… as if they had surprised a butterfly in a winter wood

I’m sharing a card today featuring a stamp from Magnolia’s first Vintage Box, a lovely wood grain pattern, and a Noor! Design Butterfly diecut.

This card was inspired by the current Fusion inspiration photo.  Rather than a musical background I decided to go with the wood grain.  I embossed this with white embossing powder to create a resistant outline before using some Brusho and Color Burst powder to create the smooshed effect from the inspiration photo.

At Less is More they are looking for shadows so I’ve added in two on my card.  The first is incredibly subtle; in fact, the whole sentiment is almost invisible (turns out those colour powders are harder to control than I thought!).  I stamped my sentiment in Old Olive ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder before shifting my paper ever so slightly to create the shadow in black ink.  I split the sentiment into two; my first stamping (the ‘wish’) was a much better shadow effect than the second.  But then I added in the colour powders and it all kinda didn’t matter so much as I realised, too late, I should have done the sentiment in a contrasting colour.

The second shadow is on my butterfly.  I cut two, one I inked in black and doused in clear embossing powder to form my shadow; the second I left white and covered in some Shabby White Fran-tage for some bling against my otherwise rather grungy background.

The current challenge at Crafting When We Can is CAS so I am linking my card up there too.  I’ve not as much white space as I had planned; again, it was my inability to control the colour powders that is to blame.  I do like the effect though and will definitely be playing some more with these.

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Colourcraft Brusho ~ Sea Green

Ken Oliver Color Burst ~ Burnt Umber

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Clear & Detail White

Stampendous! Fran-tage Embossing Enamel ~ Aged Shabby White

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Noor! Design Die ~ 6003/0023 Butterfly

Inks & Paints etc

Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ Pad ~ Basic Black & Old Olive

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Embossing

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Bellbird Paperarts ~ Cotton Blend Card

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Always Artichoke

Stamps

Magnolia ~ Wood Grain from Vintage Box 1

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection ~ THJ009 Saying Stuff

Challenges

Crafting When We Can #143 ~ Clean and Simple

Fusion ~ Musical Butterfly

Less is More #326 ~ Lucky Dip Shadow!

Thanks for stopping by!

On the first day of Christmas…

Managed to get another card finished today to add to my Christmas card stash using the lovely Pear Tree Partridge die from LDRS Creative.

This card was inspired by the current challenge at Jingle Belles, where they want you to take inspiration from the song “The 12 Days of Christmas”.  Seeing the challenge theme reminded me of this die in my stash so it seemed the perfect time to get it out of its packaging and give it some use.

I cut the die from a piece of watercolour paper and added in all the details with some Tim Holtz Reinkers.  I’ve just now realised that I didn’t run it back through my Crossover with an embossing mat for some added texture, doh!  Probably would have been a good idea seeing I am also entering my card in the current challenge at Allsorts, which has a theme of embossing.  Mine is added with the sentiment, one of Tim’s stamps, and some lovely gold embossing powder.  I also embossed the chest of the partridge as it had some pieces cut out that looked a bit odd to me being empty.  A dusting of silver embossing powder filled them in nicely and added a bit of sparkle to the partridge too.

Embossing is also the optional theme at Happy Little Stampers and their current Christmas challenge, which I’ve just made it in time to enter.  The die cut is so pretty I left this card quite CAS, I had thought about making the centre behind the partridge into a shaker but it seemed all a bit too fiddly and the card is already quite thick thanks to my multiple layers.  Why so many you ask?  Well, because now I have not just a partridge in a pear tree but also fiiiiive goooolden riiiings - ha, bet the song is well and truly stuck in your head now!

