Oval nestie. Then I attached it to my stamped image, lining the straight edge of the ribbon up with the straight line I drew in the middle of the panel.

I blinged it up with some mini crystals over the berries. And you can see the new tea pot, from my DP switch-a-roo! Finished by adding the sentiment with velvet touches to that as well!

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Thanks for letting me share my Ribbon Tips!
I hope you picked up something useful from the pictures or my instructions!
Jenny Gropp

visit my little corner in Blogville: One Krafty Kat

My Favorite Things Challenge WINNER!!!

2009-11-14T09:13:00.002-06:00

It’s that time when we put all the names in the hat and pick one to be the lucky winner of our Favorite Things Challenge!!!!! We had so many over the top entries! It was so fun clicking on from site to site to see all the fun ways people got inspiration from the “These are a few of my favorite things…” song! So, now to the winner…..

DRUM ROLL PLEASE……………….

The winner of all five of our new release sets for November is…..

Karla Kroese!

You can click HERE to see her fabulous creations inspired by brown paper packages tied up with string!

Thanks everyone for playing! We'll see you for another release challenge... in just a few weeks! :-)

~Julie

The peaks are over..... the sets are in the store!

2009-11-13T21:01:00.003-06:00

We had a blast this week showcasing all the fun projects that you can create with the new stamps in our November Release! We hope you've enjoyed them and that they inspire you as you whip up your holiday creations!

Good news! All of the peeks we've been sharing this week are HERE! They are now available in the Flourishes Store for your shopping pleasure!

Christmas Bouquet
Fancy Labels

Christmas Borders

Christmas Tea

Lamp Post Greetings

And, don't forget about our NEW RELEASE BUNDLE! Purchase the bundle, and get 10% off all five of our new release sets!

Before we go.... we want to fill you in on who won the drawing for the Christmas Tea set! Random.org drew the number 63 which means the winner is.....

Shirley said...
I have so many friends who love tea, and your set is perfect for Christmas gifts. Love, love, love it! Can't wait to see the whole set. Thanks also for all the great ideas from your designers. Please use the email address below my name. Thanks.
Shirley L. shirlee@surewest.net Friday, November 13, 2009 10:20:00 AM

Shirley, simply email us at flourishesllc@cox.net with your address and we will go ahead and get your stamp set sent right to you!

To the rest of you... it was a fun week!

Happy Shopping!

Let's unwrap the November Flourishes release!!

2009-11-13T00:00:00.000-06:00

A cup of tea to warm your hands and fill your heart with Christmas cheer! That's exactly what our final sneak peek is all about!

Introducing.......

This set drawn by illustrator Lauren Pope has class and style and the thought behind it is just heart warming! If you have friends who love to sip their tea, imagine their surprise when you dole out a gift aimed at sharing that cheer at a time when we really take stock of our gifts in life! There are 11 different stamps in this set that all play off eachother in such a fun way! Wait until you see the fun projects brewed up by our Senior Design Team!

Julie Koerber

Joy simply email us at flourishesllc@cox.net with your snail mail address and we'll get your stamp set sent to you!

DON'T FORGET....

Time is running out to enter our Favorite Things Challenge? Click HERE for the details! You could win all five of the sets we've shown you this week!

Join us for some serious fun tonight for our POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time! Get ready for fun, games, giveaways and of course... lots of chatter! ;-) As soon as the party wraps up, all of our sets for November will be in the Flourishes Store for your shopping pleasure!

Thanks for joining us this week! We've had a blast and hope you have too!

Sneak Peaks.... Day 4!

2009-11-12T00:00:00.000-06:00

When I first laid eyes on the concept for this next set, I actually shook my head and said, now that's creative! I thought of all those main streets in America where the lamp post is the conversation piece. It's the place where cities announce big events, holidays, and celebrations! It's a charming way to connect with the community. So, why not bring that same feel and that same message to a card sized creation? That's exactly what illustrator Lauren Pope did!

Introducing......

This set not only has the lampost that you can deck out, it has a half dozen "flags" that you can perch on your post as a way to say "hi" or celebrate! And, as you're about to see when to take a trip around to the Senior Design team, it can be used for things other than cards or... it can be combined with other Flourishes stamp sets to make an even bigger impact! Want to see what I mean? Just take a trip over to see....

