Flourishes is in the Stamp It Cards Spotlight!

If you've picked up Paper Crafts' new Stamp It Cards issue, you might have spotted a few Flourishes beauties on the pages inside! Former Friends of Flourishes team member Kimberly Crawford has two gorgeous creations using our Cherries and Peaches set as well as our Life, Love and Lemons set(Pages 17 & 19)! To celebrate the new issue, the magazine is shining the spotlight on some of their contributors. Today it's Kimberly's turn! Head on over to Paper Crafts Connection to see her fabulous creation and you'll have a shot at winning one of the three Cherries and Peaches stamp sets they are giving away!

Sneak Peek -- Something To Celebrate!

It's a new year and it ushers in a new way Flourishes plans to host its releases! On the second Wednesday of each month - we'll begin our Sneak Peak Countdown to our Friday night release. It will give you a chance so see all the creations from our fabulous designers, and you'll have a shot at winning the set featured each day.

Today's set is.....
And, we have a lot to celebrate with this brand new set! It is fresh from the hands of our newest artist, Lauren Pope.

Lauren is a professional illustrator whose work can be found in everything from children's books and school text books to the world of fashion. As a child, she could be found sitting before open comic books, sketchpad in lap, pencil in hand, diligently honing the skills that would mature into the tools of a true artist. She earned her B.S. and M.A. degrees in Commercial Art at Pensacola Christian College. Her award-winning work has been featured in venues such as the Pensacola Museum of Art in Florida, the Greenhouse Gallery in San Antonio, Texas, and the Roundhouse Gallery in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Lauren’s artistic flame can be ignited by a walk through a garden, a trip to the farmer’s market, or a chance encounter with a captivating human face. To look at her original work visit her etsy site HERE.

If I had been looking for a new artist for Flourishes the very last place I would have expected to find her was at my dining room table. We hosted a birthday party for a young friend of ours and told her to invite some of her friends. Lauren and her hubby were some of the delightful friends we met that night. Lauren and I talked and someone told her I was into art...(hehe) well not her way I soon found out. She wanted to see Flourishes stamps. I saw the love in her eyes as she touched and poured over them. A few days later she came over to talk and brought a small sampling of her art and I was excited at what I saw. I perused her etsy shop and then talked with her later and told her that I could not identify her definitive medium or style. She replied that she hadn't either. Needless to say that now months later I think she and I both know her new medium (she says it makes her smile) and I know that it makes me smile as well. I hope her work will make you smile as well.

I asked Lauren to develop a birthday set for Flourishes. As we talked and set up the standard and concepts for the set she gleamed and I caught a bit of mischief in her eyes. When she sent us the first "rough outs" of the set we knew that this was a charmer, with a timeless look but certainly for today's papercrafters.

Looking above at the collage, can you get a glimpse of Lauren's creative style? Here it's just a sneak peek, but travel to the blogs of our designers and you'll see Lauren's work in living color...

Julie Koerber
Sharon Doolittle
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Dee Jackson
Nancy Kirk
Jan Marie Caruso --OH that's ME!

Before you go blog hopping, here’s your chance to win this set! Just post a comment to this entry and we'll randomly select one person to win. The candy will move quickly - we'll announce the winner for the Birthday Celebrations set tomorrow. But, don't worry, more chances to win are on the way. We'll be giving away the sets revealed in our Thurdsay and Friday sneak peeks as well! So, be sure to stop by each day to comment.

Have you checked out our Celebrating Home challenge? (Details on that challenge can be found HERE) Take part in this challenge and you can win all three of our new sets this month. The winner will be announced at our release party Friday night from 7pm - 9 pm Eastern time over at the Flourishes Forum on Splitcoast. That's where we'll reveal all the new sets and give you an opportunity for more prizes!

For those of you who love the work of our artist Marcella Hawley, check back tomorrow for her set that celebrates life in a whole new way!

Yes, you will have to come back tomorrow and see what Marcella has in store for us.

Viola! That makes for another great day of sharing with you. I am so glad you stopped by the Atelier at Flourishes.

I'm hoping that your day will be filled with blessings and that your mojo will be overflowing.

Ciao,

Shipping and Handling changes

With the upcoming changes in Priority Mail rates from the United States Post Office going into effect later this month, we looked at our shipping and handling policies to see what impact this would have and if there was a way we could improve our service to our customers.

