Four Ways Friday #44 - Butterfly Extra Large Punch

For this week's Four Ways Friday I decided to play with the Butterfly Extra Large Punch.  I may have to keep playing with this punch...I have a feeling there is a lot more you can do!

I love how butterflies float off the page when they are made out of vellum!  Here I combined the punch with the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set.  I stamped the floral butterfly onto vellum twice using VersaMark ink and then heat embossed with white embossing powder.  You can definitely heat emboss on vellum - you just need to be careful not to burn the vellum!  The first butterfly I punched out using the butterfly punch and the second one I punched out using the 2 3/4" circle punch.  I then adhered the punched out butterfly on top of the second butterfly using glue.  I backed the vellum with a 2 3/4" circle of Blushing Bride card stock and then punched a hole in the Sahara Sand card using the 1 3/4" circle punch.  I adhered the butterfly circle behind the hole.  I stamped and heat embossed the greeting from Elegant Greetings (retired) and added a bit of stitching.  Finally I stamped the small flower from Flight of the Butterfly with VersaMark and then added a touch of dazzling diamonds to the flowers.  Here is the inside of the card...

For the second card I used the butterfly punch to punch out butterflies from Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette and Sahara Sand card stock.

Here I combined the butterfly with stamped images from Fifth Avenue Floral and Eastern Blooms.  I stamped a floral image on the butterflies as well and added a touch of dazzling diamonds.  The sentiment is from Fabulous Phrases.  These butterflies would also look great adhered to the outside of a gift bag!

Don't forget that punches are a great way to create stencils and masks!  Here I punched the butterfly out of a sticky note and was able to use the "negative" as a stencil.  I sponged Pink Pirouette ink inside the stencil and then stamped over it using the Dot, Dot, Dot stamp.  I then used the punched butterfly portion as a "mask" and placed it over the dotted butterfly and proceeded to sponge Baja Breeze all over the place :)  I then stamped some of the floral images from Fifth Avenue Floral in Sahara Sand before removing the mask.  Some sponging around the edges of the tag and a greeting from Bring On The Cake, stamped in Early Espresso, finish the stamping.  The last touch was a large eyelet and some ribbon to package this box of note cards.

I hope this card makes you smile :)  I smile every time I look at it!!!! :)  Yes, there was once a butterfly punch in Pink Pirouette...but it met with a pair of scissors!  I cut the butterfly in half lengthwise and then again, in half, to separate all the wings.  A large wing acts as the head for this bunny rabbit and the two smaller wings are the ears.  I adhered them together using glue and then added a mouth from Make A Monster and some google eyes.  I punched out part of a 2 3/4" circle from Baja Breeze card stock and ran it through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  I mounted the bunny and then the circle onto the Whisper White card base using dimensionals.  The greeting, from Teeny Tiny Wishes, was stamped in Basic Black and a small flower button finishes the look!
I hope you've enjoyed this week's Four Ways Friday!  I hope it inspires you to take another look at your butterfly punch and have some fun with it!  I hope you have a wonderful, and creative, weekend!!!

Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder Save The Date & Thank You

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  You Can Start Today!

I ran a marathon at the end of November 2010 and after that experience...and with winter as an excuse...I stopped running in any consistent way....okay...maybe I stopped running period!  I just couldn't seem to get motivated to go out in the cold and snow and get my body moving.  It led to a bit of a funk.  Well, Spring is definitely in the air and I got motivated to start again!  That's the wonderful thing about starting something - you can choose any day, any time, to just start!!!!!  So now I've begun to get the legs moving again - 3 times and counting!!!  Yeah!!!!!  I may not be running as fast or as far as I was in November, but at least I have begun and once you start something, you never know where it might take you!!!!!
I wanted to share with you the Save The Date and the Thank You card that Elizabeth and I created to match the wedding invitation.  The Save The Date was so simple.  We printed the info on the Very Vanilla card stock using the computer and then heat embossed the small paisley heart from Paisley Prints (retired) on the card stock.  We then adhered it to a piece of Brushed Silver card stock.  We made a faux bow with Very Vanilla satin ribbon and attached that to the card using snail.  Finally, we stamped the large heart with VersaMark onto a piece of Very Vanilla card stock, heat embossed with silver embossing powder and punched it out with the heart punch.  It was adhered to the card with dimensionals.  The last touch was to put a magnet strip on the back of the card so that it can be stuck on the fridge as a reminder :)

