Flourishes May Releases and News!
Good Wednesday morning, everyone. I write to you today officially as a Flourish. Yes, I am a Flourish!!! Flourish #4 to be exact!!! I have joined forces with Jan Marie Caruso, Nancy Kirk and Sharon Doolittle and share partnership with them in Flourishes, LLC. I am so excited about this new venture and can’t wait to share with you all the fun and exciting things we have planned.
I was lucky enough to be chosen for the Charter Design Team when Flourishes (FLLC) opened its doors last year, and I have served as one of their designers since. My *connection* with the style of the Flourishes images was instantly apparent to me – I just loved their timeless and elegant designs and felt so totally at ease working with them. I truly felt that these flourishy images were made just for me — LOL!!! Likewise, the 3 Flourishes (Jan Marie, Nancy and Sharon) and I also share so many similar thoughts, likes, desires and goals, that it just seemed to be the perfect match, and I am truly honored that they accepted me into their partnership!!!
One of the aspects about FLLC that I admire so much and feel very strongly about, is that FLLC images are, for the most part, drawn by artists from concepts of the FLLC team, and many of the sentiments are hand done by a calligrapher. The personal touch that this gives the FLLC images can not be replaced and is so evident in each and every set offered. FLLC images are truly works of art, as well as works of the heart!!!
And I am super excited about the Stamp Simply line of stamps that will be debuting in June!!! I think you are going to really like our first offering, and I just can’t wait to be able to show it to you!!!! But, that’s a month away, so let’s concentrate on this month’s new releases, which are super fabulous!!!
The first set offered this month is a baby set called Rock-a-Bye Baby. And do you remember when I just said FLLC sets are not only works of art, but works of the heart? Well, this set was developed by Jan Marie, I guess you could say many, many years ago. Jan Marie had painted these beautiful Moons and Babies on the walls of a child’s bedroom in her home, and this set is a miniature reproduction of that child’s bedroom she had painted so long ago. Now, is that cool, or what!!! I think it is amazingly cool!!! And WHAT a gorgeous set – truly timeless and elegant!!! My sample using Rock-a-Bye Baby will be posted tomorrow, so today I would like to show you some of the samples made by the Fabulous Flourishes Design Team (all links will be completed in the morning as the posts pop up):
Sharon Harnist, Leslie Miller, Tracy Durcan, Natasha Trupp
And now on to the sample that I have prepared for you today. My card is made from the newly released set called Lilac, drawn by artist Marcy Hawley, whose work we have all come to know and love. This set features the most gorgeous lilacs, but for today’s card I chose to use the magnolia blossoms that are also included in the set — talk about a bonus!!!
The magnolia blossoms are separate stamps and I stamped them individually into this branch formation — lots of options with these beautiful blossoms!!!
My magnolias are first colored with Copic markers (colors listed below), and then highlighted and gone over partially with a waterbrush and my new Twinkling H20’s by LuminArte. The H20’s are sparkly, beautiful watercolors that you paint on your project, and do they sparkle!!!! Just wonderful!!! They are available at Flourishes and they come in sets of 12 pots of color to a set. To use as I have done here, merely spray some water into the pot to moisten the color to your desired thickness, and paint away!!!! The more water you add, the softer the color becomes — when you are finished, just cap it up, put it away, and it’ll be back to normal (a cake) for your next use — amazing little things!!! Adding sparkle in a variety of colors has NEVER been easier!!!
After I colored and highlighted my stamped image, I then stamped on the word *Magnolia*, and cut and embossed my image with an Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, also available at Flourishes. I then created a mat in black with another of the Oval Nestabilities — love the classy look black always seems to add!!! (And if anyone is not familiar with what Nestabilities are, just click here to get to my last post which offers an explanation and some links.) I then punched a small hole in the left portion of the oval with my Cropadile so I could run the ribbon under the panel and up and through the hole to tie the ribbon. The ribbon I used is the 1″ Black Sheer by May Arts. I always refer to this type of ribbon as organdy, but this Sheer is truly so much finer and more soft and supple than any organdy I have ever seen — I LOVE the way it ties up into a pretty, fluffy bow!!! Flourishes carries many wonderful lines of ribbon by May Arts.
The background panel (SU Blush Blossom) was first run through my Cuttlebug with the Textile embossing folder. I then ran my Versa Mark pad across the top of the entire panel, and then I brushed on another of the LuminArte products that are now being carried by Flourishes. This is Pure Mica Metallic in Luster Pearl. After brushing on just a tad bit, I wiped off the excess with a Swiffer cloth, and then sealed it all with a light spraying of Krylon Fixatif that I purchase at Wal-Mart. It might sound like a lot of steps, but it truly only takes a couple minutes to create a background panel with such luster and sheen!!! It is truly captivating and worth every minute it takes!!!
- Stamps: Lilac by Flourishes
- Paper: Blush Blossom, Black, White
- Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black. Versa Mark.
- Copics: Pinks: R20, RV11. Greens: G21, G40, YG63. Brown: E09. Gray: C1. Colorless Blender: 0.
- Accessories: Twinkling H20’s in Cherry Sorbet and Sea Glass, both from set #1256. Pure Mica Metallic in Luster Pearl. Oval Nestabilities. Cropadile. Black Sheer Ribbon. Cuttlebug with Textile embossing folder. Swiffer. Waterbrush.
Thank you so much for stopping in today and sharing my big news with me. I hope you head over to the FLLC forum at SCS and take part in the challenge we are offering there, with a great prize for the randomly selected winner on Saturday night!!!! I’ll be back tomorrow with more offerings from our newest sets!!!
Thank you so much and I hope you have a wonderful day!