The Timeless Tuesday Fun Starts.... Soon!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Anniversary Celebration!

It all Starts Tuesday!

February 2, 2010

You won't want to miss it!

It is Celebration Time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenges! The week of February 2-8, 2010 marks Flourishes Timeless Tuesday's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! We have some wonderful challenges planned for the week as well as lots of amazing prizes! Please mark your calendars to play along with us to celebrate one year of Timeless Challenges!

Winter CHA Top Ten Countdown#1

All who have been to a craft show know that one of the best things is the MAKE & TAKE! At this year's show, I got some really great loot: a fabulous bracelet, pretty paper flowers, darling name tags, cute hair bows, and more! I made a charming journal at the Kaisercraft booth.

And each time I sit in a class or at a make and take table, I learn so much about the craft industry. I get to feel the pulse of other craft store owners, and gather the little tricks that make life in the crafting world so much easier. But the goodness of an ordinary make and take is not enough to make #1 on our countdown.

drumroll please.....

The jewel of this Kaisercraft's make and take was Melissa.



I hope you all have a chance to take a class with her at some point. Our make and take class had 8 people who had a blast the entire time we made our journals. We laughed; we crafted; we bonded. One of our classmates fell in love with a Kaisercraft paper cutter, and she broke into an impromtu commercial for it! The class was bubbly and productive and delightful.

Melissa moderated the class flawlessly, answered questions, entertained us, and loved us. It's rumored that she might instruct on a crafting cruise to Alaska! If there are enough participants, you too could fall in love with Melissa. We'll have to keep our ears tuned in for more details about that.

Thank you so much, Melissa for such a fun time!

Winter CHA Top Ten Countdown: #2

The Number 2 winners are a couple more people.




CHA offers shuttle service between the local hotels and the convention center. We had the same shuttle driver most of the time we were here. Dixie was full of life, helpful, and kind. During the few minutes we were on the bus with her, she put us at ease, told us about her family, listened to the stories about our lives, joked with us, cared to make sure we were safe. She made waiting for the bus worth its while, for sure.


The shuttle couldn't take us everywhere, so we called a taxi and got the most gregarious young man named Jay. He was so witty and affable. During the ride, I told him I owned Flourishes and a bit about the stamping world. At the end of the ride, he offered us his card and told us he would be honored to escort such VIPs during our stay. He text messaged us to check on us throughout the week, and escorted us back to the airport.


We were truly blessed to have such great transportation service. Somehow we managed to forget to take their pictures--I guess we were having too much fun! Regardless, they must be in our top ten countdown. They have reinspired me to focus on customer service. After all, people are incredibly more important than stamps. If we aren't using stamps to bring joy to people, we've gotten off track somewhere.

Winter CHA Top Ten Countdown: #3

Fiskars makes the list again, hitting this time at Number 3! For all those who have a hard time cutting precisely with an exacto knife, Fiskars offers a solution.





These cute little knives are comfortable to use and easier to control. The three options include a fixed blade, swivel blade (fabulous for intricate cutting), or a rotary blade.

The rotary blade even cuts through fabric nicely. These tiny wonders offer a solution for people with arthritis. Even without arthritis, my hand gets tired of gripping so tightly while cutting with an exacto knife. Now, I'm free to cut away! Would you like to see these little cutting beauties in the store?

Winter CHA Top Ten Countdown: #4

This is my assistant's first CHA show. The first day we were here, she whispered to me, "Wow. Crafters are cute! I expected jumpers with sailor collars and drabby haircuts."

Not so! We have seen so many darling outfits! And it all makes sense--such creative people let their creativity shine even in their style! Take a look at these beauties.... they made our top 10 list ranking in at number 4!!

Their apparel displays their creativity--the play with texture and color was delightful. I wish you could see the fabulous texture in the tights these ladies are wearing!

Everywhere I turn here, I find inspiration. In the ensembles I see, I love the juxtaposition of lace and boots; fishnet and wool; snakeskin and denim. When I get home, I can't wait to play with textures to create some beautiful cards!

We will be adding some lovely textures and accessories to the Flourishes store very soon. Stay tuned!

