Timeless Tuesday!

It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC13)!!!! Thanks so much to all of you who played along with us last week!!! WOW!!!! There were so many fabulous looking cards using the acetate!!!! Keep reading to find out who won!

For those of you who are new, the Friends of Flourishes blog team are bringing you exciting and different challenges each week. Everyone can PLAY and anyone can WIN! Make sure you continue reading to find out how.

This week Cindy Haffner is hosting. She is challenging us to a sketch she has designed. As far as sketches go, there is not much of an explanation necessary. You can turn it and modify the shapes to fit your size card, but in the end, it should still look like the sketch. Good Luck!!! We cannot wait to see what you do with it!

Let's go see what the blog team has created using this sketch!!!!

Up first is our sketch challenge host, Cindy Haffner. She is using the Mixed Greetings sets. I love how she interpreted the four squares behind the circle in the sketch with an interlocking loop frame die cut. I love the colors and patterns on this card and how they showcase beautifully the paper pieced vase and wonderfully colored flowers in this set. As always, Cindy accessorized this card gorgeous, too!!! Fabulous, Cindy!!!

Next, we move on to Kimberly Crawford. Kimberly is using the All Wrapped Up set for the lovely package and the newly released Sweet Violets set for her sentiment. I love these colors, patterns, and the beautifully colored Birthday package!!! Kim has chosen to created a more solid background behind the circle image, yet the dp gives the illusion that it is divided. Beautifully done, Kim!!! Love this striking Birthday card!!!






Next is Silke Ledlow . She is using the newly release Swing Set stamp set. I love how Silke interpreted the sketch. She embossed the four panels of the background. She watercolored the picturesque image and added some shimmerz to give it some extra sparkle. I love the beautiful pearl frame detailing around the circle. This card is just a breath of fresh air!!!! Gorgeous, Silke!!!!








Up last is Betty Wright. I am using the Siberian Iris set. With Mother's Day just a couple of weeks away, now is the time to order this beautiful set!!! I interpreted the squares behind the circle with more layers. I used the Spellbinders Label three diecuts to layer behind squares. I am also using some Memory Box dp. I reconfigure the sketch to fit my square card. I added some shimmerz to my iris to give it alittle sparkly sheen.

Be sure to check out each designer's blog links for more specific card details.

The Winner for Timeless Tuesday Challenge FTTC12

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers: 8
Timestamp: 2009-04-28 00:49:24 UTC

Lois is this week's winner!!!
Congratulations, Lois!!!!
You need to email: flourishesllccustomerservice@cox.net
for your coupon code!!!!

By the way, if you still do not have our lovely Timeless Tuesday
blog button for your blog, check here for the codes.

Now, it is your turn to play in our Flourishes Favorites challenge!!!!
Here are the rules!!!!

• Anyone can play whether you have Flourishes stamps or not. Of course, if you have Flourishes stamps, by all means, use them.
• Use code word FTTC13 when linking to SCS or public gallery.
• Leave a comment on this post with a link to your creation. Please give a direct link to your blog post so we can see the Flourishes challenge post and not just the generic page. To get the full link, click to read the comments. Another page will open that will have just the one card and your comments. Copy and paste that link here in the comments section.
• If you use either your blog link or online gallery, please give an active Flourishes Newsletter link.
• You can combine this challenge with as many others as you want.
• The challenge runs from Tuesday, 12:01 am until Monday at 8 pm EST
• Enjoy yourself!!!

We cannot wait to see what you create! As always, thanks so much for stopping by!

Your Friends of Flourishes!

To Answer Two Questions

Yesterday, Christine, an interested shopper, mentioned a few things in her comment and I will address them all.

First, she mentioned that she could not find a way to contact Flourishes, the addresses for Flourishes are:

flourishesllc@cox.net

flourishesllccustomerservice@cox.net

I will make sure that this is clearly visible on the blog.. sorry about that oversight.

The next question was about Nesties and the Cuttlebug...the answer is a loud yes! Nancy K did a great tutorial on this topic and you can find it here:http://flourishesnewsletter.blogspot.com/2007/12/using-nestabilities-in-your-cuttlebug.html

Another question wa about Sweet Peas. We are AGAIN out of SWEET PEAS . We are pleased that you like this set as much as we do. We are patiently awaiting our shipment of the set and will place it on the store as soon as it arrives. We will announce that here on the front page of the store, our SCS forum, and on the Flourishes forum on Papercraft Planet.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to email them to either of the addresses.