Julie Koerber

Christine Okken
Latisha Yoast
Stacy Morgan
Cindy Lawrence
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller

Would you like to win this set? Just leave a comment on this post! Random.org will pick a number and we'll announce the winner of the Lamp Post Greetings set in tomorrow's post!

Now to the winner of yesterday's set! Random.org drew the number 62, which means the lucky winner of her very own Christmas Borders set is......

Shopping Diva said...
I have never seen any set like this Christmas Borders Set. It's just wonderful and it has my name on it! Wednesday, November 11, 2009 12:25:00 PM

Shopping Diva simply email us at flourishesllc@cox.net with your snail mail address and we'll get your stamp set sent to you!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR MORE FUN AT FLOURISHES...

Did you see our Favorite Things Challenge? If you play, you will have a chance at winning all FIVE of our new releases for November! That's one valuable prize - you could even call it an early Christmas present! Click HERE for the details.

Speaking of the release, you'll want to join us this Friday for our POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY! It's a super duper fun time full of games, goodies, and prizes up for grabs! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time. As the party wraps, all of our sets that we peek this week will be put in store for your shopping pleasure!

Tomorrow's set will have you relaxing and sipping some tea with winter dreams swirling through your head! Stay tuned! We'll see you back here tomorrow!

November Sneak Peeks...day 3!

2009-11-11T00:00:00.000-06:00

If you love making Christmas cards and tags with visions of sugar plums running through your heads.... then have we got a new and fabulous stamp set for you! On day three of Flourishes' sneak peek week, we showcase a set that will give a dash of Christmas flair to tags, packages, cards, projects or as you'll see, even picture frames!

Introducing...........

This set is just too fun! Drawn by our illustrator extraordinaire Lauren Pope, these borders will offer a punch of color not only at Christmas, but at other times of the year as well! The row of packages could actually be used all year long! Wait till you see the fun cooked up by our Senior Design Team! Stop on over and take a peek.........

Christine Okken
Latisha Yoast
Stacy Morgan
Cindy Lawrence
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller

Would you like to win this set? Just leave a comment on this post! Random.org will pick a number and we'll announce the winner of the Christmas Borders set in tomorrow's post!

Now to the winner of yesterday's set! Random.org drew the number 42, which means the lucky winner of her very own Fancy Labels set is......

charmaine stack said...
This is spooky. You were reading my mind. I went looking last night all over the web for stamps that are designed to fit Spellbinders Labels! Thanks for making my day!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 11:40:00 AM

Charmaine, simply email us at flourishesllc@cox.net with your snail mail address and we'll get your stamp set sent to you!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR MORE FUN AT FLOURISHES...

Did you see our Favorite Things Challenge? If you play, you will have a chance at winning all FIVE of our new releases for November! That's one valuable prize - you could even call it an early Christmas present! Click HERE for the details.

Speaking of the release, you'll want to join us this Friday for our POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY! It's a super duper fun time full of games, goodies, and prizes up for grabs! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time. As the party wraps, all of our sets that we peek this week will be put in store for your shopping pleasure!

Tomorrow's set will have you shining the light on some fun occassions to last throughout the year! Yep, that was your hint.... stay tuned! We'll see you back here tomorrow!

November Sneak Peaks... day 2!

2009-11-10T00:00:00.001-06:00

How many times have you searched and wanted just the right touch for a package or gift? You knew you wanted a fancy element, but after searching your stamp room, you came up empty handed.

Today's sneak peek has you in mind! This fanciful set from Lauren Pope is sure to give all your gifts and homemade creations a dash of elegance!

Introducing.........

This set full of tag elements, sentiments and frames is perfect for gift giving. Some of them, as you can see in the sneak peek above have been created to fit some of Spellbinders most popular Nestabilities dies like Labels 2, Labels 3, and Labels 4!

The Friends of Flourishes Team created a challenge around this set so, be sure to click HERE to get a glimpse at how they used this set to package up some holiday gifts with style! The Fancy Labels set is at the center of this week's Timeless Tuesday challenge!

