Spring Break Destination

The new challenge at Our Creative Corner is make a paper crafted item depicting our Spring Break Destination or as in my case...... a 'wishing' I was there' destination.  Come travel with me to paradise and enjoy the moon glow on the beautiful blue water. Are you ready....off we go!

The stamps on the main image are all from Stampscapes and were stamped on glossy cardstock. This image was colored with various Marvy dye inks that were applied with Cut 'n Dry.  The 'Aloha' stamp and the hibiscus stamp (on the background) are from 'Island Paperie', a scrapbooking store on Maui. These stamps were actually 'made in Hawaii' so these qualified as souvenirs from a recent trip to this beautiful destination.  The glass with a 'Blue Hawaiian' drink and the hibiscus in the top right corner are from Recollections.

Wishing I was there.

A warm welcome to Beckie and Mary, my newest followers.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Tuesday Morning Sketches 139

It's time for another great sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches. This week our sponsor is My Creative Classroom.  MCC is an online arts and crafts learning center. Their interactive and in-depth courses are instructor led and filled with wonderful projects and techniques to help you get the most out of your supplies. Since so many of the 'stamping stores' are closing, this is a marvelous way to learn new and exciting techniques, or how to improve your card making skills.Some of the courses taught include:  Photo organizing, Tombow techniques, starting a business on ETSY, digital scrapbooking and for those of you with a Cricut or Silhouette there are courses for improving your use of these great paper crafting tools. There is something for everyone.

On to my card for this week.

I'll let the card speak for itself, there isn't much to explain. You probably recognize everything that I used to created this card.

This is the fantastic sketch that, our very own, Jessica designed for us. Isn't it wonderful...with so many different creating options.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Bingo

The challenge this week at Our Creative Corner is to create a paper crafted item using 'a bingo card' and the color green. This seems like a perfect opportunity to make another masculine card for my 'men's' basket.

This card reminds me of one of those 'seek and find' pictures. Lots of ephemera on this card. There's an old bingo card;  sheet music;  music notes;  brown button;  Fleur de lis;  'made with love' heart lock;  'Whimsey' stamped 'live' ticket;  3 black pearls;  twine;  a gold filigree button;  a gold 'love' charm;  a computer generated verse;  a 'Happy Birthday' (Hero Art)s;  and a 'Whimsy' stamped 'cherish' ticket.  Most of these elements were distressed with a Tim Holtz distressing tool and Vintage Photo ink was applied with a piece cut 'n dry.  The background was stamped in white (stamped off on scrap paper first) with a Prima postcard stamp and  in black with a Penny Black music notes stamp. Did you find everything?  :-) Sorry I didn't supply a 'check list'!   lol

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Spring at Last!!

This card was a 'Princess' of the week winner.

Finally 'Spring' has arrived and the temperatures have been so warm,  the sky so blue and the daffodils are all blooming. Life is good!

This card was created using the great color combo at CR84FN and the imaginative sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

I am especially fond of CAS or 'clean' cards.  Layers and textures on cards that will fit inside a regular envelope are my favorite. :-)   How does one send those overly embellished cards and what is the additional cost for postage,  bubble wrap and boxes?  lol  This card is pretty self explanatory...if you have any questions...just ask and I'll be happy to reply.



Here is the lovely inspirational photo.

This is the fantastic sketch.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Gold at Card Crafters Circle

This card was a "Top 3 Winner" at Card Crafter's Circle.

There is a fun challenge this week at Card Crafter's Circle.    And as a girl, it's our duty to love the expensive sparkly things like diamonds, pearls, silver and gold.... isn't it? This week, they want our creations to contain...

GOLD!

This adorable fairy is from the 'Beautiful Faries' stamp set by Inkadinkado. Paper from the DCWV 'Once Upon a Time' pad, embossing folder from Cuttlebug and the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.

This 'sweetie' was colored with Twinkling H2O's, unfortunately you can't see the lovely shimmer in this photo. :-(   The star bursts behind the cute fairy were embossed with Egyptian Gold embossing powder. The dry embossed panel has Star Dust embossing powder applied over the raised design, once again the photo doesn't capture all the sparkle on the background papers :-(

The trail of 'pixie dust' was created by stamping on a piece of acrylic then embossing with Egyptian Gold embossing powder. The edges of the ovals were dragged through Versamark then embossed with the same embossing powder. On either side of the fairy some stars and sparkle were added with Gold Stickles.

The sketch that was used to create this card is from Kathy at Tuesday Morning Sketches and there is still time to join this challenge. Hope to see you there!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Tuesday Morning Sketches #138

Welcome back to another great challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches. I hope you'll play along with us this week. Our sponsor is The Stamping Boutique, the home to Audrey and AJ...go pay them a visit.

As you can see by the color palette, I'm definitely ready for 'SPRING'. Easter is just a few weeks away.  Get your Easter stamps out and get a head start on your Easter cards using this fantastic sketch designed by our very own team member Kathy.

Thanks to everyone who joined us last week and I hope to see your lovely cards again this week

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Flourishes 160

Sorry that I've been away for the last week. We have been auditioning for the role of "Florence Nightingale" both the giving and receiving roles. Finally we're feeling better....boy what a week!

