Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge~by Me!

 

I am so excited to be the guest designer this month for the Flourishes Timeless Tueaday challenge!! As the guest designer, I was asked to submit a fun challenge and make a card to accompany it.
For the challenge if you already have Flourishes stamps, by all means, use them...but if not, play along anyway!
You may visit the Flourishes Newsletter to read more about it, and submit your cards.


The Challenge:

Summer Sojourn

With the last days of summer, it is time to bid farewell to long languishing days and warm endless nights! The school bells are ringing and children are catching the bus (or mom's carpool) all over this land!
We stampers are always looking ahead to the next project, hailing in the next holiday...but this week before we wave our final good-byes to summer's end...let's take one last backward glance. This week's Tuesday Challenge is to capture a memory of this summer in your card. Was it canning the last fruits of the garden, berry picking, a summer trip to the ocean or mountains, family celebrations...whichever conjurs up a memory to you, put it in your card. Then along with your card, share your memory with the rest of us stampers so we can celebrate with you!!
Have fun creating!!

I just recently received this set, "Humming Along" from Flourishes, and knew right away it would get a lot of use. This spring, a family member unexpectedly sent me a one-of-a-kind patented hummingbird feeder made in Virginia. We took it to our mountain retreat in Colorado and I filled it and hung it on our small deck. It took a couple of days for the hummingbirds to find it, but once they did, it was so fun to watch. The birds were the smaller varieity, dipping and diving each other, but what really tickled me was they could perch on the edge and be still. Up until then, I had only seen them in flight, so it was a treat to view their full beauty and just how tiny they were! I was actually able to capture them in a photograph! So that was one of my many summer memories, just the simple joy of watching God's handiwork in nature!!

Stamps: Flourishes "Humming Along"
Paper: PTI white, SU! Presto Patterns, Bazill Pink, Basic Grey 6x6 pad (Lemonade)
Ink: Baja Breeze, Soft Sky
Accessories: White satin striped ribbon SU!, Labels 8 Nestabilities, Little Yellow School Bus stick pins, beads from SU! Pretties Kit, Basic Grey rhinestones,Circle Nestabilities

Thanks for stopping in, hope you will participate in the challenge!
Thanks so much Flourishes, for the opportunity to be guest designer this month!!

The balm of Friendship

It is Sunday, and that means a new Stamping Sisters in Christ challenge! This week the Lovely Linda encouraged us with her words on friendship and the accompanying scripture. You can visit their blog here. Linda's verse was
Proverbs 27:17
"As iron sharpens iron, so a friends sharpens a friend."

I just recently received my first ever WaltzingMouse stamps order...these are "nestability friendly" stamps meaning they are designed to fit into the nestabilities perfectly. Using Webster's Pages paper and this wonderful pink silk wide ribbon, this card was very easy to fashion! This ribbon reminds me of first proms and white gazebos with pink roses, and all things pure and innocent! The sentiment is one that drew me to this stamp...friendship is indeed a balm to the soul!~! The challenge was to add metal to your card, this ribbon slider is from the Flourishes store.
Thanks for stopping in and I wish you a blessed Sunday!

Serene Christmas

Today's card is my submission for this month's Christmas challenge by Flourishes Stamp Company! The challenge this month was to make a flat card, one that is mailable with one stamp. Now it didn't say the stamp had to be 44 cents postage, but that is what I think they are going for.
I have just recently received this set, Forest of Trees, and decided to create a circle mask using my nestabilities and sponging a soft sky ink around the inside perimeter. My image was inked and then a darker marker was thumped for color dimension, then spritzed and finally stamped on Flourishes watercolor paper.
I added some icicle stickles to the tree and some gingham ribbon around the corners attached with scor tape.
The sentiment was then added (holding my breath, I might add!)
I love the simplicity of this, although it took me a few tries to get the spritzing right on the paper.
Hope you enjoy! One card down...many more to go!!

Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens!!

Yes, it is another Teapot Tuesday in stampland...over on SCS my friend, Cindy, (Mothermark) has a teapot this week without a head. Something about chickens too...so I went straight to my stamp shelf and pulled out this cutie image from Penny Black. How did she know I have been just waitin on the word, "chicken" so I could put these cute critters to ink!!
Anyway, to read the entire story, take a quick peek at the story, just click on the polkadotted teapot in my sidebar (scroll down) and you'll get there!!
Hoping everyone is having a great Tuesday!!