The Senior Design Team and some of our Friends of Flourishes have let their creativity flow and has some fun samples! So... stop on over and see what these ladies cooked up!

Christine Okken
Latisha Yoast
Stacy Morgan
Maki Jones
Kimberly Crawford
Betty Wright
Dee Jackson
Silke Ledlow

Would you like to win this set? Just leave a comment on this post! Random.org will pick a number and we'll announce the winner of the Fancy Labels set in tomorrow's post!

Now to the winner of yesterday's set! Random.org drew the number 11, which means Mary a.k.a. Primitive Season walks away with her very own Christmas Bouquet set!

Primitive Seasons said...
Flourishes has outdone itself this time. This is one of the most elegant and sophisticated images I've seen in a long time. Just beautiful. Monday, November 09, 2009 7:07:00 AM.

Mary, simply email us at flourishesllc@cox.net with your snail mail address and we'll get your stamp set sent to you!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR MORE FUN AT FLOURISHES...

Did you see our Favorite Things Challenge? If you play, you will have a chance at winning all FIVE of our new releases for November! That's one valuable prize - you could even call it an early Christmas present! Click HERE for the details.

Speaking of the release, you'll want to join us this Friday for our POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY! It's a super duper fun time full of games, goodies, and prizes up for grabs! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time. As the party wraps, all of our sets that we peek this week will be put in store for your shopping pleasure!

You'll want to stick with us this week for more sneaky peeks! Tomorrow, we have one Christmas themed set that will allow to add a colorful dash of whimsy to all of your holiday creations!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC41)!

2009-11-09T23:01:00.001-06:00

It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC41)! Thanks so much to you all for playing along in last week's limited supplies challenge! Keep reading to find out who won!

The Friends of Flourishes blog design team are bringing you exciting and different challenges each week. Flourishes gives away a store gift certificate each week. Random.org decides who wins!! Everyone can PLAY and anyone can WIN! Make sure you continue reading to find out how.

The blog design team is celebrating Flourishes release week with you. We are sharing with you today, Fancy Labels, one of five sets to release this Friday! Dee Jackson is our challenge host this week! In keeping with the Fancy Labels set, Dee Jackson is challenging us to Boxes and Bags! You decide if you want to make a stamped box or a stamped bag to house anything from homemade treats to knitted mittens! We cannot wait to see what you create!

Let's see what Dee Jackson created with the boxes and bags challenge! Dee created a beautiful gift-giving treat box using the Fancy Labels and Dove and Holly sets. Dee stamped and colored all of her background papers using different elements from both sets. She used Flourishes Copic Color Collections to color and various inks to sponge and create a vintage feel. Dee layered the doves with different spellbinder shapes. I really love the stamped and colored border around the top of the box. A very detailed finishing touch! Dee added a touch of a silver cording bow.
Gorgeous design and fabulous gift giving idea, Dee!

Here is a picture of the lid off of the treat box and a peek at the fabulous treat inside. Dee not only included wonderful cinnamon toasted pecans but also the recipe, too!!!

To see what the rest of the blog design team created for you this week with the boxes and bags challenge, please click the blog links below to check them out.

Kimberly Crawford

Dee Jackson

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Winner(FTTC40)!!!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:8
Timestamp: 2009-11-10 03:14:34 UTC

Patti (Stampersize) You won!!! Congratulations!

Please private message gbedwright at SCS for your coupon code!!!!

Now, it is your turn to play! Here is what you need to know!

Anyone can play whether you have Flourishes stamps or not. Of course, if you have Flourishes stamps, by all means, use them.
Use keyword code FTTC41 when linking to SCS or public gallery.
Be sure to use the Mr. Linky to be eligible for the gift certificate drawing!
If you use either your blog link or online gallery, please give an active Flourishes Blog link.
By all means combine this challenge with other blog challenges.
The challenge runs from Tuesday, 12:01 am until Monday at 8 pm EST Enjoy yourself!!!

We also have the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday blog button working properly again. If you need the code, check here.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by and playing Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge with us! Your comments are alway greatly appreciated, too!!!

Your Flourishes Friends!

