A Spot of Tea

I have a collection of bone china tea cups. I have been looking for stamps that would represent these delicate cups. Most of the stamps I found were small and needed lots of layering to fill the front of a card. Lauren from MTME designed "A Spot of Tea" stamp set . The cup is large enough to be the focal point on the front of a card. It measures about 2 1/2" tall (without the lemon) and about 2 1/2" wide. There are 20 stamps in the set. This set has plenty of options for decorating the cup and also includes verbiage and a couple of matching tags. Once I got started stamping these cute cups I had a hard time stopping. I wanted a service for 12!

This is one of the tags that I mentioned. I cut out the center of the tag and replace it with a pale green dotted paper and left the purple as a border of the tag.

No "tea stamp set" would be complete without a "Tea Time" stamp.

Who doesn't love a cup of tea when they're not feeling well? This would be great to send to an "under the weather" friend and include a tea bag inside the card.

I didn't quite make a service for 12 but got past the halfway point. I'll share more cups in my next post.

Back to creating more cards in the Butterfly garden.

Full Front Tri-Shutter Cards

These two cards are tri-shutter cards with
a twist. The front of the card is probably similar to cards you usually make.

The outside is a plain 'ol rectangle.

It is much easier to decorate when you don't have to cut paper into unusual shapes.

These cards measure 5 1/2" X 4", so they are only 1/4" narrower than the usual A2 cards.

From the outside they look just like a regular card. The surprise is inside!

When the card is opened you can see how similar it is to it's cousin the "Tri-fold" card.

The butterfly was purchased at a thrift shop where the sell vintage buttons, embellishments, laces, tassels and lots of other "fun" stuff. The butterflies were in a package that was originally sold by the yard. I just snipped the stitching to separate one butterfly from the rest.

When making the full front tri-fold you eliminate the scoring at 2". You score at 4", 8" & 10".

The top and bottom sections (1 1/2" wide) get scored at 6". Don't score the middle.

I love the "laughing sentiment" on the blue card. Oh how true!!!

Back to creating cards in the Butterfly Garden.

Tri-shutter cards

I wanted to make some tri-shutter cards but didn't want to cut lots of little pieces of paper. Time was an issue...once again! I simplified the process by leaving some of the areas blank. The top card is opened and you can see the 6 areas that were left blank. There are 5 green rectangles inside the card and one on the front under the scalloped oval. Leaving these areas blank cut down on cutting and assembly time which gets a "thumbs-up" from me. This summer has been very busy and I apologize for the length of time between posts. I made some "full front" tri-shutter cards and will share them soon. It is easier to decorate the "full" front of the card and there are a lot more decorating options.

Notice the woodpecker...it is one of Grandpa's carved birds. He was amazing.

This is the card display area in the Butterfly Garden. The butterflies are even of the shelves.

Back to creating cards in the Butterfly Garden.

I am fascinated with "Asian" type cards so I am in the process of creating some Asian themed cards. Stay tuned for a taste of the Orient.

Boxed Cards

Last night was our Lilac Inkers meeting. Our challenge for August was to make a card using one of the cards from the boxed cards w/envelopes that are sold at JoAnn's. I found this box of prefolded patterned cards in the clearance section. Sign me up!!! I love "pink" price tags. Now what do I do with all of these cards and how do I make them all look different? Lilac Inkers to the rescue. This is a group of talented, creative women. They are all amazing and inspire me every time they complete a "challenge". Enjoy!

Back to creating cards in the Butterfly Garden.

Mariposa continued

Here are a few more cards made with the DCWV Mariposa matstack. I really enjoyed working with the "All a Flutter" stamps from MTME. The "All a Flutter Sentiments" set has a great variety of verses and sayings. The font is very delicate on these on these stamps and I always get a clear image when I stamp. This speaks volumes to the high quality of these stamps.

In the bottom right corner of this photo is a crochet flower. I got the pattern from Nichole Heady's "capture the moment" blog. Nichole has been gracious enough to provide step by step pictures. YEAH...I learn better when I see photos. Did you ever try to decipher a crochet pattern? Ch; sl st;(sc, 3dc, sc)...hmmm...easier with pictures. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch that has been layered onto dark green paper then cut out with scissors. Faux stitching was done with a Micron pen.

The verse was stamped on vellum and faux stitching was done with a gold metallic pen. A paper piercing tool was used to create the trail which shows the flight of the butterfly. Glue pen was used to hold glittter inside the butterfly wings.

The butterfly was stamped and then cut out with scissors. The verse was cut following the contour of the words. A few pearls added a little glitz.

The butterfly was colored with copic markers. Got copics? These aren't like Marvy markers!! Practice makes perfect and the more you practice the more you get the "feel" of how to use them. Be sure you have a heavy cardstock because they "bleed" through the paper.

This last card has the same cut out verse. A nestability die was used as the base for the butterfly. Two stamps (one for the verse, one for the butterfly), a few pearls, some glitter and "presto change-o" the card is completed.

Back to creating cards in the Butterfly Garden.

The clock in the Butterfly Garden.

Mariposa Matstack

I love the variety of Matstacks that are available at JoAnns. How many have you bought? The more important question is...How many have you actually used? Some people collect Hummels, I collect Matstacks! I saw the Mariposa matstack and so of course I had to buy it. In Spanish "Mariposa" means "butterfly". Hmmm....This matstack would be a perfect match to the "All a Flutter" stamps and "All a Flutter" sentiments from MTME. I took advantage of the beautiful paper and just added a few butterflies and sentiments and "voila" cards were completed quickly. There are a few close-up views below.

The verse was stamped on vellum and run through the Xyron machine so it was easy to attach to the card front. Paper pierced holes show the flight of the butterfly.

The center part of the wings were coated with a glue pen then dipped in fine glitter. A center opening on this card adds a little interest.

The black and white cardstock were cut with Nestability dies. The same technique(as above) was used to give the butterfly a little sparkle.

The blossom and circle Nestability dies were used to layer the circular area on this card.

This card has no stamping just layered papers, a foam mounted butterfly and a silk flower with a pearl in the middle. More "Mariposa" cards in the next post.

Back to creating cards in the butterfly garden.

BTW here is a photo of the door in the butterfly garden. This is where I create. Visitors are always welcome in the garden. Come join me!