My Most Popular Posts of 2015

We have come to the last day of 2015 and I look back fondly on my creative endeavors during the year! I wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to having you visit my blog in 2016!

January–Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Occasions Catalog




February–My Least Favorite Card To Create




March–Projects From Stamping Group







April–Remnants of Easter






May–Corner Garden Blues




June–2015 Catalog Launch






July–New Floor and Grateful For You




August–Best Thoughts Joy Fold Card




September–Pretty in Pink Poinsettia




October

This was a busy month for me and I didn't get to post AT ALL :( Hopefully, 2016 will allow me to post every single month!


November–Color Burst Christmas and Wonderful Wonderland






December–Tag Exchange and December Stamp Class







I hope you have enjoyed this review of my most popular posts from 2015. I look forward to your comments in 2016!

Butterfly Thinlits Meet Watercolor Wings

Carolyn, the lady whose home our stamping group meets in each month, is a very special lady.

A past Stampin' Up! demonstrator herself, each month she welcomes us into her lovely craft room. She ensures that the tables are set with a sheet of grid paper for each stamper and that other tools like her Big Shot and heat tool are nearby if we need to use them.

On the odd occasion when I have run out of paper or ink or another necessary item, she generously shares from her personal stash.

Because she is so special, and Friday was our last stamping class before the summer, I wanted to make her a card to thank her for all that she does for us.

Carolyn is partial to teal colors and I thought that the new Watercolor Wings stamp set would create a very pretty butterfly to adorn her card!

I recently found out that the Bold Butterfly Framelits, Butterflies Thinlits and Butterfly Basics and the Watercolor Wings stamp were all designed to work together! There are countless combinations for using the the stamps and the matching dies, the only thing limiting you is your imagination!

I started by stamping the three parts of the butterfly with Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo. I didn't bother with stamping the body since I knew I would be adding the detailed die cut above it.

I die cut the butterfly using the Bold Butterfly Framelits and then die cut a detailed butterfly from Bermuda Bay card stock using the Butterfly Thinlits.

I glued the stamped butterfly to a white matte and then glued the body of the die cut one to it, bending the wings up slightly.

Using my MISTI and Island Indigo ink, I stamped the sentiment on Whisper White card stock. and then die cut it using the Tags & Labels Thinlits die. I cut a second larger tag from Bermuda Bay. The white matte was adhered to an Island Indigo matte. I adhered the white tag to the Bermuda Bay one using Fuse Fast.

I fastened a length of Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim around the matte and adhered the tag over it using Dimensionals.

I adhered a white matte to an Island Indigo card base and then used Dimensionals to adhere the decorated matte.

For the inside of the card, I stamped a smaller butterfly in the bottom right corner of a Naturals White card stock matte and adhered it to the inside of the card.

For the finishing touch, I painted over the butterfly die cut, on the front of the card, with my Wink of Stella pen to give a bit of extra glimmer.

Close-up showing the glimmer from the Wink of Stella pen.

How about you–have you tried the Watercolor Wings and the matching dies yet? If you haven't, you'll love them!
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Butterfly and Broken Bokeh

Had a glorious day babysitting my granddaughter today! She was good as gold and we finally got to have some time in the craft room together.

I had bought some foam egg cut-outs and foam sticker shapes at Dollarama and Raine really enjoyed decorating four eggs with the stickers.

I thought that she would probably only stay at the task for about 15 minutes but it was closer to 45 minutes by the time she was finished!

She enjoyed being a "big girl" and sitting up on my high chairs to work on her eggs. Of course, she had to bring one of her stuffed animals up with her to add to the fun!

I snapped a few photos but they aren't great–so hard to get good pics with my phone when she's always on the move!

Anyway, I got to craft a bit later this evening. My card is a CASE of Colleen's creation on One Smile Lifts A Spirit.

If you read my post, Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek from 2015 Occasions Catalog, you may remember this image of the very first watercolor and bokeh background that I ever created:

Back then, I thought this background too bright and colorful to be used in any project but for whatever reason, I still hung onto it. When I saw Colleen's technique, I thought that it would be a way to use this piece successfully.

