Butterfly Basics Motivation Packet

Here is another motivation packet I've made.  As I said in this previous post I'm planning to make a few of these to be given away.  I really enjoy putting these together!

I used the gorgeous SU! 'Butterfly Basics' set and opted for a Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum and Old Olive colour combo.  I think the 'There is nothing in the caterpillar that tells you it is going to be a butterfly' quote is ideal for those of us on the Slimming World journey!  I've used a gold clip to hold all the cards together in this packet.

Inspirational quotes on card 1.

Card 2 is new me goals.

Card 3 is things I wish to improve this year.

Card 4 is this year I will.

Card 5 is dear self.

Card 6 is things I love about me.  I couldn't resist adding a couple of  teeny tiny hearts as a sweet extra touch!

Cards 7 and 8 are decorated but without words as I thought a couple of blank cards might be useful.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Butterfly Basics' & 'Watercolor Wings' sets, AlteNew 'New Me' set
CS: SU! Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'Blooms & Bliss' DSP
Ink: SU! Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry & Sweet Sugarplum
Tools: SU! 'Mini Treat Bag' Thinlits, 'Butterflies' Thinlits & 'Stitched Shape' Framelits die sets
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Gold Library Clips, Dimensionals
Ruth

Two Petal Palette Birdie Thank You Cards

The moment I saw the 'Petal Palette' set in the 2018 SU! Spring/Summer catalogue I loved it and knew I'd have to get it.  I love the watercolour effect of the images and the birdie is just so adorable!  Looking for ideas on Pinterest I came across some beautiful projects made by Esther Howard and her monochromatic card really caught my attention.

Here's Esther's simply stunning card.  I just had to CASE this lovely design and make my own version - and in fact I made two versions!

Esther has this fab YouTube video showing how she created this card.  I loved the way Esther made her sponging mask - ingenious!  I adopted this method for my version and it works brilliantly.  I opted to introduce some Tranquil Tide along with the Pool Party and I opted for layers rather than a one layer card.  I'm always nervous making one layer cards as they need to be perfect - nowhere to hide any boo boos!  I made a Pool Party A6 sized card base, layered the white panel on a mat of Tranquil Tide CS and popped up the stamped and die cut birdie.

Of course, I had to decorate the inside of the card and the envelope.  This card will go to a nature and bird loving friend who doesn't like designs that are too fussy.  I needed another thank you card for a friend who likes a design that is a bit more 'stepped up' and fussy so I thought I'd use the stamps again to make her card.  Oh, I do love a day off from work and time to spare to get inky in my craft room! 

For the next card I stayed with the idea of using a pale colour with a strong darker colour and I chose Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant.  I did some tone on tone background stamping on the Wisteria Wonder A6 sized card base and popped up the Elegant Eggplant panel at a jaunty angle.  In addition to the popped up birdie I also stamped and die cut some flowers for this card.  I also added some silver cord to the image panel.

Here's the inside and envelope.  Huge thanks to Esther for the inspiration, I thoroughly enjoyed making this duo of birdie cards!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Petal Palette' set
CS: SU! Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Pool Party,  Tranquil Tide, Wisteria Wonder & Elegant Eggplant
Tools: SU! 'Petals & More' Thinlits die set
Embellishments & accessories: silver cord, SU! Dimensionals
Ruth

Gems & Hearts With Love Valentine's Card

This is the card I made for Owen for Valentine's Day.  I had no clear plan when I sat down to create, I just knew I wanted to use stamps from the SU! 'You're So Sweet' set and matching dies from the 'Mini Treat Bag' die set.  I chose the patterned paper and that led to my colour combo of Night of Navy and Lemon Lime Twist.

Here's the card and envelope front.

Here's the card front.  I made a 5 1/4" Night of Navy card base and added three mat layers using Lemon Lime Twist CS, Night of Navy CS and the gems patterned paper from the SU! 'Naturally Eclectic' DSP pack.  I die cut a heart from the patterned paper layer, glued the paper heart onto a CS die cut heart and popped that up on a double layer of Dimensionals. I stamped the 'With Love' onto the Night of Navy heart in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with white powder.  The Lemon Lime and Night of Navy hearts are popped up on a single layer of Dimensionals.  I added a Night of Navy CS strip towards the top of the card, stamped and die cut the 'Just For You' banner and popped that up.  I completed the card front by adding a few small die cut hearts.

Here's the inside of the card.  I used Tim Holtz alphabet stickers to create the sentiment and added gems that I'd fussy cut from the patterned paper.  I used the hearts border die on the bottom of the white panel to add an extra touch of detail.

