Welcome to the debut of a unique new challenge called Bring Back Beautiful sponsored by Flourishes Stamps LLC. This challenge was started to showcase the true artistry in cards – cards that really highlight and focus on beautiful stamping. And who else better is there to show you some great stamping than this powerhouse design team?! I honestly have to tell you that I'm very intimidated by the sheer talent of these ladies, as each of them have been published in every single industry magazine numerous times, design stamps for companies, design team coordinators, and Beate is the Creative Director for Splitcoast Stampers. All of their accomplishments render me speechless. These women have inspired thousands in the stamping community with their willingness to help others and their amazing gifts. I am blessed and still stunned being asked to be on the design team of such a one-of-a-kind challenge and to have the privilege of working with these women. Although they need no introduction, here are my fellow Beauty Girls (design team members):
This challenge will be held the first Monday of every month at the Flourishes Blog. As we kick off our Bring Back Beauty Challenge, we focus on one of the things that can evoke a lot of beauty in card making – COLOR! Pick your favorite medium – watercolor, colored pencils, markers, alcohol inks…the sky is the limit! Show off your color and join us! Link up your Bring Back Beautiful Challenge creation at the Flourishes Blog to enter. If you upload to Splitcoast Stampers, please use the keyword BBB01. You have until August 31, 2010, to enter! As we unveil our challenge for September, 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 will receive a True Beauty blog button to display proudly on their blog!
Here is my card that I'd like to share with you. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design team's beautiful cards!
Stamps: Flourishes Berry Sweet
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Soft Suede, Papertrey Ink Stamper''s Select White
Designer Paper: Webster's Pages Sweet As Cherry Pie
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Accessories: Stampin' Up! Certainly Celery 5/8" satin ribbon, Martha Stewart faux pearls, stickpins from craft supply, Spellbinders Curved Rectangle Nestabilities
Size: 5 x 5
Challenge: Bring Back Beauty (BBB01)
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We had an unusual assignment today at the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges. Our sponsor is Karen's Doodles. We were to make a votive holder as our verse is Luke 8:16. You light up a votive candle and put this holder over it, and you can see the light through the cherry image. I thought to myself that there's no way I could pull this off as I don't do altered stuff very often or venture outside of the card arena, but it was actually quite easy. I used materials that I haven't used before, or in a long time. This project went perfectly along with our verse today of letting your light shine and I have to think, how often does my light shine and how bright is it? How about you? Let's all make it a point this week to really let Jesus shine through us. If you would like to make your own votive holder, here's a very simple tutorial that you can follow. There are so many possibilities as to how you can make yours look. Don't forget to share them with us! Thank you for stopping by today and God bless.
Stamps: Flourishes Peaches & Cherries
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Vellum
Designer Paper: Stampin' Up! Rockabilly
Ink: Stampin' Up! Real Red, Old Olive, black embossing powder, Versamark
Accessories: Stampin' Up! Scallop Edge punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch
Technique: Heat embossing
Challenge: Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges 49
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To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.
Today's Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge 74 (FTTC74) is Christmas in July. I had just gotten out of the Christmas spirit with all of my magazine work, but now I'm going to have to get back into it. Attending this year's Craft and Hobby Association SuperShow in Chicago in a few weeks will help me get back into the Christmas spirit as I'll be able to see AND bring home the new Christmas releases from various vendors. I'm very excited about attending this show and meeting my friends there!
For this challenge today, I winged, or made up (read trial and error) a technique or two, so I'm not quite sure what I think of this card, but I will tell you that Glimmer Mist covers a multitude of craft sins. I used the Lord Have Mercy Sketch Challenge 81 (MTSC81) to help me out. I usually have zero success with gold thread as it's very difficult to work with, but it's all in the sewing machine quality. Since last year's Janome to a Singer Fashion Mate, stitching on cards has made life so much easier. I will have to read the automatic threading feature one of these days because I'm as blind as a bat and I'm still threading manually.
So…..here's my card and I hope that you enjoy it and that it provides you with some inspiration. Thank you for stopping by again and looking. God bless. Don't forget to pray about the 2nd gum transplant that I am undergoing tomorrow morning on the lower right canine. After that heals, then it's back to the left side for a premolar. I wish I could have gotten that procedure done at the same time as the first lower left canine, but there's a crown on that tooth and the dentist said that it's an entirely different procedure because the gum won't adhere to the crown. I think he's trying to bankrupt me. But, you can learn a lesson from this. Don't be an aggressive brusher! I recommend and electric Oral B or Rota-Dent toothbrush. They'll do the job without ripping up your gums. I'm so crazy neurotic about that now that I'll lean over a 15x magnifying mirror to make sure that I get every single part of my tooth without touching my gums, but that's a whole other story and as I try to keep this blog pretty sanitized to all things crafty, I won't go on. I pray you have a very blessed day and keep me in your prayers as well.
Stamps: Flourished Christmas by Flourishes
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler, Brushed Gold, Very Vanilla
Designer Paper: SEI Holiday Lane
Ink: Versamark, Stampin' Up! gold embossing powder, Cherry Cobbler, Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder in Peeled Paint
Accessories: Stampin' Up! gold brads, gold cord, Modern Label punch, Scallop Oval punch, gold star from craft supply, Tattered Angels Pearl Glimmer Mist
Technique: Machine stitching, heat embossing
Size: 4-1/4 x 5-1/2
Challenge: Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge 74 (FTTC74), Lord Have Mercy Sketch Challenge 81 (MTSC81)
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.
