A Very Beautiful Butterfly Card Set Featuring the Concord and 9th Butterfly Love Turnabout

Brandy has been busy making a set of notecards using her Concord and 9th Butterfly Love turnabout stamp and die set.  The turnabout stamps make the process easy when creating multiples.  The coordinating stamp and die for the big butterfly makes a great contrast to the background and a simple, but beautiful card.

Since green is my favorite color, I think this set is one of my favorites - the green stands out in the midst of those warm yellow, oranges and reds.

More butterflies are stamped and die cut, I'll be back in a day or so to share the remaining cards from the set once I've been able to edit and post the pictures.  Brandy knows what she is doing with a butterfly stamp, don't you think?!

Andie for 

A Rainbow Notecard Set

I'm here today to share with you a card set made by Brandy.  She used Nicole Spohr's inspiration from this post as the card design inspiration.  All techniques and supplies matched Nicole's with the exception of the word background stamp as Brandy used a scripty words background stamp that she had on hand.

The ink colors are all Altenew inks and she was so inspired and the stamping so easy to complete a rainbow of cards were created over the course of a week.  Both Brandy and I have full time jobs which consume many hours a week and these cards represent hours spent relaxing from our day jobs.  What a beautiful way to relax, don't you think?

The strips on the bottom of the cards were made with gold (on the pink, red, orange and yellow flowers) and silver (on the teal, blue and purple) gilding flakes.  Easy peasy finish to a card that just pops off the page. 

Here's the final grouping in rainbow order.  These cards went into the stash - how perfect given the assortment of sentiments.  This project would be a fantastic gift set as well.  We'll hope that these are as inspiring to you as Nicole's set was inspiring to Brandy!

Andie for 

Gifting Cards This Christmas

My good friend Kyle (she of the painted pumpkin ilk at Halloween!) decided to join a gift exchange at the school district.  When she informed me of her obligation to make 16 (sixteen!) gifts and stuff them into a stocking I asked if she wanted to get together and make a set of cards.  So I will admit that the cards stuffed into these pockets weren't all made by my hand - Kyle ends up being wonderfully talented and diligent help.  I have photographed the cards, but getting all those photos edited at once is more than I can bear.  I'll work on it over the next couple of weeks and eeek them out to you all so you can see her handiwork.

These card pockets are very simple - I trimmed a 12 x 12 piece of patterned paper to 9 x 11, then scored it on the 9 inch side at 3 inches.  I scored the 11 inch side at 5 1/4 and 5 3/4, folding all the score lines to make the pocket.  There are two glue dots to hold the folded center up making space for the cards - simple, but effective and at the last minute darling!

On the outside I stamped the sentiment using my Concord and 9th O Holy Night stamp set.  I'm lovin' this stamp for Christmas!  I die cut the sentiment, layering on another die cut and using glue dots, the sentiment holds the ribbon in place to wrap around and close the pocket.

I made these sets (some of my work, some of Kyle's!) for some ladies I'm keeping in touch with - dear ladies whom I've come to cherish.  It is good to have these kinds of connections.  I'm hoping they use up every one of those cards because I mean to make them some more next year!

May your Christmas eve be filled with the wonder of Christmas!

Another Flower Gift Set

I think I'm almost done creating card sets with my Altenew Vintage Flowers stamp set.  This set was made similarly to the previous set, using a prepackaged purple notecard set.  Here I used Close to My Heart Sunset dye ink in both the background the foreground.  The twine is olive green, but the picture doesn't capture that well.  All sentiments were made using my SSS Handwritten Borders stamp set and black Archival Ink.

Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue pigment ink in the background and
CTMH Moonstruck dye ink in the foreground

Brilliance Pearlescent Purple pigment ink in the background and
VersaMagic Purple Hydrangea pigment ink ink in the foreground

All in all, there are eight cards in this set.  I'll probably break that into two sets of 4 cards as gifts for this Christmas.  As you can tell, I just can't say enough about how great the Altenew stamp set is.

