Sneak Peek Day 2--Celebrating Home!

BREAKING NEWS.....WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST FOR A BREAKING STORY.....

Straight from Splitcoaststampers:
Becca Feeken, one of the Friends of Flourishes Blog Team Members, has been chosen as a Dirty Girl and becomes a new member of the Dirty Dozen!!!! Congratulations and our hats off to her today!

Caroline "Cammie" King also chosen for the Dirty Dozen. Congratulations Cammie!

These great new additions just make it a few more reasons to join the SCS Fan Club -- if you haven't already!

DAY ONE

We hope you enjoyed day one of our Sneak Peeks here at Flourishes! Weren't all the cards great inspiration.

DAY TWO

Today marks day two with a brand new set from our talented, resident, and lead artist, Marcella Hawley. It's a whimsical set that can be used for so many occasions that matter to you! A new home? A celebration? A fun card to send to a friend. You name it!

Introducing....


In talking to Marcella regarding this set there were two things that came to mind. We knew we wanted a beautiful bird set and spring feeling. I also wanted birdhouses. As always, the items have to fit the standards of Flourishes stamps--timeless, classic, and yet today. There are so many birds out there in stampland, so many cutesy ones, fat ones, whimsical ones. Did we want to follow the pack or set out into new territory but stay within the FLLC standards? To that end we let Marcella and her creativity lead us to the right way.

As always, Marcella delivers. The first drawings and proofs were good, but when the time came to really move out she made all the right changes to make this set work. Just the right amount of tweaking and it was all we had wanted. She gave us a limb for our birds to perch, a home to nest in, but enough that each item can be used on its own, now and in the future.

You've seen the sneak peek, but travel to the blogs of our designers and you'll see a flair that is just as comfortable as your own Home Tweet Home....So, off you go, fly away and visit:

Julie Koerber
Sharon Doolittle
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Dee Jackson
Nancy Kirk
Jan Marie Caruso OH That's ME!
Kimberly Crawford
Silke Ledlow
Betty Wright

Before you go blog hopping, here’s your chance to win this set! Just post a comment to this entry and we'll randomly select one person to win. The candy will move quickly - we'll announce the winner for the Home Tweet Home set tomorrow. But, don't worry, more chances to win are on the way. We'll be giving away the sets revealed during our Friday sneak peek as well! So, be sure to stop by to comment.

Yesterday's winner for the Birthday Celebrations set is....#78 -- Deena

She wrote.."I think it's fabulous that you found your new artist right at your own dining room table! It just seems so "right" to me, somehow! :) A huge welcome to Lauren! I really like the sneak peeks I've seen so far, and can't wait to see the full release on Friday.smiles,Deena"

Now Deena, just contact us with your mailing address at flourishesllc@cox.net! Congratulations!!

Have you checked out our Celebrating Home challenge? (Details on that challenge can be found HERE) Take part in this challenge and you can win all three of our new sets this month. The winner will be announced at our release party Friday night from 7pm - 9 pm Eastern time over at the Flourishes Forum on Splitcoast. That's where we'll reveal all the new sets and give you an opportunity for more prizes!

DAY THREE

Be sure to come back tomorrow for day three of the Sneak Peek! Tomorrow's set is so darling, you're going to want to sit down to see what we've cooked up! You'll also meet the concept designer for this set and hear her story.

I'm hoping that your day will be filled with blessings and that your mojo will be overflowing.

Ciao!

Sneak Peek -- Something To Celebrate!

It's a new year and it ushers in a new way Flourishes plans to host its releases! On the second Wednesday of each month - we'll begin our Sneak Peak Countdown to our Friday night release. It will give you a chance so see all the creations from our fabulous designers, and you'll have a shot at winning the set featured each day.

Today's set is.....
And, we have a lot to celebrate with this brand new set! It is fresh from the hands of our newest artist, Lauren Pope.

