Birthday Butterfly

Hi there,

When I saw the picture that Makeesha Byl had selected for her weekly challenge this week – I was initially stumped – no really I was. Here is her inspiration picture. (I'll edit Keesh's link in once its up).

The colour part was easy – I was figuring on Regal Rose, Rose Red and Tempting Turquoise and to use a butterfly or lots of butterflies. I would have liked to make a butterfly shaped card, or a stained glass butterfly but gave up both ideas as too hard for the limited time I have to hand (Monday night once the kids are in bed and what ever nap time Mr 2 has – unfortunately he is not a long sleeper). So this is what I came up with in the end.

A close up of the layered butterfly

I had a couple of inspiration sources, this sketch from Karen Giron Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, as well as how she balanced her light and dark layers in her card for this sketch. Also I watched a video tutorial by Sarah Klass for covering and embellishing a head band. She made a ribbon rosette/flower and when I watched it was a case of – oh is that how you do that!! So I just had to incorporate that in too. I still need girl’s birthday cards so this challenge was a perfect fit for that.

Ok as briefly as possible I started with a Regal Rose base (4”6’ sq), cut a Rose Red layer to go on that. Found some dotty Turquoise DSP, and cut that into four squares, that were layered onto the Rose Red. Then a smaller panel of Regal Rose, with some Rose Red DSP (from 2008/2009?), then cut a large scalloped circle in Regal Rose and a white mat for it. Made a ribbon rosette from Rose Red double stitched grosgrain ribbon, layered that with a scallop circle of turquoise DSP, then (almost there…) layered that with a butterfly (Regal Rose base with Rose Red flowers), then added an acetate butterfly (stamped with white stazon, with the same flowers, wings bent up – and adhered with a medium sized clear rhinestone (whewww). Final touches – some turquoise satin ribbon and a white happy birthday rub-on.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out in the end. Although posting it might be a bit tricky – ah well you can’t have everything ;)

The inside was finished off to match the front, and the butterfly inside has three little rhinestones as its body to glam it up a bit.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Rose Red, Whisper White
Ink: Regal Rose, Rose Red, White Stazon
Accessories: Petals and Paisley DSP (R), Rose Red DSP (R), Standard and Scalloped circle nestabilities (Spellbinder), Butterfly punch, Scallop circle punch,Acetate, 1” Rose Red double stitched grosgrain ribbon, Clear Rhinestone brad, Chit Chat rubon, rhinestones (Kaiser), turquoise ribbon (local craft store), Glue dots, dimensionals, Double sided tape, SNAIL adhesive.

Two little bunnies

Hi there,

when I first saw the challenge for Just Add Ink this week - I was a bit daunted where do you start when the challenge is "Just add dimension - think outside the square". But the DT had some great examples. And then suddenly an idea burst into my head - I think I would have to say it was inspiration by chocolate - sadly no not by eating it but the prospect of eating it perhaps. I think all those easter eggs in the supermarket must have been getting to me.... What am I babbling about well here is the result.

A lovely friend of mine made some easter baskets for an annual easter get together we have with friends, where the kids have an easter hunt. I (of course) kept the gorgeous basket on which Sam had made a very cute punch art bunny on the box. See this post of Sam's for her basket. Sam's bunny was my inspiration start point for my bunny egg band. The idea that sprang into my head was to add a sweet treat cup to the bunnies tummy and fill it with colour coordinating smarties. Because of the size of the sweet treat cups I had to use my circle nestabilites to find a scallop circle big enough for the fluffy bunny front and a plain circle to seal the back. I made an access port on the back using the 1" circle punch and the word window punch. That acts as the hinge and fastener at the same time. I just used my craft knife to cut a little slot for the end of the word window to slip into and hold it all shut. Just to keep all the bits secure I used sticky strip to stick all the punched pieces together.

Why pink and purple? Well it was supposed to be pink and blue but I couldn't find a blue egg - so my boyo got a purple bunny. I don't think he minded ;) Needless to say the eggs are no longer intact!

