Best of Butterflies

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
Rabindranath Tagore

Who doesn’t love butterflies?  I think most everyone would agree that butterflies are one of God’s most beautiful creations!  That’s why I just adore April’s Best of Butterflies stamp set! 

I made a few clean and simple cards with this stamp set (another one is not pictured yet – I’ll show it another day).

This is so simple – I just stamped the butterfly and added a sentiment!  It can’t get any easier!

And this is just a little note card – I thought I’d try making one of these – I saw a similar idea from Penny Smiley and thought I would try it with my butterflies and scallop trim border punch. 

I think that more intricate butterfly is begging to be colored, don’t you?  I think I will have to do that soon and see how it turns out!

Stamps:  Best of Butterflies, Blowing Wishes Your Way, Jots & thoughts (MPP try it kit)

Ink:  Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Primrose Petals, Rasberry Ripple

Paper:  Marina Mist, Whisper White

Accessories:  Scallop Trim punch, Itty Bitty Banners framelits

My Paper Pumpkin Challenge–MPC0513

I am a lover of the new Paper Pumpkin kits!  I love to play with my kits and use what I have around to create something interesting with them – they are great inspiration for those evenings when I am so tired and don’t really want to think, but they also allow me to create my own version.  I’m also a new follower of the My Paper Pumpkin Challenge blog!  Yay for Jessica and her crew! 

I am using this picture from Rachel Tessman, because it is so nice and neat!  This month I loved the colors – they are great guy colors and guy combos are sometimes hard to come by!  I even liked the stamps, although I chose not to use them for these cards (I had the new photopolymer stamps to play with!)

So, I love these sentiments from One in a Million and thought they were perfect for the two piece stickers.  I probably should have gotten out the stamp-a-ma-jig, but….I didn’t!

Funny thing about this card – I cased this idea from a demo on Stampin’ Connection, our demonstrator forum and idea website.  When I went to take a picture, I turned it on its side and suddenly thought I made it upside down!  Then I remembered I meant for it to be a portrait card and not landscape!  Blonde moment!

So, since these cards seemed like really great guy cards, I used my new photopolymer stamps on them!  I have a few guys in mind for these cards – aren’t they just too funny?  Also, the new basic black ink pads are working great now, so you can feel free to purchase them again!!!!

To make the patterned piece look like notebook paper, I punched holes in it with my crop-a-dile and tore from the holes to the edge with my paper piercer.  Easy peasy!  I tried markers on this bomb – probably would look better on white, but overall okay.  I am going to have to work on my stamping with the bomb – it’s a little smudgy so far with the black on the birthday.  Otherwise, I am pleased with the results of the photopolymer stamps.  In fact, I’m probably going to buy the new stamp sets and the online class that is being offered by Stampin’ Up!

I couldn’t waste my last few pieces, so I used a few scraps to make one last card – I took the lace tape, a sponge dauber, and some Cherry Cobbler ink to color the tape.  The rest of that sentiment is on the inside.

May’s kit will ship out on the 10th.  Get it now!!!!

Stamps:  Bombs Away Birthday, One in a Million

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight

Paper:  Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake

Accessories:  My Paper Pumpkin April kit, Lace tape, Baja Breeze grosgrain ribbon, Crop-a-dile, Paper Piercer

Pinwheel Pages

We recently made these two scrapbook pages for our layout for a club meeting.  I used the pinwheel sizzlet from the Spring Catalogue to create the pinwheels.  The pre-punched holes made it a breeze to add a brad in the center!

I love the look of Midnight Muse and Pool Party paired together – I paired the two butterfly punches and a stamp from Sale-a-Bration to make that butterfly pop.

Finally, here I what the page looks like when you put the two sides together.  I love how the sentiment pops and really shows up with the Pool Party Embossing Powder!  So vivid!

Stamps:  Bloomin’ Marvelous

Ink:  VersaMark

Paper:  Soft Suede, Midnight Muse, Comfort Café DSP, Very Vanilla

Accessories:  Brads, Vintage brads, Butterfly and small butterfly punches, Apothecary Accents framelits, Pool Party embossing powder

April Scrapbook Pages

I really love the way the pages for this month turned out!  I used the Everything Eleanor stamp set to create these pages and they were really just absolutely perfect for this album!  I cut borders using the Border Trim die cut and my Big Shot.  The rest of the page was literally stamped and fussy cut with scissors!

Well, I guess I did use the 2 3/8” scallop circle punch for the journaling spot.

Just look at how lovely those flowers look in Cajun Craze and More Mustard!  They fit perfectly on that flourish.

And here is the finished project altogether.  Tada!

Stamps:  Everything Eleanor

Ink:  Midnight Muse, More Mustard, Cajun Craze

Paper:  Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Pool Party

Accessories:  Border Trim diecut, 2 3/8” scallop circle punch

Special Delivery

I made this card recently for our club meeting.  This card packs a powerful punch without taking a huge amount of effort to make it look good! 

The two hardest steps to this card were coloring the airplane stamp with markers and cutting out the Pool Party arrow.  I think I can handle that!!

Remember, these Sent with Love stamps and designer series papers are only available through the end of the month!

Stamps:  Sent With Love

Ink:  Real Red, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Island Indigo

Paper:  Island Indigo, Whisper White, Sent with Love DSP

Accessories:  Pool Party button (SAB), Calypso Coral Baker’s Twine

April Showers bring May Flowers!

So, I’m gonna’ be honest, no April showers were required to make this darling little project!  But a significant amount of chocolate was consumed in checking the consistency of the project!    Just kidding!

Look how sweet and easy peasy this project is!  Only 3 ingredients – chocolate (LOVE!), paper, and the blossom punch!!

I punched 3 blossom punches for this – one in Pink Pirouette, one in Regal Rose, and one in Certainly Celery.  I just cut two petals out of the Celery flower to use as leaves. 

Are these not just great little thank yous for the end of the year!?  Only 19 school days left!!!  Yippee!!!!

Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Regal Rose DSP

Accessories:  Blossom punch

Guest Designer: Carol Manning–Best of Butterflies

Carol, my lovely downline, has shared some gorgeous cards with us today.  Well, actually, she sent these to me the other day, but it has been a bit of a whirlwind week!  So, without further adue, here are some outstanding butterfly cards!

Carol has this to say about her cards:

I used Melon Mambo and Rose Red card stock.  My ink color were Melon Mambo, Rose Red, River Rock and Not Quite Navy.  I was inspired by some that I saw on the internet but changed them a bit.   I am into making my own dsp after I purchased some  1 Sheet Wonder tutorials.  I used the color coach to determine the colors.  Hope you like them.

Carol has been busy making some beautiful cards as you can see!  I just bought this stamp set and can’t wait to try it out!  I love the butterfly embossing holder behind the image, too!

Oh, look at this ribbon on here!  I evidently have missed this ribbon in the catalogue – isn’t it gorgeous!  I love the layered butterflies and the sentiment, too!

I love how these butterfly images look all together in this color scheme – Carol has definitely inspired me to go play – I think I will break open this stamp set tonight!

I saved this card for last because I love how the butterflies pop off the page – it makes them look so realistic – not to mention the images are so realistic looking!

Thanks, Carol!  Sometimes I think Carol inspires me more than I could ever inspire her!