Running With Scissors…

Hello!  Today I’m here to share a card I made for my favorite-to-date Flourishes challenge.  This is what we call the Pre-Release Challenge, which means next week we’ll begin sharing previews of the November releases.  Everyone can participate in the Pre-Release Challenge, whether you have Flourishes stamps or not.  Even if you don’t have a blog or gallery where you can post your card publicly, you may enjoy playing along with the challenge.  Please read the Flourishes Newsletter here for all the details of entering the challenge.  As always, the randomly selected winner will receive every stamp set that’s being released this month.  It’s well worth the effort because you never know when your day to win will arrive.

The gist of the challenge is to be inspired in some way by the words to the song, My Favorite Things, which has become a Christmastime favorite, even though it was not originally written as a Christmas song.  We’d like to know which line of the lyrics you used for inspiration when you share your card or project.  I’ve never looked at these lyrics from this point of view before, and I find there is no single line which doesn’t inspire me.  I must tell you, I’ve been walking around singing this song, hearing Julie Andrews’ beautiful voice, and just generally feeling happy because of it.  We’ve condensed the lyrics to include only the list of favorite things:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

With hardly a second’s thought I was inspired by the line, Silver white winters that melt into springs.  So here’s my silver white winter that looks a long way from melting into spring — a snowy white card base with silver embossed trees, sponged with a winter sky, and speaking of Christmas.

Don’t you love those big close ups when you click on a card, that really let you see all the detail and texture?  WordPress blogs won’t let you do that.  There’s a limit on the file size, so the best we WordPress folk can do is make the original photo as large as possible and perhaps show an isolated area in a larger view.

For those of you who may wonder, here’s a photo of how I cut the card with the curve along the bottom:

The card when folded is 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″.  Place the die over the folded card so the cutting edge rests only along the lower edge of the card.  You can easily cut through two layers of cardstock at once.  It will cut about 1/2″ off the lower edge, but you’ll gain that many times over in aesthetics.

To wrap things up…  I’ve enjoyed seeing the teams’ cards and reading which line in the song inspired them.  Let’s take the tour:  Christine, Cindy, Julie, Latisha, Laura, and Stacy    I hope you’ll enjoy this bit of fun and inspiration today.  Product links are in the recipe, below.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Stamps:  Forest of Trees, Holiday Greetings  Paper:  Classic White  Ink:  Versamark, Soft Sky, Bayou Blue  Accessories:  Ribbon, pearls, Spellbinders Curved Rectangles Nestabilities and Flourish Accents Shapeabilities, silver detail embossing powder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

I have a another Christmas card made with the Dove and Holly set from Flourishes.  When I was playing with this set earlier, I couldn’t help but notice how pretty the image looked when stamped without any coloring at all.  It’s so sweet and finely illustrated, it stands very nicely on its own, so I thought I might give it a try “as is” on a card.

I did feel like coloring something, though, so I draped a garland of holly along the top and colored with Copics — Evergreen and Hollyhock Collections.  I glittered the holly and cut out an extra sprig to pop up with the silver cord bow.  The wide silk ribbon gathers nicely through the silver slide and makes a good substitution for a bow when you’re wanting a card that’s easy to mail.

As for the doves, they’re stamped in Sahara Sand — close enough to green to coordinate with the holly leaves — and the sentiment is nice and crisp in Purely Pomegranate.  A dainty Swiss Dot background and the embossed edges of the raised sentiment panel  give it a little more dimension and textural interest without adding extra weight and bulk.

Well, there’s another Christmas card done.  My pile is growing!  I’m glad you could stop by today.  Happy stamping!

Stamps:  Dove and Holly  Paper:  Flourishes Classic White  Ink:  Sahara Sand, Purely Pomegranate, Ranger Distress Walnut Stain, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Silk ribbon, Flourishes Finishing Touches ribbon slide, glitter, Spellbinders Curved Rectangle die, Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Today the Flourishes team is coloring up the seasons.  I was feeling sorry for Fall, having been neglecting it, so I colored some Falling Leaves and dressed them up with ribbon and bling and autumn-hued papers.

The center panel is Classic Ivory which I stamped first with a few of the small solid image leaves in regular dye-based vanilla ink.  I stamped the outline leaves right on top of the solid leaves and colored with Prismacolor markers.  The main image panel is lightly edged with saffron ink, then layered onto four more mats.  The chocolate mat is embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder.  The leaf bling is something I found last year on the button rack at Wal-Mart.  I adhered them with Crystal Effects and sprinkled rhinestones throughout.

