Hello Flourishes Friday Friends! Today we’re going to continue on our theme of masculine cards that we began last week, giving you some more great inspiration for that guy in your life! The Senior Design Team is picking any set in our Flourishes Stamp Collection and showing off their masculine designs to you today. I know you’ll be inspired and come away with some great manly ideas!
So stop by and see:
FIRST OFF LET’S ANNOUNCE THE WINNER FROM LAST WEEK’S DESIGNER FOCUS CASE Challenge : Thanks so much for all your fun entries! Random.org picked number 1 who is: HELEN AIRTON! Congrats Helen! You can claim your prize by emailing us with your mailing address to flourishes@bresnan.net, and place in the comment line Designer CASE Winner.
We’re in week 3 of the special Focus on our Designers. I know you’ve enjoyed getting to know us a little better and it’s been fun for us too! Don’t forget that if you play along in the CASE-ing Challenge you can win as well! Be sure to see the details at the end of the post. Today we focus on a very lovely lady who’s no stranger to many of you – Cindy Lawrence. Cindy is designer dream! She incorporates polished layouts, beautiful detailed embellishing, lovely patterns and her phenomenal coloring to each design she creates. There is a real sophistication in all her designs, where I’m always left inspired. A few years ago I felt blessed by getting to know her better as we attended CHA together with the Flourishes Team and were roomies 
We had a lot of fun! She’s a beautiful person inside and out, and a warm, heartfelt and supportive lady and teammate. I know you’ll love hearing more from her.
I’ll let Cindy tell you more about herself…
Describe yourself in a few sentences, and then in just one word. I am New England born and bred, mom of four, wife of one, and child of God. I am friendly, out-going, self-motivated, and love to laugh. I am a detail girl, who, by God’s grace, married a big picture guy. To sum it up in one word? I would say, “passionate”.
What do you do outside of card-making? My “real” job is traveling around the country teaching people how to color…really. :) I work for Copic Marker as a Certification Instructor…seriously the best job in the whole wide world. I also enjoy photography, travel, reading, cooking, baking, interior design, hiking, biking, all things nature, my wonderful church, and about a bazillion other things.
How did you get the card-making bug? It all began in the summer of 1996 when I was invited to my first SU home workshop. I went to support a dear friend; but I distinctly remember telling my husband I would be home early because it sounded lame-O. LOL Well, I was the very last one to leave, and the rest, as they say, is history…
How long have you been with the Flourishes Team? My very first post as a Flourishes design team member was on September 2nd, 2008, which just happens to be my birthday. A very happy birthday to me!
Favourite Flourishes sets? Oh my…there are so many. Marcella Hawley is hands-down my favorite stamp illustrator of all time; so pretty much anything she designs is sure to make me swoon. Garden Picks, Gerber Daisies, Lenten Rose, and Zinnias are a few that I find myself reaching for time and time again.
If you were to describe your card-making style – how would you describe it? What makes a card “you”? I naturally tend to gravitate toward a more elegant, sophisticated look for my cards, which is why Flourishes is such a good fit for me. Big, beautiful Copic-colored images, fancy die-cuts, pretty papers, ribbons, and bling almost always play a part in my creations. As Fräulein Maria would say, “These are a few of my favorite things…”.
Tell the Flourishes world something they may not yet know about you… Here are a few random facts: I’ve been stung by a jellyfish. I’ve spent time working at a medical clinic and an orphanage in Haiti. I once swam with sting rays. I’ve stood on a glacier. I’ve zip-lined through the jungles of Panama. I drove a scooter into a stone wall in Bermuda. (I’m an excellent driver…) Finally, I am half-Scottish, born in Vermont (birthplace of my dad) and conceived in Scotland (birthplace of my mum). I do believe this explains my love of travel, plaid, and shortbread cookies. I am also told I am a distant relative of Princess Diana. I am still awaiting my invitation to visit Althorp House. Must be lost in the mail…
Isn’t she great? Now how about some beautiful inspiration from Cindy?
This gorgeous card is fully of beautiful feminine touches that is so like Cindy. It uses one of my other favorite sets – Cherry Blossoms. Just look at the colors, patterns and embellishing. So elegant!
Cindy always does such beautiful work with embossed designs that also showcase her beautiful coloring. This card is a real example of that. The layering, soft creamy whites and color is just stunning. It uses a retired set Poinsettia and Boxwood, but a similar design could be created with our newer set Poinsettia and Pine.
I just love the trail of flowers in this beauty with our Butterflies and Blossoms set. Cindy does square cards and larger cards with real expertise. I have heard her say she likes the extra ‘real estate’ of the space on the cards for designing. Aren’t the purples rich?
I believe this beauty is my all time favorite card of Cindy’s. I think it’s the rich color palette, the shading and the unexpected use of our lovely Hollyhocks set. Another trademark of Cindy’s that I love is layering of her trims, ribbons and pins, and this card does it beautifully.
This card really showcases something that Cindy does so well, Copic airbrushed backgrounds that have such depth and yet softness. This color palette is gorgeous with our retired set Bird and Vine and the beautiful black contrasts.
Cindy is a master at Copic Coloring and this card is such a great example. The depth and smoothness of her shading showcases the beauty of these pansies from Botanical Bookplates Volume 2.
Here’s another excellent example of a masculine design that also uses color, pattern and layout so well. It showcases our Father’s Day set with tender images of dad’s and kids. I just love how Cindy trimmed out the silhouette with the touch of white border.
I always look forward to Christmas designs from Cindy. This card is so beautiful. I think her coloring on the pinecones makes you wonder if they’re not actually real doesn’t it? Her cut work with this set Naturally Merry is amazing and look at the beautiful embellishing too!
And I couldn’t leave you without some fun summer designst too. How about this fun and fruity design with our Wild for Watermelon set. I love the off-center layout, the fun double borders and bow and button combination.
And finally this most recent design really made me smile! I love the variation in colors that Cindy used in the blossoms because of the airbrushed background, and that cute popped up bee is such a great way to draw your eye to the sentiment with Bees & Blooms.
Now wasn’t that a fun tour? I know you’ve been inspired! Now how about joining is in a Challenge! CASE one of Cindy’s awesome designs this week and link it up here. Any creations are in the running for a Flourishes Goodie Bag full of Flourishes awesome products! Have fun creating!
Happy Tuesday to you! We hope that you had a fabulous weekend and spent it with some of the wonderful men in your life. Nothings better that sharing great memories with family.
