Love Those Butterflies

The above card began with a white card base.
A 4.25 x 5.5 piece of cardstock that had been
"beautified" with Glimmer Mists by Tattered Angels
was then attached to the card front.

The white flower under the butterfly is Spellbinder's
Lotus Pendant. The butterfly itself is a two part die
from Quickutz, I recommend using text weight paper
to the cut the black portion. The colored part of the
butterfly is glossy paper that has been turned into
the Polished Stone look with alcohol inks.

The stamped phrase from Hero Arts
has been embossed with a fineline black embossing powder.
When a process used to create the background has
metallic properties a dye ink tends to "sink" beneath
the metallic and become hard to see, so
for these types of backgrounds I always heat emboss
some type of powder to make the image stand out.
Both Glimmer Mists and alcohol inks with metallic
will "fade" dye inks.

The jewels on the butterfly's body are from an unknown maker.

The only difference in this card from the one above it
is the color of the Glimmer Mists used to
create the background and the Bosscut"s flourish die cut
under and around the butterfly.

The background for this card is a scrapbook paper.
Note the rounded corners of the card base
and the blue paper used for the background.
The stamped phrase is from Stampabilities.

It's All About the Texture

Plain white card stock in an embossing folder.
Now ink up a sponge and lightly apply ink to the
raised portion. Over and over and over, until
it is as dark as you want.
On this particular card I did a very very light final
sponging of black and then "burned" the edges with
a heavier sponging of black.

The phrase has been cut out using die cuts
by Spellbinders, both the plain rectangle and
the scalloped rectangle.

This is a very basic card that really accents
the texture of the embossed paper.

Lotus and Flowers

Since things have been a little busy around here lately
I decided to share three cards at once.
They are all the same basic idea -
teabag folded flowers on a Spellbinders lotus die cut.

The above card is the only one that has
a stamped phrase. Stamp by Stampabilities.
I do like the rounded corners. It really softens a design.

This card has a punched border at the
top and bottom. The casual flowers on
the scrapbook paper that covers the card base
match the informal type flowers
of the EK Success Martha Stewart punch.

Teabag Folded Flowers

This is the same design with different colors.
Your favorite will be
according to your preferences in color.

The backgrounds are card stock that
has been texturized using a
Sizzix texture plate for the pink
and an embossing folder for the purple.

The directions for the flower can be found
at Jen Lowe's blog, link on the right.
It is a video and you may have to go
back a week or two to find it.

Inscribed on the plams of Gods hands

Such a fantastic scripture. It just thrills me every time I read it.


This is the same design using different part of the same piece of scrapbook paper. I personally prefer the plainer version as it is easier to see the beautiful butterfly stamp (Inkadinkado).



The second card has already been posted, but I wanted to highlight the difference a background can make.

Elegant Horse

Inkadinkado has the most marvelous set of clear stamps. These horses are so elegant and so easy to work with.

I used a Spellbinders Label die to cut out the image after it was stamped in black ink. The edges of the piece are sponged in black as is the edge of the card. Mini brads are place at the top and bottom of the label.

Very very simple and very easy design.

Simple Double Lotus

Thanks to my long time pen pal Celia for this idea of "shadowing" of die cuts.

It is amazing what difference the background can make. Theses are the exact same die cuts and stamp. Dies used are from Spellbinders, Lotus Pendant and Mega Ovals.


The green background is scrapbook paper. The tan background is textured using small hail screen.




How to make the hail screen textured paper:

1. Dampen paper, I use a fine mist spray bottle of water.
2. Place paper over hail screen, now place soft rubber embossing mat over paper. Remember you want the rubber to "push" the paper into the screen, resulting in the texture.

Various sizes of hail screen can be acquired for minimal cost at a lumber yard.

Horsing Around

Some bandanna and denim print scrapbook papers make a fantastic card with a strong western flavor when you use some Inkadinkado clear horse stamps.





A few brads that kind of look like nail heads, a Spellbinders label on one, a little sponging and tearing and there you have it.




I believe the rope stamp is by Above the Mark and the horseshoe stamp from Viva Las Vegas.