Inlaid Watercolor Wings

What a fun mash up they have this week at Friday Mashup challenge: use the sketch above and/or a technique called inlaid die cutting.  Now I have never tried this before but had a little bit of time on my hands and decided to give it a go.

I have been having some fun with Watercolor Wings and could see this technique working well, it was a bit tricky with the little pieces but I think totally worth the effort.  I used Delightful Dijon and Blackberry Bliss getting the different shades by stamping off and layering colour on colour.  The faux stitching was a last minute addition, but I think it just gives a nice finish.

Happy Stamping
Monique

ESAD New Catalogue Blog Hop

To celebrate the start of a new Annual Catalogue a group of demonstrators from Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators are doing another blog hop. Whether you have hopped on over from Jackie's Blog or are starting here, just follow the link at the bottom of the page until you hop around to where you started.

I always love a new catalogue and this year is no exception, with new stamps and products to spark creativity. One of the things I love about this catalogue is the range of new products that coordinate with existing products, so have made that the theme of my post for the blog hop.  

Firstly there is the stunning Watercolor Wings stamp set and framelits that coordinate with Butterfly Basics.  This is a three step stamp set where you add layers of colours to the gorgeous butterfly then cut out using the matching framelits.  Additional new product on this page is the lovely Brick Wall embossing folder, the Tags & Labels Framelits used to cut out the sentiment, and the lovely delicate flowers stamped around the edges are from Birthday Blossoms.

Here you can see how I have actually stamped the butterfly twice, the second time cutting out with the new Butterfly Framelits to give some added depth and life to the card.

This next card uses the cute little flowers again, this time to add some detail to the base of the card. The cute strip across the card is new Boho Washi Tape; and the wreath of spring flowers the butterfly is sitting on is another new stamp set Circle of Spring, that coordinates with the Wonderful Wreath Framelits from previous catalogue.  This card is made using only In-Colours, don't the colours from last year and this year go so well together?

I have used the butterfly stamp from Butterfly Basics to stamp the bottom layer, then cut it with the new solid butterfly from Butterflies Thinlits, and layers of Blackberry Bliss and Vellum for the top layers of the butterfly.

My final card again uses the lovely Circle of Spring stamp set this time stamped in Versamark and embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.  I have added a layer of Gold Foil Sheet to help make it pop.  Photographing this was tricky to give a good idea of how rich it looks.  To add some highlights to the wreath I coloured some of the flowers with Blackberry Bliss Stampin' Write Marker.  The sentiment is from the Birthday Blossoms stamp set (the same one with the cute little flowers used on my previous two cards).  

Time to hop on over to see what Ria has created for you:

Many of you will have visited other ESAD Blog Hops, but if you haven't here is a bit about the group:

Happy Stamping
Monique

Bright and Bold Butterfly

Who doesn't love butterflies and bright flowers?  This photo and sketch from Fusion challenge was just what I need on a cold winter's day to remind me of the warmer months.

This was a fun card to make as I layered the flowers one over the next using masking technique before lightly colouring them with good old colour pencils.  The butterfly was an easy choice with the bottom layer in Bermuda Bay with the cut out layer in Basic Black.  I love how the Bold Butterfly Framlits and Butterfly Thinlits coordinate allowing some really stunning layered butterflies. You are going to be seeing way more of them in upcoming weeks.

The lovely big sentiment is from the hostess stamp set Happy Birthday Everyone, I just love the mixed font and size of this sentiment.  It is one of the Hostess sets available in the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue, which means you can earn it for free with a qualifying order or workshop total, contact me to find out more.

Happy Stamping
Monique

You've Got This Butterfly

This cute and simple sketch from CASE this Sketch took my eye and gave me the chance to use another stamp set from my 2015-16 Stampin' Up! Catalogue pre-order.

For this card I used some of the beautiful new In-Colours, Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, and Cucumber Crush.  I started by taking some water colour paper and wetting it with my Aqua Pen then dripping re-inkers onto it and letting them spread and bleed together.  I then cut it out with the Butterfly Framelits.  The background and sentiment are stamped using the new stamp set "You've Got This" which, in addition to this background stamp, has a lovely flower and three sentiments.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CASE-ing the Catty #22 - Card Sketch

This week at CASE-ing the Catty we have a sketch challenge for you, the beautiful card on page 17. You don't have to use the butterfly or oval shape if you are inspired to use something else. 

Here is my take on the sketch, I kept the butterfly, but decided I wanted to off-set it from the central position.  I used the beautiful Indescribable Gift stamp set, which has some lovely sentiments and the stunning flower branch. For this card I stamped the flower onto the vellum and embossed with white embossing powder. By colouring behind the image, on the back of the vellum it gives a softer look to the colours, I did the same with the vellum butterfly.

Check out what the rest of the talented design team have made to inspire you, use their creations to inspire you to create and join in this week.

Happy Stamping

Monique

CASE-ing The Catty #15 - Sale-A-Bration

CASE-ing the Catty is back for another year of catalogue inspired challenges!  The challenge guidelines are very simple:

• Create a new project for this challenge
• Make note in your post which project you took inspiration from
• Use only Stampin' Up! products in your creation
• Mention CASE-ing the Catty in your blog post, and link to the CASE-ing the Catty blog
• Have Fun!

The first challenge for 2015 is to be inspired by a stamped project from the Sale-A-Bration (SAB) Catalogue and use a SAB (or new stamp set) in your project.  You can see an on-line version of the catalogue on my right side bar.  

I took inspiration from the card at the top of page 17 of the SAB catalogue, although I changed up the colours a little bit.  The stamp set I used was one of the ones you can earn free during SAB and is "Simply Wonderful", it is so versatile with 7 sentiments!  I also used another new stamp set Butterfly Basics to stamp the small butterflies onto the vellum.  

Here is an up-close picture of the butterfly cut using the Butterflies Thinlits out of gold glimmer paper, isn't it just lovely?

Pop over to the CASE-ing the Catty blog and check out what the other design team have created, and be inspired to join in.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Back with Butterflies

My word how time flies.  I knew I had been busy before Christmas but I was really surprised to see that it had been November since my last post.  To those who follow regularly, thanks for hanging in there, I am back and have lots of plans for 2015.

I will be posting pictures of some of my Christmas creations over the next few weeks, although some were sent off without me taking photos. Sadly some didn't get to the post box at all and are sitting here waiting to be sent, although I feel a little silly sending Christmas cards in January!

 I wanted to start off the year with a couple of challenges, and this was one that caught my eye when going through my Feedly feed.  The sketch comes from Create with Connie and Mary Challenges and I liked it because it gave me the opportunity or at least the prompt to use a few layers and some of my new embellishments.

I loved the Butterfly Framelits as soon as I saw them and knew they would be one of the first things on my shopping list from the new Occasions Catalogue.  The bundled Butterfly Basics stamp set is just beautiful too, with lots of images that can be used for layering and blending together.  here I have used the lovely line image of the flower repeated on the main panel, and the mini-hex pattern over the top of some DSP on the right.  I think it breaks up the DSP and makes me think I am looking at it through chicken wire.  The butterfly is of course from the framelits, also cut from DSP with sponged edges.  The beautiful Bermuda Bay sequins are also from the Occasions Catalogue, the rhinestones are coloured with the darkest Coastal Cabana Blendabilities.

Happy Stamping
Monique