Butterfly {Dreams}

I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly........oh no....wait...that's Sound of Music...not quite where I was headed here. But, with spring in the air, I have butterflies on the brain. And since there is oh so often a song singing its notes in my head, its not a huge leap....right?

Okay, okay, so I imagine you came here for something other than the inner workings of my brain, yes?! So, I'll spare you the adventure that would require a five point harnass and show you.....a card!

I've had this fantastic butterfly lady stamp in my collection for over fifteen years now and I love her! She's a butterfly who just seems to be made of {dreams}. I stamped & embossed her with fabby pink foil embossing powder, also from my old stash.


Then! I decided to try one of my friend Elise's (Mamacow Creations) coloring techniques.....using Stampin' Up!'s watercolor wonder crayons with an Aqua Painter (taking the aqua painter brush tip to the tip of the crayon and then laying it on the paper) to add some pinks & purples to my fabby butterfly lady. (Okay, I definitely need some practice here, but I had fun trying this for the first time.) After cutting her out, I wanted to pop her up, but not so extreme like with foam, so I cut out three itty bitty strips of white cardstock, adhered them together, and then to the back of her body. See, she has lift! (Those Sound of Music lyrics are floating through my brain again!! :>)

Add some printed vellum with a fun K& Company rubon sentiment, bracketed with some Cosmo Cricket chipboard pieces (that were painted pink and decked out in Tim Holtz's Distress Stickles) and The Butterfly Lady has a safe place to land. (If you are noticing a difference in the colors, the first two shots were in the sun and the last one was shot in the shade.....and then my camera battery said it was tired and wanted a charge.)

The weather here has been like easy summer days this week.......we've been running in the 80's. And with tomorrow being the first official day of spring, it will be nice to have the sun out this weekend.

Does it look like spring where you live? Do you have any spring like activities planned this weekend? We're hoping to get some work done in the backyard, plant the parsley, sage, and chives that came home with my daughter and I this week, and clear out some room for the tomatoes that my kidlets are dying to plant! Happy Friday! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hibiscus Burst - Papertrey Ink
Paper: Vellum - Dollar Tree (I've had it in my stash for over five years now...lol!)
Stamp: Butterfly Lady - Hippo Heart

Ink: Versamark
Watercolor Wonder Crayons: Stampin' Up!
Rub On: K & Company
Chipboard: brackets - Cosmo Cricket
Other: embossing powder - from stash....and it has mysteriously disappeared, if it just as magically reappears, I'll update the info.; Paint - Delta & Making Memories; Worn Lipstick - Distress Stickles by Tim Holtz for Ranger; Bling - Stash (off brand from Walmart)

Detailed Fun with Just Us Girls & EBTKS

Come & Color, I did....but not with markers, pens, or pencils. But, I did have so much FUN with these colors for the Just Us Girls 21st challenge! I mean there were little giggles, lots of smiles, and oodles of delight as I played!

And all that delight is most definitely in the details! But, before I tell you about those details, let me share where the rest of the card came from.........the current sketch challenge from Everything But The Kitchen Sink! I have wanted to play along with the EBTKS crew from the beginning...thank goodness I finally did! :>

Okay, okay, back to some of those details! I cut some lovely K & Company printed paper into four squares, used some temporary adhesive to adhere them all butted up against each other (as in one big square) and then using coral and raspberry ink, I inked up some fun stripes. If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now (or again) that I feel just like a kid when I get all inky....instant happy pill!


Next, I spread out those four squares, adhered them to a piece of raspberry cardstock, pierced around the edges, using the Tim Holtz Clear Design Ruler (I LOVE this tool!), and hand stitched with vanilla embroidery thread. Matting the whole thing onto a chocolate card base, I turned to the rest of those fun details.

That fab scalloped square chipboard frame took a quick bath in some ivory paint and then went for a good soak in some of Tim Holtz's Distress Rock Candy crackle paint. I stamped that wonderful sentiment (that oh so fits my love of the little things in life!) in brown StazOn onto vanilla cardstock, cut it out with a circle Coluzzle (still do not understand why it was discontinued!) and it too went for a soak in Rock Candy. And when they started cracking like mad, can you see why giggles were escaping me?! When they were all dry (the cardstock curled, but I simply bent it back and smoothed it out), I rubbed some coral ink onto it and rubbed off the excess.....its a very subtle effect, but it does add to it. I also did the same dry rubbed ink on the sweet vanilla wood button.

