Butterflies and Birthdays

Ok  Friends

Two more days.  Just two more days to take advantage of the Butterfly Bundle.  Until Sept 30, you can get the Papillon Potpourri stamp set and the Itty Bitty Butterfly Punch as a bundle at a 15% savings.  Now that's something to be thankful for!

The Itty Bitty Butterfly punch came in handy for this cute card.  Pair butterflies with the Wildflower Meadow embossing folder (I even used the de-bossed side sometimes) and sentiments from Fabulous Phrases, add a few pearls and you have before you this lovely card.  I think I used 9 or 10 different colours to create this little beauty.  But my favourites are the Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo and Perfect Plum variants.  And I am going to repeat it (for those who haven't heard me say it before) - *nothing* makes it easier to get perfect placement for your pearls, even the little teeny tiny ones, than the Paper Piercing Tool from Stampin' Up!.  This little baby has saved my sanity on more than one occasion!

I am truly thankful that butterflies make it so easy to create gorgeous thank you cards!  Each month I make between 40 and 100 thank you cards.  I have LOTS of reasons to be thankful and so many people who deserve thank you cards.  But I am sure you can understand that I need cards that are fairly quick and easy to produce.  Both of my choices this month fit that bill.  

See my second card?  

Silver Encore ink for the Flowering Flourishes, paired with the Feel Goods sentiment and some Bitty Butterflies again, and you have a card that is just perfect for saying just what you need it to - without taking too long to create!   Once again I tried at least a dozen colours to see which ones would create the cutest cards and I have to say, there were LOTS of winners!  I really liked the Real Red.  And the Bermuda Bay.  And the Elegant Eggplant.  And the Island Indigo.  And I could go on and on but I think you get the message....





 
Speaking of "get the message", did you hear?  

I have my birthday coming up next week, and so I am offering a special birthday promotion.  This is a personal special available only through me, but available to ANYONE in Canada.  From Oct 1 - Oct 7, on any order of $60 or more, I will pay the shipping and handling fees*.  That's right, s&h to be paid by yours truly, as my birthday gift to all of you.  (*regular HST fees still apply)

Make your wish list and contact me and we'll make sure my birthday celebration makes both of us happy!

Hope your weekend has been wonderful!  And hope you are looking forward to a wonderful week ahead!

God Bless,    ~Cynthia   <><

Thankful Thursday - Thank You For Friends!

Good Morning Friends

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say how thankful I am for all my friends and family.  The ones who encourage you, support you, and bring sunshine into your life.  And I LOVE that Stampin' Up! has a stamp that is directed right to them!!  For all my friends and family, and those of you who qualify as both, I love you and am eternally grateful for you in my life!

Since this is a stamping and crafting blog after all.....I am also just a little bit excited to share with you that I finally got to play with my new clear, photopolymer stamps.  They cling like you wouldn't believe to the clear blocks!  They are completely transparent so you can see exactly where you are stamping.  They are flexible (I curved the stamp to make a sun from a straight-line banner).  And they stamp with the exceptional and superb quality that you (and I) have grown to expect from Stampin' Up!  I am sold, literally SOLD, on how well they perform.  And I can't wait to get the next set that is released!

Supply List
Stamps - Designer Typeset (132956), Feel Goods (w129681, c129684)
Ink - Versamark (102283), Daffodil Delight (126944), Pumpkin Pie (126945), Calypso Coral (126983), Primrose Petals (126858)   
Paper - Basic Black (121045), Tempting Turquoise (102067), Whisper White (100730)  
Big Shot - Beautiful Wings embosslit (118138)
Tools/Accessories - Heat Tool (129053), Black Embossing Powder (109133), Brayer (102395)

I brayered a sunny background onto this card, then heat-embossed both the sun (LOVE the clear photopolymer stamps!) and the sentiment in black.   The addition of a few of my favourite butterflies, and a simple but effective card is ready to be sent out to one of the multitude of wonderful friends that I call mine.

I hope your day - and your long weekend - are shaping up to be just as sunny and bright as this card is.  Many of you, like me, are celebrating the most important day of the year this weekend.  To all of you I wish a joyful, peace-filled and truly Blessed Easter.

God Bless,    ~Cynthia       <>< 

Chalkboard Easel Thankful Thursday

Hello friends

I'll bet you were expecting a Valentine's Card, right?  I would have - except that all my Valentine crafting was finished last week and THIS is what I wanted to show you today.  If you spend any time online, then you have seen the chalkboard technique cropping up everywhere.  It almost seems like I am the only stamper around who hasn't posted a card using this technique...until now that is.  I wanted to wait until I had a really nice one to show you and I do believe this is it!  And although the sentiment doesn't scream "Thankful"...you better believe I am thankful for all the things that I've got.  Especially the things that are not "things", just like the card says.  By the way, on this Valentine's Day (and every other day of the year) .....I am extremely thankful for the love of a truly wonderful man!  Okay, now I am in danger of getting really off topic, so back to the card:

