But these are flowers that fly and all but sing…

Sharing a card featuring the stunning Transformation stamp from The Ton.

I started by stamping the image in VersaMark ink and embossing it in white embossing powder.  Then I used my new Pigment Crystals from Stampin’ Up! to add colour to the butterfly’s wing.  I usually hate how any watercolour crystals turn out when I use them but I love these ones and the colours are just so beautiful.  I then used more of the crystals to water colour the flowers using a Uniquely Creative glitter brush pen for the liquid to spread the ink.  It’s hard to see in the picture but the finished colouring has a lovely goldy glittery look and I love the colours it produced with just the Melon Mambo crystals.

I’ve followed Jen B’s sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my layout, that allowed me to go really nuts with my mat layers.  Love the coordinating colours across all products at Stampin’ Up!, which allowed me to match the cardstock exactly to the crystal colours I used.  I added in my sentiment with my all-time fav chippies from Make it Crafty.  I coloured the base of the ‘wishes’ with some of the crystals in Bermuda Bay and the top layer was just heat embossed, as was the single layered ‘birthday’.

Now if you haven’t heard the devastating news, Zoe is closing Make it Crafty.  So now is the time to run over there and stock up on these awesome chippies.  And no, I’m not an affiliate or anything, I am just a huge fan of the chippies and supporting a small female owned business, even as that business is being closed down!

With my fabby sentiment this is clearly a birthday card, made for a friend at work.  But that also means I can play along at Little Red Wagon for their current You Say It’s Your Birthday! challenge.

I’m also playing along at Crafty Catz.  They’ve got an anything goes challenge with a twist of spots and/or stripes.  I’m rocking the spots part of the twist but sadly you can’t see it in my photo.  The background white cardstock is embossed with lots of tiny dots.  Forget me being able to take a decent photo or have this scan so you can see them.  Not sure if the bitty rhinestones count as spots but at least you can see those!

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Gold & Detail White

Stampin’ Up! Pigment Sprinkles ~ Bermuda Bay, Gorgeous Grape & Melon Mambo

Embellishments

Chuakari Hot Fix Rhinestones ~ Citrine, Fuchsia, Indicolite & Violet

Make it Crafty Chipboard Adapt-a-Words ~ Birthday

Make it Crafty Chipboard Single Layered Words ~ 2" Wishes

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Markers ~ Gathered Twigs

Tsukineko ~ VersaMark Ink

Uniquely Creative Glitter Brush Pen ~ Gold

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Bellbird Paperarts Card ~ 210gsm Cotton Blend

Creative Memories Cardstock ~ White Dot Embossed

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Bermuda Bay, Gorgeous Grape & Melon Mambo

Stamps

The Ton ~ Transformation

Challenges

Crafty Catz #484 ~ Anything goes / Spots and/or stripes

Little Red Wagon #524 ~ You Say It’s Your Birthday!

Thanks for stopping by!

…may alight upon you

Sharing a QCAS card featuring one of the pretty images from the Butterfly set by Darkroom Door and a sentiment from the Dare to Dream set by Hero Arts.

My colour scheme comes from the current palette at Color Throwdown.  I’ve used each of the three colours in my mats and then the two purple shades for my sentiment and butterfly with the green coming in again with my embellies.

For my layout I’ve followed the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  My butterfly is the circle element, the thin rectangle my sentiment and the larger rectangle hinted at with my embellies.  The sketch worked well for a CAS card and allowed me to also play along at AAA Cards where they looking for cards that feature only one image.  You can go an optional twist of shimmer, which I have some of in the clear embossing powder over my sentiment and embellies.

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Clear

Embellishments

Queen & Co Rhinestones ~ Grass Green

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Dusty Concord & Milled Lavender

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Close To My Heart Cardstock ~ White Daisy

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green & Purple Posey

Stamps

Darkroom Door ~ DDRS025 Butterflies

Hero Arts ~ CL925 Dare to Dream

Challenges

Thanks for stopping by!

The works must be conceived with fire in the soul…

Sharing a non-fold card featuring Curvy Girl Is Busy from Stamping Bella Stamps.

This is one of those cards that aren’t on your yearly list or tied to a particular date.  But it’s the sort of card that can really make someone smile and it was prompted by my need to do a card for the Bizzy Bec’s DT.  I had no idea what to make and started with lining up my latest order from Bec and hitting up my favourite challenge sites, where a couple of challenges got my mojo rocking.

First was the inspirational words over at Time Out, in particular the “be grateful, laugh lots”.  I’ve been grateful for the laughs one of staff shares with me in the mornings before the rest of the team arrive.  Grateful for her hard work and dedication, for the way she challenges me in my thinking and to be a better leader.

Add to that the word prompt over at Addicted to CAS of hero and I knew I needed to make this card and finally raid my stash like I’d be meaning to do for a while for supplies she could use to get back into scrapbooking.  What’s scrapbooking supplies got to do with heroes especially when there’s no hero image on my card?  Well first it’s an anti-hero because the prompt got me thinking about her relationship with her dad, you know, the man who’s supposed to be every little girl’s hero.  Unfortunately, hers is an emotionally abusive person who stole her creativity by constantly belittling her scrapbooking efforts through her teen years.  I only learned about this after offering to help her make a card for her mother’s birthday.  She told me the story but it was the joy shining in her eyes and smile on her face as she made the card that made me start thinking I needed to help her get back into her scrapbooking.

That thought has lingered for a while in my mind but I didn’t do much about it.  Work has been crazy busy and life has, well, been full of adulting.  But with those challenges, the “give love” at Time Out made me realise I could do that, give her the love of creating back and, from Addicted to CAS, maybe be her crafty “hero”.  Add in that I had the Curvy Girl is Busy stamp sitting among my Bizzy Bec purchases and I could so see her hands full of scrapbooking materials and, well, this card just had to be made.

I’d seen the water colouring challenge at Mix It Up while looking for inspiration so I water coloured my image before handwriting my sentiment.  I mounted the water colour panel on a couple of green mats and voilá I had a card to go with the crafty items I found in my stash that I thought would make the perfect travel scrapbook to bring back an old love through a new one of my colleague’s; her travelling.

And in case you’re interested, here’s the simply beautiful card she made for her mum.

  

Ingredients:

Inks & Paints etc 

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Aged Paper, Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Fired Brick, Forest Moss, Ground Espresso, Mowed Lawn and Tea Dye 
Papers 
Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow 

Creative Memories ~ Green Designer Paper

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Granny Apple Green 
Stamps 
Stamping Bella Stamps ~ EB791 Curvy Girl Is Busy 
Challenges

Mix It Up #31 ~ Anything Goes + Watercoloring

Thanks for stopping by!