CHALLENGES

Hello,  I thought I needed to sneak in one more  time  before  April flew on by...

    Challenges, yes we all have them,  but those are not  the kind of challenges I am here to share today .   I know this awesome group of ladies  from a super site I love , yes Splitcoastampers.  If you have never been there, there is  inspiration in the gallery,  friends in the chat forums  and  and so much  info and fun in the resources... So  this is where I go  to  get away from those other kind of challenges...
Sometimes  CHALLENGES can be fun  : )

     In  one of the threads on SCS  we have formed an amazing group of ladies. Yes, we all love to paper craft, but we are all human and live life every day as well...We all  care about each other and  enjoy  just  saying hello or what ever is on our mind, as well as offer encouragement when needed .   We  have formed another group  that loves to share ideas,  so  monthly we  have challenges  that we share... And then  each of us post our take on that challenge...

   So I have  three  cards to share with you today. These are what my  mind  saw with the goodies for April  ...

   First was  the easy one,  My sweet friend made this awesome tulle flower, and I  knew I had the perfect dp  to put it with, add a butter fly  and some bling  and voila...  The butter fly is from a die  by Dienamics, it cuts  3  different sized  butterflies,  you can stack, or use individually... yes, I love this  butterfly ...
I have another flower just like this that I plan to use on a scrap book page .    :  )

   And second  was the one I choose to find a sketch on SCS  to follow. That was one of the added guidelines in our challenge... I could not follow it exactly, but this is the basic  concept...I just  thought there too many layers  to incorporate into my card...  I used a Sizzix  embossing folder that was a gift,  and another favorite of mine.And it carried the  small flower   across the card. Along with that, I used simple matting and layering. I used a scalloped circle to bring in  the circle and  instead of a sentiment or another image I layered butterflies  with some bling  : )

 

    And the third card is absolutely nothing like I had in mind...but this what evolved... I loved this image and wanted to do something  non traditional...
   So, this is all basic, I used  simple  dp,  and I double layered ribbon, I used a ticket corner punch  to add depth  and stamped SPRING  on vellum to keep it soft. Again, yes , I used my smallest butterfly and more bling , but SPRING  bring  butterflies  right ?  I used a daisy border punch,  not very well  : (   I  might add.  I  cut the front of the card a bit  and added the same dp  to the inside as a border...I used  colored pencils and a blender pen to color the image . These are all old ideas, and  some very non perfect  cuts,   but it is  delicate... and I like  the end result .
 I added  a stamped butterfly inside in  a lower corner as well as on the envelope ...

   You will notice I did not put any  sentiments on these cards. I have a few  people in my life that simply need a reason to smile, or something to brighten their day. Some times  words are not enough, nor important.
 I hope they enjoy these cards as much as I did  creating them...

  Thanks for stopping by...Maybe next time I will just put some pictures up... Life is busy and flying by, just like our APRIL did...

From My Heart,
Have a BLESSED  DAY...

APRIL WINDS

Hello,  so as I sit here with another  super windy day, I decide  it is way  past time  to get busy with the making of  some cards...

 Life  has been  busy, even a bit stressed some days,  so maybe that is why I reached  for the  "distressed" look in my  mind...

The first card of today,  was made  to  fit  a challenge  for the amazing group   that call them selves  "the TeaPot Tuesdays Ladies  " or better known as " the  teapotters " 

Our destination this week  was a  gentleman that just had  surgery and liked to play with tools  so  here is  my thought on that ...  
I used Sahara sand as my base, Some Su  dp , 2 styles  and tools from SU Power Up set  along with my collage  alphabet by SU ...

  Next is  a card  made for a super guy and  friend. He is   going through some renovations in preparing to sell his home. So while I had this stamp set out I created another card... 
I used soft suede as my base  some of the same DP  and  it is  a card  that opens in the center of this front...and  a card on  a  base...so the card is 4 x 5 1/4  on the  soft suede base of  4 1/4 c 5 1/2
(  Sorry bit I cannot think of the name of this style card... Gate fold , maybe  )
 the power tool is only attatched  to  the right side so it can open... 

Is  this a Gate Fold ???
 

The third card  was made for one of my brothers,  just to say hello, and that I love him...I added  this little cross, sorry I cannot remember  who makes it... and  another  stamp  of inspirational sentiment inside, it was by Inkadinkadoo .
 I used a corresponding scrap of DP,  and again used  soft suede as my base...

So  since  these are not totally "distressed"  I guess I was not totally
 " stressed"   : ) 

Thanks for stopping by,  and I will be looking for you all real soon... 
Enjoy each day...

Butterflies in France

   Hello, are you enjoying this wonderful weather?  We sure have  had some  warm days already.I really enjoy spring time... The fresh air, the sun shine  and  new life  ...I cannot wait to see my first butterfly of the season...
    It is  time for another Tea Pot Tuesday  card... This week we are sending to another  "teapotter", so to speak. And the idea  was  to bring in  France, Paris or  some thing along those lines to brighten a day.
I had just  brought home an awesome butterfly die set, it is made by Die-namics...  I totally love it too. I have been looking  for a small scale  butterfly punch or die...this one is perfect. It has three sizes, so layering is  a snap.. So I created a card based around  the theme
 "Are There Butterflies In France " ?
   I found the France die cut that was precolored at our LSS,  and loved the colors so I worked around it ...
It is the same place I found the awesome  butterfly die set .
  I used  night of navy  as my card base, then I layered it with some navy  dp  by SU

   and some kiwi card stock stamped  with a Hero Arts stamp on it...named" Hearts Amore" . 
  The bow was made with my Easy Bow maker, I am still getting the hang of it...I am not sure I like using the sheer ribbon with it ...? !
   I added some lighter blue bling to pick up the off color in that die cut  and kept the butterflies simple, but added a touch of navy ink to  lift them up of the Kiwi card stock...

     Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope  you are enjoying  this  beautiful SPRING like weather.
 Have a great week, and Happy Easter

    I hope to back soon with pictures of a day  of celebrating  my grand daughters  birthday... We had a  great  time  : )   So be sure to stop back soon...  Til you do,   hugs and smiles...