Sparkly Center Step Card.

This card was created using two things that were new to me! Great to get those brain cells working. I have made several side step cards and even though I had the directions, I never made a center step card. I was challenged to do this by Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge.  The Shabby Tea Room has a 'Sparkly and Bright' challenge...use the inspirational photo to design a card with cream (or white), silver and a splash of pink! How long has it been since you created a card with 'silver and cream'? For me the answer is 'NEVER'!

A Memory Box butterfly die was used on the side panels. The lacey scallopped border across the bottom is a MFT die. The floating butterflies are from a Martha Stewart punch, ribbon and pearls are from Michaels. A Sakura stardust pen was used inside the butterflies on the sides and the floating butterflies were cut from glitter paper.

This is the inspirational photo that I used to create this card.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Oh Baby

This is another great week for challenges, 2012 is starting off on the right foot. That's for sure. So many challenges so little time. What's a gal to do? This card is for the Our Creative Corner challenge and the Mojo Monday sketch challenge.

The stamp is Penny Black and it was colored with Copic markers. The challenge at OCC is to use the inspirational photo to make a 'baby themed' item. When I looked at the photo, my eye was immediately drawn to the one, large, golden colored flower on top of the cake. The coral flowers and the tree got my attention next. So this card is an attempt to recreate those items. The bear is for the golden colored flower, bet you can figure out the rest (wink).

I took a few liberties with the Mojo Monday sketch. I can never cut two squares the same size so I replaced the squares with rectangles hahaha, rotated the sketch 90 degrees and made the center panel narrower. Here is the Mojo Monday Sketch so you can see the changes I made.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Bears in Pairs

This week's challenge at Card Patterns is to make a "shaped" card. The challenge at Card Crafters is to make a card with "bears".  Paper Pretties challenge is to make a 'Valentine' card.

This adorable bear image is from the Stamp Fairy. The coloring was done with Copic markers. The Catalina wreath, behind the bears is a Memory Box die. It was cut from 'glitter' CS and shaded with a Copic marker. The heart behind the bears is actually sticker that is mounted on glitter CS and then cut with deckle edge scissors leaving a little boarder of white. Ribbon and rhinestones are from Michaels. The rhinestone necklace was made with a Dollar Store package of "Nail accessories".

This is the sketch that was used for inspiration. Isn't it a great sketch? 

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Wine and Bears

This week's challenge from Tuesday Morning Sketches is sponsored by Stamp Fairy. Our fabulous sketch was designed by Jessica. This week I made two card following this great sketch.

I created my card by duplicating the sketch....no sideways or upside down for me this week, but I did a mirror image sketch on the second card!

The 'Vino' stamp set from Technique Tuesday was used to create this card. First off...I love' wine' and I love  'Tuesday Morning Sketches' so it was only fitting that I should combine 'Wine' and 'Tuesday's'. After stamping the grape bunches multiple times (for the background) it was colored with Prisma colored pencils then blended with Gamsol. The wine bottle was stamped on a piece of acrylic, fussy cut and then the back side was colored with a Sharpie marker to make the whole bottle 'green'.  A piece of dark green cardstock was paper pieced to the back side of the bottle to simulate the amount of wine left in the bottle. The glass was also stamped on acrylic, layered on a piece of vellum, fussy cut and then burgundy cardstock was paper pieced to simulate the wine in the glass. Gold embossing powder was used for the sentiment.

This second card used a delightful image from the Stamp Fairy called 'Donna and Donny'. It is the mirror image of the sketch.

These two adorable bears were colored with Prisma colored pencil and blended with Gamsol. The DP and ribbon is from a Heidi Grace collection that was purchased at JoAnn's. Stickles were added to the hearts and the flower for a touch of sparkle. This card is being submitted to the Card Crafters "bear with me " challenge and the Paper Pretties "Valentine" challenge.

