Bonus Butterfly

Hey y'all, how's it going?  I didn't get to make anything in my craft room yesterday, but I did start moving things around to get ready for the new catalog--rearranging my ink pads and markers, and other organizational things that I'd been putting off like mounting several stamps on cling mount.  Once all my new cardstock gets here (oh man I stocked up, it's a little ridiculous), I'll have to reorganize my 12x12 storage and move the colors around to align with the color refresh so I'll be able to find things.  So lots of work happening in my craft room yesterday and pretty soon I'll have to start prepping it all to get moved back to the States.

But let's not think about that right now, I have a card to share!

Butterfly Brilliance is a single stamp with six butterfly images on it, and the die cuts out all six at once; when I made my butterfly card a couple of days ago, I stamped and die cut all six images so I had three more left over after that card.  So I thought I'd use one of them for this card, thanks to the Inspired By Nature challenge:

No bunny on my card, but I chose that patterned paper on Crumb Cake as a nod to the bunny in the inspo pic.  I used Orchid Oasis with some So Saffron highlights for the butterfly.  I also used the sketch:

My card came together super fast and now I have a pretty spring creation to send out soon.  I've been sending cards to two friends who are undergoing treatment for breast cancer; one of them messaged me yesterday with a picture--she'd taken several cards I had sent her and put them in a collage frame and it's hanging up in her house.  I know my other friend puts hers up on her mantle so she can see them every day.  And it gives me the warm fuzzies to know that my cards help brighten up their days a bit when they're going through treatment, so I will continue to send those out every week.

Have a great Easter weekend if you celebrate, peeps!  (And have a great weekend even if you don't celebrate Easter...that chocolate candy still tastes good, ha!)

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Beautiful Thistle
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Orchid Oasis, So Saffron, Night of Navy
Paper:  Orchid Oasis, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Crumb Cake DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Brilliant Wings dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, retired Share What You Love Artisan Pearls

Dreamy Butterflies

Mornin'  y'all!  I had a lovely lunch yesterday with my friend Krissy and gave her the dinosaur picture I framed for her.  She was just as excited about it as I thought she would be and said it will go in a place of honor in her office when she moves house.  Yay!  When I got home, I had just enough time to make a couple of cards but not to do any laundry, strange how that happened.  Anyway, here's my card for today:

I love Butterfly Brilliance and its accompanying dies, but I hadn't used them in a long time--since last July!  Now they're on the retiring list but they'll always have a home in my craft room.  I was inspired by the umbrellas in the top right of the Hand-Stamped Sentiments challenge graphic:

I do love the tulips in the lower left, too, but that's for another time.  For today's card, I chose a Balmy Blue pattern for a sky, and then chose colors from the umbrellas in the picture:  Magenta Madness, Mango Melody (which doesn't look as orangey as I thought it should, but one of my (already retired) Blends is a bit dried out), and Rich Razzleberry.  The butterflies and sentiment are all stamped with Night of Navy ink.

Say hello to the Sunday Stamps sketch:

Seems like it's been very popular, I feel like I've been seeing cards made with this sketch all over for the past few days.  And it is a fun one!

Okay, I should probably chuck the towels in the washer and let it do its thing while I work in my craft room today.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Stepping Stones
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Magenta Madness, Mango Melody, Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Regency Park DSP Stack
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Opaque Gems, white baker's twine, Dimensionals

Tropical Butterflies

Happy Friday y'all, and for those of you in America, I wish you a lovely (and safe) holiday weekend.  In the meantime, I have a summery card to share.

I had some fun yesterday coloring up these tropical butterflies : ). Check out the Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch:

And the Global Design Project colors:

I admit, my first thought was to use the leaves in Artfully Layered because I love it so much, but then Butterfly Brilliance caught my eye and I had to go with the butterflies this time instead.

Better get moving and finish packing for our weekend adventure.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Tahitian Tide, Daffodil Delight, Parakeet Party, and Gray Granite
Paper:  Parakeet Party, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Parakeet Party & Tahitian Tide DSP
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, In Color Matte Dots

Sympathy Butterflies

Mornin' y'all.  It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, and Ryan is home from daycare *again* (possible Covid exposure...again) so I'd better hurry up and write this post so we can go ride bikes : )

Unfortunately I have to send out a sympathy card today; my friend lost her mother this week.

I always hate making sympathy cards, but I do think this one turned out pretty.  I used the Simply Marbleous DSP from the most recent Sale-a-Bration for the card front (it's adhered on a Thick Basic White card base).  I like the marble patterns pretty well, but I really hate the silky ones on the other side so I will almost certainly never use those :p  They're so mid-90s, and not in a good way.