The last bit of details rest in the fibers. I layered the stitched raspberry ribbon on top of chocolate ribbon...I just like the subtle extra bit of chocolate in the middle of the card. Now the stitching on that raspberry ribbon is white and that just didn't work. So, I took a Q-Tip, dabbed it in some Distress ink and ran it over the stitches. Again, very subtle, but it took the edge off of the white stitching and made it applicable to the color challenge, which calls for vanilla, not white! I tied the whole bow together with some brown embroidery floss and that sweet vanilla wood button!

Big Thank Yous to both the JUGS & EBTKS teams for creating their fabulous & fun challenge sites! So glad I crafted some time to play!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week! I'm off to celebrate some of the cherrished details in my own life.....in fact, one is smiling at me right now, while nibbling on her carrot! :>

And don't forget my Blog Birthday Giveaway is still going on!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate & Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; Purely Pomegranate - Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: K & Company

Ink: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; Timber Brown - StazOn by Tsukineko; Old Paper Distress Ink - Tim Holtz for Ranger
Stamps: Life Bundle - Kolette Hall
Chipboard: Scalloped square frame - Stampin' Up!; circles/Chips (2 circles under the sentiment) - Bazzill
Paint: Ivory - Delta; Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint - Tim Holtz for Ranger
Ribbon & Fibers: Purely Pomegranate Saddle Stitched, Chocolate Chip grosgrain - Stampin' Up!; Chocolate embroidery thread - Making Memories; Vanilla embroidery floss - DMC
Button: sweet flower wooden button - La*di*dah for Ki Memories

Count me in!! Just Us Girls #16

Yippie!!!!! My fingers are covered in ink & burgundy marker and not only do I have something inky to offer, but for a challenge! I am tapping my toes to my own personal Happy Dance to get my hands inked up again. :>


I have been wanting to play along with one of the Just Us Girls challenges since they started, but somehow, I just kept coming up short on time. And while time is still short.......I made sure to craft some of my own time for a little inky {Love} for their JUGS #16 Color Challenge.

After playing along with Tim & his fabulous Christmas tags, I have a bunch of office tags left over. When I use them, I like to adhere two together so that they stand up to ink and paint much better and then I lightly ink the backside, so its pretty too. (The line in the middle is actually not nearly as obvious......its raining, its pouring, and I had to use a flash as I'm not set up for indoor photography......yet.) I inked the whole thing in soft pink, went over most of it with burgundy, adhered some Noteworthy chipboard alpha stickers, blinged out a chipboard heart, popped it up on foam tape and cut out a bunch of blingy swirls to make a flourish that would fit and work with the tag and voila...a happy little Valentine taggy {love}.

Oh yea! When I experimented with making my own {custom} colored ribbon back in November, I was using polyester satin ribbon. And since I did not have a single piece of burgundy ribbon anywhere in my overflowing ribbon collection (how could that be?!), I thought I would make some, using white nylon organza this time.......and it worked beautifully!! I highly recommend giving it a try.....I'm so happy I did!

Twenty Ten has kicked off to a bit of a slow start , but I am thinking that a little ink goes a long way towards rejuvenating a spirit and putting a grande smile on my face!

Supplies:
Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Pretty in Pink - Stampin' Up!
Chipboard: Making Memories, Cosmo Cricket
Bling: K & Company, Prima
Ribbon: Stash
Tag: Office Depot

{Sweet} Thanks!

Very sweet thanks were in order for a sweet friend, for which this card was made (and I just found out that it has arrived in her mailbox....so its safe to post! :>). Now, if you haven't noticed I'm not a huge patterned paper gal. Don't get me wrong, I love it, I buy it, I hoard it, but I have trouble using it. And a card or scrapbook layout that is made entirely of patterned paper is pretty much unheard of for me! Until now!! :> I knew I wanted to use my cupcake stamp and an 8x8 patterned paper stack that I bought on sale awhile back and have never used...not one piece. Being that I was working out of my comfort zone, I needed some more Backup and this time I turned to CPS sketch 127 .

Stamping the cupcake on the front of the striped & glittered Die Cuts With A View paper and then stamping the cupcake again on the back of the polka paper, I began making my sweet cupcake. I cut both pieces out, painted the polka frosting with white pearlescent paint (watered down makes it more translucent to not obscure the paper below) for some great shimmer (unfortunately, the camera didn't pick it up...but, its there, I promise!). Actually, I painted two, as the first one I stamped with an inked up stamp and the dark ink began to show through from the paint and water. So, I stamped it a second time with just the residue left after stamping off several times.

