.png)
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.
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:- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The 'so happy' greeting is from So Many Sayings. It's punched out with the word window punch.
- 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!) . - 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
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.
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.
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
I do like the design & colour combination (river rock, real red old olive & vanilla), which I took from the spotty 'Dashing' designer paper, but in the end I decided that it had too much cutting out for a SAS class, so I kept on playing, until I came up with 
I think I went a little background & white gel pen crazy, but I still kind of like it! If I made it again, I'd show a bit more restraint though.
It's not a particularly manly looking card, but it just felt right....& that's what I always hope for when I make & give a card. 
I realised when I was preparing the pic, that it's basically the same layout as 
I think it's pretty easy to see how I made it, but I've included the instructions below. It's gone all cold & overcast in Sydney after a few wonderfully warm days, s a good day to stay home & stamp!...once I finish my tasks of course :o(
Like all my workshop projects, it's really quick & easy to make. Here's how you can make one yourself:
I think this is a good reflection of my love of clean & simple graphic designs. I started with a thought to do some strings of baubles & my a-ha moment came when I realised the 'In the Spotlight' set would be perfect for them. After that, the basic design came together pretty quickly. The colours I chose were ballet blue, brilliant blue & whisper white, which I really like together here. I added some sparkle with dazzling diamonds glitter (trust me, it's so much more sparkly IRL).
So that's the first of many more Christmas projects to come in coming months. If you have any questions, just 
The colours are ruby red, wild wasabi, certainly celery & whisper white. If you'd like more information on my SAS classes or anything else, just 
I wanted to make a different shaped card, so I made this pocket card, which I based on 
These pocket cards would work really well for gift vouchers (remember you can purchase Stampin' Up!® gift vouchers from me anytime!). You could also include a photo, provided it was slightly smaller than the normal 10 x 15cm. I think a Christmas themed one would also be great & a friend said at the weekend it would be great for an invitation or baby announcement. I really liked how this turned out so I don't think it'll be the last one you see here.
Some fabulous Blooms die cuts (love, love, love these!) & styled silver hodgepodge brad (ooohhh!) take centre stage. The Blooms are so much fun to play with & look amazing teamed with the Summer Picnic paper...& did I mention that they're made of textured cardstock....mmmmm.
I really liked how it turned out as it's just such a bold & happy card & the guys at the class did too. Hope you're having a great weekend. I'll be back tomorrow or Monday with the second class project.
Triangle boxes are really quick & easy to make & look great, so are a workshop favourite of mine. They're perfect for chocolates (although IMO what isn't? ....& if you can't store them, eat them I say....but I digress), or any other small items. You just need half an A4 sheet of card to make them & some ribbon to keep them closed, so they don't use require many supplies. The supply lists for these boxes is at the bottom of this post.
All the cards have a sage shadow base (stamped with the canvas background stamp either at 'full strength' or stamped off on scrap first), teamed with always artichoke, soft sky card & a gorgeous striped paper from the 'Wintergreen' pack. I couldn't resist adding a little celery grosgrain ribbon to reflect the celery stripe in the paper (I know – any excuse!). There's also either always artichoke or celery brads too. As for the greetings, 'happy Father's day' & 'kind & wonderful friend' are from 'Occasional Greetings', 'Wonderful Father' is from 'Wonderful Favourites' & 'Happy Birthday' is from 'Cheery Chat'.
The diagonal striped paper I used here is also from the Wintergreen pack.....& how well does the blue bayou double stitched ribbon look with it? Who knew?
This is a super simple version of the layout, this time with celery card, Wintergreen paper & no brads or ribbon & lots of distressed edges.
Finally, I've been dying to try out some yummy 'Apple Cider' paper from the 