A Little Zen with The Challenge

Only 1 more Monday to go for this school year!  Can I get an Amen!?  That also means only two weeks before I head out of town and I am frantically trying to get everything together.  Getting all my crafty obligations done early is a challenge in itself!
This week at The Challenge is an inspiration challenge~

Here is this week's pretty inspiration photo~

So not only did I fall in love with the pinks and greens in this week's inspiration photo, but it has a zen-like feel to me as well, so I tried to keep everything clean and crisp.
 I used one of my favorite Flourishes images (no longer in business) and colored with Copics.  I have been practicing trying to get more depth in my coloring and this is a great image for that.  The sentiment is from a retired Sweet 'n Sassy Stamp Set.
The Design Team has lots of great inspiration for you!

Anita Madden
Broni Holcombe
Claire Broadwater
Diane Jaquay
Jinny Newlin

Kim Heggins

Kimberly Wiener

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Hope to see you in the gallery!  You can link up your creation HERE!

Thanks for stopping and have a blessed day!

Lee Ann  :)

Magnolias for Mom

Hi Everyone! 

Just a quick post this evening, to share another card I made to encourage my mom, who finally came home from the hospital this week. 

I have had this Flourishes stamp set for at least two years, and for those of you entrenched in this stampy world, you know they have been out of business for nearly a year.  This is the first time I inked up this gorgeous image.  I think it intimidated me in the past, but I finally decided now was as good a time as any!  It was the perfect image for my mom as she definitely likes more traditional images. 
I used the a sketch at Deconstructed Sketch; congrats to Jen on her 200th sketch challenge!  I chose this sketch to use this week~

I am also playing along in Power Poppy's challenge this month, 'Cut it Out'; in other words, fussy cut that main image!  I just ordered my first Power Poppy stamp, but as luck would have it, it is very detailed and not meant for fussy cutting- even for this girl who loves to fussy cut! 
I am also entering this into Stamplorations' May Challenge, 'Stamps and Leaves'.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a blessed weekend!

Lee Ann  :)

To Caffeinate or Not to Caffeinate

Hello Everyone!

IT IS SPRING BREAK!  I was soooo ready for a little down time; hoping to play in lots of challenges this week. 
First up, a new challenge at 613 Avenue Create; it is National Caffeine Month, so the challenge this week is to make a card with something caffeinated- coffee, tea, soda, chocolate...
I am very limited on caffeine themed stamps.  I had to pull out an old Flourishes stamp to color up.

I went with another one layer card, and since this was a Christmas image, I decided to play along with The One Layer Christmas Card Challenge.  This week's challenge is "glitter". 

I am also linking up to Less is More where it is one layer week and in addition, there is to be an animal on the card.  I have a cardinal and reindeer. 
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge is 'Things that Fly'- again, I have a reindeer and cardinal (yes, the reindeer is stretching it, but if you believe in Santa, they fly!)

Thanks is much for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann  :)

Looking for Spring

Hello Everyone!

I am a big fan of winter, especially the snow part, but today it is just dreary, dreary, dreary!  I decided my craft room was the best place to be and decided to play in the Featured Stamper Challenge on Splitcoaststampers; Ann aka Dockside is featured this week.  I chose a cas card with a wreath and a grid pattern to case, but in the process, created quite the mess!

I wanted to do a water color wash background; I chose colors from Colour Q.

I brushed on a pinky orange color from my Peerless water colors; then while the background was still wet, I stamped on some Razzleberry ink with the SU Off the Grid image.  This is where the mess occurred! 
I gave up that idea pretty quick and moved on to stamping my wreath with a little image from Flourishes Life Love Lemon set.  I decided to use the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches~

 Then I discovered the wonderully springy inspiration photo at The Card Concept and since it is there 1 year anniversary, I had to play along with my former team!  Happy Anniversary Card Concept!  The inspiration brought me back to pink'y', purple'y' colors so I used my mess of a watercolor paper and punched flowers from it. 

It also seems appropriate to link up to 613 Avenue Create for their 2 year anniversary.  This card uses water coloring and handmade flowers.  Happy Anniversary to 613 Avenue Create!

I added layers with a Crumb Cake frame cut with Spellbinders and a Gelly Roll Clear Star Pen.  The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs. 

Thanks so much for visiting and have a wonderful week!

Lee Ann:)

A Tattered Rose

Hello Friends!  I have a quick share for you this evening of a card I made for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge which is to add stitching on our card.  I wanted to get my newest Flourishes stamp inky. 

I colored my image with Prismacolor pencils and fussy cut it out.  The rest is pretty self explanatory.  Supplies are listed below. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed Sunday!

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies Used-
Stamps- Flourishes Old Tea Rose, Stampin' Up Everything Eleanor
Paper- Neenah Solar White, SU Basic Black, Whisper White, Specialty dsp and First Edition dsp (retired)
Ink- Crumb Cake, Memento Tuxedo Black
Other- Stampin' Up white ribbon, Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities and Classic Petal Edgeabilities, sewing machine

Feels Like Fall

Hello, friends!
It is absolutely gorgeous weather here in St. Louis this weekend, and I plan on taking full advantage of it and getting outside.  In between errands this morning, I worked in a little time to get inky.  Williams Sonoma is the inspiration site today on SCS (see the Inspiration Challenge) and the Timeless Tuesday Challenge at Flourishes is to use dry embossing on our card.  Here is what I came up with~

I used an image from the Season of Thanks set and colored it with Prismacolor Pencils.  I love gray and orange together, so these two photos- here and here- from Williams Sonoma served as my inspiration.
I embossed the Very Vanilla panel with the striped ef, to simulate the siding in the photo of the wreath.  I embossed the Basic Gray cs with the wood grain ef to simulate the gray hutch in the second photo (cycling photo at the top of the screen).

