Birthday Butterflies

This card is made with one of my favourite butterfly stamps from Chocolate Baroque. I stamped it onto white card with Memento Rich Cocoa ink, and coloured it with Derwent  Coloursoft pencils using Sansodor to blend the colours.  I added green and gold shading to the leafy flourish. I trimmed this down and inked the edges with Broken China DI using a foam blending tool, and then mounted it onto dark brown card. I cut another piece of the brown card to fit the front of a 15cm square base card, leaving a very narrow border. I cut a smaller piece of beige patterned paper and and stuck it to the brown card. Before fixing it to the card front I stuck on a piece of printed ribbon tucking the top end behind the card. The main image was also fixed in place. The sentiment is a Lily of the Valley stamp coloured and mounted to match the butterflies, and stuck in place over the ribbon. I am afraid my photography skills aren't up to much and I'm sure the colours looked better than this in real life.

I am entering this at Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
                                 Creates and Makes - Anything Goes - Create a Sentiment
                                 Really Reasonable Ribbon - Anything Goes With Ribbon
                                 Emerald City Crafters - Anything Goes
                                 Through The Purple Haze - Anything With Wings

Edited to say, That I would like to also enter this for The Butterfly Challenge
where the theme is M for Matching Pairs and/or O for the Colour of Orange Peel  I have used the orange colour and although my butterflies aren't identical twins I think they may qualify as a matching pair. Thanks for heads up Kate.

Thank you for taking time to visit and if you leave a comment thank you for that too, I really appreciate it.

I hope to be back later in the week with a card for the Rudolph Day challenge.

Jean

Last Minute Rudolph Day Post

Once again it is ages since my last post and I am here now to try and get this done before the Rudolph Day Challenge closes later tonight. I actually made my cards last Saturday ready for the 25th but then forgot to take the photo, and since I did, I have'nt spent very much time at the computer, hence my lateness.
The dies used both for the silhouette bauble and the peace word are from Penny Black. I used snippets of navy blue card to cut them from. For the backings I used some snippets of shiny crinkly paper that I have had in my stash for years. It is lovely paper but very thin and not always suitable. here I used double sided adhesive to stick it to some thin card which made it easier to cut. The pine branch which I stamped with Adirondack Bottle green ink is from one of Linda Brown's Eclectica stamp sets for Paper Artsy. I fixed the bauble with thin foam pads and added a little peel off chain to attach it to the branch. I felt the finished card needed something else so I used some of my ancient red peel off lines to make a border. Once again I made two of each colour way so my stock of Christmas cards is growing quite nicely.

I am entering this at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo! for the
                                   Rudolph Day Challenge - Make a Christmas Card.
And as I've used some snippets I'll also go and play catchup with the playmates                                 at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Just Use Snippets.

Thank you for taking a look, any comments are greatly appreciated.

Jean

May Rudolph Day

Hello friends once again, being the 25th of the month it is time for the Rudolph Day challenge at Scraps of Life by Scrappy Mo. You only need to make one Christmas card to enter, but I have made four this time as I was experimenting with this new Penny Black stamp, and also with my new Tim Holtz stamping platform. I used plain white card for the stamping making the four panels from an A4 sheet. I coloured directly onto the stamp with distress markers, colouring just the red parts and then spritzing lightly with water before stamping. I gave it a quick wipe over and then did the same with the green marker, and by using the stamping platform they matched up perfectly. I think I did two with the distress marker and then tried one the same way only using some very old Marvy pens. I must of had them for more than twenty years but most of them still work just fine. For the fourth one I stamped with Memento black ink and then coloured with Zig water colour pens. For all them I added some bright yellow dots to the center and then highlighted them with yellow Stickles.
I made them into two 6" square cards and two A6 size with the opening on the short edge. I found some Christmassy coloured papers to almost cover the fronts and then trimmed the stamped pieces to size and inked around the edges with a blending tool and stormy Sky Distress ink. Using the same ink pad and a very useful wood mounted random dots stamp made by Denami Designs I added the background dots, stamping some of the ink off onto spare paper first. The stamped panels are mounted onto gold very smooth glitter card, and I used the same card to die cut the Joy word using a Penny Black die. I added these to the square cards, and  stamped the greeting that came with the poinsettia onto the smaller cards using versamark ink and embossed with WOW gold embossing powder.

Now I am going to see what Christmas cards every one else has been making during this lovely spell of summery weather we have been having this week. The Challenge is open until the end of the month if you fancy taking part.

