No Time To Stamp?

Some changes have taken place that affect both me personally and Flourishes. 

After much heart-wrenching consideration, I have decided that I need to leave Flourishes, and I am no longer in partnership with Jan Marie, Nancy and Sharon D.  These ladies have been so kind and gracious to me in the past, and it is not easy to leave, but it was the only decision that was right for me.  I know they will continue to Flourish and I wish them nothing but the best.

I began my journey with Flourishes when they opened their doors just about a year ago.  I was on their original Design Team, then I served as Design Team Leader and eventually I bought into partnership and we launched the Stamp Simply series of stamps.  Sadly to say, this has all come to an end.

And I know the question you all have is WHY?  Well, very simply because I have been working very, very hard to promote Flourishes – and that translates into hours – a lot of hours – way too many hours – more hours than I could reasonably handle, considering I have a husband, family, home, farm, friends, church and community.  All of these things, which have always been of the utmost importance to me, have fallen by the wayside, taking second place.  And it just reached a saturation point where I had to reconsider my decisions – I had to step back and take a look at what is REALLY important to me in life.  Is it having a stamp line or being in partnership in a business and working myself to a frazzle until the wee hours of each morning?  No, it most certainly is not.  It is taking care of and honoring my family and my God  — and there is no question in my mind that God’s intent for me is that of a homemaker – it is where I am at total peace with life.  And it is what I must return to.  But God is gracious and God is good – and He has always allowed me time for personal pleasure which, to me, is stamping.  So, I’m not going anywhere – I’ll be right here where I’ve always been, playing and talking with you all.

I thank you all for your friendship, your kindness, your understanding and your support.  And I pray that you all can experience the peace that I now feel – and I’d like to leave you with this:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4: 4-7 (NIV)

Keyword ssnotime46 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to do a card that is basically white on white — love that look.  You may add some very light pastels if you like — but keep the color scheme as light/white as you can. Love this type of look!!!   Can’t wait to see what you do and, as always, try to keep it simple.   Most importantly — have fun!!!

I found this lovely card in the SCS Gallery, done by Becki, queenoe on SCS.  Here it is on Becki’s Blog, Rocky Road Forever.  Check it out and leave her a comment — it’s worthy of many!!!  This card was the inspiration for today’s challenge.  Thank you, Becki!!!

Here are some samples (I’m early and the girls don’t have their posts up yet, so the please be patient as we are uploading and linking tonight):

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here .

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.

Check out Becky Oehlers’ sample .

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my card:

This is made using  SU’s Always and Garden Silhouettes — not much stamping, mostly just working with paper, and I did use all scraps or recycled paper for this card so it qualifies for Julia’s Ways to Use It Challenge on SCS this morning to make a scrappy card, using scraps and in the scrappy style if desired.  My bird was stamped onto the back side of another previously stamped image, and my embossed sheet was cut from another project gone awry!  Can you see the little button I made in the center of the flower:

I ran a small scrap through the Cuttlebug with the textile embossing folder, then I punched two holes for the button holes with the double hole punch by SU, then I punched it out with a 3/4″ punch, and there’s my button!  I ran the light blue organdy through the holes, ran the tag through the ribbon as well, knotted, and done!!!

• Stamps:  Always and Garden Silhouettes by SU
• Paper:  PTI White
• Ink: Color Box Chalk in Azurite and Chestnut Roan
• Accessories:  Classic Rectangle Nestabilities and Tag Trio by Spellbinders, SU punches (double hole and 3/4″), SU Pretties Kit, Organdy, Cuttlebug, Textile Folder, Zots, Mounting Tape.

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

That’s it for now — hope you can find time to play if that’s what you’d like to do!!! Whatever is on your agenda, I wish you a wonderful weekend.

One of the most often asked questions I get is, “How do you mail that?”  The card I posted yesterday prompted many more similar emails, so I thought I’d show you all how I handle mailing bulkier cards.  I love to make cards with dimension and I never hesitate to do so based on the issue of mailing, I just bite the bullet and pay the extra postage.  If that goes against your grain, then you can save those bulkier cards for occasions where you will be present to deliver the card, such as a wedding or party you may be attending.