Before I share my card I would like to welcome Jennifer, Trish, Tui, Elaine, Audrey and Cathy, as my newest followers. So happy that you have chosen to visit me and follow my journey through the blogosphere.  I am way behind on my visiting my wonderful followers but I promise I'll be around to see the lovely 'new' creations that you have designed.

I have missed most of the challenges this week ;-(  I did complete a few cards but unfortunately the collections closed before I was well enough to get them posted. the Timeless Tuesday Challenge at Flourishes is still open. The challenge hosted by Cindy is to use 'lace and scallops' on our paper craft item.

You probably recognise most of the shapes, edger and embossing that is on this card, so I'll keep this brief. If you have and specific questions, just ask and I'll be happy to reply.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden...after I get caught up on my comments and visits....see you soon. :-)

Tuesday Morning Sketches #137

Hooray it is time for another judged challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches.  This week our sponsor is There She Goes Clear Stamps. In case you are new to the judges challenges, Melissa and the DT will select a winner and 5 participants will be selected to the TOP 5 category. The winner will receive the prize from the sponsor and the TOP 5 will receive a badge for their blog. Since this is a judged challenge there is an added twist, the twist for this month is MONOCHROMATIC. So follow the sketch but be sure to use a monochromatic color theme.

This adorable image is from Repeat Impressions and was colored with Copic markers. The monochromatic postage squares were cut with a SB die then embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The floral edging is from Martha Stewart, the ribbon and white floral edging are from the Dollar Tree and the pearls are from Michaels.

Here is the marvelous sketch designed by Melissa, our talented leader.

As you can see I turned the sketch on it's side. Grab some papers and play along. I can't wait to see which color you choose for this MONOCHROMATIC theme.  If you need added inspiration, stop by TMS and see the fantastic cards created by this great DT.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

CR84FN49

This is my third posting today! Yikes! A new record.


This week Mona has chosen yellow, kraft and gray for CR84FN color challenge. Beautiful colors but....not in my 'comfort zone'. Since this is a 'CHALLENGE', I challenged myself to create a card with these colors.

The image is a Flourishes stamp. (I won this stamp set and two others at the Pinter-Inspiration challenge, I'll show you the stamps later in this posting). The dp are from K and Co and the image was colored with Copic markers.

A Spellbinders edgeabilities die was used for part of this border. After the paper was die cut with the SB die, I used scissors to cut the individual oval pieces apart, wove ribbon through the openings and then mounted them on top of a MFT die.

This Tuesday Morning Sketches sketch (designed by yours truly) was used to create this card.  I am a 'work in progress' when it comes to designing sketches. (lol)

This is the wonderful inspirational photo that was used for this card.

I think I need to hang this inspirational verse in my Butterfly Garden! (wink)

Last but not least here is a photo of the wonderful stamp sets that I won. THANKS FLOURISHES!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Flourishes 159

Time for another Timeless Tuesday Challenge at Flourishes. Heather is the wonderful hostess for this weeks challenge. "a beautiful inspiration photo was provided to get your creative juices flowing.  You choose at least 3 colors to use on your creation.  Hopefully this collection of flowers and vintage finds will inspire you."

This is my interpretation of the beautiful photo.

These peaches were colored with Copic markers, then white pigment ink was stippled over them to create "peach fuzz". The dp are from Cosmo Cricket, K and Co. and Heidi Grace. The image was cut from a Xyron die using the 'outside the box' technique. The tiny tag is a Nestie and the rolled rose was formed with MFT die.

This is the fabulous inspirational photo.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Springtime Bugs

This card was a 'Top 3 Winner' at Card Crafter's Circle

I like to say 'HOWDY to Gerry, Dotty, Sandra, Jessi and Sasha" my newest followers. So glad you visited my blog and decided to follow me on my journey through the blogosphere.

I have been longing for 'spring' for many week. The mild weather here in upstate New York has everyone wishing for warmer weather. In fact my daffodils are about 2-3" above ground level! Maybe they know something that I don't know.

This card was made with 'SPRING' in mind. The Paper Players Challenge is "Spring has Sprung", now that fits right in with my line of thinking.      

Of course with 'spring' comes butterflies, bees and birds. The challenge at Sweet Stampin is to create a paper crafted Nature item with bugs, bees or lady birds. Now both of these challenges scream "SPRING" to me.        

The challenge at Card Crafters Circle is to create a paper crafted item using "buttons".  So if you're not completely confused by this button addition, let me show you my card.

The background sky was created by tearing a piece of paper toweling, using it as a stencil, then applying dye ink with a stipple brush. I hand cut the tree limb and used leaves from a Sizzix die for the foliage. The tiny bees were stamped then colored with colored pencils and a touch of Stickles was added to the wings. A small punch was used for the flowers and mini buttons were used for the centers. The butterflies were leftovers from a Memory Box die.   *** Gotta love those leftover bits and pieces....I have a box full of them ...it would be a shame for us paper crafters to throw anything out! (wink)***    The beehive, birdhouse and bird buttons are from Michaels. I tied some floss in each of these buttons. The frame was made with a Sizzix die and was foam mounted above the scene. I had a 'ball' creating this card and I sometimes feel guilty for having so much fun creating with papers. (Don't worry the guilty part dissipates very quickly) :-)

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

I've Been Leibstered!!

