Butterfly Garden

When I saw Lori's sketch at Seize the Sketch this week,

I knew I had to play.

Take a look.

You can't get much easier than that!

I pulled a piece from my UFO (UnFinished Objects) box.

It fit perfectly.

The design image was inked with markers and stamped.

I touched up a bit with the markers

and added some butterflies from my butterfly box.

The Simon Says Monday Challenge

is MAGIC

I feel like it's magic when I can ink a stamp with markers

and it looks like it was painted.

I saw a quote on the Stampingpeace blog that I loved

and asked to share on with my readers.

"The woman who works with her hands only is a laborer.

The woman who works with her hands and her head is a craftswoman.

The woman who works with her hands, her head & her heart is an artist."

~ St. Francis of Assisi*

Dawn also has some wonderful card creations.
Why not pay her a visit?

Here's to all the wonderful artists out there.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Just Believe (retired), Petite Pairs

Ink: Island Indigo, SU Markers (Marina Mist, Peara Pizzazz, Real Red, Island Indigo)

Paper:  110# (Neena), Whisper White, Read Red, Daffodil Delight

Other:  Square Lattice EF (retired), Beautiful Wings Embosslit

* This is a paraphrase of the St. Francis of Assisi quote 

Dynamic Duos Wild Pumpkin

This is probably my favorite butterfly of all the (many) butterfly stamps I have.

The Dynamic Duos challenge last Saturday was...

My Wild Wasabi didn't stamp bright.  I think it's because it's on the Naturals White cardstock although it could have more to do with the stamper!

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Just Believe

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black)

Paper:  Naturals White, Basic Black

We found an old remote control that we let Jack have to play with.  He thinks he's big stuff now.  And we keep telling him not to push the buttons.  He thinks it's hilarious.  He got the real one a couple of times and we had to reboot the system because we couldn't figure out how to fix it any other way.  When DH and I retired we said we weren't going to have to learn any more electronic stuff.  If only......

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Funky Dahlias

I was so excited to be asked to be a guest designer on the SUO challenge.  The theme is Bright Summer Days.

Get out your sunglasses!

A little masking and one of the flowers from the Bright Blossoms set, that you'll see in the new catalog, makes a really bright Summer card. {That new catalog goes live on Friday.}

I used one of the new In Colors, Raspberry Ripple.  I love this color and when paired with Daffodil Delight, it really shines.  New In Color, Gumball Green, is great for leaves.  I stamped it full "strength" first then decided it needed to be stamped off first for the rest of the leaves.  It's a rich, bright green. Umm Mmm!

The little butterfly is from the Kindness Matters set. There are 3 beautiful little butterflies in this set that are perfect for coloring and cutting out to add to a flower garden.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Bright Blossoms, Just Believe, Kindness Matters
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Jet Black StazOn, SU Marker (Daffodil Delight)
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White
Other:  Big Shot, Adorning Accents Edgelit & EF, Narrow Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon


Hop on over and see what the other designers and entrants have done.  It's sure to brighten up your day.

If you don't have a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and would like a catalog, let me know and I'll get one out to you.

Thanks so much for stopping by and a special thanks for your kind comments.

Enjoy!

Charming, I'm Sure

The Less is More challenge this week is....

HOW CHARMING

Make and/or use a charm on your project

I had a few charms (4) that I bought a long time ago because I thought they would be so cute on my cards.  Then I didn't use them because charms and mailing don't fit well together.  These cards will be hand delivered or included in a package.

On this first card, I used the whimsical butterfly from Sweet Summer which was a Sale-a-bration set last year, to coordinate with the charm.

And then I did this one.....

This little dragonfly charm was in the package with the butterfly.  The flowers are from the Just Believe set and are done with the Poppin' Pastels technique.  You'll find a tutorial for this technique here.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Whimsical Words, Sweet Summer (both retired)

Ink: Regal Rose, Basic Gray

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride

Other:  1 3/4" Circle Punch, Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots EF, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Charm (non SU)

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Just Believe

Ink:  VersaMark

Paper:  Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, DSP (retired)

Other:  Stampin' Pastels, Big Shot, Ovals Die, Square Lattice EF, Whisper White Narrow Taffeta Ribbon, Charm (non SU)

I'm working on a tutorial.  It's a first for me.  I hope to get it posted here tomorrow.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit and  your sweet comments.  They mean so much to me.

Enjoy!