Here is a close-up view of yesterday’s card so you can see the type of bulk I am referring to; however, many of you, and I on occasion, make cards much bulkier than this:

Merely putting this in an envelope and mailing would probably mean that it gets to the recipient in a somewhat damaged state, due to the lumps and bumps in the envelope.  To avoid those lumps and bumps, a trick I learned from Linda Bullard quite a while back, was to crimp a 1/4 sheet of cardstock and place it in front of the card in the envelope to act as a corrugated cushion, and it works amazingly well.  This is very suitable on cards with a low to average amount of dimension added.

The cost to mail the above card in this fashion would be $0.59.  I use my 2 small kitchen scales to weigh my envelopes and small packages.  The small scale goes up to 1 pound and the larger scale goes up to about 7 pounds, and they ARE amazingly accurate when compared to the scales at the Post Office, so I’m sticking with them — no high tech digital postal scales for me — LOL!!!

Another option if your card is a bit too bulky for the above crimped cushioning, is to go to a purchased bubble wrap envelope as shown below.

When inserting a card in this type of envelope, I like to wrap it in tissue for an extra layer of protection and also so that when the recipient pulls it out, it’s just a bit nicer to have to unwrap the tissue than to pull a card out of this unattractive envelope.  We put so much time and effort into our cards, let’s try to present them in an attractive fashion, even though that can be difficult when dealing with postal issues.  The cost to mail the above card in this bubble wrap envelope would be $0.59, plus the cost of the envelope.  I get my bubble wrap envelopes from Wal-Mart and this size runs about 45 cents. (Editing to add:  Please read the 6th comment down by Karen Witter for a source for white padded envelopes which would be more attractive than the one shown, and at a decent price — Thanks Karen!)

Another option which does a great job of protecting the card and which I really prefer to the above bubble wrap envelope, is to put the card into a clear box, and then wrap the clear box in brown postal wrap.

I love these clear boxes and I was turned on to them a year or so ago by Val Stangle.  They come in a variety of sizes and are great for enclosing gift sets or, as here, for protection while mailing.  Even though the outer wrapper is standard brown wrap, oh, what a pretty box/sight when the brown wrap is removed!!!!  These boxes make a lovely presentation.  I get these boxes from clearbags.com and I keep a good supply on hand in a variety of sizes.  This is the smallest size I purchase and it is 1/2″ thick, item FB6, at a cost of $0.32 per box before shipping, handling, etc.  This box will hold several cards, depending on how bulky they are.  The cost to mail the above card in this fashion is $1.34.

And last, but not least, is the most expensive option, which is reserved for extremely bulky cards, but I have been known to use this option — a USPS Priority Box, called a video mailer.

Now, of course, the card shown above would not require this type of mailing, but I have both sent and received some cards that do.  When using this type of box, again, I wrap my card in tissue paper, place it in the box and nicely fill all empty space in the box with gently crumpled tissue paper, again, making sure that this highly unattractive box at least has a pleasantly presented surprise inside!!!  As long as this box weighs less than 1 pound, the cost is $4.80.

So, that’s it — that’s how I mail my cards!!!  Hope this was helpful to someone!!!!

Thank you so much for taking the time to look, and I hope you are having a wonderful, summer week.  I have taken some much needed time off this week and have been enjoying the pleasant temps and warm breezes on my front porch with visitors!!!  Hope to visit with YOU again soon!!!

Oh, before I go — check this out!!!  My friend, Julie Koerber, is in theTop 10 in the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol contest.  She created a gorgeous card using a vintage Santa image.  Take a look, and if you like it, take a moment to cast a vote for Julie.  Instructions are posted along with her card here.  Voting runs until noon MST on Thursday, July 31.  Julie’s work is FABULOUS all the time and she is certainly a winner in my book!!!  Thanks!!!

