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Bring Back Beautiful with Winter Wonderland!

It is that time again. Time for Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful. This month the challenge is The Beauty Of Winter. Think holiday or winter themed creations!

The Beauty of Winter. This month the challenge is to create a winter/holiday creation. Link up your Bringing Back Beautiful Challenge creations here to enter. If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword BBB17. You have until December 31th 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! Winners will be featured on the Flourishes Blog and will receive a True Beauty blog button to display proudly on their blog!

Here's my take on the Winter Challenge!

I started with my newest Flourishes Stamp set; A Season of Celebrations! I love the gorgeous silhouettes in this set! They are fabulous for techniques and work perfect for simple cards. Mine ended up somewhere in between LOL! I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch for my layout, and I kept my colours monochromatic so I could also play the Playing in Paradise Challenge at Scrapbooker's Paradise!

The sledding silhouette from A Season of Celebrations was stamped on text designer paper by Authentique in Versamark then embossed with navy embossing powder. I cut it into a circle and layered it on a navy Lacey Circle. The Sahara Sand card base was embossed with snowflakes and the designer paper is from Bo Bunny's Midnight Frost designer paper from last year. I added a felt snowflake secured with a snowflake brad, then I picked up my White Opal liquid pearls and probably should have put them down sooner than I did! I added a pearl to the centre of every snowflake and then I created a "snowfall" of pearls in the sledding scene. I think it's kind of fun!

OK, are you ready to Bring Back Beautiful in a Wintery way? Here's a little inspiration to get you going:

Cindy
Heather
Kathy
Iwona

and welcoming back Beate!!

Come on now...this is the one way to enjoy winter. You don't have to drive or shovel. You won't get cold or wet. You'll be able to create a wonderful wintry card in the warm cozy comfort of your studio. And remember to link it up here when you're done, so we can marvel at your fabulous creations...in the comfort of our cozy slippers!

Happy creating!!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #100

 
100 sketches!  What a fabulous milestone, and I've have played along with these sketches for most of them.  I was playing along before Karen invited me to the Sweet Sunday Stampers team and I have enjoyed all of them.  OK...well, not the ones with the tilted panels or angles...but all of the rest LOL!

This will be my last sketch as part of the Sweet Sunday Stampers.  I need to reclaim my weekends for the sake of my family.  I have two dd's that need me now...not after I've finished my card.  It has been wonderful working with Karen and the Sweet Sunday Stampers, a really great bunch of ladies who are so incredibly talented and really fun(ny) to work along with!  I'll miss them all.

 

 Stamps:  Dictionary Greetings (Hero Arts), Baroque Motifs (SU)
Paper: White, Pink Passion (SU), Pink Coredinations, Be Mine DP (Echo Park)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Pirouette Pink (SU)
Accessories:  Bird & Swirls EF, Bright Pink sheer organza ribbon, swirl organza (TE), Scallop Border Punch (SU), Jumbo Scallop border punch (Sizzix), Circle dies (Spellbinders), gems (Recollections), Corner die (Cuttlebug), Pearl Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels)

I picked up this little set by Hero Arts and decided it would make a perfect card to say goodbye to my Sweet Sunday Stamping team, because they are such great friends.  I love pink...but you know that, and this shade of pink just tickles me...pink!  I stamped the sentiment in black and then added a flourish in Pirouette PInk.  It's not all that noticeable in the photo, but it's definitely there in real life!  I added some gems and bright pink ribbon.  When it was all said and done, I decided it needed a little more sparkle, so I spritzed it with some Pearl Glimmer mist.   I love the subtle shimmer it adds to anything!

Are you ready to play along with the sketch?  Work your magic and then link it up to Karen's post here.  You might be the lucky winner to be featured on her blog next week!

Need more inspiration?  Check out the amazing creations of the Sweet Sunday Stampers!

Jennifer Tapler

Karen Motz

Lynn Put

Sarah-Jane Kale'

Vicki Burdick

and of course Karen!

I just wanted to say, I appreciate every visitor and comment, and although it sometimes takes a while, I make every effort to stop by your place to leave some lovin' too!  Have a fabulous day and thanks so much for dropping in!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #99

 
WOW...it's been a while since I've posted.  I have just been in overwhelm with commitments, family and all that.  I'm running around wondering what I've forgot and hope I remember before it's too late.  Ever been there? 