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Silver

Wow! Embossing Powder ~ Metallic Gold Rich Pale

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

LDRS Creative Die ~ #8014 Pear Tree Partridge

Embellishments

Close To My Heart Bitty Gems ~ Brown

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Embossing

Tim Holtz Distress Reinkers ~ Various colours

Tsukineko ~ VersaMarker

Papers

Arches Smooth Paper ~ Watercolour 185gsm

Bazzill Smoothie Cardstock ~ Blackberry Swirl

Core’dinations Tim Holtz Kraft Core Metallics Collection ~ Gold

Stamps

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection ~ CMS249 Scribbly Christmas

Challenges

Allsorts #413 ~ Embossing

Happy Little Stampers Christmas ~ Emboss

Jingle Belles ~ “On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my TRUE LOVE gave to me...”

Thanks for stopping by!

Each flower speaks a word from the book of nature

I’m sharing a CAS card today featuring a stamp from the retired Stampin’ Up! set Friends Never Fade.

The layout of my card comes from CAS(E) this Sketch, where I’ve used my sentiment to frame the main motif, for which I’ve used a flower.  I didn’t have any appropriate sentiment stamps so I printed mine on the computer then added in the stamped flower.

For my colours I’ve used the current palette at Color Throwdown.  I wanted a bit more depth to the flower so I actually stamped it first in Melon Mambo and then added a third generation stamping of Rich Razzleberry over the top.  For some added shine I covered both the flower and sentiment in clear embossing powder.

Over at Addicted to Stamps and More their current theme is CAS so I am entering my card there.  I went totally CAS and resisted the urge to add in a couple of enamel dots for some bling but couldn’t help but add some matted layers in matching Stampin’ Up! Cardstock.  I’ve really come to love CAS cards, they still seem to take me forever to make (we won’t speak of the two sheets of ruined vellum and failed attempt at vellum layering that proceeded this finished card) but can turn out ever so elegant in their simplicity.

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Clear

Inks & Paints etc

Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ Pad ~ Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo & Rich Razzleberry

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Embossing

Tsukineko ~ VersaMarker

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Curious Metallics Cardstock ~ Cryogen White

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Daffodil Delight & Melon Mambo

Stamps

Stampin’ Up! ~ Friends Never Fade

Challenges

Addicted to Stamps and More #239 ~ Clean and Simple

CAS(E) this Sketch ~ Sketch #219

Color Throwdown #440 ~ Purple, Yellow & Green

Thanks for stopping by!

devoted and obedient

I’m sharing a card today featuring a fun image from Jade Dragonne called Mad Nurse.

To make up my card I’ve followed the current sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch.  Thanks to me printing off the image three times on three different papers and trying three different mediums to colour it I have just got in under the wire for their challenge.  I’ve created my thin rectangular element with my digi (I did slightly distort it in Photoshop to get the proportions I needed, the original being not quite so thin faced) and my sentiment, which was computer generated.  I then added in the horizontal element (the sentiment in the sketch) with my fab new die from SugarPea Designs.

To fit with the CAS nature of CAS(E) this Sketch and the current theme at Always Fun challenges I have left this card deliberately CAS.  This included going with my monochromatic colour scheme and a pop of red for the traditional medical colours of red and white and the teeniest bit of highlighting in other colours on the cyanide and her eyes.

I’m also entering this in the current challenge over at CASology where the theme is season.  I’ve got two seasonal connections with this card, here in Australia it is graduation season, drive past any university and you’ll see crowds of capped and gowned people and beaming parents with cameras.  It’s also heading in to flu season, this image is a scene being played out regularly at work at the moment as the annual flu vaccinations have started to be doled out.  Have to say though, I’ve had more fun colouring her up than I’ve ever had facing a similar image in real life!

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Clear

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

SugarPea Designs SugarCut Die ~ Heart Beat

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Reinkers ~ Black Soot, Broken China, Gathered Twigs, Hickory Smoke & Old Paper

Tsukineko ~ VersaMarker

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Mondi Color Copy ~ 200gsm White

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Real Red

Stamps

Jade Dragonne ~ Mad Nurse

Challenges

Always Fun #3 ~ CAS

CAS(E) this Sketch ~ Sketch #218

CASology #246 ~ SEASON 

Thanks for stopping by!