A Hydrangea AND A Visitor

Happy Friday!  I just wanted to share a little something that was outside my craft room window this morning!  I had mentioned in my last post that I had a Hydrangea that was getting ready to bloom.  It is still a little early, but some of the blossoms are starting to emerge and guess what?  There on the biggest bloom was a tiny little visitor!  He was just peeking in my window....I got quite a laugh.  We have these little guys running around everywhere this time of year and we usually see babies too....I haven't seen any babies yet this Spring.  I am happy to have them here because I am sure that they help with the insect population.  This hydrangea is pretty near my raised planting boxes where I have tomatoes growing as I type this!  So, I am hoping he is on patrol..lol!  I think he is perfectly content to sun himself there this morning and I guess I am providing as much entertainment for him as he is for me!  I ran and got my camera and took this picture through glass and I think it turned out pretty well...

 Today I am cleaning out containers, drawers, and generally trying to organize my craft space a little better.  This is an ongoing project for me and I would guess that many of you can relate as well.  I am hoping to make a card or two later today!  I hope you all have a great day and a wonderful weekend.  Wish me luck on my craft room reorganization!  :)

Katie

Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge #222

Hi everybody and Happy Tuesday!  It's time for another Timeless Tuesday Challenge.  This week  Deborah is our hostess and the theme is "Summer Days"!  Create a card or project that reminds you of summer days, incorporating the light and breezy feel of sheer ribbon.  Here in Georgia, just about everywhere you look you can see a hydrangea somewhere.  I have a Nikko Blue Hydrangea right outside my craft room window and I cannot wait until it blooms...it is covered with buds now!

  So, I decided to use Flourishes' Hydrangea stamp set and a bit of white sheer ribbon for my card.  The image is colored with Copics and fussy cut. I'll give you a little tip when coloring tiny clusters of flowers like these...I colored them all the same light color at first, then went in with a much darker blue and colored the areas in between the flowers .  It made it much easier to then highlight some of the other blossoms with some of the medium tones and the darker background blue makes the other blossoms really pop.  I also went back with a white gel pen and colored the centers to give it a little more contrast.  I took a close up picture so you could see the detail on this gorgeous stamp!

The bit of glitter that you see is from my new Atyou Spica pen in clear finish.  I LOVE the subtle glitter effect it gives.  I used a Spellbinders die to stamp my sentiment on (also from the Hydrangea set) and a few patterned papers in gray tones so my hydrangea blooms would really stand out.  Also, new for me is the little bling flourish that I have been squirreling away for a special occasion.  I was so excited to use it on this card! I hope this inspires you to create something summery for the challenge this week.  You can see all of the details by going here.  Come on and play along.....you may even win a prize!  Also, make sure you check out the other design team members' blogs below....no doubt there are many beautiful summery cards waiting to inspire you!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll come back again soon!  :)

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Katie Sims-that's me!
• Iulia Pasca-Our May Guest Designer!

Katie

Supplies:  Hydrangea Stamp set, Classic White Card Stock, Memento ink in Tuxedo Black, Markers from the Copic Color Collections- Hydrangea, Green Grass, Delphinium, Evergreen, Leaf, Olive.

Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday #221

Hi there everybody!  I am back with Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge for today.  The theme is butterflies and our hostess is Jenny.  You can find out all of the details of Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge #221  here.  We would love it if you could play along this week!   Don't have any Flourishes' stamps?  No problem!  You can still play along and still be eligible to win a prize....and honestly, I don't know a card maker out there that doesn't have a stash of butterflies somewhere.....so really, come on!  :)  Anyways, here is my card for this week and if you look closely....yep, it's that gold leafing pen again....I just can't help myself!  I did find out something really neat...if you gold leaf the paper you can then take a file and distress it and it gives you a cool aged look.  I have a close up below that you can see it better but I loved the way it turned out.

  I used a few stamp sets for this card: Spring Blossoms, Gerber Daisies, and Tulips for Friends.  I stamped the butterfly twice and fussy cut it out then popped up one of the wings to give it dimension.  All of the images were colored with Copics.  I used a couple of different Spellbinders dies.  The card base was made with Spellbinders' Timeless Rectangle and it has always reminded me of a butterfly so I thought it would be perfect for this card!  Anyways, I am so glad you were able to stop by and I wish you would take a look at what the other designers have done this week....I am sure they all have incredible creations for you to see!  Thanks again and I'll be seeing you soon!

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Katie Sims-that's me!
• Iulia Pasca-Our May Guest Designer!

Katie

Supplies:
Classic White card stock, Tuxedo Black ink from Memento, Spring Blossoms stamp set, Gerber Daisies stamp set, Tulips for Friends stamp set, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass, Copic color collections Dahlia, Dogwood, Emerald Coast, Green Grass, Hydrangea, Beehive, Daffodil, and Warm Neutrals.