Ciao,

Flourishes Focus: Flower Soft

Hello friends~

It's time for another Flourishes Friday Focus! It's Cindy Lawrence here, and I've got a fun product focus this week...Flower Soft.

I'm sure you've seen it around, after all Flourishes carries a lovely selection in the Flourishes store. Maybe you even have some...and maybe you aren't really sure what to do with it. Today, I have a quick tutorial for you that will hopefully give you a little inspiration, as well as some helpful tips.

What you need to get started:

• A stamped image of anything you'd like to give some soft texture to.
• A jar or two of Flower Soft - I've used the Summer mix here.
• A large container to dump your Flower Soft into. It needs room to expand!
  
• Flower Soft Glue - a quick-drying tacky glue with a fine tip for precision.

Prepare your Flower Soft by dumping some out into the large container. You will find that those little jars hold a lot! It is very tightly packed, and you will need to pinch it to get some out of the jar. I like to then "fluff" up my Flower Soft by sifting it through my fingers, to break up any clumps.

After you've stamped your image, you will apply Flower Soft Glue to the area to be covered in Flower Soft. If you'll be covering a large area, you may need to do it in sections to prevent it from drying out before you're ready.

Now you're ready to apply the Flower Soft to your glued image. Hold the image over the large container and sprinkle FS onto it until it is completely covered. Then, gently press the FS into the image until it is fully adhered.



Next, tap off any excess, and complete your project. How easy is that?!



I used the Pale Green Flower Soft for the grass. I just love the texture and dimension this wonderful, fuzzy stuff gives to my card! Other ideas for Flower Soft are moss, snow, fuzzy animals, flowers and flower centers, teddy bears, baby blankets, and so much more.

What is it made of, you ask? Well, that is apparently a trade secret; but what I do know is that it is acid-free, non-toxic, man-made fiber...and it has a spongy texture that springs right back when you squish it. It is virtually indestructible...really cooool stuff!

I hope you've enjoyed the tutorial, and are inspired to make some fun Flower Soft samples of your own!

Check out the fabulous Flower Soft creations of the rest of the design team:

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

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Thanks for dropping in on us! :)

A fun afternoon project!

If you've been searching for just the right gift for your mom or grandma this Mother's Day, I (Julie) thought I'd share an easy project that makes an artist out of anyone!

All you need is a unfinished wood frame (I bought mine for $1 at Michael's), your favorite stamp set (I picked up my Sweet Pea set ), StazOn ink, some acrylic paint, a fine and a fine line black permanent paint.

I started by giving my frame a white wash - which is just painting it with watered down white paint. After it dried, I stamped my Sweet Peas in each corner. With StazOn, you want to make sure that you clean your stamp right away! This is a solvent based ink. It's ok in short spurts, but leave the ink on your polymer stamp and over time, it could damage the polymer!

Here's a look so far!
And, here's a close up....
These are the colors of paint that I picked - two shades of green, two shades of pink and some white....(they are all "well loved" bottles of paint!)

Then, I started to paint with a fine tip paint brush, making sure to darken the areas I wanted shadows and lightening highlighted areas with dabs of white.

While the look above is "OK," I knew I wanted to see the definition in my flowers. So, I grabbed a permanent file line black pen and started to outline the stamped image - like this....

Now I was in a quandary because I thought it didn't look soft enough! So, I let the permanent black pen ink dry and then I took my white wash paint (watered down paint) and I took a foam sponge and sponged the white wash over my entire frame. When this was done, I took a large dry brush and dipped it a bit into ivory paint and added some antique streaks. Its a great way to get a hand painted look without being an artist!! :-)

When it was done it looked like this....

I just love that picture of my daughter and her Nana! So did my daughter! It now sits on the shelf in her room.

Hope you enjoyed this little project. Like I said - all you need is a fun stamp, some paint, a picture frame.... and an afternoon!

Timeless Tuesday!

It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC12)!!!! Thanks so much to all of you who played along with us last week. I love all the many piercing cards and ideas you all shared.

Keep reading to find out who won!

For those of you who are new, the Friends of Flourishes blog team are bringing you exciting and different challenges each week. Everyone can PLAY and anyone can WIN! Make sure you continue reading to find out how.