In our currently shipping and handling policy, we ship Parcel Post, First Class, and in some cases Priority Mail, and offer free shipping for orders over a certain amount.

After reviewing the information we have decided to eliminate Parcel Post and First-Class and effective January 18, will ship everything Priority Mail, which will provide all our customers with faster service and allow for better tracking of shipments.

In order to implement this change, we find it necessary to make adjustments to our pricing and effective January 18, the following shipping and handling rates listed on the tables below will apply.

Domestic Shipping and Handling Rates as of January 18, 2009

Order Amount and Rate
Orders up to $45: $6.50
Orders $45.01 - $60.00: $8.00

Orders over $60: FREE


International Shipping and Handling Rates as of January 18, 2009

ORDER AMOUNT and RATE

Canada orders less than $60: $12
All Other International orders less than $60: $14

Canada orders between $60.01 - $100: $27
All Other International orders between $60.01 -$100: $43

All International orders over $100: Contact Flourishes for quote

We realize that these changes have the biggest impact with our international customers, but due to our commitment to customer service and the current business climate, we can no longer offer the current low rates and free shipping for orders outside of the United States. As you may already know, First Class International does not offer tracking or insurance and we have no way of researching where a package is or its status once it leaves our facility. With Priority Mail, we hope we can provide faster service and better tracking for orders that will travel thousands of miles.

If you have any questions or about these policy changes, please feel free to contact us at flourishesllccustomerservice@cox.net. We appreciate your understanding in this matter and look forward to our continued support.

RubberStampChat Virtual Convention

The Virtual Convention is on at the RubberStampChat forum!

Please join Flourishes and many other vendors at the forum - each vendor has their own "booth" in the form of a thread in the Convention Hall thread.

We continue with our special - 10% off your entire order through the convention, which ends Monday, October 13.

To get this discount, type RSC88 in the promotion code box at checkout.

Free shipping on USA orders over $50

Free shipping on International orders over $100

New Releases!

It may be sunny and warm down here in Florida, but the stores have the Halloween candy, ceramic turkeys and Christmas decorations out, so you know the fall and winter holiday season is here!
Flourishes has FIVE new sets this month, and they are all about the holiday season! Marcella Hawley and Diane Roche again provide wonderful classic images that you will be able to use year after year.
Last month we offered a discount on the new releases - this month we're offering you an even better deal! From now through Monday, October 13, get 10% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER!!!

To get the discount you must put this code in the promotion code box at checkout: RSC88

Now, because you have to put that code in the promotion code box, you will not be able to tell us which design team member inspires you. So...just send us an e-mail at

flourishesllccustomerservice@cox.net and we will reward your favorite designer!

Let's take a look at what our great designers have made!

This beauty by Julie Koerber uses the "Poinsettia and Boxwood" set combined with the "Holiday Greetings". Poinsettia and Boxwood contains two boxwood wreath stamps, two poinsettia stamps, some leaves, bows and a sentiment. "Holiday Greetings" has nineteen stamps and is a perfect set to cover just about all your holiday sentiment needs! Both sets were created by Marcella Hawley for Flourishes. Now, take a close look at the red paper Julie used. That is from the Glittering Christmas paper pack that we put together just for the holidays. It is 6x6 cardstock - much heavier than the usual designer paper, you get 4 sheets each of 7 different pattern. Shown here is red with a red glitter damask pattern.

Marcella Hawley also created the new "All That Glitters" set, showcased beautifully in this card by Leslie Miller. The set contains 6 ornament stamps inspired by vintage glass ornaments. Two different evergreen boughs are also included. The sentiment is from the "Holiday Greetings" set.

Leslie Miller also did this wonderful card, which uses the "City Of David" set, designed by Diane Roche. I love the soft colors she used. The sentiment is from the "Holiday Greetings" set.

Linda Duke uses City Of David combined with the Flourished Elements set to create this elegant and classy card.

This beautifully colored card by Jan Marie Caruso uses the "Sleigh Ride" set, designed by Diane Roche. Can't you just imagine Santa riding that flourished sleigh? The stamp itself is blank on the side panel - the little scene shown here is a separate stamp and the set contains three of them to choose from! Also included is a reindeer, and 4 sentiments, including the one shown here.

