Friday, December 16, 2011

Flourishes Release Week Noon Time Challenge


Flourishes Release Week Day 2 Noon Time Challenge is up and running!! The challenge is a color challenge: Light Green, Deep Rose & Tan.
If you play along you could win the entire December Release from Flourishes! You can find out all the details and more right HERE on their blog.


I am squeaking under the deadline wire, for this challenge, but I'm here! :)



I used Flourishes "Berry Sweet" stamp set that I colored in with Tombows and cut out with a large Spellbinder Oval and Scalloped Oval. I used papers from DCWV "Rustic" paper pack and My Mind's Eye Lost & Found. The lacy diecut border is from MFT dies, and the pearls and ribbon are from my LSS.
I ruffled up the diecut borders to help them stand out and added some pearls. This is the side view to show the side angle of the ruffled "lace" border.


I love, love the challenge colors, but I did struggle trying to figure out what stamp set to use! LOL! But I have to admit, it's been far too long since I have used this particular raspberry image, and I've fallen back in love with it! It paints up so beautifully I can't help but move it back up to my favorite stamp position :)

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Flourishes Noon Time Challenge

It's Flourishes Release Week!! It feels like the month has flown by! And for Flourishes Release Week they are offering us a chance to win their entire December Release (YEAY!) if you play along with their challenge. You can find out all the details HERE on their blog.


Today's Noon Time Challenge is: Night & Day. Showcase a night or day time scene or use the colors associated with day or night, it's open to interpretation :)
I chose to use sunny colors and bird on a flower, to suggest day time.




I used Flourishes "Spring Has Sprung" stamp set that I colored in with Tombows. I used My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 2 paper. I used a Fiskars "Swiss Dots" punch along the bottom, then I added some vintage lace, hatpins, and a Ivory Ribbon from Flourishes.

I love yellow and how it makes me feel when I see it :) I love it so much that four rooms of the eight rooms in my house are yellow ;) It's my feel good go-to color so I had to use it in this challenge :)

Flourishes Opposites Attract Challenge


Who doesn't like a little challenge in their scrapbooking every once in a while? I know I do! 
This week Maki is offering up a pretty crazy challenge this week in Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: Opposites Attract! Use the stamp stamp set and make two different cards with two totally different looks, styles, colors, ect..!
If you play along, you could win a GC from Flourishes to use in their store ( In know I want that!!). You can find out more details HERE on their blog post.

I chose to make the same exact card and use different colors to make them different from each other.




I used a Cheery Lynn "Dutch Scallop Frame" die as my base for both cards, which I over laid with a Spellbinders "Lacy Square" die that I cut the middle out of. I added an embossed matting inside for both cards using Sizzix "Christmas Set #6" - One done in Flourishes "Classic White Cardstock" and the other one in Bazzil "Dark Crabapple" cardstock. I used a Tim Holtz "Paper Rosette" die to make my paper rosettes in Flourishes Classic White paper. I placed a Spellbinder "Scalloped Circle" diecut over the rosette one in white and the other in "Dark Crabapple" CS. For the main image I used Flourishes "Calendar Set 3: September through December" I colored in with Tombows, and cut them out and popped them up on popdots. I added pearls for my finishing touch, and a vellum banner.


I am knee deep in Christmas cards I am trying to get done and I had a few extra images that I had colored in just in case, so I used them ;) 
I bought the Sizzix Embossing plate and Tim Holtz Rosette die (along with his Mini Rosette), last Saturday at the crazy Sizzix sale at my LSS, and I had been going crazy wanting to try them out! I am so in love with them and I feel better now that I've "broke them in" :)



Friday, December 9, 2011

Feminine Flair

Flourishes is gearing up towards Release Week! I Love this time of the month because I really, really love their images! So in honor of Release Week coming up, the Flourishes Design Team is offering us a challenge and a chance to win the Entire Collection of Flourish's December's Release stamps! You can find our more about the challenge HERE on their blog :)


Julie and the team has challenged us to: Use Feminine Flair (i.e. Pearls, Ribbon, Lace, ect)!
I really love a good challenge like this and feminine can be a fun theme to work with. When I think feminine, I think pinks and creams, so that's what I used.


I used Flourishes "Feminine Charm" set, as it seemed only fitting to use this set with the challenge :) I colored my image in with Tombows, cutting out the image with a Spellbinders Large Oval die and matting that with a Labels #18. I pulled my only and very precious "So Sophie" paper from My Mind's Eye and matted that with Bazzil's "String of Pearls" shimmery Cardstock. The stickpin is from Jenni Bowlin Studios, the flower is from Prima, and the butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart. I finished it all off with some ribbon, lace from Flourishes and some pearls placed here & there.



I am pretty happy with how it turned out, though I was pretty worried about it after I cut my paper wrong. And seeing that is my only sheet and I can't find it anymore, I wish I had bought more of that paper, it's gorgeous in real life! :)



Thursday, December 8, 2011

Amaryllis

It's been too long since I have entered Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful challenge and I missed it! 
Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful Challenge this month is: The Beauty of Winter or a Holiday Themed Creation. 
I am combining it with Color Throwdowns Color Challenge for this week: 


Why not combine the two? :)


I decided to go rouge a bit and use a flower image used that you would see at Christmas. Does that count as a "Winter" themed image? :)


I used Flourishes " Calendar Set 3: September through December" stamp set that I colored in with Tombows, and cut out with a craft knife, then added Glossy Accents to it. I used a Spellbinders Labels 20 that I sponged in with Distress Inks. The paper is from My Mind's Eye and my CS is Prism Papers "Birchtone: Medium". I stamped the month on a piece of vellum that I sponged in with Distress Inks, then tied a bow on from Flourishes.