So it's Sunday and I have a Sweet Sunday Sketch for you!  You know I love circles, and I love new stuff.  I pulled out my new "Tickled Pink" paper pad by My Minds Eye and a Verve set that I inked up for the first time.  I love these bright beautiful colours!

 

 Stamps:  Dream Big (Verve)
Paper:  Melon Mambo, ivory, Tickled Pink DP (My Minds Eye)
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Versafine Onyx Black"
Accessories:  Circle dies (Spellbinders), Melon Mambo grosgrain ribbon (SU), Blue Jumbo ric rac (American Crafts), Rhinestone (MME), jumbo brad (MM), Butterfly (SU)

Just about everything on this card was "broke out" for the first time!  So much fun!  It was fun to put together and these colours are perfect for birthdays and spring.  Very unlike the blizzardy snow storm we are experiencing here in Central Alberta.  Brrr!!!

Are you going to play with us?  Create a project using the sketch and link it up to Karen's blog here!  You might be featured on her blog next week.  Need more inspiration?  Have a quick tour to see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers did with the sketch!

Jennifer Tapler
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

Have a fabulous day!  I'll be back tomorrow with something new!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #97...a day late and a dollar short!

 
Well Sunday is almost over and here I am finally posting my Sweet Sunday Sketch.  So what's up?  Well, I left it til the last minute and then I just couldn't bring it to a place I liked.  It was definitely not something I'd be sharing on my blog in fact I hated it!  It was too late to start something new last night...not to mention it seemed as though my mojo had up and left me for someone new.  So I decided to try again today.  This time I pulled out a set that I have always considered a no-fail set; a fall back when I can't make anything else work...Upsy Daisy by Stampin' Up..and I do believe it came through for me one more time!

 
I really liked Karen's sketch and thought it had so much potential.  I really look forward to using it again...but in my fragile state of mind, working with my old faithful proved to be quite satisfying.

 
I stamped the daisies in Crushed Curry on Whisper white, and applied a generous coat of Yellow Stickles.  Oh, the sparkle is so amazing...I love sparkle and shine! The designer paper is Razzleberry something... and the card base is Melon Mambo.  ( 3 1/4" x 6") I also added a dot of stickles on each scallop of the border.  I cut a butterfly with my Sizzlet and ran Yellow stickles along the embossed portion and finished it with a yellow rhinestone.  This card is almost SUO!

 
Well, if you haven't had a peek at what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers dreamed up, well you are seriously missing out on some amazing inspiration:

Jennifer Tapler
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

I hope you have plans to play along with this super fun sketch!  Link it up to Karen's blog when you're done, and you might be featured on her blog next week!

Have a fabulous day and I hope to see you soon!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #96

 
Happy Sunday!  I'm running a little late today; I worked until 1:00 this afternoon and when I got home my youngest DD and I baked cookies!  It was a good day.  Good not only because we baked cookies, but good because I spent it with her.  We started decorating them, but decided to finish tomorrow (well today LOL!), because baking 80 cookies took all we had.  We finished the evening watching The Santa Clause 2 (for the 50th time), and then I finally got a chance to sit down and stamp!  Yes, it was a good day!

Here's my Sweet Sunday sketch card.

 
I don't want to tell you how much Christmas paper I bought this year, although I will say this is the only "line" I hadn't cut into.  It's by Fancy Pants, and I loved the rich colours and text.  The stamp is an old SU stamp, that I thought went well with the paper.  I inked it in Bravo Burgundy Craft ink and embossed it in Opalescent ep by Clearsnap.  It's so pretty in real life, but you have to move it to catch the opalescent shine.  The crystal flourish is by Zva and it's called Fire and Ice, and it's opalescent too!  I have to tell you this card is so beautiful in real life...almost like a New Year's card might be!  The scalloped border is a Sizzix die and I added some opalescent rhinestones to finish.  Oh and the flower is by Prima, and I replaced the pearl it had in it's centre with another opalescent rhinestone.

I liked this sketch it was fun and easy to work with and I hope you're ready to play along!  Have a peek at the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers' creations if you need some inspiration!

 Joanne Basile
Jennifer Tapler
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

OK...now it's up to you!  Be sure to link your project to Karen's post here, and you just might be featured on her blog next week!

