FLLC Featured Stamper #6

Flourishes Featured Stamper #6

Barb Schram

Congratulations, Barb!!!

When I run through the challenge entries each Sunday evening, as I told all the players from the onset, I really have no preconceived idea as to what I'm looking for. I'm just looking for really great cards, and beyond that I go with whatever strikes me at the moment. And I always like pretty. Well, this week's Featured Stamper excels in the *pretty* department, and what also caught my eye about her entries was that they were all made with some of the older Flourishes sets. Barb just did an outstanding job on all of these cards.

This card is made using Love Nest, a fun set of 21 stamps filled with a variety of sentiments surrounding love and home. Barb did an amazing job with just one stamped image of the pair of love birds as her focal point. The pretty designer paper is from the Sultry pad by Basic Grey and her ribbon is the Pink Sheer. I also find it interesting the way she used her Martha Stewart scalloped punch on this card. A great job using these darling little love birds!!! A whole lot of pretty comes through here!!!


Barb did another beautiful job on this card using the largest floral image in Fantasy Floral Garden. Just love her color choices on this card and the way she colored in her flower using her reinkers and a water brush. The background stamping on the lower portion is also a stamp in Fantasy Floral Garden. Her Celebrate sentiment is from Flourished Words, a set containing 27 small and beautifully scripted words. As Barb explained in her post, using clear stamps gives you the option to somewhat alter the shape of your image, and she curved her sentiment on the block to make it take on the shape she wanted. Barb finished this card off nicely with the Black Sheer Ribbon and some pretty little gems.

Although Barb didn't enter this card in the challenge, she uploaded it this week and I found it in her gallery as I was preparing this article. I just love this card and wanted to include it in this post as it, too, uses one of the older sets by Flourishes, O Christmas Tree. This very realistic looking Christmas tree comes with just a ton of ornaments to decorate it with, but Barb, cleverly, chose to decorate it with buttons -- how fun!!! She actually inserted brads into the holes in the gingerbread men buttons, and how cute is that!!! She ran linen thread through the holes on the more standard buttons decorating the tree. The style of this card is rather rustic/country, and that just suits this tree so perfectly!!! Just LOVE what Barb did with this fun Christmas tree!!

Thanks to all who played this week!!! We all at Flourishes just love to see what you do with our images, and your creativity and talent never ceases to amaze us!!! Barb's name will now be thrown into the hat for the prize drawing on July 1, which is tomorrow. The prize is one Flourishes stamp set of your choice, plus a ribbon bundle that will be selected and put together by the Flourishes team. Please check back in tomorrow for the announcment of the winner over in the Flourishes Forum at SCS, and please also continue to play. This is a challenge with no end!!! All entries from now through July will have a chance at being the prize winner for the month of July, which will be drawn on August 1.

You may visit Barb's Blog here.

Thanks so much for stopping in and hope to see you all soon over in the challenges in the Flourishes Forum at SCS!!!

Sharon Johnson

A Sweet Love Story!!!

You’ve heard all of us at Flourishes mention Marcella Hawley from time to time. I’d like to introduce you to her today. Marcy is the artistic talent behind so many of the beautiful images in Flourishes stamp line, the latest being our series of beautiful botanical images. Marcella Hawley was founding art director of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion, a pioneering art-centered decorating magazine. Previously, as assistant to the art director at Martha Stewart Living, she was part of the creative team that launched Martha Stewart’s premiere television show and Weddings magazine. Now home in St. Louis, Missouri, Marcella is a devoted gardener, illustrator, decorator, and maker of things. Husband Patrick Hawley is her partner in life and business, as web developer and IT maestro for MHCreative. They have two children, Tallulah and Finn. For more information on her work, please visit http://www.marcellahawley.com/.

OK, so that’s who Marcy is on a professional level. Some pretty impressive names listed on her resume, but on a personal level, she’s just like the rest of us – a devoted wife and mother who loves her husband and her children – and she’s also someone who likes to have a little fun! And in that vein she nominated her husband, unbeknownst to him, as the Hottest Husband of 2008 through Redbook Magazine. And Patrick OBVIOUSLY is hot, as he was one of the finalists in the contest!!!! Huge Congrats!!! to both Patrick and Marcy!!! How fun!!! You can see the Redbook article along with an adorable photo of Patrick and their children by clicking here.

