Butterfly Gala

My love for butterflies is showing again. I fell in love with the new "Butterfly Gala" stamp set in the 2019 Occasions Catalog from Stampin' Up. I also love the punch that goes with it. Then in the 2019 Sale-a-bration catalog there was beautiful Designer Series Paper that coordinates with the stamp set.

For this card, I embossed the butterfly image on a vellum card stock using white detailed embossing powder. Then to make it pop, I stamped the image on some card stock that's very close to the
Lemon Lime Twist color with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. After adding some dimension to the butterfly images with my fingers, I glued the two pieces together along the center line.

For the center insert, I used the next larger die to cut a piece of white card stock.

Detail list of supplies used--
Card Stock -- Crisp Cantaloupe and Botanical Butterfly DSP
Stamp sets -- Butterfly Gala (with coordinating punch) and Lasting Lily (Sentiment)
Gina Marie Designs dies

The UPS Guy Came

Yesterday afternoon the UPS delivery guy left two packages at my front door. One box had new Stampin' Up catalogs in it. The other box had my preorder stamp and die sets in it. I finally got to my craft room this afternoon. My creativity is not very good these days, but I did want to try out some of the framelits and stamps.

The first die I used was from "Stitched Labels Framelits". It was the one that added texture to the background. The piece with the "Best Wishes" sentiment was stamped and cut out three times before I got it right. I took the two mistakes and glued them all together to add more body to the piece. The bird is from the Serene Garden set. I stamped it with a soft gray ink and then used a gray colored pencil to add a little depth to the image. I cut out a second bird, glued the two together and finally attached it to my card with dimensionals.

These final two pictures shows the details a little better.

Inspiration And A "CASE"!

 After having a really busy week, going here, there and yonder, I needed some inspiration. I was looking on Pinterest to see if I could find something and I did. My card is just like the original. Here is a link to the original card by BJ Peters and her excellent video post "Passionate for Petal Palette". I really liked the added touch she used with the die cut. I am thinking to use this card in my next stamp class. Have fun watching her video.

From THE Heart

Another Card

This will be our third card for this month's CCE Stamp Club -- Create, Challenge, Encourage. It is made using several of the stamps from the set "Butterfly Basic" and a die from the "Butterflies Thinlets" set. All are being retired this year as of May 31. The inspiration for this card came from many posts on Pinterest.

 These pictures show the steps to the finished creation.

One of God's beautiful mysteries--

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

Tulips for Spring

I have been seeing the "Eclipse Technique" all over Pinterest. I watched several videos and saw one that really inspired me to give it a try. I worked on my card this morning and this is what I ended up with.

I have had the "Tranquil Tulip" set for some time. The video I watched used this stamp set.  I used "Sweet Sugarplum" for the card base accented with black. For the tulips I used the "Sweet Sugarplum" ink and for the leaves, I used my favorite "Old Olive". The sentiment comes from the set "Label Me Pretty". I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures. If you are interested in learning more, I would suggest that you visit the blog called "Tedder Bear Stamping". From there you can watch Lisa Tedder's video. She did a great job.

A Color Challenge

I was working on a card yesterday for a color challenge that my stamp class is doing on August 26. The colors are Marina Mist, Crushed Curry and Wild Wasabi. I can't wait to see what every one comes up with.

 I wasn't sure how this was all going to turn out but I do love these colors together. The die I used was from Gina Marie Designs. I cut the die three times--one in Marina Mist, one in Crushed Curry and finally one in white. All the die cuts were taken apart and then one was re assembled. I love the patchwork look. The leaves were cut from Wild Wasabi card stock. The flowers were stamped and die cut. I really do love these colors together.

The Crushed Curry frame was used in yesterday's card.

A Sketch Challenge

I think that this is the first time I have done the sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers in over a year. I printed off a copy of the challenge on Wednesday, SC657, and found that I already had several things that worked perfectly with this challenge.

Here is my card

The little floral piece was an extra one I had done several weeks ago when I was working on another card. The flower was also on my desk; I had made it for a class that I had earlier in the week. All the other elements came together quickly.

