The Perfect Tree

Flourishes Monthly Christmas Challenge starts tomorrow July 1st.. Come join us for the chance to win..

The Perfect Tree

Words by Ray Boltz, Music by Steve Millikan and Ray Boltz

The ornaments are ready
The place has been prepared
Strings of lights and holly
Are draped across the chair
The family’s all together
I know where they must be
Everyone is searching
For the perfect tree

CHORUS:
The perfect tree
Grew very long ago
And it was not decked with silver
Or with ornaments of gold
But hanging from its branches
Was a gift for you and me
Jesus laid His life down
On the perfect tree

Mother wants a straight one
The children want it tall
Dad just hopes that somehow
He can get it down the hall
Soon they’ll gather round it
As proud as they can be
But when they’re looking at it
I wonder if they see

CHORUS (repeat)

With all the celebrations
Sometimes the truth is lost
That every step this baby took
Brought Him closer to the cross

 
This week over at Flourishes Stacy is once again hosting the Monthly
Christmas challenge.  This month it is to be inspired by your 
favorite Christmas/Holiday song.  I chose The Perfect Tree by Ray Boltz.
Back home a family lost their daughter to cancer.. That Christmas
the father sang this song in a Christmas concert.  There was not a 
dry eye in the house.  I think it reflects the true meaning of Christmas
for me.  

For this card I used Flourishes stamp sets:  Forest of Trees
and Christmas Wreath for the sentiment. I watercolored the background
using Flourishes European Watercolor Paper. The ribbons are
both also from the Flourishes..Checked Ribbon and May Arts Silk.

Come play along in our Monthly Flourishes Christmas Challenge.

For all the details on this 

challenge head over to the Flourishes Forum on Splitcoaststampers.

 This month's contest begins tomorrow July 1st.  The winner will get a Flourishes 

Christmas Stamp Set of their choice. 

Hope you make time to play with us this month!

Beary Special

This week over at Mo's Digital Pencil's Blog Sheila

is the hostess.. She challenged us to "anything goes".

I chose to use this Beary Messy image from Mo's Digital Pencil

Colored with my prisma pencils and some sparkling H2Os.

                                    I am hoping you will all come join the fun..

Mo's Challenge Blog

Life Is A Book

Life is a book. Some pages get torn out, lines get erased. Others scribble

into your book, to add extra conflict. Each day our book gets longer,

and the story can easily change. So go out there and be the author

of an extraordinary autobiography.

A just "because" card.. It is nice to stamp for no reason at all.. :)

This summer my son and I have been reading.. He is reading

the Seekers series.. It is about a group of bears.  I am reading

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff.  I wanted some inspiration. 

This image is new over at Mo's Digital Pencil.  His name is

Harvard.  I love her new set of school kids.. Go check

them out. 

A HUGE shout out of thanks to Sharon Basel for my new

watermark. I just love it. It is perfect for me. 

Check out her blog Inklinedtostamp

She also created her own background on her blog which I LOVE...

Have a wonderful day..It's hot here..

Entered into these challenges:

Scrap Creations: Anything Goes (oops you are suppose to use basic grey paper..)

Raise The Bar:  What A Special Guy

Flourishes Friday Focus

This week at Flourishes we are focusing on the newly released sets.

I love them all. Each month's releases get better and better. For my first

card I used the new set called Ferns and Fiddles.. I used white embossing

powder and Versamark ink to emboss the ferns on glossy cardstock. 

I then sponged some ink over the

embossing.. 
Check out the Flourishes Gallery for more great samples of the
Ferns and Fiddles..

For the second card I used the new set called Humming Along.

I have some really pretty hummingbirds that visit my deck each

day during my morning coffee.  They are so fast.

I colored the florals with the Copics Collections available at

Flourishes.  I added some highlights with Prisma Pencils.  This

wonderful cotton linen ribbon is also available at Flourishes.  This

ribbon is so nice when making bows.  

Check out many more great examples of how 

to use this set in the Flourishes Gallery...Humming Along

They are amazing.....

Check out what the rest of the team came up with:

Danielle
Christine
Leslie
Julie- DT Leader
Cindy
Laura
Stacy

Tuesday's Child

“Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep

as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.”

