A big butterfly

I was going to play along Iwona's Sketchbook Saturday Challenge then as I finished cutting out my butterfly I thought it was ......hm.......too big.  What should I do?

First, let's look at the sketch:

We agree that the butterfly is indeed big, right?  So I ran to my Cricut Art Philosophy and cut it at 2.75 inches.  I'd like the "height" of the butterfly to be that.  However, that butterfly turned out to be too fat, oops, I mean, too wide.

I hate to waste the butterfly so I made a horizontal card instead:

The card still fits in a standard size envelope as I have cropped the card base to accommodate the wing.

One other thing that I did with the butterfly was to add some patterns to it.  It looked rather flat in plain colors so I stamped a background stamp on it to give it some contrast to the wavy lines in the background.  Speaking of the wavy lines, I found that it is really cool to stamp white on colored cardstocks - the white pattern softens the big solid background but does not steal the main color away.  I like the effect and will do it more often.

I learned that a mistake is just an opportunity to become creative.  Had I not told you, would you be able to tell that the butterfly was cut too big? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Can it be simpler?

A simple card.
It's a one-layer card.
It has one image.
It has one sentiment.
That's it.

Simple, isn't it?

Unfortunately the picture is not doing justice here.  I've used a couple of distress inks on the leaf but the layering is not too obvious in the picture.  I hope you could at least see the bright middle part on the leaf - that's the area where the lightest yellow was used, then the closer it gets to the edge, the darker it becomes.  Use your imagination if the picture isn't clear!  In real person it is pretty cool.  I thought about hand-drawing some veins but I worry that it will ruin the contrast so I'm leaving it like this.

The sentiment was embossed in gold, accompanying the lonely leaf.

Simplicity is kicking off the 2013 Gratitude campaign and it reminds me that while I should catch up on Christmas cards, I should also carve out time for Thanksgiving cards.  After all, we cardmakers want to show how we care about others, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

A Sympathy Card

I failed to stay focus on Christmas cards!  I meant to make one last night when I first sat at the craft table.  Then I flipped through some magazines, tried to re-locate my ink pads to my new drawer, and the next thing I knew was that my ink pads were in a total mess (sometimes organization does not result in organized supplies, bummer). 

At times like this I feel really bad - I've allocated some time for "crafting" but there was zero productivity.  I also know that if I force myself to get something done it won't be nice.  So I stepped out and came back and made a simple sympathy card:

I got my inspiration from CAS(e) this Sketch:

and the color combo from 4 Crafty Chicks - Black and White.

I also meant to share a Fall card, but you could tell that I didn't get it done.  Perhaps I will finish it up later today!

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas card

Last year this time I had already made quite a number of Christmas cards but because of various distractions I am rather slow this year.  I have decided to catch up!

Close to My Heart's new idea book does not have a paper pack dedicated to Christmas so I'm using some leftovers from previous year.  The paper pack I'm using is Believe:

The sketch comes from Atlantic Hearts:

I'm glad that the volume of stash has gone down a bit. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Thinking of You

I am always low on masculine cards.  Another kind that always runs low is sympathy cards.  I find sympathy cards more difficult to make, especially when I'm making it to meet an immediate need.  It is much easier to prepare some ahead of time.

When I saw this sketch from CAS(e) this sketch, I was inspired to make a sympathy card:

I usually tend to stay away from bright colors but I'd like to try them this time:

I thought the simplicity of the card and the gray background could neutralize the bright colors so it is not inappropriate.  How did I get to this color combo?  From other challenges like Pals Paper Arts:

and Dynamic Duos:

I have used Blush and Buttercup from the Close to My Heart palette to replace the pink and yellow.  This card adds to my sympathy card stash and I'm hoping to make more.  Do you also find it difficult to make sympathy cards?  How do you overcome that challenge?

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Christmas card

I'm sharing another Christmas card with a totally different color scheme.  The one I shared earlier has the traditional red and green, but this one is more about blues and grays with snowflakes:

The card is based on the sketch at Monday Lunchtime Sketch challenge:

When I first saw it I thought it is quite an "impossible" sketch but after I've turned it clockwise to become a horizontal card, it became much more manageable.  The first impression was truly deceiving!

My card is also entering the challenge at
Amusing Challenges - Anything Goes
Cards in Envy - Layers challenge and
By Lori Designs Challenges - Designer Paper

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope - Love - Peace

Let's see what I shared with my friends at team meeting couple of weeks ago.  It is a Christmas card that I made with many versions.  They are extremely similar and the difference lies only on the color of the "house."

I've tried many colors and I think that Chocolate and Barn Red looks really great.  My favorite, is to make it colorful:

The house was first stamped in bamboo, a very very pale color, then I used the blending pen to dip in the ink pad and transferred the color to the bamboo-inked image.  A little bit at a time.  For an intricate image like this one, it did take a long time but I think it is worth the effort as it turns out so nice and people will ask "how did she do that?"

The house was cut by Art Philosophy and if I do not color the house by blending pen, it took just a split second to make the card.  I plan to make a large volume of it for Operation Write Home. 

My card is entering the challenge at
Bitten by the Bug - Christmas in July and
Jingle Belles - Christmas card with a house on it.

Thanks for stopping by!