Mar 27, 2021

Monochromatic Wall Decoration with Butterflies in Shades of Browns

Hello and welcome! 

It's time for a  new theme at Allsorts challenge. This one will run for two weeks to cover the Easter holiday so you'll have some extra time to play along and we have two wonderful prizes to give away!

It's Mervi's turn to host and she chose the theme of "Monochromatic" with an option of Anything Goes, so do feel free to link up all your new crafty makes for a chance to win one of the prizes.


I love monochromatic pieces but don't do them often, so really enjoyed the challenge! I had this sketch in mind but with the size of the butterflies it's a little too big for a traditional card so instead I decided to layer the finished piece onto a 8.5x11 inches piece of card stock and it's ready to be framed and used as a wall hanging. I just need to purchase a picture frame.

Most products I used here are by Tim Holtz. The butterflies, stencil and script I used over the butterflies are from the same set - Butterflies and Stencil combo, and I used a variety of light and brown Distress inks to stamp the butterflies and stenciling. You can see the stamp/stencil combo below and if you click the image it should take you to Amazon. 


Each butterfly image panel was adhered onto dark brown card stock after inking and distressing the edges. As mentioned, the stencil designs are both part of the same set and I used Stampin Up's french script once again (I've used this stamp a lot recently!!) to add some more interest to the background. This background stamp is long retired but always available on eBay. 

The sticky sentiment words are from Tim Holtz's sticker set Quotations available at Scrapbook.com as well as Amazon (currently higher priced). 

I inked and distressed the edges once again, adhered to dark brown card stock and then to a white 8.5x11 inch card stock. To finish off this wall hanging, I added some sticky pearls. 


Find more butterfly stamps here:


Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Recent posts you may have missed:



This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!


Linking up with these blogs:

As You Like It Challenge - Favorite Springtime Critters (butterflies, because most of the other critters are out in my backyard all year round but it's always an exciting time when butterflies emerge. Last summer I planted a butterfly bush and I am even more excited to see them back again this year!) 

Stamping Sensations - Monochromatic // We Love Chocolate Baroque Challenge - I love (Butterflies & Stencils) // Ike's World - Monochromatic // Unicorn Challenge - Feminine // Path of Positivity - Something Positive // Bastel-Traum - Butterfly // Happy Little Stampers - Stencils // 

Anything Goes:

Inspire Me Monday // Tuesday Turn About //  Wonderful Wednesday // Thursday Favorite Things //  Encouraging Hearts and Home // Creative Fingers // Pattie's Creations // Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // House That Stamps Built * // Crafty Sentiment Designs // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // Crafting Happiness Challenges // Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenges // Dare 2B Artzy Challenges * // Dragonfly Dreams // The Corrosive Challenges // Classic Design  Challenge // Crafts Galore Encore  // 



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Mar 21, 2021

"I Spy" Photography Challenge No. 11

Hello and welcome!

I'm joining in with Lysha's "I Spy Photography" challenge again this week and sharing my photos for each prompt below. By the way anyone is invited to join in. Lysha posts the details about the upcoming prompts a week ahead so you can take photos throughout the week. It's what I *try* to do but these were all taken this Friday and Saturday when our weather finally warmed up again! The rest of last week was just cold, wet and windy! 




This week's prompts:

  • Puzzle(d)
  • Journal
  • Abstract
  • Path
  • Your Choice


I Spy: Puzzled


Wonder what he's puzzled about...



I Spy: Journal


I don't currently keep a journal but remembered this pretty one from many years ago with its silky cover I brought over with me (along with a few others I had written) when I moved to the States, so I decided to get it out and photographed. Maybe I'll make some time to read it too :)



I Spy: Abstract


Thomas studying my abstract art 😎. I learned of this fun technique last year from Joanne's blog and we had so much fun doing it! The kids and I each made one of these, this is the one I made. We're just keeping them in the garage so I took it outside for a photo. 



