Envelope Romance.

The current  Butterfly Challenge is running for another week in order to help me catch up from not feeling well. Today is the first day I feel back to near as normal. Whatever it was I don't want it again!!

I was going to show just one new Envelope card shape but have ended up re tweaking the first two versions so here are 3 new cards to give you some added inspiration. All 3 versions have been added to the card shapes page as III, IV and V.

First card (Version III)  is a tweak on Version I but both panels are secured down and the pocket shape is more defined. I almost designed this card by accident as I didn't want to cut across the key on the design paper which would have happened just cutting across the diagonal of the 4" x 4" panels. I moved the pencil mark in by half an inch and cut the diagonal from that point to the opposite corner. I think it gives a more envelope shape to the card.  Design paper is from a paper pad by The Paper Boutique called 'Secret Romance and has all the three colours from the butterfly wheel in it. The edging and the trim were from my stash along with the sentiments which again were just the right colour.

This is the back of the envelope and the back of the insert leaving room for a message to be added.

Showing the front of the envelope and the front of the inset panel .

I managed to incorporate the shape, edging and butterflies to complete the required wheel. 

Entering this card into the following challenges:

Second card (Version IV)  is a tweak on Version II bu there you are only making to pockets in the envelope. Design papers this time are from paper pads from The Works called 'Vintage Love' and 'Secret Rose' which again incorporated the three required colours.  The butterfly stickers  and sentiments from my stash. This is the front of the envelope closed. The insert for leaving a message tucks into the back pocket. 

Inside the envelope which makes a nice space for adding  a gift card.

 Below shows the message panel for inserting a greeting  and showing the pocket it fits into on the back of the envelope. 

and finally once inserted the back of the panel embellished with more of the butterflies.

  Entering this card into the following challenges:

Finally my last inspiration for you with a new envelope shape. VersionV. This envelope shape opens up fully and is held closed with a belly band.  The floral design paper is from the Paper Boutique pad 'Secret Romance' as above along with the pink paper which is from the The works paper pad 'Secret Rose'. The green swirl is a digi paper by Cottage and Lace an Etsy shop called Floral Too.  The silver edging  butterflies and white sentiment were from my stash. 

Showing card opened up and free standing. 

Entering into the following challenges:

The Butterfly challenge will now close on next Tuesday Nov 3rd ready for the last challenge #149 using the letter F before the butterflies are cocooned for the winter. 

Stay safe and well

HUGS

No Snowmen.

Time once more for the girls in the Christmas Card Club to show our latest cards. Margaret chose the theme of Snowmen and I did get as far as printing off some cute Digi images but then I got a nasty tummy bug (where from ! as I haven’t been anywhere just indoors or in the garden) which has laid me low for the past week so I have resorted to using our fall back of anything goes as my theme. Fortunately I had already made this card up from an online  FaceBook card class with  ‘Julie Hickey’ that I had done a couple of weeks ago and haven’t yet shown. We were using some of her older stamps and dies which I just happened to have (from the good old days when we were still  able to go to actual workshops in craft shops ) which seems like a lifetime away already. 

I have used Julie’s ‘Christmas Frame‘ JH1026 and ‘Christmas Frame Word’ JHD-CUT-FR002 die cut.

The background was made using Distress Oxides laid down in strips and blending the edges of the colours together. Using a water brush pen you then lift some of the colour away to give a lovely faded look. I added a gold gel pen around the holly, mistletoe and poinsettias. I used gold card for the die cut Christmas and as backing for the the word Merry. Gems from my stash.  Instead of using 3D pads for the layering I used up some strips of cardstock glued together. Works a treat and another way to use up those pesky scraps!!  

As it is the 25th today I am going to enter this card into the Rudolph Challenge over at Scrappy Mo’s.

n.b.

Good job I bought The Doc some Thermal (2.3 tog) socks from Ebay the other week. I despair  of some of the logic behind the new rules banning supermarkets from selling clothing.!

HUGS

Pumpkin Greetings.

There is a new challenge on the block called Lets Squash It that emplores you to use your embossing folders and to dig them out and dust them off. . I am guilty as charged on that count as I have a  number of / quite a few actually, almost as many as I have pairs of shoes (and I'm not telling how many of those I have either) that have never seen the light of day.  Challenge #1 is asking you to use a Geometric pattern and Metallic Card or Metal Sheets. So I had a riffle through my stash and found this embossing folder which was to my liking and found some gold metallic card stock that was in a pack  6 x 6. This was as far as it got for a week as I couldn't think of a thing to make with it. I didn't want to make a Birthday or Christmas design or Halloween either but then remembered a digi paper I had seen on Etsy so went off to purchase it.  Trouble was I found some more I liked  as well and it sort of fell into the basket at the same time and ended up not using the one I went to buy!

