Flutterby Butterfly...

Hello again!! :)

I was going to try to be sensible today and get some rest instead of posting this to get it into the challenges I wanted to but today’s turned into a bit of a rubbish one for some reason and I figured thinking about craft and cards was probably about the best way to cheer myself up... so, hang sensible for once, and here I am to show you the card I made for my best crafting friend Elaine’s birthday last week which I’m really quite proud of, not least because she loved it which made me very happy!! :)

Any of you who visit Elaine’s blog will know that she loves butterflies so I decided that I would use that as the starting point for my card this year as I love butterflies, too, and haven’t made a card with one as a focal point for too long!! :) We’ve also both been loving our Cricuts and design software recently (thank you for getting me to finally get that, hon- I’ve had so much fun already!! :) ) so I decided to try and make as much as possible of her card with the Cricut :)

I wanted a bright, light, spring-like look to go with the butterfly so I decided to use some more of the gorgeous Memory Box Gossamer papers- these are so beautiful that I always love working with them and haven’t made a card I didn’t like with them yet ... shall have to get myself some more, I think!! :) And as you can see from this pic, I inked the edges of everything with Spun sugar DI and used copious amounts of Crystal Stickles to give a *bit* of added sparkle!! :)

One of the reasons I’m proud of this card is because much of it was my own work- I designed the cut files for the Cherry Blossom Panel and Border myself in my graphics program with some flower shapes I created from the quick shapes within the program so I got just the look I wanted and then cut them on the Cricut along with some mat layers from a Nestie-esque file I found online :) I actually designed the whole card layout and figured out all the sizes within my graphics program, too, which was a saving grace as there was a lot going on in this one and it would’ve been a nightmare to find the sizes didn’t work after I’d cut into the lovely papers!!lol The butterflies are also cut on the Cricut from a supplied shape- it’s such a lovely shape I just keep cutting them whenever I have a space big enough left over on anything else I’m cutting... they’re all in a little bag on my desk and will come in very useful sometime, I’m sure!! :)

I raised a piece of the paper- which is 160gsm and beautifully thick and robust to work with- on foam pads to make an unobtrusive stopper and stamped the greeting, which is the only part of the card I was a little unhappy with as I’d intended to use a greeting cut on the Cricut but the font I chose was to fine and didn’t cut perfectly at the size I needed... so out with the trusty old fav Jane’s Script stamp set!!lol The final touches were a plethora of tiny white pearls... basically, anywhere I could get away with it as I think they always make a card look so much more special :)

So, that was my card for my lovely crafting friend- it was slightly strange for me making a card for somebody who is as into crafting as I am as I’ve not done that often before but I loved making it, she was happy receiving it and I hope you enjoyed seeing it, too, though I know I’ve ventured into slightly unusual territory with this one- it took a long time to create the files but I really enjoyed doing it and think the result was worth it.... think you'll be seeing more of these Cherry Blossoms on other cards before long!! :)

ETA: Ooops- forgot this bit in my rush to be on time for the challenges!! :S I used:

• A5 Scalloped white base card
• Memory Box Gossamer paper pack
• My Cricut, cutting software and graphics program to design the cut files
• Spun Sugar Distress Ink
• Crystal Stickles
• Perfect Pearls Shimmer Spray in Pearl on the butterflies
• Woodware Clear Magic Jane’s Script stamp set for greeting stamped in Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet DIs mixed on the stamp with Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze to highlight
• White flat-backed pearls

Quite a simple list actually as most of the work was in the prep :)

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: CES – Spring Colours/Images :) ; Do You Stack Up? – Make It POP :) ; Moving Along With The Times – Anything Goes :) ; Charisma Cardz – April Showers/May Flowers (the flowers after the showers in this case if that’s okay?) :) ; Crafts and Me – Vintage/Distress (both the vintage prints on my papers and the DIs I’ve used) :) ; The Crazy Challenge – Use Three Different Papers :) ; The Shabby Tea Room – Inspiration Photo (my butterflies and the layers of white) :) ; Paper Sundaes - Pick at least two toppings- I have used Sparkle and Pearls :)

Well, I do feel much better for thinking about something pretty and sparkly for a while!! Simple things!!lol Thanks for visiting me and sharing in My Crafty Life tonight- I hope you’ve all had a lovely day today whether you’ve spent it in front of the telly, having a party on your street or just trying your hardest to pretend a certain something was happening on another planet- for me it been a bit of the former and a bit of the latter!!lol At least the sun’s been shining!! :)