Kimberly Crawford is our challenge hostess this week. She clearly has a challenge that will make you see things in a whole new way. She is challenging us to use acetate or clear cardstock. You can use clear acetate in many ways. Whether it is for the card base, a frame, windows, or embellishments, or some unique way you have to showcase acetate, we cannot wait to see what you can create.

Let's go see what the blog team created for you this week and how we each used clear cardstock on our cards. All of us designers are using the clear cardstock sold in the Flourishes store. I will tell you in a bit how you can get this cardstock at a special price.

Up first is Silke Ledlow . She is using the Sweet Pea and Many Sentiments set. She has an acetate card base that she has lined with cardstock on the inside of the front cover. She has torn , frayed, and layered the edges of the focal Sweet Pea image for added texture and dimension. She finished her card with some satin ribbon with hardware detail framed sentiment. Beautifully done, Silke!!!!

Next is Becca Feeken. She is using Damask and Timeless Quotes for her card. She has stamped the damask image in the background and created a double multi-layered frame. The inside of the center frame she uses one of the sentiments in the Timeless Quotes set. She stamped this onto the clear acetate creating a very ornate sentiment window frame. The textural bow finishes this card off beautifully. Wonderfully done, Becca!!!!

Up next is Betty Wright. I am using one of this month's new releases Sweet Violets . I colored the image and used the Spellbinders Label three diecuts to layer my main image. I am also using Memory Box dp. For the acetate challenge, I ran the clear cardstock through a cuttlebug embossing folder and punched out a couple of butterflies to add textured acetate embellishments to my card. I topped each butterfly with a halfback pearl.

Next we move on to Cindy Haffner. She is using the Sweet Pea set. She is using a clear cardstock base. Cindy has focused on using the image with a few layers as her focal image allowing more of the clear cardstock to show. She has colored, cut out, and popped up portions of the sweet pea flowers. Love how she sponged the inside of the framed flowers for added detail. She finished off her card with a green sprig die cut. Beautifully done, Cindy!!!!

Last up this week is Dee Jackson. Dee is using the I Love Roses set. Love the beautifully colored purple rose. Dee is using a clear cardstock base that she has backed with some Basicgrey Euphoria dp. She cut out a mega curved rectangle and used a smaller die cut to create for the sentiment that is smaller than the initial cut out frame. The final look is a floating sentiment or clear framed look. Beautifully done, Dee.

Be sure to check out each designer's blog links for more specific card details.

I mentioned earlier that the clear cardstock can be purchased for a special price. However, it is for today only. Click here to get to the store for this special buy.

The Winner for Timeless Tuesday Challenge FTTC11

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:14
Timestamp: 2009-04-21 03:26:49 UTC

Adela (Adela Rossol) is this week's winner!!!

Congratulations, Adela !!!!

You need to email: flourishesllccustomerservice@cox.net

for your coupon code!!!!

By the way, if you still do not have our lovely Timeless Tuesday

blog button for your blog, check here for the codes.

Now, it is your turn to play in our Flourishes Favorites challenge!!!!

Here are the rules!!!!

• Anyone can play whether you have Flourishes stamps or not. Of course, if you have Flourishes stamps, by all means, use them.
  Use code word FTTC12 when linking to SCS or public gallery.
• Leave a comment on this post with a link to your creation. Please give a direct link to your blog post so we can see the Flourishes challenge post and not just the generic page. To get the full link, click to read the comments. Another page will open that will have just the one card and your comments. Copy and paste that link here in the comments section.
• If you use either your blog link or online gallery, please give an active Flourishes Newsletter link. You can combine this challenge with as many others as you want.
• The challenge runs from Tuesday, 12:01 am until Monday at 8 pm EST
• Enjoy yourself!!!
  
  

We cannot wait to see what you create!!!! As always, thanks so much for stopping by!!!!

Your Friends of Flourishes!

Friday Focus ...knot what you think!

Happy Friday! Today's Friday Focus is being shown by me Stacy.

I bet you think its on satin ribbon! Well, surprise! It's not. Its actually on ribbon knots themselves. I have a few different ways I like to tie my ribbon. I have used the same elements on each card to show you how the ribbon can add a different look for each one depending on how its tied.


