Into the Woods with a Watercolor Butterfly

The soon-to-arrive Into The Woods DSP (available beginning September 1st) is a great collection of bright fall bouquets, flowering vines and leaves, along with two wood grain backgrounds and plenty of acorns.  Here is just a tiny sliver of one of the vine designs:

I saw a version of this card on splitcoast stampers, and loved the color combo on the butterfly.  Making a few changes, I used the Into the Woods DSP, together with a pattern from my stash on top.
The gorgeous Mellow Moss stitched satin ribbon is still available ON SALE at 60% OFF in the clearance rack.  This style is so pretty, I can't believe what a great deal it is, but it's only while supplies last.

The butterfly is the larger image set from Watercolor Wings.  I used Tempting Turquoise, Calypso Coral, and Daffodil Delight for the wings, and Old Olive for the body.  If you look closely, however, you'll notice that there is some bright green in the butterfly's wings as well.  This is because the yellow overlaps the blue.

To get this effect, ink up the large "flat" wing image with Daffodil Delight.  Take a damp Q-tip and wipe a little ink off just the edges before stamping.  Otherwise, the edges of the wings will be all green.

You may stamp any of the stamps first, it doesn't really matter; but I found it easiest to line them up when I started with the darker colors.

I added a bit of Tangerine Tango ribbon to give a little splash of color in balance to the butterfly.  Wait--yes, the butterfly was done in Calypso Coral, which is a bit redder, but with the Daffodil Delight added on top, it brightened the orange enough to where it didn't match the Calypso Coral ribbons, so I went a shade brighter.

I cut the butterfly out using the Big Shot with the Bold Butterflies framelits--the larger one for the stamped image, and the smaller one for the overlay, which is cut out of Old Olive cardstock.

The sentiment is from the Endless Birthday Wishes Stamp Set.

Holiday Mini Preview--Acorny Thank You

I have not had enough time to play with my new toys from the Holiday Mini, but it is full of so many great stamp sets, dies, papers and accessories perfect for fall and winter.  Here is my first new card:
The Holiday Mini items will be available starting September 1st.

 Using the brand new Acorny Thank You set together with the Vintage Leaves new in this year's catalog, I made this fun card for Thanksgiving.

  The colors are Wild Wasabi, Hello Honey and Cajun Craze.  The Cajun Craze polka-dot ribbon is long since retired, but can substitute the Hello Honey washi tape from the Bohemian Designer Washi Tape group if you don't have any other ribbon you like.

  The gold thread is new in the Holiday Catalog--it is called Cording Trim, and is much thicker than the metallic thread in the annual catalog.  It's very nice, and comes in gold and silver.








 



I used a some gold sequins I had in my stash, and noticed that the tiny centers were in the bag, so I sprinkled a few of those on the card as well, using my "how to glue tiny objects" technique shown in this video (go to 6:25 for the technique.)

The acorn is popped up on dimensionals over the Cajun Craze/Very Vanilla rectangle, and that in turn is popped up as well.  The thread is stuck down with two or three glue dots and wound around in random loops.  The dimensionals also help hold the thread in place. 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

A Summer Bouquet

The Sprinkles of Life stamp set is hugely versatile, and has so many possibilities!  Today I have used the flower bunch and the cupcake bottom stamps to make a basket of flowers.  The mojo sketch seems to have taken up residence in my brain, because when I thought of making a basket of flowers, I immediately pictured it in this layout, which is just a slight variation of this week's Mojo.

www.mojomonday.com

Even tho' it's a "tall" sketch, I made the card to the standard A2 measures. 

I wanted to use my Two-Tone Trim in Tangerine Tango and Whisper White for the handle of the basket.
I love the orange for a bright, summery color, but the heat we've been having lately has made me in the mood for cool tones--thus the Pool Party and Lost Lagoon.

Of course, orange and blue are complimentary colors, so this works quite well.  I like the emphasis the orange makes in the flowers and basket.  The layout spotlights them, but the colors really make them pop. 

I stamped the images in Stazon, trying to keep the outlines of the flowers as light as I could.  I used Pear Pizzazz, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Real Red and Daffodil delight for the floral arrangement.  I used Tangerine Tango, Pool Party and So Saffron for the basket.

Ok--why not just use all Tangerine Tango? I found that the flowers came out too dark.  The Pumpkin Pie kept them a bit brighter.  Now, these two oranges are not simply a lighter & darker shade of each-other.  The Tang-tang has a lot more red in it.  But, you can cheat a lot when you're dealing with depictions of flowers or plants, and with differences in texture, like paper vs. ribbon.  You might not even have noticed that the color of the flowers doesn't match that of the twine.  I did use Tang-tang ink for the sentiment, but layered it onto a Pumpkin Pie flag.  Again, a lighter color just looked better and more balanced. I can get away with this here, because the two oranges already appear in the design, and the sentiment is in small lettering.  Same with the Garden Green vs. the Pear Pizzazz.  These two greens do not normally match, one being cool and one warm.  However, in a floral arrangement, they play very nicely together.

The Ultimate Color Challenge

Many of you enjoy doing card challenges.  Participants might be given a layout sketch, a theme, or a collection of colors to work from, and they make a card with those elements.  It is great fun seeing what everyone comes up with. 

I  happened to Google "color challenge," and to my delight, I found this fun little test by X-Rite, a color manufacturer.  It is scored from zero to 100, with a LOW score being better than a high score.  I scored 4 on my first try, which maybe should have pleased me, but I had to try again and got a perfect score.  Yeay!