I chose to use a Whisper White card base and layered both a Basic Black and a Tempting Turquoise matte on it. I then cut my bokeh background in strips of 1 1/4", 3/4", and 3/8" and inked the edges with Tuxedo Black Memento ink. I used Dimensionals to adhere the strips to the card front, separating them by about an 1/8."

My MISTI came in handy when I stamped the sentiment from the Painted Petals stamp set. I used Jet Black Stazon ink and it took three inkings and stampings to successfully stamp this image; without the MISTI I would have been tearing my card apart to re-stamp it!

I used the Butterfly Thinlits to cut a butterfly from Basic Black and then used Versamark and Iridescent Emboss Powder to heat emboss it. I adhered it to the card using glue dots and then added some rhinestones down the middle.

A few sequins, some from my stash and some from Pretty Pink Posh, adhered with Crystal Effects, and my card was complete!

Have you ever created a card background that you thought was a little too overpowering? Perhaps you could use this technique to save it!

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Dazzling Diamonds Meets Wonderful Watercolor

Well, I couldn't help myself–I had to create another card using the Butterfly Basics and coordinating Thinlits! I wonder if there is a 12 step program yet for those of us obsessed with this set?!

I had actually planned to work on a Valentine project tonight but then I caught sight of one of the watercolor background pieces I had created some time ago and decided that I knew just what to do with it!

But before I get carried away, back in my blog post, Gold, Grunge, Glitz and Two Charlenes, I promised that I would show you the two Bokeh cards that my upline, Charlene had created. At long last, here they are:

 Didn't she do a wonderful job? Which one do you like the best? I'm leaning to the second one though the first one are more my colors.

Now, back to tonight's card.

As I mentioned, I chose to use a watercolor background I had created previously. I used the same technique as in this post: Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From Occasions 2015 Catalog though I did not add the bokeh to this one. This is what it looked like when I was finished:

To help me keep track of what colors I used, I snapped a photo showing the Ink Refills.

Tonight, I decided to use the same odd-sized card base as in my post, A Happy Thing. The card base measures 4 7/8 x 5 7/8" with the Whisper White matte being 4 1/4 x 5 1/4." For this card I inserted another matte between the white and the watercolor layer–the Cajun Craze matte was 4 1/8 x 5 1/8." I liked the proportions of the mattes, with the card base showing a larger amount than usual. All layers were adhered to each other using Fuse Fast adhesive.

Before adhering a piece of the new Whisper White Jute Ribbon around the watercolor layer using Fuse Fast adhesive, I inked the edges using both Cajun Craze and then Early Espresso inks.

I stamped the smaller butterfly from Butterfly Basics using Tangerine Tango. I die cut both it and the larger butterfly, with the larger one being cut from Melon Mambo.

For the smaller butterfly, I inked it with Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder. I did this twice to give it a good gloss.

For the larger butterfly, I inked it with Versamark and then applied Heat & Stick powder. I heated this until it melted and then quickly added Dazzling Diamonds glitter on top and heated it again to seal it. Dazzling Diamonds is my new love! Don't you just love the beautiful shimmer it produced?

For both butterflies, I embossed only half the body at a time to make it easier to emboss.

I bent the wings of both butterflies up a bit and then used Clear Effects adhesive to adhere first the larger butterfly to the Jute Ribbon and then the smaller butterfly on top of the larger. I chose Clear Effects because I knew it would hold both items securely.

I used the Note Tag punch to cut a tag from Whisper White. I used the honeycomb stamp from the set to stamp with Crushed Curry. I stamped several times without re-inking to produce a textured, slightly distressed look.

I inked the edges and lightly dusted the tag with a sponge dauber for each of Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Tangerine Tango inks.

I then filled my larger Aqua Painter with Rubbing Alcohol and several drops of Melon Mambo Ink Refill. I wanted to add some small ink droplets to the tag.

