Creative Inking Blog Hop: Sneak Peek!

Welcome to the Creative Inking Blog Hop!

Today you are in for an adventure, as we bring you sneak peaks from the spring Occasions and Sale-a-Bration catalogs!

Now, I'll admit, I debated ALOT about what to show you today. Cause there is So SO SOOO much good stuff in these catalogs. I just couldn't decide between them all! But ultimately I came back to my 'first favorite'- my 'gotta have it' item. The Botanical Garden Bundle.

Unlike prior bundles, this one includes a stamps, framelits, and the matching DSP. What a deal :) And doesn't it just all come together for a beautiful finish:

You can see I stamped the veins on the leaves and then cut them out. And that flower- oh it just makes me swoon :)

Now, I have to say, the catalog just doesn't do this framelit set justice. I mean- yeah, you can tell that it matches the stamp set and that there are quite a few pieces there... but seriously. Look at this thing up close. This set is MASSIVE!

I love that it comes with all sorts of different sized items. They work great for layering together to make big flowers or they can stand on there own. So much versatility here!

This stamp set doesn't come with any sentiments, but don't fear. The Suite Sayings set (also from the Occasions catty) was created to coordinate with it perfectly. The modern fonts and lines make it a great match.

Hope you can see why this bundle ROCKS! and why it is my favorite of the new catalog. Don't forget- the catalog goes live on January 5th... so finish up your eggnog, party away 2015, and be ready to get your craft on soon after :)

Flutterby again soon!

Now hop this way

Or Back this way.

Creative Inking Blog Hop: Terrific Techniques

Welcome to another round of the Creative Inking Blog Hop!

This month we are bringing you some Terrific Techniques. So get ready to be amazed and inspired :)

My card features a beautiful watercolored background. I've been cooking up this idea for a sunset silhouette for quite some time now, and decided our technique hop was the perfect time to give it a try.

Isn't it pretty? And can you believe that I achieved this look using regular old markers- not any fancy painting technique? If you are amazed and want to know how, just read on...

I flipped the watercolor wash background stamp over so that the rubber was up towards me and then colored stripes of it with various colors in a sunset pattern. You don't have to do anything fancy with the colors, and the bands of color don't even need to be touching, just close (yay for no cross contamination). This is where the magic begins. Take a stampin spritz bottle and fill it up with some water. Then spritz away at the colored watercolor wash stamp to that the colors get drippy wet and start to run together. You may want to experiment with the number of spritzes to get it just right- but I found about 4 worked really well. And just a tip- I sprayed at an angle so that it 'pushed' the colors into one another.

Once the background stamp was drippy wet I quick flipped it over onto my white cardstock. And then while the paper was still wet I tore along the edges to give it a more shabby look. You can get some really cool tearing texture when the paper is wet- give it a try.

After everything dried I finished up my card by stamping the black tree silhouette over my sunset. I love this Sheltering Tree set. There is something just so peaceful about it. And my finished card reminds me so much of my grandma- who loves to sit and watch the sunset- so I'm 'thinking of her' and know just who to send this to.

All that was left was to embellish up the card. I added some bling with the metallic doilies and silver thread in the two corners. I also smeared some of the clear dazzling details on the tree and ground- as well as spotted it in the sky- to add some shimmer like a first frost. Love the sparkle it added :)

Hope you enjoyed this technique. If you give it a try be sure to let me know how it turns out!

Now hop on over Kristine's blog to see what she can teach us this month!

Or head back to BJ if you are doing the backwards hop :)

Flutterby again soon!

Fall Paper Pumpkin

In the words of Piglet "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" I'm so behind in sharing my Paper Pumpkin alternate projects! The October kits are already arriving and I still need to show you September! So hold on, here we go. Whee!

I always try to use elements from the kit with little else, that way you can achieve the same looks :) This month I added some Very Vanilla cardstock, and pulled in some ink spots from prior months, but that is it.

I found the easiest way to add the fringe to the card was to put adhesive on the back of the purple strip (cut from the label leftovers) and lay that down on the fringe. Then I cut the fringe to the length I wanted.

Hope you enjoy these extra ideas today! Now finish up last months kit so you can start on the beautiful pink boxes arriving in mailboxes this week :)

Flutterby again soon!

