Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" Challenge -- Floral Fantasy

The Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" challenge for May is called "Floral Fantasy."    I have many flower stamps, so the hardest part of this challenge was to figure out which flowers to use.  I recently saw a You Tube video on how to make a Concertina Box Card and thought it would be perfect for this month's challenge.  About five years ago, I started a calendar using some Flowers of the Year stamps from Flourishes.  I never completed the calendar, and it's been sitting  for a long time unfinished -- until I realized that I could use parts of it in my Concertina Box Card.

Using the directions from the video, I created the box from heavyweight white cardstock.  Because flowers were many different colors, I used the gray/white patterned paper for the background layer.  

I removed the mounted flowers from the calendar and glued them to the folded panels.  When you open the box, the array of flowers appears.

Here are close-up photos of the interior panels.

If you'd like to play along with the design team and maybe win a $20 gift certificate from Scor-Pal, make a floral card and post it on the Scor-Pal blog.

CCEE1830 - National Refreshment Day

Lynn's final CCEE Stampers challenge is a fun one!  She says, "One way to beat the heat of summer is with a cold refreshment.  Do you cool down with a glass of lemonade, a rainbow snowcone, an ice cream cone, a cold bottle of beer?  Whatever it may be, share with the CCEE Stampers your favorite cool-down treat in your design this week."  I actually drink iced-tea all year long, but I do indulge in a bit of ice cream on occasion.  I've included many of Lynn's suggestions on my card today, which is made with the Karen Burniston Twist Panel Pop-Up Card die.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more cooling summertime treats.

CCEE1534 Lemonade Day

Frances, our CCEE hostess for August, told us that today is Lemonade Day.  She asked us to celebrate by creating cards that feature lemonade in some way.  If we didn't have anything with a lemon or lemon-related feature, we could use some other kind of beverage.  Fortunately, I had several stamp sets featuring lemonade, and I used some images from three of them on my card.  You probably can't see it, but I added some glossy accents on the glass and pitcher.

Stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog for some more refreshing lemonade.

Stampin'B Challenge #60 - Patriotic Card

In honor of Memorial Day, Vicky Gould wanted us to make a patriotic card for this week's Stampin'Bs challenge. I used Flourishes’ Patriotism on Parade and a DCWV Summer Matstack to create my patriotic card.




My card base is Flourishes Classic White and the matted pieces are SU Real Red. I stamped the little parade silhouette twice across a white strip and then cut it in the center so that I would have all the figures on my cross piece. I didn’t have a flag stamp the right size, so I Googled “American Flag” and found one that would work. After printing it out on white cardstock, I stamped the sentiment below it. I added a little star eyelet on the horizontal strip in the middle, and I was done. Thanks, Vicky – great challenge! If you'd like to play along with the Stampin'B's, we'd love to have you join us!

Stamps - Flourishes Patriotism on Parade
Paper - Flourishes Classic White, SU Real Red, DCWV Summer Matstack DP
Ink - SU Night of Navy, Memento Lady Bug marker

Stampin'B's Challenge #55 - Color Challenge

Faith gave us a color challenge today – White/Yellow/Soft Blue or Mint. I decided on Mint. I thought these colors would lend themselves to these Flourishes images.

I stamped the lemons on Snow Storm Smooth with Palette Noir and colored them with Copic markers. I added some sparkle (which is hard to see in the photo) with Spica glitter pens. Then I cut out the image. The centers of the white panel and the Lemon Slice panel were cut out with rectangular nesties, allowing the Special Mint panel to show through. The white panel is popped up on pop dots to give it more of a frame look. I stamped the botanical name for the lemons with a green pigment ink and clear embossed it. All cardstock and Palette ink available at Mark’s Finest Papers.

Thanks for the bright cheery colors, Faith.
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Stamps - Flourishes Life, Love & Lemons

Paper - Mark's Finest Papers Snow Storm Smooth, Lemon Slice and Special Mint

Ink - Palette Noir Black, ColorBox Green

Accessories - Copic markers, Spica glitter pens, Rectangle Nestabilities, Brads, Clear ep, Pop dots

Stampin'B Challenge #50 - Monochromatic Green

NancyRuth was the hostess for the Stampin'B's challenge today. Her monochromatic green challenge came during the right week – St. Patty’s Day was yesterday. I hope the luck of the Irish was with you!

