Sunday, March 31, 2013

April Beautiful World Tour


Why hello, there and welcome to your last destination on the hop, this month - Vancouver, Canada where spring is off to an incredible start!  The sun has been shining this past week and it's been very warm...almost tee-shirt weather!

 Wow, I truly cannot believe that it's already April!  I hope you had an amazing Easter weekend spent with loved ones.

Anyway...
If you have arrived from Anne-Elise's Blog, then you are in the right place.  If not, please head over to the Flourishes Blog to start from the beginning.

One lucky winner is chosen from the comments each month to WIN their choice of Flourishes stamp set.  All you need to do is follow the hop and leave comments along the way.  You do not need to comment on every stop, however, the more you comment on, the bigger your chance of winning!

This month, Anne-Elise has given us a Childhood Theme to play along with...

Here is my take:
Although, I had so many ideas for this theme, I just HAD to go with my initial idea.  My first thought when I heard about the theme was to use the fun sprinkler image from Flourishes' Sweet Days of Summer stamp set.  Every time I look at that beautiful silhouette, it just takes me back to my childhood as it reminds me of playing in the sprinklers with my two older brothers when I was 5 or 6 years old.

I chose the colours aqua and golden yellow because I really wanted to evoke that feeling of summer warmth, blue skies, water, and a bright shining sun!

Overall, the card is pretty straight forward but, I did some selective inking on the sentiment which came from Flourishes' Hydrangea stamp set.  I did this mainly so that I could fit it on a fishtail flag but, I also wanted to highlight the word "sunshine" by stamping it with yellow ink.  I also added some rhinestones for flair and went over the main image with glossy accents for some shine and a "wet" look.

I took some inspiration from Iwona's Sketchbook Saturday #88 pictured below:

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your last stop here in sunny Vancouver.  
Now head on back to the Flourishes  Blog!

Happy Stamping!


Sunday, March 3, 2013

March Beautiful World Tour


Hello everyone! 
 Well, March has already rolled around and it's that time again...time for another Beautiful World Tour with Flourishes!  Welcome to Vancouver, Canada where we are eagerly anticipating spring!

If you have arrived from Kathy's Blog, then you are in the right place.  If not, please head over to the Flourishes Blog to start from the beginning.

One lucky winner is chosen from the comments each month to WIN their choice of Flourishes stamp set.  All you need to do is follow the hop and leave comments along the way.  You do not need to comment on every stop, however, the more you comment on, the bigger your chance of winning!

This month, Sasha has challenged us to each make a beautiful bookmark.

I have always wanted to try making a corner bookmark but, have never gotten around to it so, I used this tutorial by the fabulous Beate Johns of splitcoaststampers.com.  I always love Beate's beautiful work and she has such a talent to make wonderful tutorials.  This one is was NO exception and she made it super simple for me!

My dad is a very avid reader but, also very passionate about fishing...since he reads more than anyone else I know, I knew I had to make my first bookmark for him.  I also thought making a masculine bookmark might be something different from all of the gorgeous bookmarks my teammates have made.

Here is what I created:

I used the Kids Play stamp set from Flourishes, stamping it in dark grey ink.  I cut it out using Spellbinders circles, sponged the image, and matted it with gold glitter paper to add a little flair.  The sentiment, from Tiny Flowers and Tags, was stamped on the tag and attached with a little baker's twine and added a button for embellishment.  Easy peas-y!

Thank you for visiting.  I hope you enjoyed your stop in Vancouver, Canada...your next stop on the tour is...

Happy Stamping!