butterfly, my butterfly

I was truly inspired by the colors in the inspiration photo at The Challenge #56. And it was high time to get a card made for MIL's 80th! Meet my card.

I also wanted to play at City Crafter Challenge where the theme's "Butterfly, my Butterfly". Lots of beautiful inspiration there, BTW.

This was an experiment with Color Bursts. Cuz I stumbled across this video where Sandy Allnock  creates the most amazing painting with Brushos. When I grow up, I want to be an artist like her! Anyhoo, she inspired me to pull out my Color Bursts and this card happened. Why all that yellow is in there when I used orange... don't know. Why the blue got nice and smooth and the orange stayed blotchy... don't know - "... and miles to go before I sleep."

I inked STAMPlorations Happy Sunflower with Mermain Lagoon Distress Ink, spritzed it a few times and then stamped it on my watercolor paper when the Color Bursts had dried. I like how it adds depth to the design and creates a visual triangle with the Color Burst splotches.

The butterflies, die cut from vellum and white CS using Clearly Besotted Butterfly Wishes, were stitched down the middle, the wispy threads becoming their antennae.

The PTI sentiment was heat embossed onto a navy CS banner and the golden "80" from MFT High Rise Numbers were added to the flower center. Voila!

exploration STAMPlorations sketched: daisy (Fusion, Sprinkle of Imagination, Time Out, SSS)

Have you seen the inspiration photo from A Sprinkle of Imagination?

"Ox blood red, regal purple, zest of lime" - reminds me of the colors I saw in the vineyards while harvesting Pinot Gris (on flat ground today, I'm happy to report). And to be truthful, the black and white were there too. In the form of mould that has to be snipped away from the good grapes before dropping them into the bucket. Eight people, eight hours, rain and shine. And even local TV. I'm pooped. But I've got a coolio card to share with you. And a story of how my cabeza works.

"Zest of lime". Made me think of Dylusions ink. And I was wondering how to create stems to turn the daisies into gerbera. Enter my SSS Wave stencil and clear texture paste, colored with a couple spritzers of ink.

I had heat embossed, watercolored and fussy cut the blooms. It was just a matter of bringing the blooms and stems together. Somehow.

Enter the current Fusion #25 challenge.

I'm gonna be daring and say I've fused photo and sketch!

Knew I wanted to use another of the cute sentiments from the Bloom Sketches: Daisy 1 on a die cut butterfly (from Clearly Besotted) but the finishing touch came about when I stamped a portion of the tail from PTI's  Happy Trails in red. Thanks for the idea, Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

And I'm playing with some great gals over at Time Out #15 where it's about stamping this time around.

Come back next Monday when the new STAMPlorations sketch goes live to see more purple and lime and another twist on these daisies.

Stop by tomorrow for more daisy action and the last day of my Exploration of the September STAMPlorations release. Remember, I will be drawing a winner (from all comments left on my Exploration posts this week) who will get one of the sets I've used.

Supplies :

Paper:  CS Bringmann, watercolor

Stamps: STAMPlorations, PTI

Ink :  Versafine, Hero Arts, Versamark

Tools: butterfly die Clearly Besotted, stencil SSS

Other:  white embossing powder. watercolors, texture paste

exploration STAMPlorations grunge floral strips and a giveaway! (CTS)

Welcome to my third day of showcasing three of STAMPlorations latest stamp sets.  Today I am working with this kinda unique VIGNETTE: Grunge Floral Strips:

BTW, those green arrows mark the two stamps I used on my card.  But first off, the challenges I chose to inspire my card - CAS(E) this Sketch #76 and Colour Q #241.

I'm not really a hexagon gal.  When I looked at that sketch I saw a rabble of butterflies!  So I stamped the longer stamp (in brown) and the shorter stamp (in pool) onto scrap CS, and die cut and punched some butterflies.

So I basically used the stamps to create my own PP in the colors I needed.  The small motif lends itself to this, especially for smaller die cuts.What else could you do with these stamps?  How about making fake washi to match your project's colors?  Or creating a frame for a die cut word? Or how about this idea of Nonni's?

Oh. When I was looking for some graph paper-ish PP I stumbled upon this one from My Mind's Eye and decided that those blooms would be sweet down in the corner (thereby disqualifying myself from the Colour Q challenge!). But I still thought a gold flutterby would be fun! And then I added the sentiment from SUBWAY ART: Dare, inking it ombre with pool and turquoise before stamping. And I added a bit of Wink of Stella  to the large butterfly as you can see in the closeup.

Soooo. Did I mention a giveaway? I hope you saw my cards from day 1 and day 2? I'm giving away one of the three stamp sets I used on my cards (courtesy of Shery R. owner of STAMPlorations) and here's the deal...

Leave me a comment (by Friday midnight EST) telling me which set - Dare, Thank You or Grunge Floral - you like best and why. Or how you would use it. I'll pick a lucky winner on Saturday!

