Friendship Bouquet Card

Well I've finally stepped away from the Dotty paper!!! (but rest assured it will likely reappear in future posts!!!)

I was inspired by a couple of challenges this week, the Heart 2 Heart challenge to use distressing and the Mojo Monday sketch. So I'm entering this card in both challenges!

I love distressing and don't do it often enough, but the May Stamp of the month --Friendship Bouquet was calling out to me to be used in combination with some distressing. So I got busy....I used my edge distresser on all pieces of paper--some a little more than others. I also usesd my spray pen with water and pearl paint to spritz the piece of Olive cardstock then proceeded to crumple it up in a ball, then flatten it out again. I then got out my sponge dauber and cocoa ink and inked all the edges as well as some of the spots on the olive cardstock.

I stamped the image directly on the Colonial white cardstock in cocoa ink. I then got another piece of CW cardstock and applied versa mark then cocoa ink onto the stamp (without cleaning the stamp between the 2 inks) and stamped the image, covered it in clear embossing powder, tapped off the excess then heat set it.
Using my blending pen and the honey ink pad I coloured in the flower, then used the cocoa to colour the center. I love that with the blending pen and my ink pad, I can colour in an image without having to have all the markers to match my pads, simply squeeze the ink pad together when closed, and some of the ink transfers to the lid, so that when you open the stamp pad, you simply pick up the ink with the blending pen!

I was really happy with the way this card turned out, and I know I will be getting lots of use out of this stamp set!!!

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies used:
-Stella Papper pack
-Olive, Colonial white and Honey cardstock
-Friendship Bouquet--May SOTM
-Cocoa ink pad
-Honey ink pad
-versa mark pad
-clear embossing powder
-blending pen
-edge distresser
-3D foam tape

I'm Sew Happy....with Dotty!

Thought I'd share with you this quick card I made. OK making the flower not so quick....but once it was done everything else came together supper fast.

This is also my entry into Heart 2 Hearts April Showers bring May flowers challenge this week.

What made this card soooo simple is the CTMH exclusive Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, the card base, the sweet leaf dotty paper and all the flowers were cut using the cartridge! I'll also note that the Sweet Leaf stitched grosgrain ribbon made gathering the ribbon easy because the stitching is already in the ribbon, just grab the white stitching and pull the ribbon back.

Directions for making the flower:
Cut 4 flowers at 2", and a 5th flower at 2 1/4" (or really whatever sizes you want, but the 5th one needs to be 1/4" bigger than the other 4.
Using the Clear ruler, and a craft knife I cut 3 of the 2" flowers into 6 pieces, between the petals. The 4th one I kept whole and used as a base to glue the other 6 pieces too. This was my solution after trying unsuccessfully to glue the 6 individual pieces directly onto the bigger flower--I kept getting a gap between the last 2 petals!)
I then used the ruler with the hole guide, and my paper piercer to make the guide holes for the stitching. Then stitch away!
Add something to the middle of the flower--I found this necessary (although I would have done it anyways just to finish off the flower) simply because you sew through the middle hole so often that it's a little unsightly!

Supplies used:
-Dotty for You paper pack
-Colonial White cardstock
-Green button assortment
-Sweet leaf ink pad
-Sweet leaf embroidery floss (retired)
-Simple Stitches stamp set (retired)
-2 sided tape to hold the ribbon down
-AP cricut cartridge
-ruler

Masculine Birthday Cards

April is a busy month for Birthdays in my family--all of them being males!!! So as I was digging through my card box for some cards, I discovered I was lacking in the masculine b-day cards section. I took the time on Friday to sit down and get busy creating. I had earmarked a card that a fellow consultant Delores Byrne had posted (click on her name to visit her blog and see the template for the springfold card) Here's my take on it!

I got my template a little backwards--and didn't realize it till I had attached the paper to it--so I added the brads and waxy flax to assist in holding the card closed! The Victory paper pack was the perfect fit for my nephew Michael, who I was creating the card for.

Next up I needed a card for my brother.....I pulled out some of my scraps from the retired Lucky paper pack, but I knew that I wanted to use this particular sentiment stamp on his card, from the new "Just a Number" stamp set, which is just packed with witty birthday sentiments. The inside of the card reads......
....yours will remain unlisted.

And finally a card for my stepfather. I had debated ordering this stamp set, Perfect Day, wasn't sure I would use it enough! So glad I had it on hand Friday when I was inspired to create this card and brayer the background. I clear embossed the dots to resemble the stars, prior to brayering twilight then outdoor denim. I used a 1/2" circle punch from a post it note for the moon--then removed it once I had finished brayering. I coloured the light in yellow then covered it in liquid glass. The effect was much better in person!

Well now I have to go create some more cards, because I already gave all these away this past weekend!!!! Back to the drawing board!

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Quick Cards Butterfly

I knew as soon as I saw this stamp set in the new idea book that I wanted to use it with the shaving cream technique and make it a beautiful Monarch Butterfly. So I promptly ordered the stamp set, and have had it in hand since the middle of Jan. For only $6.95 it's a steal! The problem---the men in my house only use shaving gel--and the technique needs the foam type!!! Of course every time I went shopping I never remembered to get some, and every time I sat down to scrap--I never had the foam!!! I finally remembered to get some, and here is the result.

I am so thrilled with the way it turned out. I actually stamped the image directly on the colonial white card stock then stamped the butterfly in black on the cardstock that I had done the technique on, cut it out and using a pencil, curled the wings just a touch to give the impression of it getting ready to fly off the card. I used a few of the small black opaques gems on the body and did not glue down the wings at all! I used a texture plate to put the swirl pattern on the creme brulee cardstock, and using a sponge, lightly highlighted the texture and edges with creme brulee ink.  

This is also my entry in the Frosted Design Things with Wings challenge.

Supplies used

-colonial white cardstock

-creme brulee cardstock

-Quick Cards Butterfly stamp set

-black ink pad

-creme brulee ink pad

-autumn terracotta re-inker

-desert sand re-inker

-shaving cream (non CTMH, would've had it done allot sooner if we carried it!! Ha ha)

-Opaques Licorice gems

-Sizzix texture plate pattern 1 (non CTMH)

Thanks for visiting!