Where Do You Get Your Inspiration?

I am thrilled to be the first Flourishes Limelight Designer for the start of 2010!
I am especially excited to also get back in the stamping "saddle" again. As many of you know I have been on somewhat of a haitus since November. When Julie asked me about the Limelight, I knew that it would be the perfect opportunity to jump back into something I love!

Today I want to share with you briefly about where I get my inspiration for my projects. I tend to use nature and the color found there, as I am sure many of you also do, for the starting point for my cards. Take for example, the card I have made using Seaside Life:


It is rich with deep blues and greens of the ocean, and after a week of sub-zero temperatures, I am dreaming of the time when I can bask in the sunshine and warmth of the Atlantic Ocean again! The somewhat darker colors reflect the current winter season, but with the hope that someday my thermometer will rise above 10 degrees!

One other inspired project to show you today comes from a painting in my living room - also a nature theme, with beautiful color and design. Here is the painting:


and here is the inspired card using the Poppy Patch set:

Both of the cards are watercolored using reinkers and an aqua brush.

I am also inspired by other stampers and their work. You have a wonderful opportunity to browse through the Flourishes Blog and take a look at all of the beautiful creations by so many fabulous designers! Where do you get your inspiration?

I hope to see you back here next Sunday, when I will be sharing with you again. Thank you for stopping by and for all of your wonderful comments on my introduction last week!

Limelight Week 2 with Makiko -- Making Own DP with DP

Hello everyone~ It's Makiko again Welcome to my second week of being in the Limelight!

For today's card, I stamped on some designer paper to make my own designer paper. To give it more texture, I also made it corrugated - after I dusted off my paper crimper, lol. I think one of the great things about stamping is that you can design own backgrounds. I do this a lot, even when I even use designer papers to make a card more my style. ;) Stamping on designer paper is so fun because the patterns peek through from behind the stamped image and gives it a unique design.


This is how I made the corrugated background.
I usually choose the subtle color dp when I stamp on it so that the images can be seen or blend in well. For this blue & white polka dots paper, I stamped the images from Seaside Life with black ink.


Next, I colored the images with Copics - the Warm Naturals collection & the Fresh Tone collection.


Last, I inserted the finished paper through the paper crimper and trimmed the mat to the finished size. Then I edged and DTPed the piece of paper with brown chalk ink & white pigment ink for a distressed finish.



The main seashell images were stamped on Flourishes Classic White cardstock and colored with Copics with the same collections that were used for the background. I also edged around the layers and used vintage embellishments to match to the distressed look.

The last image is the inside of the card. The left over mat was used for the border here :)

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you will have a wonderful week and a fun stamping time!

Shimmerz Week

Hi, there, everyone! Leslie, here, to kick off Shimmerz week on the Newsletter! The team has gotten their hands on a few of these delicious little pots of shimmery paint, and we're shining north, south, east and west. You can see all the irresistible Shimmerz colors here.

I've had a great time experimenting with these paints and the many options for using them. Did you know you can even emboss with them? Just sprinkle embossing powder over your image while the paint is still wet, or use a separate container to mix a little clear embossing ink with your Shimmerz paint to insure it stays wet longer. You can stipple a background, or give it a shimmery color wash. You can paint a little shimmer onto your ribbon. Or you can paint right over top of an image you've colored with another medium. That's what I did with the card I'm sharing today.

I used the Peony set and a sentiment from Strawberries. I colored the peony with Copics from the Hollyhock, Evergreen, and Buttercup collections. When that coloring was complete, I painted the pink flower with Orange Sherbet Shimmerz. It gave me a new color and some shimmer to boot. In the areas where I wanted to add shimmer, but didn't want to alter the color, I used Angel Wings, which is clear.



It's difficult to capture the delicate shimmer in a photo and, though I tried, I couldn't manage with just one photo. This angle gives a better idea but, you know, there's nothing like seeing something up close and personal:






Christine has a sample today, too. She's chosen an excellent subject to shimmer up, and did it in a most beautiful manner. She's used the shells from Seaside Life and a sentiment from Beach Life. Here's what she has to say about it:


"I've embossed these pretty shells on our Classic White paper and then painted on the Shimmerz with my water brush. The Shimmerz pots work just like paint (though make sure you shake them really well before you begin so the shimmery material comes to the top). Then I could color in my shell just as I normally would with other coloring mediums. The color in these two selections is lighter (Key Lime and Sky Blue), so it gives it a subtle color with lots of shine. It looks even prettier in person! I also stamped the seaweed on the background with white craft ink, then painted over it with the Key Lime Shimmerz to highlight it. I think it makes it feel more "under the sea". I thought the colors would work perfectly with this BasicGrey Lily Kate paper, a little silk ribbon, and the Kaiser pearls. A soft and delicate feel."




Thank you, Christine! Aren't those shells gorgeous!

Tomorrow the blog team will be sharing samples, and there will be more the rest of the week from the Senior DT. I'm looking forward to seeing all their beautiful cards, and I hope you'll enjoy it, too. Have a wonderful day!

-- Leslie