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)

 

60th Wedding Anniversary card

I loved the colours in the latest CAS Colours and Sketches challenge (#248) - Emerald Envy, Tranquil Tide and  Metallic Silver - and they provided the basis for my thinking about a 60th wedding anniversary card for an uncle and aunt. (His brother and wife have the same anniversary this year, so I'll be making another one soon!) The metallic silver went nicely, I thought, with the 'diamond' anniversary, but I added a few diamonds (well, diamantes, but they still look good!) to keep the card appropriate for the celebration.
Here's the card:

Made Using:
Stampin' Up Products: Emerald Envy and Tranquil Tide ink and paper, Sky is the Limit stampset (for sentiment)
francheville diamantes
Kaisercraft Numbers Decorative Dies, Flutter clear stamps
Silver craft paper

Butterfly Congratulations

This card is a response to two challenges: The Paper Players' PP345: Butterflies and Fab Friday's Colour Challenge 112:

I wanted to make the butterflies 'fly' so let their wings lift off the coral background. It's the first time I found a use for the Stampin' Up enamel shapes (other than the dots) so that was an added benefit. 

Made Using:

Stampin' Up ink: Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry and Dapper Denim; paper: Calypso Coral and Dapper Denim; enamel dots and Vertical Greeting stamp (sentiment)

Diamond Press stamp and dies: 'enjoy the ride'