Here's the front of the envelope.

Here's the envelope flap with a stamped and die cut heart and small die cut hearts.

What a pleasure to snatch some time in my craft room to just play and create, I had a very happy time making this card!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'You're So Sweet' set
CS: SU! Night of Navy, Lemon Lime Twist & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'Naturally Eclectic' DSP
Ink: SU! Night of Navy, VersaMark
Tools: SU! 'Mini Treat Bag' Thinlits die set, 'Stitched Shape' Framelits die set
Embellishments & accessories: Tim Holtz 'Label Letters' stickers, SU! Dimensionals
Ruth

February 2018 Card Group Projects

We met up today for the first card group of 2018 and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon!  I designed three nice and simple cards for the ladies to make, a thinking of you card and two birthday cards - one of which is suitable for a male.

Up first is the thinking of you card made with the stunning floral image from the SU! 'Heartfelt Blooms' Sale-A-Bration set.  The colour combo is Pink Pirouette and Fresh Fig and the floral image is stamped onto a square of paper from the SU! 'Wood Textures' DSP stack.  The pretty pink strip was cut using a die from the SU! 'Flourish' Thinlits die set.  I popped up the stitched oval sentiment.

Here's a closer look at the floral image.

Here's the inside and the envelope.

The second card features a new stamp set from the SU! 2018 Spring/Summer catalogue called 'Southern Serenade'.  I loved the flowers and the sentiments as soon as I saw the set and I especially loved the lace stamps so I knew I'd have to get it!  I saw this lovely card made by Jenn Tinline on Pinterest and I've CASEd Jenn's design.  

Jenn's card was very pretty in pink but because I'd used pink for the first card I changed the colour combo.  I wanted to use the SU! watercolour pencils to colour in the flowers so prompted by what pencil colours there are I opted for Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry.  I didn't use water with the pencils I just used the dry pencils to colour in which is so quick and easy.  I stamped the lace strip and the flower stem - using a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig for perfect placement.  I then stamped the lace background a few times over the white panel using stamped off once Daffodil Delight ink.  This acts to colour in the flowers a little bit and I added more colour with the Daffodil Delight pencil and coloured the flower centres with the Rich Razzleberry pencil.  I made a Daffodil Delight A6 card base, stamped the lace background image a few times in full strength Daffodil Delight ink and I  stamped the sentiment.  I matted the image panel to a layer of Rich Razzleberry CS, adhered an Old Olive flagged banner behind the panel and glued the whole thing to the Daffodil Delight card base.  I added a rhinestone jewel to the banner for a touch of sparkle.    

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I used the Old Olive watercolour pencil to colour in the sentiment banner.  The stamped circle on the envelope flap was coloured in the same way as the main image panel of the card, cut out with a circle punch and layered onto a larger Rich Razzleberry punched circle.

The third card uses one of my favourite stamp sets, the SU! 'Lift Me Up' set, I love the hot air balloons!  I based the layout of this card on the previous card - I just rotated the layout to a portrait orientation.  Such an easy way to come up with a layout for a card and definitely helpful for those times when you're struggling to come up with a design or you need a design in a hurry!  Once I'd stamped the sentiment and added the patterned paper it was just a case of stamping and die cutting the balloons.  I glued the small balloons direct to the clouds paper but popped the large balloon up.

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I glued the strip of patterned paper to the bottom of the white panel and drew a line above the paper with a marker - a quick cheat but very effective!

Supplies for thinking of you card:
Stamps: SU! 'Heartfelt Blooms' set
CS: SU! Fresh Fig, Pink Pirouette & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU 'Wood Textures' DSP stack
Ink: SU! Fresh Fig
Tools: SU! 'Flourish' Thinlits & 'Stitched Shapes' Framelits die sets
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals

Supplies for floral happy birthday card:
Stamps: SU! 'Southern Serenade' & 'Birthday Blossoms' sets
CS: SU! Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Daffodil Delight, Old Olive & Rich Razzleberry
Tools: SU! 'Banner Triple' punch, SU! circle punches, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Watercolour Pencils, rhinestone jewel, Dimensionals

Supplies for balloons happy birthday card:
Stamps: SU! 'Lift Me Up' set, Hero Arts 'Messages With Flourish' set
CS: SU! Night of Navy, Smoky Slate & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'Carried Away' DSP
Ink: SU! Night of Navy
Tools: SU! 'Up & Away' Thinlits die set
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals
Ruth