Cindy Coutts Designs

Good morning and welcome to Flourishes Bring Back Beauty Challenge 2! Everybody was so thrilled to see the awesome turnout we had for our first challenge. For our True Beauties winners, don't forget to pick up your True Beauty blog badge!

Our new challenge for you today is Rustic Beauty. As the leaves start to change colors to usher in fall, we want to see you rustic beauty. Interpret this challenge however you like – want to use a little distressing? Want to use shades of rust? Want to use things that look aged or antiqued? You choose! Just make sure that the end result has a rustic feel to it. Link up your Bring Back Beautiful Challenge card here. If you upload to Splitcoast Stampers, Christian Paper Crafts, or other online galleries, please use keyword BBB02. You will have until September 30 to enter. As we unveil our challenge for next month, we'll share our True Beauties – those card makers who wowed us with this challenge. The winners will be featured on the Flourishes Blog and receive a True Beauty blog badge to proudly display on their blog!

For my card that I wish to share with you, I did a little bit of everything from distressing to shades of rust to the leaves turning. I used a technique for my tree that's normally reserved for enhancing images rather than using it for the entire image, and that's sponging. Layering color with sponging can still have stunning effects. I sprayed my image with Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze to shine it up a bit. This card is similar to the card that I have published in the Paper Creations Fall Edition, available on newsstands now. This is a fabulous stamp set and I've had 3 cards published in the past 6 months using Forest of Trees. I hope that you like my card and thank you so much for stopping by today to visit me and God bless!

Please be sure to stop by the Bring Back Beauty Design Team member blogs to see how they brought your some beauty!

Beate Johns

Becca Feeken

Julie Koerber, Design Team Coordinator

Kathy Jones

Michelle Woerner

Yvonne Hagane

BLOG CANDY: Today's Treasure is Exodus 3. Read it and you'll see why I chose this. Now for the blog candy. If you can tell me why I chose Exodus 3, leave a comment, and become a follower of my blog by midnight CST September 17. I'll draw a name from those who left a comment and became a follower of my blog, or already follow my blog and commented, and your prize will be the Flourishes Forest of Trees stamp set! Be sure to stop by around noonish or so CST on Friday, September 17 to see if you're the winner. And please, don't become a follower of my blog just to win a prize. I think that is very thoughtless and greedy. Become a follower because you want to.

Stamps: Forest of Trees by Flourishes
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Designer Paper: Basic Grey Indian Summer
Ink: Stampin' Up! Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Poppy Parade, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Stampin' Up! 5/8" Basic Black satin ribbon, Black Flourish Designer Jewels, Jenni Bowlin Stick Pin, Maya Road Pearl Trinket Pin, leaf embellishment from craft supply, Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities, Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze
Technique: Sponging, machine stitching
Size: 5-1/2 x 4-1/4
Challenge: Bring Back Beautiful #2 (BBB02), Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #87 (MTSC87)

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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Good morning. Today is Cardabilities Sketch 10 and it's a fun one, as they all are! I made this very bright and cheerful card for my son and daughter-in-law, who it doesn't look like that I'm going to be able to see until Christmas and that breaks my heart, because that will be over a year since I've seen them. It's just always so crazy busy. Both of our schedules are hard to coordinate, but we have to make and take the time to see each other.

I hope that this inspires you in some way and don't forget to check out what the rest of the awesome design team created for this challenge as well! Please join us today. We'd love to have you play along! God bless you and have a fabulous day! Thank you for stopping by to see me.

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated.

Stamps: Aviary, Whimsical Words
Card Stock: Pure Poppy, Very Vanilla, Daffodil Delight
Designer Paper: Baja Breeze Designer Series Paper, Pure Poppy Designer Series Paper
Ink: Pure Poppy, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black
Accessories: Baja Breeze Designer Button, Hemp Twine, Daffodil Delight 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Pure Poppy 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Spellbinders Oval and Scallop Oval Nestabilities, Spellbinders Labels One Nestabilities
Technique: Die-cutting and dry embossing
Size: 5-1/2 x 4-1/4
Challenge: Cardabilities Sketch 10

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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Good morning and I pray that you are having a very blessed Sunday so far. Today's Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 54 is based off of Proverbs 27:17, which reads, "Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Translation: Choose your friends wisely. If your friend doesn't lift you up in the Lord or slap your hand when you need it in the Lord, then they are not a friend. A friend will maintain this balance. Sometimes they'll let you fall, sometimes they'll pick you up, but the main point is you have to determine whether a friend is a blessing or a curse in your life. I have a ton of people whom I am acquainted with, but there's only a handful of people on the face of this earth who I know I can go to if there's trouble or I need some help or prayer or just some good old-fashioned guidance on something, and they will keep it confidential and pray for me. I take it to one person only, not the entire gamut of my circle. You have to be very discerning. I live in a small town, like Mayberry small, and the gossip around this place is absolutely horrible. I've never seen anything like it in my life, so I keep a distance from a lot of people, and this includes those I go to church with! That's what's really pathetic! I have very close friends at church, praise God, but I also know who to keep my distance from as well. Be discerning and pick and choose your friends wisely, because whoever  you hang out with, they will also rub off on you too.

For our challenge today, we are to use metal on our cards. I chose a library clip to use on my masculine card. Digital Delights is graciously sponsoring us today. Be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team to see what they made for this challenge! Thank you for stopping by and may the Lord bless your day.

