Hello Life and Butterfly Medallion – FMS180

Hi folks!  I have an elegant card for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches FMS180 Challenge.  Here’s the layout I used:

Here is the card I made: 

I love how this turned out, and I actually used an additional inspiration to go along with it.  For the Stampin’ in the Woods retreat, we make our own name tags (and then we all vote on them, too!).  I made mine using some of the same supplies as this card.  Here’s a picture of that one (despite the lighting being off for these, it really is Sahara Sand):

I’m proud to say mine came in the top 3 choices this time. YAY!

I used the Something Borrowed DSP for these, as well as Sahara Sand and Whisper White card stock.  The sentiment on the card came from the Hello Life Stamp Set – which has a coordinating Project Kit in the Occasions Catalog.
The bow is tied using the Linen thread, and there is also some Sahara Sand Lace Trim. There are two different size butterfly punches and some Pearls for accents to finish it off.  The name tag also uses the Butterflies Thinlit and the Little Letters Thinlits.

Thanks for looking, and don’t forget FREE Shipping this week! 🙂
Mak

Gold Butterfly FMS167

Merry Christmas!  I hope all is well with everyone.

Here is a quick (non-holiday) card for your viewing pleasure. 🙂
It’s for Freshly Made Sketches FMS167 this time.  Here is the layout:

And here is my gold glittery butterfly creation:

I’m definitely very fond of the Butterfly Basics set with the coordinating Butterflies Thinlit Dies. I colored the flowers with Old Olive and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities, with Pumpkin Pie highlights. The ribbon is also Old Olive, in taffeta. I then used lots of gold on this one. Gold ink as a subtle background to the flowers, Gold Glimmer paper as a layer, and Gold Foil sheets for the Butterfly. It’s actually even prettier in person!

I tried a few new things on this one. For starters, I cut the butterfly out upside down. Usually you have the pretty side of the paper up, so the cleaner cut is on the nicer side.. But I flipped it, just to see what happens.. Please note, I mean the paper is upside down, not the die.  It turns out it gives the edges much more depth or texture – even if it is hard to tell in the photo. All the edges are raised up a little bit.
The second thing I did was add additional color to the butterfly. I scribbled on it with the Old Olive Blendabilities, and stamped some gold images (the butterfly in the stamp set with a pattern on it), just to tone down the gold, and once again, see how it turned out.  It gave the gold a more subtle green tone to it, but not enough to make it worth it to do it again. Maybe with different colors next time, but the green is too close to the gold on this one.
The Thank You sentiment is from the Sale-a-Bration set, Lotus Blossom. I used it because it fit perfectly in the space I needed.

Oh, and if you haven’t checked out the Clearance Rack recently, you should! Stampin’ Up! added more items, and some are from the Holiday Catalog!
Happy post Christmas Shopping everyone!

I hope you enjoy,
Mak

From the Herd – Blue Llama – FMS166 and PPA231

It’s time for another peek at a new set in the Occasions Catalog – which is right around the corner!  The inspiration for this card came from two challenges this week. The sketch is from FMS166 – Freshly Made Sketches #166 – A Sketch by Karren and the colors are from PPA231 – Pals Paper Arts Color Challenge.
Here is the sketch: Here are the colors: And… here is my card: I love love love this set! I saw it and immediately knew I needed to have it! Who could resist those cute and crazy llama eyes??
For my first version of this, I started coloring the lovely herd with lots of colors.. including the yellow chicken.. but then decided it was too colorful to stick with the color theme of blues. So, I started over, and stuck with the blues and greys. I did however still need to have a pink pig! Who says you can’t have a blue llama?
I used the brand new Pink Pirouette Blendabilities, which are also coming out in the new catalog. The other coloring consisted of various items.. Some other Blendabilities colors: Coastal Cabana, Smokey Slate, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive… and some ink pads with Blender pens: Soft Sky, Pool Party.
I finished off the goat’s bell with the Gold marker. The balloon string is the baker’s twine in Early Espresso, and the cute little grass border is made with the Fringe Scissors.

Keep an eye out for more to come!! I have a lot more to share with you!
I am also filling up my January calendar for the start of Sale-a-Bration!