We at Flourishes are so honored and privileged to be able to work with both Marcy and Patrick. Patrick was instrumental in helping Flourishes get their original site up and running and he still lends a technical hand from time to time!!! Not only is this couple hot, hot, hot!!! in many respects, but they are a part of what makes Flourishes what it is today, and we’re so pleased to share this fun news with you!!! Thank you, Marcy and Patrick, for your part in Flourishes success!!!!

May I Suggest...

…some simple and effective storage solutions. We all know the problems that are inherent with this hobby — so much *stuff* — such a big *mess* — well, that’s how it is for me, anyway! And I am making headway in my never-ending quest for organization, one baby step at a time. I’ll share just a bit here today, and I’ll start with stamp storage.

When clear stamps are purchased, they typically come on acetate type sheets in a plastic sleeve. We really do need a better way to store them on a permanent basis. The buyers at Flourishes have found a wonderful solution — Clear Boxes that easily house two small (4 x 6) sets, or one large (8 x 6) set. The boxes measure 4 x 6 and are a full 1/2″ thick. The hinge opens in the middle, they lay flat when opened, giving you two sides for storage. Here’s what they look like:

More on these boxes, including photos, can be seen on the full post of this article on my personal Blog, linked at the end of this article.

Another very effective product I'd like to suggest to you is a wonderful Clear Stamp Cleaner for your clear stamps.

This cleaner does a wonderful job cleaning your clear stamps and makes them feel silky smooth, which is so nice, but this cleaner’s claim to fame in my book is its smell — it has the MOST declicious scent of citrus!!! It makes me WANT to clean my stamps!!!! Gotta love it!!! The pad and cleaner can be seen here.

And I'd also like to suggest using the tag dies available by Spellbinders, and share a few tips and hints as to their use. Here's a pic of some of the tag dies available:

You may read this entire post which includes many more photos and tips on my peronsonal Blog, No Time To Stamp? Hope to see you over there!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in here today!!!

Sharon Johnson

Flourishes Featured Stamper #5

This was another week with so many absolutely gorgeous entries!!!! Thank you so much ladies -- I just wish there was room to put them ALL up here!!! But to narrow it down, I chose two stampers to feature today and here they are:

Flourishes Featured Stampers #5

are

DeborahLynneS (Debbie)

and

stampininthesun (Erin)

Congratulations, Deb and Erin!!!

Our first card is a beautiful wedding card that Debbie made using one of Flourishes latest releases, the gorgeous Peony set.

Deb (DeborahLynneS) colored her Peony with Copic markers and what a gorgeous look she achieved. Can you see the little dew droplets of water on her leaves? They are done with a Spica Glitter Pen -- amazing!!! They look sooooo realistic!!! I love the vibrancy of the leaves while the flower itself looks soft and lovely, and Debs layout, background stamping and embellisments add up to make this one gorgeous card!!! Thank you so much Deb for sharing this with us!!!

And Deb had another entry this week I'd like to share with you as well. This time Deb used the Siberian Iris and colored this one, as well, with her Copic markers. Again, I love the vibrancy of her colors, which she took from a photo in a gardening book. I think it is so neat how so many using these beautiful floral images are taking the time to research them in an effort to achieve a natural look!!! After stamping and coloring her image, Deb used one of the Oval Nestabilities to cut out and emboss her image -- such a lovely look! The background is a Cuttlebug embossed sheet of vellum. Another beautiful card Deb, thank you!!!

And the third card we are featuring today takes on a totally different look. Erin (stampininthesun) made this fun and casual card using another of Flourishes most recent releases, Coffee with Friends.

Now, isn't this just plain old fun!!! The kraft paper used adds to the casual feel of this card. Erin used punches to create her scalloped border and her sentiment panel, and then she further embellished her card with coordinating pieces of gingham ribbon in different widths -- a great look!!! Her main image cup from Coffee with Friends was simply done by paper piecing. This card is eye-catching, but yet quick and easy to reproduce -- a perfect example of a Stamp Simply card!!! So glad you shared this with us, Erin!!! Thanks so much!!!

Both Deb and Erin will have their names added to the hat for the prize drawing on July 1. You have one more week to enter to get your name in the hat this time around. If you'd like to play, you can find the Featured Stamper Challenge in the Flourishes Forum at SCS. Be sure to check it out!!!

