Butterfly Swirls- A Notecard Set

Brandy and I found out that our annual trek to Mesa for the CK Scrapbook Convention is going to be upset next year.  If you've read this post about the origination of our friendship, you'll know how precious this time is to each of us.

Alas, it is not to be next year because of some sort of scheduling conflict in Mesa with a marathon.  Ugh!  They have scheduled a substitute convention for Phoenix in May.  Farther away, hotter time of year.  We'll have to adjust as there are worse things happening in the world.










About the time we heard this news, we also realized that our favorite Heartfelt Creations would be in Mesa last weekend for a stamp show.  Nothing soothes the soul better than a shopping trip for craft supplies, so off we went.









While we did each pick up a few items from Heartfelt Creations what really captured Brandy's heart was a butterfly swirl stamp.  The inspiration caused the creation of this set of note cards.  I've played a bit with the exposure settings for the pictures in order to try to highlight the embossing, distressing and glittering of these card fronts.  This blue card is the same card, just different exposures so you can see more of the incredible detail









The card fronts began with the layering of Distress Ink using and ink blending tool.  Water is flicked onto the paper in drops to create the splattered look.  This technique is a common one for Tim Holtz, but we learned it best during our Creative Chemistry 101 class.  Some examples were posted in this post.

After the backgrounds were created, the stamped image was made using ink and clear embossing powder. 

Each image was then glittered using a glue pen and microfine glitter of complimentary colors.  The fronts were finished with bling or pearl accents in the flowers.

The kraft card base were also distressed with inks and a swirl stamp from the stash was used to emboss the background images.  Each front was punched with a decorative corner punch and foam squares were used to place it on the card base.

Can we all agree that this is one more stellar performance for Brandy?  Such an eye, such a great card set, so inspiring.  I have to say, I might need to borrow that lovely myself sometime.  Aren't besties great?