Having spent the morning doing a bit of weeding and making my hands hurt in the process, I didn’t think I would be able to do any crafting today. Somehow I managed it and this is my second card of the day. The butterflies are a die from SSS, that I’ve had forever and not really used so it was good to dig it out. I had a piece of CS leftover from a session of making an inked background and I cut the butterflies using this piece. Then I went over them with a small amount of opal blaze polish so they shine a lot in R.L. I also made a stencil from some acetate and I inked through this with blue print sketch, to get the initial image of the butterflies. When everything was dry I added the die cut butterflies on top of the stencil part making sure that the wings were free and could be pinched up. I added the piece onto some dark blue glitter paper from Scrapbook.com and then onto the navy card front. The pops of color were added to the bodies of the insects and a few more to embellish the layer a bit more. I haven’t decided how I wish to use the card yet so have left the sentiment for now. If I do this again, I shall paper piece and colour some of the butterflies into a thicker CS layer and then add the die cuts on top so I get more dimension. That said I quite like the way this turned out and hope you do too.

It is nice to create a card that should work for two challenges and I’m entering this into both the ColorHues and the Paper Players Challenges this week. For the images I used a stamp set from MFT called fox and friends and with a bit of masking here and there I stamped the houses. Once stamped I added some colour to the sky area and a faint amount of green to the lower portion. I stamped some clouds and added some white gel pen to them. Houses were coloured with Inktense pencils, dark Aquamarine and poppy red. The little fox was stamped, coloured and die cut and I added him to the top piece which was die cut with a scalloped rectangle unbranded die, before adding this layer to an aquamarine scrap piece and then onto the red card front. I almost forgot the sentiment and added it at the end using my Misti. This stamp set was originally a Christmas set so it is good to use it for something other than Christmas.

The CYHTP challenge had a twist of flowers as part of the challenge and I realized during the making of the card that it also fit the Power of Pastels challenge so it is a 2nd entry into that challenge too.

There is a possibility that my card may not be correct for the challenge as I used a cover plate die by CUTplorations and dry embossed with it instead of using a folder. In the interest of being honest I thought it best to mention this fact. Once the piece was embossed I went over it with some sponges that had leftover colour on them and got this very soft pastel effect. I also added a few dots using my new Pops of Color to give more interest and depth. The pink band is a leftover piece of CS and I added the die cut sentiment which is from Gemini to the right edge. With a new Memory Box Layered Daisy die I cut the flower pieces in white and added a hint of Iced spruce to them before assembling. I also added some yellow pops of color to the flower center and popped it up on the left side. I quite like the result and it was an easy card to make. Enjoy your day and thanks for taking a look.

This card was made by the request of a friend who wanted a special card for her mother’s birthday. Her mom loves gardening so I created a paper garden for her. There were several stamp sets used: StampinUp’s Petite Coccinelle, Joy Clair sentiment, GKD for the fairy, Hero Arts for a butterfly along with several unbranded flower dies, a tulip die and of course the Grand Cabinet die for the layers. The background butterfly PP is from StampinUP.

Once I had the layers cut in the two colours, I began to build the card. I used some plastic strips to give height to some of the elements and most of the colouring is done with a combination of Inktense pencils and Sakura glaze pens. Taking a photo of this card was a challenge and it looks a lot nicer in R.L. than it does on my blog post. It took quite a long time to make but was fun to do and my friend loved it as does her mom. Have a great day and thanks for looking.

The closest I could come to these particular colours are using Distress Ink colours Seedless Preserves, Spun Sugar and Bundled Sage and I chose to do inked circles using a homemade stencil. Once happy with the inking and making sure it was dry I stamped the floral silhouette on top. Stamp set is a very old one that I know I got at Michaels, but have no idea of the brand. The sentiment is from Joy Clair and the pink dots were made using my new pops of color from Scrapbook.com. My hands are not that great at the moment so getting the dots right was challenging and obviously they aren’t perfect. Still I like how they look and decided to keep them. I shall space them better another time I’m sure. Thanks for looking.

When I began this card yesterday afternoon, I had every intention of using it solely for the Shopping our Stash challenge but this morning when finishing it, I realized that it also works for the sketch challenge at Global Design so it will be my second entry there.

I had purchased some Pops of Color from Scrapbook.com all 4 in pastel colors and I was looking for a project to use them and this was it. Initially I created my own stencil out of some scrap CS and I die cut three lavender flowers using a Memory Box die just received. Instead of keeping it as lavender I made it more like leaves and I added the pops of color to the stencil and also on the die cuts. The idea for using the lavender die cuts this way came from Jean Okimoto and can be seen HERE. In future if I do something similar to this I will make sure the stencil is from acetate or actual stencil medium as when removing the card stencil some paper was left behind. The actual die cuts I placed together like a bouquet and using a die cut butterfly (Gemini) I adhered them as you see. The tiny flying butterfly is from a SU set and I fussy cut this out after I coloured it. Again a little of the pop of color was used but this time slightly watered down so I could paint with it. Then I added all the tiny dots down the side of the card intentionally not worrying if the sizes and line were slighty uneven. A few more embellishments and a heat embossed in silver sentiment from MFT finished the card. Stay safe and healthy everyone and thanks for looking.

For this sketch I chose to use some leftover glitter strips with a metallic one. The butterfly is from MFT, more brilliant butterflies with a matching die. I inked up the butterfly then using versamark I added the pattern portion. Using gold powder I heat embossed it, but I noticed I had forgotten to dry the ink so quite a bit of powder was stuck to the body. Instead of throwing it away I went ahead and then die cut it. Once cut I decided that I liked my accident enough to use it. I also stamped another small butterfly (from a StampinUp set) at the top right using a gray ink so it wasn’t too vivid. The sentiment is from a GKD set and the embellishments are Trinity stamps.

A sleepless night brought me back to my craft room in an effort to get my mind onto something other than frustration with not sleeping. New dies from Memory Box, a free digi from MFT, found on Pinterest, a Cheapo bull rush die, a few scrap pieces of CS and a stamp set called Vertical Greetings from GKD and I was all set to create this card for the Paper Dragonfly challenge. Firstly I stenciled some waves using various shades of blue inks to make the background. Then I die cut the 2 frames and using some foam tape put them together. After printing and colouring the digi stamp I fussy cut the mermaid and added her to the scene. For her colouring I used Prisma pencils and Gamsol. I added the layers to the card front and used a few of the fallouts to add extra bubbles. I die cut the rushes and used Tombow markers to colour. After stamping one of the small dragonflies included in the set I used some Sakura glitter to add a bit of colour before fussy cutting. When I make a card like this, I always wish I had a little girl to give it to. Thanks for spending some time with me today.

Firstly I made the gold strips for the top and bottom of the section I was planning to use. Then I masked off the area and using an old stamp set from GKD I took the musical notes, stamped with versamark then heat embossed in gold. I had a few die cut pieces from an unbranded die and one of these was the word love with a heart on the end. I cut off the heart so the word would fit and glued it along the bottom strip then I took the heart and added it to one side of the music and another one to the other side.

Thanks for looking.

Seeing as I needed a get well card, JUG’s challenge is flowers, the banners were already cut with a new unbranded die set and my Memory Box flower dies arrived today, this card was almost a no brainer. The PP is from StampinUp and the small sentiment is from Itty Bitty basics by MFT stamped and heat embossed in white. I used PP for the leaves as well although the slightly darker leaf is not from StampinUp but was left over from something else. Embellishments are from Trinity Stamps. An easy card to make even with the finicky bits of the flowers and I like the end result, I hope you do too.