A closeup below - I love how a heart was formed unintentionally. And I can also make out a strange looking face. Funny that I didn't notice it before photographing it. Can you see it?


[By the way, these are so fun to do on a warm and sunny day outside, all you need to do is select a few colors of  paint (we used acrylic craft paint), squirt some onto onto a canvas in no particular way, then for the fun part, use water balloons (I had purchased these from Target after Joanne's recommendation, also available on Amazon) to throw at the canvas. You can see detailed photos on Joanne's blog.]


I Spy: Path


We had a beautiful first day of spring, a perfect day to hike this path along a local lake.



I Spy: My Choice:


Our weather was warming up on Friday and I went to take more pictures of my snowdrops. This little guy was buzzing around, the first bee of the year! I love how this picture turned out! 


Photos were taken with my Canon DSLR camera.


Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my blog today!


Recent posts you may have missed:


This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!


Linking up here:



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Mar 20, 2021

Daffodils and Stenciling for a "Get Well" Card

Hello and welcome!

Happy first day of Spring!! This week at Allsorts challenge it's all about "Spring Flowers", so perfect for this week, selected by Brenda. Hope you will join us this week for a chance to win a digital prize by Pinksy Doodles who is this week's sponsor. 


Daffodils are my favorite early spring flowers (right along with snowdrops) and I couldn't resist the offer of this pretty daffodil image to use this week from our sponsor Pinksy Doodles.
 

This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!
 


I printed the image onto Neenah 80lb card stock then colored with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. The image has been fussy cut using my Cutterbee scissors. 

To make the background, I masked the edges using Washi tape then inked with Tattered Rose Distress ink and an ink blending tool.

Stenciling was done using Penny Black's Oscillations Stencil and also Tattered Rose ink.

After removing the washi tape, I stamped a script border stamp on the bottom edge (retired stamp from Whimsy Stamps - alternative option with a different text) using Versafine Onyx ink. 

Sentiment is from Penny Black's set Eloquence which is a great set for all kinds of non-birthday cards. I stamped it with Versafine Onyx ink as well and then die cut using a circle Nestabilities die in my Big Shot machine. 

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Before adhering the image with foam tape, I tied some natural jute twine around the card. To complete the card, I used a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush on the flowers, but it's not showing up well in the photos.



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Products Used:

Stamps & Digi: Pinksy Doodles Daffodils in Vases // Penny Black Eloquence // Whimsy Stamps Script Border 
Cardstock: Neenah 80lb // Recollections 110lb for Card Base

 
Thanks so much for visiting!!


Recent posts you may have missed:



Since today is the first day of Spring I wanted to share a picture of the first flowers blooming in my garden. You may have already seen it in my photography post :) Aren't they just gorgeous!!!



I'm linking up here:
Themes:
Daring Cardmakers - Spring Things // Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring // As You Like It Challenge - Favorite Way to cut an image (Fussy cutting because I love the image to be cut close to the edge) // Craft Rocket Challenges - Dies or Spring // Cute Card Thursday - Spring Fever // Moving along with the Times - Spring is Coming // Mod Squad  - Spring Time // Paper Shelter - Spring Time // Creative Craft Cottage Digi Creations - Lace, Ribbon or Flowers // Daisy Chain Challenges // 

Anything Goes:

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Mar 13, 2021

I Spy - Photography Challenge No. 10

Hello and welcome! 

It's been a while since I managed to join in Lysha's I Spy Photo challenge! In February we got got hit by the coldest temperatures of the year which seemed to last forever and I was just uninspired to take pictures. I did snap a few around the house and outside the door for some of the prompts given but they weren't enough and I just never got around to completing them all!

By the way, if you're here to view my latest card for Allsorts challenge which I shared earlier today you can view it here or simply scroll down.






And then of course my favorite way of taking photos is with my DSLR camera but as you can imagine I don't carry that with me on a regular basis when out and about, and I rarely think to snap photos with my phone...


