Flutterby Wednesday Challenge for April 24, 2013

We had a fun challenge this week from Flutterby Wednesday; this week we have a layout to follow, and I must say, I had to think a lot about what papers to use for each part of the design.  Of course, we must include the flutterby element, and I chose to use three butterflies on the upper right side of the card.  I used no dies on this card, which is a bit unusual. Rather, cut-outs were used and assembled.  The flower is  multi-layered with graduated sizes of yellow and pink petals, then after they were assembled, I fluffed them out a bit to add dimension.  A yellow rhinestone is in the middle of the flower. It is hard to tell, but I used a very light coat of gold spray paint all over the card.  It is so subtle that if a person did not know it was there, they probably wouldn't notice, but upon close examination, there is a slight matte gold glimmer on the card.

Here it is:

Thank you, Flutterby Wednesday, for challenging us each week to present our work to you!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog; as always, I pray God's highest and best for you today and every day.

Blessings,

Ginny B.

Wedding Card

This week at Joan's Gardens we are challenged to take elements from the letters in TULIP and make a card. This is what I came up with in making a wedding card for the daughter of a friend:

• T - trim, as in the corner embellishment
• U - union, as in holy matrimony
• L - lattice, lace border
• I -  items from Joan's Gardens
• P - pearls
• S - sentiment, sparkly glitter

The daughter of a special friend is getting married this weekend, and I wanted to make her a card for the occasion.  The card is pretty much white on white, with a few silver features, and a teeny bit of black.

I started out by embossing vellum with a polka dot embossing folder; then glued a piece of die cut lattice onto the top of that.  The lattice has glitter glued onto it. The top and bottom of the "framework" has a lace border glued down. The sentiment was printed out on my computer and an oval frame was die cut around it; pearl embellishments were added to it, and then all of that was attached with dimensional stickies. Three rolled roses made from plain paper printed in black ink with non-sensical phrases were added, along with leaves and flourishes made from white cardstock and white vellum. A glittery bow was added at the bottom left and a silver butterfly at the top right, and a silver corner embellishment was added on the bottom right to balance out the strong embellishments on the left.

Here are the tools I used to make the card; you can get all the Spellbinders, Cuttlebug, Memory Box and Cherry Lynn items from Joan, and most of the other items, as well:

• Spellbinders: Fancy Lattice, Floral Ovals, Foliage, Jewel Flowers and Flourishes, Bitty Blossoms, Moroccan Accents
• Cuttlebug: Polka Dot embossing folder
• Memory Box: Pippi Butterfly
• Cheery Lynn: Fanciful Flourish, Dancing Doily Lace Border
• Glitter, glittery bow, pearl embellishments, white cardstock, white vellum, dimensional stickies

And here is the card:

The card is actually whiter than indicated in the pictures, and the bow is definitely a bright white color with iridescent sparkles on it.

To show the strong dimensionality of the card, here is a view taken from another angle:

This will be a happy day for the bride and groom, and our prayers and good blessings go to them.

I will also be entering this card in Word Art Wednesdays.

Thank you for coming by and visiting my blog.  As always, God's highest and best for you today and every day.

Blessings,

Ginny B.

Card for a Girly-Girl

This week at Joan's Gardens we are in a girly-girl mode, which is what I like best, anyway. Pretty much all of my cards could only go to really girly ladies, so I relish challenges like this.

These are the guidelines for the challenge:

• Use pastel colors
• Use some type of lace (can be real or die cut)
• Use at least one bow
• Include flowers
• Use at least one product from Joan's Gardens

This card was a lot of fun to put together.  I used lace from my sewing stash for a background, cut out shoes, a die cut frame, a cute sentiment, rolled roses and die cut foliage.  In addition to the rolled flowers, the lace has flowers, as well.  I had some dried foliage from the craft store and spray painted it gold and tucked it into the little bouquet, although it is hard to see in the picture.  Note: the card is actually more pastel than it appears in the picture.  I brightened up the picture to make it show up better, and in the process, some of the darker areas got darker...

