I once was a serious collector of background stamps.  Then there came a time I focused that enthusiasm on collecting designer papers.  The thing is, I’ve never entirely escaped the allure of the background stamp, and why would I want to?  Why not have the best of both worlds?

Hello, everyone!  It’s Leslie today, come to share a little of my stamping passion with you.  I know of no better term to describe how I approach this craft.  Are you all with me?  Isn’t that why we’re all here today?  Once I started making samples for today’s discussion, I could hardly stop.  Too many ideas and possibilities were crowding around, competing for a claim on my limited time.  I finally settled on three.

My first sample is pretty straightforward.  I used the Vintage Wallpaper background to make a very simple and feminine card.

It doesn’t get much easier, and I could go on and on with all different colors.  Picture it — all shades of pinks, greens, blues, browns… endless and delicious!  Speaking of delicious, that velvet and crochet trim is something Flourishes ordered at CHA.  I hope you’re one of the lucky ones who got it before it was sold out.  It will be back in the store as soon as possible, though, and I’ll be sure to get in line!  I also used one of the Tag Lines sentiments embossed in white and accented with pink rhinestone squares turned diagonally to create a diamond shape.

Next, I stamped one of my new Sunflowers directly onto the Clouds background.

It’s a soft, subtle blue and much easier to see up close and personal.  Gee, wish you were here so I could give you a closer look.  I stamped it once and colored with Copics, then stamped, colored, and cut out a second flower to pop up over the first one.  The stem and leaf are colored directly over the Clouds background with not a hint of the background peeking through.  Very fun!  I inked the sentiment with markers directly to the stamp.  The ribbon is ivory silk.  See the accents which appear to be brads?  They’re one of my new favorites from Flourishes.  Called Nailheads, they’re self-adhesive so you can add them to the finished card at any time.  I did (ahem) stock up on those little goodies.

I’ll finish up with a Christmas card.  Might as well take this opportunity to add to my growing pile…

In this case I stamped the Holly background, then cut it lengthwise into border strips.  I applied clear glitter to the berries for a little Christmas bling, and paired the Holly with this fun Christmas Borders image and a Holiday Greetings sentiment.  The cute gingham ruffle is something you’ll want to check for later among Flourishes ribbons.  Oh, my!  Some of these new items have been very popular and are selling out fast!

Well, that’s it for today!  I wish I could do more, but I’ll have to save some for later.  Some of my Flourishes team mates are sharing cards today, too.  Whether they’re using background stamps or not, they are using Flourishes images so you know you’ll see something fabulous:

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

In particular, Christine has some exciting news to share with you.  I won’t spill the beans here, but see her Friday Flourishes post and give her some love and congrats.  That’s all I’m saying…

Thank you so much for your time today.  Have a truly wonderful weekend!

Hello All,
Mike and I recently had the great pleasure of visiting the Denver, CO area to attend the wedding of our very first granddaughter. It was a beautiful and memorable event. “Gosh how time flies” was something uttered more than once!

While there we visited several friends and stayed with the #1 daughter and hubby. Everyone had Hummingbird feeders and they were very popular spots for these beautiful little creatures. They were quite friendly but territorial! In a few instances they actually appear to be dive bombing each other.  LOL….

Naturally, I had to make a card using the set Humming Along that I will use as a Thank You note.

  I stamped the image on Flourishes Classic White with Memento Black.  The image was colored using Copics from the Sunflower collection.  I highlighted the edge of the image with the same ink and then did some smudging along the edge using Ranger Distress Ink in Wild Honey.  For a finishing touch I added Basic Grey Bling It and placed them in a diamond pattern.  The sentiment is from the Humming Along set and is stamped in the Memento black ink.

  Things here are still busy in the store as more and more new products appear at the door regularly.  Make sure you visit the store for the best of all the new goodies.

  Thanks for stopping in today.  I hope you enjoyed the card.

Caio,

 Jan Marie

Supplies:

Stamp set: Humming Along

Paper:: Flourishes Classic White, 

Here is the card.

I choose to have the Trumpet Vine in a golden color which we saw a plethra of scrambling along fences. Just beautiful and so pleasing to the eye.