I must confess that I used Laura Fredrickson’s (scrapnextras) design for the basis of my card this week. When I saw what she had done with the new Flourishes’ set Irish Blessings, my Irish ancestors channeled me to get this set! Book lover that I am, I like the “book” look of Spellbinders Labels Seven. I cut out the shape using Mark’s Finest Papers Pensacola Sand Naturals and then sponged around the edge with Palette Landscape ink before removing the die. Then I stamped the sentiment and sprig of shamrocks, adding the ribbon and shamrock button. It's a pretty simple card, but it gets the message across.

The Flourishes images, cardstock, Spellbinders dies and Palette ink available at Mark's Finest Papers.

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Stamps - Flourishes Irish Blessings

Paper - Always Artichoke, GP White, SU DSP

Ink - Palette Jardin Moss

Accessories - Spellbinders Labels Seven, Copic markers, Button, Ribbon, Sponge dauber

Timeless Tuesday Anniversary - Part Two

Here are a couple more cards I did for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Anniversary Challenge. The first one, hosted by Dee Jackson, was to be a "fruity" card.

I chose the fruit basket from Mixed Greetings, combining it with some designer paper from the DCWV pad called, appropriately enough, Citrus.

My second card was Betty Wright's "cut out and pop up" challenge. I actually stamped the daffodil three times, cutting various parts of it and popping them up with dimensionals.

All of the challenges for the anniversary were re-visited challenges from throughout the year. It was fun going back and doing them over again.

Stampin'B Challenge #44 - Wiper Card

Tomorrow is my niece and her husband’s wedding anniversary, so I used today’s Stampin’B challenge to make an anniversary card for them. NancyRuth wanted us to make a wiper card – which I’ve done only once before -- so I had to look up the SCS tutorial to refresh my memory.

I think this little House Mouse stamp is so very cute and perfect for an anniversary. You can’t really get a whole lot on a wiper card, so I just used a Flourishes’ rose, stamped off once, to balance out the HM image and stamped the Happy Anniversary sentiment over top of the rose. I found an appropriate small sentiment to put on the wiper part in a set of Scent with Love Label Accents stamps. The flourish down the side is from Inkadinkadoo. Fortunately, I had bought this Martha Stewart heart border punch not too long ago.

NancyRuth, you stretched my designing skills, but I think the card turned out okay. Thanks for the push!

Stamps - HM Wreath Love by Stampabilities, I Love Roses and Flourished Words by Flourishes, Fancy Accents by Scent With Love, Ornate Flourish by Inkadinkadoo
Paper - SU Ruby Red, GP White
Ink - Palette Noir Black and Moulin Rouge
Accessories - Copic markers, MS border punch, Paper piercer, Sponge dauber

Timeless Tuesday Anniversary

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday is celebrating its first anniversary with six different challenges -- remakes of previous challenges. I'm going to try to do all six challenges, and here are my first two cards.

Maki Jones wanted us to make a card using our favorite Flourishes set. I actually chose two for this card -- Gerbera Daisies and Sweet Violets. I stamped the daisies with Palette Noir Black and colored them with Copic markers. After cutting out the piece with a Mega Curved Rectangle nestie, I sponged around the edge with Palette Cognac before removing the die. I like how this gives the illusion of another layer without adding the weight. The background DP is from Basic Grey's Sugared paper pack.


Silke Ledlow was the hostess for the second challenge -- to make a card using pink as the main color.

Pink is not necessarily my "go-to" color, but I figured Valentine's Day would be a good place to use pink. I stamped and embossed the Lace Heart in silver, then cut three more hearts using my Nestabilities Heart dies. The background piece is Flourishes Damask stamped with Versamark. The sentiment is from a Scent With Love set called Label Accents. I liked the wider white "frame."

Okay, I have two of the challenges done -- four more to go!

Stampin'B's Challenge #41 - Winter Fun

If this Stampin’B’s challenge had been posted a few days ago, my card could have been appropriate even for us Florida folks! It was COLD!!! There even were reports of snow flurries!!! Nicole asked us to make a card showing winter fun (skating, sledding, skiing). I chose sledding.