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted

Stamps:None

Cardstock: Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum and Pale Plum

Ink: None

Accessories: Large and Small Ovel punches, Standard and Scalloped Circle nestabilities, 1" circle punch, word window punch, 1/4" circle punch, Scallop edge punch, Sweet treat cups, SNAIL adhesive, Sticky Strip, 15mm googly eyes

Vintage Fifth Avenue

Hello there everyone,

I’m coming to you today (as usual) with Makeesha Byl’s weekly challenge. This week it was a colour challenge, the combo sounded interesting but what to do with them. This was Keesh’s colour pic.

For some reason the colours made me think vintage - may’be because they were all slightly muted tones. I wanted a big flower feature and the only rose I have is Fifth Avenue Floral – quite modern in style – so what could I do but vintage it.

I started by stamping the large rose three times in Ruby Red onto Very Vanilla. Then I inked up my Linen background in Ruby Red, then stamped it off twice then stamped over the roses. Next I inked up my En Francais in Ruby Red, stamped off once then stamped over the roses. I trimmed the flowers so the final one would have three layers, then using a sponge dauber I added depth with Ruby Red around the edges of the petals. I also sponged the edges on the back side so that when I curled the petals a bit you would get glimpses of the Red. The flower layers were mounted on top of each other using dimensionals. The final touch was to add some little vanilla pearls to the centre. The flowers was mounted onto a Very Vanilla panel that I had stamped with first Linen and then a tiny script text, in Mellow Moss. I distressed the edges and sponged around them with more Mellow Moss. Some little leaves, for the rose, were also stamped onto this layer in Mellow Moss. I used some of the Bella Bleu paper for the panel down the bottom, distressed and sponged, separating that from the upper panel with a border of Brocade Blue. The bottom edge had been punched with the Eyelet border punch. Over the top I layered ruffled Vanilla grosgrain ribbon, that was sewn on. All of these panels were layered onto a large Brocade Blue layer, again distressed and sponged, then that was attached to a the Very Vanilla base, sponged around the edges with PTI Chamomille ink. The final touches are a largish Vanilla grosgrain bow, with a nice big button tied with linen thread and an oval silver hodgepodge frame, to house the sentiment (Mother). The crystal effects I put over it has unfortunately made it a rather blurry. Perhaps I could argue that this suits the whole vintage effect? It is readable and I do like the lacquered layer (mind you I also can’t remove it without destroying the card!!). I might try using some red stazon on acetate and laying that over and see how that looks. End result I kind of like it which is a good end for something that is not my normal style and somewhat out of my comfort zone. So thanks for the challenge Keesh (and the bonus – I have one Mothers day card done already!)

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, En Francais, Botanical Blooms (R), Linen (R), Background Text Style (PaperTrey Inc), Mother stamp from local stamp store
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Brocade Blue
Ink: Ruby Red, Brocade Blue, Mellow Moss, PTI Chamomille
Accessories: Eyelet border punch, distressing tool from Cutter Kit, wide Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon, Bella Bleu DSP, Silver Hodgepodge, Pearls (Kaiser), button (Spring Rain from PaperTrey Inc), Linen thread, Crystal Effects, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape, Glue dots

Passionate Pink Petals

Hi there,

apologies have got to be brief
kids not in bed yet
BUT - I saw the Just Add Ink sketch challenge and I really liked it and I had a last minute birthday card to make.

So here it is - minus all the usual blurb - and the recipe but I will come back on the weekend and edit that in.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Edited (only took me two weeks to get there !) to add :

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Pick a Petals, Think Happy Thoughts
Cardstock: Pink Passion, Taken with Teal, Whisper White
Ink: Pink Passion, Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Chunky Sprinkles (Crystal Iris), Tombow multi, Ice Rhinestone brad, Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8 and 1 ¼ circle punches, Numbers Cuttlebug folder, Petals and Paisley DSP (R), Flirty Ribbon Original (R)

I did have one question about how I got the chunky sprinkles onto the petals - very easy. Just squeeze a thin bead of Tombow multi around the edge of the petal, sprinkle over the sprinkles and then gently press in. Leave for a few minutes to dry then gently shake off the excess sprinkles.

