May 28 2008
May I Suggest…
Hi everyone! Today I’m starting a new Wednesday feature called May I Suggest… I’ll be showing you a card and then giving you a better view of the things I’ve used to make the card, with some additional suggestions as to things that would work well with the selection of product used. I needed a feminine sympathy card for today, so here it is:
The paper I am showcasing on this card is one of my very favorite Basic Grey 6 x 6 pads, called Lily Kate. It has such lovely prints and colors so suitable for spring. I’ve also used one of Flourishes latest releases, Lilac, and my sentiment is from Flourished Words. I used Nestability Dies by Spellbinders to cut and emboss my main image as well as sentiment. My lilacs were colored with Copics, and here are the colors:
As I said above, Lily Kate has been one of my very favorite of the Basic Grey pads, and that’s what I’d like to give you a better look at today. I spread the sheets out so you can see them better and I’ve paired them up with some of the fabulous May Arts ribbons that Flourishes carries. Here’s the 1st photo:
Aren’t these just the most gorgeous prints and colors!!! The ribbons I’ve selected that work well with the Lily Kate colors are the Olive Green Scalloped Edge Satin hanging on top, the White and Ivory Wide Satin, and the Dotted Sheers in Light Blue, Apple Green, Maize and Lavender. Just looking at these makes me want to go and do something with them!!!
And these gorgeous prints and colors finish off the pad. There are 2 sheets of each in the pad, for a total of 36 sheets per pad. Hanging from the top are again, the Olive Green Scalloped Edge Satin, Chocolate Velvet and the Pink Scalloped Edge Satin. The Wide Satins are shown in Pink, Chocolate, Ivory and White. The 1″ wide Sheers are shown in Pink and Chocolate, and the Dotted Sheers are shown again in Light Blue and Maize.
And I can not, in all clear conscience, make ribbon recommendations without showing you my all time favorite ribbons. Yes, black ribbons are a staple in my stamp room — I just could NOT design without them. My theory is simple — when all else fails — add black!!! Or if you’re in a hurry, just add black!!! You can never go wrong with black accents and black ribbon — a fool proof winner, every time!!! The ribbons shown here are the Wide Sheer, Dotted Sheer, Scalloped Edge Satin and Velvet.
I also wanted to recommend these soft and pretty colors in the LuminArte Twinkling H20’s, which are beautiful, shimmery little pots of watercolors. They are sold in 12 packs, and this pack is number 1256. Although I have not used the H20’s on the project shown in this post, this magnolia card shows how just a bit of H20’s added on as an accent after coloring can spruce up an image. Fun little pots of color and they are so easy to use — just like watercoloring with a wet brush when you were a child, only our paints are so much prettier, plus they shimmer!!! The H20’s are hard cakes in these little jars. You need to wet them to paint. You can take a waterbrush(which is a brush filled with water) and dip it into your pot of H20’s, or you can take a little spray bottle and spritz some water into your pot and use a regular paint brush if your prefer. Whatever works for you — just get the hard cake dampened and paint. And you can control the intensity of the color by how much water you have on your brush. Once you load your brush with color, just dab it on a scrap paper first to get off that first “blob” of water so it doesn’t mess up your project, and then paint away. They are SO FUN to play with — GUARANTEED FUN — no matter what your age!!! You can use them to entirely paint your image or you can color it first and then just use the H20’s as a shimmery accent — pretty much anything goes!!! They are new to me and I am still experimenting. The instructions say you can also apply this paint directly to your rubber stamp — which I will be trying later this week — so stayed tuned to see how that turns out – LOL!!! Can’t wait to try!!! Oh, also, it was recommended to me by the manufacturer that once you get your cakes of color wet, that you DO NOT recap the jars, just keep them open so the cake can dry up again.
Now, there is just one more item I’d like to recommend today, and that is the sentiment set called Flourished Words. This is a set of 27 individual words that can be used alone or together to form phrases, all done in a small, elegantly scripted font. It is what I used on the card above. As an example of how versatile this set is, by combining the words, here aresome ofthe options you have for a sympathy sentiment: Sympathy, Our Sympathy, All Our Sympathy, With All Our Sympathy, My Sympathy, All My Sympathy, With All My Sympathy — so you get the idea. And realize, these are only sympathy options — there are TONS of other words in the set so you can create endless sentiments. This is just one of those timeless and classicsets you will use forever and ever once you have it!!!
And this wraps up today’s May I Suggest…
Thank you so much for stopping in and I hope you are all having a wondeful week and are enjoying some warm spring temps — something we are still waiting for!!!
25 responses so far
What a wonderful segment!! Thanks for all the information.. I am sure alot of people will find this very useful.
Have a great day Sharon!
Thanks so much Sharon! I am going to really look
forward to Wednesdays!
I love the card, and enjoyed reading today’s blog. I’m a fairly new stamper, and am not familiar with some of the projects. Thanks for the information. I have a question though – how do you use the twinkling h2o’s? Hope its not a dumb question.
