Peace on Vellum

This card is CASED from one of my favorites of last season on the SCS gallery. It was created in its original design by StamperSharon and featured the same papers and ribbon type I have used. She used SU's Flourishes and I was taken by its beauty.

I thought this card required some constraint to allow the beauty of the Dove-Peace to be the central focus, so I streamlined my version.

All in all, I am very well pleased with the card, although the next time I make this card I would probably heat emboss the sentiment.."Let There Be" in gold EP for definition. I also masked off the end of the sentiment so not to clutter the card. I think there is always room for improvement on my cards.

So here is my list of items I used:
Peace stamp set-Flourishes,llc
Brushed Gold metallic paper from Flourishes,llc
Vellum Card stock
White wired ribbon...I removed the wire
Beige with white dot sheer ribbon
Corner punch from SU
Brilliance White ink pad
Gold Encore Ink

So from the atelier, I say
Ciao
Jan Marie

Fantasy Florals and SCS Color Challenge

I finally had a chance to really play and late last night got a few nice things done. I was really intrigued with the color combination on SCS for the Color Challenge. I will be the first to admit that Guava is not my favorite color, but in a moment a card popped into my head.

Of course, I was really ready to play with our new released Fantasy Floral Gardens. I used the two fuschia like flowers placing them close together. I stamped in Hybrid Palette Burnt Umber and then used my ink pads and waterbrush pen to lightly color in the flowers. For the stems I used Certainly Celery and Always Artichoke, a slight bit of yellow and the most beautiful color of the season, Purely Pomegranate. I lightly shaded the inks literally planting the flowers on a bit of earth. I ever so lightly brushed lite blue Copic marker and then used my Copic colorless marker to create a lite sky of blue. Then some edging along the cardstock with my Always Artichoke inkpad gave the edges some definition.

To really make the card dance for me I selected some Basic Gray Papers for the face of the cards and the stripes...of course all layered on Guava and Artichoke. The final touch was small ribbons, one from SU Sherbet collection and the other from Flourishes, a pretty scalloped edge olive green ribbon. Now what I really think lights up this card is the little bit of Purely Pomegranate in the background and on the tiny flowers. what are your thoughts?

So that's it from the Atelier for today..but come back because I have something else ready for next time.

Ciao,
Jan Marie

FLOURISHES RELEASE THREE NEW SETS!

I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT !!

We are six weeks old and this month we are releasing three brand new original stamp sets!

We are beginning the release of the original calligraphy of a friend of mine, Joan Machinchick. She is a well known calligrapher in the Washington, D.C. and Maryland area. I have had the great pleasure of working with this very talented artist over the years and was pleased when she agreed to do some calligraphy for Flourishes,llc. Her beautiful work is all penned by hand and I think it is a great treasure to have her artistry to add to our line of stamps.
Please visit the Flourishes Newsletter and read her impressive bio. I think you will want to own these beautiful words to add to your own collection.

For my first set I choose to spotlight Joan's peace dove. I think you will agree with me that this set lends itself to a beautifully elegant card, but don't be fooled this is more versatile. Several of our designers have made beautiful cards samples that can be seen on the Flourishes,llc website. They are all stunning, but be sure to check our Sharon Johnson (notimetostamp) and her beautiful card using pine boughs and twine. Peace...down to earth!

I used a transparency for the base of the card. The Peace image was stamped on Shimmery White paper from the paperie at Flourishes. I really wanted the Peace and the dove to work together, but somehow distinct of each other. In order to achieve this end I stamped the word peace with SU Craft Going Grey ink, added silver embossing powder and heat embossed. Now here is where the beauty of using clear images becomes a wonderment. I cleaned the stamp and re inked the dove this time and because of the clear stamp I was able to place them perfectly without a mask! I again heat set the ink and then shaded the dove with some light soft watercolors and adding the olive branch. The card has a slightly larger layer of SU Bordering Blue behind the Shimmery White and then on the back of the transparency (to hide my mechanics) I added a piece of the Blue Steel metallic paper also available at the Flourishes in the paperie. The inside of the card and back of the card also have white shimmery paper with the verse stamped on the inside from the set. I topped it all off with a soft satin bow in a blueish gray.

I will drag out my releases of the other two set over the next couple of days...so please come back to the Atelier and visit with me.