But I'm happy to have managed to snap enough pictures for this week's prompts. I'm also sharing a few photos I've taken for previous prompts at the end of the post :-)


This week's prompts are:

  • Texture
  • fun
  • tall
  • shoes
  • your choice


Last weekend we had some beautiful spring like weather and I decided that it was the perfect time to go on a late winter hike to Iowa's Wildcat Den State Park. Well, it turned out to be not so perfect after all as there still was so much snow on the trails and if not snow then mud which made it all very slippery even though we had somewhat decent trail shoes. So we only hiked one trail and then turned around and went to a nearby shopping mall instead. 3 out of 5 of today's pictures are from our hike. 


I Spy -Texture

The Texture on a cliff inside the "Devil's Punch Bowl" at Wildcat Den State Park.


I Spy - Fun

My husband having fun hiking on a late winter day (last weekend). (Although in this photo he was trying not to slip on the muddy grounds.)

This one would have been so perfect for the "textures" prompt as well! 

I Spy -Tall

A look up at the tall trees.



I wanted to share another one - this one (below) I've taken last year on a November hike (if you're a blog follower then you would have already seen it in this post), same park different location!

I just love this photo so much, the way the sun hits the tree tops!


I Spy - Shoes

One of my daughter's old pairs of Pointe shoes. 



I Spy - My Choice

My beautiful snowdrops in my backyard just started to bloom this past week! 




A few bonus photos I've taken for some February challenges which I never shared!


I Spy - Weather:

I love the sparkles in the snow and the blue shadows! It's easy to tell it was freezing outside!


I Spy - Writing:

I'm in the process of re-writing favorite recipes into a new cookbook. 


I Spy - Corners:

Corners made up by the tulip's petals. 


I Spy - Alive

This little guy was so thankful for the old bread I had given him. He just sat her on the bannister and allowed me to take his picture.



Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my blog today! By the way, anyone can join in this fun photo challenge, you can find all the details on Lysha's blog! 

All photos were taken with a Canon DSLR camera.



This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!


Recent posts you may have missed:



Linking up here:



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Awaken in Blues and Violets - Especially for You

Hello and welcome!

It's time already for a new challenge over at the Allsorts challenge blog where it's Helene's turn to host. She picked the theme of "use a stamped image" so this time the focal point has to be hand stamped. Our wonderful prize comes from Stamp Addicts, a £15 voucher for their shop! By the way Stamp Addicts are showcasing brand new stamps on Hochanda TV on Wednesday the 15th at 5pm (UK time), tune in to see lots of Butterflies, Flowers and Shrink Plastic! 


This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!


I picked the beautiful stamp Awaken by Penny Black for my focal image this time. 


Using a stamp platform it's been stamped with Memento Tuxedo ink on Neenah 80lb cardstock, then colored with Copic markers using blue violet and violet shades (colors of the flowers were inspired by a book cover of the current Double D challenge) with some yellow in the middle. I fussy cut the image with cutterbee scissors. 


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To make the background I used painter's tape for masking the top and bottom as well as a die cut circle to mask a moon. Then using an ink blending tool I inked up the paper with Tumbled Glass and Blueprint Sketch distress Oxide inks. The script was then randomly stamped using Tumbled Glass ink. I used the old Stampin Up French Script stamp which I unmounted  because I have better control of where I want to stamp the words this way. I honestly think this is my most used stamp ever! 

After removing the painter's tape and moon mask I added the sentiment which I heat embossed on black cardstock using white embossing powder. The sentiment is part of the set Blooming Sentiments by Penny Black (also avail. on Amazon).



Products Used:
Stamps: Awaken by Penny Black, Blooming Sentiments by Penny Black (also avail. on Amazon), French Script by SU available on eBay
Inks: Memento Tuxedo, Tumbled Glass Oxide, Blueprint Sketch Oxide, Versamark 
Papers: Neenah 80lb cardstock, Recollections 110 lb cardstock, Black cardstock from SU

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Thanks so much for stopping by today!