Supply List (Spring catalogue products)
Stamps - Feel Goods (w129681, c129684), Itty Bitties (128939), Everything Eleanor (w124162, c124164), Mixed Bunch (w125535, c125537)
Paper - Raspberry Ripple (126842), Pink Pirouette (100459), Basic Black (121045), Whisper White (100730), Print Poetry Designer Series Paper Stacks (129312)
Ink - Craft White (101731), Raspberry Ripple (126842), Pink Pirouette (126859) 
Big Shot -  To flatten the Soda Pop Tops
Tools and Accessories - Soda Pop Tops (129388), Designer Builder Brads (129329), Watercolor Pencils - white (101879), White Embossing Powder (109132), Heat Tool (129053), Embossing Buddy (103083), Stitched Satin Ribbon - Raspberry Ripple (126845), Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (118309), 1/2" Circle Punch (119869), Blossom Punch (125603), dimensionals (104430), Stamping Sponges (101610)

I just love the effect of the chalkboard technique for making cards.  For those who want technical details....the images were stamped with craft ink on the black cardstock and embossed with white embossing powder.  A sponge very slightly loaded with white craft ink was used to create the "smudged" chalk effect and a white watercolor pencil was used to create the lines around the card.  I really love this one done as an easel card - I realize I haven't done an easel fold in a while and for the life of me, I can't figure out why?!   They are certainly easy enough.  And boy are they ever cute!

Today's card?  It is definitely above and beyond the cute category (if I do say so myself).  This is one of the gorgeous cards that my club ladies are making at our February club nights.  Along with a beautiful bloom card and an Easter Basket (that is wickedly cute and easy too!).  If you are local and want to take club nights for a "test drive",  contact me and we'll see if we can arrange for you to join us.

And don't forget about my Mystery Hostess event.  Offer open to ANYONE in Canada, and you don't need to be available to come to the event evening.  Just let me know you have a qualifying order to put in.  EVERYONE splits the hostess benefits so you will get one of the 10 bonuses listed!  Contact me today - It just doesn't get any better!    :)

And in the meantime, have a wonderful day.  Happy Valentine's Day again.  And God Bless,    ~Cynthia     <><
 

Silver Butterfly Gifts

Hello Friends

So - a wonderful private Catholic school here in Ottawa (Maryvale Academy) is holding a Gala dinner as a fundraiser this weekend and I was honoured to be asked to contribute a gift for the Silent Auction table.  Some of the items being bid on at the Gala include rare vintage wines and weeks away at Florida vacation homes, so anything I might contribute is far less substantial.  But I did want to donate something that I thought might interest 'somebody', so I designed what I consider to be a wonderful Butterfly gift set.

Butterfly Gift Set - Viewed from above

Set of NoteCards, Box of Chocolates, TeaLight Holder & Table Decor

Box of Chocolates - Opened

Perhaps the most exciting piece of the collection is the beautiful box that holds some Ghirardelli chocolates.  Yum, yum.  Rather ironic that the sentiment on the top of the box says, "The Best things in life aren't things", but the "thing" inside the box is something that many of us crave!  

No matter -- this saying is one of many lovely sentiments included in a new stamp set from the Spring Catalogue called Feel Goods (w129681, c129684) and although this particular one ranks as one my favourites, they are all wonderful.

The basic design for the box was borrowed from a fellow SU! demonstrator in the US.  And the box can be re-used once the chocolates are consumed - either to re-stock with chocolates, or to hold another gift of some kind.

In addition to the box of chocolates, the collection includes a set of 12 all-occasion notecards with a silver embossed butterfly as the main image.  In the photo you see most of the notecards tied up with a ribbon but there is a single one standing 'on display'. 

Also included in the gift set is a table centrepiece comprised of a central tealight holder and surrounding decor elements.  These were all fashioned from aluminum flashing (think roof repairs) and were cut with the Big Shot. 

Tealight holder

Tealight holder - side view

The tealight holder is a set of nested blossoms (embossed with the Big Shot too) with butterflies sitting on petals.  The surrounding decor elements are cute little blossoms that make me think of the jacks we played with as children!  The entire ensemble is designed to be small enough to not take up too much "floor space" of your table, but striking enough to really be noticed.  I am going to have to make a second set for myself as I honestly love this entire ensemble!

The last part of the gift set that is not pictured here are 3 aluminum garden stakes that match the tealight element.  The garden stakes were also die-cut from flashing using the Big Shot, then embossed with various designs.  They, too, have butterflies attached in various positions and in various sizes.  I regret I did not take a photo of them before I delivered the gift set to the organizers of the Gala, but trust me when I tell you that they are a striking addition to any garden or potted plant.

Alas and alack, I will not be able to attend the Gala on Saturday night since I will be with all 4 of my children at a weekend Choir Camp retreat.  However, my darling husband will be at the Gala with dear friends of ours.  I wonder whether he will bid on this ensemble, just to get at the chocolate.  Do you think I should tell him I have more chocolate stashed in the basement??  Naw - the money goes for a good cause.  If he wants to bid on my chocolate, who am I to take away his fun, right?    ;)

Hope you are all looking forward to a wonderful weekend!  But don't be in too much of a rush to get there.....enjoy the rest of your week until the weekend is upon us.        
God Bless,       ~Cynthia      <><