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for dropping by!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #95

 
Happy Sweet Sunday!  Karen has a fun sketch for us this week, and I know you're going to enjoy playing with it!  I pulled out one of Taylored Expressions sets from last year, called Wings of Joy!  It's a fun an whimsical set and gave me an excuse to ink up an image I hadn't used before!  I paired it with the Snow Day Project Pantry kit, that arrived in my mailbox a while back...it seemed the perfect match!

 

 

 
I absolutely love the bright fun colours in the Snow Day paper pad by Crate Paper, which comes in the Snow Day Project pantry kit.  It determined my colour combo right off!  The little line of socks and mittens is so sweet, but it was actually too large to fit in the image panel on my 5 1/4" square card, so I inked it up omitting the little birds and stamped it in Memento Tuxedo black and then I stamped the birds separately.  All the little items were cut out and popped up.  I love the sentiment which is two separate stamps, giving you more options!  I punched the 2nd part out with the word window punch and tied it on with red and white twine.  The ribbon is Bermuda Bay grosgrain, and the little border is from the Snow Day border sticker sheet which is part of the kit.  Oh, I miss those kits!!

If you need a little more inspiration before taking a run at this week's sketch, then pop in for a quick visit at the design teams' blogs!

Joanne Basile
Jennifer Tapler
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

Ok, that's it for me!  Thanks for dropping by and have yourself a fabulous day!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #94

  Hello Stampers!  It's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch, and I had some fun putting this one together.  I decided to venture out and do something different with my circle, and use some of these fabulous felt snowflakes I've had for so long.  I think this is an easy sketch to work with and I hope you do too and will play along with us!

 

 

 

I've had these felt snowflakes from Stampin' Up! for quite a while now, and honestly I have hardly used any.  I ordered a couple sizes, and these big ones really threw me.  I mean they are big...about 3" across.  But I want to get in the habit of using some older stuff, since it helps me justify the massive quantities of new stuff that crosses my threshold these days, so I layered them up in place of the circle!  The sentiment is from Flourishes Warm Winter Wishes and I set it in a Chatterbox brad...I am going to run out of those little gems.  It's one product I have really made use of.

The card base is Kraft and I used Flourishes "Warm Winter Wishes" to make the snowflake background in Riding Hood Red.  I ran the Riding Hood Red section through my Cuttlebug with my big snowflake embossing folder, and tied Baja Breeze ribbon around it.  I taught a class the other night and we used large red Kaiser pearls, and I was left with all the little ones...so I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to use them up.  I added pearls to the spokes of the white snowflake and to each of the stamped ones.  Here's a close up of the snowflake:

And another view straight on.
 Funny thing, I had the card set for the shoot, and decided it needed something else....so that's how the border of snowflakes on the blue came to be.  Did I make the right call?

You are going to love taking the tour to see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers did with the sketch...I know I love this part the best.  And when you're done, ink up your stamps and give the sketch your best shot!  Link it up here, on Karen's blog.  One lucky person will be selected to be featured on Karen's blog next week!

Joanne Basile
Jennifer Tapler
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

Happy Sunday folks!  Thanks for dropping by...it's truly been a pleasure having you!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #93

 
You know sometimes I just don't think.  I am so used to being at home with all my toys at my fingertips, that when I pack up my stuff to go out to stamp, I just don't bring the right stuff.  I always try to challenge myself when I plan to stamp at my Dad & sister's place in Calgary, so this time I brought a couple Stampin' Up! sets that I haven't inked up in a while.  Both were silhouette stamps, but I wasn't thinking about ink.  I stuffed in a bunch of Stampin' Spots that I had accumulated from various kits, but a very random collection.  I also only packed my scraps of DP...but none of the SU designer papers, which would have helped at least in coordinating with my inks.  So my card was a real challenge and I used colours I probably wouldn't have put together other wise, although in the end I do like it.

 
I really liked this sketch, and I was actually creating another card with it, when I realized I didn't have a sentiment for the snowflake set I brought along, so I'll have to save it for another day. The set I used here is Stem Silhouettes and I stamped two of the images in Always Artichoke and Really Rust.  The designer paper is from Basic Grey's Pyrus, which was one of the few papers that matched up to the ink colours I brought.  I seem to have issues with plain bare paper, so both exposed pieces of cardstock were run through the Cuttlebug to add a little texture.  The sentiment is from Kind and Caring Thoughts and it's layered on a Spellbinder's eyelet circle.  I tied a button to the knot of the ribbon, and that's all there was to it.

I am really looking forward to some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers, so come along with me for a Sunday visit!