Very Merry Trees

Hi there and Happy Sunday!  I had a little free time this afternoon so I thought I would play along in the Featured Stamper Challenge on the Splitcoast site.  You can find out all of the details by going here. Today's Featured Stamper was Colleen and she had a beautiful and wonderfully diverse gallery to choose from.  I finally chose this sweet little CAS Christmas tree card to inspire me for the card I made today.  I used a similar tree image.  My stamp is from the Polar Party stamp set from Stampin' Up!  I colored it in with Copics, scored a border, and backed it with a little Pool Party paper.  My dp's are from Carta Bella's Merry & Bright 6x6 paper pad.  I made a little tag using Papertrey Ink's Tiny Tags stamp set and coordinating die then finished it off with ribbon, baker's twine, some silver studs and a wee little jingle bell.  I know it's only May, but I figure you can never start too early making your Christmas cards, right?  Anyways, thanks for stopping by and I'll be posting again really soon...like Tuesday!  :)

Katie

Supplies:  Classic White cardstock-Flourishes; Crumb Cake, Pool Party paper, Very Vanilla ribbon, Polar Party stamp set-all from Stampin' Up!; Carta Bella dp; Tiny Tags stamp set, Tiny Tags die, Chamomile and Chai distress inks-all from Papertrey Ink; Silver studs-TPC Studio; Jingle bell-Michael's; Baker's Twine-American Crafts; Copics

Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday #220

Hi everybody!  I am sooooo excited to be posting my very first post as a Friends of Flourishes Design Team member!  I have been a Flourishes fan for quite a while so this is like a dream come true for me!  Thank you so much to Flourishes for making me feel right at home!  Everyone has been wonderful!  Now, let's get to the challenge...Broni is our hostess this week and the theme is Blues and Greens.  You can find out all of the details for Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge #220 here.  And remember, you could win a prize if you play along, so go on over there and check it out!  When I saw the topic I immediately thought about the Apple of my Eye set!  I LOVE Granny Smith apples and I knew that I wanted to color these beauties up like that!  I stamped my image with Memento's Tuxedo Black ink onto Flourishes' Classic White card stock and colored with Copics.  Then, I fussy cut the image....it took a little time, but I think it was definitely worth it to showcase this beautiful image. The sentiment is from the same stamp set and I got a little giggle out of this after I stamped it because it probably ought to say "Sweet and Sour Friend" since I colored the apples like Granny Smiths...lol!   Gotta love a good oxymoron, huh?  ;)  The rest of the card is pretty straightforward with layers using Spellbinders' dies and my beloved gold leafing pen.  Yep, still a fan of that too!  I just had to use it on this special occasion!  I just couldn't help but take a close up picture so you could see the beautiful detail of this stamp!

As we say in the South...."How do you like them apples?"  LOL!  I sure do!  I know it was a dream to color!  Thank you so much for stopping by and please be sure to check out all of the gorgeous creations by my new team mates and leave them a little blog love:

• Allison Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Katie Sims-that's me!
• Iulia Pasca-Our May Guest Designer!

Supplies:
Classic White card stock, Apple of My Eye stamp set, Tuxedo Black ink from Memento, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass, Copic color collections Dahlia, Leaf Green, Olive Green, Rich Browns, Evergreen, Copper, and YG 00, 01, 03, and 17.

Some Exciting News!

Hi everybody!  I know it has been a little while since my last post but even though it has been quiet on the blog, it has really been busy "behind the scenes" so to speak.  Not too long ago I saw this posting on the Flourishes Blog:

                     

Well, it could be YOU!!!!!  Do you love to stamp?  Do you love to create cards, layouts and other fabulous projects?  Then we want YOU!

It was a design team call for the Friends of Flourishes design team and since I could answer an emphatic yes to the questions above and I absolutely LOVE Flourishes stamps, I gathered up my courage and sent in my resume.  It was a long wait...not really, just a week or two, but it seemed long.  And then I got the exciting news!  YES!  I am now part of this wonderful design team!  I have never been on a design team before so I have a whole lot to learn but I am beyond thrilled that Flourishes thought I would be a good fit for their team.  Soooo, with that being said, you will be seeing more of me now starting with my first project for the Timeless Tuesday challenges on May 14th.  I would love it if you would take a peek there too!  You can find the challenges here.  And even better, I'd really love it if you would play along with us each week....after all, there are prizes to be won...who can resist that?!?  I am so honored to be representing such a wonderful company and working among some of the best card makers out there. I look forward to learning a lot from them!  They have already welcomed me into their fold and have been wonderfully supportive!  Thank you so much Flourishes!  You girls are the BEST!  There is actually a lot of big news on the Flourishes site today so you can go here to check it all out!  Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day!  See you real soon!

Katie