Let the Sneaks Begin!

2009-11-09T00:00:00.000-06:00

This Friday, Flourishes will unveil a bevy of stamps just in time to help you finish up your holiday gifts this year! And, lucky for you, our Senior Design team has been letting those creative juices flow. All this week, they will share not just cards, but projects fit for the season! You will LOVE what you see!

Today's sneak peek involves a gorgeous spray of greenery full of holly sprigs, pepper berry, cedar fir, and who could forget beautiful pomegranate and amaryllis!

Introducing....

This breathtaking bouquet was drawn by the ever so talented Marcella Hawley. It's such a classic image and delivers a dose of sophistication! Our design team picked all kinds of mediums to color this beauty up with and every single project is incredibly unique! So, be sure to give them a visit. Their projects just might spark some creativity in your own craft rooms!

Leslie Miller
Christine Okken
Julie Koerber
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Stacy Morgan
Cindy Lawrence
Sharon Doolittle

Would you like to win this set? Who wouldn't!! Simply leave a comment on this post! Random.org will pick a number and we'll announce the winner of the Christmas Bouquet set in tomorrow's post!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR MORE FUN AT FLOURISHES...

Did you see our Favorite Things Challenge? If you play, you will have a chance at winning all FIVE of our new releases for November! That's one valuable prize - you could even call it an early Christmas present! Click HERE for the details.

Speaking of the release, you'll want to join us this Friday for our POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY! It's a super duper fun time full of games, goodies, and prizes up for grabs! We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time. As the party wraps, all of our sets that we peek this week will be put in store for your shopping pleasure!

It's going to be a fun week at Flourishes! Tomorrow's release is one that will give all your packages a truly fancy feel! You'll see why when you come back tomorrow!

I dare you to Doodle!

2009-11-08T00:01:00.002-06:00

I have a simple tutorial to share with you today.

Doodles.

I get a lot of questions about doodles, as my cards usually have some kind of extra little pen marks! Doodles are easy - the secret is to not worry about being perfectly straight. Doodles are meant to be loose and fun! You can doodle around images or incorporate your doodles in with your image. It can change the appearance of your stamp image, doodles around layers... it's endless.... as much or as little as you want. So the card I am sharing is very simple in style and uses simple doodles. The pictures below show step by step how I dressed up my image and layers using fine tip pens. You can click on the pictures to enlarge the images. For this card I chose to work with Flourishes set "Chairs for You".

The first image I stamped was the little puppy dog. I used Memento Ink and I stamped on Neenah Peppercorn 80#. I created a mask with Eclipse tape, layering that over my original puppy, I wanted him in the front to appear sitting on the chair.

After covering the puppy with his mask, I then stamped the chair. Since Flourishes stamps are clear, it makes for easy stamping and positioning of images when you are masking since you can see through the stamp.

I removed the mask and used Copics to color in the puppy and the chair arms.

My image is still snug in my Spellbinder's Nestie, I tacked it down with a little piece of tape when I cut it out, to prevent it from shifting. Then I used a fine tip Red Pen to create an inner frame, just by tracing along the Nestie's inner edge.

My image is still snug in my nestie. I used Copic Y17 to airbrush around the edges.

You could also achieve a similar look by sponging some ink, it will clean right off your Nestie when you are done by using a cloth and a tiny bit of your stamp cleaner.

After removing the image from the Nestie, it leaves a nice clean border. Which of course you can choose to leave a nice, clean and crisp edge, or you can fancy it up!

Did you notice I added no color to the chair in the above pictures? I wanted some stripes on my chair, so here's where the doodles start........ I just drew some stripes in! My stripes are not even or straight. They do not need to be. Note - on the arms of the chair, I did curve my stripes to bend with the shape.

I used a Copic to color in every other stripe. Then, I decided I wanted MORE stripes and added some tiny little cross lines in between each yellow stripe. Are you thinking this looks tedious? I promise it is not... just let go of the feeling that it has to be straight and even. Enlarge the pic... you can see my marks are quick and easy! When nothing is straight -- then nothing looks "off"!