I love these little Penny Black hedgehogs. After stamping them with Versafine Black Onyx and clear embossing, I colored them with Copic markers and cut them out with the octagonal nesties, which are fast becoming a favorite of mine. As I didn’t want this card necessarily to be a Christmas card, you will note that their hats are not red. I added some Polar White Flower Soft for the fur on their hats and snow under the toboggan. To accent the snowflakes on the DCWV background paper, I punched out some snowflakes and attached them with brads. I certainly hope we don’t have any more of the frigid weather we experienced over the past several weeks. That’s not why I moved to Florida! But the hedgies sure look like they’re enjoying it!

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Stamps - Christmas Critters by Penny Black, Flourishes Sleigh Ride

Paper - Bashful Blue, Basic Black, GP White, DCWV Holiday Collection

Ink - Versafine Black Onyx

Accessories - Copic markers, Octagonal nesties, Flower Soft, Snowflake punch, Brad, Sponge dauber

Featured Stamper -- Calendar Project

Today's Featured Stamper on SCS was WeeBeeStampin. After looking through Wendy's gallery, I found this card, which had the perfect layout for my calendar project. Using Flourishes Calendar Sets, I have completed six pages of my calendar. Because they will be back-to-front mounted, I was able to construct the calendar, even though the last six pages have not been stamped. I used a small calendar I picked up at Michaels in their $1 rack. All of the images are cut out using Nestabilities Labels Three. All coloring is done with Copic and Prismacolor markers.

Hopefully, I will be able to complete my calendar tomorrow. This will serve as my office calendar. And I'm thinking that I can replace the calendar sheets next year and use it over again. The Flourishes pre-release challenge is to show some love. I do love Flourishes stamps and alcohol markers. I hope that is enough to qualify for this challenge.

Year In Flowers Calendar

I just purchased Flourishes' Calendar sets -- there are three of them, four months/flowers in each set -- and have completed a Christmas gift for my friend. I bought a little $1 calendar at Michaels for the "calendar" portion and used the Flower of the Month on the top portion. I actually made two calendars -- the other one is for my sister. That one is more horizontal.

I coordinated the cardstock color with the design on the calendar, not necessarily the flower of the month. January's crocus, however, was a good match all the way around. The flowers are all colored using Copic markers and cut out with Spellbinders Labels Three.

I have to admit that I needed to Google "primrose" for February. I've never seen a primrose before. When I heard the name "primrose," I thought it was going to look like a rose. NOT! After I did all my coloring and gluing, I punched the holes at the top with my Crop-a-dial and used binder rings to hold the calendar together. Because the cardstock is sturdy, the calendar will stand up by itself. I didn't need any kind of holder or frame. This was a fun project!

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All Flourishes images, Palette ink, and cardstock are available at Mark's Finest Papers.

Stampin'B's Challenge #37 - Beverage

Faith (Markie's Mom) is the hostess for this week's Stampin'B's DT Challenge, and she wanted us to make a card using a beverage. I’m a tea drinker, so I immediately thought of tea!

I stamped the stacked tea cups from Flourishes’ Christmas Tea set with Palette Noir Black onto MFP Snow Storm Smooth and colored it with Copic markers. I cut out all the panels with Nestabilities Labels Eight and sponged with Palette Landscape before taking the die off the paper. I didn’t want to cover up the image with ribbon, so I used some gold cord to tie a bow; and added a little teacup charm. I matted the teacup panel and Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses background with MFP Spring Leaf.

All images, cardstock, charm, and inks are available at Mark’s Finest Papers.

Blog Hop Announcement!

Mark's Finest Papers Design Team is celebrating our FIRST Blog Hop this week! How could we make it a REAL celebration? How about giving away some Blog Candy?

For your chance to win, visit and comment on each of the following design team members' blogs on Wednesday and Thursday, December 9th and 10th. Then, on Friday, a winner will be chosen from those who have visited all 7 blogs both days. The winner will receive 2 BRAND NEW Stamp Sets, 5 packages of Mark's Finest Papers and 5 Satin ribbons! And remember, Friday night will be the New Flourishes Release at Mark's Finest Papers! The winner will be announced on the Mark's Finest Papers Blog on Friday. Good Luck!

Nancyruth- http://nancyruthat.blogspot.com/
Nikki- http://smellslikehomemade.blogspot.com/
Lois- http://clownmomcreations.blogspot.com/ (that's me!)
Peggy- http://www.artfulljourney.com/
Vicky- http://www.villagestamperramblings.blogspot.com/
Faith- http://stampinwithmarkiesmom.blogspot.com/
Mark’s Finest Papers- http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you on Wednesday and Thursday!

