Split Personality

I have two cards to share today that use the same basic layout.

This first one features a two-part butterfly (or moth?) die, which I like because you can use the solid die alone, or the detailed one, or you can combine the two as I did here. {Time out: I just Googled it, and one physical difference between a butterfly and moth deals with the antennae. A moth has feathery or comb-like antennae, and a butterfly's antennae are thin with club-like tips. So there you have it. Although it's hard to see, on the print there are tiny club-like tips, so those are butterflies. But I don't see any clubs on the die cut, so that one must be a moth. Which means despite the similar shape of the wings, I've apparently mismatched my insects, and now I feel stupid. So let's move on quickly...}

And my second card:

The "Forget Me Nots" seed pack image on this card was a rectangle I cut out of the designer paper. One sheet in the pad had different colored, coordinating seed pack images including this one, plus one for daffodils, pansies, lilies, daisies and peonies. These images along with the coordinating colors and patterns of paper made for some easy-to-design cards. I wanted to make an "I Miss You" card, and thought the sentiment paired well with these flowers, because both connote distance to me.

I'm subbing in a 1st and 2nd grade classroom today, so maybe I can teach the students about butterflies and moths, and they'll grow up smarter than I did. 

Have a great week!

Supplies - Card 1

Stamps - Hampton Art "Hope & Faith"

Paper - "Garden Party" by Pebbles

Ink - Versafine onyx black

Dies - unbranded butterfly

Supplies - Card 2

Stamps - from Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings"

Paper - "Garden Party" by Pebbles

Ink - Versafine onyx black

Cactus Joy

This one was fun to make! I'd like to say it's a one-layer card, but I suppose it's not technically one-layer when you use a die cut? The potted cacti are all one die which I then colored with copic markers.  Rather than have the plants "float" at the bottom of the card, I used a solid elliptical stamp to help anchor them. I had planned to mask the bottom of the pots so that the "rug" would stamp around them, but on my practice sheet, the masked version looked weird, so I just went ahead and let the rug show through. My daughter preferred the see-through version too, so maybe it's better not to overthink it.

Thanks for looking, and Happy August!!

Supplies:

Stamps - sentiment from Hampton Art clear "Hope & Faith" set; A Muse "Skinny Oval"

Ink - Memento "Northern Pine" for sentiment; Memento "Toffee Crunch" for oval

Dies - unbranded potted cacti

Metallics

I've decided that I really like metallic cards! The shine catches your eye and makes them look special. I might not have tried using solid metallic sheets had it not been for this background paper ("Delicate Floret" pad by Love Nicole) which I loved, but wasn't sure how to use alone. When paired with some solid metallic gold - WOW! (<---- that was my daughter's exact response.) I wish you could see in person how pretty this looks! My metallic paper is from a DCWV 6"x6" pad.

To go along with the papers, I embossed the Hampton Art sentiment ("Hope & Faith" set) using a champagne-colored embossing powder. It matches quite well and doesn't look gaudy, as sometimes TOO shiny gold does.

I used the trimmed scraps from the patterned paper to make a second card:

This time I used a really large Penny Black scripture (from "All Great Things" set), also embossed with the same champagne powders. I'm happy with how both cards turned out, and look forward to more opportunities to use metallics.

Walk by Faith

Gray is my husband's favorite color. Of all of the beautiful colors in the spectrum, he chooses gray. The fact that he's an artist would make me think he might be drawn to color, but that has not been the case. Then again, given Baskin Robbins' 31 flavors, or Cook Out's 40+ milkshake flavors, he'll choose vanilla every time. So the fact that he married me ... does it mean I'm dull? Or am I a classic?? I digress...

I don't make a lot of gray cards because I DO prefer color. However, in this case, I think the gray looks elegant. It's paired with navy blue card stock to frame the DP. (Love Nicole's "Bouquet of Color") The sentiment is from Hampton Art's "Hope & Faith" set, and says "I will walk by faith, even when I cannot see. - II Corinthians 5:7."

Have a great week!

More Color!

My friend Jeannie runs "Dragonfly Journeys," a challenge blog, and her challenge this week is called "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." It sent me looking for rainbow paper so that I could play along.  I found a perfect sheet in an American Crafts 6x6 pad called "#Summer" that allowed me to make two cards. This first one uses a strip of the striped paper, along with a sticker I found in my stash, which I popped up on dimensionals.

My second card uses the same paper:

This time, I added a tag with a die cut "hello" (Hero Arts), and stamped a sentiment below from Hero Arts' "Everyday Sayings" clear set. This is perhaps my most used set in my card ministry, because it contains nearly every saying I need, including "thinking of you" in 3 different fonts. Inside this card, I added a verse from Hampton Art's "Hope & Faith" set:

I AM truly glad, because today is the first day of June, and summer break is just around the corner. "Wonderful Joy" indeed! Wishing you joy as well!