Lauren is a professional illustrator whose work can be found in everything from children's books and school text books to the world of fashion. As a child, she could be found sitting before open comic books, sketchpad in lap, pencil in hand, diligently honing the skills that would mature into the tools of a true artist. She earned her B.S. and M.A. degrees in Commercial Art at Pensacola Christian College. Her award-winning work has been featured in venues such as the Pensacola Museum of Art in Florida, the Greenhouse Gallery in San Antonio, Texas, and the Roundhouse Gallery in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Lauren’s artistic flame can be ignited by a walk through a garden, a trip to the farmer’s market, or a chance encounter with a captivating human face. To look at her original work visit her etsy site HERE.

If I had been looking for a new artist for Flourishes the very last place I would have expected to find her was at my dining room table. We hosted a birthday party for a young friend of ours and told her to invite some of her friends. Lauren and her hubby were some of the delightful friends we met that night. Lauren and I talked and someone told her I was into art...(hehe) well not her way I soon found out. She wanted to see Flourishes stamps. I saw the love in her eyes as she touched and poured over them. A few days later she came over to talk and brought a small sampling of her art and I was excited at what I saw. I perused her etsy shop and then talked with her later and told her that I could not identify her definitive medium or style. She replied that she hadn't either. Needless to say that now months later I think she and I both know her new medium (she says it makes her smile) and I know that it makes me smile as well. I hope her work will make you smile as well.

I asked Lauren to develop a birthday set for Flourishes. As we talked and set up the standard and concepts for the set she gleamed and I caught a bit of mischief in her eyes. When she sent us the first "rough outs" of the set we knew that this was a charmer, with a timeless look but certainly for today's papercrafters.

Looking above at the collage, can you get a glimpse of Lauren's creative style? Here it's just a sneak peek, but travel to the blogs of our designers and you'll see Lauren's work in living color...

Julie Koerber
Sharon Doolittle
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Dee Jackson
Nancy Kirk
Jan Marie Caruso --OH that's ME!

Before you go blog hopping, here’s your chance to win this set! Just post a comment to this entry and we'll randomly select one person to win. The candy will move quickly - we'll announce the winner for the Birthday Celebrations set tomorrow. But, don't worry, more chances to win are on the way. We'll be giving away the sets revealed in our Thurdsay and Friday sneak peeks as well! So, be sure to stop by each day to comment.

Have you checked out our Celebrating Home challenge? (Details on that challenge can be found HERE) Take part in this challenge and you can win all three of our new sets this month. The winner will be announced at our release party Friday night from 7pm - 9 pm Eastern time over at the Flourishes Forum on Splitcoast. That's where we'll reveal all the new sets and give you an opportunity for more prizes!

For those of you who love the work of our artist Marcella Hawley, check back tomorrow for her set that celebrates life in a whole new way!

Yes, you will have to come back tomorrow and see what Marcella has in store for us.

Viola! That makes for another great day of sharing with you. I am so glad you stopped by the Atelier at Flourishes.

I'm hoping that your day will be filled with blessings and that your mojo will be overflowing.

Ciao,

Celebrating Home 2

The upcoming release Celebrating Home gave us reason to have a challenge between all of us Flourishes. This challenge was to create using something that inspired us from our home. The has been fun and created some very special cards as well as anything but a card.

Lathisa is in the midst of a move, but still found time and creative juices to put together this fun frame that inspired her while she was shopping.

Very nice indeed, Latisha!

Betty Wright gave us this wonderful card and her inspiration here.

Christine Okken has a great invitation to dinner at her home. This is lovely tied to the beautiful silver that inspired this wonderful card.

Look at the beautiful scrolls in her flatware....what beautiful inspiration. Oh Christine, just what time and day are we invited ?




Cindy Lawerence choose to use these as here inspiration:
She says "This is one of two topiaries that sit on the fireplace mantle in my bedroom. I love 'em! :)
Here's the card I created: "















Here is the inspiration I used....it is my kitchen. I really like the colors and patterns that make up this room. It always makes me smile.

