Sam’s Challenge and ‘a-ha’ moments

I am sooooo excited that I finally managed to complete Sam's 20K hits challenge to create a card, using this fabric and colours as inspiration...which I totally loved!

I really find that doing challenges really pushes me to think outside of the square & this one was no different, especially since I had of course left mine until the until the last day, just to add a little more pressure. I started off with a vague idea of using 'Garden Whimsy' (thanks so much Wendy for lending me your new set!), but to cut a long story short, but nothing came together until my 'domino effect' kicked in this morning & the pieces all came together (must have been your call Kellie J). This is what I came up with.

I have to say that this is definitely NOT one of my quick & limited supply cards. I faffed around A LOT! This usually results in lots of stuff being used & a final project that I'm not happy with, but I have to say that I LOVE this one (sorry to toot my own horn, but it doesn't happen that often!).

Here's a close-up, so you can see the very glittery butterfly & pretties flowers, which I coloured with pretty in pink & perfect plum reinkers & and my Aqua Painter™. Actually when I was looking at this pic, (& this is where I have to toot Stampin' Up!®'s horn too!), I thought it was a perfect example of how having a coordinated range of fabulous products makes it so easy to mix and match items to create a unique look.OK, back to the card. While it looks like a normal card from the front, it's actually has a pocket inside, similar to this one. I'd like to be able to say that was all part of the plan, but it was just one of those happy a-ha moments when I was cutting the base. I had a leftover piece when I folded the card to suit the front & thought, "that's just the right size for a pocket!"
Anyway, I won't give full instructions for the card, but here's an overview of the maybe not so obvious steps along the way:

1. Soft Sky Piece: - The soft sky piece is actually a whisper white piece. I stamped a rock & rolled butterfly, masked it, stamped all over with the curly greeting in versamark, clear embossed, then brayered over the top in soft sky ink. Then, I thought the soft sky was too overpowering, so I covered the whole piece with paper vellum & secured it with brads (& glue dots under the flower). This piece is raised on dimensionals.
2. The pretties flowers were coloured with re-inkers & dried with the heat tool (I am very impatient!). The petals are strategically secured at the base with glue dots.
3. The butterfly has been rock & rolled in pretty in pink & rose red ink, with a bit of Aqua Painter™ blending before stamping. I added glitter using versamark pad & heat & stick powder (think embossing powder but sticky!) It's raised on dimensionals & slightly offset from the butterfly image underneath.
4. The 'so happy' greeting is from So Many Sayings. It's punched out with the word window punch.
5. The card base is 29.7cm x 10.5. The finished front is 10.5 x 12.2cm.
   The butterfly on the pocket fold is clear embossed (mmmm shiny!) .
6. The greeting insert butterfly is rock & rolled & the edges are sponged in pretty in pink ink.

Supplies:

Stamps: Garden Whimsy, So Many Sayings
Card: rose red, perfect plum, whisper white
Ink: rose red (ink pad), pretty in pink (ink pad & reinker), perfect plum (reinker), versamark,
Accessories: pretty in pink brads, heat & stick powder, dazzling diamonds glitter, clear embossing powder
Tools: Aqua Painter™, heat gun, brayer, paper piercer

Serendipity

Finally, I have to tell you about the serendipitous moment I had this morning when I finished the card & getting ready to take pictures.....but I have to digress first (again!)

Last year, I went to an awesome scrapping convention where one of my scrapping gurus, Stacy Julian taught. One of the things Stacy teaches is the value of recognising the little moments in our day to day lives that make us happy & celebrating them. She uses the following process to do this..., or at least in my head, this is it! ;0)

Recognise it – identify the something that makes you happy. This could be anything.....& possibly only mean something to you!
Validate it – Acknowledge what that something is
Celebrate it– take a picture, make a page, write about it, tell someone about it. Just don't forget about it.

OK, now you've hopefully got the picture......little things, happy, got it!?
Well, I walked outside to take pictures on our deck & saw Cara's bedspread, which I had put out to air. Well, it just hit me! I realised that it's pretty much the exact colours from the challenge & not only that, but it has butterflies & flowers all over it! .....& I didn't even register that until I saw it. WEIRD! So, I smiled, had a happy feeling moment, then decided to take my card pics on the quilt, so I can remember that little happy moment & tell you about it too (assuming you haven't dropped off to sleep yet). Anyway, here's a final pic showing one of the butterflies.

So, my challenge to you is....look for those unexpected, little happy moments in your every day & do something to remember them.

Oh....& before I forget, you can see all of the beautiful entries for Sam's challenge here.

Thanks to those who managed to stay with me for this very long post. Have a happy day.

Di