I made something today purely for the fun of it!!!  I found some pretty scraps of paper I’ve had for a long time and pulled out some buttons, ribbon, etc. to match.  And, to be totally honest, it took me longer than 10 minutes to gather up all the things I wanted to use — but once gathered and in front of me, the card went together very quickly.  Here it is:

I created a little mini collage on a panel cut and embossed using my Long Rectangle Nestabilities.  There is a hole punched in the left side of my little collage through which the ribbon is run.  Friend is on a Nestabilities cut/embossed tag.  The flowers have pearl centers, the button has embroidery thread and additional pearls were used to fill in some space.  The designer paper scraps are adhered to a white card base, with a little piping strip of white between the two designs.  The collage panel is adhered with mounting tape!!! 

This was really fun to make and I’d like to do a bit more digging in my massive stash of vintage sewing supplies to see what I can come up with!!!!    Using the self-adhesive pearls in a variety of colors made this go together quickly.  The Nestabilities and pearls can be purchased at Flourishes.

• Stamps:  Friend is from Fantasy Floral Garden by Flourishes
• Paper:  Scraps by Making Memories (I think), White, Lavender Lace
• Ink:  Lavender Lace
• Accessories:  Ribbon, Nestabilities by Spellbinders, assortment of flowers, button, pearls, Zots, Mounting Tape

Wouldn’t it be fun to make up some of these little collage panels ahead of time and have them all ready to go when you need a quick card —- hhhmmmm, might be a great idea!!!!

And before you go, I’d like to direct you over to a brand new blog — one you will surely not want to miss.  My dear friend, Jerri Kay, has ventured into Blogland and recently went live — so go on over and wish her a warm Blogland welcome!!!

Thank you so much for stopping in!!!

And the winner is #73, as selected by random.org:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

73

Timestamp: 2008-07-28 03:44:34 UTC

And that would be Tara Macfarlane, with this comment:

“What great blog candy! Thank you for the chance! I have to say I love making the Square cards with layers as it gives me lots of room. Most important to me is that everything is layered straight. I received lots of cards where time was taking to make sure stuff is straight, it’s kind of disappointing, all that work.”

Congrats, Tara, on winning the Making Memories Blog Candy.  Email me your address and I’ll get the box off to you right away!!!

 Many thanks to all who played — much appreciated!!!

I made this card for Natasha’s Dare to Get Dirty 08 Sketch Challenge today over at SCS.  She came up with a great sketch and I thought the Stamp Simply Thank You set would work perfectly with it.  Here it is:

I followed Natasha’s sketch pretty much to a T, but due to the size of my main image I didn’t have room for my sentiment as suggested, so had to make some adaptations — where there’s a will, there’s a way — LOL!!!  My tulip was stamped first.  I then stamped it again on some Eclipse Masking Tape, cut it out for my mask (works great because it has a wonderful low tack adhesive to the entire mask), covered my tulip with the mask, then stamped the scripted background which is included in the same set, pulled up my mask, then colored my tulip with Copics.  I punched 2 holes in the main image panel, through which the ribbon was pulled up.

Card making is so easy when you follow a sketch — you only need to determine your images, colors, etc. — give this great sketch by Natasha a try!!!

• Stamps:  Stamp Simply Thank You by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Basic Gray, Almost Amethyst, Euphoria DP by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Palette Hybrid Charcoal and Noir Black and Copics (BV000,V09, V15, V17, G40, YG03, YG95, C1, 0)
• Accessories:  Ribbon, Pearls, Eclipse Tape, Ticket Corner Punch, Piercer and Mat Pack, Mounting Tape.

And I still have a Blog Candy post which is live and active until 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, tonight, Sunday 7/27.  Sign up if you haven’t already!

Thanks so much for looking!!!  Hope you all are having a great Sunday!!!

Keyword ssnotime45 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to get a head start on your Christmas cards.  Everyone has Christmas in July, so thought we would, too!!!  Make any type of Christmas card you like — that’s it.  It can be traditional or non-traditional.  Personally, my preference is always non-traditional.  Can’t wait to see what you do and, as always, try to keep it simple.   Most importantly — have fun!!!

Here are some samples (please be patient as we are uploading and linking tonight):

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.

Check out Becky Oehlers’ sample here.

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my sample:

Here’s my non-traditional Christmas card, which also qualifies for Julie’s DTGD08 Challenge to Embrace White Space and my DTGD08 to Stamp Simply.  I love simple blue and white for Christmas — so fresh and pure — like the new-fallen snow we ususally have by then.

