Vintage Butterfly Hello

Our team's challenge this month is a fancy fold card and I immediately got it stuck in my head that I wanted to do a centre-step card. I had no idea what design to use until I was inspired by a card I saw ... guess where? Yes, you know me well. Pinterest, of course! Gosh, I remember the days I'd spend a small fortune on craft magazines for ideas, now all I have to do is sit in front of my computer for hours a short time.

Anywho, here's the card I made. I'm very happy with it (except for a small snaffoo drawing the antennae which hopefully nobody will notice lol) and suspect it may end up in my 'too nice to give away' pile.

A few speckles of gold in the background tie in with the gold embossing on the base piece, as does the sentiment panel.

I did three layers on my butterfly: the initial stamp on the background piece then two more coloured and cut and adhered with black mini dimensionals to give the wings some 'lift'.

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Gala, Climbing Roses, Gorgeous Grunge, Timeless Textures, Itty Bitty Greetings
• card - crumb cake, very vanilla, basic black
• other - gold embossing powder, heat tool, black Dimensionals, sponge dauber, black marker, butterfly punch, embossing buddy, post it note

Be sure to leave some comment love if this one turns your crank! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Same Design, Different Day

Today's card is the same design as yesterday's. In fact, it's even the same piece of DSP, just flipped over to the other side. I am LOVING this colour combo of pool party with petal pink and whisper white - and yes, a touch of black and mossy meadow thrown in there for good measure. Some fussy cutting took place as you can see, but they were pretty simple.

Materials used:

• stamps - Free as a Bird, Climbing Roses
• card - pool party, petal pink, whisper white, mossy meadow, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched framelits (non SU), Dimensionals, Big Shot, pool party Stampin' Blends, blender pen, pearls

These Bird Ballad papers are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous - you are most definitely going to want to get your hands on them next week when the new catalogue goes live.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Goodbye Again

It's always sad once Stampin' Up's retiring lists come out and we have to say goodbye to some of our favourite stamps and accessories. Some I miss for a short period of time and some stay with me - quite literally - for many years.

Amongst my favourite retiring stuff this year are some of the products I've used for this card:

This project was inspired by two others and I had a lot of fun combining the elements of each that I loved, while adding a touch of 'new' in there as well.

Materials used:

• stamps - Dragonfly Dreams, Climbing Roses
• card - very vanilla, soft sky, Sahara sand, watercolour, Delightfully Detailed laser-cut speciality paper
• inks - early espresso, soft sky, so saffron, soft sea foam
• other - aqua painter, clear Wink of Stella, markers, large letter dies, Big Shot, hexagon embossing folder, Dimensionals

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

In Which My Opening Sentence Could Surprise

The only thing wrong with getting brand new crafting goodies - if I may be so bold as to suggest there could possibly be anything wrong with getting new stuff - is that ... no, wait, I think I need to amend that sentence. The only thing wrong with getting a bunch of new crafting goodies (cause I guess it's not really an issue if you only get one or two) is deciding which ones to play with first.

And then, of course, is the 'first try phenomenon'. By that I mean that you're so keen to just ink those stamps up or cut that ribbon/designer series paper that your first creation is not always...well, an important work of art, let's say. Not that I hate the cards I'm about to show you - no, no - it's just that they didn't come out as well in real life as they did in my head. Such is life, I guess. Maybe I could list that as the second thing wrong with getting brand new crafting goodies? Yeah, I hear you; I'd better stop there before I think of more things wrong and commit crafting sacrilege!

Alright, take a look at some new stuff:

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Gala
• card - highland heather, whisper white, Gingham Gala DSP
• other - Stampin' Blends, Big Shot, stitched seasons framelits, butterfly duet punch, glitter enamel dots, Dimensionals, edging dies (non SU)

This card uses products from the Gingham Gala suite - there's the stamp set, matching punch, gingham designer papers (in 5 colours), sequins and more. Plus, the upcoming Sale-a-bration catalogue also has matching butterfly designer paper AND ribbons to match the gingham papers. I'm not usually much into butterflies, but this suite was too lovely to resist.

Materials used:

• stamps - Climbing Roses
• card - petal pink, whisper white, smoky slate
• inks - petal pink, smoky slate, mint macaron, basic grey
• other - Stampin' Blends, scissors, Stamparatus, sponge daubers, distressing tool, Dimensionals

I do love me some distressing and sponging. A little bit of stamping-off softens background colours too.

And I also have a bunch of not SU goodies and couldn't possibly neglect them, so here's how my first card with those turned out:

Are these little guys cute or what? The shimmer mist sunbeams look gorgeous when they catch the light too. I've done a video on the making of this card, so if you're interested pop on over to YouTube HERE. And if you like it, give me a thumbs up and subscribe so you'll get notified each time I put up a new video.

Materials used:

• stamps - Gill Friends (My Favourite Things)
• card - soft sky, basic black, whisper white
• distress oxide inks - faded jeans, mermaid lagoon
• other - embossing buddy, white embossing powder, heat tool, Big Shot, Gill Friends dies, Stampin' Blends, Dimensionals, clear epoxy shapes, white shimmer mist, sun ray stencil (MFT), paper towels, blending tool

So that's what I've been playing with - more to come (but maybe not until after Christmas). Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez