So Many Challenges, So Little Time

Challenges aren't a bad thing; they are an opportunity for others in the industry to see my work and hopefully like it.  They are also how I create new card designs and color combinations, so they are all good in my opinion. There are lots of them out there, but I try to find challenges that fit my style and I've noticed I pretty much participate in the same ones over and over.  I'll be linking this card up over at Double D Challenges, The Card Concept, Sparkle & Shine and Word Art Wednesday.

I sat down last week and made quite a few bouquets and stamped quite a few butterflies with the Bitty Bouquets Stamp Set and Dies and the Color Pop Butterflies from Papertrey Ink. The Color Pop Butterflies were designed by Betsy Veldman and I am enjoying using many different color combinations when creating my own using the multiple step stamps that are part of the design.

I've started doing these bouquets by cutting several out in Stamper's Select 110# White Cardstock from Papertrey Ink and using the negative as my placeholder for the positive pieces with my MISTI.  This is my favorite White Cardstock and trust me when I tell you I have tried many different ones.

I know that it will most likely take a couple of tries to get the stamps lined up perfectly in my MISTI and I use the same die cut over and over for this purpose. It's fairly easy to tell which layer is the newest by the way the ink looks.  Dye based inks like the ones I use 99% of the time, absorb into the paper (dyeing it) and soften as they dry which makes it easy to tell which one you just stamped to see if it is lined up correctly. I try to do each round of stamping in one shot by moving the positive die cut in and out of the negative place holder. I do all the greenery first, then the larger flowers and if there are smaller flowers I do them last.  Not all of the bouquets have the smaller flowers but the Tulips do and they are my favorites from the four varieties in the set.  

Color Pop Butterflies Kit

I have always liked the look of soft pastels but I have definitely learned to appreciate the more vibrant colors as well and I'm finding that I really like them in card making.  I used a couple of Distress Inks and a couple of Papertrey Inks to stamp the Bitty Bouquets and get these really rich colors.  One of the best things about the MISTI is that you can re-ink and stamp the images a 2nd time to get a more intense and vibrant color.  For the flowers on this card, I used Seedless Preserves with Mowed Lawn and Vintage Jadeite with Hibiscus Burst.  The flowers were all double stamped to increase the color saturation. The butterfly is from the Color Pop Butterflies Kit and is done with one of the printed butterflies from the kit that you can cut out using the coordinating die that comes in the kit.  I just added some Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer over the top.

I die cut the polka dot paper using the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle.  Next I cut an oval from the Stitched Oval Stax by My Favorite Things out of Gold Metallic Poster Board and then a smaller Stitched Oval out of coordinating card stock. The sentiment is from Altenew's Beautiful Day Stamp Set and was heat set using Versamark and Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  This was a scrap of cardstock but I am pretty sure it is Stampin' Up! Melon Mambo.  I like the graceful curve of the oval for flower placement and it makes it easy to adhere the arrangement using Multi Medium Matte.  Everything was adhered to an A2 card base made from Stamper's Select White.

These are the inspiration photos I worked with today.  How can I go wrong when they used my two favorite colors?

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.  I hope you enjoy the card I made for my daughter and that perhaps it will inspire you to create one of your own.  I always enjoy reading your comments if you'd like to leave one. Have a great day everyone!