The three new sets, Peace On Earth, O Christmas Tree, and Fantasy Floral Garden are all available to order as of tomorrow. We has three wonderful combo kits each featuring one of the newly released sets. I hope you will visit SCS Wednesday 5 Sept for our banner ad and then click on over to Flourishes,llc to see all the new goodies. I'm pretty pleased.

Ciao, for today.
Jan Marie

Catch A Falling Star & Put in Your Pocket

Today is our BIG push to support the GinaK Make A Wish Foundation Set. We do not sell these stamps at Flourishes,llc; but certainly recognize the need for all of us to be conscious of others needs.

I unfortunately have spent too many day and nights in hospitals and have seen some truly sick people, especially children. We all can make a difference, and sometimes it is as easy as buying a stamp set. Gina K has been so community consicious and willing to share her profits with worthwhile organizations that I felt a real need to come on line and support her effort.

In a way, I have had many wishes and dreams.....and too my surprise, I have had the chance to live many of them out. Flourishes,llc is one of those dreams. Please join me in supporting GinaK, Stamping Freak.com for the Make a Wish foundation....purchase a stamp set and tell her Flourishes sent you, please.

Now the card:

Well I hope this simple attempt is obvious....it is a pocket and I was inspired by a song that my Dad would sing to us as we would swing on the front porch on summer evenings when I was a child. The song was Catch a Falling Star and Put in you Pocket......save it for a rainy day...for love may come and tap you on the shoulder some starless night....and you'll have a pocket full of starlight. Last night here in Pensacola was stunning, the moon was as big and white as could be, as I took a few moments to recline in my brand new hammock--gift from DH--I watched the dragonflies, lighting bugs, and then the bats all come out ( they just love the mosquitos--yeah)
It was delightful and I knew exactly what to do with today's card.

Cardstock: SU Bayou Blue (that is a place not far from my home in South Louisiana) and Whisper White.
The BB cardstock is cut 3 1/2" X 8 1/2, scored at 4 1/4" .
The WW cardstock is cut at 3 1/2" but the length is 5 7/8" and scored at 1 1/2" to make
the pocket flap. The sentiments were computer generated. The front logo image was
treated to one of my new Spellbinder Nestabilities (order them from us at Flourishes,LLC)
The Star image was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Gold EP. The bling was in the form of stars that I had seen at the local hobby store.

The white stitching was done with a White Singo pen from SU.

Please support GinaK --It will make us all feel good to know we can do a little and get some great rewards--yes, even stamps sets produce good deeds. And go ahead, catch a falling star and put in your pocket, you deserve it!

Ciao!
Jan Marie

Make a Wish--Happy Birthday Diane

Tomorrow is my sister Diane's birthday. I made her this card and it is my way of kicking off a special week for Flourishes,LLC. We are starting a week long campaign to support GinaK stamp set to support the Make a Wish Foundation.

You will notice the my partners NancK, Seaside Creativity, and Sharon D, Sewflake, as well as all of the designers on the Flourishes Design Team will be working on this concerted effort. It is my hope that you will support GinaK and her great generosity of helping making dreams come true.

This is also very close to my heart, for I too have made a wish and that was to have Flourishes become a thriving entity. We are certainly on that journey.

Please watch for our banner ads on SCS on Wednesday to support GinaK. Please make a purchase and tell her Flourishes sent you.

You also will probably notice that this is my first post in a few weeks. I have been ill and required some hospital care. My heartfelt thanks to NancyK and Sharon for keeping things rolling in my absence. I am glad to be back home and on the mend. My goal is to have a post each day to support GinaK and the Make a Wish sets. Hats off to the nursing staff of Baptist Hospital, Pensacola and UAB in Birmingham. The care they gave was the best!

For Diane's cards:
This card had to be special, because she is so special. She is a glass artist and makes the most adorable "Dammit Dolls" .Check out her website: Impressions By Diane. She is a cool and very supportive sister.

--Base card was white cardstock with Basic Grey LilyKate over it.
--I punched a 3" square and then added a row of horizontal slot punches (SU).
--Then I wove a long piece of the lavederar grosgran ribbon from the Fairytale collection (SU), pulling it thru and covering the weaving on the back side and then to the front where I made a small bow...kinda cute do you think?

-- The stamp is yes, from GinaK "Make a Wish set" I colored it with my Copic Markers and actually used the G21, &Y15, BV00...I think the colors work well and were blended make for a good match.

