Soft florals

Well, I was out of my comfort zone with both the soft colours (So Saffron, Pool Party and Petal Pink) of Global Design Project's challenge #233, and all the elements of Paper Craft Crew's sketch challenge #375:

However, I was pleased with the result - not least because I finally, after many false starts, successfully used the Forever Blossoms Bundle. I think that seeing my friend and teacher Jan Clothier  use it superbly  put me off! 

Ingredients:

Stampin' Up card, (Whisper White, Smoky Slate, So Saffron), ink, (Basic Grey, Petal Pink, Pool Party, stamps, (Forever Blossoms, Butterfly Gala) dies, (Needlepoint Elements, Cherry Blossoms, Stiched So Sweetly), and sequins.

Monarch butterfly card

Hi! The colours of Fab Friday's challenge #174: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie and Melon Mambo, made me think of Monarch butterflies (down here in NZ where Halloween isn't nearly as much of a thing...), so that's what I went with for this card. As a base, I used the delicious sketch from Freshly Made Sketch's #407:

Here's the card:

Ingredients: 

Stampin' Up! card, (Whisper White, Basic Black, Melon Mambo), in (Basic Black, Melon Mambo), Pumpkin Pie watercolour pencil, stamps, (Butterfly Gala, Petal Palette), dies (Ornate Frames) punch (Butterfly Duet)

Also an embossing folder whose origins are completely mysterious to me, sorry. It just hangs around looking inviting in my stamping stuff. But it's kind of leafy. 

Rich colours

Hello from a Southern Hemisphere gorgeous autumn day. The sun is shining and the leaves are gold, red and bronze. The colours in Sunday Stamps challenge SSC203 look springlike, but their richness also suits my autumnal outlook:

I've used Global Design's sketch challenge #GDP186 to bring them to life:

Here's the card:

Ingredients:

Stampin' Up! card, (Whisper White, Gorgeous Grape), Memento Black ink, watercolour pencils (Crushed Curry, Gorgeous Grape), stamps (Itty Bitty Birthdays, Butterfly Gala), dies (Stitched Shapes, Framelits - Square Collection, Petals and More, Butterfly Beauty), Needlepoint Nook DSP.

Other: Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils - Apple Green and Leaf Green.

Butterflies Squared

I loved Freshly Made Sketch's challenge #380:

It's pleasingly symmetrical, but with some room to play. I decided to try graduating the colour of some butterflies, by sponging three shades of blue in a continuum (golly, that's hard to spell!) on card to punch them out of. This led me (in an impressive feat of memory, if I do say so myself!) to recall the washed DSP 'Perfectly Artistic' from a couple of years ago, which I had lurking in the craft cupboard. A bit of judicious die cutting and the backgrounds for the butterflies were graduated as well. I embossed some delicate silverwork on that background with the help of a stamp from Needle and Thread. Finally, when I went to attach the butterflies, I decided to make them fly around a bit, rather than obey the symmetry of all the rest. 

Here's the result: 

Ingredients: 

Stampin' Up! card. (Marina Mist, Whisper White, silver), ink (Marina Mist, Balmy Blue, Soft Sky, Basic Black), stamps (Butterfly Gala, Needle and Thread), dies (Rectangle Stitched, Circle Collection, Layering Circles) Subtle embossing folder, silver embossing powder

Other: Versamark, francheville rhinestones, some random silver thread I have but don't know where I got. 

Beautiful Butterflies

A lovely colour combination - Melon Mambo, Granny Apple Green and Coastal Cabana - from Global Design Project's #177 made me excited to use my new butterflies from Stampin' Up. As a base for the design, I used Fab Friday's latest sketch: #157 (which also enabled me to use the lovely new Stampin' Up doilies). To soften the stamped doily, I die cut another one in vellum as an overlay. I coloured the butterflies using Copic markers - thinking all the while that I really must invest in some Stampin' Up blends!

Here's the card:

Ingredients:

Stampin' Up card, (Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Coastal Cabana), ink (Basic Black, Granny Apple Green), stamps (Butterfly Gala, Dear Doily), dies (Doily Builder, Layering Circles), butterfly punch.

Other products: Stazon Black ink, copic markers (B02, YG17, RV29, YG03)