Creative Inking Blog Hop: Christmas Joy

I know, I know... It's not even Halloween yet and here we are talking about Christmas today! However, when you are a papercrafter who sends out oodles and oodles of handmade Christmas cards you've got to get an early start. So think of today as your creative inspiration before you begin making your Christmas cards :) Without further ado, I bring you this months Creative Inking Blog Hop!

I created this adorable card for a swap I was a part of last month. I've always loved the Santa style cards, so I created my own take on it. After I finished it I realized that although it has lots of punching and die cutting there isn't actually any stamping on it! LOL! But I love it anyway. I actually wanted to make the full saying 'Jolly Old Elf' by adding old elf under the die cut jolly using the alphabet rotary stamp... but we couldn't find the rotary stamp. So, if you have one you could add it to your case of this card ;)

You can see from this second view that the card isn't quite a standard fold. Santa's jacket actually folds closed by an inch from the right side as well. Gives it more of the feeling of a real jacket I think! And I love the overlapping opening layers it creates by leaving the belt and buckle hanging over that side.

One trick I have for making this card: since we no longer carry a scalloped border punch, I used the largest of the square framelit dies (which is scalloped itself) to create the wool for the edging of the jacket. It is the perfect size to create scallops for the narrow direction of a standard card :)

Hope you are enjoying today's hop. Now head on over to Kristine to see what Christmas-y ideas she has for us.

Or head back to BJ's blog and check out her project

Flutterby again soon!

WooHoo! Stamp Sale!

What a fun pick me up as the weather turns cold. This week you can get 15% off all stamps. Yippee!

Cleaning Up the Glitter

Here is my final glittered For All Things card.

Now I'm not usually a fussy-cutter, but I decided I could handle a little bit of cutting to get some 3-D ferns and acorns on this card. It gave it the pop that it needed to bring it to life. And, as long as you don't try to cut around every little leaf it isn't even to hard (and since I'm saying that you know it's got to be true!).

Once again I paired the Hello You thinlits with the sentiments from the For All Things stamp set. They both look like curvy flowing handwriting, and the size difference really makes the message jump out.

Now, if you haven't gotten your glitter out yet to try this technique- you've got to give it a go! Just grab an aqua painter, some Tombow glue, and gold/silver glitter; then SPLAT away! Forget how to get the splats- here's a review:
     *Fill aqua painter with water
     *Place a blob of glue in a small bowl (embellishment lids or paper plates work well)
     *Squeeze water out of the aqua painter and mix into the glue to get it runny
     *Pick up gluey substance with aqua painter and flick it onto your card
     *Sprinkle glitter onto the splatted surface, dump/tap card to get excess off
And with that you're done! Beautiful, messy, sparkled splats on your card.

Now- just incase you are thinking 'Ugh' about the glitter- I've got one more handy dandy tip for you. Wet wipes work GREAT for picking up glitter. I don't know why, and I only discovered it by accident (I was feeling to lazy to clean it up the normal way and there were wet wipes close by...) but man did it pick up all the glitter from the table in a flash. I'm used to finding glitter around for weeks after using it, but this picked it all up for me. **Insert shocked face**

Flutterby again soon!

More Fall Glitz

Hope you're not getting sick of all this glitz yet, cause I'm not quite done ;)

I absolutely love the elegance of this card. Even my darling girly thought this one was BEAUTIFUL and wanted to make one of her own. (Note to self: still need to fulfill that promise once more linen thread arrives- I used it all up!!)

The oak leaves in the For All Things stamp set are really great for multiple stampings. Ink once- and then stamp at least two or three times before reinking. That will give you the lovely depths of tone you see along the edge of this card. If you were to stamp them all at full strength it would just start to look like a big blob of ink seeping in from the fold :) Also, it leaves lighter spots where you can add in the acorns and splatters and they will show up with much more contrast and beauty.

I'm so "grateful for you" stopping by today. Flutterby again soon!

For All Things Glittered Some More

Wow! Is it October already? What happened to september- I think it vanished right before my eyes!

