Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String....

....those are the words that jumped out at me for the Favorite Things Challenge for Flourishes this month. I've been working a lot with Kraft paper lately because it's just so organic. I've also enjoyed working with recycled grocery bags and that is what I have used on this, along with button twine, gold embossing, etc. The wreat stamp and sentiment are from Flourishes "Christmas Wreath" set and the music background stamp is from their "Christmas Music" set. The wreath is gold embossed and then watercolored - loved working with this image. The set comes with a larger one also - perfect for a card focal point.



Along with that, the Cards blog for Scrapbook Trends Magazine is having a challenge to create Thanksgiving place cards. I love sweet little cards like this - although I'm not sure I'll be making 7 more for our dinner - maybe - I would love to have the time. Anyway, this is what I have created. The 2nd view shows more of the glitter.




I used Kraft paper, Fern Leaf & Chocolate (I think that's the name) vintage buttons, and button twine from Papertrey. The stamped border is a stamp from Crafty Secrets Mini Memories, the name is computer generated with Chopin Script, and the pinked text is from a very old book I found at the thrift store - I love this text and cannot seem to stop using it.

As a side note, I also received some very good news last night. A card I just submitted to "Cards" was picked up for the April 2010 publication. I am honored and humbled at the same time oh yes, and greatly excited!

Take care, have a wonderful day and try to spend at least a little time doing what you love.

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

Today's card was created for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge to use watercoloring. I'm waiting for my new order to arrive, so I wennt to Fall again and used the Falling Leaves set. The image is gold embossed and then watercolored using a mix of pencils and ink pads along with some metallic watercolors by Yasutomo. However, no matter what I tried - I was not able to show the shimmer this has in my photo - sorry! It looks much better IRL. The DP is by K & Co. Ancestor pad. The ribbon is from Michael's and the punch is MS, CS is Bazzill and the sentiment is gold embossed - It is by TPC Studios from JoAnn's.



Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Babies don't keep...

Isn't that true - mine grew up way too soon and those times just don't come back. This card was made for the Flourishes Release Challenge HERE. This month's challenge was a sketch and of course I was low on time, so took the easy way and went with the poem from last month's release set "Baby Love". This poem I truly love and has been a favorite of mine for for years. If only we could always remember and appreciate it. I used a white CS for the base and then the pink DP is Little Princess from Provo Craft, the yellow and pink is from SandyLion - I'm pretty sure it's no longer available - too bad, I love the pattern and the happy sweet colors. I'll continue to hoard this and use it by bits and pieces. The background for the focal point is a tag by K & Co. from Michaels. The ribbon is also from Michael's, the button twine is from Paper Trey, and the button is from a decorative button pack from the craft store. The trim is from my stash, but I still see it at the craft stores.

Take Care and have a wonderful weekend!

With Gratitude...

This card was made for the Timeless Tuesday Challenge at Flourishes. The challenge was to use red, olive, black and one other neutral - I chose cream. The CS is all Bazzill, and I used the Text CB folder to dry emboss and then accent with black ink the red panel. The stamp is from Flourishes "Thank You" set colored with Prismacolors and blended with OMS. I love the little lattice square done with a MS punch. I ran into this technique awhile back and really like it. You can find it HERE on SCS.


Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by. Take Care

Fit for Royalty....

That's the name of the challenge for August at Flourishes and this is what I have put together. Their new releases are going to be wonderful - there's an adorable baby set "Baby Love" that I can't wait to get my hands on. The party starts tonight on Splitcoast at 9 p.m. central.



For my card I used a lavender and deep purple CS by Bazzil and gold metallic paper I dry embossed with the CB folder "Textile". The image is from flourishes "Sweet Peas" set (LOVE IT!!)and I used watercolors after gold embossing it. The french wired ribbon is from my stash and I believe qualifies as vintage.

Have a wonderful Friday ladies. Try to spend some time today doing what you love...

Take Care,

Can you feel it....

Autumn comes early here and yesterday felt like Autumn - doesn't quite smell like it yet, but it's on it's way. I love fall, it's my most favorite time of the year. My in-laws were visiting last week for Hot August Nights and along with Lake Tahoe Holidays, it all kept me pretty busy so I apologize for not posting more.