Have a great rest of the week and thanks for visiting.

Supplies for dare to dream

Paper:  CS Bringmann, PP MME

Stamps:  STAMPlorations

Ink : blues Inkadinkado, brown Memento

Tools: large butterfly die Memory Box, small butterfly Clearly Besotted, butterfly punch Martha Stewart

Other: Wink of Stella

christmas greetings (CBS)

Lost this challenge (#6 Christmas) from my radar screen somehow, but luckily I saw it again today.  So apologies for the lousy photo.  I had doggie duty and couldn't get to crafting until after the sun went down.  But I'm in before the challenge closes.

I purchased the Clearly Besotted Signature Christmas set after Christmas last year and this was the first time I got around to using it.  I just love the set.

Used CBS Building Blocks with Delicata gold for the square, then stamped the tree over it using Amuse Fern ink.  Die cut the image with a Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom ornament and then stamped some polka dots (another Building Block) on a scrap and die cut just the top portion of the ornament again.  Used decorative edge scissors to create an ornament topper.  I think it worked!
The strip of washi... not sure about that.  But I tried to balance it out with the sentiment in red.

I tapped all the edges in the gold ink pad, but TIP:  the folded edge of the card sinks into the sponge ink pad and soaks up more ink than desired.  Keep that in mind when using this technique, and tilt your card appropriately.  As much as I like the gilded edges effect, that left edge was not what I had in mind.  Looks like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be gilded or distressed.  Ugh.

Well, thanks for looking.  'Nite.

Supplies for season's greetings:

Paper:  cardbase The Paper Studio

Stamps: CBS

Ink : gold Delicata, green Amuse, red Jenny Bowlin

Tools: die Sizzix, corner rounder

Other: washi

stripes and crepe paper (RIC, SSS)

Sneakin' in before the curtain closes over at Runway Inspired Challenge #47

What did I see?  Well, um, stripes.  And more stripes.  And if you take a gander up around her shoulders... some light and airy blooms.  Became this.

Not quite as in-your-face, but I think I captured the essence of the photo.  Anyhoo, I'm also playing at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where you are to get inky.  I did.  Where you ask? My flutterby is cut from white crepe paper which I used to mop up some super watered down Dylusions Ink (pink and yellow).  I love the watercolor effect it creates.

Thanks for looking.

Supplies for just because:

Paper:  white CS Neenah, CS Coredinations

Stamps: PTI, sentiment Studio g

Ink : Memento, Distress, Dylusions spray ink

Tools: die Clearly Besotted Stamps

Other: crepe paper

fall birthday (Clearly Besotted, SSS)

Take a negative die cut piece of PP that falls onto another piece of PP laying on your messy workspace causing you to think "oh, that looks cool."  Move it to the side to work on later cuz you're in the middle of submission call stress, making sure not to lose that tiny little piece that separates the bird from the branch.  Move it around three more times in the chaos.  Notice that the colors of the new challenge at Clearly Besotted Stamps are like the colors in those PPs and decide to make a card.

That's how I roll, folks.

Used the sentiments from Happy Everything (I love the combo of fonts in this set).  And a NBUS die from Impression Obsession "Leaves" with some Coredinations whitewashed cardstock.  The die even impresses veins into the leaf which you can't really appreciate from my photo.  Now I understand where the company name had its birth ;)

It might have been small, but I used clear stamps for the sentiment so I'm joining the fun at Simon Says Stamp this week too.

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies happy birthday:

Paper: cardbase Bringmann, PP Ursus

Stamps: sentiment Clearly Besotted

Ink:  Cat's eye, Distress 

Tools: bird die Sizzix, leaf die IO

Other:  

oopsy daisy (SSS, CBS)

Remember the line in Notting Hill (one of my faves) when Hugh G. is climbing over the garden fence and gets stuck.  What does he say?  Oopsy daisy.  Miss most-gorgeous-smile-ever Roberts cracks up.  I LOVE that scene.

Well, here's a card.  Do ya get it?

Saw the Clearly Besotted Challenge to create a BG.  (...yeah, it's closed now too).  Wanted to try coloring that lovely bloom with colored pencils.  How fun is that?  I couldn't stop going over the colors again and again.  Stamped the envelope BG (distressed-ish) and then again on scrap in green to use for my die cut letters.  A few enamel dots in a nod to the SSS Dotty challenge and this is off to my dear Pops who just had hernia surgery.  The big incision kind :(

Thanks for looking.

Supplies oopsy daisy:

Paper: cardbase Bringmann, CS scraps

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, BG and sentiment Hero Arts

Ink:  Hero Arts,, Verxamark, 

Tools: die Memory Box

Other enamel dots, colored pencils

sweetly and clearly besotted (CBS, Passion for Papertrey)

Do you know Clearly Besotted Stamps?  The lovely Stephanie keeps coming up with the most beautiful stamps.  And recently she started a challenge.  This time it's a color challenge and I'm playing along.