Now to the edge of my Nesite.... using the inner frame I drew earlier, I am going to create a polka dot frame to mimic the DP I am going to use on my card. Again.... I am drawing random and loose circles, running off the outer edges and corners, but mainting the clean frame line towards the image.

I want my polka dots yellow and the background red. Since the dots will be a lighter color than the background, why bother coloring in all the little circles... No thanks! I just shortcut and run the chisel tip of the marker down each side, filling in all the dots with one stroke.

You can see the DP (by Graphic 45) here... I am just creating the reverse of that pattern.

Now I used the brush tip of a Copic to fill in the background of my frame.

Some stitch doodles around the outer edge of the card to wrap it up.

I added some layers and a little silk bow to complete the card. You can see each step was easy, no fuss, no straight lines, an no trying to make everything perfect and matching when I doodle. I changed the look of the image, I created a frame and added some stitch doodles on the layers.

Now... it's your turn!

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Thanks for letting me share my Doodles with you!

I hope you picked up a tip from the pictures or my instructions!

Jenny Gropp
visit my little corner in Blogville: One Krafty Kat

Favorite Things Challenge!

2009-11-06T00:00:00.003-06:00

It's amost time to unwrap the latest batch of sets from Flourishes! And, to get ready, we are issuing you a challenge! We call it ... the Favorite Things challenge. How does it work? All you need to do is be inspired in some way by the words of the decades old Christmas favorite from the Sound of Music! Be sure to tell us which line of the music inspired your card! :-)

Here's just a snipet of the lyrics....

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

Want to see how the Design Team was inspired by these lyrics? Yours truly (Julie) immediately thought of brown paper packages tied up with string......

Stacy thought of girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes with this creation... pure elegance!

Cindy dreamt up some silver white winters that melt into spring!

Laura had the brown paper packages tied up with string running through her creative mind....

And so did Latisha! She has the string... and the brown paper for her inspiration!

Christine crafted up some beauty with raindrops on roses....
And last but not least, Leslie took the silver to the max in this silver white winters serene scene....

We hope you have as much fun as we did with this challenge! For all the official details on the DT's creations, be sure to visit their little homes on the web.....

Julie Koerber
Cindy Lawrence
Christine Okken
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Stacy Morgan
Leslie Miller

Now for the *OFFICIAL CHALLENGE RULES*

Simply make a card inspired by the 'My Favorite Things' lyrics. Use Flourishes stamps if you have them but if you don't... feel free to play! We'd love to see what you cook up and better yet, you'll have a chance to win some! The challenge will close Friday, November 13th at 4PM CST. When posting your card, please leave your link below using Mr. Linky. If you upload to Splitcoast, please use the KEYWORD: FLLCNOV. Keep in mind, in order to be in the running for the grand prize -- which is our ENTIRE NEW RELEASE for November-- you must link up using Mr. Linky. We can't wait to see your creativity!

My Oh My! There are goodies in the store!

2009-11-04T00:00:00.000-06:00

There are so many new things in the Flourishes store, we can't possibly talk about all of them! We've stocked metallic paper just in time for the holidays. There are silky and regal new ribbons that are perfect to dress up your holiday cards! We have new pearls and rhinestones from BasicGrey in shades that compliment the colors of fall! And, how could we forget......

We have a brand new collection of Copic markers to add to your already fabulous Copic color families!

Want to see all that's new? Just click HERE on the What's New tab on the Flourishes store to see!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Julie

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC40)!

2009-11-02T23:01:00.000-06:00

It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC40)!!! We want to give a big Flourishes thank you to Kathy Jones(Wattle) for hosting with us last week. Thanks so much to you all for playing along in last week's challenge as well!!! Keep reading to find out who won! We also have the October winner pick, too!!!

The Friends of Flourishes blog design team are bringing you exciting and different challenges each week. Flourishes gives away a store gift certificate each week. Random.org decides who wins!! Everyone can PLAY and anyone can WIN! Make sure you continue reading to find out how.

It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC40)! This week Kimberly Crawford is our challenge host! Kimberly is challenging us to a limited supplies challenge! Our challenge is to combine a colored image, texture or textures, and any shades of neutrals we want. You can pack on the layers and textures just make sure you include an image to color and use only neutral cardstock. Just so you know you can us any combination of whites, creams, blacks, browns, and grays! So make your cards pop with texture and a beautifully colored image! We cannot wait to see what you create!