Then again, maybe it was the weather that made it disappear. Here in lovely MN it has been a gorgeous late summer... in fact I feel like fall just started a few days ago. Most of the month was hot hot hot, so basically I stayed in summer mode I think until just this past week :)

Even last weekend was warm. My in-laws came to visit from out in Montana and stayed for a long weekend. My kids were thrilled to have them around since they don't get to see them much. And I think my father-in-law has as much energy as my kids (you know, the kind that you want to bottle up so you can save some for yourself and for later). So between the three of them they kept the rest of us trucking all weekend! We went to the apple orchard, pumpkin patch, zoo & conservatory, and then my hubby even went to a Vikings game with his dad. I was so thankful for the rest that day... but I was also coming down with a cold which kept me 'resting' for the next few days after. I still sound 'pretty' even today ;)

Since the fall weather seems to finally be back, it is easier to get into fall mode sharing these cards. I hoping you're loving the shiny take on the For All Things stamp set as much as I do!

I love the elements poking in from the side on this layout. Although one tip if trying to achieve this look- less is more. It is really easy to put to much on and make the edges look cluttered. Especially when you are adding multiple layers of images like this. My first take I had to ditch it and start over because I put on way to many ferns that the acorns just looked muddled. So- start with a light scatter. You can always fill in more later, but you can't ever take that ink away!

I thought that the cajun craze speckles from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set were the perfect addition to this look. It helped balance out the gold flecks perfectly!

Flutterby again soon!

For All Things Glittered

Here is my second card using the For All Things stamp set and the gold splatting technique I talked about earlier this week:

I love the simplicity of this car- yet it is so elegant. These pictures just do not even do it justice.

I'm still working on my lump of string technique :) LOL- I am always so fussy about how my string looks and never think it is 'quite right'. Yet at class everyone is asking me how I got it to look like that, and I can't help but think they want it to look like mine? Guess the grass is always greener right :) Actually, that is one of the things I like best about this technique- it is forcing me to let go of my sense of perfection and just let things be messy. It is a process though that I have to walk myself through each time.

Flutterby again soon!

Creative Inking Blog Hop: Amazing Autumn

Welcome to the September Creative Inking Blog Hop. This month is all about fall & Halloween, so be prepared to be inspired in your seasonal projects :)

At my stampin pad (yes, pun intened- tehe) we just finished up a class of 5 beautifully sparkly cards perfect for the fall season. So I thought today would be the perfect day to premeire a series showing them all to you. Check back over the next weeks to see them all in detail!

Without further ado, here is my favorite card of the bunch:

I love the watercolor look of the For All Things stamp set. Although, I decided the Hello Fall sentiment wasn't quite big enough to balance this card. So instead I used a marker to just ink up the Fall portion of the stamp, and replaced the Hello with the Hello You thinlit. I just Love Love Love how that turned out!

Now I'm sure the question on everyone's mind is how I got the gold splats on the card. I learned this technique through this year's convention videos. What you do is take a blob of Tombow (I put it on a small paper plate) and then squeeze some water out of an aqua painter. Depending on the size of the dots you want you may need more or less water- just experiment with it to find out what is right for you.

Then, once again using the Aqua Painter, I splatted some of the watery glue onto my card. I found what worked best for me was to hold the aqua painter with one hand and tap or flick it with my other to get the glue to splatter. Then I poured some of our fine gold glitter onto the card, tapped of the excess, and you are left with the beautiful gold splatter marks. Pretty sweet right?

To see more of the cards from this series be sure to Flutterby often!

Now, onto the next blog. Or, if hopping backwards is your thing there is a link for that too!

     

Pinwheel Fold Butterfly Card

I recently attended a baptism for a little cutie, and I thought a butterfly card would be just perfect for the occasion. Then again, when isn't a butterfly card perfect ;)

I was so pleased with how it turned out I knew I just had to share it with you! So five minutes before leaving the house I was quick taking these pictures. Haha!

The paper is from the English Garden DSP- I just love the soft watercolored flowers on this paper. It is so yummy. And I learned the fun pinwheel fold from Dawn over at DoStamping. She is an amazing demo in my region and I got to learn this trick from her at one of our local events. I've just been waiting for the perfect chance to put it to use. Here is how the card folds open:

You can see that on the belly band I used the medium butterfly from the Butterfly Thinlit dies. Linen thread made for the perfect antenna on this little guy to. And all you need is a little scrap.

