Featured Stamper #15 - A Dynamic Duo!

I've only been at it a short while picking the Featured Stamper for Flourishes but, my oh my, have I had a tough time picking with all the gorgeous creations out there. Once again -- I could NOT pick! I couldn't!
And, you are about to see why!

This week's winners are......

Christine Okken and Michelle Nadudvary!

Congrats ladies! I actually stared at my computer screen for what seemed like an eternity trying to pick between the two of you. Finally, I threw up my hands and said ---- you both win!!!

Let's take a peek at Christine's creation. It is a work of art with the Lilac set. I love the way she paired the lilac with a fun shade of green. I also love how she used the lady bug and grasshopper in the set to create her own background on the dark purple and behind the lilac. When you look at the flower - it is breathtaking with that vibrant watercolor look. See that shimmer on the flower? Fabulous! Put it all together with some paper piercing and elegant embellishments and you have a gorgeous card!
Michelle's card literally made my jaw drop. If you look at the set (click HERE to see) you realize that the Magnolia is just a flower and stem. When you look at Michelle's card - you see this network of perfectly matched up flowers to create a beautiful scene with those cute little lady bugs just crawling about! She did this all by masking her images. She used the Magnolia word, the single branch, magnolia with branch, single magnolia, single leaf, ladybug and in the bottom left corner there is a grasshopper. She colored this beauty with Prismacolor pencils.
Christine and Michelle, you'll be entered for the October drawing! Good luck ladies.

Now it's time to share who walked away with the free set for September. after putting all the winner's names in a hat, the name that rose to the top was.....

Stacy - A.K.A Twinshappy!

Congratulations Stacy! Can you PM me with your address and your pick for your stamp set? We'll get that mailed right out to you!

We hope you keep those submissions coming! We are continually inspired by what we see created with Flourishes stamps week in and week out! Speaking of inspiration, we have news we can't wait to share! Check back tomorrow to hear about a brand new partnership that will give you more inspiration and ideas on how to use Flourishes stamps!

Polished Pigment Powders

Polished Pigment Powders are pure color mixed with added sparkle of mica powder. The colors are very intense and vibrant and when dry have the shimmery look of pearls. Because they are so concentrated a little goes a long way. This project and the ones are detailed in the following video.

We've created this tutorial to give you a few ideas of how to use the powders. Flourishes carries a variety of colors to choose from. You can find them along with other related products here.

Edited on August 27 to add the following:
Polished Pigments Color chart shown in the video can be downloaded here.


The journal project was created using Lemondrop from the PP#414 pack and Poppy Red from the PP#407 pack. A Bind-it-all machine was used to make the journal. Stamps are from the Wedding Essentials set from Flourishes and the Brayton Alphabet set from JustRite.

The tulip card uses Jasmine from the PP #413 pack. Stamps are from the Thank You set from Flourishes.

The tile project uses the following supplies:

• Poppy Red from PP # 407
• Moss Agate, True Blue and Royal Orchid from PP# 411
• Jasmine from PP#413
• Lemondrop from PP#414
• Real Gold Metallic Mica
• Stamps from various Flourishes sets, and Fred Mullet
• Krylon Gold Webbing Spray

Thanks for stopping by!

Flourishes Featured Stamper 14

Isn't this blog widget beautiful? Well, in addition to having your name entered for a monthly drawing for a free stamp set, this is what you will "win" when you are chosen as our Flourishes Featured Stamper! We hope you "wear" it on your blog with pride!! If you email me at juliekoerber@bresnan.net, I'll send you a full resolution copy!

Now onto the submissions! Wow, the caliber of cards submitted for week 14 was just amazing! Tough doesn't even begin to describe choosing one!! There were many who had multiple entries and all were amazing. We had wonderful "scenes" this week of lemonade on the patio, wine in the dining area, flowers on the table and more! If you are ever searching for inspiration on "making a scene" with your cards, you need to check out Week 14's Featured Stamper submissions!

So, without further ado...

This week's Featured Stamper is.....
Christine Okken

She did a fabulous gift set centered around coffee and used the bright colors from the bag of coffee for her color scheme. I love how perky it is (no pun intended)! The green, turquoise and black just pop and the polka dot ribbon adds some punch as well!

