Butterfly Hello Card

Hello and Welcome!

I had a lot of fun playing with many different products to make this card, and love how they all worked so well together.

I stamped the butterfly on watercolor paper and colored it (and the background) with Tim Holtz Bright Crayons. Love this type of finger painting for adults. I then matted it on black cardstock. I was also inspired to create a flower garden for my butterfly by the fun floral challenge at Cheery Lynn. The flowers are layered Cheery Lynn "Sunflower" die-cuts and the swirls are Cheery Lynn "Add A Flourish" dies. I added Crayons to the flowers for more depth and interest.


I wanted the white background to stand out more, so I added some texture with Ellen Hutson's "Bokeh Dots" stamps and clear embossing powder. (See detail.)


I finished the card with the Papertrey Ink "Hello" die-cut, and added Glossy Accents to the sentiment and butterfly's body.

This card is entered in:

• Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 227

• Ellen Hutson's April Pin-Sights Challenge

• The "Butterfly Beauty" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Make It Girlie" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• Your Next Stamp Color Challenge #37

• The April Diva Inspirations Challenge at Verve Stamp

-june

Bringing Home the Gold Layout

Hello and Welcome!

Our family is really excited about FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) right now. My son is on an amazing team - Talon 2502.  So fun to see Aaron grow by leaps and bounds, and taking us with him. The following layout is him receiving not one, but TWO of the highest awards at the Minnesota regional tournament:

I wanted to show the celebration and excitement of the thousands of people cheering this team's wins, and Imaginisce's papers were just the ticket. I used their Parrrty Me Hearty, Buried Treasure for the background, which really captures the controlled chaos and the gold themes. I also used Imaginisce's Let's Pretend and Scooter's Vacation lines for the layers behind the photos. This layout is based on a sketch from Imaginisce. The letter stickers are by Dear Lizzy and Elle's Studio. The stars were created with die-cuts from CAS-ual Friday. The enamel stickers are by Paper House. I also used a large gold vellum circle.

This layout is entered in:

• The April Sketch Challenge at Imaginisce

• The Clique Kits April Challenge

• The April Anything But A Card Challenge at Sweet Stamps

If you don't know about robotics in your local schools, go to www.firstinspires.org and watch a 3 minute video. You will be amazed at what high schoolers can do with a bag of parts and 6 weeks. You will feel excited and proud at what this generation of kids can do.
-june

Giant Butterfly Card

Hello and Welcome!

This card is bursting with techniques. First, here is the card:

The background was created using the packaging technique with Distress Inks (Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade and Mermaid Lagoon) and water on watercolor paper. The sentiment is a stamp by My Favorite Things (Celebrate Big set) and heat embossed. The panel was die-cut with the stitched rectangle from Simon Says Stamp.

For the butterfly, I started with Ranger alcohol inks on acetate, then die-cut and embossed the Hero Arts Large Butterfly from the colored acetate, and die-cut a second butterfly from white cardstock. I layered the acetate butterfly on top of the white paper butterfly, added a large Hero Arts gem, and attached them to my watercolored panel.

This card is entered in:

• The Work It Wednesday Pastel Challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Butterfly Beauty" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Make It Girlie" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• Color Challenge 43 at MFT Card Challenges

• Your Next Stamp Color Challenge #37

• The April "Watercoloring" Challenge at a2z Scrapbooking

• The April Diva Inspirations Challenge at Verve Stamps

Thanks for stopping. Hope you are inspired to pull out those alcohol inks and acetate.
-june

Love To Read Layout

Hello and Welcome!

Aaron is an avid reader and loves reading almost as much as video games. I wanted to document this by creating this page:

This layout is based on a sketch over at Paper Issues. I was also inspired by Kelly's mood board with the colors and row of bunnies that looked like the row of books. I used mostly October Afternoon products. I really like the titles on the books and the cute fox on the journaling card, so I incorporated them into the design.

This layout is entered in:

• The "Let's Do the Polka" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• Kelly's April Mood Board Challenge at Creating With Paper & More

• Rochelle's April This or That Challenge

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Going To Robotics World Championship

Hello and Welcome!

We are so excited!! This is our son's first year with the High School robotics team, and they were on the winning alliance at their tournament and will be going to the World Championship. Plus they won the Engineering Inspiration award, which also qualifies them for Worlds! We are still in shock. Here is the layout I did of his team:

I used mostly Kaisercraft products from their Off The Wall line. Love how the colors, design and embellishments work so well with this robotics-themed page. I did add a few metal gears (including some actual gears from the robot), silver embossing paste with a  Tim Holtz clock stencil, silver & red thread, and sequin stars. This page is based on a sketch from Kaisercraft.

This layout is entered in:

• The Kaisercraft April Sketch Challenge

• The "Let's Do the Polka" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The Clique Kits April Challenge

• April's Anything But a Card challenge at Sweet Stamps

-june

Happy Birthday Technique Card

Hello & Welcome!