Let's see what Kimberly Crawford created with the limited challenge! She is using Flourishes Falling Leaves stamp set. Kimberly chose to use only kraft cardstock as her main color and some classic white cardstock for her leaves which she colored with Flourishes Copic Color Collection and cut out and arranged around the sentiment panel. To create the wonderful texture background, Kimberly is using the Spellbinders Flourish impressabilities which she went over with a versamark pad to create some depth of color. She finished her beautiful fall card using some May Arts burlap twine. Beautifully done, Kim!

To see what the rest of the blog design team created for you with the limited challenge, please click the blog links below to check them out.

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Winner(FTTC39)!!!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:38
Timestamp: 2009-11-03 02:46:27 UTC

Lisa A(dahlhouse designs) Congratulations!!! You Won!!! Please email: private message gbedwright at SCS for your coupon code!!!!

October Monthly Winner!!!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:42
Timestamp: 2009-11-03 02:55:30 UTC

Linda C(Think Pink) You won!!! Congratulations! Please email: private message gbedwright at SCS for your coupon code!!!!

Now, it is your turn to play! Here is what you need to know!

Anyone can play whether you have Flourishes stamps or not. Of course, if you have Flourishes stamps, by all means, use them.

Use keyword code FTTC40when linking to SCS or public gallery.

Be sure to use the Mr. Linky to be eligible for the gift certificate drawing!

If you use either your blog link or online gallery, please give an active Flourishes Blog link.

By all means combine this challenge with other blog challenges.

The challenge runs from Tuesday, 12:01 am until Monday at 8 pm EST Enjoy yourself!!!

We also have the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday blog button working properly again. If you need the code, check here.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by and playing Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge with us! Your comments are alway greatly appreciated, too!!!

Your Flourishes Friends!

Just a little note to say....

2009-11-02T20:00:00.002-06:00

If you've shopped in our store in the last 24 hours, you might have noticed a slight change in our prices. After being in the business for more than 2 years, we have watched this company grow by leaps and bounds! Unfortunately, our production costs have also risen. Up until now, Flourishes has absorbed this added cost. In order to stay competitive and to continue to bring you the best artistic designs on polymer, we've decided to raise stamp set prices from $15 to $15.99. We know that times are tight. We also know, however, that many of our competitors in the industry have already raised prices to reflect the increased cost of production.

Thank you so much for being a fan of Flourishes and thanks for your understanding! You have no idea how much it means to us as a company to have customers like you in our "stamping family!"

Holiday Magnets

2009-11-01T06:00:00.004-06:00

Welcome to my first Limelight project with Flourishes!

I had fun creating these Holiday magnets and hope you like them too! I used the beautiful Holiday Ornament Set, All that Glitters. I know I seem get more and more Holiday photo cards each year. I stick my faves up on the Fridge, so I thought these magnets might be fun to use with those photo cards. Pack 'em up with your Christmas decorations and then you will have them again for next season. Another option would be to incorporate a magnet on to a card. Enough rambling, let's move on to the project....

All of the backgrounds were created by airbrushing with two shades of Copic markers. It wasn't neat or pretty, but I wanted to just get color down on the paper, moving from light to dark.

For the Blue Ornament : BG72 Ice Ocean, B39 Prussian Blue

For the Green Ornament: YG95 Pale Olive, G99 Olive

For the Red Ornament: R29 Lipstick Red, R89 Dark Red

Before I stamped the image, I used an anti static bag to rub over the airbrushed color, to prevent my embossing powder from sticking where it should not stick. I used Versamark Ink and then heat embossed using Gold or Silver Detail Embossing Powder.

After heat embossing the image and cutting it out. I glued the ornament to chipboard to add some thickness and also adding a layer of black card stock to the back, then I trimmed the image out again. Now it is sturdy, where as the card stock would not be strong enough to support the magnets and not bend.

I don't want an ugly edge to my ornaments, so I used a brush tip marker along the edge in a coordinating color to cover the dingy chipboard layer edges.