Here's a close up of the card she created....

And here's a closer look at the tag!

Well, just to give you an idea of how hard it was to choose, I had to share some of the other submissions!! This one below by Stacy a.k.a. Twinshappy also took my breath away. the detail with the three dimensional wine glasses and the brads added for the look of a chandelier chain. oooOOOo la la!

Stacy did another "scene" she called Flowers on the table. I love the layout of this card, the ribbon and who could forget the rhinestones on the edge of the table! The details in this card are so fun! And finally from Stacy, this summer snowflake card. I love the crisp color and simple elegance. The paper piercing gives this card a little something extra! I love it!
May I now direct your attention to..... Lisa Zappa! Oh my, look at this set of pretty peonies water colored up with pizazz. I love the subtle background she water colored. It really set off the flower. And, that paper is perfect! She drew upon all the colors in the plaid when she colored her flower! Perfect!

Christine, you'll be entered into our drawing September first for a stamp set of your choice! Good luck! To the rest - keep those submissions coming! We love to see just how you use Flourishes designs! We are continually inspired by what we see!

New Basic Grey - Ambrosia and Eva

Once again Basic Grey brings papercrafters gorgeous designer paper in their new collections Ambrosia and Eva - and Flourishes has both!

Ambrosia is described by BG as "delicate monarchs, ornamental trinkets, graceful feathers and lace, colliding in a bold array of blazing shades of red, orange and gold". We love these colors which are set against cream, grey and black neutrals.

Eva is just as pretty - "a collection of fanciful flourishes, exotic birds and quaint finial patterns". Gorgeous rich jewel tones of burgundy and pink, greens and dark chocolate.

These new lines, along with many of the other Basic Grey papers can be found on the Flourishes store here. Thanks for visiting!

Flourishes Featured Stamper #13

This week's Flourishes Featured Stamper comes all the way from the Land Down Under! Drum roll please....

Michelle Nadudvary

A.K.A. "happy little stamper!"

When I saw Michelle's floral creations, my heart literally stopped. Her use of color and the layouts she chose for both of the cards she submitted were just perfect!

Take this lilac card - don't you love the rusty colored accent she added outside of the flowers and on the tag? It's so pretty! I also loved the embossed piece which gives this card some pop and pizazz! It's so lovely, you can almost smell the lilac - can't you?
Michelle's next creation was this beautiful Magnolia card. The trio panel in a pink and brown scheme is eye catching. I loved the complimentary patterned paper she used! And, she didn't forget my favorite - a touch of sparkle with a trio of rhinestones!
Michelle your cards are fabulous and we're happy to honor you as our Flourishes Featured Stamper. You will now be entered into the random drawing on September 1st for a free Flourishes stamp set of your choice plus a bundle of luscious ribbon. Good luck!

Thanks to all those who played! Keep those submissions coming- we love to see all the beautiful things you create with Flourishes stamps.

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.

Guest Designer Barbara Schram

Today we welcome Barbara Schram as a guest designer for Flourishes. Many of you know Barb from her blog and gallery, and we are so happy to have her with us for the next couple of months. She's a talented designer and we look forward to seeing what she does with Flourishes images.

Barb and her husband of 28 years reside in Michigan and are parents of two beautiful young women. They are now official “empty nesters” which enables Barb to spend more time in her art studio!

Barb worked in the art advertising world before becoming a stay at home Mom over 20 years ago. Scrapbooking, stamping and paper crafting was a natural development that continued Barb’s utilization of her art degree. And she hasn’t stopped since. What’s new and exciting is Barb sharing her work in the public arena which began recently, approximately nine months ago.

Barb expresses her excitement and enthusiasm for the opportunity to work as a guest designer on the Flourishes Design Team. In her words, “I am blessed and thrilled beyond words to serve among the other talented designers on this team. I am appreciative and so grateful for this amazing assignment!”. We are just as thrilled as Barb to have her here!

Be sure to visit Barb's blog Explore. Dream. Discover for some great ideas and creations!

Welcome Barb!

