Keeping It Simple

Hi there, Julia here! I hope you are starting well into the weekend. If not, I hope that my little clean and simple card is lifting your spirits.

I finally grabbed a stamp set by Mama Elephant that I had for ages but never used. What a shame; I simply couldn't bear seeing it in my "not-yet-used" tray anymore. And how sorry did I feel about not having used it before, it's lovely! I heat embossed it with white embossing powder directly onto the front of my card. I love how crisp the font is and how legible.

Next, I masked the rest of card off and applied some Distress Inks to create a nice gradient. Since heat embossing resists Distress Ink, it shines through the color and you get a nice contrast. You actually even stop there and keep the card super clean and simple.

I decided it needed a little bit of something extra and so I grabbed my butterfly dies by Paper Smooches again and cut one butterfly which I adhered in the middle of the colored strip.

And that's already it! In total, this card took about twenty minutes to make (including grabbing all of my supplies), so this is perfect if you are short on time but still want to create something that has impact.

Thanks for stopping by! Your comments brighten my day!

Butterflies Duets Die

Sentimental Borders

Hero Arts Ultrafine Embossing Powder

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Guys Like Pretty Things, Too

Hello crafters, Julia here! Father's day is approaching for you folks in the UK, so we thought we'd give you some ideas for male cards that might delight your dads. And because I always have to do crazy things, I decided to use butterflies on my card.

Yes, butterflies. I think we underestimate the appreciation that guys have for the beautiful things in life and I'm sure that a lot of them might delight over these elegant butterfly dies by Paper Smooches. To make sure I wouldn't end up with something that had a female feel, I opted for some colors that are usually associated with men: green and blue.

I started out by cutting the larger of the two butterflies through the front of my card. Since I already had my diecutting machine out, I die cut the smaller of the butterflies from vellum. Then I grabbed a piece of patterned paper (you can use any kind of pattern paper that you like or that your dad likes) and glued it onto a piece of white card stock that was slightly smaller than the front panel of my card. I then adhered that piece of white card stock to the inside of my card so the patterned paper would peek through the opening that I had die cut.

I folded the vellum butterfly in the middle so it's wings would stand up a little bit and then used some Tombow Mono glue to adhere it to the patterned paper. The sentiment is from another Paper Smooches stamp set called “Uplifters". For the finishing touches, I added a few drops of Liquid Pearls – I think a tiny bit of sparkle is okay for any guy :-) If you don't have liquid pearls, you can use embossing powder or just leave this part off.

I hope you've enjoyed the card and I'll see you again soon!

Butterflies Duets Die

Uplifters

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