Now the FUN stuff.... On the red ornament I left it as is allowing the pretty swirls and graduating red color to stand own their own. The green ornament I added a little glitter to spice it up, using a toothpick to apply just a little in just the right spots - I used a mixture of Crystal Lacquer and Ultra Fine Glitter. On the Blue Ornament, I went to town adding Crystals everywhere I could.

After dressing the ornaments up with their embellishments, I brushed on two coats of Glass Kote. This is thicker than Crystal Lacquer and it dries totally clear and with out any air bubbles. It does not curl the paper at all, and leaves a high gloss smooth finish. Just like glass!

After the two coats of Glass Kote dried, I moved on to the finishing touches. The ornaments are only about two inches long, and when I looked at using ribbon with them, the ribbon just overwhelmed the size of the ornaments. I had to have some kind of bow on the top, so I scaled it down and used Embroidery Floss and also some Skinny Silver Cording. I used the smallest notch on the Bow Easy to create my multiple loop bows and then glued them to the top of the ornaments.

Next came the magnets. You can find these plain magnets in packages at the craft stores or in a hardware store. They are inexpensive and come in all shapes and sizes. You can see some of them are scored and can be broken to a smaller size to accommodate your project as needed. I glued the magnets to the back using my glue of choice, Crafter's Pick Ultimate.
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And that wraps it up for today!

Here are some close up pics of each finished Holiday Magnet.

Click on the pics to see more detail.

I think the Blue "Bling" Ornament is my fave.

The glitter is really eye catching in person, since I used Ultra Fine Glitter, it does not have that "chunky" glitter look to it, the small pieces catch and reflect the light perfectly.

I did add one small gold metal embellishment to the center of the bow on the red and green ornaments, just to help highlight the gold embossing.

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I hope I have inspired you to try creating some magnets, for any season or occasion. They are fun, small projects to create, with lots of options to choose from: coloring techniques, using pattern paper, any and all sorts of embellishments can be worked in to the magnets, beads could hang off it.... anything your creative mind can think doing!

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If you have a minute and liked today's project, please head over and check my out my little corner in Blogville.... One Krafty Kat.

In the Limelight!

2009-10-30T23:29:00.005-05:00

A new month at Flourishes means a new face to introduce to the fans of Flourishes and a fond farewell to a very talented designer who has given us a glimpse into her creative world!

I don't know about you, but Asela Hopkins blew me away this past month with her stunning tutorials. I have always, always, always been a fan of her use of color. When you look at her work, you just see her art background in every creation! Thanks Asela! We've so enjoyed having you here in our "home" on the web!

Now.... an introduction of sorts! I've known this "Krafty Kat" for a while now and each time I see a new creation of hers, I think -- unique! She always puts a little something extra into her creations that makes you think.... 'Now, why didn't I think of that?'

So,without further ado, meet..........

We asked Jenny to share a wee bit about herself before she jumps in tomorrow with her first Limelight project!

A little about me..... I'm 36, married to the love of my life and we are completely controlled by one nine pound cat who runs our house. I just left my job after 15 years and plan on devoting my time to stamping/papercrafting and working with a local stamp store, Impressive Ideas. I am looking forward to having more free time and enjoying this wonderful hobby daily.

I originally was a scrapbooker, I have to admit... I would walk down the stamp aisle in the craft stores and think... "What??? I totally had no clue!". I slowly started embellishing my scrapbook pages with very simple stamp images. It was all stamping basics. I was a scrapbooker after all. Well, not too long after that, I went to a stamp show, thinking no biggie, I'll cruise around and maybe pick up a few small things. OMG! I saw stamping demonstrations everywhere I turned. I was amazed at the possibilities and techniques involved with stamping ..... and after several trips to the car to unload all my purchases........ my scrapbooking slowly ceased. I was hooked and a full blown stamping addict! Several years later, I am still totally addicted and loving every minute of this hobby. Sharing it with other creative minds is the icing on the cake!

I am thrilled to be working with Flourishes this month, the Flourishes artists really have knocked my socks off this year, creating some stunning images to work with. I immediately leaped for joy, did a happy dance and responded 'YES', when I was asked to participate! I hope the mojo doesn't go MIA! I look forward to sharing some creative ramblings and projects with you and I hope I don't disappoint!!!