Friday Focus: Flourishes Favorites

Honestly, when I said, "Let's do a Friday Focus on our Flourishes favorites" I didn't realize how difficult it would be. Sounded easy enough, as I have so many favorites... but how do I choose which favorite for my focus? Or... how many favorites can I fit on one card? As I started working, things became clear -- I rarely make any card without using at least a few of my Flourishes favorites.

Hi, stampers! It's me, Leslie, playing favorites today. Here's my card:

And these are the favorites I used to put it all together:

Florals -- A Year in Flowers, any one of the three sets, is a recent favorite. These Cyclamen are from Set 3. Flourishes offers a bountiful garden of amazing botanicals... and it's okay to pick these flowers!

Designer paper -- BasicGrey, Memory Box, Cosmo Cricket, 7 Gypsies... The scaled down patterns of the 6x6 pads are well suited to cards and smaller projects, and they're easy to store on a shelf. One pad guarantees perfect color matches and coordinating patterns.

Spellbinders -- I want them all, really. Nestabilities, Frameabilities, Shapeabilities, Borderabilities, Pierceabilities... Oh, my goodness! However did I manage without them?

Silk ribbon -- Let me just sink into a bed of these decadent silks and wrap myself up in their luscious folds!

Pearls -- Got pearls? Got elegance! These days I love anything self adhesive for those easy finishing touches.

I also used watercolor paper and Palette Burnt Umber so I could paint my image with dye-based inks. Did you know Palette inks are waterproof? I even slipped a little of Flourishes Classic White cardstock in there so I'd have a nice surface for stamping the script. That's quite a few favorites on one card!

A few of the Flourishes girls are sharing their favorites today, too. Why not pay them a visit?

Christine

Julie

Laura

Thanks for your time today! Happy stamping!

-- Leslie

Winter CHA Top Ten Countdown: #5

"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers." ~Monet

If you look around CHA, you'll see many were inspired... just like Monet! And, that's why these floral finds made it into our top ten... to inspire you in your creations!

We saw beautiful florals made from fabulous decorative paper...

We saw it punched and layered....


And we saw these beauties sewn on for a dash of fun "fashion!"

Flowers are inspiring so many people right now. Maybe we are itching for spring. Perhaps flowers are just timelessly lovely.

Just a hint.... we did let this floral fantasy inspire us! You'll soon be seeing some fabulous florals arrive in our store -- they will be PERFECT for your card creations! We also paired these florals up with some amazing bling that might have some of you drooling!

More to come on that! ;-)

Winter CHA Top Ten Countdown: #6

Aprons may be designed to protect a cook's clothes against stove top splatter but, here at CHA they are a true fashion statement! I'm inspired. Everywhere I turn, lovely ladies are wearing these fabulous expressions of art.... called aprons!

Here's a quick peek at just some of the fun designs we saw as we walked through the show!

Gone are the smocks that used to serve a function, this is all about fashion! Thanks ladies for modeling the latest looks! I need to dig some of my fun old aprons out -- they're making a comeback in a big way!

Winter CHA Top Ten Countdown: #7

Do you ever struggle with ribbon storage? I know I do. My stash of ribbon definitely proves the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, the ribbons are a mess. I've tried several systems trying to organize my ribbons, but I'm not satisfied with them. I finally found a fool-proof system! And that's why this one makes the CHA Top Ten List hitting at #7!!!





Ladies and Gentlemen: I proudly present my fight against entropy.... The Best Craft Organizer's Ribbon Organizer and Dispenser! There is a small contraption (spooler) that rolls the ribbon quickly, and then you store 5 rolls in a ribbon bin that dispenses it.

Don't you love how each organizer can fit nicely in a drawer? And, you can see each color and pattern clearly. No more digging through buckets or baskets or watching your ribbon get tangled up into knots!

Now I'm inspired to clean up my studio!

Winter CHA Top Ten Countdown: #8

This next high point with CHA isn't about a product... it's about a person! Maarten from Daylight. I stopped to discuss the lighting issues we've been having in the Flourishes studio especially with photography, and he was the most delightful and helpful chap. Can't you just see how darling he is?

If you'd like to check out what Maarten was up to at CHA, you can check out Daylight's full line of natural light lamps HERE. We love the fact that these natural light lamps produce a full spectrum of light so that when we are using those fabulous colors with our Flourishes stamps, we can see every one of them! So congrats Maarten for making our top ten! Maarten, next time you are in Florida, stop by for tea please!