Good morning and Happy 4th of July! I'm combining some design team work here because I'd like to spend some extra time with my family this weekend. This card is for Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 46 and I've been invited to be their guest designer this month! Whoo hoo! I love that challenge blog and play every Sunday. They always have the best themes and testimonials that touch your heart. Today, we are to make a card using either red or blue based off of the scripture 2 Chronicles 7:14 that reads: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Pretty powerful, isn't it? It's also very true. Unfortunately, mankind thinks that they know best and their ways will fix all of our societal and financial problems when in reality, they're getting worse. God does not, and will not, bless a nation who has turned their back on him and America has; frankly, bluntly, and honestly. I lived in New York when 9-11 happened and I remember the often asked question of, "Why did God allow this to happen" or "Why did God do this?" God allowed it to happen, but he didn't do it. 9-11 woke us up for about 10 seconds and then we went back to life as usual. What people need to understand and know about God is that he's a gentleman, and his presence will not be where he is not wanted. He's not wanted in our classrooms or our courtrooms, just to name a few places. If our nation's leaders were to humble themselves as 2 Chronicles 7:14 commands, you'd see God in action in healing our nation. Unfortunately, they won't and Biblical prophecy tells us this.
This little star card also covers my Paper Maniac assignment of using paint on your project. This was so difficult for me because I am not a painter and I'm not really happy how this turned out, which is one of the reasons why you see the white star covering the flag. Extra embellishments can cover a multitude of mishaps! This is also Week 5 of our Summer Spectacular Savings and to read all about our awesome sales and new products, I've included for you a copy of this week's Paper Maniac Newsletter.
Thank you for stopping by my blog today and may God bless you and your family. Be safe and have a great time at all of those family gatherings and BBQs!
Stamps: Flourishes Patriotism on Parade
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Real Red, Whisper White, Night of Navy
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tsukineko All-Purpose Ink in Red Delicious, Frost White, and Midnight, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist
Accessories: ProvoCraft Cuttlebug Stars A2 dry embossing folder, The Paper Studio star gemstones, red button from craft supply, Stampin' Up! Hemp Twine, Spellbinders Stars 5 Nestabilities
Technique: Painting
Challenge: Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 46, Paper Maniac Inspirations Design Team Work
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.
Good morning everybody. Today is an exciting day for me because I'm the guest challenge host for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge (FTTC73)! Can you believe that? On the last Tuesday of every month, Flourishes invites a guest host and this month it's me! Whoo hoo! I also got to pick out the challenge, which is very cool. Since it's summertime, eating fresh fruit is one of my favorite things to do and that's what our challenge is. We're having a fruit inspired challenge where you can create a card with fruits, use fruity colors, or be inspired by fruit shapes. It will be a cool and refreshing sweet treat whichever choice you decide. My favorite Flourishes stamp set is Cherries & Peaches, so that's what I decided to use. What can you create with this challenge? We'd love to see it! After you're done creating, you will want to go to the Flourishes Blog and enter your card there. If you decide to upload to an online gallery, please use keyword FTTC73. Thank you so much for playing along with us today and thank you to Flourishes for asking me to be their guest hostess this month! Here is what I made.
Stamps: Flourishes Cherries & Peaches
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White
Designer Paper: Teresa Collins Tags & Diamonds
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Accessories: Martha Stewart faux pearls, Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy buttons, Modern Romance Ivory Fabric Pearl string, Spellbinders Circle, Decorative Photo Corners, and Labels 3 Nestabilities
Technique: Dry embossing, die-cutting
Size: 5 x 5
Challenge: Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge 73 (FTTC73)
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.
For some reason, I've been making Christmas cards. I've been using Flourishes Stamps and playing along with their challenges. This week's Timeless Tuesday Challenge 72 was hosted by Silke Ledlow and she had a sketch challenge for us. I decided to ink up my Sleigh Ride stamp set and instead of coloring with Copic markers, which I usually do with Flourishes, I paper pieced my sleigh. I haven't purchased any new Christmas paper, but I'm sure that I'll come home with a ton of it from the Craft and Hobby Association Expo next month in Chicago that I'm attending. I don't know if I'm more excited to go to the expo or get to play in a big city! I am so looking forward to meeting my crafty friends that I've had online relationships with. That's going to be a blast! Three days of pure crafts, make 'n takes, paper, stamps, paper, stamps, embellishments. Very cool.
Anyhow, here's my card for this challenge. Again, I thank you for stopping by and as always, God bless you!
Stamps: Sleigh Ride by Flourishes
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Bravo Burgundy, textured Whisper White
Designer Paper: Basic Grey Wassail
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories & Embellishments: Stampin' Up! 5/8" Bravo Burgundy grosgrain ribbon, bling from craft supply
Tools: Spellbinders big scalloped rectangles Nestabilities
Technique: Paper piecing
Size: 5-1/2 x 4-1/4
Challenge: Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge 72
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.