Sharon Johnson

May I Suggest ...

Hi everyone!!! Today’s May I Suggest… is showing up here a few days late, but better late than never! Today's May I Suggest... is going to be a little different than it has been the past few weeks, but change is good — right? What I am going to suggest today is a technique — masking. Probably one of the first techniques you learned as a beginning stamper, and if you don’t know how to mask, well, we’ve got a video tutorial for you to watch, so you’ll be ready to go in no time at all. Here’s the card I made using Coffee with Friends, which is a sample of quick and easy masking (combined with paper piecing):

To read more detail on the making of my Coffee with Friends card, you can check it out on my Blog (Sharon J).

And here is a card that Susan Roberts did, using Peony, which is still easy masking, only she repeated it many times over for this lovely effect of a huge bouquet of Peonies:

Now, is that a gorgeous bouquet of peonies or what? Just love that Peony!!!! To read more detail on the making of Susan's Peony card, you can check it out on Susan's Blog.

To view a tutorial on masking done by Nancy Kirk, you can click here. She used Cake Decorating 101 to do her video, so if you've never seen that cake and plate come together, this is a great sample of that as well!!!

To view an SCS tutorial on masking done by Beate Johns, you can click here.

Masking -- super simple, fun, with fabulous results giving your project some depth and dimension -- give it a try!!!

Sharon Johnson

Flourishes Featured Stamper #4

As more and more of you play, this job continues to become more and more difficult!!! WOW -- what fabulous entries we had this week!!! What I decided to do this week is to feature Spring Ephemerals as so many of you used it this week. I can tell that everyone is really loving this set and it's potential for a great variety of card styles and techniques is limitless. I will showcase four cards entered this week made using the so popular and versatile Spring Ephemerals, which is the first solid image stamp set produced by Flourishes. It was drawn by Marcella Hawley and her beautiful work with florals certainly comes through in this gorgeous set!

Featured Stampers -- Week #4

btexpress (Barb)

Joan Ervin

1busymomof2 (Latisha)

clownmon (Lois)

The first card is this beautifully created black and white beauty by btexpress. Barb used the Bleeding Heart on the left edge of her card to create a very unique and interesting border and embossed it in white on black paper -- how striking! Then she stamped the Forget-me-not in black ink on white paper for her main image panel. The striking contrast created here is wonderful!!! This card just jumps right off the page. Thank you Barb for this lovely creation!!!

And I wanted to show this beautiful card by Joan Ervin following Barb's card so you can see the difference in the Bleeding Heart. Barb's above was embossed in white whereas Joan's Bleeding Heart is stamped in black craft and then clear embossed. The black and white Joan used up against the pink is truly so striking here. It is truly so easy to create such a dramatic effect with these solid image stamps! For the background Joan used Damask, again stamped in black. So striking!!! Joan cut, embossed and framed her Bleeding Heart with the Oval Nestabilities. Thank you, Joan, for this beautiful card.

This card by 1busymomof2 was made for the Inspiration Challenge at SCS. The inspiration pieces were gorgeous, rich tiles. WOW, did Latisha do a fabulous job or what!!! Using Basic Grey papers, Chocolate Sheer Ribbon and the Forget-me -not image and sentiment, Latisha created this rich and elegant card, which she plans to use as a sympathy card. I never would have thought to use the Forget-me-not sentiment on a sympathy card, but I think it is incredibly clever and quite perfect!!! I love the overall feel this card evokes!!! What a wonderful job, Latisha. Thank you!

This beautiful tri-paneled card was made by clownmom. Lois colored direct to the stamp with markers to get the two colors on her image and what a soft and lovely look she achieved by applying her ink in this fashion. Also you will note, when comparing this to the card above by Latisha, it appers that Latisha stamped her image once and then cut it into four squares. Lois merely stamped her image 3 times onto 3 different squares. Both are very lovely looks!!! Thank you so much Lois!!!

And this week I have made an executive decision - LOL!!! I will be throwing the names of all the artists featured each week into the hat. And I will go back for the entire month of June and do the same each week that more than one artist was featured. There is just so much talent out there that I can not possibly just pick one each week. Also, on a week such as this, I feel it is especially fun to show a series of cards using the same set on weeks that we have a lot of entries using the same set. It shows me what you all are liking and doing with a particular set, and I'd like to share that with others!!!