Try for yourself!  Click the link below; post your score in the comments.
Ultimate Color Challenge

image from www.designbloom.com

 

Friends in the Garden

Have you seen the English Garden designer series paper yet?  It's so pretty, and the color combinations are super.  I can easily see cards for spring, summer, or fall from the various sheets.

This week's Mojo Monday sketch calls for tall & skinny, and it just so happens that I found a stack of extra-long greeting cards envelopes in a drawer.  They measure 4-1/4" x 7-1/4", so I made my card just 1/8" shy of that in each direction.

Here is this week's sketch, and here is my take on it: 

Did I mention how pretty the English Garden DSP is?



The stamp set is called Friendly Wishes, and the butterfly is from what is probably the most "go-to" set I own, Papillon Potpourri.  It's so great when you want to add a little accent...












You could do this card with more or less layering.  I like the Blushing Bride layers under the Whisper White areas; this card would also work with Not Quite Navy as a card base and layers, or double layers with both colors.  You could also choose to pull out the Hello Honey and Mint Macaron, or  substitute with Bermuda Bay; or go with Honey and Old Olive for a more autumny feel.  So many great possibilities.

Supplies List: 

Paper Pumpkin on Sale!!

I have been having so much fun with my Paper Pumpkin, I am very happy to let you know it is on sale again for first time subscribers.

What is it? 
Paper Pumpkin is a cute little kit that comes to you once a month to brighten your day.
Inside, you'll find a craft project with everything you need* to complete it:

• An exclusive (and always very cute) stamp set
• A small square ink pad (sometimes two!) color guaranteed not to repeat for 12 months
• Project bases (often greeting card stock, but you never know!)
• Die cuts, stickers, embellishments such as buttons and ribbons and more
• Adhesive strips, glue dots, dimensionals
• Easy instructions for the project 
• Your first kit comes with a size D acrylic block for all your future stamping

                      (*sometimes you will need your own scissors and/or snail tape)

The things I love about Paper Pumpkin:

• Quality--the papers, die cuts and stickers included are of extra thick card-stock.  The last kit also included embellishments made of a beautiful wood veneer, which made the projects look so rich!  Everyone I've shown my kits to agrees that the quality is impressive.
  
• Excellence of Design--the projects are well-thought out by the Stampin' Up! designers, and made to be easy to put together.
• Stamp Set--the exclusive stamp sets are so cute, have sayings and images that will be very useful for future projects.
• The Value--Paper Pumpkin is only $19.95, including shipping.  If you estimate the individual cost of all the items you get, you are easily coming out ahead every time!
• A Great Jump-start to Creativity--I usually put together one project as shown, and then enjoy doing the next in a different way.  The kit is a great "prompt" to get my creative juices flowing.
• The Anticipation--I just love knowing that I'm about to get a present in the mailbox, just for me. It's so much fun. And the Paper Pumpkin comes beautifully wrapped inside in blue tissue paper like a gift from Tiffany's.  It makes it so much fun to open!

A great bonus for Paper Pumpkin subscribers is all the OTHER Paper pumpkin subscribers who love to post alternate projects on Pinterest, YouTube and other places.  You can get so many ideas for cards, scrapbook pages, and other projects from the on-line crafting community.

Here is my example for an alternate look for the July project, and a card using the stamp set from the May kit.  Look here for ideas from the wider Stampin' Up! community.

My Alternate card from the June Paper Pumpkin kit

To order your Paper Pumpkin, click here, or the Paper Pumpkin button on the banner at the top of this blog. 
If you have never tried a Paper Pumpkin before, use the promo code "HALFOFF" . 
The price will magically change from $19.95 to just $9.98 for your first two kits. (You will not be billed until each kit ships.)  After that, you can continue at the regular price.

Minty Monday Morning

There's a pretty card posted on the Stampin' Up! home page by Holly Stene that I've been staring at all week, so today it served as inspiration for my Mojo sketch challenge, and lent itself superbly to a "step-it-up" demonstration. (Video Tutorial below)

Here is the "sweet and simple" version:
Layered on Whisper White, I used two Mint Macaron patterns from the 2015-17 In Color DSP Stack.  I had to cut the stripes diagonally from the page, since they are printed at a 45 degree angle.  Quick, easy, very nice.  The die cut is from "hello You" thinlits, and the sentiment is from Cottage Greetings.








Now, if you want to add just a little bit of contrast to a very serene look, trim your papers just a tiny bit, and layer the whole thing onto a Sahara Sand cardbase, as shown below.












Punch out a 2-1/2" circle in Sahara Sand, and layer that under your main circle.  Stamp the sentiment in Tip Top Taupe (wait--why not Sahara Sand? You could, but Tip Top Taupe is a darker shade of the same color, which makes it pop just a tiny bit, and makes it easier to read.  Whenever I have a fine or small font, I always try to go a shade darker with the ink.)

Beautiful, just a little bit more eye-catching, and still serene and simple.


Finally, here is the full-out Mojo version.  Mint Macaron goes so well with just about any earth tone.  I had a hard time deciding between Crumb Cake, Smokey Slate, Silver (included in the Neutrals pack;) the darker browns and greys look very nice with it as well, but I wanted light and soft for this card.

I also went back and forth as to whether I wanted a Taupe sentiment over a Mint Flag, or a Mint sentiment over a Taupe Flag.  Both look great.


Tutorial and Supplies list are below.
Happy Crafting!
Gosia









this card was also posted on 
Mojo Monday
Card Mania Challenges,
Split Coast Stampers