Butterfly Thinlits Die Swap #2

I still LOVE LOVE LOVE these fun little butterfly thinlits. And I must not be the only one because 4 of the 10 swaps I received used it :)

Today's swap is a fun and simple one by Patsy Waggoner.

She used the small butterfly framelit to cut out the matching stamped image from the Butterfly Basics stamp set. I love it when things just coordinate like that- it makes creating so much easier! I also love the fact that she matched her DSP to the honeycomb stamp along the bottom of the Happy Birthday flag (both of which are also from the Butterfly Basics stamp set). And just like that the card was done! Simple and oh so pretty :)

Flutterby again soon! I've got a lot more butterflies to share ;)

Make Your Sale-a-bration Colorful! - MDS Process

Last week I had show you this adorable card as a part of the blog hop. If you missed the post about how I colored the background paper with Saran Wrap (yes, that's right) then check it out HERE!

Today I want to tell you about my design process behind this card- especially since it is a digital hybrid card using my favorite toy MDS!

When I started, I was working with this layout from the catalog:

I loved the idea of a central pennant, and thought that it would be adorable to use the mini banner punch to make additional pieces to either side. I also wanted to use the Simply Irresistible paper that you can get for FREE from the Sale-a-bration catalog paired with the Little Moments Project Life kit (because the stars fit PERFECTLY with it).

After playing with MDS this is the design I had come up with:

Isn't it just cute! I've got a video today to show you how I got here- and how I made it printable. Grab some popcorn and enjoy :)

Flutterby again soon!

Lotus Blossom Swap #2

I had mentioned previously that I received two swaps using the wonderful Lotus Blossoms stamp set that you can earn for FREE during Sale-a-bration. Tara shared her creation earlier this month, and now I would like to share with you the card made by Chris Schmidt.

I think it is fun how she embossed the last layer on the flower. It gives it a lot of depth and makes it look like it is catching the light :) And of course anything with butterflies is fine by me!

Enjoy!

Amber Swift

Make Your Sale-a-bration Colorful!

Welcome to the Creative Inking Blog hop!

I've joined up with some other fabulous demonstrators to bring you a dose of monthly inspiration. This month we are going to Make Your Sale-a-bration Colorful! So sit back, and get ready to be inspired by all the free products and creative ways to get color in your project :)

My card today is featuring the FREE Irresistibly Yours DSP and the Little Moments Project Life kit for MDS. Oh yeah, and Saran Wrap... yes the same stuff you use in the kitchen, although preferably a clean piece :)

So what you are going to do is ball up that chunk of Saran Wrap and dab it in the ink- then dab it on the paper. You've got it! Look at the yummy texture that it is creating :) In this yellow shade it kinda reminds me of a Tuscan kitchen.

Next the banner for the card is created in MDS. For those of you new to my blog via the blog hop you should know that I LOVE MDS. It is such a great program. With the physical PL cards I wouldn't have been able to zoom out to get the perfect size Elephant, or my preferred size for the print patterns on the other flags. MDS made that easy! And didn't the card just turn out beautiful!

Flutterby again next week to see more about my MDS process :)

Now hop on over to the next blog. I'm sure Kristine has something amazing in store for us.

Or if backwards is your thing, then hop this way instead:

Flutterby again soon!

Creative Inking Blog Hop Starts Tomorrow

Ekk. The time is almost here for our Blog Hop to begin! This is my first hop so I'm excited to meet you all!

So a question for you: What do MDS, Project Life cards, and the Simply Irresistible paper have in common? Make sure you swing by tomorrow to find out!

Painted Petals Swap

There are so many swap cards that I haven't gotten to show you yet! They are all so good I want to make sure to share them all with you in the coming month. So, ready set, here we go :)

I absolutely LOVE this Painted Petals stamp set. Really I love everything with the watercolor look that Stampin' Up! has made (and I've got many dearly retired ones I can't bear to part with). When I saw they were offering the MDS version this month I jumped on it- now I can have my watercoloring digitally too :)

I received this swap from Amanda Marks. Isn't it adorable!

I love the Blackberry Bliss ink on the flowers. It is my favorite of the In-Colors this year. It is so Yummy! And the matching Painted Blooms DSP in the background just gives it the perfect finish. Also, who can resist a sentiment like "You are amazingly amazing" :)

Flutterby again soon!