Sharon,
What a terrific idea. I can’t wait for next wednesday. I hope all the products will be available through your store. It is so frustrating to see a beautiful product and not be able to purchase some. Thank you for taking the time to show us in more detail all the goodies.
Linda
Sharon,
Just wanted to send a note to tell you that I love your card creations! God has truly blessed you with design! Pray for me in that regard!! I absolutely love your color choices and the embellishments, i.e., the ribbon and coordinating decorator papers are gorgeous!! Wish I could sit beside you to design, stamp and create cards all day!!! Yours is the first blog I ever signed up for. I am a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of 4 teens. We are a one-income family and we enjoy cardmaking and scrapbooking. My family and I love to make cards to cheer up and bless others. We also love to surprise folks with our homemade with love gift baskets — I just love to serve the Lord and bless others with the talents He has given me. You are an inspiration. I especially love the Lilac stamp you used yesterday — one of these days I will have to purchase that set. Flourishes are one of my favorite designs — I love vintage type designs and I wish I lived next door to your Flourishes store — I would probably never come out!! The script-style writing is what I love best — the sympathy sentiment on the front of the card for today’s post is beautiful!
Thank you for sharing and God bless!! ~Amy Sabol~
I love the card Sharon, I love the colour combination and style. I’m a “check in everyday to your site” person now. I’d like to ask please, how do you photograph your cards for uploading. They are so clear and detailed. I’m having troubles! Looking forward to seeing what’s forthcoming in the new stamps.
Carol
Thanks so much for the information. I think I have to get some of the H20’s – they sound like fun!!
Sharon,
What a wonderful idea! Thank you for showcasing these samples, this will really help me a lot when trying to pull together items/accessories, colors, etc. for a project. I’ll be watching your blog every Wednesday for sure. It would be helpful if you create a spot for these suggestions under the “Categories” section of your blog for easy reference (look at me, I don’t have a blog and I’m trying to tell you how to run yours, LOL). I know I, for one, will be shopping at Flourishes for these gorgeous items.
Congradulations Sharon! You’ve out done yourself with another great blog
feature! Love the card and the segiment! Keep up the great work. You are a big inspiration to us all. God has really blessed you!
Beautiful card! I need to stamp my lilac stamp out and play with colors! Of course, you’ve *talked* me into getting the H20’s you pictured today…such soft colors. I have some but they aren’t as Springy looking at those.
What a great idea Sharon! Looking forward to many more “May I suggest” segments! I love your card, the detail and elements are perfect!
Love your new idea! I can’t wait until next Wednesday to see what you have cooked up for us. Now I can “blame” you for all my have-to-have purchases! I’ve been eyeing those H20s and you’ve put me over the edge. Thank you so very much for sharing your God given talent and gift with us all! You ROCK!
Fun new feature!! Thanks for pointing us in the direction of what ribbons match with which paper— that’s so hard to do especially when you order on line and might not have accurate colors to really look at! Fun!
Wow, don’t YOU have some nice supplies to work with! Gorgeous stuff!
Yum! I’m practically salivating over all these gorgeous papers and ribbons. You make me want to go stamp right now! Your lilac card is so very feminine and beautiful. You put your supplies to good use! Thank you, Sharon!
Love the information and your cards are beautiful. After I saw the Lilac I couldn’t wait to order it and those H20’s. You’re advise on how to use them will help. I never thought about just adding black ribbon in general (weird huh?), but what a great idea. I love cards with black in them. I have had a great time reading your “blogs”, since I found them. Still not to sure about the copics…I seem to spend enough already. Someday…
Thanks for sharing all the idea. I love the card. I’ve been wanted to get a set of the twinkling h2o’s Would you suggest a good basic set to get? Is it this one mentioned?
Love, love, LOVE that you are doing this! What a great idea!…and how fun to see your suggestions for adding to this already beautiful card! I love this! It’s beautiful! TFS, Sharon! Hope you have a great night! 🙂
Fantastic pick on all the paper, ribbon etc.!!! I love,love the colors too!!!
You needed to put a big Enabler alert for the title lol. Beautiful card Sharon!
Wow, that lilac card is gorgeous! I love the h2o’s…I don’t use them nearly enough-thanks for the inspiration and pictures of all that delicious ribbon and paper!!
How beautiful and what great information. Thank you, Dru
TFS all the wonderful Flourish info. I just love my order that I got last week. The Twinkling H20 is gorgeous. I just dipped my watercolor paintbrush in water and then dipped into my H20 container…worked great.
Can’t wait for your challenge tomorrow. TFS your gorgeous May I suggest card and chat 🙂
I love these color choices, especially the patterned paper and the way it all comes together. Very nice and has that just right feel for a sympathy card.
Denise
What a fun new feature!! Your card is stunning…and so beautifully colored!! Fabulous paper choices as well!!