Be sure to check back tomorrow - we'll be releasing three new sets!!

Flourishes Featured Stamper 12!

I’ve perused the cards submitted for Flourishes’ Featured Stamper many times, but this was the first time I had to pick one of the talented stampers to grace the page of the Flourishes Newsletter!! It was hard! It was so hard, that we have a tie this week!

The Flourishes Featured Stampers are......

Joan Bardee and Cindy Haffner!

Joan's creativity with this first card is what I consider ingenious! This card was made using not only the lovely Lilac set, but, Joan used the foam that is included in our clear plastic boxes to sponge on those lovely golden shades! Yes, you heard me right. She used the foam from our fabulous clear boxes! WOW! Great idea and fabulous results! It looks very Tuscan to me.

The crisp clean style is why I loved this second card from Joan. Make a beautiful stamp your center piece, add some rhinestones and some fabulous ribbon and you have the makings of a wonderful card. I think it's a perfect way to display that lovely magnolia!
Cindy’s cards featured some interesting and elegant details. Both of Cindy’s cards used the Fantasy Floral set. On this card, I love how the ribbon and metal frame serves as a wonderful accent. I also love the black contrast to the soft pink card - just lovely!
On this card, I love how the dots added with a marker and texture added with an embossing folder really compliment the stamped image to make it “sing!” Both are very classy cards!
Thanks to all those who played! Keep those submissions coming! Joan and Cindy, you’ll be entered into the random drawing on September 1st for a stamp set of your choice plus a bundle of the luscious ribbon Flourishes carries in the store! Good luck!!

Fantasy Floral Garden

We're visiting a Fantasy Floral Garden this week!! Our designers have created beautiful cards showcasing this popular set!! The colors on this card by Faith are so very rich and vibrant. And she is offering blog candy so check out her blog here!!

And if you want to look at some more fabulous new creations using this set, check out our designers cards:

JulieK

SusanR

LeslieM

Take a look at the Fantasy Floral Garden stamp set here.

Flower Soft

At CHA last month, Flourishes purchased a wonderful product called Flower Soft. It's a way to add texture and dimension to your cards, and also lets you make little floral "stems" to create pretty bouquets. It's acid free and non toxic, comes in a nice range of colors which you can mix to create your own blends, and it is so easy to use - you sprinkle the Flower Soft product onto an area where you have applied tacky glue then let dry. We've created a short video demonstrating how easy and fun this product is.

The Flourishes boutique has many different Flower Soft colors available as well as glue and floral wire, or you can choose a starter kit if that is what you prefer. Check out all the Flower Soft Products here!

Featured Stamper #11

This is my first time to make this decision for Flourishes. The talented ladies that are sharing their wonderful creations have certainly challenged me for sure. But my decision is made...and the envelope says it's

Twinshappy (Stacy)

My decision was not based on any one card that she submitted, but on the nice variety of cards and her wonderful use of the images and variety of applications she used to create these cards. No two were alike and each on their own could have been a stand alone winner! All were done with the same set....With Gratitude

These are all WOW cards and certainly deserve the recognition.

There were other wonderful cards posted, great talent coming forward and sharing, some new and some are our weekly participants. We thank each and every one of you for sharing your beautiful cards. Keep up the good work.

Changes

Flourishes has been a small and growing company for the last year and recently we welcomed Sharon Johnson in a new role as part owner of Flourishes. Sharon had been with us from the start as a design team member. When she came to us looking to be part of something bigger we felt comfortable bringing her on in an ownership capacity.

After a few months Sharon found that the time we have all been working to promote Flourishes was more hours than she could handle and still be committed to family, home and community. As a business owned by women, we understand the challenges women face balancing home and family with work obligations. We are saddened to say that Sharon has relinquished her ownership in Flourishes and we respect her decision to turn her focus back to her family. The three of us know only too well the time commitment needed to run a successful business and we wish Sharon all the best.

Flourishes will continue to be dedicated to bringing stamps, accessories and new products to papercrafters and we will continue our focus on the timeless and classic style that has served us well. We appreciate and thank all of you for your continued support.

Sharon D, Nancy, Jan Marie