My card today was made for the RubberStampChat Sketch Challenge sponsered this week by Flourishes. Flourishes stamps and products are among my most favorite and so I decided to play along. RubberStampChat is new to me, but looks like a great place - go by and give it a look. Simple sketch, and I opted to keep it simple using a base of brown CS from The Paper Co., and Tim Coffey's Fall Mat Pad by K & CO., I just got at Michael's - there are some really pretty fall papers in this pad. I edged each brown panel with a metallic gold calligraphy pen by Marvy, stamped the tulip from Flourishes "Thank You" set over the script dp, colored it slightly with Prismacolors and Koh-I-Noor pencils blended with OMS from Gink K, and accented it with dew drops from Ellen Hutson, LLC - I like the look - very clean and simple, and could be used for women or men I think. I'd like to get the time to do another card for this challenge and dress it up a bit - but we'll see...

Take care everyone

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday and Happy Pink Saturday

Good lovely summer morning to you - I can say that because about the highest temp around here ever....is 89 degrees and that's a heat wave for us - we act like it's 95and more. Typical high heat here is 85 - love it, never need an air conditioner just ceiling fans in each of the rooms and it's all good.



Today's post is for Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound - pop on over for some more "Pink" wonderful blogs by very talented people! Also for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge here, we were challenged to make a card with shades of 1 color mixed with white or cream, so here's my take. I used their Coffee with Friends set, baby pink ink by All Night Media, pearls from Ellen Hutson, and CB for the pink panel. The ribbon is from Michael's and the button was in my stash. It just so happened that I did the card in pinks - then I realized I could use it also for Pink Saturday - I've kind of run out of pinks so this was a bonus!

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Pink Saturday!!

Patriotism on Parade

These cards were made for Flourishes Patriotism on Parade Challenge - the intent is for them to be sent to the troops - that is if I can get them there on time. I'm always running against the clock and I just hope these make it! I made them very simple just Vintage Cream CS for the base, and 1 piece of DP from Carolees Creations. Stamps are from Flourishes Patriotism on Parade set, ink is Paris Dusk by Memento, a little stitching on one - and that was it - like I said very simple, very quick - so you might ask why I'm running so late - don't ask! It's very boring and tedious - LOL - Have a great day everyone.

Thank You...

This card was created for the Flourishes Easy Breezy 10 minute card challenge HERE. I hope that 10 minutes does not include deciding on papers etc., If that's the case I would NEVER be able to do a card in that short of time. Flourishes is having their release party tonight on Splitcoast, it's only an hour this time, so be sure to stop by in the Forums at 9 PM Central.

For this card, I used Basic Grey Porcelain papers and buttons, vintage cream seambinding, and a little stitching, along with dry embossing the DP. It really is a fast and easy card to put together - hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Take Care

Thank You

I'm sure most if not all of you are familiar with Flourishes. They have the most amazing products. I don't have a lot, but what I do have I truly love. They are having a release party tonight on Splitcoast in their forum from 8-10 Central time to release some truly lovely stamp sets. If you haven't seen any of them just follow this link to the Flourishes Newsletter for the details. And, not only are they releasing new stamp sets, they are now carrying papers by Jenni Bowlin - if you like vitage - you'll love these - thank goodness for PayPal and/or ATM cards.

So the card I've done today is for their challenge - Getting Sentimental! The challenge is to use one of their sentiments as the focal point, and so I have used the Thank You sentiment and also the Background Script from the Thank You set. When a paper is beautiful to me, I try to cover as little of it as possible and still hopefully make it interesting. I stamped the Script in a light pink on the background, attempting to make it subtle so as to not take away from the paper itself. In my attempt to not cover much of the paper, sometimes I lack interest, so I decided to try a MS open butterfly punch, and added stickles, a pearl, and 2 rhinestones along with my ribbon treatment, then I decided on a paper pierce look in the top left corner - it's not really paper pierced - I used my tracing wheel to run the lines, but I do like the effect. I had a hard time getting a good photograph of it, still not completely satisfied, but after at least a dozen pics, I decided that it was good enough.

Have a lovely Friday and stop by the Flourishes Forum at Splitcoast tonight 8-10 Central time.