My Turn to Host!

Hello and welcome to my studio.

I am so excited to be the Artist in Residence at the new Flourishes!
Every Friday our Senior Design Team is challenged by one of the designers on the team.

For today's blog hop, it's my turn!  I have challenged the team to use:

Non-traditional Colors

I have the great pleasure of using the Year of Flowers 3 set

And Christmas Sentiments

I used Patriotic Colors instead of the usual Christmas red and green, and I threw in some striped in the pieced background to add to the "theme".

Today's card images were masked and stamped with Memento Ink.
I colored them with Prismacolor Premier Pencils, blending with a blending pen.

The sentiment is framed using one of Flourishes exclusive set of dies.

a few sequins and some gold Stickles, ribbon and I'm done!

Here is the blog hop list for you to enjoy more non-traditional colored creations:

Flourishes Blog
Barbara Thompson

Beverly Cole (me)

Linda Lucas

Naomi Gong

Rebecca Ednie

Tricia Traxler

Enjoy the Journey,

Flourishes September Release Day 5

Today I am sharing a card made with the new set,

"Its All in the Details"

I used the corner stamp on a piece of  Authentique designer paper to create a square frame, which fits perfectly on a 6x6 card. I then combined it with, "Christmas Tree" one of the stamps in our store. Since the tree is sized for a 5x7 card, I masked my frame,

and stamped the tree off the edge so it appears smaller.

After inking the edges, I layered the paper onto gold metallic card stock

and more Authentique designer paper.

I stamped the sentiment (coming in a set next month...stay tuned) on a strip of card stock,

creating a banner by simply scoring, folding and trimming the ends. The edges are inked as well.

Gold glitter glue and golden gems from my stash finish off this card.

Here is the list of designers for this hop.

Leave a comment on the Flourishes Blog to win a change of winning this set!

Naomi Gong
                        Beverly Cole (You are here)
Tricia Traxler
Linda Lucas

Enjoy the journey,

Flourishes Design Team Challenge Hop!

I am so excited! My first stamp sets for Flourishes

are going to be released THIS SUNDAY!

(A tiny hint of what is to come)

Meanwhile, I am here to share the card I made for this Friday's

Flourishes Design Team Challenge Hop.

(Lovely) Linda Lucas is challenging us to:

Add a Ribbon!

Christmas Tree

Ever since I got this stamp, I wanted to try layering it.

I stamped it twice and embossed it in white.

I then cut layers, using both embossed copies so they could overlap.

I used Distress Inks to ink up the tree, and then used my new set of

Zig Real Brush Markers to add shadows.

The background is embossed and so is the band across the middle of it. Since this is

a 5 x 7 card, the band hides where the two embossed edges meets.

You see, I had to run the card through my Big Kick

twice to cover the entire background, and the images didn't quite match.

I like to ink edges so everything has a bit of dimension.

Along with the ribbon, I added white brads.

to the corners of the card,  to balance out the white tree.

 I also added a gem to the top of the tree.

Yay! For next Friday's hop, I will have the pleasure of using

my new stamp sets! Be sure to come back

to check out the team's inspiration designs!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

A Snowflakes Promise #28 - Anything Goes

Craft-Dee BowZ September - Handmade bow

Crafty Cardmakers # 172 - Layer it Up

Please visit my team mates to see more inspiration:

Linda Lucas

Naomi Gong

Flourishes Blog

...and have fun!

Where's the Harp?

Welcome to the Flourishes Designer Challenge Hop!

*Flourishes will be releasing my new stamp line in just nine days!

A tiny taste of my stamps...Now back to the Challenge, which is:
Sparkle

On this card, I hid the harp in the Harp stamp set!

I thought this stamp would make a lovely frame of sorts, so I used Flourishes'

"Perfectly Pierced Classic Frames Template Dies"

to create a cap over the harp. I used an embossing folder from my stash to emboss the,

"cap" and rubbed some Perfect Pearls over it.

The sentiment is from another new set for the Christmas season at Flourishes, "Glory to God".

I used the Spellbinders Arched Elegance Die to create my corners.

These are available in the Flourishes Store.

I simply cut the bar die apart, creating four corners.
I then mounted the piece on gold card stock.

The flower and ribbon are from my stash, and the patterned paper is for sale in Flourishes' store. It's made by Authentique. The 6x6 bundle is called, "Everlasting"

and adds just the right touch of texture to this card.

Challenges I am entering with this card:
Christmas Cards all Year 'Round - Monochromatic
craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes
Emerald Faeries Challenge #78 - Monochromatic
Paper Creator Challenge #51 - Christmas
Sparkles Monthly Challenge #83 - Lots of Layers

As this is a Challenge Hop for Flourishes, please visit my teamies below:

Beverly Cole (you are here)

Linda Lucas

Naomi Gong

Flourishes Blog

The Warmth of Friendship

Welcome to Flourishes' Friday Design Team Challenge!

You can find links to all the Design Team Cards at the bottom of this post.

Be sure to stay tuned...my newly designed Beverly Cole stamp sets, created exclusively for Flourishes, will be here in a few weeks!

a tiny hint...

Oh, how I enjoyed making this card!

As I have said before, with all the art I have been doing over the past few years,

my card making skills are rusty, to say the least.

So...today I decided to just relax and go back to my proverbial, "roots"

of card design.

I used so many fun tools and products from my stash, along with some classic techniques.

First, I took out a stamp set created by Sam Pickard for Flourishes entitled,
"Happy Thoughts"

How fitting for this warm toned card.  I made a mask for the flower stamp in the set,
after cutting the stem off the stamp...I know, I know but it's all good! I can simply reconnect the cut
pieces on an acrylic block when I want to stamp the flower with a stem.

Then, using the "cut" flower stamp and the mask, I created a border.
I colored using my Caran D'Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils, and blended them with
a clear Wink of Stella pen, instead of my water brush. They are subtly sparkly,
which is difficult to see here.

After fussy cutting the image, I flipped it over and used some deep orange ink on a sponge and rubbed the edges of the image, so they were no longer stark white.

Then I started on my background.

I used Flourishes New Leaves and  Tiger Lily card stock from the

Color Made Easy Collection.

I also used some of the adorable patterned papers in the,

"Nestled" 6x6 collection by Authentique. The are available in the Flourishes store.

I used the Perfectly Pierced Classic Hourglass Template Die set by Flourishes

to create an inlaid design. I then "quilted" the two pieces together

with an embossing folder by Anna Griffin.

It's a bit difficult to see in this picture, but if you look carefully, you can see it.

Then, I got out my Singer and zig zag stitched the edges around

the inlay and the edge of the card.

I then added a sentiment from the same stamp set

on Flourishes Classic Ivory Cardstock,

and cut it with another die from the same set.

I added some gems and gold Stickles to the card and the flower centers.

The border is on dimensionals to make it pop.

I truly loved making this. I was in my element...my happy place...my comfort zone.

It felt good.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
C.R.A.F.T. challenge 379 embossing
DL.Art September Linky Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #281 Must use a die cut

Visit my friends on the Flourishes Design Team and check out the Flourishes Blog

for Vicki Dutcher's challenge to the Design Team.

Beverly Cole (me!)

Vicki Dutcher

Amanda Havon

Naomi Gong

Linda Lucas

Nancy Nickel

Enjoy!