This morning, I saw that I had a nice surprise in my comments.  Cheryl honored me with an award--a Liebster Award!  Then this afternoon Theresa sent me another award. I am so very blessed to have such wonderful and thoughtful blogging friends. It is an honor to have these wonderful ladies think of me with this award. This journey through the blogosphere has been amazing. Thank you Cheryl and Theresa.


 I had seen this on blogs, but never knew what it was. Well, if you're wondering, too, here's the scoop:

This award is for bloggers with less than 200 followers, to bring attention to your blog, and increase your following! So, in the spirit of good fun I am passing this award on to five worthy bloggers. Please stop by to visit them, and become a Follower.

Here are the Rules:

1. Show you're thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them. (Thank you, Cheryl and Theresa!)

2. Reveal your five picks for the award and let them know.

3. Post the award on your blog.

4. Bask in the love from the supportive people out there in Blog Land!

5. Finally and the best rule of all..........have fun and spread the love!

The five blogs I have chosen are listed below. Click on over to their beautiful sites, look around and don't forget to become a Follower.

Debbie at Debbie's Dash of This and That

Sasha at Sasha's Inspirations

Tui at Stampin Time

Angela at Just Monkeying Around

Mackie at Mackie Made Paper Creations

Thanks for stopping by, and if you're not a Follower yet, I'd love to have you join me!

Up, Up and Away

It's time for Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge. This weeks sponsor is Guylou's Inimitability.

Paper Pretties is having a 'masculine' theme challenge and I am submitting this card.

The challenge at Our Creative Corner is "Making Melody" Take inspiration from a song and work it into any papercraft project you'd like - a card, a gift tag or some other paper craft project. Be inspired by the lyrics or the feeling you get by listening along. Just make sure your post includes the song title (and if possible the artist) that inspired you!  My song is "Up, Up and Away" by the Fifth Dimension.

The image in the center was made with Stampscapes stamps and colored with dye inks. The edges of the brown CS were distressed with a Tim Holtz paper distresser then the whole piece was embossed with a PTI wood grain embossing plate then sanded  to give it a distressed look. Some gray dye ink was then applied over the sanded areas. The hot air balloon stamp, die and sentiment are from PTI  and colored with Copic markers. The edges of cream colored card stock were torn then Vintage Photo ink was applied to these edges.

This is the sketch that was used to create this card.

Since I'm a newbie at creating sketches this one is rather simple. I hope you will play along. I can't wait to see your creations.

Please stop by TMS, click on the name above each card and visit this sites of these talented gals. Be sure to leave them a little 'comment love'.

Over The Edge

This is my second posting today and final one for the week. I don't play in my Butterfly Garden on the weekends because these days are reserved for family. So I'll see you, my wonderful blogging friends, next week.

Yup...creating cards has driven me 'over the edge' (wink)...not really....that is the challenge at Our Creative Corner.  The challenge is to create a card or paper craft item with a design element that is not restricted to the boundaries of the card edges and continues to flow off of the edge of the card. Fun, fun, fun...I love thinking outside of the box (or card as in this case).

The carnation image and sentiment are from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamp set, it was colored with Copic markers. The decorative edge is MFT and the grooves on the background were created with a Scor-pal.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden. (next week)

Another Masculine Card

Yeah I have another card to add to my "Men's" basket. Hopefully in a month or two I will have enough cards completed so I won't have to make a masculine card at the last minute...I'll be able to search through my basket and pick one out.

Flourishes stamps were used for this image which was colored with Copic markers. The rope image was stamped twice then fussy cut, Stickles were added to the water and the decorative edging is from a Paper Studio punch.

I am entering this card in this challengs:

 Sweet Stamping---It's a Man Thing

 Dream Valley---Just For Men

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

  

Masculine Cards

This is the second posting today so be sure to check out the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Card.

I'm still working at filling a basket with completed masculine cards. Men's cards always seem more difficult to design, but I am determined to have a decent selection of cards to choose from when I need one! No more last minute rushing to create a masculine card. This card is for the Card Patterns Challenge.

This card is an enlargement of the bookmark that I made last week. Stamps from Flourishes, embossing plate from PTI and papers from stash and Paper Studio.

This is the sketch that I used to create this card. 

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Flourishes 158

It's time once again for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge. This weeks challenge is 'Country Comfort'...anything inspired by country living...farm theme, gardening, country patterns (calico, gingham, plaid), quilts, wildflowers...whatever you interpret as county comfort.

This card was made with the Flourishes "Cherries and Peaches" stamp set, papers are from an October Afternoon pad and the embossing folder is from Sizzix. The image was colored with Copic markers and Glossy Accents were applied to the cherries. I used this fantastic sketch designed by Melissa at Tuesday Morning Sketches

.

There is still plenty of time to play along with both of these challenges, so grab some papers, visit both sites and be prepared to be inspired by the beautiful DT creations. Looking forward to seeing what you create.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.