Masking

The Less is More challenge this week is....MASKING


A few weeks ago I did some masking on a one layer card  using the Greenhouse Garden flowers.  I really liked the effect and this was just the excuse I needed to try it again.

I'm not sure it's Clean and simple enough, buy I hope so.

This is a two-step stamp.  I stamped the solid flower head with Regal Rose and the outline with Rose Red.  I love these colors together. I inked the stems and leaves of the large stamp of the Just Believe set with my Old Olive marker and stamped over the flowers after masking all of them.  I actually stamped it more than once then drew some stems for the flowers with the brush tip of the marker.

The butterfly is from the Kindness Matters set. I love these little butterflies and they are as pretty cut out and separated as all together.

The sentiment is from a retired set, Bird on a Branch. And the embossed scallops were done with an Adorning Accents Embossing Folder.

The layout is from the CAS challenge yesterday at SCS to use this card as a sketch.

I also did this card using lighter colors but I thought it was too much for Less is More.

What do you think?

I used Blushing Bride and Peach Pizzazz for the flowers, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight for the foliage, and used all three butterflies from the Kindness Matters set, cut them out and lifted the wings a bit.  Actually, the larger butterfly was stamped over the masked flowers.  I stamped it again and cut it out.  That way I didn't have to draw the antennae.  The yellow flowers were stamped, cut out and adhered.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Greenhouse Garden, Just Believe, Kindness Matters, Bird on a Branch

Ink: Regal Rose, Rose Red, Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Old Olive, Basic Black) 

Paper:  Whisper White, Old Olive

Other:  Adorning Accents Embossing Folder

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Greenhouse Garden, Just Believe, Kindness Matters, Bird on a Branch

Ink:  Blushing Bride, Peach Pizzazz, Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Peach Pizzazz, Basic Black)

Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black

I'm so glad you stopped by.  I love your visits.

Enjoy!

How Many Stamps?

Last week's One Layer Wednesday card was to make a one layer card using as many different stamps as you can.  You must use at least three; more is better!

The flowers are two step stamping so I used 2 for each flower and 2 for each stem.  Is that over counting?  Then I used the large stamp from the Just Believe, the butterflies from Clearly for You and the Sentiment.  That's seven stamps.

I stamped the tall flowers first using Blushing Bride for the base color and Peach Parfait for the overstamping. The stems are Pear Pizzazz (both the base and overstamp). I masked the pink flowers and inked the large stamp from Just Believe with markers, using Old Olive and Daffodil Delight.  The butterflies were stamped in Calypso Coral and I drew in traced the antennae and body with my Basic Black marker.  I added some dots of More Mustard to the center of the big flowers and Peach Parfait to the smaller ones.

I used the Stamp-a-majig a lot for this card!  I've used it so much, I'm even beginning to feel comfortable with it.

I rounded the bottom right corner.  Then I covered it up with my watermark.  Not smart!

All supplies are Stampin' Up!


Card Recipe
Stamps:  Greenhouse Garden, Just Believe, Clearly for You, Thoughts and Prayers
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Calypso Coral, Basic Black, SU Markers (Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Basic Black)
Other:  Stamp-a-majg, Corner Rounder Punch

Can you tell I'm thinking of Spring?  And we may get a little snow tonight.  Finally!  I hope, I hope!

I just noticed that in the picture, the sentiment looks crooked.  IRL it looks straight.  Ah, the miracles of photography.  Usually it's the other way around!

I'm so glad you stopped by to visit.  Your visits make me happy.

Enjoy!

Sketchy Butterfly

Tomorrow there will be a new sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers and I still haven't posted the cards I made for last week's challenge.  Well, let's remedy that!

Here's the sketch

Here's card #1

The circle design uses the technique I showed on Monday's post.  It was stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with white.  Then I colored the flowers and leaves with markers.

And since the technique challenge last week was Same But Different, and the Free 4 All challenge was to use orange, I did this card too.

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Just Believe

Ink: VersaMark

Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White

Accessories:  White Embossing Powder, 1 1/4", 1 3/8", Scallop Circle, & Butterfly punches, Big Shot, Square Lattice & Whacked Embossing Folder, Basic Pearls

I'm so glad you stopped by.

Enjoy!

Bonnie

Same but Different

If you want to skip the blabbing, there are cards below.

We had an interesting weekend here.  Tornadoes were all around us.  At one point we heard that one had been spotted less than a mile from our daughter's new home.  We were all very blessed and had no damage.  Unfortunately there were a lot of other people in the area who were not as fortunate.  Our prayers are with them as they begin the clean up.  Those interviewed all speak of how thankful they are to be alive and that all their belongings can be replaced.  How uplifting to hear that over and over again!  It allows us to put things in the right perspective.

