Blue Letterpress Butterflies Birthday Card

March is a busy birthday month for my family as both my brother and I's birthdays are coming up! I hope this year is better than the last (totally not complaining about last year either)! How does time pass by so quickly?!?

I'm working on simple things at the moment. I can't tell you why I'm in a slumber, but that's the status of my craft life right now. :T Slowly, but surely I will get there. :)

These butterflies were stamped in various mixtures of blues, purples, and off-white ink, then wet embossed with a pearlescent gloss. Sentiment was letterpressed. It's simple, but elegant. The mesh ribbon is actually a bit shimmery too, but it's hard to capture such details on camera.









Daylight savings this weekend--enjoy it... -1 hour!

Entered in:
-365 Cards Day 66: White Space
-Crafty Ribbons Challenge 40: Anything Goes w/ Ribbon
-Happy Campers CC 12: Flutterby Butterfly

Quilled Mr & Mrs Wedding Shaped Card, Butterfly Flourishes

It has come to my attention that I am only 3 posts away from 100 for the year while typing this entry! Therefore, I will strive to make it to the 100 mark by 2013. Though crafting is rewarding in and of itself, it is also a good feeling to see documentation of the progress. For those of us who blog regularly, it may seem so routine at this point. I was thinking about how initially foreign the idea was to write posts about what I make. Familiarizing myself with Blogspot and blogging communities, in general, was sometimes intimidating. Please give yourself a pat on the back for me for coming this far in your own craft journeys and especially to those of you who journal about your crafts--I am so proud of us all! :)

A few months ago, I made this card for another crafty friend's wedding. We met in our teens during one of my first jobs at a tutoring center in Brooklyn. For a while, we lost contact due to our 2 year age difference and attending different schools and colleges altogether. Facebook. Ah, what my generation would do without...I can't even imagine. Anyway, we reconnected through there as many others did during our freshmen year in college when it was first introduced to the college world. Who would've thought that we would find this unlikely connection through crafting so many years later? You see, it is very uncommon for those growing up in a place like NYC to be taking on any hobbies. Unless you're born to a hippie or into a privileged family, it is more likely that we would have a part-time job in school than pursue our interests. It wasn't until college that I was able to pursue papercrafting.

I notice that I put in a bit more effort into designing things when I know I am gifting a handmade item to another artsy person. Why is this? Well, this person will be better able to appreciate and connect with what is presented to them, for one. Another thing that may or may not be true is my impression that I am suppose to WOW this person because they have been exposed to so many more amazing works by the array of talent out there. I cannot accurately make this comparison, but it is still an illogical reasoning I have. Do any of you ever find that you are in this situation as well?








Lastly, I should comment about the actual card. :D "Mr & Mrs" are paper pierced and then the paper I used to fill in the letters was taken from gift wrapping scraps. It actually shimmers through and does not take away from the overall look, in my opinion. Silhouette butterfly is embellished with tiny rhinestones. Flourishes are quilled.

Here is a shot of the interior. It's also lined with the same gift wrap as the lettering that peeks through the front of the card. I am still holding onto the cut-outs from "Mr & Mrs"...perhaps for another wedding project I will integrate them.

We are expecting a snowstorm in the Northeast today, so we'll be staying in. Hopefully everyone is doing the same to stay safe and warm.






All the best,


Entered in:

-DYSU 104 Turquoise

-Charisma Cardz #51 Anything Goes

-Delightful Challenges Anything Goes

-Make It Monday #120 Anything Goes 

Teal and Brown Quilled Flowers Birthday Card

Oct 15th was one of my co-worker's birthday and I decided to make a card for her. Our group also chipped in for Edible Arrangements. If you have never had it, it is a bouquet of fruits shaped into flowers. They're usually what I give to new moms when I visit them at the hospital because it's a sweet and healthy treat. I just decided to look it up and it turns out you can buy your own fruit cutter and put together your own! It would save a lot of money versus the $50+ baskets we have to pay for if you have the time. 

This card with stamped with individual letter stamps to create this embossed name.

Double quilled flowers set on top of Prima flowers.