These are the tools used to create the card that you can get from Joan's Gardens:

• Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Rectangles, Bitty Blossoms, Foliage
• Art Impressions Stamp

And, here is the card:

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog.  As always, God's highest and best for you today and every day.

Blessings,

Ginny

1 Corinthians13:7 GBCB-009

Today I am posting a happy card with a familiar sentiment:  1 Corinthians 13:7.  From the "Love" chapter of the Bible, it is one of the most well-known and quoted verses.  It is encouraging and will stand forever in its truth and beauty.

For this card, I used the following:

• Spellbinders Aster Flower Topper, Foliage, Carnation Creations, Fancy Lattice, Fleur De Lis Rectangles, Bitty Blossoms
• Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish
• Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Flowers
• Fiskars Tiny Butterfly Punch
• Light blue, yellow, lavender and white cardstock; pink tissue paper
• Colored rhinestone embellishments

Here is the card:

I will be submitting this to Joan's Gardens, Flutterby Wednesdays and Word Art Wednesdays.  

Thank you for stopping by my little blog.  And as always, for all who stop by here, I ask God for His highest and best for you today and always.

Blessings,

Ginny B.

The Power of Caffeine

I got this cute little stamp the other day from A-i Stamps, and thought it might just work in the 365 Days Sunday challenge this week.

Loosely following the sketch (and I hope not too loosely!), I laid out some scraps of discontinued paper and got to work.  The plaid background has a coffee stain on the left hand side, and I hope the recipient will appreciate the humor and not just think I put damaged paper on the card! The coffee cup is a cut out.

Here is the card:

So this is my go at the challenge!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, and as always, God's highest and best for you today and every day!

Blessings,

Ginny B.

Sympathy Card

Making a sympathy card is a delicate matter.  You don't want it to be too over the top cheerful, but you do want it to be lovely and warm and expressive.

So a dear friend of mine lost her husband a few days ago and I wanted to make her a very special card that would be flat enough to send through the mail, as she lives about 3 1/2 hours from where I am.

This card starts with white cardstock; the next blue layer is a diecut background that has a series of slits on the right hand side so that you can weave a ribbon in and out of it.  The center rectangle has a bottom layer of white cardstock, a layer of embossed vellum, and a final layer of a die cut lattice.  On top of that is a leaf flourish and blue and white flowers which were cut out.  At the bottom is the sentiment printed on a piece of white cardstock run through a ribbon die. It is finished off with a sweet blue butterfly.

Here is the card:

Theses are the tools used for making the card:

• Spellbinders A-2 Fancy Ribbon Threader, Fancy Lattice, Ribbon Banners
• Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish
• Memory Box Pippi Butterfly

I am entering this card into the Flutterby Wednesdays challenge.

As always, God's highest and best to you today and every day.

Blessings,

Ginny B.

Transparent

Monday was Day 98 at 365 Cards.  I am so stoked about this challenge because we get to use some form of transparent or semi transparent media.

What I used was a piece of acrylic that was once a part of packaging that one of my dies came in from an order a few months ago.  I ran it through a Spellbinders embossing folder and it made a great addition to a white on white card I made for a cousin of mine.  She recently went through a terrible tragedy right before Christmas, and I wanted to make her something special for her birthday.  She really loves white on white.

The card was a lot of fun to make.  I wish the embossed acrylic piece showed up better in the picture, but it did turn out nicely.  The acrylic piece is laid over a white on white dimensional piece, then two different ribbons were added.  Over that is a lace doily--the kind you can get at any craft store, or even the grocery store.  Some more flourishes were added; I put glitter glue on them to make them sparkle.  Next is a Spellbinders die (Moroccan Flourishes); on that I heat embossed in silver, "For You."  Next, each tip of the die cut I embellished with a rhinestone. Topping it off is a silver and white ribbon.

Here is the card:

Thank you for stopping by my blog.  As always, God's highest and best to you today and every day.

Blessings,

Ginny B.