Saw those colors and thought "sweet".  Which reminded me of a wedding set that Stephanie included with my somewhat large order a while back.  How sweet is that?   A wedding cake is sweet, right?  Then I remembered that the challenge at A Passion for Papertrey is also all about sweet.  But how to make the combo work???  NBUS here too (are ya listening Darnell?)

You know that I'm practical  frugal cheap, right?  Here's more proof.  I got the PTI mini blooms die (not the stamps mind you) thinking I could use them with lots of those little filler stamps from other stamp sets.  Flowers, leaves, whatevers.  Well I did!  I combined that one little die - see it alone in the plastic bag - with the teensy rose stamp from CBS.  And not just as filler either.  The roses take the cake on this card.  See, they even got stickled :)

Not totally the vision I had in my cabeza, but it'll work for a wedding couple.  I did manage to keep the light and airy feel of the inspiration photo so I'm happy.

Have a great weekend, friends.

Supplies for happily ever after:

Paper: cardbase Papermania

Stamps: Clearly Besotted

Ink :Jenni Bowlin, Hero Arts, Versamagic 

Tools: die Spellbinders, flower die PTI

Other: pearls, glue dots

it's spring (CBS)

Sharing a card I made with Clearly Besotted Stamps.  Loved this beauty by Debby H.  Inspired me to make this card to welcome Spring when it finally arrived this year.  Thought maybe it would come in handy next year if winter decides to be long again.

I went with the alcohol inked acetate for my jar.  And some smudged-with-paint woodgrain PP.  Combined two sentiments from the set for this specific message.

There's a new challenge at Clearly Besotted.  The theme is Anything Goes.  Great stamps.  Check it out.

Supplies it's spring:

Paper: Bringmann, Ursus

Stamps: Clearly Besotted

Ink: Hero Arts

Tools:scissors

Other: recycled acetate, doily, paint

sequined flower (CAS(E), ATCAS, CASology)

Definitely a CAS card.  But many minutes went into it.  And I've now got a lot more respect for the likes of Chari M. and the others who have combined negative die cuts with sequins getting gorgeous results.  I definitely need more practice.  Have a look.

Used Matte Medium to glue them on.  Used a Spellbinders flower die and a sentiment on vellum from Clearly Besotted Stamps.

Playing at:
CAS(E) this Sketch - #27

Addicted to CAS - Rainbow
CASology - Hexagon

Off for a wine wagon ride - trademark of Rheinhessen.  Our town's festival is this weekend and the wine drinking season has officially begun.  (Not that we wait for it to become official around here.) Prost!

Supplies be Happy:

Paper: CS Bringmann, vellum The Paper Company

Stamps: sentiment Clearly Besotted

Ink: Versafine

Tools: die Spellbinders

Other: sequins

chevrons and flowers and pink, oh my! (WPlus9, CFC, SSS)

If you've been out and about in blogland you cannot have missed all the spring loveliness in the form of bright blooms and cool chevrons!  Well, I missed the deadline for the new Fusion Challenge, but I'm in on the WPlus9 Monday Mood Board

and Casual Friday's

and Simon Says Stamps:  April Showers or Spring Flowers.

Notice that mood board.  Pink and green with a touch of orange.  Check.  Flowers and leaves.  Check.  Washi.  Check.  Fibers.  Check.  Even that little button with greenery and a pink bloom.... check.  And times four.

Figure this will make a nice little tag assortment for a girlfriend.  As in, to attach to a present or hang on a bottle of Prosecco...   Stamped the chevron BG block in two different colors on each and heat embossed the sentiment in gold.   I made two of each sentiment cuz I thought they were the most appropriate for gift tags.

Appreciate your visit.  Should would love for Spring to stop by...

Supplies tags:

Paper: cardbase Craft UK, PP K&Co.

Stamps: chevron BG Clearly Besotted, other WPlus9

Ink :Jenny Bowlin, Versamark

Tools: leaf die WPlus9, circle and bloom PTI, heat gun 

Other: gold embossing powder, crochet thread, pearls,  washi

pretty pastel hi (Moxie, CREATE, CAS Sunday, SSS)

FINALLY getting a chance to play along with a relatively new challenge, CAS on Sunday, where a couple of my bloggie friends are part of the DT.  This week's theme is Flutterby.  How could I resist?

The current Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World is so perfect for Easter and so spring inspiring. Only hope it might work to warm the temps up here...

Here's my CAS  pastel flutterby, fluttering by to say "Hi".

I'm also hooking up at the March challenge at Create:  and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes. Happy Easter friends.

Supplies Hi:

Paper: CS American Crafts, PP K& Co, MME, vellum Ursus

Stamps: PTI

Ink : Jenny Bowlin

Tools: butterfly die Clearly Besotted, wonky border die MFT, heart punch, corner rounder EKS

Other: beads, Glossy Accents