It's hip to be square

At least it is this week for the Flutterby Challenge. We have a sketch for you this week and it is square. I have to be honest, when I first saw it I was stuck. The sketch had to stew in my brain for a few days before I came up with something. The end result is a modified version of what I started with.

I stamped the butterfly and colored it with copics before I coated it with glossy accents. Once dried I sponged on several shades of blue for the sky. While I was sponging I went ahead and sponged with same blue a slightly smaller square to go behind the triangle I cut out of the card front. The part of the card front I left attached was sponged with shades of green and the splattered/flicked with water to create the texture.

Here is the sketch for you:

Birthday Butterflies

I really wish I could tell you what amazing crafter I got this whole card idea from, but I can't. I am not even sure where I saw, but I know I did. I loved her simple use of multiple hearts with the bright color peeking out of the side of the black. How those hearts framed the sentiment was amazing. I couldn't wait to recreate, but when would I get the chance? Enter this week's Flutterby Challenge: use a sentiment on the front of your creation along with a butterfly/fairy (or two). So instead of hearts I punched out the sweet little butterflies form the Martha Stewart punch. The paper came from an old Prima 6x6 pad called Annalee. I made myself use one of the sheets that is not a favorite of min for the butterflies and I ended up loving it! I went over a few of the butterflies with glossy accents to give it just a little something extra. I guess this just goes to show that sometime getting out of your comfort zone with colors can be a good thing :)

Absolutely Fabulous

was the time I had at the 3 in 1 concert Saturday night. I great night singing and worshiping our Lord in a way that works for me. This title of the post also speaks for my card for this week's Flutterby Wednesday challenge. This week is an open challenge which means it can be anything as long as their is a butterfly or fairy on it. I decided to create a simple no-layer card that had some pop to it. I simply die cut a large banner from sticky paper and placed it where I wanted my white to still be. Then I took a red, orange, and yellow distress pad and sponged on the colors. It was like magic after I removed the sticky as that white looked so good next to the bright colors. The stitching is a stamp but I don't remember which one. The butterfly and sentiment is from PTI and I did a rock n' roll technique to them. Inked them first in one color and then rolled the second color along the bottom.

Can't wait to see what ya'll come up with. While creating this card I managed to use two other challenge blogs :) They are:
The Pink Elephant - use spring colors
My Time To Craft - no more than one layer

Who do you go mush for?

I go mush around my DH still :) Clear & Simple Stamps has this fun stamp set called Fun Fungi that I just LOVE! I already shared one card I made with this set and here is my second card.

I watercolored the mushroom and stamped the sentiment in a nice brown color to mimic the ground. I can't wait to give this to my DH just because.

The state test for my subject I teach is now over and we have all survived. Now the waiting of two months for the results begins. To help pass the time we will be studying Shakespeare and then The Odyssey. We are on the downhill side of the mountain now and it feels good!

Shirt turn card

While looking for styles that are popular for my boys right now I came across this shirt at Old Navy. As soon as I saw it I thought of WMS's My Island set and knew I could make it into a card. The sunbeams is a stamp from Clear & Simple and the sentiment is pieced together from WMS's Free Spirit Sentiments while the light grey stripes are from the Off Beat Background. To create the subtle shadow effect on the trees I first stamped the images in the "lime" green and then off set the stamps a little before I stamped them in black.

I think this is my first card that was inspired by something other than another card, lol. I had lots of fun with this and now maybe I will get the courage to play along in the Runway Inspired Challenge.

Who loves flowers?

Butterflies of course. And that is the challenge for this week's Flutterby Challenge: flowers with a butterfly/fairy. I sponged on layers of yellows and oranges ink onto scrap cardstock and then once dried I punched out the butterflies. To give the largest butterfly a place to land I stamped the flower trio from PTI's annv set from last year. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set called Pattern Hearts & Flowers.

Quick post as I have just wrapped up the administration of the state's English I exams to my students and I am exhausted! Please make sure you visit the other talented ladies on the Flutterby team :)