Nature's Inspiration

In case  you haven't noticed, I love flowers, trees, butterflies....pretty much all things nature.  What a wonderful world God has made for us to enjoy!

Jennifer Styles is hosting this week's OLW challenge and she gave us a sketch to use.  It goes without saying that the card has to be one layer with minimum or no embellishments.  Here is the sketch she gave us to work with.

I reversed the sketch.  It just seemed to work better for me backwards.  There is so much inspiration in this gallery each week.  I hope you get a chance to check it out.  Just click on the link above.

And yesterday, when I saw the Just Add Ink #53 challenge, this card just fit.  Here's the inspiration picture....

Isn't that the most beautiful, happy picture?  My flowers aren't as bright though I think they work for this challenge.

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Inspired by Nature, Dreams du Jour, Happy Harmony
Ink:  StazOn Black, Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Basic Gray, SU Markers (Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Old Olive, Soft Suede)
Paper:  Watercolor
Accessories:  Blender Pen

I used the small flower and the edge of the grass on this stamp inking the flowers with markers and "thumping" with a darker color marker before stamping.  I colored the butterflies with a blender pen and ink.

Enjoy,
Bonnie

Autumn Leaf Thanks

Today has been such a busy day!  I am madly trying to get ready for the Stamp Stack on Saturday and haven't had a minute to make a card today.  So I am going to share a card that I made a while back.

Again, it is made with some retired stuff.  The stamp set, Autumn Leaf Prints, has been retired for years.  The new French Foliage, in the Holiday Mini, is so similar except that it has an awesome script stamp and a couple of different leaves.  I really wanted to buy it, but I'm trying to be thrifty and decided I would have to wait on this one.  So I keep pulling out the old set.  That's one advantage of Stampin' Up! stamps.  They last and last!

I CASEd this card from Bar on SCS.  I used a different leaf, different colors (the Dusty Durango is also retired), used the Sanded stamp on the background and a different sentiment.

I think it will make a great Thanksgiving card or just a special Autumn thank you.

Back to cutting.  I'm also listening to a Jodi Picoult book, Handle with Care.  I love that I can multi task with "reading" a book while cutting out cards.  Two of my favorite things.

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Autumn Leaf Prints, Happy Harmony, Sanded
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Dusty Durango, Soft Suede
Paper:  Dusty Durango, Whisper White
Accessories:  Dusty Durango Polka Dot Ribbon

Such a quick and easy card and I think one of my favorite layouts.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope you enjoyed your visit and will return soon.
Bonnie

A Flutter with Happiness

Hello stampers. Todays card is for the Color Challenge this week to use Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay and Dusty Durango. Dessert is to stamp on DSP.

I went through the UFO box and didn't see anything in there that would work. Soooo, I opened my stamp drawer and came out with all kinds of stamps.
First, I stamped 3 butterflies with the All a Flutter stamp. It's a single on the last page of the Summer Mini catalog. I used Black Stazon ink so it wouldn't smudge. Using a blender pen and ink pads, I colored each butterfly with a different color and added some contrast. They looked a little bland so I laid the VersaMark pad down on them and embossed with clear embossing powder. It made them so silky and pretty! They were also easier to cut out.

I found the DSP in the Welcome Neighbor DSP pad left over from the Sale A Bration. I stamped just the outline flower in Crushed Curry and used the Dusty Durango marker to dot the centers. A blender pen diffused the dots a bit.

I stamped the tips of the grass from the Inspired by Nature stamp in Crumb Cake. It's a new core color. (It's used to be called Kraft but as of tomorrow, it's Crumb Cake and you can get the ink in that color too.)

The sentiment is an old favorite from the Happy Harmony set. It was a Sale A Bration set about 3 years ago.

The DSP is adhered to a piece of Basic Black cut about 1/8" larger and all mounted on a Bermuda Bay card. The butterflies have adhesive just in the middle so the wings lift off the paper a bit.

I had so much fun doing this challenge. I really love the colors and today is their last day as current colors. Hopefully all of you have received your new catalog by now and see all the new colors and stamps and have a list as long as mine.

You can see that the All a Flutter didn't make it into the new catalog. You have until August 31 to order from the Summer Mini Catalog. If you don't have one, email me and I will be glad to send you one.

Card Receipe
Stamps: All a Flutter, Greenhouse Garden, Inspired by Nature, Happy Harmony
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Whisper White, DSP
Ink: Black Stazon, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, VersaMark
Acc.: Clear Embossing Powder, Gray Marker

Hope you enjoy this card as much as I enjoyed making it.

Happy Stampin',
Bonnie