There are more layers here than I usually put on a card, but I was in the mood for sculpting when I made this.  Whenever I thought I was done layering, I told myself, “no, just add one or two more layers”.  It was rather a matter of reverse discipline.  I also have a tendency to want to let more of the designer paper show, but even a little peeking around the edges is better than having it tucked away in the cupboard.  It’s not as though I don’t have designer paper to spare…  And the extra bling — well, gosh, I’ve got drawers full of fancies I could not resist… I’m very good at collecting… well, you see where I’m going with that.  Might as well have some fun with it, even if the darn thing has to be mailed in a box!

Latisha has written an article on the Newsletter with some beautiful Autumn samples and lovely ideas and coloring tips.  Oh, those wonderful colors of Autumn!  Let’s see what the rest of the team has colored today:   Cindy, Julie, Latisha, Laura, and Stacy

Oh, and by the way, TGIF!  I couldn’t be happier!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Stamps:  Falling Leaves  Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, More Mustard, Classic Ivory, 7 Gypsies Gypsy Market designer paper  Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa, vanilla, saffron, chocolate, Prismacolor markers for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, copper cord, rhinestones & rhinestone leaves, Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder

What a fun idea Christine had when she suggested the Flourishes team focus on cards with fancy folds this week!  You’ll see two different folds when you visit Christine on the Newsletter where she shares her very pretty cards, with a tutorial for one and a linked tutorial for the other.  Each team member is sharing a different fold idea today:  Christine, Cindy, Julie, Latisha, and Stacy.  Great stuff!

I’ve made a double accordian gatefold card that stays closed without tying.  I found the basic instructions for this fold on my Score-Pal packaging, then modified it a bit and wrote a tutorial a while back, which can be seen –> here.

The card, itself, is made entirely of double-sided designer paper.  With the folds, and with additional paper layered on for decoration, it’s quite sturdy as well as being pretty inside, out, and backwards.  The main image on this card, as you can see, of course, is one of my Seasonal Wreath stamps, colored for Autumn and cut with a Spellbinders Labels One die.  I sponged a little Caramel ink around the edges, then pressed the panel into my Versamark pad and embossed with ultra thick embossing powder.  I repeated the embossing once to create a nice, smooth finish.  The embossing process curled the image panel a bit so, to sturdy it up, I cut another Spellbinders shape from lightweight cardboard and adhered the two panels together.

The photo turn, placed just so, holds the card in the closed position.  All the brad prongs are hidden under paper layers.  The next picture shows how the card opens and gives just a teensy glimpse at the inside.

I made this into a birthday card for my husband, so I used rather masculine colors and papers.  He didn’t mind the bow one bit and was very appreciative of the construction…shhhhhhhh…I didn’t tell him how really easy it was.

Between the tutorial and the recipe, below, I think I’ve got everything covered, so I’ll leave you with that and a wish for a wonderful weekend.  Happy everything to all!

Stamps:  Seasonal Wreaths, Flourished Words (both outside), Flourished Elements, Many Sentiments (inside)  Paper:  Cosmo Cricket Wanted designer paper, Classic Ivory  Ink:  Palette Umber, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Sage Shadow, Pumpkin Pie marker for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, copper cord, brads, photo turn, 1/2″ and 5/8″ circle punches, small oval punch, Martha Stewart border punch, Spellbinders Labels One Nesties, ultra-thick embossing powder

And now we’ve come to the final day of Flourishes’ October previews and one of the most beautiful Christmas wreaths that has ever graced my home.  What fun to color one little bit at a time and watch this glorious image emerge!

I used a combination of Prismacolor markers and Copics to make it nice and colorful, then added glitter for that frosty morning look.  The sentiment is from the new Musical Score & Words set.  I just realized…wouldn’t this sentiment also be great with Santa?  The wreath also comes in a smaller size if you feel like just a tad less coloring but, oh, this larger one shows the exquisite detail so beautifully.

I’ve listed details in the recipe below, so I’ll finish up with the tidbits of information I wouldn’t want you to miss out on:

• Try your luck at winning the Christmas Wreath set here with a simple comment.
• Stamp a card today and share it in the Season That Sparkles challenge and you may win all six of Flourishes’ October releases.
• Join us at the release party Friday night, 9 pm central for more prizes and fun.
• See the stunning Christmas Wreath samples the rest of the team is sharing today:  Christine, Cindy, Julie, Latisha, Laura, Stacy, and Sharon. 

Whew!  This has been some release!  Six sets, and all just wonderful.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the samples we’ve shared this week.  At midnight Friday the sets will be available in the store.  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Christmas Wreath, Musical Score & Words  Paper:  Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Classic White, BasicGrey June Bug  Ink:  Ranger Distress Walnut Stain, Chocolate Chip, Prismacolor and Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Rhinestones, Spellbinders Double Ended Tags (for sentiment), glitter, Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

The Holly part of today’s preview is a new background stamp, and together with this wonderful Santa marks the debut of Flourishes’ newest illustrator, Becky Fleck.  Oh, I see amazing things in Flourishes’ future as Becky joins Marcella Hawley and Lauren Pope on the Flourishes team, each of them creating some of the most beautiful designs to be found in the world of stamp images!