Susan Robert's card takes two of the little scenes from Santa's Sleigh to create this darling card!

Here is a look at all the new sets!

City of David

All That Glitters

Holiday Greetings

Poinsettia and Boxwood



Sleigh Ride

This week's happenings!

It's going to be a fun and busy week here at the Flourishes studio and we want to give you a heads up on all the happenings!

It's release week and Wednesday is our official release date. This month it's all about Christmas stamps and just wait till you see them! Now, if you can't wait until Wednesday, then stop by the Flourishes Forum on Tuesday evening, 7pm eastern time and look for the "Chat with a Designer" thread. You'll be chatting with Faith Hofrichter and you may just get a first look at the new sets, find out what the special discount will be for release week, and have a chance to win the stamp set of your choice!

Then on Friday, join us over at the Rubberstampchat forum for a Virtual Convention! What is a Virtual Convention? It’s an online rubberstamp convention. The forum will have a special “convention hall” section set up just for this event in the forum. The participating vendors (including Flourishes) set up their 'booth' as a thread in the convention hall section. Then you have until the 13th to see what show specials are being offered by that company. So, instead of getting up early to drive to the show and walk around all day in a big hall full of people and only have less than healthy food available, you get to wear your jammies, eat REAL food when you want, not wait in line for anything (including the potty) and shop at your leisure 24/7. Mark you calendars and join the fun!

New Releases!!

It’s release day at Flourishes and that means fun, fun, fun!! This month’s releases celebrate summer in all its glory!! We have three new stamp sets to help keep those summertime blues away..

First is Summer on the Patio, designed for us by Marcy Hawley. This large set (about 8 x 6) is jam packed with stamps and has so much to offer! You can use it to create a patio scene with a variety of options for the table top. Choose lemonade or wine, or how about a pretty vase of flowers? How about a chandelier to add a touch of elegance? There’s also a large pitcher of flowers that is a perfect stand alone image. This card by Leslie Miller in classic pink and black just makes you want to sit back and enjoy that glass of lemonade!

Next is Summer Botanicals, also designed by Marcy. This 4 x 6 set contains images that can be used as silhouettes or by coloring directly on the image. Try using the new Flower Soft products, available at the store, to add a little dimension and texture to these images. This card by Julie Koerber uses the coneflower image from the set to make a bright and cheery card.

Finally, is Summer Blossoms. This 4 x 6 set contains not only pretty floral images and buds, but some wonderful stems that can be used with the florals, by themselves or combined to make patterned background. This card by Susan Roberts uses the main flower image and one of the swirl stamps from this set and combines it with the chandelier from the Summer on the Patio set for a real eye popping card!

We hope you like what you see here!! Be sure the visit our design teams blog (links on the right) to see more great cards.

JustRite, Flourishes and CHA

JustRite, producers of the monogram stampers that we've all been enjoying so much, will have a booth at CHA in Chicago next week, and Flourishes is so pleased to be a part of it! CHA stands for Craft and Hobby Association and their Summer Convention and Trade Show is being held in Chicago next week, Friday through Sunday, July 18 - 20.

JustRite has a continuous series of demonstrations and Make-N-Takes going on for the three day period, and we are so pleased to have Sharon Johnson, one of the Flourishes partners, and Susan Roberts, one of our fabulous Design Team Members, doing Make-N-Takes and incorporating Flourishes images into their projects. And as an added bonus, Jerri Jimenez, known to all as Jerri Kay at SCS, will also be making a special appearance and doing a Make-N-Take project using Flourishes images and Twinkling H20's. Jerri is a current member of the Dirty Dozen Design Team at Splitcoaststampers and we are so pleased to have her among the JustRite crew at CHA!

Here's a preview of the projects using Flourishes images that will be available as Make-N-Takes at CHA:

This beautiful bridesmaid's dress is the Make-N-Take project that Jerri will be doing. It's a little table favor box cut on an AccuCut. They are so quick and easy to stamp and assemble!!! Jerri used the magnolia image from our Lilac set to create the floral pattern on her dress, and she used some products by LuminArte to give it that extra shine and sparkle!!! The center of the tag features one of the new releases that JustRite will be announcing at CHA. A scalloped border made with the Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities, a little Dotted Sheer Ribbon, a flower and Pearl finish this project off nicely!!! And check out that snazzy tux!!!