For the main image, I inked it up and then stamped it on scrap paper. I then colored the flowers that I wanted darker with markers and then huffed on the stamp before I stamped the image. This gives a softer look to the image. The ribbon and pearls are all from Flourishes.

This one is my all fancied up versions, right out the gates. I love big ribbon bows like this on cards. I think it just adds to the flair! Usually these type of cards I send out with a package so the fancy bow doesn't get all smooshed in the envelope.










This knot uses a smaller version of fancy but still adds a special touch to the card to dress it up a little. This is great for smaller pieces of ribbon or even smaller areas on the card front.



I use this type of knot pretty much for any scraps of ribbon I have. I won't throw away any ribbon bits. It's also a great way to cut the ends a little fancier as well. This knot I usaually do to fill a space at the top or bottom of a card. If I can't seem to find something to fill that spot, I put the ribbon there! It gives the space something and it adds a touch of fancy without having to think about it.

I hope you enjoyed my idea on knots for cards. There are so many I am sure I haven't even tried yet. These are just my "go to" knots. If you have a ribbon tip/trick, be sure to leave a comment here. I am sure we'd all love to know your ribbon tying secrets!


FYI: The design team has put together their favorite ribbon tying techniques, so be sure to hop on over to their blogs to check out their fancy creations!

Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Julie Koerber
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Sharon Doolittle

Have a wonderful day!
~ Stacy

Two for the Show

Hello Friends,

My grandmother taught me this verse, "One for the Money, two for the show"......Did you learn the verse when you were young? I just love these kinds of things and they pop into my mind from time to time. Last week when I was working at Flourishes this just popped in and stayed for several days and now I have found a good way to put it to use. My focus for this post is the Two Scoops papers and two yummy new silk ribbons from the store.

Now doesn't that look soft and feminine, yet so today and for this spring season we are all so glad to see.

The Basic Grey Two Scoops Collection is a 6" x 6" pad of 36 wonderful creations of pinks and blues in wonderful combinations with touches of yellows and greens. Here are some of the great papers from the Blues in the collection with the Silk May Arts ribbon laid in for you.

And the Pinks are just as pretty; here see for yourself.

Aren't they just all wonderful? Pair them as you like with the really fun Chairs For You stamp set and you have a great combination to get you on your mark and ready to go!

The package is all done in a careful selection of papers, ribbons, and stamp set,. Now let's see you put it to work. The price for this deal is $27.75, that's a sweet deal!

So..."One for the Money, Two for the Show., Three to Get Ready, and Four to Go"...as in Go Shopping!!! Now that's something that Gigi, Chloe and I love to do....Shop!

Kisses on each cheek,

The Copic Collection

Last February, the wheels started spinning for those of us at Flourishes. Looking at our store full of gorgeous floral images, we figured why not teach our stamp lovers how to use our images with those fabulous Copic markers.

This was the result.....
We welcomed in some of the best cardmakers in stamp land for a Copic Certification Class to learn from the best - Copic Instructor Marianne Walker.

After the last class wrapped up and we waved our final goodbyes to the wonderful ladies who spent the weekend with us, we got out the Copic color chart and literally spent hours studying it, trying to figure out ways that we could make Copics easy for everyone to use! We scribbled and colored and crafted own special color collections. We call it "Copics made easy!" So often, we hear complaints from stampers that they didn't get the right color combinations to be able to use their markers with success. Others gave up before they even really gave it a try!

These groupings are in natural color blending families. They are done so that the levels of color blend perfectly when shaded together. Each one of our collections will take the guesswork out of trying to figure out which colors will blend perfectly.

So, without further ado, we introduce you to the Copic Collection! Edited To Add: Somehow,when we loaded all our Copic collections to our Newsletter, we forgot our collections with shades of pink! So, don't worry, we have you covered there too!

Aren't those combinations delicious? We personally love how we've named them after florals and foliage. We are as equally excited about the depth of color and our customers' ability to pick up a collection here and there to add to their base of Copic markers. It makes it more affordable! And, to underscore just how easy it will be to use these collections straight out of the box, we'll give you a tip sheet with each purchase.

These markers are not yet in the store, but once we get a shipping order from Copic,we'll open these up for pre-order so that once they arrive, they can immediately be shipped right out to you! As always, our pricing will be very competitive to what is now on the market.

We are excited about this venture! We know anything we can do to make it more fun to color up all our fabulous Flourishes images is worth it!

Caio!