Creative Inking Blog Hop Starts in 3....

I'm so excited to be a part of my first blog hop! I've got something adorable in store for you- and I can't wait to see what everyone else has as well :)

So make sure you stop back on Friday the 20th! We will have you 'hopped' full of inspiration to get your craft on!

MDS Basics Tutorial: Embellishments

Here is the fourth part of my MDS Basic Videos. I want to make sure that when you start working with MDS you can be up and running in no time! In today's segment we are talking about how to add embellishments to your projects. Remember, for these videos I will be building this scrapbook page from scratch to show you how it is done: 

 

We've already given this page a background, photos, and some journaling, so now lets start to dress it up with some embellishments.

Hope you enjoy! Flutterby again soon

Cute Kiddo Cards

My little kiddos are so lucky to have a creative Nana. Just look at the adorable cards they received yesterday!

This was for my l'il man. The stamp set is a cute retired set- and then she paired it with the new Happy Heart texture folder and the heart confetti punch (for the 'dirt' it is dumping).

And then isn't this one for my girly just adorable!

The body is made of two Top Note die cuts and the Fancy Fan texture folder (love how it gave it the look of feathers!) The eyes are made of a variety of circle punches, the wings a scalloped circle, and the beak and feet are hearts. Isn't that some sweet punch art :)

Hope your Valentine was sweet! Ours was filled with cookies, brownies, and cupcakes (we need to stop baking now!)

Flutterby again soon!

One Last You Plus Me before V-Day

I absolutely love the You Plus Me stamp set, just in case you hadn't noticed yet :) So I had to sneak in one more card before the big day of Love!

I came up with the idea for this card right before my class last week. I was playing around with the supplies while I waited for people and I made an whoopsie... my stamp bounced on the paper and made a disgusting smudge :( But, as my mom always says, mistakes are just a Creative Opportunity, so I decided to take it!

I stamped the ampersand on a scratch piece of paper and cut it out, and then used that to cover up the whoops. I moved over my washi tape and added a bit of sponging to the heart background (I just love how it brings out the hearts).

I also decided to join the stringy trend. I colored some bakers twine by running it over my real read ink pad. Word of warning- if you do this your fingers will NOT stay clean. But that's half the fun of crafting right :) I attached the string to the back of the ampersand in loops, added the You and Me blocks (cut from the circle sentiment) and it was finished. What do you think?

Flutterby again soon!

Cute Little Valentine's Bags

Aren't these just adorable :) I can't wait to fill some up with treats for Valentine's day.

All you need for it is a scoring tool of some sort (I used the Simply Scored board- cause it rocks for making multiple items) and the Scalloped Tag Top Punch (actually, any of the tag top punches should work). Oh, and of course, a piece of adorable Paper Stack paper like the Stacked With Love pack, or any paper cut at 4.25x6.25.

To start, score the paper the long way at 1", 3", 4", and 6"

Then turn the paper the short way and score at 1" again.

Next you are going to punch out the top of the bag (so the side opposite the 1" score). Slide the paper into the tag topper punch and line up one of the 2" sections with the punch top. If you look on the backside you can see where the score lines are- make sure they are just outside the punch shape.

Repeat for the other 2" section. Your paper should now look like this:

Now grab your scissors and trim off the tabs between the tag tops and cut up along the score lines to the 1" mark. It is also helpful to cut out the little extra corner.

Fold in the long skinny strip and add an adhesive of your choice to it (preferably something super sticky like the Fast Fuse or some Sticky Strip). Then fold half of the paper back to meet the tape- this is way easier than trying to line it up 'in the air' as you hold it. Lastly give the bag some good shape and tape in the bottom flaps. Done!

And you have an adorable little gift for someone you love. Embellish as desired and watch them smile :)

Flutterby again soon!

Valentine's Paper Pumpkin

I was SO EXCITED to get the January edition of Paper Pumpkin. I was in need of something cute for my kiddos Valentine's and boy did Paper Pumpkin deliver! We created a ton of different variations with this kit, and I can't wait to share them all with you!

First off, I made a couple per the directions. Aren't they adorable!!

