Timeless Tuesday ~ Scallops

Hey there Flourishes lovers!  We're back again for another fabulous Timeless Tuesday Challenge!  Hooray!

I'd like to take a moment to welcome the newest member of the Friends of Flourishes Team... Welcome Cheryl Lea!  Congrats Cheryl and welcome to the Flourishes family.  So glad that you'll be a part of our team.

For this week's challenge, our fantastic hostess Denise Marzec is challenging us...

...to create a card or project that includes some scallops!

(FTTC225) 

Super easy this week huh!?!  Here is the card I created using some scallops...

I began my card creating a 5"x5.5" card base using Flourishes Classic Ivory Cardstock.  I then cut a piece of the same cardstock for my front card panel.

I then used a vibrant piece of gorgeous green patterned paper (which if you look closely, has some pretty white scallops on it!) from our 123 Create Kit - "Trail Mix" and die cut it using a scalloped edge die from Spellbinders.  This month's kit is jam packed with gorgeous pattern patterns, 2 lush ribbons, some jute twine & pearls, cool wooden buttons and some flashy brads!

I then drew a pencil guideline on my ivory cardstock as to where I was going to position my scalloped green paper so I knew where to stamp.  Then I took the two strawberry images from our brand new stamp set, Berry Sweet Frames and some "Rich Cocoa" Memento ink and stamped away!

Then I coloured my strawberry images using the following Copic Collections:

To add some final touches, I stamped the pretty little gingham back ground from the Berry Sweet Frames using some "Pear Tart" Memento ink right along the double scored line I created using my Scor-pal tool.  And I added a simple sentiment from the same stamp set to finish right off!

I wrapped the top of my card front using the rich cocoa ribbon, tying the bow with jute string and a fun button which I coloured the inside to match the red of my strawberries; all of which are included in the 123 Create Kit - "Trail Mix".  Volia!  My card was finished!

Now... go on and check out all the fabulous scalloped inspired creations the rest of the Friends of Flourishes Team as created today...

• Allison Cope  -- you are here!
  
• Broni Holcombe
• Cheryl Lea
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Katie Sims
• Berni Cuttino, our June guest designer

Join us for our challenge this week and you could win some money to shop in the Flourishes store with!  Thanks for stopping by!

Don't forget to check out my Flourishes BLOG CANDY too!  Click the banner at the top of the blog or click HERE for details.

~ Ally ~

Sponsored by:  Flourishes LLC

Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (Berry Sweet Frames)
cardstock: Flourishes Classic Ivory
patterned papers: Flourishes 123 Create Kit
die cut shapes: Spellbinders
ink: Copic, Memento
ribbon, button: Flourishes 123 Create Kit
tools: Scor-Pal.

Lots of Stampy Fun Today!

Hi everyone!  Today's it's a 2-4-1 day for me.  Join me on the Flourishes Blog today to find out all about decorating your die cuts AND...

...also check out the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog for my article on using stamps & Copics to create back grounds!

Happy blog hopping today!

~ Ally ~

Come Sail Away With Me!

Happy Father's Day everyone!

I made this yesterday for my darling husband for Father's Day who obviously loves sailing!  I used my Klic n'Kut machine to cut all the pieces and then added some fun stitching.  So easy and I love how it turned out!  All the patterned papers I used came from the Fancy Pants Design "Down By the Shore" collection - I just love those little whales and octopi.

~ Ally ~

Supplies:

cardstock: Bazzill
patterned papers:  Fancy Pants Designs
die cut shapes:  Spellbinders

tools: Klic n'Kut

other: thread.

PageMaps & Flourishes Unite!

Hello all and happy Saturday! Today I have a special treat! Some of the Flourishes gals have joined the PageMaps™ team to usher in a little source of creative inspiration with Becky Fleck's latest round of Cardmaps sketches! Each designer took a different sketch and created to her heart's content!

Here's a peek at my sketch...

And here's a peek at my creation!

As soon as I saw Becky's sketch I knew I wanted to use some fun speech bubbles in place of her cute postage stamps.

So I grabbed my NEW "Call Me" stamp set and away I went...

I cut some simple speech bubbles from Flourishes Classic White Cardstock and some fun patterned papers using my digital cutting machine and then stamped all over my bubbles.  Cute huh?

Now if you hop on over to see these ladies below, you'll get fresh inspiration with different sketches and fabulous designs! And, if you want more than that -- you'll find it just a click away HERE -- with even more sketch ideas and samples! So, hop along and have some fun!

Allison Cope

Cindy Lawrence
Deborah Anton
Julie Koerber
Makiko Jones
Silke Ledlow
Stacy Morgan

To view the entire June line up of card sketches, please visit the PageMaps™ website HERE.

Come on out and check out what my fellow design team members created using Becky's beautiful card sketches at PageMaps™!

~ Ally ~

Sponsored by:  Flourishes LLC.