This week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I thought these soft colors would be good for a sympathy card.  I stamped the butterflies with Basic Gray + Versamark and embossed with clear EP so I could watercolor them.  I tried doing Stampin' Blends markers and the colors were just too bold for what I was going for here.  I used Rococo Rose, Soft Succulent, Wisteria Wonder, and Misty Moonlight, plus Basic Gray for the butterflies.

Have a good weekend, peeps.  I'd better finalize plans with the Easter bunny....

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Special Moments
Ink:  Versamark, Basic Gray, Misty Moonlight, Rococo Rose, Soft Succulent, Wisteria Wonder
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Misty Moonlight, Basic Gray, Simply Marbleous DSP Stack
Accessories:  clear EP, Brilliant Wings dies, Dimensionals

Butterfly Beginning

Mornin' y'all!  Alas, I did not get to sleep in this morning, because I have a 4-year-old who rousted me and the hubs out of bed at 6:45 this morning.  When said 4-year-old is a teenager, I am 100% going to wake him up early every Saturday when he'd rather sleep till noon.

Anyway!  I made another card on my day off on Wednesday that I have to share before challenges expire.

I used the Color Throwdown challenge for my colors:

Misty Moonlight, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, and a mix of dark Pale Papaya/light Pumpkin Pie blends for the butterfly.  That's a gorgeous inspiration pic too.

I had another go at this week's Freshly Made Sketch too:

My squares are much larger than the original sketch because that's the size of the stamps in Watercolor Shapes.  You might have skipped right over that set in the catalog, but I enjoy finding ways to use it for sketches like this :)

Alas, my tea mug is empty, so I must go and replenish it.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Watercolor Shapes, In Your Words
Ink:  Misty Moonlight, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Stampin' Blends in Pale Papaya, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Butterfly Calypso

Thank goodness for a couple challenges that stay open longer than a week!  I had my eye on a sketch challenge and a color challenge last week and I thought I wouldn't get to play along, but I stole some time in my craft room on Sunday.  Good thing, too, because I've worked every day this week...but I have tomorrow off, so long as no more eleventh hour presidential orders come out :p  Anyway, today I have butterflies.

This is actually my second attempt at this card; the first one just wasn't doing it for me and I had to give it a second go because I liked the challenges so much.  I moved around what colors went where and I like this version better.  Here's the original:

I thought the white card base would make the card feel light and airy, and it just didn't work as well for me.  I also changed up what stamp I used on the Just Jade strip.

Check out the Hand-Stamped Sentiments color challenge:

I love me some Just Jade so I'm glad I got to play along with this challenge.  I paired it with the Try Stamping on Tuesday sketch:

I love the Butterfly Brilliance bundle, but since the stamp set is one big stamp with six butterflies, I now have quite a pile of extras sitting on my bookshelf.  They'll get used eventually I suppose.

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Sweet Strawberry
Ink:  Bumblebee, Calypso Coral, Just Jade
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Just Jade, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Ornate Frames dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Guest Designer...Radical!

Hey hey, y'all!  Fun news for today...my sympathy card was chosen as the winner of that week's Color Throwdown challenge, which means I get to be a guest designer today!

And here is the super-radical color palette for this week:

I won't lie, these colors immediately scream EIGHTIES to me and I love it :) I used Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, and Basic Black, with the addition of Smoky Slate for my background to make this:

I hadn't used Butterfly Brilliance recently and what's more fun and colorful than butterflies?  I was going to do colored embossing powder on black cardstock but I decided to go for white EP on colored cardstock instead, maybe I'll try the other way 'round if I get a minute this week.

I also used the Sunday Stamps sketch for this week:

Such a fun sketch, I like it!

Hope you join in the fun at Color Throwdown this week!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Stacked Stone, All Things Fabulous
Ink:  Versamark, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  White EP, Clear EP, Brilliant Wings dies, Dimensionals, retired Glitter Enamel Dots

Butterfly Bijou Thanks

Mornin' y'all and happy Friday!!!  I just had a virtual meeting to do (yet more) paperwork for my new job and I start on Monday!  Good thing the babysitter is ready to take Ryan starting Monday, too.  I'm hoping that if we get Ryan in full-time care and I work part-time, I'll have a chance to work in my craft room some and also keep the house a bit cleaner.

So!  Today I have the rest of the butterfly cards I made last weekend.

These two are the butterflies stamped on patterned paper with Gorgeous Grape ink; the backgrounds on them are actually the same sheet of Butterfly Bijou DSP--it's much more Calypso Coral on one side of the pattern than the other.