Since I was following a sketch, you would think that it would take no time at all to cut some paper and adhere it, but I fussed with several different patterns and cardstock and to my great surprise, it was the cardstock that just was not working at all. Once I removed the cardstock (after trying half a dozen different colors!), it then came together for me.....with all patterned papers and a giant surprised grin. Some foam tape to pop the layers up, a little bit of ruffled ribbon, a {sweet} rub on and I had a thank you to send off to this sweet friend!

Supplies:
Stamps: Inkspirations (closed)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (card base) - PTI
Patterned Paper: Nana's Nursery - Die Cuts With A View
Ribbon: Fairy Tale - Stampin' Up!
Rub Ons: K & Company, K-ology, Thinking of You
Paint: Pearlescent Paints - Yasutomo

KWerner Color Inspiration #55...my 1st time playing along!

Amazingly, I have never played along with one of Kristina's color challenges before. But, that ended today. I have a couple of new books by my bedside and I am so tired of pulling the nearest thing to mark my page....a paper clip, a barrette, and my old standby, a kleenex! So, a bookmark seemed to be calling my name.

With Kristina's colors in mind, I riffled through my stamps and pulled out quite an assortment that have most definitely not received the love they deserve. First, I cut a piece of More Mustard down to size. Next, I stamped an antique map of Africa. Then, I stamped the sentiment and the Tim Holtz clock with Versamark and embossed with russet embossing powder. I stamped some vines randomly all over the cardstock (these were not embossed) for a tone on tone effect.

Not wanting to add any cream cardstock to the bookmark, I went through my options to include the color. Cream ink? Nope, don't have it. Cream rub-ons? Nope, none in a shape that would work for me. Hmmmmmmm.......what else do I have?? Then it came to me!! Prismacolor colored pencils!!! PC914, Cream, at my service! I know this seems so simple, but its a major light bulb tip moment for me!!! With my pencils, I pretty much have any color that could be used in a color challenge, even if I do not have it in ink, cardstock, or ribbon! I used the cream colored pencil to color the edges, as you would ink the edges with an ink pad. This light bulb moment just tickled me oh so pink....er, um, cream colored?!

I finished the bookmark off with a Making Memories pebble clip at the top and matted the stamped More Mustard carstock on to a piece of Really Rust cardstock. One thing I want to note, I know that the embossing powder looks a bit different in color to the cardstock, but they really are the same color in real life.

I typically do not collage stamp. Yet, I had so much fun here and really like how it came out.....not to mention, all of the unused stamps and supplies that are feelin' the love with this simple little creation! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: More Mustard, Really Rust - Stampin' Up!
Ink: Versamark - Tsukineko; Weathered Wood Distress Ink - Ranger
Stamps: Antique Maps - Sunday International; Decorative Flair (vine) - Stamped In Ink; Sentiment, Special Occasions - Marcella by K&Company; Clock, Life's Possibilities - Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous
Embossing Powder: Russet - The Herbarium
Embellishment: Travel Pebble Clips
Other: Prismacolor Colored Pencil

Another Teacher Thank You

We had another teacher to thank, Ms.Vicky, who was just simply wonderful to work with this year! She is kind, thoughtful, and really had our son's best interest at heart. I do not think I could say enough nice things about her. Just like with Ms. Connors, we really lucked out!

For Ms. Vicky, I decided to make her Lauren's Captured Card Case and fill it with.....cards! This was the first time I used this template and I was delighted to find that it is Beyond Easy!! I made this in the wee hours of the morning, one night before school was out and even with lacking sleep, it was still super easy. I filled it with this, this, this, and this card. Initially, I was going to make a cute matching set, but as a lot of you know how fast the last couple weeks of school can fly by, I ran out of time. I didn't want to short change this fabulous teacher though and still wanted to give her handmade cards, so I just pulled from some that I already made.

K&Company's Brenda Walton Mira Specialty Paper Pad has the most fabulous papers I think I've seen in a paper pad! I had sworn off paper pads/stacks/slabs since I so often forget to use them and while they can bring the price of patterned paper Way down, if I'm not using them, then its not only a waste of money, but of storage space as well. However, this pad has tickled me so much that I'm running out of the first one I bought several months ago and actually went out and bought a second one recently!! The patterned paper with the bird came from a piece in that pack. I cut it down and then to add just a little bit of interest, I used the burnished glitter technique from Spike, which I learned from my friend Dana at Paperdaydream (you should see the Gorgeous butterfly with dry embossing she put on her blog yesterday!). I burnished glitter on the birdy's eye and her branch, both with Martha Stewart glitter.