So here is my card. I tried to capture the whiteness against the starkness of my kitchen. Coffee with Friends is something that happens a lot here so the set was so apropro for the card. The Cuttlebug folder give the texture to the back layer. The Markie's Mom (yeah Faith) inspired dots on the edge of the black keep texture going. Most of all I love the cups with the embossed images. The dash of red and tinge of green give my card vibrance and life.

Viola! Another great day of sharing with you. I am so glad you stopped by the Atelier at Flourishes.

I'm hoping that your day will be filled with blessings and that your mojo will be overflowing.

Ciao,

Flourishes Featured Stamper!

Hi all! Do you ever have one of those days where you blink and the day is almost over? That was my day today, so I apologize for leaving you all on pins and needles wondering who the Featured Stamper is!!

This week I decided to pull out the old Wild Card and let everyone who submitted cards win! So, if you submitted a reply to the thread for week #34 before Sunday evening. You are in the monthly drawing for a free stamp set of your choice!

Well, I couldn't sign off without sharing some of my favorites from the thread and Flourishes gallery! So, here goes!

I just love this set that Stacy did using the Spring Ephemerals set as it's focus. The pink and black combo is just to die for!Lois may have cased this card for this week's Featured Stamper on Splitcoast, but it takes serious talent to create this kind of beauty! I can't wait to take out my I Love Roses set and case the card Lois cased! :-)
This spring time beauty from Michelle reminds me that warm weather will one day be on it's way! Afterall, the set she used is called Summer On The Patio for a reason! I love the citrus inspired colors and the lovely layout Michelle used for this downright yummy card!

And, last but not least is this sparkling creation from Connie using the Stamp Simply Thank You set! She used what's called the glitter tape technique to pull this off. Isn't it lovely? I don't think I've ever seen this tulip in blue, and wow, I love it!

Thanks for stopping by for this week's dose of inspiration! We can't wait to see what you come up with this week! If you have time, don't forget to check out the Celebrating Home challenge on Saturday's post! If your name is drawn, you could win ALL 3 of the new stamps that are being released Friday! We'll have sneak peeks starting Wednesday, so mark your calendar and come on back!

~Julie

Celebrating Home!

We are 4 days away from the first Flourishes release of 2009 and these three stamp sets focus on all the things that matter most to us - celebrating a new home, another year, important annoucements and friends. And, when you see these three new sets, we are sure you'll fall in love with all the ways you can use them!

To get ready, we thought we'd usher in a challenge. An "inspired by" challenge. All you need to do is find something in our home as a point of inspiration for a card creation or altered project and let those creative juices flow! Post a comment with a link here on this post, or upload to Splitcoast using the key word - FLLCJAN. Use Flourishes stamps if you have them, or...if you don't...join us anyway! We'd love to see what you cook up! Afterall, if your name is drawn- you'll win all three of the stamp sets being released this month!

So, without further ado, let's see what kind of inspiration some of the Friends of Flourishes and Design Team members found for this challenge!

Let's start with Laura Fredrickson! Before this challenge, I had no idea that she collected tins! She also loves Tim Hortons -- so, here's where two loves collided into one inspiration piece. It's easy to see why she picked up the Coffee with Friends set for her card!


Dee Jackson just had to relax to find a little inspiration! She took one look at this cushy chair and she realized the flowers in the patterned fabric looked just like the flowers in the Fantasy Floral set! Here's the chair....

And, here's her card!
Kimberly Crawford was getting ready for her day and found some little jewels of inspiration sitting right there in her jewelry box! Just look at these vintage beauties!

And, look at the card it inspired using the Butterfly Moments set!

Cindy Haffner just had to shed a little light on the subject... literally! She took the shade of blue from a lamp in her home....

To create this beauty of a card using the Spring Ephemerals set!

Faith Hofrichter looked to a floral arrangement in her home for a little color inspiration! She took the shades of pink from this arrangement.....

And turned it into THIS in her stamp room! What a beauty she created with he Poppy Patch set!

Christine Okken picked up some of her fine silver to stir up some romance with a one of a kind invitation! She told me this card, created with the You Are Invited set would be a perfect little number for her hubby! OOoo la la!