Today I have another card I made during my stamping week at the beach -- another Santa card using my very favorite Santa image – Flourishes' Santa I Believe set.

I hate to add too much to this marvelous face so I just stamped it in Palette Cognac and colored only the holly and berries. I did outline the glasses with a gold Spica glitter pen. The card base is Spring Leaf, with a relatively wider mat of Basic Grey Wassail. The sentiment is stamped in Palette Landscape and cut out using a Spellbinders Label.

All cardstock, ink and Flourishes images are available at Mark’s Finest Papers.

Stamping at the Beach

My stamping buddy Rosemary and I take an annual trip to the beach each year right before Christmas. Her daughter has a 4th floor condo in Satellite Beach, FL which looks right out at the ocean. We pile all our stamping supplies into her SUV, take off for the beach, and then spend the week making our Christmas cards. Last week was our third trip – nothing to do but stamp, eat, and look at the ocean! These are some of the cards I made this week.


I am loving this Flourishes set – Doves and Holly. I made two cards using it. The first one is 5 x 6 ½ inches. The base and background panel for the doves are Ivory Cream Super Smooth. I cut the frame from Spring Leaf using the Spellbinders Foliage Frame die. I must confess I do not know where the DP came from – it was in my stash. The doves are colored using Copic markers, cut out, and popped up on dimensionals in the center of the frame. I added some paper piercing around the inside of the frame, and I was done.

The smaller card is a standard A2 size. I thought the smaller doves would fit well using the double embossing technique, and I liked the way it turned out. Paper is Ripened Tomato and Snow Storm Smooth. This one is pretty simple – just the embossing, some ribbon, and a fancy tag.

The cardstock and Doves and Holly set are available at Mark’s Finest Papers.

The tree on these two cards is part of a two-stamp swing card set from Repeat Impressions. The larger card is a gatefold card on which I glued DP from a big Christmas stack of paper from DCWV all the way to the edges of the “gate.” The tree is colored using Copic markers and some Spica glitter pens. I added a sentiment from My Sentiments Exactly and some ribbon.

The smaller card has a little more bling. All the decorations on the tree are rhinestones from Michaels. The card base is Bravo Burgundy with a couple of stripes of DP added for interest. The little circular sentiment is from a clear dollar set.

To say that my week at the beach was productive is probably an understatement. I wound up making around 35 Christmas cards. And we had a ball! We even had time to go see “New Moon” again for the third time!

Stampin'B's Challenge #32 - Anything But a Card

NancyRuth was hostess for this week's Stampin'B's DT Blog Challenge. For her challenge of "anything but a card" I was trying to do something a little different for me. As I was scrounging around in my attic trying to organize the stuff in there, I came across this little stationery set that I think my mom bought in a dollar store several years ago. I thought it might look cute dressed up a little bit.

I covered each piece with the daisy paper from a jumbo DP stack from DCWV called the Photo Stack 2. I ran the paper for the Journal, Address Book, and Note pad through my Xyron machine with the laminating cartridge in it so that the DP would be protected from handprints. I stamped the Gerbera Daisies from Flourishes on white cardstock and colored them with Prismacolor and Copic markers. I stippled a little color around the images so that the background wouldn't be quite so stark white. The words were printed from the computer. After taking the picture frame/storage unit apart, I also covered each piece with the daisy paper and then reassembled it.

Here are all the pieces separately so you can see how they look. That little cutie in the picture frame is my one-year old grandson William.
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Stamps - Gerbera Daisies from Flourishes

Paper - Flourishes Classic White, SU Chocolate Chip

Ink - Palette Noir Black & Moulin Rouge

Accessories - Prismacolor & Copic markers, $1 Store Stationery Set, Computer for sentiments, Petite Oval Nestabilities, Stiple brush, Photograph, Xyron & Laminating cartridge

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Don't forget that, beginning in December, the Stampin'B's DT Blog Challenge will be on Thursdays.

Christmas Cards

Here are a couple of more Christmas cards I made this week.

While at a workshop this past weekend, I saw an all-white Christmas card that was really pretty. So I decided I wanted to try one. The base layer is embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder; the next layer is a Cuttlebug snowflake layer, and the round piece is also a Sizzix embossing folder. I used a Sakura clear gel pen to highlight the embossed parts and added a punched out snowflake.