I practiced on scrap paper first to make sure I had the right color and technique. I found that I had to add more and more drops to the alcohol to get the right color. I probably still could have added more to give the tag more dimension but I didn't this time round!

To get the small droplets, I squeezed the Aqua Painter several times to load the brush with ink and then tapped the brush on my extended index finger. To get a few larger droplets, I squeezed again but this time held the Aqua Painter straight out in front of me and sort of jerked it toward the tag, stopping quickly and letting the drops keep going! I was quite pleased with the results I achieved!

I then used Black Stazon Ink to stamp the sentiment on the tag. I adhered the tag at the top with a glue dot and a Dimensional at the bottom to give it a little lift. I added one of the now retired Frosted Finishes ornaments for a little added bling and to anchor the tag to the card.

Lastly, I added some rhinestones to the smaller butterfly and called the card done!

I'm liking this one! What do you think? If you would like to read about other butterfly cards not mentioned in the above post, try these posts:

• Butterfly Obsession
• Color Inspiration and Abundant Butterflies

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Gold, Grunge, Glitz and Two Charlenes

This is my week to craft with ladies named Charlene!

On Monday, I visited a newer friend–named Charlene–at her home and helped her try out an emboss resist technique, some sponging, and some die cutting with the Butterfly Thinlits.

Then today at my place, I enjoyed a lovely day stamping with my long time best friend–and Upline– Charlene. She wanted to learn about the Bokeh Technique that I used here and while she worked on creating her watercolor backgrounds for the bokeh, I finished up my thank you cards to go out with my recent Stampin' Up! order.

Charlene achieved some great results and modelled them after my card from here but then branched out and made good use of some acetate and ribbon for a unique look! I am waiting on some pictures from her so I'll try to post those tomorrow.

Finally, my cards were finished and I was able to create the card I had been envisioning for days!
I started with a 5 x 7 Basic Black card base. I stamped my sentiment (from the now retired, See Ya Later stamp set) in the top left corner with Versamark and heat embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.

I cut a black card stock panel and stamped the fern from Butterfly Basics in Versamark, heat embossing again with the Gold Embossing Powder.

I used Dimensionals and offset this panel on another panel of Gold Foil.

I cut two of the the mid-sized butterfly from the Butterfly Thinlits, one in Basic Black and one from Gold Glimmer paper. I used the wonderful dryer sheet technique from Deb Valder to make it easy to remove the butterflies from the dies. I heat embossed the black one using Clear Embossing Powder to make it glossy.

Next, after deciding where my offset panel would go, I used Versamark to stamp some grungy flecks from Gorgeous Grunge. I also embossed these with Gold Embossing Powder. (Notice a trend here??) I then added the offset panel using Dimensionals.

I attached the black butterfly at the bottom of the offset panel using Glue Dots. The Gold Glimmer butterfly was attached to the black one using Glue Dots and the wings were bent up slightly to simulate flight.

I punched a tiny butterfly from Vellum using my Bitty Butterfly Punch and inked the edge in Versamark and then (you guessed it, right?) heat embossed it using Gold Embossing Powder. I bent up the wings and attached it with a Glue Dot near the sentiment.

The final touch for the outside of the card was to add a few rhinestones to the body of the bitty butterfly.

Since the card was black, I needed to create an inner panel to make it easier on which to write.
I cut a panel from Naturals Ivory card stock. Using Tuxedo Black Memento ink, stamped off, I stamped a few ferns at the bottom of the panel, not re-inking between stamps to give some added dimension. I also added a few flecks using black ink with Gorgeous Grunge.

I felt compelled to ink the edges loosely with Versamark and heat emboss them with Gold Embossing Powder. To complete the theme, I stamped the little butterflies–from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set–in Versamark and heat embossed them with Gold Embossing Powder.

Here are a few shots . . . it's hard to get good shots of the gold and glitter.

Details of the inside.

Lots of gold, grunge and glitz. Gotta love it!

