A Beautiful Butterfly Sending Thanks

I get to share with you this beautiful butterfly that Brandy colored with her Polychromos pencils onto kraft cardstock.  The image was heat embossed with Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder.  There is  a ton of texture in this card given the delightful corrugated cardboard card base.  There is no way for me to capture a photo which shows this as it is in real life.  This card was my thank you for her birthday weekend at the Embellish It Play All Day in Mesa, Arizona.  She couldn't have made me feel more special - which wasn't the point of her birthday celebration!

Andie for 

Mother's Day Cards

I'm shaking up the flower theme of Mother's Day cards and went with a new-to-me Sizzix butterfly die cut to keep the watercolor background of this card the highlight.  I used my MISTI Creative Corners set to stamp the sentiment on the card front at an angle.  The triangle from the Creative Corners made stamping accurately easy and quick.

The watercolors were made using my Mission Gold watercolors which give a vibrant finish, one that I can't stop oogling over.  Super fun, super simple and some more to add to the stash being sold at the fundraiser.

This card front was made using my Zig Starry Colors glitter watercolors.  The picture doesn't do it justice, this is sparkle heaven!

Another simple sentiment on the inside leaving the sender a place to write a heartfelt note.  How is your card making coming?  Are you celebrating the big day?  I'm stopping by some of your blogs to check it out!

A Very Special Birthday Card

I had a lot of fun making this card for a dear friend's birthday.  She's received a fair bit of my crafty stuff and so I was looking for a special card design.  My mom gave me a store bought mother's day card this year with a huge die cut butterfly 3'd out of the center of the inside.  After thinking how thoughtful the card was, my second thought was - I'm totally scraplifting that idea.  Thus, this card was born.

I stamped the butterfly on white cardstock with black Archival Ink.  I then used my Faded Jeans Distress Marker and a water pen to watercolor the butterfly centers.  A little Wink of Stella glitter brush was used, but the pictures don't do it justice.  This matched the front of the card where I used a larger waterbrush to brush ink before stamping the sentiment in black Archival Ink.

I die cut the butterfly out of the layered portion of the inside to give the impression that the butterfly "emerged" from the card.  I ran the butterfly die through the die cut twice- cutting only half of the image.  This allows the die cut to be visible around the raised die cut.  The centerpiece that pops the butterfly off the card is a 2 in. x 1 1/8 in. rectangle.  I scored the piece 1/4 inch from each end and then again a 1/2 in. from each end.  This created the 1/8in. flat section that the butterfly is adhered to.  I glued the 1/4 in. ends together to create a slightly triangular piece.  The card doesn't lay completely flat- but she didn't mind.

The sentiments are stamped in black Archival ink and then accented with gems.  I'm really pleased how this card turned out. It will be one of my favorites for a long time.

I hope your Saturday is going well.  I'm off to redo the bathroom cabinets.  More of the home reno that started earlier this year. I'm really stretching things out...

I've linked this card up with Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge Blog: Simon Says Anything Goes and Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #194:Anything Goes Family.  Come join the fun or be inspired.

Masquerade

 

Brandy's Aunt Ruth decided that she wanted to host a party recently.  After a little discussion that I am not sure how the subject came up, the idea of masquerade bloomed.  Brandy, of course, volunteered to make up the masks and bring them to the party.  I'm going to share with you her creations.





This first set of masks was for a couple, Michael and Marissa.  Marissa wasn't into the whole feather thing and Michael wasn't going to be either so the idea of a mask resembling the green man was born.  Because green is Andie's favorite color, these set are her favorite masks.





Feathers, butterflies and more- oh my!

Brandy's second favorite after Aunt Ruth's mask (see below).

Andie's second favorite.  It has *everything* to do with the green butterfly!

Brandy's Aunt Ruth wore a dress adorned with red flowers.  This mask was made special for Aunt Ruth and is Brandy's favorite of all the creations.

I've saved Brandy's least favorite for last.  I am certain that the only reason this is the least favorite is because Brandy's mind saw something different because this mask is fabulous and rightly captures Brandy's love for the purple and her attraction for butterflies.






What do you think?  Beautiful, yes?  How about stunning, eh?  Brandy's creativity constantly amazes me.  She can take and idea, make it her own and produce some of the most lovely crafts.  This rates right up there.  Although Brandy doesn't always have time to post here on the blog, I usually make certain that she knows about and reads all your comments.  Please join me in encouraging her to more creativity as the year closes.  I can't wait to see what comes next!

Brandy (through Andie)

Butterfly Kisses Card

Sorry for the over exposed image.  Occasionally, the only pictures I can grab from Brandy's wonderful work are cell phone images text to me late at night when the lighting isn't the greatest.  I am sure the email went something like this. . . What do you think?  Well, I think Brandy's work is always fabulous.  Maybe she should seek a truly independent opinion.  Or, more likely, I am right. 

Here is a beautiful butterfly kisses card created earlier this year.  I found the image in my phone and felt I should post it.  Brandy used the tri-fold card design and all of her butterfly and dragonfly accessories.  The color scheme is lost in the poor image, but was beautiful in person. 

Thanks for looking.

Andie (for Brandy)