No stamping butterfly shaped card

I make very few shaped cards as my card-making ethos is to keep it as simple as possible! But when I saw that Chrissie and Mandi at Less is More have challenged LiMettes to make a card any shape except square or rectangle, I remembered a frivolous little number we made at a Stampin' Up training session once. Here's my simplified version of it using Marina Mist and Bashful Blue, the gorgeous tonal colours suggested by this week's Dynamic Duos challenge:

There's no stamping on this little shaped Easel card at all (except the sentiment inside) and it's made using Stampin' Up's Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die. I like the way the bottoms of the wings tuck into the indented bit of wing on the card base to keep the card open. The layered butterfly on the front  is made using dotty designer paper from the Patterns paper stack and is embellished using white bakers twine and self-adhesive pearls.

To make the card base I used a folded piece of card stock and positioned it on the die just under the top points of the wings so I didn't end up with two pieces! I scored and folded the top part (the card front) and glued a single die cut butterfly to it to form the easel.

This is what the card looks like when it's closed...

... and a glimpse at the inside where there's just room for a tiny message. I think these are sweet little thank you cards which would certainly be remembered by the recipient - and wouldn't they make cute little novelties to pop in girls' party favour bags?!

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Marina Mist

Card stock: Marina Mist, Whisper White

Other: Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, Big shot, Patterns designer paper stack in Subtles, Basic Pearls, white bakers twine

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

My desk, which is in a real cold spot in our living room, is a fantastic place to be in this weather. The fingerless gloves and hot water bottles of the winter are a thing of the past and I'm cool as a cucumber with the French doors flung wide open. The cat doesn't know what to do with herself though. She wanders in and flings herself down on the rug for a few moments and then hoists herself up and slinks back outside where she is teased mercilessly by aimless flies and chirpy birds. My daughter describes her as 'Tuppence with lashings of tail'!

I can't wait to see all the shapely inspiration this week. See you soon!

Hugs,

Black on yellow Apothecary Art

I've been wanting to join in with Heather's challenge at One Layer Wednesday - she wants to see a one layer card with stamping in an area no bigger than 2 inches. And when I saw that Daffodil Delight and Basic Black were the two colours required at Dynamic Duos this week, I had an idea! Come and have a look:

I made a mask by cutting a square out of a post it note with my 1 3/8" square punch and sponged Daffodil Delight ink into it with a sponge dauber. With the mask still in place, I inked up part of an image from my Apothecary Art stamp set with a Basic Black marker and stamped it over the top several times using my stamp-a-majig for position.

There's an optional additional challenge at Dynamic Duos to add dry embossing so I added a double scored frame using my Simply Scored. Hmm - technically I suppose this is debossing... hope it still counts! I tried several sentiments out using my stamp-a-majig to see how they looked but decided to leave them off, finishing the card with some rhinestones instead.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Apothecary Art

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Basic Black

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Simply Scored, 1 3/8" square punch, sponge dauber, Basic Rhinestones, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

The most exciting thing happened yesterday - I became too hot! Yes, summer has arrived in Buckingham. I definitely need sunglasses, not to protect me from the glare of the sun but to enable me to look at my luminous white legs!

I hope the sun is shining on you today wherever you are.

Hugs,

One layer Tea Shoppe

This card was designed for my Three Minute Thursday slot tomorrow but as I don't want to miss the OLW deadline, it's appearing today. It's a good thing too because I have another week full of chores and dentist visits to plough through so quick cards are definitely the way forward! The OLW challenge is to make a one layer card for a woman in your life and I was also inspired by a new colour challenge called Dynamic Duos where the fabulous colour combination this week is Pool Party and Lucky Limeade. As if that weren't enough, the wonderful St Lukes Charity Card Challenge is asking for one layer cards too! Come and see what I came up with:

To make the background, I used a sponge dauber to sponge Pool Party ink into a mask made with my large square punch. The background is overstamped with a pretty cup from my new Tea Shoppe stamp set.

It was a happy discovery that this sentiment from the set fits the square rather nicely! The 'steam' is stamped with the flourish from Season of Joy (which I use all the time!) and I added a rhinestone and a little shading with my Lucky Limeade marker to finish.

The card is made for the most special young woman - my daughter. She makes me laugh, she makes me cry but above all she fills me with admiration for her talents, her sensitivity to others and her innate wisdom. The card is both a thank you for changing the whole course of my life and a celebration of all the cups of cream and marshmallow-laden hot chocolate we've bonded over!

EDITED TO SAY: And after all my rushing about - I missed the OLW deadline anyway! That wouldn't ever have happened to any of you would it?!

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Tea Shoppe, Season of Joy

Ink: Lucky Limeade, Pool Party

Card stock: Naturals Ivory

Other: 1 3/8" square punch, sponge daubers, Basic Rhinestones, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

Talking of cream, what do you do on a chilly and wet bank holiday weekend? Warm everybody up with hot scones of course! My goodness they were delicious! We ate them while playing our favourite game of Articulate during a nasty rainstorm. Our word descriptions were punctuated with crashes of thunder which was hilarious - like being in a very bad horror movie!

Do come back here for another fast card tomorrow as I return for Three Minute Thursday.

Enjoy your day!