Day 97

Well, I am trying to do a bit of catch up at 365 Cards today.  Sunday was Day 97 and here it is Tuesday already.  I had to think about this layout quite a lot, which is often the case at this great site.  They do challenge me and make me try new things.  A great place to stretch a cardmaker's wings.  :o)

It was a simple layout.  I used the following:

• White cardstock
• Light blue cardstock
• A piece of  white cardstock dry embellished with blue ink
• Spellbinders Jewel Flowers and Flourishes SR-S5143
• Memory Box Pippi Butterfly
• Some green cut out leaves
• Blue polka dot ribbon
• "Miss You" stamp - Sorry, don't know the manufacturer

Here is the card for the challenge:

This card is for a dear friend of mine who moved to Alaska last year.  She is one of the sweetest ladies you could ever hope to meet--nobody quite like Kathleen.  She's the best, and I do miss her.

One thing about this card is that the layout and design of the card make it for easy mailing.  You always have to consider those things.

Thank you for stopping by my blog, and as always, God's highest and best to you today and every day!

Blessings,

Ginny B.

Welcome, Spring!

Sometimes I do wish I would make cards that are less dimensional.  I go through my card drawer filled with little pieces of my soul--cards that I have put so much love into making.  And then, the reality of what I have done becomes apparent.  I have nothing I can put into the mail for that special birthday friend, sick friend, happy friend, sad friend, etc., because they are all too ridiculously thick and dimensional to mail.

Ugh.

So, I promised myself that I would try to do better on that front.  This card is still dimensional, but well within a thickness level that is very manageable for mailing.

Starting out with white cardstock, I layered yellow, then dark pink, then a lighter pink layer that is run through my Grand Calibur machine with a floral EF.  Then I printed out a sentiment on my computer and ran it through the GC with an oval die frame.  I cut out leaves, flowers and two butterflies and assembled them, and put little gold rhinestones in the center of each flower.

Here is the card:

This is what was used to create the card:

• Spellbinders floral embossing plate
• Spellbinders Floral Ovals die
• Spellbinders flower and swirly green vine die
• Memory Box Pippi Butterfly die
• Pink, yellow, green and purple cardstock

I am submitting this card to Flutterby Wednesdays and Word Art Wednesday.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. As the card says, God's highest and best to you today and every day!

Blessings,

Ginny B.

Yellow, Black and White

This week at Joan's Gardens the challenge is one that is totally enjoyable.  We are to make a card that has yellow, black and white.  This is a favorite combination for me because it always produces a crisp, clean, happy card.  Here are the guidelines for the challenge:

• Use Yellow, Black and White
• Use a Frame
• Use something to do with Spring (parasol, umbrella, etc.) - I don't have a parasol or umbrella die, so in this case I am using birds, a butterfly and flowers... 
• You must use something sold at Joan's Gardens on your card

The base is white cardstock.  Next, is a black lattice glued on top of a yellow frame.  The next layer is a white embossed oval frame. Then a yellow oval is glued on and a black oval cut just slightly smaller is on top of that.  Next is the white die cut tag with a little SU image of birds playing in a bird bath, set in a bed of flowers.  I used embossing ink and silver embossing powder.  There is a kind of ink you can use so that your colored markers won't cause the original stamped image to run, but I don't have that, so I heat embossed the stamped image and then colored the little birds yellow. It's hard to tell, but the flowers beneath the bird bath have a touch of yellow, as well. The heat embossing works great and also forms a little ridge to help you keep in the lines.  :o)

Nestled around the frame are black and white flourishes; the sentiment and the yellow bow finish the card.

Oh!  Can't forget the tiny little black butterfly on the upper left of the oval frame.  Love, love, love butterflies.

Here is the card:

These are what I used to make the elements of the card:

• Spellbinders Fancy Lattice Die
• Spellbinders Fancy Tags Three Die
• Spellbinders Just Swingin' Die (Yellow Frame)
• Spellbinders Floral Ovals Die
• Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish Die B117
• Fiskars Tiny Butterfly Punch
• SU For the Birds Stamp
• Versamark Ink
• Silver Embossing Powder
• Yellow Markers
• Sentiment Stamp from Joann's
• Ribbon from bargain aisle at Joann's
• Black, yellow and white cardstock