And a little close-up of all the shiny beauty :)

But my daughter is only 4 and my son 1... so I didn't want to use all those clips for kids so young. In addition, my daughter and hubby had picked out some cute 'Frozen' hearts for her Valentine candy, and they didn't fit in the bags that came with. So this is what we came up with for her:

First off, I used some of the bigger cello bags I had. Then I cut the banners in half and stapled them on the bags sideways. We also added the little flags from the hearts sideways too. Elli had a blast helping me out with these :)

Then for my li'l man I had a bunch of the bags left over. I love the size of these bags- they are perfect for filling with candy (minus the hearts that my daughter had to have of course). I really hope they put these in the catalog next year!

So, back to my son's valentine. I pulled out some of the leftover DSP from my stack last year, added the matching stamp and punch, and it turned out great! I especially love the little label punch sticking out the sides of the sentiment :)

   Last, but not least, I had some extra pieces left still. So I decided to treat my class this month to a little grown-up chocolate. Yum :)

Now go and finish up your Valentine's! Flutterby again soon :)

More Valentine Fun

Continuing with the You Plus Me stamp set here is the last card from my February class:

It is another super simple design, but oh so cute! I had to break out the fun matching washi tape for this one. If you haven't washi taped something yet you've got to give it a try! It adds such a fun whimsical look to your creation and it is so easy to work with (and very forgiving!).

After I put this together I also received the new Happy Heart texture folder. I figured this was the perfect card to 'step-up' and make it a little fancier :) What do you think of the modifications?

Hope you enjoy!

Flutterby again soon!

Valentine CASE

This was one of the fun cards we did at the Valentine's Class last night. It is a CASE of a card I saw on Pinterest by Mary Brown. I switched up the color just a tad though :)

So fast and simple! Featuring my current favorite You Plus Me stamp set: just stamp the Ampersand in Crisp Cataloupe and the You're Sweet in black. Add a punched heart and some pretty sequins and you're done :)

Flutterby again soon!

Declan's Contribution

We have some gorgeous light today to take photos with, so I was busy catching up on documenting my creations for blogging about later. Well, my little man was not to be left out of this creative process.

He plopped he toy down right in the middle of my set-up, seated himself on my lap and took a photo of HIS passion :)

Hope that brought a smile to your day. Flutterby again soon to see what I was taking pictures of ;)

Lotus Blossom with Tara Jeffries

One of the FREE stamp sets you can earn during Sale-a-bration this year is a beautiful two-step stamping set called Lotus Blossom. If you've never heard of two-step stamping before, it just means that the stamps are made to layer over each other (actually, the flower from this set has three stamps- but the name is still the same :) ). And with the new photopolymer stamp sets this technique is easier than ever!

During our Diva Swap I received two gorgeous cards using this stamp set. The first was from Tara Jeffries, who I would like to introduce to you. Tara, is going to let you know all about her card!

HI Ya'll, It is my pleasure to share with you the card that I made for our Diva Swap.  As Amber mentioned above it is the Lotus Blossom Sale-a-bration set.

With this card I stamped the background paper, crumb cake  with the wood grain stamp, and then used the circle thinlit dies to cut throught the crumb cake layer and the front layer of a standard size card.  This way the circles would line up perfectly. When you open the card you will see that the lotus image has been stamped on the inside twice and then one of the lotus blossoms were cut out an layered as the third flower.   You will also notice that you can see 3 colors of ink on two of the flowers, and then on the cut blossom you will notice a white stamped image.  Instead of using ink, I heat embossed the last layer to give it a highlight.

Now of the card below I did a stepped up version.  With this card, I cut the top of the card to mimic pickets like a fence. I also embossed the third step on all three flowers and put the third one on the front of the card instead of inside.  I used the stem to add blades of grass on both, and just love the effect that it has. I did put a butterfly on the stepped up card but that was after the photo was taken.

Here is the stepped up card, and the inside of both:

Stepped up: just means that I took the same idea and just expanded it a bit with more details such as punches, bling, rhinestones,pearls, brads, glitter, etc....or added dimension to make it stand out more.

Thank you so much Amber for letting me visit and share my card ideas with your readers.  It has been a pleasure to meet Ya'll  and if you ever want to check out my blog you can visit me at Southernbellestampin.blogspot.com

See Ya'll next time!

Tara

Thanks so much Tara! You do gorgeous work :) If you want to see more of Tara's creations you can find her at the new blog.

Flutterby again soon!