Joanne Basile
Jennifer Tapler
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

Now it's your turn!  Give the sketch a go, and link your project up to Karen't post here, and you might be featured on her blog next week!  I can't wait to see your spin on it!

I'm heading home today...gosh weekends go fast.  I hope yours was wonderful and your Sunday is as Sweet as can be!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #92

 
It's Sunday and time for a fabulous new Sweet Sunday Sketch!  I really liked this sketch, maybe because it actually came together quite quickly for me.  I pulled out a set I purchased probably a year ago for it's first inking.  Honestly, I just have way too many stamp sets and many of them have not been used, and I hate to say it, but most that have been used, have only made one appearance.  I might as well by stickers or rub ons, because at the rate I use them, it would be cheaper.  Anyway, enough of a rant.  Here's my card!

 

 
Stamps:  Feel the Joy (Unity), Distressing (Glitz)
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Groovy Guava, Dusty Durango (SU), Birchtone Dark (Prism)
Ink:  Dusty Durango, Memento Tuxedo Black & Rich Cocoa, Vintage Photo distress ink
Accessories:  Scallop square die (Spellbinders), Chocolate pearls (Kaiser), tag punch (Fiskars), hemp twine, Brick texture fade (Tim Holtz), ribbon (SU), pop dots

I decided to pull the colours from this week's Colour Challenge #295 at SCS.  Funny enough, I don't have any of the colours.  It called for Peach Parfait, Cajun Craze and Early Expresso; and I substituted Groovy Guava, Dusty Durango and Birchtone Dark.  I think they look great together and I have so much of the In Colours that I don't reach for any more, it was a good enough excuse to pull them out.

The card base is Birchtone Dark and the front is Dusty Durango run through Tim Holtz's brick wall texture fade.  I started by stamping the text stamp from Glitz's "Distressing" set.  It was stamped in Rich Cocoa, stamped off once.  The spray of blooms was stamped in Dusty Durango right over the text.  I sponged a little Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges to make it work.   I slso stamped the blooms in Dusty Durango on the Dusty Durango centre piece.  The sentiment from Feel the Joy was stamped on Groovy Guava and punched out and tied around the image with hemp twine.  I love this card!

Wanna see more?  Check out what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers have been up to and then give it a go yourself!  Link your creation up to Karen's post here and you might be featured on her blog next week!

Joanne Basile
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

That`s all I've got for now! Thanks so much for dropping by...it's always a pleasure to have you!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #91

 Happy Halloween!  The day has finally arrived much to the anticipation of my kids.  I myself am not a halloween person...except for making the cards.  I don't care to dress up, but I like giving out the candy.  This year both my girls are going to be trick or treating with friends, so I don't even have to worry about taking them out.  Funny how that happens.  Anyway, in celebration of the big day I made a Halloween card!

I liked this sketch, and it's one that I will file away for a time when I get stumped.  It's pretty easy to work with...I like circles, but ovals run a close second! 

 

 

 

 
Stamps:  Haunted (My Minds Eye)
Paper:  Basic Black (SU), Haunted DP (My Minds Eye)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Whisper White craft (SU), Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Oval Spellbinders, Black Crocheted ribbon (May Arts), Ink Sweeper sponge, Black EP(Tsukineko), bat eyelets (?), Eclipse masking tape

I just had to have the Haunted paper pack by My Minds Eye.  I just loved that it was kraft based, plus the images are all flocked!  In fact most of the papers have flocking on them...fun stuff!  I always love text based papers so I had to choose this paper for my card.  I cut an oval out of kraft and then cut another out of Eclipse masking tape, and punched a circle out of the masking tape.  I placed the mask  over the kraft oval and sponged white craft ink on it and heat set it to dry it faster.  The witch image was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and embossed in black.  I stamped the sentiment below it then sponged Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges to help it match the designer paper.  Those little eyelets I've had forever along with black cats, ghosts and pumpkins.   I think this is the first of them I've ever used...but I had to have them all LOL!  I wrapped crocheted ribbon around the belly and stuck a little scrap of plain kraft to give it a little more pop.  That's it!

Now you know the Sweet Sunday Stampers have been up to some creative fun, so hop around to see what they have in store for you!

Joanne Basile
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

Now it's your turn!  Give the sketch a try then link your creation up to Karen's post and you might find your card featured on her blog next week!

Happy Halloween!  I hope you have a horribly wonderful time!