I had such fun creating this card!  Many of the details are lost in the photo but, perhaps, once I mention it, you can notice the flocking (with a bit of sparkle) on Santa’s beard, eyebrows, and hat trim.  His spectacle rims are colored with a Sakura gold glitter pen, and the lenses are made glassy with Crystal Effects.  The rest of the Santa image was colored with soft chalks, except the holly sprig which was colored with Copics from the Evergreen Collection, and the berries are a cluster of pearls.

To make the Holly background, I sponged vanilla ink on Classic Ivory cardstock, then stamped the Musical Score background (previewed earlier this week) in caramel.  The Holly background was stamped over top of that, then layered on Memory Box Winterberry, Mellow Moss, and Riding Hood Red.  The card is 5 1/4″ square.  I hesitated to add the bow but, gosh, Santa puts all those pretty bows on his packages, so I thought he probably wouldn’t mind.

• Take a chance on winning the Holly Background and the Santa, I Believe set –> here.
• To play the challenge which may win you all six October releases, visit –> here.
• To celebrate the release with games, chat, and prizes, let’s meet at the release party Friday night, 9:00 pm central –> here.
• Some utterly fabulous cards with today’s preview sets can be seen by visiting:   Christine, Cindy, Julie, Latisha, Laura, Stacy, and Sharon.

One more preview tomorrow will wrap things up.  Take care, and have a wonderful day!

Stamps:  Holly Background; Santa, I Believe  Paper:  Riding Hood Red, Mellow Moss, Memory Box Winterberry, Flourishes Classic Ivory  Ink:  Ranger Distress Walnut Stain, Riding Hood Red, Creamy Caramel, vanilla, Always Artichoke, Copics for coloring holly sprig  Accessories:  Ribbon, pearls, soft chalks, Sakura gold glitter pen, Crystal Effects, Sparkle Fluff (flocking), Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Welcome to our second preview of Flourishes‘ October releases.  I could tell you how beautiful I find this set, but I believe the images the team is previewing today will speak for themselves.

This elegant and gentle set is called The Holly and the Ivy.  For the best fit with my card design I chose a sentiment from the Musical Score Background which was previewed yesterday.  I decided to keep my card cool and wintery with blue, white and silver.  The doves are stamped with Versamark and embossed with silver embossing powder, then the image painted with Twinkling H20’s.  The last step was to sponge blue shading around the image.  The card size is standard A2 — 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″.

It’s layered on silver mirrored cardstock and framed with Spellbinders Frameabilities — Classic Frame.  Cool blue rhinestones and a silver organdy bow provide the final ornamentation and, best of all, I’m one card closer to getting my Christmas cards done.  I love these early days of stamping Christmas cards, when I can give them special attention… before I go into mass production mode. 

You can win this set, or you can win all six of Flourishes’ October releases.  Still more fun and prizes will be part of the festivities at Friday night’s release party in the Flourishes Forum on SCS.

For some beauties that will make your heart flutter, please visit the rest of the team:   Christine, Cindy, Julie, Latisha, Laura, and Stacy.  I believe Sharon has a card to share today, too.

Thank you for spending a part of your day with me.  There’s more to come tomorrow.  Hope to see you then!

Stamps:  The Holly and the Ivy, Musical Score & Words (soon to be released by Flourishes)  Paper:  Bashful Blue, Flourishes Classic White, silver mirror metallic  Ink:  Versamark, Bashful Blue, Twinkling H20’s for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, rhinestones, Spellbinders Frameabilities Classic Frames, 1 3/8″ circle punch, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Happy Tuesday, all!  I didn’t think I was going to have a card to share today, but I came home from work Monday night and stamped and colored this as quickly as I possibly could.  You see, today the Friends of Flourishes team has a challenge for you –> Timeless Tuesday.  You have your choice of four sketches — similar, but not exactly alike.  It’s actually one sketch turned four different ways.  This is not one of them!  I have another reason for making this card, and that is to share with you two of Flourishes’ soon to be released sets — Christmas Drummer, and Musical Score & Words (I hope I have the names right).  I was just so excited about coloring some of the images in this set, I couldn’t wait to make a card!  The Friends of Flourishes have some gorgeous cards to share with you, and there’s a prize for the challenge winner.  Follow the Timeless Tuesday link to read all about it.

In my haste to complete this card, I did all my stamping on a single white panel and simply added the sentiment, ribbon, and rhinestone accents for dimension.  After I stamped and colored the border of instruments and holly sprigs, I masked the border and overstamped the Musical Score background in a very soft gray ink.  For those of you who sometimes wonder, this is a standard A2 size card, 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″.