The details--
I used SU Blushing Bride card stock for my base and topped it with a piece of designer series paper. The floral strip was a little piece of scrap designer series paper that I layered with Island Indigo card stock, cut a piece of Baja Breeze card stock with a scalloped edged die and added it to the back. The flower is from a retired Stampin' Up set called Stippled Blossoms. The leaves were punched from a piece of Certainly Celery (retired) card stock. They were really plain so I added some veins with a stamp and sponged the edges with Old Olive ink. The verse is from a Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set called "New Creature". When I finally got it all together, I was pleased with what I had done. I would never have come up with this layout by myself.

CAS376 -- For A Special Lady

After making and posting an anniversary card on Saturday afternoon, I made another card that evening that was very similar but different. I think it is perfect for today's challenge --  "For A Special Lady". I used a new set of Spellbinder dies that are so lacy and delicate. This is the style of card I love to make -- lacy with flowers.

This picture show the delicate, shaped edge on the front of the card--

This picture shows the piece of card stock I added to the

inside to create the color that is seen from the front--

My card was in "Favorites for the week ending May 15" at Splitcoast Stampers.

Masking

Masking is such a neat way to add depth to your card without adding a lot of layers. Last week I did a class at our local scrapbook store and had a lot of fun preparing for the class. We did three cards. The first two were with the SU set called "Flower Shop".

The first card was very simple -- The first step is to stamp your flower. Make a mask by stamping the image on a post-it note and cutting it out. Place the mask over the flower on your card. Stamp the greenery. Leaving your mask in place, spritz over the stamped area using a marker and the Tim Holtz air brush. Add your sentiment, mount the image on your card and you are all done.

The second card is done using the same principles just with more detail. The center flower is stamped and covered with a mask. The flowers on each side are then stamped. The mask is moved around so that the leaves and twigs can be stamped around each flower. To complete the image, I colored around all the flowers using a lite gray Tombow marker (N95). This step really makes the flowers stand out. The last steps were to stamp the sentiment and soften the white card stock by using a stencil and some sponging. I love the dimensional effect that is achieved this way.

SC547 -- Follow Your Heart

It's Friday. I am just getting my card finished and posted today for Wednesday's sketch challenge at SCS. My daughter and granddaughter were visiting from Chicago. A lot of time was spent visiting but there wasn't much time for doing challenges.

 
I looked and looked through my stamps and couldn't find anything that I wanted to use. As I was looking through some papers I found a new 6 x 6-inch pad from My Mind's Eye called "Follow Your Heart". This one sheet really got my attention so I decided to give it a try. Here is the result. I used SU Lost Lagoon card stock for the base, layered the small panels with white card stock and the circle with Lost Lagoon card stock. The pink panel is a retired  piece from Stampin' Up. I used a stencil and Lost Lagoon ink to add a little texture to the upper section of the card front, then finished it off  with three small rhinestones.

and here is a picture of the inside--

CAS316 Challenge

"No Patterned Paper"! That is the theme of the CAS challenge today at Splitcoast Stampers. I thought it was going to be easy. But--- Everywhere I looked, I saw bits and pieces of all kinds of patterned paper. It was so hard not to pick one up. Here is my card; it's very simple. Guess that is what clean and simple is all about.

The stamps are from Our Daily Bread Designs. The flower is the Dahlia single stamp and the sentiment is from Mini Tags 3 (one of my go to stamp sets). I used SU Primrose Petal ink and card stock along with my white.

 

 

PP236 -- Florals

This afternoon I made a card for this week's challenge at The Paper Players. I love their CAS challenges and I love seeing everyone's pretty cards.

 

First, this is a card that I made last night. It was a card that I case'd from a card that I had seen on Pinterest. When I first saw the card, I immediately fell in love with it. Here is a link to the cards. I used four colors of pink/red to made the flowers -- Blushing Bride, Pretty in Pink, Primrose Petals and Cherry Cobbler. I used two different flower punches, did a little shaping and added a pearl to the center.

 

After the card was completed, I kept making flowers with the scraps that I had out. I love to see them take shape. So when I saw this week's challenge, they were there just waiting to be used. I added a sentiment from Stampin' Up's set called "Thoughts and Prayers".

Trying Something New

Today, my card is for a combination of two challenges at Splitcoast Stampers. The first one is for the "Clean and Simple" challenge which was to use a bird on our card. The second challenge is for the "Technique Lovers Challenge". This challenge was to create a card with a "Scene in a Circle". I found it fun putting these two challenges. Now, here is my card.

 

I used the Stampin' Up set called Serene Silhouettes stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. Two tiny cardinals, which were cut out using a die from Impression Obsession, were added. Cherry Cobbler was my accent color with black being the accent color for the sentiment, which is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set "Be Encouraged".