I hope everyone is having a fantastic day so far! The sun has amazingly decided to come out and play today.......it didn't shine through the overcast sky until after 5pm yesterday. Would you believe that?! On June 1st?! It was a surprise, but the kidlets and I had a really fun day yesterday and as I listen to them play with a tub full of cars and airplanes, making every sound effect possible, I'm hoping for another great one! Just wanted to wish you one as well and thank all who craft some time to for a little blog surfing, a little creativity, and a little play! I know I will! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Kraft, Dark Chocolate, New Leaf - PTI
Patterned Paper: Brena Walton Mira Specialty Paper Pad - K&Co.
Glitter: Aquamarine Crystal, Brownstone - Martha Stewart
Template: Captured Card Case - PTI

From the Desk of.....

Whoops!! It would seem time has gotten away from me, but I have a good excuse....really! It was hubby and my daughter's birthdays over the weekend and first, I had to run all those fun errands to pick up everything needed and then take the time to Celebrate (good times, come on!...sorry just a little Kool and The Gang singin' in my head)!

So, to travel back in time (don't worry we won't go far, just back a week), I've got the 'packaging' for Mom's Mother's Day present to share. Admiring Lauren Meader's Timeless Templates since they came out, I'm embarrassed to admit that I did not try one until now (I mean then, last week.....well, if we've time traveled, I mean now...'cause its last week, right? Yes, the men in white coats have me on their checklist!).

Using her From the Desk of template, I made a super duper easy little piece that will go perfectly in Mom's kitchen. Lauren provides a template to cut out a decorative layer, but I also wanted to mat that. To go about doing that, I cut the Berry Sorbet cardstock just outside the lines and the patterned paper just inside the lines and it worked out quite well, not perfect, but I'm still happy. I did however, have issues with the half circle in the front. For some reason, I seem to remember Lauren saying she used a coluzzle to cut it out evenly, but mine did not line up....at all. Consequently, I cut it by hand.

Do you remember me saying I CANNOT cut out circles freehand?! (Remember, I'm not cutting on the line, I'm cutting inside and outside the line to make an extra mat.) So, that's a skill I'll have to work on (or find another tool to cut it for me!!).

And speaking of improvement......when I printed the templates out, I did not see how to lighten the lines up, so the score line would not show so much. But, Lauren, ever So Great at answering any questions in her comments, shot me an email that reminded me of the option of printing on printer paper and lining it up with the cardstock as a guide or clicking 'grayscale' in my printing options. I will deifnitely be trying that next time.

I added some pretty pre-patterned & glittered K&Company chipboard letters to the front (I wanted to spell 'Mom', but the font I had was too chunky for the patterened paper, so Linda, it was!). Some of the letters in the assortment have pearls on them and some do not. Of the letters I pulled, only the 'A' had a pearl and it was looking rather lonely, so I added one to the 'L' and another to the 'N' to complete my little project.

Are you wondering what I put inside of this? The goodies that went inside of it (no, I do not have a photo of it....sorry) do not really go with the box itself. Mom's working on her house, so I knew I wanted to get a Home Depot gift card. Except, I am Really not a fan of Giving gift cards (receiving them though....well, that's a whole other Delightful story!! :>). I prefer to pick out a gift that I think someone will Love. But, I knew a Home Depot card she would be able to use and if she just did not want to use it for any of her home improvement projects, she could use it to buy a pretty plant (she loves gardening). With the gift card, were a pack of vinyl (latex free) gloves, two cord clips (to tie up all those computer cords), blue painter's tape (she just bought about a dozen gallons of paint), a scraper with extra blades, and a six pack of mini Crazy glue tubes. Again, yes, I know its an odd gift to put into the desk set, but it worked.

And the first thing she thought to use her new container for (and no, it was not one of my dozen or so suggestions) were her post-its! She has a serious addiciton to Post-It notes, ball point pens, and knitting needles....any twelve step program I can sign her up for? No? Well, then I guess a desk set to hold two of the three will have to do!

POOF!! We are now back in present time. Back to the party cleanup that is waiting for me, the Star Wars legos that were left out on the living room floor last night, and back to playing referree between my cats and the Blue Jays who keep stealing their food!! Hope the trip was good for you...I had fun! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Ocean Tides, Berry Sorbet - PTI
Patterned Paper: K&Company
Template: From the Desk of - PTI
Embellishments: Chipboard Letters - K&Company, K-Ology Hannah Alphabet; White Pearls - KAISERcraft