Again, thank you all so much for playing. This challenge is never-ending with 6:00 p.m Eastern Time on Sundays being the dividing line between each week. One winner will be drawn from all names in the hat on the 1st of each month. So that means we have one more week to play and then I'll draw the prize winner on Tuesday, July 1. And as a reminder, the prize is a Flourishes stamp set of your choice plus a ribbon bundle package. So everyone, get busy -- there's still time to get your name in the hat!!! You can find the challenges listed in the Flourishes Forum at SCS. There are several different challenges running.

Thanks so much for stopping in!!! I hope these beautiful cards inspire you to get stamping!!!

Sharon Johnson

Beautiful Peonies

Yesterday as I spent a bit of time cleaning up a flower bed I was inspecting my peonies, which are nowhere near ready to open for quite a while yet. As I was working, I was reminded of all the beautiful Peony cards I've seen this week in the galleries and blogs, and I thought I'd like to share them all with you here -- oh, what a breath of fresh air they are!!!!

As I was gathering all these cards to upload here, I found it rather interesting to note that no two of these cards were created with the same technique. All different, all unique, all beautiful. The only consistent factor is that they were all created using Peony, one of Flourishes latest releases. Would you care to take a look?

This gorgeous card, with a real vintage flair, was created by Leslie Miller. Leslie stamped the image in Creamy Caramel ink and colored it in with chalks. Her design is gorgeous and finished off so beautifully with that gorgeous Chocolate Sheer Ribbon. What a treat for the eyes! Please click on Leslie's name above to get to her blog for more complete details on how she achieved this look.

This beautiful card, again with a distinct vintage and romantic feel, was created by Julie Koerber. Julie's technique was to apply ink directly to the stamp and then after stamping it she used an aquapainter to meld the colors together. Oh my, what a simple, but beautiful technique. Be sure to stop in at Julie's blog to get all the details.

This beautiful peony was created in a somewhat similar fashion to Julie's peony above, but with a bit of a variation. Sharon Doolittle created this simple beauty by first inking the image, direct to polymer, just as Julie did, but Sharon then finished her peony off by coloring it in with Stampin' Up! markers. What a a gorgeous peony Sharon created, and how simply! You can check in at Sharon's Blog for more of her design details.

This bright and bold peony was created by Dee Jackon -- how striking in its cheerful orange tones!!! Dee achieved this look by stamping her peony onto orange cardstock with black ink and then coloring it in with Stampin' Up! markers and then using her Prisma colored pencils to go over it and finish it off. The sentiment Dee used is from Many Sentiments, and how perfect it looks here!

Linda Duke, who is so well known for her dimensional work using a technique called Paper Tole, created this mouth-watering beauty using just that technique. Linda has achieved such a soft and pretty look with her Copic markers for color. Linda's card is large, at 6" x 6". We're hoping Linda can share a few tips and techniques with us in the not too distant future!!! Oh, wouldn't it be fun to learn to do this!!!

And Flourishes own Jan Marie Caruso created this elegant and stunning, classic beauty by stamping her image with the Palette Stamp and Stick Gluepad and brushing on a Pure Mica powder for a rich, gorgeous sheen!!! Her addition of pearls just tops off this formal beauty perfectly!!! Be sure to check out her Blog for more details.

And last, but certainly not least, we have this soft and lovely pink beauty by Julie Koerber. Julie's image is stamped onto vellum and colored on the reverse side with Prisma colored pencils. All of the layers, colors and pretty ribbons on this card just say PRETTY!!!

And with this card from Julie we have a special treat to share with you. Julie has prepared a very clear and concise tutorial explaining exactly what she did here, so each of you can very easily achieve the same results. You can read Julie's turorial here.

As I wait for my own peonies to bloom, I know all of us here at Flourishes anxiously look forward to seeing what type of peonies will be blooming in your gallery or blog!!! Please keep us informed, as we TRULY would love to see all of your creations. And remember, the keyword for uploads using Flourishes images in the SCS gallery is FLLC. We can't wait to see what all of you come up with!!! Happy gardening -- or coloring --whatever the case may be!!!

Sharon Johnson