Flutterby

I can't believe June is here! Where the heck did May go? Since we've closed on our house - we've spent the whole month in the yard trying to add gardens to our vast open landscape. Thanks to a friend from Michigan, we have about 10 new hostas, Johnny Jump Ups and a Red Hydrangea. Planting them was a bit of an undertaking but we're getting there. I wanted to send her a thank you card for the freebie plants she split from her garden and I had an aha moment...Stamping Bella has a wonderful Butterfly stamp called Flutterby that seemed perfect for a thank you especially for plants! I also wanted to incorporate my new Tim Holtz Distress Markers with my ink pads and dreamed about cutting the image out and placing it on a colored center panel.

So for this week's sketch challenge I started by cutting a small 2 1/2 inch square of Bella's Bestest paper. Then I applied Tim Holtz Distress Inks using a sponge applicator from the following colors: Barn Door, Broken China, and Rusty Hinge. Then I stamped Isabelle Norris' Eclectic Mini Mesh stamp with Vintage Photo distress ink and stamped it in the center of the square. Next, I stamped the Butterfly onto Bella's Bestest paper using Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored with my new Tim Holtz Distress Markers: Tumbled Glass, Barn Door, Stormy Sky, Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw and Spiced Marmalade. I then cut the image out and attached it to the square panel. And, I paired all of these wonderful colors to use with the Simple Stories Summer Fresh 6x6 design paper. I simply adore this paper! I even found a small snipet with a sentiment and wagon full of flowers that I thought would match perfectly for this card.

Of course I couldn't pass up the chance to add some machine stitching and glitter as well as grossgrain ribbon across the center. Nice and easy and yet totally new techniques for me. I was pleased with the result and can see me making a few more of these clean and simple cards for Notes and Thank Yous.

Next week our challenge is to create a Masculine card. With Father's Day right around the corner and Graduations, this might be the perfect opportunity to get them done. Hope you can play along.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cath

Posh in Blue

Let me tell you, this girl definately doesn't have the blues but I thought I would try a blue party dress for this Uptown Girl. If you haven't already met her, this is Uptown Girl Posh has a Present from Stamping Bella. She brings a smile to my face and a definate party atmosphere to these birthday sentiments.

Coloring was done with copics, so that meant I started with Bella's Bestest paper and Memento Tuxedo black ink. Shading below her feet was added with prismacolor pencil blended with gamsol. I tried to bring out some of the embellishments that have been gathering on my shelves so you'll find some Kaiser half pearls atop Prima paper flowers. Of course, this is a party so I had to bring out the glam too; you'll find some rhinestones bedecked in silver and some plain. Aaaannd I couldn't resist glitter. Yup, I actually started to photograph this and said, wait something is missing and sure enough it was the glitter sparkling on the bows and the skirt of this lovely dress. I applied this with the Quickie glue pen and lord knows how I lived in this craft before finding that wonderful tool!

The sentiment comes with the image so there's no need to hunt for one. I hand cut it into a tag and applied Tim Holtz distress ink to the edges. Design paper is a combination: the background is from Stella and Rose Hattie collection while the French Script is from a GCD pack called Ella Blue. Oh and I also added some shading along the corners of the image panel using Memento London Gray ink and Isabelle Norris' Eclectic Mini stamp called Bubble Mesh.


If you haven't heard the buzz, you now have two chances to participate in the Bellariffic Friday challenges. Now that Em is back on SCS we are linking cards in the gallery using keywords. This week it's BELLARIFFIC0112. You'll have until Thursday January 19th to link for a chance at a $20 gift voucher. But email a photo of your card to be included in Em's Bellariffic Friday post this week by 5pm Thursday January 12th and another $20 gift voucher is up for grabs. Yes, you can participate in both locations - and with the tease of a new release and some new Uptown girl images that sounds pretty cool to me. Here's Ebru's awesome sketch for this week. Hope you can play along!

Cath