Rainbow Butterflies

Isn't it amazing how sometimes the simplest cards to make are the most striking cards to view.  I decided that as this was a get well card I wanted it to be cheerful.  What is more cheerful than a rainbow after the rain and better analogy.  So basically I cut out 12 in strips with the butterfly punch in each color of the rainbow.  I then cut them to length for the card.  Next I sent the strips through my sticker maker.  I did then send them through my die cutting machine with an embossing pad to ensure all the glue was adhered. 

With the excess strips I cut out some of the individual butterflies and then adhered them to each color for some movement.

All that was left was to stamp the greeting with my Big Juicy rainbow inkpad.  The sentiment is Inkadinkado.

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah

Paper - The Paper Source

Punch - Martha Stewart

Stamp - Inkadinkado

Ink - Big Juicy

Accessories - sticker maker

A planted wagon of Birthday Cheer.

I'm still trying to decide what I think of this card.  It just seems to lack something but everything I tried to add went wrong so I went with the less is more approach.

So what do you think?  Over cooked it? Under cooked it? or just right?

I started by selecting the image for this card and then the cardstock I wanted to use for the background.  After that I chose Copics that matched the background cardstock.  I then colored some white brads with the copics to match the image and help with the bling factor.  I added glitter pen to the middle of the flowers to help pep up the image.

I wanted it to be bright and cheerful as I was creating this for our lovely Auntie in England who is in her 80s.  I know she has some sight issues so I hope the card was bold enough for her to enjoy it.

Recipe -

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV 

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Color - Copics

Accessories - White & black brads, Martha Stewart punch, Sakura glitter pen

Time flies... well at least when I forget to blog it seems to!

OK you are going to have to bear with me as it has been a few months since I created these. I will tell you from the start I don't have the copic colors I used for these next few posts. Also they are all going to be pretty short, sweet and to the point.

This card is for my Sensei's wife's birthday. My Sensei is pretty highly trained in Okinawan Karate so I thought she was appreciate the thought. She did. She gushed that she loved the colors and they are exactly what she wanted to redecorate one of her rooms in! I love it when things go so right.

Recipe -
Card size - 5.5 in x 8 in
Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV
Ink - Memento
Stamps - Hero Arts, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Color - Copics
Accessories - Nestabilities, Martha Stewart punch, Prima flowers, brads, ribbon

Muted butterflies...

This card is a CASE of these beautiful cards so please go give them some much deserved love -

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1226299

and

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1311815

and

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1273358

I loved the rainbow of the first, the vibrancy of the second and the flow of the butterflies of the third.
When I set out to do this card I knew that I had to use Neenah for the base to give that crisp white flair. I then decided to have the duller colors of my paper choices at the bottom to give a lift to the flow of the butterflies. I used the single butterfly punch and the triple butterfly punch from Martha Steward on the K&Co paper. Instead of giving the butterflies black bodies I wanted to keep it light and airy so when with clear stardust glitter pen.

I hope you like my interpretation of a theme that has already been done brilliant by some really talented ladies.

Ingredients
Card Size - 8.5in x 5.5in
Cardstock - Neenah
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Palette noir
Designer Paper - K & Co
Punches - Martha Stewart
Pens - Sakura Stardust clear

Kitchen Sink Stamps Roses for Mother's Day

I love the multi-step stamps from Kitchen Sink Stamps. These are just no exception, once I stamp with them I can almost smell them. I love how subtle and elegant these stamps can be and I hope my card does them justice. In the past I used to send my mother flowers from half way around the world. Mom's present this year is a bigger project we are doing for her but I didn't want her to be without her flowers and to know we really love her.

Ingredients

• Card Size - 5.5 in by 8.5 in
• Cardstock - DCWV, Neenah Solar White, Michaels
• Stamps - 3 step Hearts & Roses and Whole Family
• Ink - Memento
• Border punch - Martha Stewart
• Ribbon - Michael's

Still in Training?

This card is for a dear uncle's 70th birthday and he loves trains!

I really like the result I got on this project with my Cricut.

I decided that I would do a "free-standing pop up" card from SCS resources I had to adjust the measurements as I do "big" cards as in 8.5x 5.5 finished. I wanted to keep it cheerful so hopefully it is with the pearlescent blue cardstock and ink.

Then I had the hurdle of trying to work in Cricut Design Studio. I eventually managed to get a "welded" blackout 70 and a layer from my Printing 101 cartridge. Then I found two backgrounds on my Plantin cartridge for the borders at the bottom one is a city scape and the other is a treeline. I cut out a train from the My Community cartridge to use the negative as a stencil. The train border at the very bottom is Martha Stewart punch.

The greeting and repeat pattern on the card itself is from JustRiteStampers.

I really hope our dear uncle likes his card AND gets it on time with the international post that can be fun!

Critical Eye
when it is folded you can see the "and still in training" in retrospect that would have been a nice surprise when all folded down if I had stamped it lower. AND I had planned to emboss the blue "70" for some texture. Hopefully I will remember this for next time.

Ingredients

• Final Cardsize - 8.5 x 5.5 in - the panel is 8.5 x 4.5
• Cartridges used - Plantin, Printing 101, My Community
• Cardstock - Hobby Lobby, Wassau (that's pearlescent blue) and Georgia Pacific
• Ink - Brilliance
• Stamps - JustRite
• Punch - Martha Stewart
  

ETA - got an email from our uncle and he got it in time!!!!!

Fairy belated... Edited to add list of copics used

Well you know I told you about my trip to Nomojoland, which is a very scary place to be indeed. Well this was another friend who suffered not being remembered on her special day because of the scary monsters in Nomojoland.

Well this cardie friend loves rather funky fairies so when I saw the new(ish) Fairy stamps from Inkadinkado I knew that I had to buy them and do a card for her with them.

I colored the fairy first with my Copics. Then with my Sakura clear stardust pen over her wings. I don't know what it is with fairies but I nearly always tend toward purples, blues, greens and pinks for them - so I think I might need to do this image again a few times and ban myself from those colors! (can you just see the subtle sparkle on the wings? --------->>>>)

I decided that as she is flying I would just "pop" her away from the background with a little shading and I wanted the added contrast of the white around all that color in the image so she really stood out on the card.

The circles were inspired from the K&Co paper that I have had for about five years. The butterfly is from the same stamp set and the greeting is from a Brenda Walton Inkadinkado set.

I did use a new tool on this card which is the Martha Stewart Circle Cutter - I like it because of the variety of circle sizes you can get with one tool and cutter. There is a bit of a learning curve with it however, what I did in the end to keep the paper from slipping was just tack it down to the cutting mat in a few places with temporary glue stick - worked like a charm!

Ingredients

• Card size - 8.5in x 5.5in
• Stamps - Inkadinkado
• Ink - Palette
• Cardstock - Georgia Pacific, K&Co, Bazzill
• Color - Copics, Sakura clear stardust pen
• Tools - Martha Stewart circle cutter

Copics Used

• 0
• Skin - E00, E02
• Hair - E31, E33, E35, E37, E47
• Dress, shoes, wings - V000, V04, V06, B00, B23, B24
• Flower and dots on wings - RV02, RV04, RV06
• Wand - Y00, Y02, Y06, Y08
• Shadowing - C1, C3