The flourished tree from Flourished Christmas is stamped on white, cut and embossed with the my Rectangle Nestabilities.  A single Pearl is added at the tree base.  It is mounted onto the plain white card with foam mounting squares.  The sentiment, cut and embossed with my Petitie Circle Nestabilities, is mounted with a dimensional.  Steele Blue Sheer Ribbon is tied on the bottom for the finish.  Quick, simple, white — and I love it!!!

• Stamps:  Flourished Christmas by Flourishes
• Paper:  White
• Ink:  Color Box Chalk in Azurite
• Accessories:  Steele Blue Sheer Ribbon, Pearl, Rectangle and Circle Nestabilities, Dimensional, Glue Dot.

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

I have an active Blog Candy post — sign up if you haven’t yet!

Read about the Midwest Flood Relief non-raffle going on at SCS and find out how YOU can try to win one of 55 fabulous prizes made and/or donated by SCSer’s and supporting companies.

Thank you all so much for stopping in.  I do so much appreciate it!!! Hope you all have a safe and wonderful  weekend!!!  And hope you find some time to stamp or do whatever it is that pleases you!!!

Yes, that’s my Dare to Get Dirty 08 Challenge – to Stamp Simply — surprise, surprise!!!!  Hope some of you have been playing the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges at SCS.   If you are a Fan Club Member you are eligible to play and enter. And there’s even a chance at some fabulous prizes if you manage to play all the challenges, and combining challenges is A-OK.  If you’re not a Fan Club Member — well, no better time to join than now — you can read about it here.

In setting up my challenge, I told the players what it means to Stamp Simply.  Here’s what I told them:

Stamp Simply means, first and foremost, to keep the process simple, but at the same time, make it beautiful! And that perfectly sums up the way I like to stamp. I believe that if you use beautiful things, you don’t have to DO much. Beautiful cards are easily achieved with the use of gorgeous images and a few pretty embellishments. Really, that’s all it takes.  If you follow these few simple steps, you’ll have a gorgeous Stamp Simply creation:

• Start with a simple layout/design and a beautiful image
• Use some favorite paper (either DP or cardstock)
• Add your stamped image and a sentiment if you wish
• Finish it off with a beautiful ribbon or other embellishment
• Simple, beautiful, done!!!

Another way to explain the Stamp Simply style would be to liken it to Clean and Simple – I think most of you know what CAS (Clean and Simple) is. Stamp Simply would be somewhat Clean and Simple, but with a little extra *pretty* added in. Make sense?

Here’s the sample card I made using the Stamp Simply set,  Thank You,  by Flourishes.

This card measures 3 1/4″ x 6 1/2″ and fits SU’s small open end envelopes.  Love this size.  The small tulip is stamped in Palette Hybrid Charcoal, colored with Copics, cut and embossed with a Long Rectangle Nestability by Spellbinders, mounted on a scallop, and adhered to the card with foam mounting tape. There are holes punched to tie the bow around the tulip stem.  The sentiment is from the same set, punched, embossed and framed with the Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, brads added, and mounted on foam mounting tape.

A simple card made with clean crisp colors, a simple layout, one beautiful image, one beautiful sentiment, pretty ribbon and a couple of brads.  Simple, beautiful, done!!!  And I will add, the embossing you get from using the Nestabilities really does add a lot, lending richness and elegance with such ease.

• Stamps:  Thank You by Flourishes

• Paper:  White, Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray

• Ink:  Palette Hybrid Charcoal, Copics for Coloring

• Accessories:  SU Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Long Rectangle Nestabilities, Petite Oval Nestabilities, SU Pink Brads, Foam Mounting Tape.

I’m so glad you stopped in to look — hope you can play the challenges over at SCS!!!

Remember, I have a live and active Blog Candy post.  Check it out.

Remember, too, the Non-Raffle for Midwest Flood Relief.  My post just below explains it all.