I am entering The Rudolph Day Challenge - Anything Christmas
and                   Addicted to Stamps and More - Holidays ( Christmas )

Thank you for your visit and for your  kind comments which I really appreciate.
Jean

Butterfly Layers

Hello, I haven't got around to entering the Butterfly Challenge for  ages,but when I saw that the theme this time is L for Layers and C for cream I thought of this card which I made recently but haven't blogged before. You can enter with either or both elements and as it has both layers and cream colour it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I started with a 6" x 6" square ivory base card and cut a matting layer from purple card leaving a border. Next came a cream layer die cut with a Lil' Inker stitched die which I stamped twice with a stamp from the Stampin Up set, World of Dreams, using Memento Olympia Green ink. I added a little purple colour with a Zig water colour marker. The birthday greeting is stamped with a Chocolate Baroque stamp and Memento Elderberry ink. The butterfly is die cut with Memory Box co-ordinating dies. The solid one cut from purple card and the open one from cream card backed with stick it adhesive. Once assembled I glued the butterfly just along the body and used foam pads under the wings to keep them lifted slightly. I am sorry this isn't a particularly good photo the colours look much nicer for real.

I am entering this at The Butterfly Challenge - L for Layers / C for Cream Colour

Thank you for your visit and for your comments, they are all really appreciated.

Jean 

Happy News Day

Hello, today I have some happy news and a cute card to go with it.  On Tuesday morning my Grandson's wife gave birth to their first baby, a little girl. She is our 5th great grandchild, all girls!! Her name is Harper and she looks really cuddly. Unfortunately I will have to wait till later in the summer to hold her as they are living in Cyprus until then.

My card is a white 6" square base with pale pink paper cut to cover the front leaving a tiny border. I cut the bottom edge of it with a Fiskars edge punch and wrapped a piece of pink lace and some narrow ribbon round it before sticking it to the card. I stamped the Lily of the Valley stamp with grey Archival ink onto a snippet of white card and coloured it with Derwent Coloursoft pencils. I added a little sparkle to the stars and hearts with a clear sparkle gel pen. I trimmed it down and used a snippet of pink card for a mat, cutting the bottom edge with same punch to match the first layer.This is mounted onto the card with thin foam pads. I used two old clear stamps for the sentiment, I don't know the make, stamped with the grey ink. Then  I just tied a double bow with the ribbon and attached it along with a little pram charm.

I am going to enter this at, City Crafter Challenge Blog - Arrivals.
                                           Ooh La La Creations- Something Beginning With B
                                           The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog - Ribbon and Rubber
                                            Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
                                            Pixies Snippets Playground - Use snippets.

Thank you for taking time to visit here I really appreciate your comments.
Jean

April Rudolph Day

It's time for the Rudolph Day Challenge again already, they seem to come by quicker and quicker every time.
Here is the card I've made this time.  It's a new Penny Black stamp which I stamped with Archival brown ink onto white multi media card. I added a little colour and shading with my new Zig water colour pens. I cut the panel to fit the front of an A6 card blank, using a deckle edge blade in my cutter. Next I used Distress inks, Broken China and Stormy Sky with a duster brush to add some colour around the edges, and then ran a gold Krylon pen along the deckle edge. The greeting is also Penny Black but from a different set, stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Wow gold embossing powder. I used a white Signo gel pen to brighten up the snowy bits and then added a little bit of crystal glitter. then all that was left to do was to stick it to the front of the red card. A nice easy one to make and I will making more like it to build my collection up.

Now I am going to link this up at Scraps of Life With Scrappy Mo for the
           Rudolph Day Challenge - Anything Christmas.

Thank you for taking a look and for your comments, they are all really appreciated.

Jean x

Tulips And A Blanket

I can't believe two weeks have passed since my last post and my good intentions of blogging more regularly have not happened. I have been making some Easter cards, I don't send many, just a few to family and a few crafting friends. I made several similar to this one, with just different colours, and I chose this one to show you as I liked the pink tulips best.  The stamp is from Stamping Up and was borrowed from a friend. The base card is cut from ivory linen textured cardstock, A6 size. I coloured the tulips with Derwent Coloursoft pencils which looks really rubbish on the textured card, until the colours are blended with Sansoda and a paper stump. This has the effect of pushing the colour into the texture yet allowing the texture to show through.  The card was finished with some green silk ribbon and three tiny green pearls.

As promised in my last post I have a
picture of my finished crocheted
Moorland blanket. It is made with an
Attic 24 kit available from the Wool
Warehouse. It represents the Yorkshire moors on a summer day with grass and moss in the foreground blending into the heathery distance and up to the blue skies, and is worked in a wavy stitch pattern to represent the undulating landscape. I have enjoyed making it and am pleased with the way it turned out, and it will make a nice cosy extra layer on cold nights next winter.

I am going to enter my card at Crafting With Dragonflies - Easter Cards
                                         
Thank you for taking time to visit and for your comments which are really appreciated.

Jean