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and have a blessed weekend!

Lee Ann :)

Supplies used-
Stamps- Flourishes- Season of Thanks
Paper- Neenah Solar White, SU Very Vanilla, Basic Gray, Naturals Ivory
Ink- SU Basic Gray, Memento Tuxedo Black
Other- SU wood grain ef and stripes ef, pearls, SU paper doily, ribbon, MFT Circle Stax dies

Time in Texas

Hello Everyone!
This is a very short post as I currently am in the great state of Texas visiting a friend.  I made this card right before leaving town; I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew on this card!  I really wanted to try a monochromatic color scheme and wanted to give this postcard scene a vintage look.  It was definitely tricky to color with all the loops and curves in the gorgeous frame!  I added Stampendous Crystal Snow glitter to the scene, some dry embossed cardstock and a bow to finish this simple card.

 

This card is for the Flourishes Christmas in July challenge.    Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lee Ann  :)

Products used-
Stamps-Flourishes Vintage Postcard
Paper-Stampin Up Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler, Flourishes white cs
Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black
Other-Copics, Spellbinders, ef, ribbon, Stampendous Crystal Snow

Back in Black

Hello Again!
No, I am not using ACDC as inspiration for my cards!  The Stamps and Scraps Challenge at Flourishes is "Black and White", so I got out my Fanciful Flourishes set and came up with this elegant and CAS Christmas card~

I stamped the flourished fleur de lis 5 times in a star shape to make my snowflake.  I outlined many of the flourishes with Dazzling Details, but unfortunately you cannot see the pretty shimmer here.  My hoarded May Arts ribbon made the perfect bow!  I stamped my sentiment with a sentiment from the Holida Greetings set and die cut it out with a SB die.  Finished card size is 5 1/2  x 5 1/2.
I have also combined this with the Featured Stamper challenge at SCS , where Heather Hoffman is the honoree this weekend.   

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed weekend!

Lee Ann :)

Supplies used-
Stamps-Flourishes Fanciful Flourishes, Holiday Greetings
Paper-Flourishes white cs, Stampin' Up black cs
ink-Versafine Onyx Black
Other-Spellbinders Metal Tags and Frames dies, SU Dazzling Details, May Arts ribbon,dimensionals

Lemons

When LIFE gives you Lemons, Make CARDS!  

Hello!   I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  I spent the morning with a friend at our beautiful Missouri Botanical Gardens and then went out for a yummy lunch.  Now back to all things crafty!
  I have been lacking in MOJO these last few days but  I got crafty late last night and  played along with several challenges.  This card is for the Flourishes Designer Focus-CASE this Designer.  This week the focus is on Heather Jensen.  She can do amazing things with dp and a sewing machine.  It is also for Great Impressions' Anything Goes challenge and the Inspiration Challenge at SCS today, using a site called Persona Jewelry for inspiration. 

My inspiration piece can be seen here. 

And a couple of pictures from the morning adventure-

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed weekend! 

Lee Ann  :)

Products Used-
Stamps-Flourishes Lemons, Life and Love; Around the Arbor
Paper-Flourishes white cs, Basic GRay Hello Luscious, MME The Sweetest Thing Bluebell, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake
Ink-Memento Tuxedo Black
Other-Copics, SU white baker's twine, dimensionals, sewing machine

Small Flourishes

Good Morning! 
I am trying to take a bit of a crafty break, but wanted to play along with the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge this week.  I am always admiring their DT work, but never participating in challenges, so, as it is Flourishes' birthday week, I decided this was a good time to start!
This week's challenge is to "make it mini"; in other words,  to make a set of 3 x 3" cards.  I went CAS on this challenge used stamps that have not seen ink~

These cards pretty much speak for themselves- no complicated instructions!  Straightforward 2 step stamping was used for the wings.  To get the black body, the wings were masked off and the butterfly was stamped again in black.  The butterflies were fussy cut out and added to the white cardstock which was stamped with the border stamp 3 times. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and may your day be blessed!

Lee Ann  :)

Products used~
Stamps-Flourishes Fanciful Flourishes
Paper-Flourishes white cs, Stampin' Up Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz and Crushed Curry
Ink-Pool Party, Bahama Breeze, So Saffron, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive (all SU), Versafine Onyx Black ink

Flourished Daffodils

Hello, everyone!  I was able to get some stamp time in this evening, and decided to play along with the Flourishes November challenge-

 I chose daffodils for my image, yellow as my monochromatic color, Stampin' Up dsp for my patterned paper and some rhinestone bling to finish it off.

This layout was actually very fun to work with, even though initially I was unsure of it.  I used my Mini Vintage Ovals from Verve for the first time and I think they worked wonderfully on this card. The daffodils were watercolored with an aquapainter and fussy cut out.
 Thanks so much for stopping by during this busy week before Thanksgiving.

Blessings!

Lee Ann :)

Supplies used for this card-
Stamps-daffodils from Stampendous, sentiment from Stampin' Up's Trust God
Paper-Stampin' Up Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Patterns dsp and other retired dsp
Ink-Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Stazon Black
Other-MFT Circle die, ribbon (unknown), Verve Mini Vintage Oval dies, bling (Micheal's), Scalloped circle die Spellbinders, dimensionals, aquapainter