All products used to make this card are Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Motorcycle, Occasional Quotes (Hostess)
Card Stock: Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, textured Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Going Gray, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Square Lattice embossing folder, sponge, Library Clip, Hemp Twine
Technique: Tearing, sponging
Size: 5-1/2 x 4-1/4
Challenge: Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 54

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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BIRTHDAY BLOG HOP WINNER IS JANARIA! Congratulations girlfriend! Send me an e-mail (you know where to find me), so that I can get your stamp sets out to you! Thank you all so very much who participated and for your very kind comments too. I am so blessed to be amongst ALL of you!

For today's Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges, I'm the hostess and this is the first time that I've done this. Instead of reading what I wrote here, I'd like you to go to Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges 53 and the verse we're focusing on today is Psalm 56:3. That verse has been on my heart lately, a lot lately, like thinking about it all the time lately; "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." We have to do our write-ups a few weeks in advance to give the design team time to pray on what they're going to do for the challenge. Since I've done my write-up, Pete's contract has ended and he's now working and living halfway across the United States. I'm glad that contract is up, but there's a few more in the works. There's one here or a chance to go back to New York in 11 months. Do you know how excited I am and get just thinking about that?! It can't come soon enough. Then again, I love my house and the weather here. I know those are small things, but they're important to me. I don't know what to do or think. I'm all over the place. So I still need to trust in the Lord to see where he will take us, if he takes us anywhere, and it will be for a reason. He knows how I feel about dropping my kids off all over the country. My daughter will be 19 by the time New York rolls around and she's been mandated to come with us. She told me, "I'm ready to go home, mom." BUT, what we're thinking about is that New York is the same home. Things have changed, people have moved elsewhere, the school scaled back to K-5, a lot has changed, yet we're expecting time to have stood still for us. That hit me the most the first 1-2 times I went back and I didn't like it at all. If I adapted once, I can adapt again. Familiar faces are so important to me too seeing them and having a history with my friends that I don't have here at all. Please keep this in prayer for me. Confusion is not of the Lord and I need direction. Also with Pete's contract ending, we got hit with a $32,000 cut in pay annually. Ouch. I won't be purchasing anything whatsoever and am really cracking down on funds and doing a lot of eBaying. I don't need the newest, latest, and greatest of something that's going to be popular for a month. If you truly think about it, it's a bit on the insane side. God will stretch our budget and increase my gift to glorify him. I'm not so afraid anymore. It's just changed to confused and a lack of direction, so I'm redirecting my prayers asking for clear direction and I also covet your prayers as well.

For today's challenge, you can either just focus on the verse of Psalm 56:3 or recall a "Jesus and me" moment when he revealed himself to you. It's more of a personal challenge that maybe only you can understand, but my purpose for this is for you not to forget what the Lord has done for you in your life and how you've drawn closer to him.

As expected, my card is about moving. It's very clean and simple, and that's the way that I wanted it for today. We all thank you for participating in our challenges and would also like to thank Sassy Studio Designs for sponsoring us today. God bless you and I'll see you next Sunday with another awesome challenge to use our gift to glorify the Lord and spread the gospel. Be sure to check out what my design sisters did for this challenge too! They'd love to hear your comments. God bless.

Stamps: Gina K. Designs Oh Boy!
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream
Designer Paper: October Afternoon Road Map
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Accessories: Stampin' Up! silver brads, Baja Breeze striped grosgrain ribbon
Size: 5-1/2 x 4-1/4
Challenge: Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 53 (SSCC53), Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge 86 (MTSC86)

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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Today is Cardabilities Sketch 9. This one was definitely a challenge for me and I had to think about how I was going to pull this off for a good part of the morning, so it was one of those all day long cards. We had a very unique sketch to work with, the kind that makes you think, and the kind that is a true challenge in every sense of the word. It takes you out of the box and creating. All in all, it turned out to be a lot of fun. When I had it completed, I'm looking at it with that, "something's missing," feel, so I decided to bling up the cherries, but I hate working with glitter because it's so messy! Easy way around that I found by mixing up some Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects with the glitter and I dabbed it on my cherries. If you paint it on in strokes, it leaves brush marks. I sat here diligently dabbing for a while until I was happy with the outcome. I let it sit overnight to completely try and then took my pictures in the morning. This is definitely a great way to spice up your chipboard! Here's your sketch and my card with the recipe is underneath. Make sure you stop by the Cardabilities Blog to see what the other design team members created and leave them some love.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that you have a very blessed day. Today's Treasure and Quiz! What's a Proverbs 31 woman do? She makes a Home Sweet Home!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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Just a few quick cards to share with you this evening before I finally go to bed because I don't think I've been to bed before 2 a.m. all week long! All products used for this card are Stampin' Up! God bless!

Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Card Stock: Early Expresso, Very Vanilla
Designer Paper: Sweet and Sour
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red
Accessories: 1-5/8" Early Expresso Satin Ribbon, Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, Scallop Trim Punch
Technique: Rock 'n Roll
Size: 4-1/4 x 5-1/2
Challenge: Our Creative Corner Sketch Challenge 28 (OCCSC28)

Here's another card for you where all products used are Papertrey Ink with the exception of the Recollections faux pearls.

Stamps: On My Couch
Card Stock: Dark Chocolate, Stamper's Select White, Hisbiscus Burst, Aqua Mist
Designer Paper: 2008 and 2009 Bitty Dot Basics
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Hisbiscus Burst
Accessories: On My Couch die-cut, Hisbiscus Burst ribbon, On My Couch die-cut, Hisbiscus Burst ribbon, Large Scallop die-cut, Recollection faux pearls
Technique: Sponging, die-cutting
Size: 5-1/2 x 4-1/4
 

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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