Butterfly Basics for Earth Day

My calendar reminds me that today is Earth Day, so Happy Earth Day.  What better way to enjoy Earth Day than with a card that is a tribute to nature.

This is actually one of the cards that we'll be making at my May 16 class ... all about making beautiful cards using our thinlits and framelits.  I have stamped ferns on the inside of the card and on the envelope, as well.

Good News:
You can now order the Butterfly Basics... as a stamp set and/or thinlits OR as a bundle.

Click here to see the retired list.
Please note --- If you are planning on getting something from the retired list, do not wait.  I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've had customers regret waiting and then, when they tried to order, it was too late.
     When supplies are gone ... that's it.
Now, click here for a quick review.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Painted Petals with Gorgeous Sparkle

Here's a recipe for certain success in making a beautiful card.  First, create a beautiful focal piece.  Next, attach to a beautiful background.  Finally, add some cute little punched flowers.  Oh, and don't forget a coordinating envelope.

Let's take a look:

My color story is Melon Mambo, Whisper White, and Blackberry Bliss.

I wish you could see how shimmery the focal piece is in real life.  It's embossed with Iridescent Ice EP and is gorgeous, but just doesn't show up in a photo.  Mounting the oval piece onto a separate, embossed layer (Spring Flowers) really bumps up the card.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Bordering Blooms Hello Card

Today's card is a vision of Crumb Cake and Soft Suede goodness.  I love this color story.  The linen thread and tiny punched flowers add some texture and bling at the same time.

Tip:
Lay your tiny punched flowers on a piercing mat and push down on the center with the smooth end of a piercing tool or a pencil eraser.  It instantly curls the petals to give them dimension.

I used the same border punch on the front of the card, the inside of the card and the envelope.

I've had many people ask me what is in the background of cards that look like the one below.  It's my secret weapon for getting a photo of cards on a windy day.  It's an old ladder on my porch that I use decoratively.  I actually can hang a card on a rung of the ladder and get a great shot without losing my card in the wind.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

A Happy Thing Card

I love the cute little bird on this card.  This was made using our A Happy Thing set from our previous SAB goodies.  I also made use of some of our Irresistibly Yours DSP and colored it a happy blue with some simple sponging.

I added a few Gorgeous Grunge speckles and some punched flowers.  I really don't ever put away my Gorgeous Grunge stamp set!

I added a sponged strip of the Irresistibly Yours DSP to the inside of the card and stamped coordinating flowers on the envelope.

If the cute little bird seems 3-dimensional to you, that's because he is.  I cut one out and attached it with dimensionals.  It adds a lot to the card to have the bird really stand out.  Mounting everything on black really has a huge impact.  This card speaks of Spring!

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Beautiful Hello Honey

For our third In Color card, let's look at Hello Honey.  I love this color.  Hello Honey and Lost Lagoon have tied for favorites with me since they were first introduced.

This is one of those cards that you marvel at how pretty it is and yet super simple to make it.  The thanks goes to the border stamp and the little flower punch.

In my next post, I'll share another one of the In Colors.  Be sure to come back to see.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Thanks Card

I woke up feeling very blessed and thankful this morning, with Psalms 30:5 on my mind, particularly the part... 'Weeping may last for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.'  My knee is enough better that I took Lilly for a walk (her first walk outside our yard, really) all around our circle.  It was wonderful.  We enjoyed it so much.  I started with Buster, but he got so distracted that he couldn't focus on walking at all.  I'll work with him more in the yard and try again another time.  I know I have a long way to go, but I am so thankful to have been able to do this.  For me, this was a big deal.  I am thankful and full of joy.  So... here's a card of thanks.

This card was inspired from one right out of our catalog.  I haven't used Tempting Turquoise for a long time and enjoyed playing again with this beautiful color.

The text is embossed with white EP.  I love the beautiful font.

Attaching a little punched flower just adds so much.  I put a tiny rhinestone at the center.

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.  Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration. 

Gnome Fun

I didn't need to do an extra post today, but was inspired by a color challenge I saw while blogging.  I had to rise to the challenge because I love Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight together and the challenge included these 2 yummy colors AND Lucky Limeade working together in vivid, perfect harmony.  I earned the Gnome Sweet Gnome stamp set with some free Hostess Dollars and wanted to play around with it.   My design was inspired by a quirky little sketch challenge that I thought lends itself to some whimsical fun.  Here's my little yard ornament:

I used some Lucky Limeade DSP scraps for the 2 strips in the background.  The diagonal strip is textured Lucky Limeade CS.  I wanted to add the flowers to the strip for some extra fun and texture.  The Daffodil Delight flowers are from the Fruit and Flowers stamp set.

I stamped an extra hat for my little fellow and attached it with glue dots, for added dimension.  I did the same for the 2 mushrooms.  My little guy is holding a punched glimmer paper flower ('painted' with Lucky Limeade reinker).  I added a clear button over the sparkling flower and then added touches of clear Dazzling Details sparkle to the flowers, my gnome's belt buckle, the frog's eyes, and the polka dots on the mushrooms.  The card front is framed with the Framed Tulips embossing folder.  I finished off the project with a little knotted bow of Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon.

So, once again...

Everyday Enchantment Layout

After all we had going on over the weekend, it was absolutely wonderful to get together with my Hostess Scrapbook Club last night.  We had a super busy evening!  They are a wonderful group of ladies and I love, love, love working with them.

We added some stamping to our mini albums we'd started in January, started a surprise calendar project and made a complete layout.  I also demonstrated how to use the new framelits dies and our newest embossing folders.  They were a hit!

I like to throw out a challenge once in a while to my scrappers, so I challenged them to bring back their calendar next month and show us how they completed it at home.  I sent them home with coordinating scraps to help them with the challenge.  They will earn a little prize if they bring the calendar and/or the mini album back to share with us!

Here's the layout we made, using the Everyday Enchantment DSP, the flower fusion and little leaves sizzlits, the Bordering on Romance stamp set and the tasteful trim die.  We colored the focal piece with inks and the Aqua Painter.  They did a super job on their coloring..... so much fun!!!

This gorgeous color story is bringing on a case of spring fever here!  Doesn't this make you yearn for spring?
Here are close-ups of some of the details.  We used one of the bitty punches from the punch pack to punch the flower centers.
The inks used for the coloring are peach parfait, calypso coral, poppy parade and lucky limeade.

Tips:

• When you color with the Aqua Painter, keep it as dry as possible.  
• Most people who have trouble coloring this way are having trouble because they have their brush tip way too wet.  It takes only enough moisture to move the color around a bit.  
• Keep a paper towel handy to blot up excess water and to clean your brush tip before switching to a new color.

Tips: 

• Use a square punch to create the v-cut in the 'flags' for the banner.  
• Use hemp twine or linen thread to hang your banner.

Above:  left page...
Below:  right page...

Does this make you want to go scrapbook something?  Well, go ahead... get going... and have fun!!!