Double Rainbow

 

Can you see it?? This picture was taken at Steamboat Lake this past summer when so typical of Colorado, we were caught unaware by a brief thundercloud and ensuing rain. We were huddled in the boat under the cover for about 20 minutes, teeth chattering and whipped by the rain while my husband calmly kept throwing his fishing line in off the back of the boat waiting out the storm.
But after the rain, the rainbow. Not only one, but two...which made the storm and the wait so worth it. Don't you just love rainbows?

Serigraph!! Seriously?

Lately life seems to be one pit stop after another...the inbetweens are the little respites between big events. I would like to say that I handle all the changes in life with ease, that I glide through one transition after another...but that isn't the case. So in my effort to blog about the past two weeks, I have a little coaster I made using stazon inks, tissue paper, and modge podge. I still need to apply a coat of sealer to this, and it is not perfect, but if I wait for perfection, this blog will soon be a thing of the past! But I love the vibrancy of the colors and think is a project I want to try again using this technique!

The second is a card I made late last night...that should explain a lot!! I wanted to give this technique a whirl as I had seen it on my friend, Charlene's, blog (Where m&m's Gather here... and loved the look! So pulling out my inks and embossing powders, I went to town...thinking this would be quick and easy! Not so, but it was something different for me, and I think I might use this as a manly card. I used two different stamp sets and several distress inks for this. A simple sheer ribbon and the "HB" was stamped separately, punched and added last. I kind of like it...what do you think?
It is fun to take a break from your usual style and try something new...hope this inspires you as well!!
My word of caution: don't attempt this after midnight~!

Hide and Seek

Good afternoon!
So happy to be home again and near my stamp room!
This card was made for two of this week's Flourishes Challenges: the sketch was given by Cindy Haffner and I chose this sketch to fashion my card.
The second was a challenge "Kid's Play"...don't you just love that picture? The challenge was to make a card that reminded you of a fun game you would play from your childhood.
My chosen game was "Hide and Seek," one of the few I recall playing with all the neighborhood kids in the summer until it was pitch black outside and our parents would call us inside for the night!
So what does this hummingbird set have to do with the game "hide and seek?" We hung a hummingbird feeder last week at our deck at our mountain condo and enjoyed watching the tiny birds flit in and out to feast on the nectar. Well, my neighbor had warned me that I should bring the feeder in at night, as bears were attracted to them. I know this is true, as we had one on our deck hanging from the feeder with its greedy paws all over it, a couple of years ago. So, anyway, I didn't heed her words, and the next day, I found the feeder torn out of the railing and laying desolate on the deck. I watched the birds that afternoon humming around where the feeder had been, looking for it, and just hovering as if they knew it was there somewhere. It tickled me to watch. Well, next time I'm there, I'll put the feeder back up and remember to take it down at night!!
This card was a bit time consuming as I haven't stamped in awhile, or colored with copics. I finished all the shading on the flowers and decided there needed to be a bit more pop of color, so added some shimmering h2O's at the end and was excited with the effect it gave!
Hope you like my card today and the story that goes with it!
You can find these challenges on the Flourishes blog here.

Last of the Lazy Days of Summer

Good afternoon, sweet blogging friends!
I have been taking a break from here due to travel, but some have made inquiries as to my whereabouts...so thought maybe I should check in!
Late July, my husband, youngest daughter, and myself took a vacation to Portland and Seattle. Since I am away from my home computer, I can't show you any of those photographs, although I did upload them to Facebook about a week ago. We had such a nice time, driving around West Linn and Lake Oswego, Oregon, and driving by our first two homes we had while living there. The very first one is up this wriggly road that passes a creek and some strange looking homes. Our daughter, after seeing it and hearing of some of the things we did there called us hillbillies!! The nerve...I had to laugh. Well, we would take our canoe to the creek and row down it with our dog, we had a donkey friend that came to visit us in the backyard and would feed it apples and carrots, and I did some canning and made berry pie fillings. I guess that makes us hillbillies!!
Anyway, we got back and then turned around and drove up to Steamboat Springs, Colorado where we own a pretty condo tucked into a little patch of heaven with a creek running below it. When we get here, it is always tough to leave...so even though it is just me and the dog, I stayed. I am so enjoying it, don't know when I will come home!! There is so much to do here in the summer, even though it is known as a ski destination resort! There is hiking, a hot springs pool, fun shopping, furniture consignment stores, fishing, boating, gondola riding, lunch on the Yampa river, Fish Creek Falls, and a really nice botanical park where this photograph was taken. And a lot of amazing art galleries in the historical downtown area. Anyway, I have lots to do, including a quiet read on the deck and just plain ole relaxation!!
All except not being able to stamp, but I figure I can do that soon enough. Hope you are enjoying these last lazy days of summer!
Are there any things you have planned to do before the next season begins? I'd love to hear all about it!!