Please stop by to see the marvelous creations from the design team and our great guest designer, Cheryl.  While you are enjoying their samples...leave a little comment 'love' to show your appreciation for their continual inspiration. Angela, Cheryl, Dawn, Jessica, Kathy, Theresa and Melissa

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Hyacinth

***This card got an Honorable Mention at the Shabby Tea Room***

In my previous posting, I was 'thinking of Spring', well here I go again. This mild winter has deluded me into thinking that 'Spring' is on the way....well I can hope...can't I?  Today the sky is a beautiful blue, the grass is green (Yup I can see lots of grass, not the usual white lawn) there are lots of white fluffy clouds and we're having a heat wave...it is 25 degrees!! Now those are certainly signs of  'Spring'...don't ya think?

This card was inspired by the lovely colors from the Shabby Tea Room. USE GRAY (or silver), LILAC, PEACH & PINK PLUS LACE (paper or fabric) AND A METAL EMBELLISHMENT! Aren't those colors delicious and in my mind (HaHaHa) another sign of 'Spring'. This card was designed using a marvelous sketch from Card Patterns.

The Hyacinth and sentiment are from Flourishes, embossing is PTI, and the ribbon is from Michaels.  The image was colored with Copic markers.

Here is the inspirational photo from the Shabby Tea Room.

This is the great sketch that was used to create my card. I turned the sketch on it's side. Always laying down on the job! (wink)

The previous post is another 'Spring' card...so check it out! Think Spring!!!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Thinking of Spring

The winter here in the Northeast has been exceptionally mild. So being the eternal optimist, I can't help thinking that Spring is just around the corner. Hahaha. Who am I kidding? It's only January!

The color challenge at CR84FN this week fits right into my 'Spring' fantasy. The colors are lt. pink, yellow and neutral. The air is always so clean and fresh in the 'Spring' so I wanted my card to be clean and fresh. The sketch at Mojo Monday was perfect for designing a clean, fresh 'Spring' card.

The stamps are from Printworks, embossing folder is Cuttlebug, DP is from a Heidi Grace paper pad, ribbon, glitter dots and silk flower are from Michaels. Each floral image was stamped twice, colored with Copic markers and then one was fussy cut and mounted on top of the other with foam tape. The vase was paper pieced. Stickles were used to highlight the vase and the centers of the flowers.

Here is the inspirational photo...be sure to read the quote.

The sketch was turned on it's side to make my card.

Be sure to check out the next  post....more 'Spring' flowers!! (Flourishes Hyacinth's are up next), If wishing could make it happen.....It would already be 'Spring'!


Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Cupcake Craftroom

***This card was the January winner at Cupcakes Craftroom***.

Time for another great challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches. This creative sketch was designed by the talented Melissa.

The sponsor this week is Cupcake Craftroom. The Craftroom is having an "Anything Goes" challenge this month.  If you love digi paper this is the place to visit. I enjoy making cards with a Dahlia folded focal point. These flowers have to be made with double sided PAPER (not cardstock). Unfortunately double sided paper is very difficult to find in most of the local stores. Well....Cupcake Cards and Crafts came to my rescue! Sandy taught me how to do this fold.

I printed out my paper using the Charlotte Designer Digital Papers Collection. The floral design was printed on one side of the paper, the paper was turned over and the solid color was printed on the opposite side. The circles were cut using a 1 1/2" paper punch. For the leaves I printed a solid green then used a leaf Nestie to cut out the leaves, which were highlighted on the edges with a Copic (YG97) marker then, crumpled before the were attached to the front of the card. The same Copic marker was used for the flourishes which were also cut out of the green paper using a Sizzix die. The Sizzix embossed background was highlighted with a Copic (RV 10) marker and the edges of the ribbon with a Copic (RV34) marker. The paper behind the embossed CS was from the Charlotte paper collection.  These lovely digi papers could also be used as a background for any of your images. Once you purchase them you'll never run out of designer paper in the middle of a project!

Stop by Tuesday Morning Sketches to see the great samples from the super talented Design Team and Cheryl our guest Designer for January.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Flourishes 2012 Challenge

This will be a quick posting for a quick card! It is a 2012 challenge at Flourishes. A great chance to win the new January releases.  here’s your recipe: You can only use 2 colors. You can use 0 bling. You must use at least 1 embellishment and you can only have 2 layers (not including your card base)!