Supplies:
stamps: Flourishes (Call Me)
cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
stickers, patterned papers: My Mind's Eye
ink: Memento, Stampin' Up!
tools: Klic n' Kut
other: thread.

Natural Textures & a "Linen" Tutorial

Today's the last day to play along with the Textures of Nature Challenge over at Flourishes!  By playing along, you could win some of our amazing new June release stamp sets.  You check them out here!

So the challenge is to create something with an outdoorsy texture in mind – or use an element from nature as part of your design.  It could be the texture in an embossing folder that has woodgrain, leaves or vines, it could be a leaf rubbing behind your image, something glossy like rain or shiny like a berry.

So I created this natural feeling masculine card....

I used the fabulous new Flourishes 123 Create Kit - "Trial Mix":  I used the patterned papers, green ribbon, jute twine, pearls and a wooden button from the kit for my card today.

Here's a close up of my focal image.

To create the "linen" effect on my focal image:

1. I cut my white cardstock using a Spellbinder die.  
2. Leaving my cardstock within the die, I used my air brush and added a mix of yellows, oranges, browns and greens.
3. Next I added a bit of Copic Blender Solution to old baby cloth I have (it has cool texture to it!) and carefully dabbed the solution all over the image to give it the "linen" effect.
4. Then I went back with my blender pen and highlighted the clouds, tent and flags.
5. I then added a bit more colour to the trees, grass and scrubs using dots of colour.

I think the effect is cool!  Looks like it's been printed onto fabric!  Texture without texture :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you'll join us in our challenge!

~ Ally ~

Sponsored by:  Flourishes LLC

Timeless Tuesday "Open Sesame" with a Sneak Peek!!!

Hi all and welcome to day 1 of Flourishes’ fabulous sneak peeks and our Timeless Tuesday Challenge!!  You'll get a few opportunities to WIN our entire new June release stamp set just by playing along!  For the remainder of this week we will be sharing our newest stamp sets with you!  Aren't you excited?!  I sure am!

Since Sneak Peek Day 1 overlaps with the Timeless Tuesday Challenge, we have some amazing projects showcasing our newest beautiful floral stamp set by Marcella Hawley today...

This stunning new stamp set features a glorious spray of wildflowers along with some wonderfully heartfelt sentiments.  It will be a 'must-have' on your shopping list this week!

AND...another way to win...

You need to find out who today's Mystery Blogger is!  Hidden among the Design Team is one Designer who has this set to give away.  Comment on that blog and you could win today's beautiful Picking Wildflowers set!

For my challenge this week, create a card or project

 that moves or opens in a non-traditional manner (FTTC224)!  

In other words, create a card that doesn't just open normally.  Maybe it has a third panel like a tri-fold card or it has a greeting tag that pops up when you pull a ribbon!

There are lots of fun tutorials you can try out.  Here are just a few examples of some great card tutorials that will fit perfectly for this week's challenge:

Center Step Card
Circle Side Step Card
Concertina Fold Card
Criss Cross Card
Diamond Fold Card
Easel Card
Lever Card
Pop-Up Stage Card
Slider Card

For my card today, I decided to create a Center Step Card for my second card creation.

I began by creating my card base using the Bouquet cardstock from the Color Made Easy collection ~ Crocus.  Then I cut a rectangle of Flourishes' Classic White Cardstock and stamped my large poppy bouquet from the new "Picking Wildflowers" stamp collection using Memento "Black Tuxedo" ink.  I matted my image with the medium shade of purple, Snapdragon, from the Color Made Easy collection ~ Crocus.

I coloured my image using a TON of Copic markers from the following Copic Collections:

For my finishing touches I stamped some back ground subtle stamping using some delicious Memento "Elderberry" ink. I added some gorgeous Mango Orange seam binding ribbon from the Tiger Lily Color Made Easy collection.

Today we have both our Flourishes Finest Design Team AND our Friends of Flourishes Team sharing their "Open Sesame" inspirations with you!  Take a moment and leave some love on all of our designers' blogs.

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Christine Okken
• Cindy Lawrence
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Heather Jensen
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Julie Koerber
• Katie Sims
• Makiko  Jones
• Silke Ledlow
• Stacy Morgan
• Tosha Leyendekker
• Berni Cuttino, our June guest designer

Come and hop along and visit with all of our super talented designers and join us in our challenge this week for a chance at winning our ENTIRE new June release!!  Yup... that's right... you could win our entire new release just by playing along. Don't forget to comment as you go along because one lucky commenter today is going to win our new "Picking Wildflowers" stamp set!

Don't forget to check out my Flourishes BLOG CANDY too!  Click the banner at the top of the blog or click HERE for details.

~ Ally ~

Sponsored by: Flourishes LLC.

Supplies:
stamps:  Flourishes (Picking Wildflowers)
cardstock: Flourishes
die cut shapes:  Spellbinders
ink: Memento, Copic
ribbon:Flourishes
tools: Copic Airbrush
gems: Doodlebug 
other: thread, ribbon embelly.