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!!!

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.

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!

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!!!

I’ve been quite sick since returning home from CHA, so I needed a really simple card for tonight.  Also, I’ve always really preferred Christmas cards in a non-traditional color scheme, so that’s what I went with.  Here it is:

This card was quick to make in that it contains merely one stamped image from Peace.  I LOVE this set for quick cards — you can’t beat it!  It isn’t showing well on the photo, but the image was stamped in Versa Mark and embossed with a mixture of retired SU brown embossing powder and SU Iridescent Ice embossing powder.  It is so beautiful and sparkly IRL, just wish you could see it as I do.

I used paper from the Provence pack by Memory Box.  This is definitely not a Christmas pack of paper, but I just loved this sheet and thought with the tree and flowers it would work with the dove.  I like it!!!  Gussied up a bit with a ticket corner punch, a Pearl and a bit of Chocolate Sheer Ribbon, all on an Almost Amethyst base, which brings out the color of the flowers.  This card is 5.5″ square.

I challenge you to try some non-traditional Christmas cards — they’re FUN to do!!!

• Stamps:  Peace by Flourishes
• Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Almost Amethyst, Very Vanilla, Provence by Memory Box
• Ink:  Versa Mark
• Accessories:  Sheer Chocolate Ribbon, Embossing powders (Chocolate and Iridescent Ice mixed), Ticket Corner Punch, Pearl, Mounting Tape Squares

Please take a minute and check out all these wonderful Christmas creations done by our fabulous Design Team:  Leslie Miller, Julie Koerber, Faith Hofrichter, Susan Roberts, Linda Duke, and Sharon Doolittle has a beautiful card as well!

Thanks so much for looking — remember 15% off all Christmas sets thru July.

Also, I have a live Blog Candy post going — just scroll down a bit.

Thanks so much for stopping in.  Hope you are having a wonderful week!!!

• 24 sheets of 12 x 12 paper in the Cheeky Collection
• 7 Ribbons/trims in the Cheeky Collection
• 24  Board Clips in the Cheeky Collection
• 21 Colorboard Stickers in the Springtime Collection
• 1 5 x 7 Mini Book Kit in the Deck the Halls Collection
• 12 Jumbo Pebble Brads in the Noteworthy Collection

This Blog Candy will run until Sunday night, July 27, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, at which time I will pick a winner using a random number generator.  Only enter one time, please.

To enter, merely leave a comment telling me what your absolute favorite style of card is to make — examples — clean and simple, pretty/elegant, vintage, grunge, distressed, heavily layered, white cards  – etc., etc., etc., — whatever — just tell me me what YOU like to make!  Thanks — good luck!!! (Oh, and if you don’t actually make cards yourself, just tell me what kind you like best.)

From there our little group headed over to the SCS Cupcake Reception at the Hyatt next door.  This was another, OH MY GOODNESS experience!!!  Many very familiar faces I had not run into already were there — oh what fun!!!  And everyone was SO friendly and nice — a very festive atmosphere with lots of picture taking going on.  Here’s some I got, and, sadly, many of mine didn’t turn out, but here’s a few:

Sharon Harnist, me, Jerri Jimenez, Lindsey Botkin, Sherry Cheever, Michele Boyer, Trudee Sauer, seated Jeanne Streiff, Bev Gerard.

Susan Roberts, Jan Marie Caruso, Ellen Hutson, Sharon Harnist, Sherry Cheever, Bev Gerard, me, Jeanne Streiff.

Kirsten Dubosque, me, Michelle Giraud.

Jennifer Buck who is on my Friday Stamp Simply Challange team (yay, Jenn!!!!),  AJ Otto, Brooke Lien, Angela Magnuson.

Val Stangle, Carole Burrage, Jenn Balcer, Leigh O’Brien.

What a pleasure to meet these ladies — and there were so, so many more I met that I don’t have photos of — oh, I only wish I did.  It was truly an experience I will always cherish and never forget.

And starting Wednesday, Flourishes begins its Christmas in July Celebration  — and that means 15% off ALL Christmas sets — so be sure to check on what the entire Flourishes DT is up to come Wednesday!!!

Next post — Blog Candy — I promise!!!

I just can’t tell you how much I enjoyed my trip.  My DH and DS#1 took me down to Chicago, about an 8 hour drive, and they kept themselves busy all those days taking advantage of what Chicago has to offer, while I was busy every waking moment with the task at hand.  We arrived late Wednesday night and I had a Copic class first thing  Thursday morning.  I was a bit on the late side getting there, so I just took a seat, not realizing WHO was all seated already.  As Marianne started her presentation, my eyes began to wander the room, and one by one I became aware that I *knew* in a sense, probably 3/4 of the people in the room — AMAZING!!!!  Actually meeting all these people and seeing them in real life as opposed to their on screen avatar was truly the high point of this entire trip for me.  And I’ll share a few pictures with you in a bit.

The Copic class was fun!  Marianne Walker kept things interesting throughout as she explained both the product and technique to us as we colored away.  All attending received the Copic Certification Certificate.  But would you like to know THE most valuable bit of information I received at the class — click here — it is the link to Marianne’s Blog — I Like Markers.  How have I missed this Blog?  Where in the world have I been — somewhere with my head buried in the sand, obviously!!!  Marianne’s blog is filled with tutorials and answers to questions — it’s like having many little mini-classes right at  your fingertips.  I may have missed Marianne’s Blog before, but believe me, it’ll be a daily morning stop from now on!!!  Thank you, Marianne, for the fun, informative class and for all the time and effort obvioulsy put into your fabulous blog!!!