If you would like to be a host and earn some of your own free products, contact me ASAP as I have limited dates available!
Mak

FMS157 and PP217 Flower Patch Thanks

Here’s another combined challenge entry, as it’s so nice to use one for the colors, and the other for the layout!
This time it’s A Sketch by Amy at Freshly Made Sketches #157, and Ann’s Fall Color Challenge at The Paper Players #217.
Here’s the Layout:

and here are the colors:

I love these two together, because it shows that fall colors don’t have to be for Halloween, or even specifically Fall!

Here’s the card I came up with based on these:
It’s super simple, and definitely ‘clean’…  aside from the little snafu with some stray embossing powder..that stuff gets everywhere if you don’t pay attention…  but we won’t talk about that…  🙂
Focusing on the flowers, I used the photoploymer set Flower Patch. This is cool because there’s a matching framelit set – Flower Fair. This means no fussy cutting!! Yay for small miracles.  The black dots in the center of the flower are embossed, it makes it shiny (yay, shiny). I had actually stamped some of the leaves in Mossy Meadow on the same color paper, but I liked the plain leaves better for this one. I took the scoring stylus and made grooves on the leaves to give them texture.
The embossed “thanks!” is from my favorite Thank you set: Lots of Thanks. It’s got just about every size thank you for any card!  I also layered two different ribbons to give it more pizzazz – just in a subtle pizzazz kinda way. I like how it turned out. I hope you do too!

Behind the scenes:  For the beige colored ribbon, I actually used the Natural 5/8″ Chevron Ribbon, and flipped it upside down, since I didn’t want the chevron pattern! It’s almost like you have two different ribbons with that one!
If you want that ribbon, too, now is the time to get it! It’s in the Weekly Deals section that ends tonite!! So, go get it ASAP!

Some items used:

Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set

$25.95

Lots Of Thanks Clear Stamp Set

$16.95

Flower Fair Framelits Die

$24.95

Decorative Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

$7.95

Natural 5/8″ Chevron Ribbon

$6.95

Mossy Meadow 3/8″ Satin Stitched Ribbon

$8.95

Black Stampin’ Emboss Powder

$4.95

Versamark Pad

$7.50

Hello Honey Classic Stampin’ Pad

$5.95

Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin’ Pad

$5.95

Mossy Meadow 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

$6.95

Tangelo Twist 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

$6.95

Basic Black 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$6.95

Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$8.50

Simply Scored Stylus

$4.50

Stampin’ Dimensionals

$3.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Have a good one –
Mak

FMS155 Love Your Cat-itude

I have cats. That’s no secret. I have an attitude (sometimes…), thats no secret either. 🙂  So, I thought this card was too cute not to make. Although, I think some days I could do without the *cat’s* attitude!
For this week’s Freshly Made Sketches Challenge by Karren (FMS155), here is the sketch:

I was loving the glimmer paper so much from a previous card (click here to see it if you missed it!), that I added a little glimmer to this one too.  Here’s the card I came up with with my kitties in mind:
I am so pleased with this card, I think it turned out much better than I even imagined it would look like!  I got to use some of the neat sequin embellishments from the Holiday Catalog, AND the Motley Monsters DSP – which doesn’t need to be used only for Halloween – as you can see!
I like the white space on the tag, as it makes you focus more on the cute kitty with the glimmer bow!!! And the tilt of the tag? It’s on purpose. Anything with an attitude has to be a little off-kilter.
I hope everyone likes it!

Behind the scenes: To get the cute blue eyes, I didn’t want to color the entire stamp with a black marker since I think it stamps cleaner with the ink pads for larger images.. Instead, I inked up the stamp in black, then used an old blender pen to remove the black from the eyes, then colored just the eye with the blue marker! Voila!

Some items used:

You Little Furball Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$18.95

Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper

$10.95

Frosted Sequins

$4.95

Silver 1/8″ Ribbon

$4.95

Silver Glimmer Paper

$4.95

White Stampin’ Emboss Powder

$4.95

Bermuda Bay 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$6.95

Coastal Cabana 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$6.95

Tag Topper Scalloped Punch

$22.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

I hope everyone likes it!

Mak