Karen Ravn

Today at Mo's Digital Challenge the talented Sheila is the hostess.. Her challenge is to

create a card with embossing.. I used my cb folder to dry emboss.. I cut out

the stars and added them to this sweet Tuesday's Child that is available

over at Mo's Digital Pencil Store.

Then I made it into an easel card which was Sheila's challenge for

last week that I missed..  This ball is the game ball my son was

awarded for hitting a grand slam and winning the game for his team.

I created my own ball with my circle nesties.  My sewing machine

actually has this stitch so I just drew lightly and stitched away..

Those of you that follow my blog know that it started out as

a rough year this baseball season... With lots of determination

and a few tears we had an amazing experience. 

Don't ever give up on your dreams...

This also fits these challenges:

The Digital Tuesday Challenge... Easel Cards

Shabby Tea Room:  Summer Fun

Creative Inspirations: One for the BOYS

Crafty Creations:  It's A Stitch Up

Cupcake Craft Challenges:  One for the Boys

Totally Gorjuss:  Boy Challenge

Rosie D's:  Blue and a bonus if you use Fish

Dare U 2 Digi:  Red, White and Blue

Humming Along

The final set that being released this week at Flourishes is called

Humming Along.. This set has some beautiful  flower images and 2 wonderful

hummingbirds.. I used the silk lavender May Arts ribbon in the Flourishes store

and colored with the Copics Collection also available in the store. 

I stamped my image on the Flourishes Classic White  .
I love that paper.  

All new sets are now available in the store.  The rest of the Design

Team has some samples of the Humming Along set..Go check them out.

Christine 
Cindy
Danielle 
Julie 
Laura 
Leslie 
Stacy

Flourishes June Release Day 2

Welcome to day 2 of Flourishes new release.  Today we are

using the set Ferns and Fiddles.  I love the project I created

with this set.. I took some fabric and stazon ink and

stamped the ferns from this set onto the fabric.  I then

took my copics and carefully colored it in. 

After stamping on the fabric I measured my journal cover.  Then I

used Modge Podge and some quilt batting to cover the

journal.  I added some Flourishes trim to the inside

with some wooden beads to tie it shut. 

I sponged around the edges to give it an aged feeling. 

I then sewed this fabric bag to put the journal into with a

pretty pen.. I used the same Ferns and Fiddles set for the

leaves and then I stamped the sentiment from the

new Life's Lines set.  I added the same trim and beads

for the drawstring. 

This is a very special gift for my daughter.. She goes back to IL

this weekend to begin working.  I wrote some quotes on the

inside of this little book.  I hope she likes it..

Don't forget that tonight is our Power Hour in the Flourishes

Forum on Splitcoaststampers.  It starts at 9 p.m. CST

Check out what the rest of the team created:

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Julie Koerber
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

Flourishes June Release

I can't believe it is time for another new release at Flourishes.

This month's stamp sets are beautiful.  We are starting the

week of peeks off with this set.  It is called

Swan Lake.. The coordinating sentiment set that I used is

also a new release called Life's Lines.

I colored my image on Flourishes Classic White cardstock with various

copics from the Copic Collections at Flourishes.

 Then I added this great May Arts checkered gingham ribbon for

just a little touch of black.

Check out what the rest of the team did......

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Julie Koerber
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan


Don't forget that Thursday night at 10 p.m EST we will be having our new
release party POWER HOUR over at Splitcoaststampers.. You will have a 
chance to win the new sets...
You have a chance at winning the entire release of 4 sets by playing in 

our Blue skies and  Sunshine days all the details found here, Check out

Flourishes Blog today for your chance at winning the set of the day!

Just Breathe

This weekend we took a trip over to the mountains..That is one of the wonderful

things about NC.. You get the mountains and the ocean.  We hiked for 4 hours

to the top of Chimney Rock.  It has an elevation of over 2000 ft. Half way to

the top you can see this magnificent waterfall.. At the top of the

mountain there is an American flag and a breathtaking view.  Well

I was breathless as we had just climbed hundreds of stairs..LOL

In true NC style we saw some snakes at the bottom of the falls.