Interior: Stamped and handwritten name.

I was inspired by this wonderful card from Savory Stamping:

Here on the east coast, we're all preparing for the devastation that Hurricane Sandy is suppose to bring to the area starting tomorrow. It's looking pretty bad because it covers a lot of area and is slow moving, so it will be a long lasting storm. On top of that, it is expected to cross paths with a cold front and during high tide too. Snow, rain, wind may cause a lot of damages including flooding and loss of electricity. Overall, a very dangerous week it will be! We are awaiting word of whether the city trains and buses will stop running tomorrow. Either way, I do not plan on going to work in 70+ mph winds and pelting rain though I doubt most of the city will either. Dmitriy will be working from home instead of doing his weekly drive to PA; we will be forced to stay inside for days unless we have to be evacuated. I wish everyone that is affected a safe and quick return to normal life! 

Entered in:Brown Sugar #13 Anything GoesStampin' for the Weekend #20 Anything GoesPaperplay #43 Butterflies and BeesLady Anne's Anything Goes with StampingFab 'n' Funky #144 AnimalsSpark Your Creativity Now! #2 Anything GoesThrough the Craft Room Door #41 Anything GoesCrafty Bloggers Network #4 Anything GoesMake It Monday #112 Anything Goes

Stamped Butterfly Chipboard Tags

For the butterflies challenge at Tuesday Alchemy this week I decided to keep it simple and make some tags out of chipboard. I've never made tags before, but I bought a bunch of chipboard sheets on impulse a few months ago and I figure it is time to put them to use. :D

I set an eyelet on each and used cream colored ribbon at the top. I have a large, ugly, but cheap green candle from IKEA and thought I'd dress it up a bit. :) Each tag measures 1.5"x2.5".

There are two sponsors this week  Floppy Latte's Digital Designs & The Doodle Garden, which means 2 prizes to be won, so find some time to stick in a butterfly or two into anything you make this week and share it with us! 

Have a 'FLY day!

Black and White Butterflies Silhouette Cards

The week's challenge is almost coming to an end!

I wanted to put in one more ounce of muscle with these cards. They're really quick and simple to make actually. The paper is from DCWV's La Creme Matstack and the butterflies were just die cut in different sizes. I dabbed a bit of Versamark Dazzle Ink on them to give them a bit of a sparkle, but not too much. That's it!

This was also entered in the April Paper Crafts Connection Challenge.

Going to a comedy show in a few minutes in Long Island City. Hope I don't get picked on! :D

Have a great weekend!

Love of My Life Quilled Card

It was a beautiful 58 degrees on Saturday which is really rare in New York City. I took the opportunity to go for a long walk at the park. What did you do this weekend? I wish all winters were this warm--then we'd all be in lovely moods all the time! I even saw daffodils growing in yards already!

This week there is another Etsy workshop on drawing in Brooklyn. I am pretty excited! It was a lot of fun last time and this time I am looking forward to learning something new!

Today I want to introduce my window card. I have a lot of pictures for this card because I was getting really excited about the details of it!

The way this card is, you really need to be careful where you write the message on the inside otherwise it will show through (I have done that before, oops!). To help you make sure you don't do that, all you need to do is write your message on the space around the vellum paper (see last image for interior of card to see what I mean).

I added extra puffed ink to make the swirls pop at the tips. It is an extremely raised background!

I will be entering this card for Day 3 - Pretty In Pink at 365 Cards and Sketch 155 at Card Patterns.

Etsy

Butterfly Thank You 2

This is a variation on the Butterfly Thank You card posted on 8.26.2010. The only real difference is in the color palette (I used pink instead of all the blues) and I set the background with embossing powder instead of Perfect Pearls.

You can see how differently it shimmers in the light as compared to the Perfect Pearls application. 

Supplies (may not be linked to the exact product that I used):
-White cardstock
-Felt butterfly
-Rhinestones of various sizes
-Patterned paper
-Adhesive
-Butterfly stamp
-Pigment ink
-Border punch
-Heat gun
-Glitter embossing powder
-Watermark ink
-Glitter glue