Recent posts you may have missed:



I'm linking up here:
We Love Chocolate Baroque Challenge - I Love ... (Flowers, Coloring, Fussy Cutting and using the SU script stamp) Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Flowers and PB Stamps // As You Like It Challenge - Favorite way to cut your image (fussy cut - love that I can get so close to the edge with my favorite scissors!) // C.R.A.F.T. - Feminine // Moving along with the Times - Spring is Coming // Little Red Wagon - Circles (does my masked moon count??) // Unicorn Challenge - Feminine // Crafting Happiness Challenges - Flowers // Challenge Up Your Life - Flowers // Crafty Calendar - Feminine // Di's Digis Designs - Beginning with B (Blue, Blossoms) // My Time to Craft - Feminine // 
Double D challenges - inspiration
My coloring was inspired by the book on the top right, in fact I originally inked up a darker background for my flowers but decided to keep it lighter and started over with it.

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Mar 6, 2021

Yellow, Gray and White Gate Fold Card with Honeycombs, Bee and Flower

Hello and welcome! 

It's Saturday again and that means it's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge. It's Lynn's week to host and she selected the theme of "Use Yellow".  


This year's Pantone Color Swatch is Yellow and Gray, and I always love those two colors together, so that's what I went with for today's card. But I went a little bit overboard with shading and my yellow is a little bit darker than I intended it to be...


My Yellow, Gray and White Gate Fold Card 



I so rarely make multi fold cards, but there is a new challenge linkup in town  blogland called Creative Creases where the theme is always "more than one score", so any type of fun fold, and I thought it would be fun to step outside the box for a change and join in! 




The design inside the card was inspired by this week's MFT sketch challenge.


For my card I combined and "oldie but goodie" stamp set from Stampin Up called Butterfly Basics with the January Hero Arts stamp kit. 

The honeycomb background rectangle and sentiment are part of the SU set and the flower and bee are from the Hero Arts kit. Both are no longer directly available, but could possibly be found on eBay or Etsy. 

PS: If you're interested in future Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kits, you can go to this link to read all about it and how to subscribe.



This is probably the easiest multi fold card to make, but in case anyone is interested, I’m sharing how I made this in the steps below.
  1. I started with a piece of white card stock measuring 8.5 x 5.5 inches.
  2. I scored at 2 1/8" on both sides of the long end using my scoring board.
  3. I folded the scored panels back (to get them out of the way), then used a Stripes Stencil and Mustard Seed distress ink to add some stripes to the inside of the card, but not the flaps.
  4. Opened the flaps and then used the Oscillations stencil with Mustard Seed ink. Tip: I always use masking tape to tape down the stencil or it will move.
  5. Next I prepared my image panel on white card stock which measures approx. 3.5 x 5.5 inches. 
  6. I adhered this onto gray card stock then onto the inside of the gate folded card. 
  7. I closed up the card, then I wrapped a long strip of gray card stock around the card, scored it where I wanted it folded and then trimmed off the extra making sure there is enough left for an overlap. I added a glue dot to hold the ends of the band together then added the flower from the Hero Arts stamp kit. 
  8. I completed the card by brushing clear Wink of Stella glitter over the bee's wings and added some  stardust stickles glitter glue to the flower.

Images and sentiment were stamped using Memento Tuxedo ink and colored with Copic markers. The stamp kit includes matching dies and I used them to die cut the flower and bee.


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When the card is closed, the band slides over it to keep it closed. I think the band could also make a great bookmark :)


This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!


Recent Posts You May Have Missed:



Thanks so much for stopping by!!


I'm linking here:
Creative Creases - More than one fold
Addicted to Stamps and More - Dies or Stencils (I used both) 
A blog named Hero - Floral 
Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes 

 




 

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