I set myself a little challenge this week to only use a maximum of 5 items to make each of my cards - sometimes I tend to throw everything at it, so it was nice to challenge myself to think about what my design actually "needed" before I started.
I decided to pick one stamp set and stick with it so I opted for the gorgeous new Butterfly Beauty from Concord and 9th and I managed 3 different cards so here we go.
My first one was inspired by a nature programme I once watched - did you ever see the Mexican Monarch butterfly migration? The go from Canada each summer down to Mexico and its a site to behold as they all leave the trees at the same time turning the sky to orange.
For this card I used the stamp, Altenew's Warm & Cosy ink pack, Copper and White embossing powders and a scrap of black card.
I stamped the solid shading stamp in the lightest ink, then over stamped the detail one use two of the darker shades, adding the body in the mid-shade. I dusted the whole card with an embossing buddy before embossing the outline over each of the large butterflies in copper ink. To give the feeling of the sky full of migrating butterflies I added some of the smaller ones inking in the lightest shade then over inking parts with a darker shade. A few copper embossed hearts filled in some spaces and carried the embossing theme to the background. A simple black strip with a white sentiment and we're done - all in about 10 minutes.
For my second card I used the stamp, sugar plum cardstock, zig markers, watercolour cardstock and the Lil' Inker Designs Quilted Stitched So Sunny Die
This one was inspired by the way butterflies used to be displayed in museums when I was a kid, pinned in frames with name tags underneath. For this second card I wanted to try a watercolour effect so I used 3 markers and coloured directly onto the detailed butterfly stamp and then spritz with water before stamping onto a scrap of watercolour card. I cut it out by hand and then mounted it onto a white panel embossed with the new cover plate die as I like texture on the background of CAS cards. I added a purple matt and then stamped a sentiment onto more of the same card (whoops I used black ink so technically I used 6 products here - challenge fail)
For my final card I used the stamp, zig markers, Altenew's Rock Collection Ink Cubes and a purple pencil.
This card happened because there was still a lot of ink left on the stamp after the previous card so I spritzed it again and I actually prefer this stamping as its a lovely soft watercolour effect, so second generation may be the way to go for this technique. This time I stamped onto standard thick white card stock as I wanted it smooth and simply popped direct onto a small square card after fussy cutting. To draw the eye in I just free-handed a dotted and line border around the edge with a purple pencil.
I hope you'll all have a go at the 5 items challenge and see what you can come up with!
NEWS FROM THE STORE
See you next weekend
Happy Crafting!
Tara
I decided to pick one stamp set and stick with it so I opted for the gorgeous new Butterfly Beauty from Concord and 9th and I managed 3 different cards so here we go.
My first one was inspired by a nature programme I once watched - did you ever see the Mexican Monarch butterfly migration? The go from Canada each summer down to Mexico and its a site to behold as they all leave the trees at the same time turning the sky to orange.
For this card I used the stamp, Altenew's Warm & Cosy ink pack, Copper and White embossing powders and a scrap of black card.
I stamped the solid shading stamp in the lightest ink, then over stamped the detail one use two of the darker shades, adding the body in the mid-shade. I dusted the whole card with an embossing buddy before embossing the outline over each of the large butterflies in copper ink. To give the feeling of the sky full of migrating butterflies I added some of the smaller ones inking in the lightest shade then over inking parts with a darker shade. A few copper embossed hearts filled in some spaces and carried the embossing theme to the background. A simple black strip with a white sentiment and we're done - all in about 10 minutes.
For my second card I used the stamp, sugar plum cardstock, zig markers, watercolour cardstock and the Lil' Inker Designs Quilted Stitched So Sunny Die
This one was inspired by the way butterflies used to be displayed in museums when I was a kid, pinned in frames with name tags underneath. For this second card I wanted to try a watercolour effect so I used 3 markers and coloured directly onto the detailed butterfly stamp and then spritz with water before stamping onto a scrap of watercolour card. I cut it out by hand and then mounted it onto a white panel embossed with the new cover plate die as I like texture on the background of CAS cards. I added a purple matt and then stamped a sentiment onto more of the same card (whoops I used black ink so technically I used 6 products here - challenge fail)
For my final card I used the stamp, zig markers, Altenew's Rock Collection Ink Cubes and a purple pencil.
This card happened because there was still a lot of ink left on the stamp after the previous card so I spritzed it again and I actually prefer this stamping as its a lovely soft watercolour effect, so second generation may be the way to go for this technique. This time I stamped onto standard thick white card stock as I wanted it smooth and simply popped direct onto a small square card after fussy cutting. To draw the eye in I just free-handed a dotted and line border around the edge with a purple pencil.
I hope you'll all have a go at the 5 items challenge and see what you can come up with!
NEWS FROM THE STORE
- The long awaited delivery from Hero Arts finally arrived and we finished opening and checking it yesterday. We now have to weigh it all, download images of everything from the Hero Arts website and upload all the product onto our site. This will take some time as there is ALOT of new stuff to process. We try not to work on weekends but we will be working through this weekend to try and get it online asap for you but please bear with us. As is always the case with Hero Arts these days we did not get everything we ordered as they always seem to sell out before the UK distributor can order it on our behalf. If an item is showing as out of stock from the get go, then its on back order and we will get it asap. We've also had lots of requests for the new sets that are part of the February My Monthly Hero Kit - we do get these but as the kits are exclusive to Hero Arts, the extra stamps etc are not available to retailers straight away - as with the MFT kits we can usually only get them a couple of months after release.
- The Sugar Pea release has been delayed but is shipping to us on Monday so we should have it by Thursday/Friday customs willing.
- Some of the Lawn Fawn release sold out pretty quickly - we will be placing a restock order this week but it tends to take Lawn Fawn around 3 weeks to process and pack orders, particularly following a release, so it will be mid-late March before we get it.
See you next weekend
Happy Crafting!
Tara
Great cards, just love those butterflies x
ReplyDeleteThose butterflies are stunning, and I love your three versions of using them. Great idea for a "5 items" challenge... I might have a go for my next card lol :)
ReplyDeleteLovely cards Tara! I haven't had chance to use my butterfly stamps and dies yet, but I knew I had to get them the moment I saw them! Thanks for the update too, as I am now lusting after some of the new Hero Arts colour layering stamps.
ReplyDeleteI love butterflies and I love how various you used them!
ReplyDelete