Around the World Stampin Up Challenge 36

It's been a long time since I played at Around the World challenges but the stripes challenge was hard to resist.

Especially hard with the beautiful Coastal Cabana striped paper from Sale-abration.

The circle is raised above the level of the card on dimensionals. I did not want to introduce another colour so I embossed the butterfly with Iridescent Ice powder and it looks great in the sunlight.

The Coastal Cabana 'you" is slightly offset with the black to give both height and a sense of depth.

I rounded one corner to echo the circle and the rounded shape of the lettering in 'you'. And I'm still in love with Kinda Eclectic, especially considering my initial scepticism of it!

Ingredients

Card: Black, Coastal Cabana, Best Day Ever DSP.

Stamps: Kinda Eclectic, Crazy About You.

Ink: Black

Other: Hello You thinlit die, circle framelits, dimensionals, Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly punches, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, brad base and black candy dot, linen twine.

As You See It 77 and TSSC356

The first time I'd ever seen a speed challenge was just before Christmas at As You See It and it was for white on white in under 10 minutes. I so enjoyed doing that I was delighted to see As You See It was having another speed challenge, this time in shades of purple.

As suggested at the challenge site, being organised is important. I'm lucky to have a permanent workspace and I'm pretty well-organised. I knew in my head what I wanted to do and had my stamps, papers and embossing folder to hand. 

I don't usually combine challenges but have done so once already this week and here I am, doing it again. Maybe, like a lot of things, it gets easier the more you do it! I did like the sketch at the Technostamper Monday Lunchtime Challenge, which I've looked at over the last few weeks (since seeing it mentioned at Wee Inklings) but never played at before.

If I had not been racing the clock, I would have coloured the cut edges of the white panels. As it was, I had the pearls handy in case there was time to put them on the butterflies but would ideally have cut another butterfly and layered them.

Still, I'm pretty happy with this effort, which took 7 minutes 51 seconds from cutting the card base and panels to adding a plain white insert and a punched butterfly on the inside.

Update: Delighted to get a top 3 pick at Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge.

and also Top Pick at As You See it Challenge 77

Ingredients

Card: Bazzill Pansy (all my Elegant Eggplant was used), SU Perfect Plum and Whisper White

Stamps: Hero Arts Spring Gems, Clearly Besotted Many Mini Messages

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Other: SU Decorative Dots embossing folder, SU Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly punches, Pearls, dimensionals.

Just Add Ink 253

The new challenge at Just Add Ink was a photo inspiration.

Although I am something of a butterfly junkie, what really popped out at me in this inspiration board was not the butterflies but the wall sculpture above the bed. Probably this was because my new Gerbera Daisy die had arrived in the mail yesterday and the sculpture looked just like my gerbera!

Ingredients
Card: Bazzill Pink Fairy, Black, Whisper White
Stamps: SU I Love Lace background stamp, Altenew
Ink: Black Stazon
Other: MFT Gerbera Daisy Die, SU Leaf sizzlit, Couture Zig Zag Chevron embossing folder, Rosie's Creations diamante brad, dimensionals.

Colour Me 61

When Tangelo Twist came out in last year's catalogue, I wasn't really a fan but it has definitely grown on me in the interim. So it was with pleasure that I started out to make something for this week's monochromatic challenge at Colour Me.

To make things even better, it's Friday evening - the start of the weekend and absolutely best of all, today I got a parcel of goodies from the USA! (It all arrived less than a week after ordering.) Oh my word - a chance to play with new stuff and a lively colour! So, I ended up with a cheerful birthday card, although I almost made it a get well/feel better card.

What a great new stuff playtime it turned out to be. New stuff used: the MFT Gerbera Daisy Die, MFT Stitch Dot circle stax and the Tim Holtz Celebrate stamp. So pretty much everything really! The daisy die is fantastic. I curled it and layered it and put dimensionals between some layers ... so many possibilities. It could turn out differently every time! The textured circle to use for a centre is just adorable too.

Such a good start to the weekend! And international one-day World Cup cricket to go to on Sunday.

Ingredients

Card: Black, Whisper White, Tangelo Twist

Stamps: Tim Holtz Collection Celebrate

Ink: Black

Other: MFT Gerbera Daisy Die, MFT Stitch Dot circle stax, dimensionals, black marker to colour cut edges

PCCC134 and ColourQ282

I seldom enter a card into more than one challenge. Somehow it just seems like lost card-making opportunity, but I'm making an exception here. Two challenges met in my mind and married happily.

The first was the sketch at The Paper Craft Crew Challenge. I discovered this site about six weeks ago and have not yet had a challenge that didn't pique my interest and spark an idea.
Here's this week's one.

The second was at ColourQ, where I've only played once before. 

As appealing to me as this colour palette was, it did present a problem: I have never seen, or heard, of Brocade Blue before. I'm guessing it was a colour before I became a Stampin' Up groupie. The nearest I could find in anything I owned was Marina Mist, so I hope that's ok. If not, well, I enjoyed making the card and I appreciated the opportunity to use my beloved Dictionary background stamp.

Update: Delighted to be named a Featured Artisan for this card at Paper Craft Crew.

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, Black, Marina Mist, Soft Sky DSP

Stamps: SU Dictionary background, SU Banner Blast, Clearly Besotted Many Mini Messages

Ink: Black, Marina Mist

Other: Chevron embossing folder, Marina Mist buttons, Hello You thinlit die, Black embroidery thread, small banner punch.

Cas-ology Mini

I've looked at the wonderful galleries at Cas-ology, but have never played there before. While I like a clean and simple card, the cards at Cas-ology are really minimal. Often intimidatingly minimal! And really beautiful.

But today, things aligned. While trawling through the craft aisle at The Warehouse, I found a roll of burlap ribbon reduced to clear at $1.97! That ribbon, plus the cue card at Cas-ology gave me an idea for a very clean and simple card.

I often use butterflies and layer them but usually, I use the larger one. Today, I went for the mini butterfly and I hope there are not too many layers cluttering this card! I used a very slightly textured white card that I hadn't used before, Trophe board and it has given a lovely finish, almost like a fine linen.

Update: Delighted to get an Honourable Mention at CASology!

Ingredients

Card: White Trophe board, scraps of Crushed Curry and Calypso Coral for the butterfly.

Stamps: SU Papillon Potpourri, Clearly Besotted Good Times

Ink: Stazon Black, Calypso Coral to sponge the butterfly

Other: Burlap ribbon, black mini-brad, Stitched Rectangle die (SSS), dimensionals to lift the stitched panel, black marker to colour the edge of the small square.

Just Add Ink 252

I was intrigued by this week's sketch at Just Add Ink: those angled panels always look a bit scary, yet inviting at the same time. A bit like diving into a cold pool, I suppose.

When I first saw Kinda Eclectic in the SU catalogue, it didn't reach out and grab me at all but I bought it on a whim. I thought I'd try something different. It has quickly become one of my favourites. I've used it often and the cards I've done with it nearly always end up in my favourite cards pile, i.e. the ones I don't want to give away! Or at least, only to very special people. 

This one will probably end up on that pile too, because I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Ingredients

Card: Hello Honey (base), Sahara Sand, Blackberry Bliss

Stamps: Hardwood background, Kinda Eclectic, Clearly Besotted Fabulous Fuchsia (sentiment)

Ink: Sahara Sand, Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow

Other: Linen twine, Butterfly punch, dimensionals to raise the circle panel, circle framelits, brad base, Crushed Curry candy dot.