To mask the border I placed a panel of Crystal Clear Cardstock over the card front — with a clear view of my stamped images — and traced along the upper edge of the border, directly onto the clear cardstock, with a black fine-tip Sharpie.   I then cut along the traced line on the clear cardstock to create my mask.  Just in case that doesn’t make any sense at all, here’s a photo of my clear mask:

The rest of the design team girls have cards to share today, too:   Christine, Cindy, Julie, Latisha, Laura, and Stacy.

The Christmas Drummer set includes nutcrackers, which are just wonderful, and both of today’s sets have several useful sentiments, as well.  Very nice!  This Friday at midnight, all the new sets are scheduled for release.  I think you’ll like them!  We’ll be previewing one or more new sets each day the rest of the week.  I hope you’ll have time to check in for a peek.  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Christmas Drummer, Musical Score & Words (soon to be released by Flourishes)  Paper:  Real Red, Flourishes Classic White, Wild Wasabi textured  Ink:  Ranger Distress Walnut Stain, Ruby Red, Prismacolor markers for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, rhinestones, Spellbinders oval and Labels One Nestabilities, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Gosh, Friday seems so far away on Monday, but when it finally comes, I can hardly believe how fast it got here.  In fact, the whole month of September raced right past me and now it’s time again already for Flourishes’ Pre-Release Challenge.  Next week we’ll begin previewing the new releases.  Where does the time go?

We’re going to get things started today with our challenge — A Season That Sparkles.  Put some sparkle on a card, enter it in the challenge, and keep your fingers crossed that you might be the lucky winner of all six of the October releases.  Yes, you read right — all six!  Read more details on the Flourishes Newsletter.

A Christmas card is not a prerequisite of the challenge, but that’s what I chose to make since the season is fast approaching and I’m not nearly where I’d hoped to be with my Christmas cards by this time.

This ornate tree from the Flourished Christmas set is still a favorite, particularly for quick cards.  I stamped the tree with Versamark on Classic White and embossed with gold tinsel embossing powder — an oldie but goodie from my stash.  I added the sentiment and cut with a Spellbinders Labels Four die.  I do like to keep my Christmas cards as mailable as possible, so weight and dimension must be kept in check, but do not have to be sacrificed entirely.  I was able to add the very slim and delicate Finishing Touches embellishment to the raised main image panel without exceeding the bulk limit.  There’s a pink rhinestone set into it’s recessed center — a little extra touch of pretty with no extra dimension.  The metallic gold cord and bright pink satin ribbon can be found at Flourishes, as well.

Prepare yourself to be dazzled by the light when you visit the rest of the team:   Christine, Cindy, Julie, Latisha, Laura, and Stacy.

Best of luck to you with the challenge, and have yourself a wonderful weekend!

Stamps:  Flourished Christmas  Paper:  Flourishes Classic White, retired Stampin’ Up! designer paper  Ink:  Versamark, Adirondack Pesto  Accessories:  Satin ribbon, gold metallic cord, Finishing Touches brad, rhinestone, Spellbinders Labels Four die, gold tinsel embossing powder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Are you all stamping?  You can click on the blinkie, below, to find out what’s going on over at Splitcoaststampers, and –> here <– is a direct link to the challenge forum where you’ll find each challenge and the prizes up for grabs.  Just scroll down and look for all the threads that begin with “WCMD”.

I couldn’t pass up the chance to play in the sketch challenge presented by Flourishes.

I had this all set to go on flowers and polka dots, then decided to use BasicGrey Scarlet’s Letter instead.  I was in the mood for these rich reds, browns and greens — gorgeous paper!  The strawberries are colored on Classic White cardstock with Copics from Flourishes’ Poppy and Evergreen collections.  Oh, I need more Copics!  I love being able to grab these mini-collections Flourishes put together to make the color choices so easy, and the blending capabilities on their Classic White is sublime.  It’s funny, but my Copic coloring always comes out very similar to my watercolors.

Speaking of watercolors… I added just the tiniest bit of Creamy Caramel watercolor wash around the strawberries.  I went very lightly so as not to pill the paper.  If I were using bright, fun paper in the background I might have been inclined to leave out the shading, but the Scarlet’s Letter seemed to want the image shaded.

I followed Flourishes sketch very closely, even adding the flower and ribbon in the corner.  I enhanced the flower with a copper flower brad, having been inspired by Laura’s beautiful card –> here.  Do hop on over to Flourishes’ challenge to see the sketch and give it a try if you’re of a mind.  To see all the cards made with the sketch, you can check –> here.  More will be added throughout the weekend as the challenges continue through Sunday.  Enjoy, and happy World Card Making Day!!

Stamps:  Strawberries  Paper:  CTMH Pepperwood, Flourishes Classic White, BasicGrey Scarlet’s Letter designer paper  Ink:  Adirondack Pitch Black, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, Prima flowers, copper Finishing Touches flower brad