This pair of bridesmaids dresses were done by Susan Roberts. How pretty these are! Susan used our Damask background stamp to stamp white onto a vellum layer to create an overylay for the skirt. The delicate, lacey scalloped border is further adorned with beautiful little Pearls. Susan's dress bodice is Cuttlebug embossed and her JustRite monogrammed tags, also using new centers to be revealed at CHA, are cut and embossed with Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities. The rings and flowers on the yellow dress were colored with a Stardust Clear Pen. Susan also used the Dotted Sheer Ribbon and a tiny flower and Pearl at the waistline. So pretty!


Sharon Johnson created this trio for the tabletop. Both the bride (or bridesemaid) and the groom are AccuCut favor boxes and the place card was easily made using a Long Rectangle Nestability die by Spellbinders to cut the inside opening. The CHERISH is yet another of the new centers that will be available soon, and these tags were made using the Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders. The dress was stamped using Wedding Essentials and features our Black Sheer Ribbon, while the tuxedo uses Black Pearls for buttons. Although it is difficult to see in this photo, the tux was stamped tone-on-tone black with our Damask background stamp. The Inkksentials Opaque White Pen does a perfect job for writing guest names on the black paper. And going over the flourishes with a Quickie Glue Pen and fine glitter finishes off this project. Sharon has made two more items to coodinate with this trio -- a Will You Serve card and a Save the Date card. If you'd like to see them, you can find them on Sharon's Blog.

We invite any of you attending CHA to stop in at the JustRite booth to say *Hi* and enjoy a Make-N-Take project. JustRite will be located in Booth #3309 and has 32 new products to introduce — can’t wait!!! Here’s the schedule of fun events planned:

Friday, July 18 — 9 - 11 a.m. — MICHELLE WOODERSON (Mish Mash)

Friday, July 18 — 1 - 3 p.m. — SHARON JOHNSON (notimetostamp)

Saturday, July 19 — 10 - 12 noon — TAYLOR VAN BRUGGEN (tayloredexpressions)

Saturday, July 19 — 1 - 3 p.m. — JERRI JIMENEZ (Jerri Kay)

Sunday, July 20 — 10 - 12noon — SUSAN ROBERTS (rainy)

Before, after and in between the above, there will be a ton of fun projects being conducted by the JustRite crew!!! And, to SEE all the projects, read about each designer, and see some of the soon to be released new products, check out the JustRite Blog.

Flourishes and JustRite hope to see you at CHA!!!! Thanks for stopping in!!!

New Stamps!

This month’s new releases have the entire Flourishes team so excited. The three sets, Thank You (Stamp Simply series), Poppy Patch and Butterfly Moments are the culmination of ideas, sketches, and talents of a number of people and we thought we’d share some of what goes into making a stamp set.

Thank You is the second set of the Stamp Simply line at Flourishes. These sets are designed so that they are easy to use, have gorgeous images that maintain the Flourishes signature style of timeless and classic beauty, and are able to stand alone. Sharon Johnson started the process with a rough sketch and description - words of gratitude as a small background panel and images of tulips. Once we had the overall design drafted we enlisted the talents of two of our favorite artists, Joan Machinchick and Marcy Hawley. Joan and Marcy’s work are found exclusively in several other Flourishes sets and we think their designs are beautifully coordinated here. Joan’s elegant calligraphy provides the sentiments – one panel, measuring about 2.5 x 3.5, that can be used as a small background image and two individual sentiments. Marcy’s two tulip images have the same graceful style and work so well with the sentiments. It is amazing how well the works of these two talented artists meld so beautifully together, time after time. These cards by Faith Hofrichter and Julie Koerber showcase the beauty of this set.

Poppy Patch celebrates summertime and the colorful Poppies! In deciding what type of floral images to develop into a stamp set, Jan Marie said – “Poppies – we must have Poppies!!”. This set contains more great work by Marcy Hawley and is pure joy to stamp with. Marcy provides floral images, buds, leaves and sentiments for this set which is as colorful as summer itself! These cards by Leslie Mill and Linda Duke show the poppy in glorious color!