It is very gloomy here today so I decided to use some bright colors to brighten the day! The Cherry Blossom was embossed with white embossing powder, flowers highlighted with Prisma colored pencils, shading was done with a Copic marker and the dry embossing is from a PTI embosser.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Flourishes #151

I thought I would try another Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge. This was fun and definitely challenging but if it was easy it wouldn't be called a challenge.

The image was colored with Copic markers. The roses were made with a MFT die, rhinestones are from Michaels and Sizzix embossing folder was used for the background.

This is the photo that I used for inspiration.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Hawaiian Muumuu

The challenge at Our Creative Corner is to make a "shape" card. While vacationing in Hawaii last year I visited some stamping stores in Honolulu. How great is that!! My wonderful DH even accompanied me as we walked through the city looking for these stores. Of course, I just happened to have the address for a few of these stores. (wink)  I was fortunate enough to bring back some wonderful papers, stamps, die cuts and patterns. This is one of the patterns.

A "Punch bunch" punch was used to make the lei.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Where there is life...

Hooray it's Tuesday so it's time for another great challenge from Tuesday Morning Sketches. This week the sponsor is Bugaboo Stamps. As usual the second week of the month is the judged challenge so in addition to following the sketch the added twist for this week is: Make it Vintage!

Looking forward to seeing your creations.

This delightful image is from Bugaboo Stamps.  To design this card I used a paper pad from Prima for the background, the shapes are Spellbinders and a Marvy Gold Calligraphy pen was used on the edges. (Guess this is my 'trademark'...I used either a gold or silver pen on many of my cards!)

The image was colored with Copic markers, various highlights were added with a Sakura Stardust gel pen, and glossy Accents were applied to the bubbles.

The flowers and pearls from Michael's were highlighted with the same Copic markers that were used to color the image. Pearl flourishes are from Want2Scrap, antique butterflies and lace edging is from a second hand store and wire for antennae is from Walmart.

Please stop by to see all the marvelous creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of the team.

Angela * Dawn * Jessica * Kathy * Theresa * Melissa * Cheryl

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Flourishes Father Time

Since we're only a few days into the New Year, I thought I would play along with Flourishes Father Time challenge. There was a lot of brain storming that went into making this card.  As I look at my enormous stamp collection, I realized the New Year's type stamps were non existent. In addition to that...I only had a few Flourishes stamp sets. Well this is what I came up with.

The DP is from a 7 Gypsies paper pad, the pocket watch is K & Co, the charm is from a Karen Foster set, pearls are from Michaels and Spellbinders provided the Fancy Tag behind the sentiment.The sentiment is from the "Enjoy the Ride" set.  In order to make the label tall enough to accommodate the sentiment, the die was used to partially cut the top half of the Fancy Tag. Then the die was moved down to cut the bottom half.  A modified 'outside the box' technique.

To make the wings I started with a scalloped circle, then used a 1 1/2" paper punch to cut a half moon shape from the larger scalloped circle. A Sizzix embossing folder was used to add detail to the wings. Metallic glitter was applied to the edges.

The metallic glitter on the hour glass was applied using super glue. YEAH my fingers didn't stick to the hour glass so my fingers are free to make more cards. Love it when you don't get stuck to super glue!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Shapes and CR84FN

The challenge this week at Our Creative Corner is to make a "shape" card. The challenge at CR84FN is to make a card using medium blue, orange and yellow. This card is for both challenges.

The papers are from a DCWV paper pad, tag is a Sizzix die, and the stamp is Hero Arts. The edges of the card were distressed with an Adirondack Denim ink pad.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

CR4FN45

Yippee! The color challenges at CR84FN are back. It was good to exercise the creative brain cells and good to be back to a familiar routine. This weeks challenge has some vibrant colors from photos that were taken by Deborah, one of the talented members of the CR84FN design team. Deborah took these picture while on a trip to India. How great is that! TFS, Deborah.

The image from MFT was paper pieced and colored with Prisma colored pencils and blended with Gamsol. The embossing folder is from Sizzix, pearls from Hobby Lobby. I couldn't find any ribbon that matched the blue. Figures....I must have the world's largest supply of ribbon but wouldn't you know it....nothing matched. How is that possible?? I used a Copic marker to color white satin ribbon to coordinate with the 'blues' on the card.