The embossing folder is by Sizzix No 655837 -AL called 'Argyle (L)'  and does rather look like the pattern you find on sweaters of that name.  It was a devil to photograph with the gold metallic card without either seeing the flash or the actual camera in the reflection.  The digi paper is from an Etsy supplier called Design Lover Studio  ' Floral Pumpkin'  and as soon as I saw it knew it was the one for the card. Because the cardstock was only 6 x 6 and my card measures 6 x 7 I need to butt two pieces together so I embossed an extra strip and added it across the join behind the design paper before adhering to the card base. I have used a total of 3 different papers from the set. The base paper (no2)  has a diamond design on it and I fussy cut the two pumpkins (from papers no 6 and 7) and then interlocked them. The sentiment was created in word and printed off.  

Entering into the following challenges:

Lets Squash It #1 Use a Geometric Embossing folder and Metallic Card. 

 

Shopping Our Stash #431 Happy Fall Y'all

Crafty Creations #414 Anything goes.

The Sisterhood of Crafters # Lots of layers.

Creative Knockouts #372 Embossing heat or dry.

Creative Moments #200 Anything goes.

Crafty Catz #523 Anything goes.

Crafty Friends #145 Embossing Wet or dry. 

Pieces of Eight

Time again for the girls in the Christmas card club to show our latest makes. Kate chose the theme this time of Santa. I have a lot of stamps that I refer to as modern Santa's as they appeal to me the most.  I have made 6 cards using these stamps and then another 2 with  a really old traditional style Santa from my childhood.  the cards are all different sizes as I don't buy card blanks. I much prefer to make a card from cardstock and as I make all my own envelopes  it is not a problem. I sorted through all my christmas stash and found several 6" x 6" pads  so used some of the papers up  still left in them. To make them fit my cards I just cut them into squares, triangles and assorted width strips and mixed and matched the designs up. So here they all are after blogger made me do the post twice having gotten to the last piccy and having a message flag up update failed. Brilliant!!

Card No1 uses a wooden block stamp by Creative Stamping HH144H (which I think is the same company as Creative Expressions (below) as the code numbers are the same format. This stamp just begged to be on a long thin elongated card. All of the cards have been coloured using my Promarkers and this one has been edged with a silver gel pen.  I sorted through all my christmas stash and found lots of christmas 

Card No 2.  I love this wooden block stamp by Creative Expressions HH140H I have had the set of 3 in my stash for a long time so don’t know if still available. It looks like I have missed some of the colouring on his tunic but the stamp is made that way. The sentiment is a silver  sticker from my stash. If you look closely at the cards you will see little blobs of either silver or gold  in the corners. This is from what is left behind when you peel off the sentiment. The three blobs here are left from the  3 r’s in the Merry Christmas.  Waste not  want not is my motto. 

Card No 3. Uses a wooden block Santa by Creative  Expressions  HH447F. I call him My Roly Poly Santa. He reminds me of the toys we had as Children that were weighted at the bottom and when put on the floor just wobbled about. We loved them. Such simple pastimes we had as kids. He is actually the smallest of the cards made being only 4 x 5 but you can’t tell from the photo. The backing paper is a pad that is only 4 inches square so I divided  the sheet up to stretch it!  Silver sticker from my stash. 

Card No 4 uses a clear stamp by Leane  Creatief called ‘Doodle Santa’. Outlined with a silver gel pen.  Banner sentiment is a sticker from my stash and is actually the negative space left when you peel off the words. Backed onto a small strip of the coloured Card so that the letters showed up. I do like to get my monies worth! 

Card No 5. Uses the same stamp as above. The packet it comes in shows him done with plain colouring and then as a doodle which is what I have done here. I think he looks totally different and has rather a Scandinavian flavour.  Outlined with a gold gel pen and the sentiment is a gold sticker from my stash. 

Card No 6. Uses a clear stamp from The House of Zanrda 2014. I bought quite a few from a craft fare That yr as I loved all her designs. I think Miss Di was with me at the time and also indulged herself! You can’t get them now. I think she has sold that arm of her business and the new owners do the stamps in cd format, Dolly Dimples springs to mind. . I haven’t used him before mainly because the stamps are quite hard to get to print clearly but now with the advent of stamping platforms that is not a problem so I will be getting the rest of them out to play with in due course no doubt. Love how he coloured up and I outlined him with a silver gel pen.  The sticker I have had in my stash almost as long as the stamps. 

Card No 7. Using a stamp set I bought purely because the Santa reminded me of the traditional Father Christmas that as children we went to the local Department store each Christmas and queued up to see. We would clamber up onto his knee and whisper what we wanted for Christmas and the present we got given for some reason was always a snow globe, albeit a different design each time.!  Oh happy days!! 

The stamp set is by Paper Mania from their Urban stamps set called ‘Noel’. 

Last card using the other Santa from the same set.  The sentiment comes in the packet. 