For the thank you card we pulled out the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder again and ran the front of the card through the folder in the Big Shot.  We silver heat embossed the "D" from the Lovely Letters alphabet and then punched it out using the 1 1/4" circle punch.  We mounted it onto a 1 1/2" circle punched from Brushed Silver card stock.  We also used the decorative label punch to punch out Brushed Silver card stock and then used dimensionals to adhere the monogram to the decorative label punch.  A small piece of Very Vanilla satin ribbon was added with snail between the layers.  Finally, we heat embossed the small heart using silver embossing powder and then punched it out with the small heart punch and added it to the card with 1/2 a dimensional.  Here is what the entire ensemble looks like together...We hope you like it!!!!

Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder Wedding Invitation

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Collaborate!!!!

I really enjoy getting together with other people to stamp!!!!  The other day my friend Elizabeth came over and we got to work on trying to create a wedding ensemble.  We knew we had to incorporate the paisley shape for the bride (that's what the bride requested) and we also knew silver needed to play a role, but beyond that we were on our own!  So, we put our heads together and created something that would never have been made if we had been alone!   We were really happy with what we came up with...hopefully the bride-to-be will like it too!
The card is a simple standard-sized card.  We ran the front of the card through the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  We stamped the paisley heart from the Paisley Prints (retired) stamp set onto Very Vanilla card stock with VersaMark, heat embossed with silver embossing powder, and punched it out with the heart punch.  We wrapped a piece of Very Vanilla satin ribbon around the front of the card and adhered the heart with dimensionals.  Here is a look at the inside of the card...

We printed the RSVP postcard and the actual invitation layer on Very Vanilla card stock using the computer.  A layer of brushed silver card stock and a small silver embossed paisley heart from Paisley Prints adds elegance to the inside.  Hope you like it!  Check back tomorrow to see the matching Save The Date card and Thank You card!!!! :)

Walk This Way Punny Cards :)

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Have Some Pun! :)

As a kid I used to collect stickers and I still remember the fun puns that Sandra Boynton created in her sticker and stationery artwork.  She drew a lot of animals and I particularly remember her birthday stickers that said "Hippo birdie two ewes!"  And yes, there, on the sticker, were a hippo, a bird and two ewes :)  It's fun to try out being punny with your stamps!  Here I used the Walk This Way (retired) stamp set.  I stamped the ewe in basic black and then used the faux frosting technique to create his fur.  The "thank" is from one of the Thank You Kindly stamps and I stamped out the "ewe" with the Calendar Alphabet & Numbers set.  Of course, I couldn't stop at just one pun...so here's another...

I hope you're smiling...even if you think it's corny :)  I just added a bit of Bashful Blue ink and Whisper White craft ink to the faux frosting mixture to give this ewe the blues :)  The greeting is a combination of "i'm so sorry" from Teeny Tiny Wishes, "ewe" using the Calendar & Alphabet Numbers stamp set, "are" from the word "care" on one of the stamps in the Best Yet (retired) stamp set, and the letters for "blue" from the Calendar & Alphabet Numbers stamp set.  I hope you like these puns...now go have some pun of your own :)

Elements of Style Experiment

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Experiment!

I think back to those days in science class where we did experiments.  Sometimes we got the anticipated result.  Other times things didn't quite go as we hoped...and sometimes that was even more interesting! :)  I have to continually remind myself to experiment when it comes to making art.  To allow myself to not worry about the finished product and instead allow whatever process is happening to unfold.  This card was like that.  I started with the thought of doing some poppin' pastels.  So, somewhere underneath what you are seeing is a floral image that was stamped in Versamark and then pounced with Rose Red pastel.  The hummingbird also started as a poppin' pastel technique.  And then I went into experimentation mode!  I sprayed with ink and shimmer spray and crumpled and distressed and inked and sewed and sewed some more...I just kept going.  Is the final product what I expected?  No.  But allowing the process to unfold was a lot more interesting!!! :)