Jenny, there's no way you'll disappoint! We know you'll rock it! :-) So come back tomorrow and see this Krafty Kat cooked up! I know I can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Julie

How would you like to be on the Wall of Fame???

2009-10-30T22:57:00.007-05:00

Are you a member of FLIP? A.K.A. Flourishes Loyalty Incentive Program? Well then, How would you like to be on the...........

As a member of our royal and loyal court, we want to see the beautiful things you do with Flourishes Stamps! We want you to be on our Wall of Fame! We have a start showcasing some of the beautiful cards sent to us from Flourishes loyal customers....

All this wall needs now is a dash of your artistic style! We'll be honoring FLIP members right here on the Flourishes blog! And, if your card is chosen as the monthly winner to land on the Wall of Fame, we'll have a special surprise... just for you! Simply upload your cards to Splitcoast Stampers using the key word FLIPWOF or link up some of your favorite Flourishes cards right here on this post using the Mr. Linky box below! Before our December FLIP sale, we'll pick one lucky card maker to be the next honoree on the FLIP Wall of Fame! Good luck! We can't wait to see your works of art!

KEEP IN MIND! You must be a FLIP Member to submit. Just another reason to get your 'membership card' today! :-)

Flourishes Focus: Coloring up the Season

2009-10-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

Hello Flourishes fans, Latisha here. Today the design team is coloring on their cards, a Coloring in the Season if you will. I am showing you a couple of cards that have a fall theme, but some of the ladies will have a Christmas feel to their cards. When I think of fall, my mind goes to really earthy rich tones, like orange, red, brown, gold and green. Have any of you seen the new Indian Summer paper from Basic Grey? Wow is that some beautiful fall paper or what! For my first card that is where I got my inspiration from. If you look closely, you will notice that the trees have been paper pieced using the Indian Summer paper. After I paper pieced the trees, I started to color in my image using some Copic markers. Its easier to see the blending I did on the grass and stone walkway than on the house. The way I blend is from lightest marker to darker. I add a little bit of a darker color, then I go back with my lighter color to make the blending seem more natural. I distressed the edges of my paper, and sponged the edges with some brown ink, this look can also be accomplished by taking the edge of your Copic marker and running it along the edge of the paper, its a lot quicker too. Before I adhered my stamped image panel, I ran some ribbon around the front of my card and tied a bow. This is a clean and simple card, but with the coloring and paper piecing its makes the card seem like is has more depth and dimension than it really does.

For this card, I stamped my leaf images onto paper, colored them in, again with Copic markers and then cut them out. Once I cut my leaves out, I popped them up with foam tape/dimmensionals, it just give the card a little more depth to it. Oh, before I adhered the leaves, I tied my ribbon and stamped my sentiment. The best advice I can give you, on becoming better with the Copic markers is to practice, practice, practice. You can even go onto Youtube and search Copic markers, there are many tutorials on there. Before I became Copic Certified that is what I did along with going to Marianne Walker's blog, she is the queen of Copics. I hear through the grapevine that Flourishes is adding more Copic color collections!! Stay tuned for more information on that!

For more coloring inspiration head on over to the rest of the designers blogs. Christine is not playing along today, but go to her blog and wish her a Happy Birthday please, yesterday was her birthday. Happy Birthday Christine!!!

Pay these talented ladies a visit:

Julie Koerber

Cindy Lawrence

Laura Fredrickson

Leslie Miller

Latisha Yoast (me)

Stacy Morgan

Welcome Convention Goers!

2009-10-29T08:30:00.002-05:00

It's time for the Virtual Rubber Stamp Convention over at Rubber Stamp Chat. And, that means a little something special...... just for YOU!

Join us for our Fall Convention Sale where we are offering YOU 10% off everything and anything! All you need to do is add the special promo code rsc09 in the promotional code box at the time of check out.

You have to act fast though! This offer is only good during the Rubber Stamp Chat Convention and will end at the close of November 2nd.

Click HERE to shop! Remember, FREE SHIPPING on all orders in the United States over $60!