The Splitcoast Non-Raffle for Midwest Flood Relief is now live and active.  You can click the link above to read all about it.  Bascially a lot of people put together gorgeous offerings which can all be seen in the non-raffle prize gallery.  Donations are being accepted on behalf of the Red Cross, and those donating will be eligible to win any of these prizes.  There are 55 in all.   This was my offering to the cause:

This prize consists of one Stamp Simply set, the first, called Coffee with Friends, by Flourishes, along with a variety of 5 different cards made using Coffee with Friends.  These cards have all been posted here before, so I won’t go into any details.  And Coffee with Friends, much to my dismay, has been sold out for quite some time now, so here’s your chance to win it!!!  I will let you all know when Coffee with Friends is back in stock.

Please check out all of the beautiful creations in the Non-Raffle Prize Gallery, leave some comments for those who took so much of their time to put these packages together, and then go on over to Splitcoast to read all the details and make your donation.

Thanks much for your support of this cause.

My Dare to Get Dirty 08 Challenge will be posted at noonish today (Eastern Time), 7/24.  Hope you can come back to check it out!!!

I also have a live and active Blog Candy post — scroll down two posts to sign up!

Have any of you been playing the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges over at SCS?  Well, this is my first one — Jenn Balcer’s inspiration challenge — what a gorgeous, flourished cake she chose for the inspiration piece!!!  I honestly think she MUST have had Flourishes images in mind when she chose that cake — LOL!!!  You can see it here.

Ok, now this is one of those cards that I really fought to get an accurate picture and just could not.  The color is a bright lime green, not this yellowish-green we are seeing, and I’m sorry but I just could not get it corrected.  Also the glitter is so pretty IRL, and is coming off this awful blue here — I almost didn’t upload this, but once I made it, I am, just hanging my head in shame over this photo.  It is really quite pretty, IRL — please take my word — LOL!!!

Here’s the Cake Recipe:

• Stamp 1/4 sheet of white cardstock with Palette Noir Black ink using Damask
• Cut stamped piece into 3 strips each 1.5″ high
• Cut the strips to length as follows:  3.5″, 2.5″, 1.5″
• Round top corners of strips with corner rounder
• Sponge all edges of above strips
• Adhere to base layer as shown
• Add Pearls between layers
• Trace with Quickie Glue Pen and add glitter
• Clean off Pearls with a Swiffer cloth as all the glitter will stick to them

That was easy!  The cake layer was matted onto a black layer punched with a Wrought Iron Punch.  And can you see the sentiment — To a Special Couple — this is a little sneak peek at one of the new centers coming out by JustRite for the Monogram Stampers you all have — it’ll fit what you have known as the C-45 and the small wooden stampers as well.  The new stampers coming out have new names, but don’t let it confuse you — when I actually have them and can take pictures to show you — I’ll explain it all — but anyway, this center is one of many to come out, covering all sorts of occasions and events.

What I wanted to show you was the multi-use of these stamps.  Even though this is a center made for the Monogram Stamper, which you typically see stamped with a ring around it, today I used it alone — no ring around it.  I put only the center onto my wooden stamper and stamped on white cardstock.  I then punched it out with my SU Designer Label Punch — talk about a perfect fit!!!  It is backed in black punched with SU’s 1 3/8″ punch that so many of us have.  We know all the JustRite Products work well with the Nestability Circles, but I just wanted to give you some other options, using things many of you already have at home, and oh, what a perfect fit!!!  And don’t you just love the font on this — I do!!!  Anyway, when I get some final product to show you, I surely will, but this worked so perfectly here today I just had to use it.

• Stamps:  Damask by Flourishes, Sentiment is soon to be available by JustRite
• Paper:  Black, White, Green is by Prism (my chart is missing, I think it’s in the Kiwi family)
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black
• Accessories:  Quickie Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Pearls, Black Sheer Ribbon, Hole Punch, Sponge, Mounting Squares, and punches by SU:  Corner Rounder, Designer Label, Wrought Iron, 1 3/8″ Circle

I am hosting one of the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges today (Thursday), so be sure to check it out and play along.  I think they pop up at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time, which I think is 12:00 noon Eastern Time.  It’s  a fun one and, you guessed it — simple — LOL!!!  Hope to see you later, playing along!!!