I know what your thinking, why is the bow on the bottom, it's getting all smooshed! I was going to used a punch and punch out a border on my top & bottom matting, but when it came time to put it all together, I totally forgot, and by the time I realized it, it was already on! You can't win em all, I tell you =)


I chose this particular set not only because it's my new set, but because December is my birthday month and I think it's a gorgeous flower! I have a few other favorite flowers that are closer to my heart but this is one amazing flower! When I looked up some images of it, I was so surprised at the variety of reds and red striations that they could have. It's such a unique and pretty flower to enjoy at Christmas :)


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Honey Bee

It's time for my Timeless Tuesday card, I just love Tuesday's :) 
This week Silke challenging us to make our cards using this sketch:




Here is the card I made following her sketch.



I used Flourishes "Bee My Honey" stamp set that I colored in with Copics. I used a Spellbinder Oval & Scalloped Oval as my centerpiece, that I sponged in with Memento "Dandelion" & "Cantaloupe" inks. I used a single piece of My Mind's Eye paper, as a personal challenge to myself. The ribbons are from MFT and the smokey bling was a gift from my Mom :)


I won't lie, this sketch posed quite the challenge to me. I couldn't seem to find the right mix of stamps and papers, but that happens to everyone :)
I can't wait to go to my LSS (1 hour away) this Saturday! She is having a Sizzix sale - all of them being being 60-90% off (with the blessings of Sizzix)! And I NEED more adhesive, I have been a good girl hardly scrapping, to save it until I could get more this Saturday.And while I am there, I think I might get a few more Copics, so I can shade in some of my images better! I'm thinking I might need a few browns since my poor bee is "skin" colored - LOL :)



Friday, December 2, 2011

Being Cute Is What I Do

I finally got my Color Throwdown card done! Weee!
This weeks colors are:


I love these colors but I have never used all of them together before. But I found just the right papers I wanted that had all the right colors and shades.


I used MFT "Being Cute is What I Do" set that I paper pieced with some MME papers and colored in with Copics. I used some paper from October afternoon as the background papers with Bazzil Basics "Cajun" CS. I used a Spellbinder Square as my image base and then used a  Spellbinder Lacy Square to cut my inverted scallops out. I used remnant ribbons and pearls, then Flower Soft to finish it all off.

I had so much fun with the colors and trying out my Copics to color the skin in, for the first time. I honestly need a few more "filler" colors to fill in those skin blending gaps, but I'm pretty happy with my first skin coloring attempt :)
Please forgive the grainy pic, I had to take it at night with low light and our camera has grainy pics when the light is low.

Holiday Wreath


Flourishes Timeless Tuesday has brought my blog back to "life" after my long turkey slumber :) I hope everyone had a beautiful Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful one with my Mother-in-Law and Brother-in-Law. I won't tell you what happened to my turkey, although I KNOW I did everything right, brine and all :( Lets just say I'll forever be grateful for Mom's ham she brought along! Thank you, Mom! 


Anyway, back to the good stuff ;) Cindy is offering up a recipe challenge, to use a : Flower, Ribbon & Tag on our creations. 




I used Flourishes "Christmas Wreath" set colored in with Copics, and cut out with a craft knife, then popped up on popdots. I added some Diamond Glaze to the larger berries, oranges and ribbon, to give it that color depth and interest. I used a Lacy Square Spellbinder and a Spellbinder Impression (I don't remember the name) to create an embossed background on my Neenah Solar White paper. I used a red remnant ribbon and resin flower I colored with a red Copic marker from my stash, then placed it in the middle of the bow. I kept my ribbon long so I can use it to tie around a gift and use it as a tag card (it's flips open to a card).


I am pretty happy with how the wreath turned out. I colored it all in with the few Copics I have. I don't have too many Copics, and I used just over half of what I own on my wreath. I think I did pretty good with what I have to make it work. I am not happy with the oranges, though. I must have colored and re-colored over those poor things atleast 50 times, trying to get a nice deep orange or something close to an orange. I used the "Skin Tone" Copics and that can be hard to achieve if that's the only "oranges" you have access to! Then I decided to add Diamond Glaze, figuring, it couldn't hurt. I think it actually helped deepen it all a little.


A little different subject, here. Did you do any Black Friday shopping? I placed only two online orders, one to Flourishes and one to Our Daily Bread Stamps. I had been saving for Black Friday for a while, but admittedly every sale was lack luster to me, so I kept with the companies I loved. 
While here on Thanksgiving and staying the night, Mom (MIL) kept talking about us (her & I) shopping at 2 AM! I have never been BF shopping before so I said I would go (I was secretly worried about how crazy it could get). We hit Target at 3 AM, which was deserted, and found two pairs of shoes for each of us for dirt cheap. Then we hit up JCPenny, and surprisingly it wasn't as crazy as I have heard it could be, the only stress was the long lines. I ended up finding jeans and a sweater for me and some clothes for our girls. I didn't spend hardly anything (YAY!) and I promised Mom we'd do it again next year. She's the shopper, I'd rather be scrapbooking then go clothes shopping - I don't find clothes that important as a new stamp set ;) But it makes Mom happy and that makes me happy that she's happy :)