Before the bad weather I had a class and the ladies made five cards.  I had one card set left over and yesterday I decided to assemble them.  I decided to try to do them a little bit different.  Then this morning, when I was checking the challenges on SCS, I saw that the TLC challenge was The Same but Different.  This is Holly's explanation: 

They must use the same focal point, the same colors/papers, the same embellishments, punches, etc.…. Everything the same, except they need to be different (i.e. a different layout or a 3D item to coordinate…etc.). The only thing you can do differently is change the sentiment (IF the sentiment is not your focal point!). Remember, if you didn’t use it on one card, then you can’t use it on the other!


Actually I'm not sure this exactly fits the directions since I used different Embossing Folders and a punch on one but not the other.  Hopefully the CHallenge Police won't come for me!

This is the card we did in the class.

This is my Same but different.
I like the second one better, but that's probably because I've been looking at the first one for so long.

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Just Believe, You're a Gem (card 1), Teeny, Tiny Wishes (card 2)
Ink:  SU Markers (Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait, Always Artichoke)
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White
Accessories:  Big Shot, Framed Tulips EF (card 2), Wonderful Winge Embosslit, Square Lattice EF, Scallop Trim Corner Punch (card 1)
 
Thanks for your visits and comments.  I really appreciate all of them.
 
Enjoy your blessings!
 
Bonnie

Poppy Friends

Today's card is for the Color Challenge at SCS.  It's called Breezy Parade of Pears.  Translation; use Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, and for dessert, use seam binding on your card.

You can see that I went big on the POPPY!

I'm trying to use all the stamps in the Just Believe set.  There are a lot of stamps there!

I pulled a thread in the middle of the Baja Breeze Seam Binding to gather it up.  I like the ruffly look!

I stamped the leaf image with VersaMark to make my own background.  At Stampin' B's the challenge is to stamp your background; no designer paper.

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Just Believe
Ink:  VersaMark, Su Markers (Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Black)
Paper: Poppy Parade, Whisper White
Accessories:  Scallop Trim Border Punch, Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Stylus

Thanks for coming to visit.  And I so appreciate all the comments!  Enjoy!

Bonnie

Someone Sent Me a Card

Isn't this just lovely?  It's from my blogging friend Ellen.  You can check out her blog here.

I've really been enjoying it.

Enjoy!
Bonnie

Springtime Smiles

Have you checked out the Less is More blog yet?   This week's challenge is to do a SPRING Clean & Simple card.

Clean & Simple:  A design of card with clean lines, minimal elements, areas of white space and few or no embellishments.

Here's mine.....

I thought the flowers were shaped a bit like Daffodils and they are the first flowers to bloom in the Spring in my yard.  I inked the stamp with markers and stamped on a Whisper White card.  I used the Peach Parfait marker to add the centers and a bit of contrast to the flowers.

After stamping the sentiment, I could see that it needed something else.  After mulling it over for a couple of hours, I stamped some leaves above the sentiment and that did it for me.  A couple of butterflies finished it off.

The last time I checked, there were 180 submissions for this challenge!  I think the Clean & Simple style is becoming very popular.  There are some awesome submissions.  As soon as I'm finished, I'm going to do some blog hopping and check them out.

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Just Believe, Easter Blossoms
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, SU Markers (Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait)
Paper:  Whisper White
Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Basic Pearls

Thanks for the visit.  Enjoy!
Bonnie

It's CASEd

I saw this card on Shelly's Stamping Ground and I loved it.  I left her a comment that I was going to CASE it.  I wanted to make one exactly like hers, but I figured I needed to make it my own too.

I used different stamps, only one neutral plus Vanilla, added a mat and changed it to a portrait layout.

I loved her use of Crumb Cake and Soft Suede with the Vanilla & Pacific Point.  I'm going to have to remember that color combination.  But I wanted to use this for the Free 4 All #50 challenge at SCS which was to use 1 neutral with white or vanilla and 1 other color.

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Just Believe, Nature Walk, French Script (Retired)

Ink:  Crumb Cake, Pacific Point, SU Marker (Pacific Point) Basic Black (oops another color ink)

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Pacific Point

Accessories:  Stamp -a-ma-jig, Basic Rhinestones

Thank you Shelly for such a wonderful inspiration piece!

Enjoy,

Bonnie