Put your sunshades on!

I made this slightly psychedelic card for the current challenge over at Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge #7 - which is to use a doily, plus at least one butterfly of course, on your entry this fortnight:

I was led by the butterfly and, once I'd made it, a 'flowery traditional card' just wasn't gonna look right, IMHO at least :) So I opted for quite a modern looking doily die and kept the card as clean looking as possible so that the butterfly wasn't swamped.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- the butterfly is from an acetate sheet of butterfly outlines, which are really meant to be glittered (bought when Mrs A and I watched a demo at a Craft Show). But bright spark here decided to just colour the image - and wrecked the first attempt by using Sakura Gelly Roll pens which went all streaky. Then I discovered some long forgotten 'Peel off Marker pens' and they worked a treat.

- the backing card is from the snippets folder, SU's 'Island Indigo'

- the doily was die cut from white card using a die from a Marianne Creatables set 'LR0129' and backed with a snippet of 'Island Indigo' card stock, trimmed down to fit

- sentiment is an Elzybell's one, sadly discontinued now, stamped using Memento 'Teal Zeal'

- the butterfly was just trimmed round with small scissors and adhered at the last minute with strong narrow clear DST

Am slipping  a bit with Christmas card making if the monthly target is to be kept up, but there are a couple of challenges in my sights this week :) Best get a wiggle on then!

Di
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Card in a box - with butterflies for Mrs A

Remember me squeaking with delight over the 'cards in boxes' made by Mary Anne and Debs here on Sunday's Snippets 'show and tell'?  Well, my copy of Quick Cards Made Easy magazine arrived the other day with a free pack of paper and matching embellishments so I had a little play:

 From the front.

And from the side.

I used:

- SU's 'Certainly Celery' card stock to make the box

- papers from the 'Vintage Blooms' pack by Jennifer Ellory, free with QCME magazine to decorate the box

- toppers from the same pack. They were also on paper so I cut them out then ran them through the Xyron to add sticky to the backs before popping them onto more card and then trimming round again to add rigidity

- then I added acetate strips to each one before arranging them inside the box

- a few coloured gems for some sparkle

- one final topper on the front flap

And when the card is closed, I worked it so that everything sits nicely inside the rectangle so there are no 'pokey out' bits to be scrunched in the post.

I followed this tutorial - it's in both metric and imperial measurements. Do be aware that it doesn't fully emphasise that the back section of the box needs to stand upright so you don't score across that section. Sigh, I did score of course but when  the patterned panel was added I just cut the paper to the whole length (height) of the box and also the full length of card for your message that you add to the back panel restores the rigidity - phew.

I just finished making this first thing yesterday morning before embarking on some Spring cleaning and to my delight I saw that I was one of Mrs A's picks over at her Butterfly Challenge - PLUS, this fortnight we have to use yellow. There's quite a bit of yellow on this card in a box so I'm skipping off with my first entry. Why not come and play too?

And Karen P over at Technique Time Tuesday picked this card to CASE the other day. If you haven't played along in Technique Time Tuesday I truly recommend it - it's a great way to learn new techniques, return to some old ones even and there are always really clear instructions and tips and hints. 

Di
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Inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

We had friends round for dinner recently and, whilst setting the table that afternoon, I suddenly remembered a neglected stamp. The connection was that I was using our lovely Charles Rennie Mackintosh place mats and coasters, bought quite a few years ago as a lovely gift by my buddy Moira - who lives near Glasgow. I've always been a fan of CRM and would love to go to the Hunterian museum in Glasgow some day, it's on my 'bucket list'.

This is the card I subsequently made with that 'neglected and never used before' stamp:

I used:

- A6 white card stock

- a large Nesties oval to cut the aperture on a piece of backing card and then I used the trick of placing the cut aperture piece over the front of the card itself, popping the Nestie back in and running it through the Cuttlebug so that the inside lines up with the front (hope that makes sense?)

- the image was stamped onto acetate with another amazing bargain from the fabulous Kraft Kabin (where Julia of WOYWW runs classes), costing all of £1, a wooden stamp by Funstamps called 'F-M66 Glasgow Nouveau 1'

- I stamped the image using StazOn and then did just a little bit of colouring using Sakura Gelly Roll pens - long neglected and almost forgotten about

- the sentiment is from a Stampendous set called 'Happy Messages' also stamped in StazOn just 'cos it was to hand. I'd looked at a few Charles Rennie websites and realised that fancy script was so not his style, hence the simplicity of the sentiment font

- then it was just a case of attaching the acetate with extra-tacky tape to the inside of the front of the card and backing it with the piece of card which also had an oval cut in it

I think this is deffo. a card which will need even just a plain folded insert so the message written to the recipient doesn't show through and spoil the 'window' effect I was looking for. Funny, the photo makes the acetate look really set back in the card - not so, it's sandwiched between the front of the card and the backing which is right behind.

Di
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