A Set Of Notecards

I decided to try my hand a new use for my Brusho water color crystals.  Today I die cut this leafy branch using my Cricut Straight From the Nest cart.  I cut this from white cardstock at between 4 and 5 inches.  I then used my Yellow, Leaf Green and Brown Brusho water color crystals, strategically sprinkling them onto the die cut.  I liberally spritzed water from a spray bottle over the die cut and let it do some magic.  With these die cuts, I used a lot more water to create the blended look typically seen when using watercolors.

I used my SSS Stitched Rectangles die to create the white cardstock background, embossing the sentiment with gold embossing powder.  To create a thicker result, I sprinkled embossing powder over the image while still hot from the first time I melted the image and re-heated to melt the new powder.  This technique can work to fill in and enhance the image, creating a rich look.  I also used the same technique on the cardstock background, edging the paper with my embossing ink and sprinkling with the embossing powder, adding bits as I went to create a shiny edge.  I really like this technique.

You'll notice some hexagonal glimmer on the cards.  Depending upon the light and angle, they look different colors, but are really gold.  I simply glued these sequins in place to add some interest to the page.  Another nice card set that I'm setting aside for Christmas gifts.  I'm collecting quite a stash and anticipate needing all of them as small gifts to acquaintances at work and otherwise.

How about you?  Any Christmas shopping yet?  It is a tough thing to think about, but time is shorter than we think.  I hear Christmas carols as we speak...

I'm linking up to the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge Wonderful Watercolor

Word Art Wednesday's Challenge # 205 Anything Goes

Virginia's  View Challenge #19

Come join the fun or stop to be inspired.

A Very Floral Notecard Set

Told you I'd be back with more Altenew Vintage Flowers card sets.  This one was made similarly to the previous set.  Here I paired Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue pigment ink in the background and CTMH Moonstruck dye ink in the foreground.  The twine is dark blue, but the picture doesn't capture that well.  All sentiments were made using my SSS Handwritten Borders stamp set and black Archival Ink.

This flower was made with SSS Smoke hybrid ink in the background and VersaMagic Perfect Plumeria pigment ink.

I made a set of 3 of each color and intend to wrap them up as Christmas gifts.  Now I'm thinking, how to wrap them... hmmmm.  I created all my stamped flowers using my MISTI tool and the Altenew Vintage Flowers stamp set.  I followed the tutorial provided by Jennifer Mcguire's video.  If you haven't tried the MISTI or this stamp set, I'd highly recommend both.

I had so much fun I'm going to link up at Word Art Wednesday's Challenge # 204: Anything Goes.  Come see what people have been doing and/or join the fun!

A Set of Notecards with Vintage Flowers

I'm out of town today and scheduled this post last weekend after completing the post on my Altenew Vintage Flowers stamping session using my MISTI tool.  I'll suggest Jennifer Mcguire's video as it is what I used.  All sentiments were stamped with black Archival Ink using my SSS Handwritten Borders stamps.  I'll try to point out color combinations.  The purple is a Brilliance Pearlescent Purple pigment ink in the background and VersaMagic Purple Hydrangea pigment ink in the foreground.

Notice the difference in these red flowers.  The background ink is SSS Smoke hybrid ink.  The red is Colorbox Magenta pigment ink.  The first card was made with the "outline" layer in Colorbox Frosted White pigment ink.    This next card used another layer of the Magenta pigment ink.  I really like the outline effect of the white pigment ink, don't you?

The yellow is Close to My Heart's Buttercup dye ink and the orange is CTMH's Sunset dye ink.  This is an example of a color combination I was determined to hate and found that I really like the definition provided by these inks.

The background is a Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue pigment ink and the foreground is VersaMagic Aegean Blue pigment ink.  When I first stamped the background, I thought "Ugh!" due to the splotchy nature of the stamp. However, the look is very appealing lending texture to the flower.

The last one is SSS Smoke hybrid ink and CTMH Moonstruck dye ink.  This is another of my favorite combinations.  I like these so well that I intend to make a few more sets as presents.  Look for more pictures and color combinations coming before the holidays!

I'm linking up to the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge Simon Says Die Crazy.  I almost didn't purchase the matching die for the Altenew stamp set.  I'm so happy I did now.

Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge Love This Technique.  I couldn't resist joining this challenge.  I really do love this technique.  The layering stamps really add dimension to the card.

Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #201 Anything Goes.  They lays have such inspiring entries.

Come join the fun!