--I added a little glitz with stickles in yellow and iridescent. so Diane, I hope you enjoy your day....and thanks for all you do for me! I love you.

Check out this Viedo on Seaside Creativity

Hi All,

One of the flourishes..Nancy Kirk has a great new viedo on masking and reversing masking...and all using Cake Decorating 101. It is her first attempt and is just a little scratchy...but very informative.....her card just below the viedo link is the finished product.



I think you will be please and take on masking if you haven't donet this yet...even it you have give it another shot....What inspiration!

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=masking_0001

http://www.seasidecreativity.blogspot.com/



Let us both know what you think...Yes the studio is a fun place to learn.



Thanks Nancy

How Stamps Develop--Concept Card

I know that many of you have been following me since I mentioned that I wanted to develop a new line of stamps. That seems like such a far leap for me, let alone having NancyK and SharonD believe in me that much! These ladies joined me in this huge undertaking and without them Flourishes would not exist.

Things always happen for a reason in my life. Last year I was wondering if I would make it day by day...and today --OK with a few set backs-- Flourishes,llc has been launched.

I would like to take a few moments and share with you just parts of that adventure....the conception and design of the stamps.

Flourished Words is a group of words that I thought up, Nancy and Sharon tweaked and we decided to go with them. There are a few things we would change, but then nothing is perfect the first time or two. The Cake Decorating Set is one that I conjured in my little old brain. During my college years and then beyond I made and decorated many a cake, some for family birthdays, sisters' weddings and even the cake for the Marine Corps Ball for it's 200th anniversary--a few years ago. Thank goodness there were many more successes than Opps....I remember doing a wedding cake for a big name family here in Pensacola, FL. The mother of the bride really wanted a pure butter icing and it was the heat of August. I tried to explain the horrors of butter icing melting on one of Pensacola's hottest days. But in the end she got just what she wanted. The cake was as beautiful as any I had ever done, if not my best. It was stored in a room that was as chilly as we could get it at the bride's home, but they wanted to bring the cake outdoors for all to see....OH HORRORS!!!! Well, you know what happened and it did so very quickly....the cake was carried out to great applause, set on a table to be admired, but Mother Nature had her way quickly and the icing began to melt.....Fortunately I asked the servers to quickly cut up that beauty before it could melt away. There are lots of other similar cake stories I could share.

I wanted to create a way for every one to have the chance to make the cake or two of their dreams. I started sketching to come up with what I knew could be done and how to translate that to a stamp. I saw Marcella Hawley's name one night while I was surfing the net at my sister's studio (Diane is a glass artist and doll designer) in Baton rouge, La. I eventually wrote to her about the design of our website and she sent back some of her background. I asked her if she had ever taken concept drawings and turned them into stamps. No, but she is an illustrator and a very good one I might add (see her bio on the Flourishes Newsletter). I then set out to learn and teach her what I could about the production of photo polymer stamps. She refined our images and formated them for production.
One night she asked me to come up with what I thought a Cake Decorating 102 card might look like......the card you see here is just that. I sent her the first one and kept the 2nd choice. The colors of those cards varied...the first one was all in last year's SU! In colors. This is a slightly updated version. A Flourished Original! Cool don't you think...just you wait to see what else we have collaborated on in the upcoming stamps to be released!

The Card:
SU! Morning Marigold, Basis Black, Guava -over colored with Prisma yellow- and Purely Pomegranate. I used a mixture of watercoloring, Prisma pencils and stamping for all of the cake and it's pedestal.

Another Note: Our Flourishes Design Team is one really creative group of ladies, but in case you have not checked the SCS gallery for today please do so as Sharon Johnson(notimetostamp) has outdone herself with a cake turned hat and pedestal. Nancy Grant has a dragonfly made from the ruffled cake plate, Leslie Miller has a darling cake on a piece of furniture, Julia has a great journal and Paula has a Greetings card that showed up in my very own mail box today--thank you Paula. Tracy Durcan has the sweetest flourished Thank You. Alex has a special English cake for us...all are too cute. So if you have not been to the Designer Gallery of Flourishes,llc, please saunter on over and have a fest for your eyes--no calories--no kidding!

Again the Spellbinder-Nestabilities Pre order is in full swing and we are giving you the very best deal we can offer. We hope that you will take advantage of the deal....it won't last long!


Rubber(photopolymer) Hugs
Jan Marie