Hope you like my little selection of Santa cards Kate and sorry for the delay in posting. Blame the parrot that’s what I did.

Hugs

Envelopes.

Is anyone else having problems accessing their Blogger Dashboard because I sure am.  Firstly blogger prevented me logging into my account using my Ipad and said I needed to up date my browser to one of four being shown on my screen. Safari being one of them which my ipad has installed  and that I needed Java script enabled which it already is. Two days later and blogger prevented me logging into my dashboard from my laptop using Google Chrome + Java Script. After another 2 days Blogger relented and let me back in using my laptop +Google Chrome + Java Script and I hadn't touched or updated anything so I do not know what is going on. I still cannot access from my Ipad which is annoying to say the least. I am now running late with my posts. The tutorials for both of these cards will be up on the Butterfly Blog asap. so please be patient.  There are a lot of photos to process for the step by step instructions. 

Ok. Rant over.

Time for a new Challenge over on the Butterfly Challenge where the  theme is:

#148 Spin The Butterfly Wheel with E for Envelope Fold.

I have two versions of an envelope Fold card to show you today and another one for next week. 

My First card Version I

Uses all 6 elements of the above wheel. 

A simple wrap over card with one side left open so that the card stands up on it's own.  I have used a digital paper from Snap Click, Supply Co by Jodie Lee called Rustic Papers No2.  The stamped butterflies are  a freebie from a craft magazine.  The sentiments are from a clear stamp set by Kaisercraft.

This is the insert panel that tucks into the back fold and has room on the back for writing your message.Below showing the card free standing and the insert panel.  I have forsaken  my normal go to die cut butterflies  in favour of  Whidbey and Theo by Poppy Stamps.The gems and ribbon are from my stash and the Happy birthday panel is SU's Extra Large Modern Label punch.  The fancy edge is a border punch by Martha Stewart. I have had in my stash almost form the word go and it sadly gets overlooked but not today!

Entering this card into the following challenges:

My Second card Version II

Uses all 6 elements of the above wheel. 

This card might look complicated but all you are doing is folding a square of paper up. You end up with 3 pockets. One in the centre section and a pocket under each of the flaps front and back. Plenty of spaces to add your message and include a gift card or money.  I have used another digital paper from Snap,Click,Supply Co by Jodie Lee called Faded Vintage papers  No 6. Punched border and butterfly using the same as above. 

Here you can see the insert panel tucked into the middle section which has room on the reverse for your message. 

The stamped butterflies and sentiments are freebies from a craft magazine.  The gems from my stash

Here below are the front and back flaps which I have decorated and stamped before completing the folds and make nice pockets for inserting a gift card or money wallet. 

I do give full instructions for making this card which will be available over on the Butterfly blog.  

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Do hope you will pop over to the butterfly blog  and enter a card. The challenge will be running  for 3 weeks and closes on Tuesdsy 27th Oct. 

Till then stay safe.

Hugs

Shabby and Slim

Back as promised but with not one card but two  for more inspiration for the current Butterfly Challenge which still has another week to run. Here I am show casing just the colours and diamonds.You do not have to use the shaped card element of the wheel  to enter.

Card One uses:

Delft Blue

Dandelion

Diamonds (used as a pattern)

Butterfly.

The diamond die cut is by Tonic Studios. Quite an old one now and part of a four piece set.  The roses are Spellbinders Rose Creations which i have just a bit of gold gel pen around the petals for a shabby chic look.  The butterfly is an SU punch which has been given the same treatment.  The digital  design paper is called Vintage Flower Garden Market by 'Jodie Lee from Snap,Click Supply Co.  Sentiment is by Kaisercraft. Pearls from my stash.

Entering this card into the following challenges.

Always Fun Challenges #182 Die Cuts.

Crafty Card Makers  #264 Shabby Chic.

Not Just Cards # Anything goes.

The Creative Crafters #32 Anything goes.

Crafty Calendar #Anything goes.

Card Two uses:

Delft Blue

Damson

Diamonds (used as a pattern)

Diamonds (used as gems)

Butterfly

Card is a slim line which seems to be in vogue right now.  The design paper is another digital paper this time by Nitwits from their Flower Shoppe Too called Diamond Steel.  The die cut diamonds  is by tonic Studios called Parquet trellis. The sentiment is again by Kaiser craft and the gems were from my stash. butterflies die cut using the same SU punch. Whilst I was having a rootle around in my Tonic stash I came across the die cut for making the Essentials  Ornate Easel and as it had a diamond design I decided to also make it up using some of the delft blue cardstock so that I could display the cards with it. 

Entering this card into the following challenges:

Crafting Happiness #68 Anything goes.

Crafty Sentiments Designs # Anything goes.

Through The Craftroom Door # Anything goes.

Water Cooler Challenges #291 Anything goes.

Hope you will come and have a play with the butterflies. 

Stay safe and well and remenber to hang onto your Loo Rolls!