If you love butterfly cards, be sure to check out these posts:

• Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Occasions Catalog
• Butterfly Obsession
• Color Inspiration and Abundant Butterflies

What have you created with your Butterfly Basics and Butterfly Thinlits? Let me know in the comments below!

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Color Inspiration and Abundant Butterflies

Received a Pier 1 Imports flyer in the mail the other day. In leafing through it, I found nothing I wanted to buy but it did give me some inspiration for card making!

I thought the combination of colors was fresh, and Spring-like. Even though we are a long way from Spring right now, the frigid temperatures of late made this color combo very appealing!

First in my creative process, I knew that I wanted to use the Reverse Framelits Technique that I learned about on Deb Valder's Blog. Also, because I was going for the WOW factor, I decided to use the largest butterfly from the Butterfly Thinlits.

Be sure to check out Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog and Butterfly Obsession for more posts on using the Butterfly Thinlits. In particular, the Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog shares a technique for easily removing the little pieces from detailed Framelit dies in one easy maneuvre!

I cut my card base from Soft Suede, 11 x 5.5" and scored it on the long side, 2.75" from each end. I used my bone folder to create good creases for this Gate Fold card, making sure that the gates met well in the centre of the card.

I cut pieces of Very Vanilla to attach to the "gates" and embossed them using the Decorative Dots Embossing Folder. I adhered them using Fuse Fast.

I stamped my sentiment on Very Vanilla using Soft Suede and then used the Scalloped Oval Punch to cut it. I used the Extra Large Oval Punch to cut a matte for the sentiment from Soft Suede.

I stamped two butterflies in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla using stamps from the popular Papillon Potpourri stamp set. After using the Elegant Butterfly and the Bitty Butterfly Punches to punch these out, I edged them with more Soft Suede using a Sponge Dauber. I cut four more butterflies from Soft Suede using the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die.

I decided on the placement of the large butterfly, the sentiment and the smaller butterflies on the card and then used the Reverse Framelits Technique to cut the large butterfly from the card gates.

This technique can be done using any Framelit die and is done by laying the entire card on a Cutting Pad on the Magnetic Platform and placing the Thinlit Die face up inside the card, centering it carefully, and then adding the top Cutting Pad before running it through the Big Shot.

With my butterfly shape now cut out of the gates of my card, I could cut out the actual butterfly for the card using Pear Pizzazz card stock. For this technique to work properly, it is most important to cut the shape keeping the thinlit die face up so that the cut shape will fit perfectly within the opening you have cut in your card.

I trimmed some Dimensional edges to fit on the body of the butterfly die cut and set the butterfly in place.

I felt that I needed a bit more green on the card but the sentiment didn't look right stamped in Pear Pizzazz so I tried some Old Olive Twine twisted behind the sentiment but the color did not pop enough. In the end I decided to use the Old Olive 1/8" ribbon instead, taping it to the back of the Soft suede oval matte. I added a Dimensional to the left side of the sentiment and adhered it in place.

I used glue dots to adhere the little butterflies to the card front. I liked what I had designed but I felt the card needed a little more pizzazz (but not necessarily of the Pear variety!).

For the final touch, I added both Basic Pearls and Basic Rhinestones (colored with an Old Olive Blendability Marker) to the little butterflies as well as the large die cut butterfly.
Now I was satisfied with the card!

As I set out to take the photos of it, I discovered one problem–when the card was opened, the tape I used to adhere the ribbon to the matte of the sentiment could be seen. Horrors!

I easily solved this by cutting another Soft Suede oval and adhering it to the back of the first, covering the tape, and then reattaching the sentiment to the card with a Dimensional.
My project was now a Fait Accompli!

Check out these photos:

And some close up details:

What do you think? Have you tried using the Butterfly Thinlits and the coordinating stamp set, Butterfly Basics? Have you encountered any problems? Do you need some solutions? Be sure to link me up to the cards you create using the Reverse Framelits Technique.

Leave me a comment below and I will be sure to reply!
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