And here are the two butterflies that were die cut from the DSP so already colorful and beautiful and I'm a little annoyed that the Butterfly Bijou paper isn't going to be in the next catalog because I love it and I might need to get more of it because I'm a paper hoarder.  Anyway, for these two I just picked some of the watercolor patterns I thought looked good with the butterflies.  Lots of great patterns in that stack.

If the weather is nice, we're planning to explore more castle ruins and go hiking again.  There's a TON of castle ruins around here, they're practically a dime a dozen ;)  But the hiking helps Ryan get some energy out and it's nice to be outside for a bit.  This part of Germany is beautiful and it's a region I bet most tourists don't venture into much.  Not that tourists get to go anywhere right now :p

Have a great weekend, peeps!

Supplies, first picture:
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Thick Basic White, Butterfly Bijou DSP Stack
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, second picture:
Stamps:  Peaceful Wishes
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Just Jade, Thick Basic White, Butterfly Bijou DSP Stack
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Dimensionals

Bevy of Butterflies

 Mornin', y'all!  Ready for Day 2 of Butterfly Brilliance?

The DSP butterflies are on the left, stamped on DSP butterflies on the right.  I tried using the blending brushes for a soft background and I think I need to hunt up some videos on using those--the backgrounds are okay, I guess, but I think I need more practice or a better technique.  I kept the cards super simple since I wanted to use multiple butterflies, so just the die cuts, the soft background, and a few of enamel dots.  Flat and easy to mail, bonus.

Anyway, the three kinds of cards I seem to use the most are thank you, birthday, and thinking of you--yesterday was thinking of you, today is birthday, so guess what kind of butterfly cards are in the future this week ;) I used Peaceful Moments for the sentiments on all the cards because I thought the fonts in that stamp set were a good stylistic match for these beautiful butterflies.

Don't forget to post your SKY HIGH creations on the SUO Challenges blog!

Supplies, left card:
Stamps:  Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, So Saffron
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Butterfly Bijou DSP Stack
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, In Color Enamel Dots

Supplies, right card:
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Butterfly Bijou DSP Stack
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Happy Days Enamel Dots (retired)

SUO Challenges: Sky High

 Good morning stampy friends!  It is time for a brand new challenge at SUO Challenges!

 
This time our theme is SKY HIGH, which is also the name of one of my favorite movies :)  So this is your chance to make a card featuring anything that flies!  As it happens, Stampin' Up! is releasing a brand-new butterfly bundle starting tomorrow that will be available in the next annual catalog.  I pre-ordered it as soon as I saw it and I love it and I had to use it for this challenge!

Aren't they pretty???  This new stamp set reminds me so much of Wonderful Wings, which I bought very early in my stamping career.  Okay, so the Butterfly Brilliance stamp set is just ONE stamp that has six butterflies, and the matching dies have one big die that cuts out all six butterflies at once.  AND the coordinating Butterfly Bijou 6x6 paper has a sheet that you can cut out with that same die.  I stamped the butterflies on a colorwash pattern (bottom card, the colorwash doesn't show up very well in the photo), then I die cut those and die cut the DSP ones too.  In like three minutes I had twelve butterflies to play with, which is why I have nine cards to share this week ;) (Eight are butterfly cards, one is something else!).  In addition to that one big die, the Brilliant Wings dies have some other lovely shapes to use on their own--I'm sure you'll be seeing LOTS of brilliant butterfly creations in the coming weeks, whether from me or someone else.  Still hoping I can get Ryan in childcare soon so I have some time in my craft room.

Anyway, since I had six stamped butterflies and the six pretty ones from the patterned paper, I decided to make pairs of cards with them--in this set, the top card is all patterned paper (well, other than the sentiment), and the bottom card is the butterfly I stamped with Gorgeous Grape ink.  I had some fun playing with several of the patterns in the Butterfly Bijou stack so you'll see those later this week.

In the meantime, make your own Sky High project and share it at the SUO Challenges blog.  Can't wait to see your beautiful creations, whether they're butterflies or birds...or superheroes ;)

Supplies, top card:
Stamps:  Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Just Jade
Paper:  Just Jade, Thick Basic White, Butterfly Bijou DSP Stack
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Sweet Shapes dies, Dimensionals, retired Iridescent Sequins

Supplies, bottom card:
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Gorgeous Grape, Thick Basic White, Butterfly Bijou DSP Stack
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Sweet Shapes dies, Dimensionals, retired Iridescent Sequins