The oval behind the image was misted with a Perfect Pearl and water mixture to add a little sparkle. The DPs are from a HOTP paper pad.  Okay I solved the ribbon dilemma, now for the flower....once again nothing matched! Happened to see a post it note pad near the phone...could it be the right color?? Yippee it matched. I punched a 1/2" circle out of the post-it note, spiral cut the circle and formed my own rolled flower. Gotta love it when a plan comes together.

Two small pieces of the Copic colored ribbon were used to make pseudo leaves. The smallest rolled rose die from MFT and the post-it note paper were used to form the flowers.

Each flower has a pearl in the center and the edges of the flowers and the scalloped border were highlighted with Stickles. The embossing was highlighted with Tim Holtz distress ink pad (Spiced Marmalade).

This is the fantastic photo that was used for inspiration.

Back to creating cards in  my Butterfly Garden.

Sweet Sunday Sketch 149 & Something NEW

This card is for the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge and the use "Something New' challenge at "Sparkle Creations". The stamps from Sparkle Creations are 'new' to me. If you're not familiar with these stamps check out their website for more great creations and take a look at some wonderful cards from the design team at Tuesday Morning Sketches. While you looking at these great cards be sure to leave comments for the wonderful ladies who provide inspiration for you each and every week. One of your New Year's resolutions could be to spread a little comment 'LOVE' on each site that you visit. Okay that's enough lovin' for this post!

This adorable stamp is called 'Suitcase Ruby'. She's one stylish traveler. The DP is from my scrap pile, the ribbon is from Michael's, the Bon Voyage ribbon is Offray, and the pearls are Want2Scrap. The pink plaid paper was run through a crimper, the image was colored with Prisma colored pencils and blended with Gamsol. Ultra fine glitter was applied for a little bit of 'bling'. A Marvy Silver Calligraphy  pen was used on the edges of the DP.

This is the sketch that was used for inspiration.What a great sketch it is!! I turned the sketch on it's side to create my card. Hope you'll visit TMS to see some other great stamps from Sparkle Creations.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Flourishes #150

It's time to try a new challenges. The Flourishes Timeless Tuesday is the challenge ai made this card for. Since this challenge is #150...I guess there have been 149 challenges that I missed. The challenge is to make a tri-fold card.

The front is stamped with my new Cherry Blossoms stamp set. A Copic marker was used on the edges of the satin ribbon for a little contrast. The same marker was used to color the pearls on the bottom left corner.

The fleur de lis square was sprayed with a water and "Perfect Pearls" mixture followed by a misting of a "Perfect Gold" and water mixture. The flowers were colored with Copic markers, embossing folder is Cuttlebug,  butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch, wire for antennae is from Walmart, pearls from Want2Scrap and the edging was done with a Marvy Gold Calligraphy pen.

The stamp on the second panel is also from the Cherry Blossoms set.

The center of the card was also stamped with the Cherry Blossoms stamp set and colored with Copic markers.

Yellow acrylic paint was applied with a toothpick to the center of the blossoms.

Loved making this card and will probably be making more of them.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Sparkle Creations

We have a wonderful talented Guest Designer for the month of January. Please stop by and welcome Cheryl and check out her fabulous creations.

This weeks challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches is being sponsored by Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps. Please check out these refreshing, adorable stamps, 'Shopping Emily' will get you in the mood to return those 'wrong size' Christmas gifts and 'Relaxing Charlotte' is perfect for relaxing after all that shopping! The sketch was designed by the very talented Kathy and what a fun sketch it is!

I hope you'll play along. I had the privilege of working with the 'Suitcase Ruby' stamp. She's ready to travel and I'd love to go with her.

Ruby was colored with colored pencils, blended with Gamsol then fussy cut. The DP's and sentiment are all from a HOTP "Vacation" paper pack. Since Ruby is such a fashionista with those stylish red boots I gave her a touch of glitter on her luggage tag, her decorative hair pins, earring and scarf.

Why don't you travel on over to Tuesday Morning Sketches and see the samples by the creative Design Team and Cheryl our Guest Designer for January.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.