These are nonvenemous but aggressive. (the guide told us that

after we were close to them) eeks.. 

My baby is in the playoffs right now.. He is doing great.  Two homeruns

this last game.  :)

This week is Release Week at Flourishes and then next week is

full of Dirty Dozen goodies.. So stay tuned. 
How is your summer going????

Flourishes Release Week Challenge

As we get ready to unveil a whole new ‘crop’ of stamps, we reflect on what we love about summer -- those bright blue skies and sunny days! Yep, this is a color challenge and to be in the running, all you need to do is use some combination of blue and yellow. It can be any shade! Play along and you could walk away with all three stamps in Flourishes’ June release! To enter, you have until Friday, June 11th at 5 PM EST to enter for your chance to win. Use Flourishes stamps if you have them, but if you don’t, please play along anyway. If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword FLLCJUN10. Keep in mind, in order to be eligible, you need to link your creation HERE in this post using the inlinkz linky. Good luck! We can’t wait to see that sunshine and blue skies!

I chose the newly released Cherry Blossoms for my card today.  This set

is available at the Flourishes store.. Cherry Blossoms.

I also used this great new linen/cotton ribbon that FlLourishes has in their

ribbon section. 

The Labels 12 die is available in the Spellbinders section of

the Flourishes store HERE. 

This beautiful card quilt stand was a birthday gift from my

friend Grace.. Her and her husband made it for me.  I have

used it many times and just love it..

Check out what the rest of the team has for today's challenge:

• Christine
• Leslie
• Julie
• Cindy
• Laura
• Stacy

Aloha

This week at Mo's Digital Pencil Blog Challenge Sheila is the hostess.

She challenged us to merge two images together.. I chose

Kalei and the palm trees from Mo's Pirate Stuff.   

I created my hiabiscus flower by taking two large flowers and adding

a cotton swab in the middle that had been colored with ink..

I colored  with copics and highlighted with prisma pencils. 

My friend Holly has a terrific merging video tutorial HERE.

Blog Candy Winner and Sassy Cheryl Calendar

Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year - it brings to

harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul. ~Author Unknown

I am so excited.. I actually finished my calendar page on time this month.

However I did not have much ink left in my printer..:( 

So it is not as good as I would like but we are a ways away from

the store where I can get more.. The template for the

calendar can be found here..Cat's Template

The image is from Sassy Cheryl's... It is her new freebie

( A Bashful Moment) on PCP.. You must be a member..

Here is the link for her group.  Sassy Cheryl's PCP group.. Here is the

link to her amazing store.  Sassy Cheryl's Store

I also wanted to share with you the winner of my blog candy giveaway.. Thank you
all so much for your amazing quotes.. Some even visited my blog each day.. I
love them all and will use them often.  So without further chatting the winner is: #12
(chosen by random generator)...

Heide said...



WOW Dawn, What fabulous blog candy!!


What fantastically cute bags, I am looking forward to the tutorial on the
flowers! I don't have a favorite quote but, I did find something for one
of my favorite pass times!
A room without books is like a body without soul.


-Cicero




I know it is not about stamping!! Gasp!!

Congratulations Heide... Please contact me with your address.  My email is over on my sidebar.

Flourishes Christmas

Welcome to the June Christmas Spirit Challenge! This month's 

challenge is an Inspiration piece to get you in the Christmas spirit early. 

This week I chose to use the set A Year In Flowers 3.
I also used this awesome Braided Trim from the Flourishes ribbon
collection.  It is available here.  Flourishes has their
Copic Collections which I used to color the flowers. I
also used Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock.. I LOVE this paper..
In the corners I used the Basic Grey Rhinestones.

 
 The rules are simple -- be inspired by this photo:

For all the details on this 

Challenge head over to the Flourishes Forum on Splitcoaststampers. We 

have our winner for the May Challenge over there 

also, so be sure to check it out! The winner will get a Flourishes 

Christmas Stamp Set of their choice. 

Hope you make time to play with us this month! 

I had some inspiration from my garden too:

The layout on my card is from The Sweet 

Sunday Sketch Challenge.