Today's card is loaded with techniques. I usually have a good idea of what I want a card to look like before I start, but this card sorta "evolved." Here is the overall card:

I started with Winnie & Walter's "Leaf Effects" stencil and inspiration from Shay's Day 1 card of W&W's Share The Love Challenge. I liked the white on white, so I applied Faber-Castell's Glass Bead Glitter Gel. This stencil and gel are so pretty together with the textures, shapes and beautiful sparkle. (Truthfully, I did this panel several days ago and didn't want to put anything else on it. It just sat on my desk for me to enjoy.)

Next, after seeing Mou's challenge inspiration at Faber-Castell's blog, I wanted an image that could be colored with Gelatos. When I saw Designs By Ryn's "Hummingbird," I knew that was the one. Hummingbirds have that iridescent look, so I thought "Oh yeah! Color it with metallic Gelatos!" I stamped the Hummingbird with Versafine and heat embossed it with Sweet Stamp's clear powder on Ranger watercolor paper. Sometimes Gelatos mute black ink, so I created a resist to keep all the beautiful details in this stamp sharp. I colored over the image with Faber-Castell's Margarita, Snow Cone, Green Tea, Butterscotch, Metallic Mint & Metallic Blueberry Gelatos, then blended and smoothed them out with a water brush and fussy cut. The results are so vivid and shimmery.

The sentiment was the next challenge. I wanted a dark black sentiment on vellum. The trouble I've been having is Stazon is not dark enough and the dark inks don't dry on vellum (plus, my clear embossing powder dulls the image on vellum). So I tried Ranger's black embossing powder with my Winnie & Walter's "The Big, The Bold and The Happy" stamps. We all know the difficulties of using black powder, but vellum is less "sticky" than paper and I had no problems! Hooray! I've got my new "go to" method for stamping black on vellum.


It was also a little tricky attaching my images to the gel medium. Neither my Tombow Mono nor tape runner nor Ranger Matt Medium worked. So I tried Tombow Xtreme tape, and yep, that did the trick.  Plus you can't see the tape behind the vellum. Hooray again!

I finished this card off with a few Lucy sequins.

This card is entered in:

• Winnie & Walter's "Share the Love, Day 1" challenge

• April's "Take the Challenge with Mou" at Faber-Castell

• The April Customer Creation Challenge at Designs by Ryn

• The "Try to Resist" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Happy Birthday" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping.  Hope you find some of my tips helpful.
-june

Hello Summer Card

Hello and Welcome!

I am having so much fun playing with Winnie & Walter products! I was really inspired by Lydia's card on Day 3 of Winnie & Walter's Share the Love challenge. I was also inspired by Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge of using a resist. Here is what I came up with:

I loved the coral, leaf, birdie background of Lydia's example card. I don't have the leaf Cutaway yet, but I do have the W&W "Leaf Effects" Creative Screen. So I used tiny flower stamps with Versamark and Stampendous white embossing powder, and then taped W&W's stencil on top and misted Heidi Swapp's peach & coral Color Shine. I then die-cut the panel with Simon Says Stamp's "Bundle Of Stitched Shapes" to get the nice stitched border.

Next, I stamped the bird and branch from Winnie & Walter's "Happiest of Holidays" stamp set, and colored them with Zig Clean Color markers on watercolor paper. The sentiment is from W&W's "The Big, The Bold and The Fun" set. The double scalloped edge is a punch by Martha Stewart. The pattern paper is by Graphic 45. I finished this card off with some silver thread. This card is based on the sketch at Mojo Monday.

This card is entered in:

• Winnie & Walter's Share the Love, Day 3 challenge

•  Mojo Monday 442

• The "Try to Resist" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

-june

Think Spring Card

Hello and Welcome!

Winnie & Walter and Pinkfresh Studio are doing a joint event and the results are stunning. These 2 companies products work so well together. The event is called:

The W&W blog is hosting several challenges, and you know me, I just have to join it the fun. I was really inspired by Kate's design on Day 5. Here is my spin on her design:

I used Pinkfresh Studio's "Felicity" wood veneer and sticker. The sentiment is from Winnie & Walter's "The Big, The Bold and The Seasons" Cut Aways. The flowers are Winnie & Walter's "Anna's Flora," which were masked, colored with Zig Clean Color markers, and embellished with gold Stickles added to the centers. The heart is a die-cut from Simon Says Stamp's "Bundle Of Stitched Shapes." I am also using Hambly Studio's orange dots printed on acetate.

This card is entered in:

•  Winnie & Walter's Share the Love, Day 5 challenge

• The "We Can See Clearly" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Hello Spring Card

Hello and Welcome!

Winnie & Walter and Pinkfresh Studio are combining forces and doing "Share the Love" week on the W&W blog.

 I was so inspired by Vanessa's card design on Day 2, I just had to play along. Here is my take on her card:

I used Pinkfresh Studio's "Felicity" and "Happy Things" lines for the papers and wood veneer. I fussy cut the bird. The Sentiment is from Winnie & Walter's "The Big, The Bold and The Seasons" Cut Aways and "The Big, The Bold and The Happy" stamp set. To finish it off, I stitched the border with Simon Says Stamp's "Bundle Of Stitched Shapes," and added Pretty Pink Posh sequins and an acetate flower.

This card is entered in:

• Winnie & Walter's Share the Love, Day 2 challenge 

• The "We Can See Clearly" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by,
-june