And of course I had my For All Things stamp set nearby (I was planning a class using it) and the Grateful For You sentiment jumped out at me. I realized I could just marker in the 'for you' portion for this card. Score! Using a fall set for something completely unrelated.

Flutterby again soon!

Watercolor Wishes Kit

Have you gotten your Watercolor Wishes kit yet? It was so popular that when it first became available it sold out in just a couple weeks! And I can see why :) It is hard to beat 20 cards for $35 AND you get a stamp set (which is totally adorable!!) AND two ink spots AND tons and tons of leftovers to step up your cards with or make even more cards from :)

Lets just take a look at all you get in this pretty box (perfect for gifting a set in might I add...)

Just look at all that beautiful watercolored wonderfulness! Want a closer look? Here are the stamps you get with the kit- totally a set I would have on my wish list even if it wasn't in a kit!

And a sample of the printed card bases. Yup, that's right. All the watercoloring is already done for you. All you have to do is adore it's adorableness :)

Stickers and punchouts galore!

Here is the watercolored flower punch outs a little closer. So pretty!

And all the pieces punched out, thanks to my darling little helper boy :) He had FUN!

Last but certainaly not least, the custom wooden butterflies and hearts that are only available in this kit. If you do the cards per directions you will only use about half of these and have the rest left for other fun projects :)

Hope that gets you as excited about this wonderful kit as I am! And now that it is back in stock better grab up some of the latest shipment :) Flutterby again soon!

Butterfly Boxes

This was our last project at last month's Watercolor Wings class. I had been seeing these boxes pop-up all over Pinterest and just had to include my own version.

The base curvy keepsake box is cut in Melon Mambo and then the English Garden DSP was cut from the handle side of the die as well (skip the other section). I then trimmed this cut piece of DSP down at the fold lines so that only the main side face was left- all the folds were trimmed off- and I adhered it to the matching place on the Melon Mambo base.

Last, but certainly not least (after all it is what makes the box awesome!), I used the butterfly framelits to cut out the medium butterfly in Melon Mambo and the small butterfly from some vellum. To attach them to the box you have to cut the butterflies in half (gasp!) but don't worry, once you adhere them to the sides of the top split they will look whole and beautiful again :)

Flutterby again soon!

The Holiday Catalog is HERE!!

And it is filled with beautiful stuff! Click on the cover below and let the drooling commence ;)

Watercolor Wings meets English Garden DSP

I know that 'technically' the English Garden DSP was made to match the Garden in Bloom stamp set perfectly... but it looks awesome with these watercolored butterflies as well! Just check it out!

What a beautiful combo right?! And here is a little trick for this card- the green butterfly is made using only one shade of ink. First I did the more solid layer and I stamped it off once on scrap paper before adding it to my label. Then the design layer was added over that at full ink strength. Pretty cool right? And it can be achieved with pretty much any color butterfly to give it the tone on tone appearance :)

Flutterby again soon!

Watercolor Wings Class

My first 'have to have it' item out of this year's annual catalog was the beautiful, gorgeous Watercolor Wings bundle. I mean, what isn't there to like? It is BUTTERFLIES after all... and I don't have to fussy cut anything cause the dies will cut it out for me. YAY! :)

This month's class featured this great set. We made 3 cards and a cute little gift box. Here is the first of our cards.

The colors used here are Old Olive, Hello Honey, and Soft Suede. I just love them together. So natural looking.

I found that the striped/dotted stamp wasn't quite long enough to stick out both sides of the butterfly, so I stamped it towards the one side, and then the other, letting it overlap in the middle. The 'messy' area won't show since it is covered by the butterfly :)

One tip I have when working with this stamp set- stamp the wing design first, then cut it out with the framelits and THEN stamp the body. I learned this the hard way... don't look to closely at this butterfly's head... it may or may not be all there :O

The little details on this card are what really make it pop. I added one of the lacy looking butterfly cutouts made from vellum to the middle, with a twist of the silver thread between the two layers. I'm really loving the shine that this string gives my projects and have been using it ALOT!

Hope you enjoy this fluttery inspiration!

Flutterby again soon!