This is my card for Sketch Challenge #254 on Splitcoaststampers. The card base is Spring Leaf from Mark's Finest Papers. All the rest of the paper is from Basic Grey's Wassail DP pad. The ornament is colored with Copic markers. I added a few Basic Grey half-pearls for a little interest on the corners.

All papers and stamps on this card are available at Mark's Finest Papers.

Stampin'B's Challenge #31 - Holiday/Christmas

Faith (a/k/a Markie's Mom) was the hostess for this week's Stampin'B's DT Blog challenge. Her Christmas/Holiday card challenge gave me an opportunity to use my new Santa from Flourishes.

For my first card using this set I decided to start out simple with him – stamping with Palette Cognac on Flourishes Classic White and adding just a little color using Spica glitter pens on his glasses and the holly leaves. The holly berries are half-pearls. Colored cardstock is Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke and Basic Grey Wassail DP. The sentiment is stamped with Always Artichoke, cut out with a Petite Oval nestie, sponged with Creamy Caramel while still in the nestie die, and matted in Always Artichoke.

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Stamps - Santa I Believe by Flourishes

Paper - SU Bravo Burgundy and Always Artichoke, Flourishes Classic White, Basic Grey Wassail DP

Ink - Palette Cognac, Always Artichoke, Creamy Caramel

Accessories - Petite Oval Nestabilities, Spica glitter pens, Red half pearls

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Starting in December, the Stampin'B's Challenge is moving to Thursdays.

Stampin'B's Challenge #29 - Diagonal Double Pocket

Nicole (ButterflyEars) was the hostess for this week's Stampin'B's DT Blog challenge. She had us make a diagonal double pocket card. I haven’t done one of these for a long time. Nicole’s challenge cured that! The tutorial in SCS’s Resource section was helpful in reminding me how to do it – much folding!

The gorgeous paper is from Basic Grey’s Wassail collection. I stamped the little nutcracker from Art Impressions’ Christmas Toy Shoppe with Palette Noir Black and colored him with Copic and Prismacolor markers. After cutting out the oval with a Nestabilities die, I sponged with More Mustard before removing the die; then matted with the Basic Grey DP, More Mustard, and white. The little sentiment on the front is part of a stamp from Lizzie Anne Designs called Many Merries. The stamp is a list of how you say Merry Christmas in seven different languages. I used a marker, colored just the right one, and then stamped and punched it out – matting it in More Mustard. The larger tag is stamped with an image from Flourishes’ All Wrapped Up, and the smaller one is from Lizzie Anne Designs’ Holiday Script.

I forgot how much fun this type of card was. Thanks, Nicole, for suggesting it.

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Stamps - Art Impressions Christmas Toy Shoppe, Lizzie Anne Designs Many Merries and Holiday Script, Flourishes All Wrapped Up

Paper - Flourishes Classic White, SU More Mustard, Basic Grey Wassail DP

Ink - Palette Noir Black, More Mustard

Accessories - Copic and Prismacolor markers, Nestabilities, Tag Corner punch, Ribbon, Sponge dauber

Stampin'B's Challenge #27 - Gatefold with Flowers

As hostess for the Stampin'B's Design Team Blog this week, my challenge was to do a fun fold that I like to do on occasion – a gatefold card. I decided to make a little bit of a twist, so I added the requirement of a flower. Last week, I had made a Thanksgiving card, so this week I’m making a Christmas card.

I cut the poinsettia out using a BossKut die and some really pretty suede paper from Marco Papers. I attached the cut-out poinsettia to a circle, cut with my nestabilities and attached it to the front of the card. The DP is from a big stack of Christmas paper I bought several years ago, and I added some velvet ribbon to one panel and three half-pearls to the other. It’s probably hard to see on the photo, but I put some stickles on the center brad – just for a bit of bling!

No stamping on the outside of this card, but I did put a sentiment (SU Many Merry Messages) on the inside, along with the small poinsettia from Flourishes’ Poinsettia & Boxwood, colored with Copic and Prismacolor markers.

I hope the rest of the team enjoyed this challenge as much as I did.
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Stamps - Flourishes' Poinsettia & Boxwood, SU Many Merry Messages

Paper - Real Red, Garden Green, GP White, Provocraft Christmas Stack, Marco Papers Red Suede

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories - BossKut Poinsettia dies, Nestabilities, Velvet Ribbon, Half Pearls, Prismacolor and Copic Markers, Brad, Stickles