Winter CHA Top Ten Countdown: #9

Hi all! CHA is wrapping up but we're continuing our countdown. And today, #9 is all about a little tip I picked up from the Spellbinder's booth!

About 3 months ago, I suddenly couldn't get my Spellbinders's Wizard to work! I couldn't remember how it had worked for me so long. I love Spellbinders but, at that moment, I was hating my Wizard. I'd have my knee up on the table holding down the base, my two hands struggling to push the boards through. More than half the time it yanked, I listened to the cursing coming from my mouth!

When I stopped by the Spellbinders booth, I casually mentioned I was having a bit of trouble feeding my wizard, and the dear ladies showed me two tricks

1. Make sure the handle is laying toward you

2. After putting your boards in, give the metal dowel a little roll with your hand before you start cranking that baby through.

Just that simple! I can't tell you what a difference those two little actions made when using my Wizard. No more cursing my Wizard! I can't wait to get home and create beautiful cards with their new products! (You'll be able to do the same after our fun order here at CHA!) Thanks, Spellbinders!

p.s. More to come later!!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC51)!

It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC51)! Thanks so much to you all for playing along with the create a scene challenge last week. Keep reading to find out who won! Also, keep reading to find out about some exciting FTTC News!

The Friends of Flourishes blog design 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. Each week Flourishes gives away a store gift certificate for $10 to the lucky random draw participant. In addition to this, Flourishes also gives away a monthly gift certificate for $10 to one lucky monthly challenge winner. So, if you did not complete any challenge during the month, you still have a chance to win. Just link your card with Mr. Linky!

It is the end of the month and time for a guest challenge designer! This week our challenge host is Pat Adam. Thanks so much hosting with us, Pat! And here is Pat's challenge written in her on words. "For this week's challenge be inspired by the letter P. Sounds a bit crazy, but not really if you think about it for a bit. I'm thinking pink, pearls, poppies, purple, punches, and piercing. Do you get the picture? Sure you do so let's get moving and make those perfectly pretty and positively pleasing presentations. Don't think you've been challenged in this way before, so I will be excited to see how you all do." Pat

Let's check out what Pat Adam created for us with the inspired by the letter "P" challenge! Pat is using the Poppy Patch and Gerber Daisy stamp sets. She is using soft pink cardstock and patterned paper. I just love the wonderful poppy arrangement Pat stamped. She colored her poppies using soft colors of pinks from the Flourishes Copic Color Collection. She used different Spellbinder's die cuts to give added detailing to her focal image. She finished her card with a beautiful pink satin ribbon bow and accented with pearls! Please check out her blog for more card details!

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

Pat Adam

Betty Wright

Silke Ledlow

Maki Jones

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

It all Starts NEXT Tuesday!

You do not want to miss it!

It is Celebration Time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenges! The week of February 2-8, 2010 marks Flourishes Timeless Tuesday's ONE Year Anniversary! We have some wonderful challenges planned for the week as well as lots of prizes! Please mark your calendars to play along with us to celebrate one year of Timeless Challenges!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Winner(FTTC50)!!!

Chosen by
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers: 27
Timestamp: 2010-01-26 04:01:30 UTC

Tera (Stamp Queen) (Home Sweet Granny )! 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 FTTC51 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!

Winter CHA Top 10 Countdown.....

This week we will be sharing our top ten finds here at CHA. Oh, I am just giddy over these goodies!

So, starting at #10......

How have I missed this? Fiskars has had a product out for TWO YEARS that I stumbled upon today. It is such a treasure! It is called the Stamp Press and it's a gridded press with cushions on each corner that allow you to have greater control over where you place your stamp--perfect for stamping letters or stamping on a pre-cut piece of paper. If you don't get a perfect stamp, this wonder also allows you to restamp exactly the same space again. I don't know if it's too much coffee or that I'm not as young as I used to be--but my hands appreciate the control this nifty find offers!


Here's a pic showing how the stamp can line up with my paper below.....
And here's a side shot showing how the cushions really help with the actual stamping process!

The CHA floor is a buzz with activity, so stay tuned! You won't want to miss the rest of our countdown! We know some of the items on this list will one day make it into the Flourishes store!