And... last but not least - yours truly! I was getting ready for my day when I was hit by my comforter and a vase we have on our dresser. Here's the comforter...

Here's the vase....

And, here's my card! I wanted to use the twiggy elements to create a vase. So, I used my Summer Blossoms stamp set and punched out a vase. Then, I used the same gold and brown swirly pattern to bring in some pop!

I heard through the grapevine that Latisha Yoast also has some inspiration for you to peek at on her blog! Click HERE to see! And so does Cindy Lawrence! So click on their inspiration and then take a trip around your own home to find a little inspiration! We'd love to see what YOU come up with! Remember, leave a comment here on this post or upload your card to Splitcoast using the keyword FLLCJAN.

The contest will close Friday, January 16th at 5 p.m. eastern and the winner will be revealed in our first ever RELEASE PARTY on Splitcoast on Friday evening! Stay tuned for all the details!

Have fun!
Julie

Flourishes Friday

Today sweet and fabulous treats are certain to please today....so let's get started.

These ladies have more wonderful inspiration ready for our eyes and creative spirits.

Becca Feeken has a stunning card at her Amazing Grace stop on the tour. She's using the Flourishes Thank You set with the beautiful tulip, background script and sentiments.

Now Miss Betty Wright, over at Stamping to the Wright, was in the mood to make a Valentine's card. She combined the Flourishes, LLC Lace Heart and I Love Roses (for sentiment) to make her card. This cards says it all...ALWAYS or ALL WAYS!!!!

For our next stop, we are visiting the very busy Silke Ledlow at My Life. Even with her busy schedule she was able to create this beauty for us. It all about love and roses and it is smashing, don't you think?

The very sweetest and most delectable stop on today's virtual tour of our FOF bloggers is with Kimberly Crawford. This talented lady love to bake and decorate cakes and cupcakes. So when she recently ran across a book called, Hello Cupcake, she HAD to buy it. One of the ideas in the book was to use chocolate to create butterflies. They provided a template, but she thought, "hey I have a beautiful set of stamps from Flourishes called, Butterfly Moments. Nothing like getting more mileage out of your stamps...good reason to buy more? :)"

Chocolate Butterflies... Now that's just YUMMY. She has a great tutorial that she is sharing so be sure to visit her at For The Love of Paper.

Our every creative Cindy Haffner has a feminine beauty in store for us

She says that " Fantasy Floral Garden is one of my favorite Flourishes' sets. I love to pop up the flower, and I love the flower font. " Her use multiple details and a great color scheme make this just absolutely beautiful card.

Stop the Presses!!!!!

Here is a "out of the box" lovely creation by Dee Jackson. She is at Stampin cuz I Luv 2

How neat is that!!! Coffee With Friends and I Love Roses.....Dee you're one creative lady too!

Viola!. I am so glad that you joined me. Stop in at all of these ladies blogs and get all the details.

Ciao,

PS....I have seen the flurry on notes between Julie and the Design team and Friends of Flourishes blogger ladies. Seems they're busy with something special they have planned for the upcoming week.Yes, it time for Release Week...and this one is sure to be a fun one! Hummmm. I wonder what they are up to?

.....MORE BREAKING NEWS...Julie says...Be sure to come back here tomorrow! We'll unveil a fun new challenge! If you play, you can win all three of the new stamp sets that will be released next week! So,stay tuned!

Now I really think it's a wrap! LOL

Ciao

Ink, spray.... and SMASH!

Hi all! Did you see this week's Weekly Inkling on Splitcoast Stampers? If you didn't, you need to! HERE is the link! While you are there, why not sign up to have it put in your email "in" box every Wednesday? It's well worth it!

The reason why I want to show this one off is because our very own Faith Hofrichter this week's superstar with a fabulous tutorial she calls INK, SPRAY and SMASH! It's a very cool, easy way to add color to your backgrounds.

Here is the card she featured---notice the Poppy set she used?

Want to see more? Well, you have to check out the tutorial!

See you back here tomorrow for a fabulous Flourishes Friday!

~Until then!