Here’s a few pics taken at the Copic class — now, how’s this for a star-studded classroom!

Leigh O’Brien, Bev Gerard, Joan Fricker, Taylor VanBruggen, Kim van der Sanden.

Nicole Heady, Michelle Wooderson, Jana Millen.

Lynn Mercurio (Lynn in St. Louis).

Julie Campbell  and Lisa Silver.

Michelle Giraud (flaxychick) and Laura Canale (Lov’n Life n  Vegas).

Debbie Olson and Lori Craig.

Carolyn King (Cammie), Deborah Anton (Beadn&Stampn), Carole Burrage (TruCarMa).

How much fun!!!

I picked up a few packs of goodies while at CHA from Making Memories and thought I’d offer them as Blog Candy — so that post will be up later tonight or tomorrow!  Along with more photos from the SCS Cupcake Reception and the CHA show floor.

Thanks so much for stopping in!!!  Hope your week is off to a great start!!!

The challenge this week is to make a card that has BOTH a flower and the color purple.  Now, just how easy is that!!!  The flower need not be purple, as long as there is purple used in the card — Flowers + Purple — that’s it!!!  I LOVE Almost Amethyst and haven’t used it in a bit, so just wanted to — no other reason!!!  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:

There is a bit more stamping on this card than on my normal cards for this challenge, but I just felt like it — and it is all simple stamping.   I used the latest Stamp Simply set called Thank You, and I used Palette Hybrid Charcoal ink (gray) to stamp my background script (included in the set) along the entire left edge of the card.  I then white embossed the parrot tulip from the set over the scripted background in a diagonal formation as shown in the photo.  Then I took my Craft White pad and DTP’d (direct to paper — take the ink pad in your hand and apply it directly to the paper from the pad) the edges of the card to soften it.  I do this often with snowy/winter cards, but I just thought today’s card called for it.  I love the way it softens the overall look. My main image tulip is colored with Copics, holes punched for the Lavender Sheer Ribbon to run through, sentiment stamped in the same Charcoal ink, and tiny Pearls added to the ticket punched corners.  A very soft and lovely card IRL, much softer than it comes across in the photo.  My photo skills still lack, no matter how hard I try — LOL!!!  I am so absolutley in love with this single stem tulip, I can not tell you.   I hope I don’t begin to bore you with it all!!! 

This card is a good representation of my vision for a Stamp Simply set.  Lots of different things and interest in this card, all done with the contents of one small set!!!  My kind of stamping!!!

• Stamps:  Thank You by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Basic Gray, Almost Amethyst
• Ink:  Palette Hybrid Charcoal, Craft White, Copics for coloring — BV000, BV02, BV04, G40, G21, YG03, C1,0.
• Accessories:  Lavender Sheer Ribbon, Pearls, Ticket Corner Punch, White Embossing Powder, Hole Punch.

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.

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!!!

As I am getting ready to go to CHA, time just ran out to prepare my usual May I Suggest… for today, so I’m relying on our FABULOUS Design Team to show you some super projects and to give you some great tips to make your cardmaking a bit easier.  But before I send you over to them, let me offer just a few suggestions (with no pictures, I’m so sorry!):

Clear Cardstock:  Have you tried making clear cards before?  Well, I’m guessing you may have used a thinner transparency type of material?  If so, then you’ll be surprisingly pleased when you see, feel and touch the Clear Cardstock in good supply at Flourishes.  It is much heavier and so easy to work with.  I know you’ll love it. Be sure to check out all our Design Team links below for some great samples.

Palette Hybrid Charcoal ink:  Just wanted to share with you my new found love for gray ink.  I’ve always been one to like my whites VERY white and my blacks VERY black.  Well, I recently have fallen in love with the softness of a beautiful gray ink.  I’ve been using it a lot of recent, but many cards are not yet uploaded for you to see.  These cards all used the Charcoal ink.  My Friday’s Stamp Simply Challenge card coming up on Friday also uses it.  I am just loving the softness it lends, especially when working with pastel type colors.  Just wanted to share that — oh, well, OK — I just went and got you a sneak peek of the card coming up for the Friday Challenge so you can see some gray ink:

Isn’t it so soft and pretty?  I’ve sure been loving it!!!

Latest Flourishes Releases:  I am also recommending our newest releases, just in case you missed them last week:  Stamp Simply Thank You, Poppy Patch, Butterfly Moments.  All 3 wonderful sets to work with!!!

Fun in the Forum:  I also suggest that you browse thorugh the Flourishes Forum at Splitcoast.  There’s a lot of fun and games going on over there all the time — not to mention some informative posts, interviews, and good old fashioned chit chat.  Check it out!!!

Please check out all of our Blogs to see some great cards made using our newest sets and as a bonus this week, they’ll each have a little suggestion of their own for you — how fun!!!  I can’t wait to see all their suggestions myself — off I go!!!

Leslie Miller,  Julie Koerber, Faith Hofrichter, Susan Roberts, Linda Duke, and Sharon Doolittle.

 Store News:

Clear Boxes are back in stock!

Coffee with Friends is TEMPORARILY out of stock.  If you’d like to be notified when it comes back in — please leave an email or SCS PM address in this link.  It won’t be too long!

New Paper — Dare I even say this, because I sure hope there is some left for me when I get home — LOL!!! Haven’t seen this DP IRL, only pictures, but they look FABULOUS!!!!  There is also a great assortment of rich colors in the metallic cardstocks!!!  Check them out!!!  I’ve been stocking up on these for Chrismas cards!!!

Thanks for stopping in everyone!!! The Friday Stamp Simply  Challenge will run as usual!!!  Hope you can stop in then!