Thanks for your patience :)

Kim

Red and Blue Choo Choo

Hi there,

It feels like time is flying, probably cause we have been so busy lately. Last weekends big event was a combined birthday party for the kids, my little Miss is now officially Miss 5, we celebrated a little early for our little Mr, he will hit the big 2 this coming Friday. When I get the chance I will post his birthday card – I’m figuring it might have been my last chance to use a cute animal. The birthday chatter ties in well for todays card, as it is a birthday card for a little boy turning 3 this week. For my starting point I used Makeesha’s weekly challenge – this week a really nice sketch.

I also knew I wanted to use the Choo Choo set. I wanted to use just the engine as the focal image but I also had the idea of making some background paper for the main image by stamping the train carriages. I decided to stick with a simple but effective boy combo of Real Red, Brilliant Blue and Whisper White.

I started with a 4’6 (approx 12 cm) square base in Real Red, then added a layer of crimped Brilliant Blue. Leaving a bit of a border so you see the crimping I cut a Red mat and layered that with Whisper White on which I had stamped the engine and other two big carriages across in two staggered rows. At the very bottom I rolled the train track wheel in Brilliant Blue. To finish that panel I added three blue buttons threaded with Red cardstock. For the main image panel I first stamped the engine in red on the white panel. Then I stamped a second, first inking in versamark so I could clear emboss it. The embossed engine was trimmed out and mounted using dimensionals above the first. A strip of crimped B. Blue laid over Red separates the engine from the sentiment. All of that was mounted on a piece of crimped B.Blue. I had to restrain myself from using ribbon (chant to myself - its for a boy, its for a boy) but the crimping does add some nice texture. So overall simple but nice.

Hope you like it and thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Choo Choo, Right on Track, A Little Bit of Birthday Cheer
Cardstock: Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Versamark
Accessories: Crimper, Clear embossing powder, Enchanted Evening Blue buttons (PaperTrey Inc), dimensionals, double sided tape, SNAIL adhesive

The Blue Bird

Hi all,

well I am back again, after the excitment of actually winning Makeesha Byl's first challenge of the year (see my last post). I was doubly pleased in retrospect when I realised it had been a colour challenge, and those are usually the ones I struggle with the most. This week however Makeesha set an inspiration challenge. Here's her pic.

What I found immediately striking was both the clean, whiteness of the image and the branches. It also made me think blue, I think because that clear bright light streaming in - to me meant there just had to be a blue sky outside. Ok here's what I ended up with.

I really wanted to stick to basic palette of Chocolate Chip, White and the blue I settled on was Brocade Blue. I admit I have rarely used it which is a pity as I do like it very much. The perfect stamp set arrived the day of the challenge - so I got to play with new "rubber" too - always fun! First I inked up the stamp in Versamark, then in Chocolate Chip, after stamping I very quickly added clear embossing powder so I could emboss it. Which you can't see in the photos unfortunately. I trimmed out the image then mounted it (on dimensionals) on a layer of Whisper White, then layered that on Chocolate Chip. That panel was again raised up on dimensionals. This was mounted on the base which was Chocolate Chip, with a dry embossed branch pattern. The cuttlebug folder was too small to do the whole panel, so I did one half then the other and covered the meeting point with some Brocade Blue ribbon. I added a little Brocade Blue bird to the trees and a sentiment tag embellished with a lovely big blue button, threaded with some linen twine. The inside was finished off with another tree and some more birds. It makes I think a nice birthday card, most likely for a man.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless noted otherwise

Stamps: Through the Trees (PaperTrey Inc)

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Brocade Blue

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Brocade Blue, Veramark

Accessories: Brocade Blue wide grosgrain ribbon, Linen twine, Enchanted Evening button Papertrey Inc), Cuttlebug folder Forest Branches, dimensionals, double sided tape, SNAIL adhesive