Butterfly 21

Hey there!

It was Stuart's cousin Andrew's girlfriend's 21st at the weekend, a whole big group of us all went out for a meal to celebrate last night - it was good fun and many laughs were had! Anyway, my MIL had asked if I could make a special card for them to give Bekah so I got busy designing a couple pretty 21st cards - obviously I needed to make one for us to give her too! I gave her both so she could choose, here's the one she picked. 

Stamp Set: Express Yourself

Ink: Pool Party

Cardstock: Soft Sky, Silver Glimmer Paper

DSP: Venetian Romance

Big Shot: Beautifully Baroque, Typeset Alphabet, Ovals Framelits

Punch: Elegant Butterfly, Bitty Butterfly

Embellishments: Subtles Buttons, Pearls, Whisper White Baker's Twine

I started making a card with a window similar to this petite petals blossom one. I just wasn't liking how it was working so seeing as I hadn't stuck anything down yet I cut off the card front with the window in it, embossed it, sponged it to help bring out some of that gorgeous texture and mounted it on another card base! The sponging REALLY lifted the card!

 Then I could add the glittery 21, sentiment and lots of pretty butterflies. 

21 is a pretty special birthday in the UK so I went a bit nuts with all the pearls and added lots of scattered pearls to the background too!

I wanted to do something a little different with the large butterfly rather than a pearl so I thought a button and baker's twine would be a cute little addition. 

I'm just loving all the soft colours here. I haven't really played too much with the new colour Soft Sky. I wasn't really sure about it, its quite pale and similar to Pool Party. But I've grown to love it after having a bit of a play with it. If you haven't played with it yet/much I'd really recommend giving it a go! I think you'll like it!

I'm back to work tomorrow so I'm enjoying my last day of holidays - I've been to coffee morning at church, looked at some new phones, had lunch with Emma and now I'm going to have a relaxing afternoon of stamping! 

Happy Stampin',

Peppa Pig

Hey! 

I haven't done much punch art lately but I found the perfect opportunity last week. Stuart's cousin, Georgia, was 3! She just loves Peppa Pig! I thought I'd just include a picture of Peppa for any of you who have no idea who she is. Has Peppa made her way over State-side? 

Isn't she cute? She looked pretty simple to make but the head was going to be the most tricky! 

Stamp Set: Express Yourself, Petal Parade (SAB)

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Strawberry Slush, Basic Grey 

Cardstock: Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe, Primrose Petals, Basic Black, Marina Mist, So Saffron, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz

Big Shot: Ovals Framelits, Typeset Alphabet

Punch: 1 3/8" Circle, Modern Label, 1" Circle, Owl Builder, Itty Bitty, 1 3/4" Scallop Circle

So, the head, I eventually decided the best way to do it would be to make a template with the 1 3/8" circle punch and the modern label. I then drew around it and added a curve under to make the correct shape that I could hand cut out. I didn't have a circle punch of the correct size for her nose so I freehanded mine but I think the 1/2" circle would work a treat. 

 Peppa's eyes and nostrels are made with the ever so handy owl builder - notice the owl punch was also used for the balloons! I also used the owl punch for a mask that I lightly sponged the cheek in. Her ears and feet are actually from the 4 petal flower with two petals snipped off. 

The legs and arms are thin strips - couldn't be easier! Same for the tail, I just twirled it around a thin stick to curl it! I love her cute tail! 

Inside I wanted to add Georgia's age - I think its a cute touch on a kid's card! 

Hope you enjoyed my version of Peppa! 

Happy Stampin',

Spring Petals PP185

Hello!

Today I have a card for the Paper Players' weekly challenge! This week the theme is "Thankful for Spring". I know a lot of people out there have had a pretty horrid winter with storms/floods and snow... I know we've had it very fortunate - worst that's happened for us is our fence has blown down! However, I think its safe to say we are ALL looking forward to Spring! 

I love spring - its just such a beautiful time of the year - the weather is getting warmer, there's birds and butterflies, lambs, bunnies, and lots of flowers. Flowers is definitely the first thing that springs to mind for me when I think of Spring. 

Stamp Set: Petite Petals, Lots of Thanks, En Francais

Ink: Blushing Bride, So Saffron, Soft Suede, Pear Pizzazz

Cardstock: Soft Sky, Whisper White, So Saffron, Pearr Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette, Pistachio Pudding

Punch: Petite Petals, Itty Bitty, Bird Builder

Big Shot: Ovals Framelits

Embellishments: Pearls

I chose to use some really lovely pastel/ice-cream colours! They just cry Spring to me! 

I was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest making a window card - I thought the flowers would be the perfect frame for the Thank You sentiment. I cut the oval out with the framelits and added the White oval inside the card so it matched up. 

I was in two minds about what to do on the Soft Sky - I was toying with the idea of embossing it but I thought that it might be a bit too much texture - I needed something for a little pattern but not too much to detract from what I really wanted to be the star of the show - the flowers! I saw the En Francais stamp and thought it would probably work quite well for some pattern. 

Aren't the flowers gorgeous!?! I only used the watercolour effect stamp from Petite Petals. I used the same stamp for the saffron flowers too and just punched the centres - it gives them a bit of texture which just ties them in with the rest of the card. 

The open flower has 3 layers of flower built up plus a smaller saffron flower in the centre. I used the embossing stylus and the foam mat to give these flowers some real shape. They were worked in a circle in the centre and also inside each petal. It took some time to do all these flowers but the body it produces just gives that real "WOW" factor! 

The budding flowers Also have 3 flowers but the centre one is flipped so when folded into the centre the stamping still shows. To get the petals to meet in the centre I snipped slightly between the petals and worked it a lot with the stylus to get the shape. In the centre is a scrunched ball of paper to keep the shape. 

There's a couple of colours for the leaves because it just adds another little touch - the leaves don't look so heavy. For the tiny saffron flower I snipped off individual leaves and added them to the flowers.Cute, huh? 

The whole thing is finished off with a few pearls for the flower centres. 

Think this is one of my favourite cards of the moment! Its just so pretty and totally screams spring to me! Do you like it? 

Happy Stampin',