 

 

CAS313 -- The Trees Are Blooming

When I thought about the theme for today's CAS challenge "Think Spring", my first thoughts were about crocuses, tulips, daffodils, etc. When I finally got to working on my card, my mind went in a totally different direction. I love the time of year when the trees start to bud and bloom -- crab apples, dogwoods, red buds, fruit trees and lilacs. Here is my finished card. I used stamps from Rubber Tapestry Stamps, Stamps by Judith, and Stamps for Life to create my own tree that is just beginning to bloom.

March 1, 2015 -- This card was mentioned as a "favorite" at Splitcoast Stampers.

SC524 -- Great Friend

This is my card for today's sketch challenge.

 

This card was pretty simple. I used SU Crisp Cantaloupe card stock, Sweet Sorbert DSP (retired) and black for the accent color. The sentiment is from a new Sale-A-Bration set I received yesterday called "Simply Wonderful". I think I am really going to like the set.

 

This card was also posted to Paper Players Challenge #228.

 

 

CAS308--My New Year's Challenge

The CAS challenge today is to make a card illustrating your New Year's Resolution.  I want to change the word "resolution" to "challenge". My New Year's Challenge is to create a scrapbook that contains scripture verses, songs, poems, etc. that the Lord used to speak to my heart. My challenge is also to read through the New Testament this year. I am praying that the Lord will show me many new things as I work on my challenges.

This is my card for today's CAS challenge. When I saw this verse, I knew that I needed to write it down so that I could look at it during the year. I created the image on the computer and cut it out. It was there waiting to be used this morning.

 

These are the first pages to my scrapbook. I am using a 6x6-inch format so the pages are easy to put together.

 

 The following two pages have verses from Matthew 6. These verses spoke to my heart and I knew right away what I wanted to try to do

SC510 and SC511

We returned to Michigan last night and late this afternoon I needed to make a couple of cards -- one for the sketch challenge that I missed last week and one for today's challenge.

First, this is the sketch for October 15. That day my husband and I were on our way to Tennessee.

For this sketch I chose a piece of paper from a 6 x 6-inch pad called Blossom Paper Pix by Paper House.

For the card base I chose SU So Saffron. After cutting the two layers I matted each with SU Rose Red. The stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs set called "As You Graduate." As many of my friends struggle with health issues these words of Corrie ten Boom hold much encouragement.

 Here is a picture of today's sketch.

A Christmas theme came to mind for this sketch. I used SU Real Red and white card stock. To add texture I used two of my favorite embossing folders on the white. The stamp is a new one that I got yesterday at a Hobby Lobby store in Indiana for less than two dollars. Love it!!!

CAS291 -- CASE

Today on the Clean and Simple challenge at Splitcoast Stampers we were to visit the gallery of tessaduck (Brenda) and CASE one of her cards. I really liked Brenda's style so it was hard to decide which one to use. I finally narrowed it down and then picked one. This is Brenda's card and a link to her gallery. I really loved the simple design and the embossing around the sentiment on her card.

On our card, we were to change at least two things. You can see that I made several changes -- color, image, sentiment and placements of elements. When I was making my card I ended up with two.

For this card I used a card stock called "Stardust" by Wausau Paper. The sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set called "Faith" -- one of my favorites and a Hero Arts stamp called "Exotic Bloom". The ink I chose was SU's Night of Navy.

For this card, I changed the orientation and used SU's Raspberry Ripple ink and mounted the stamped image on a piece of card stock from Bazzill called Berry Sensation.

 May you have a bright and beautiful day!

Experimenting with Distress Ink

I have been trying to do a little more with the distress ink pads that I have. Sometimes I have success and then there are other times that -- Well, things don't go so well. For this experiment, I started with a quarter sheet of white card stock and sponged it using antique linen, vintage photo and tea dye distress inks. It looked like a mess, but I continued on. I chose a stamp from SU's Serene Silhouettes and embossed the image with black detail embossing powder. After trying to match the image with different colored card stock, I decided to use the leftover piece of sponged paper to cut the scalloped layer. After putting the stamped image back into the cutting die, I used a black ink pen to create the black line just inside the cut edge.

Here are the two parts cut from the sponged paper ready to be put together.

 This is the finished card. It is amazing to me how pretty the end result can be.