Butterfly Moments was developed with the thought that these images can be used as primary images that can stand on their own, or with other Flourishes sets as accents. We started with a couple of pages of butterfly images put together by Jan Marie and her sister

Diane, but then came the difficult part. Which of these images to select!! There were so many to choose from and they were all wonderful. Narrowing them down was difficult, but you can rest assure these just may show up in other stamp sets some time along the way. Once we chose our favorites we combined them with a heartfelt sentiment that Sharon Doolittle provided. There was no better name than Butterfly Moments and so it was! These cards by Susan Roberts and Julie Koerber are beautiful butterfly moments!

As you can see from these cards, our Design Team is feeling the excitement as well….for they are conjuring up all kinds of thing for you to get those creative juices flowing. Now it’s your turn to show us just what you can do with these great images. Remember to post them to our gallery on SCS using the keywords FLLC. We look forward to seeing what you create!!

Happy Stamping!

Four Frazzled Flourishes!

Yes, all of the Flourishes are frazzled – frightfully frazzled!!!! What started out with all good intentions to offer our registered customers and Newsletter subscribers with a 10% off coupon code, has turned into the most frustrating experience the Flourishes have faced. Although many, many, many FLLC customers have taken advantage of their coupon code this week, it seems an equal number have not, and we have heard from countless dozens upon dozens of customers feeling frustrated because they were not provided with the coupon code. Jan Marie has talked with customers on the phone until she can talk no more, and letters of explanation have been sent, until fingers can no longer type; hence, this Blog post to explain to all what has occurred. And we’ll be very honest with you and tell you the whole story – LOL!!! Are you ready to read this novel????

The purpose of this email campaign was to see how effective our emails are. Do people really open and read the emails sent? Well, we found our answer – and that is exactly what backfired in our faces, resulting in four frightfully frazzled Flourishes!!! LOL!!! The emails with the coupon codes were sent ONLY to customers who were BOTH 1) registered as customers (you do this at checkout by agreeing to set up an account; essentially this gives us permission by Federal law to contact you via email with promotions); and 2) subscribers to the Flourishes Newsletter. If you have completed only one of these steps, you did not get an email. If you completed both of these steps you did get the email.

OK, so that determined who did and did not get the emails for this campaign. The emails were sent out early on the morning of May 14. The title of the email was Flourishes Announces and it announced the addition of Sharon Johnson as a partner, it then linked her No Time To Stamp? Blog, announced the 10% off, and THEN below that, it gave the coupon code and advised that there is free shipping on purchases over $45.00. OK, simple enough – well – one would think – LOL!!! Or so we did –

As stated above, after Jan Marie’s dozens of phone conversations with customers, it became VERY clear where the problem was. She waited on the phone as customers searched their emails for the May 14 notice – oh yes, here it is!!!! Some had opened the emails previously, some had not. OK, for those who had opened their emails, what had they remembered reading from it? Well, that Sharon was a new partner – well, what then – well, “then I clicked onto her Blog”. End of story. And therein lies the problem. Customers were NOT reading to the end of the email to find that they were provided with a coupon code. Then upon hearing a code had been issued and they “weren’t given one” the phones started ringing and the emails started flying in – and here we are, 3 days later, Four Frazzled Flourishes!!!

What can we say???? We’re so terribly, terribly sorry – because we are.

And what can we do differently next time??? Well, not much – other than try to impress upon everyone that if you want to take advantage of special offers, you MUST read your emails.

And what did we learn??? We learned that a good portion of people truly do not read their emails, and I guess in that sense you could consider this email campaign successful as we DID learn that, and that was, after all, one of the original intents.

Did we expect this reaction from customers??? No, absolutely not – it was the farthest thing from our minds – we thought we were doing a good thing (and it WAS good for all those who actually read the email – LOL!!!)

So, another day in the life of a Flourish – or Four Flourishes. Our sincerest apologies to all who felt slighted. No ill-will was ever intended towards anyone, and we are hoping all will read this Blog Post and come to a better realization of what happened. We look forward to continued relationships with all of you, trying our best to provide you with quality products, superior service and unparalleled customer support.

Photopolymer hugs to all –

Jan Marie, Nancy, Sharon D and Sharon J