More Butterflies

I'm having a bit of a butterfly moment - perhaps it's because summer is here and everything in the garden seems to be growing.
I started this card by lightly spraying some gold and copper ink through a Memory Box stencil (texture rhapsody). When this was dry I stamped a Memory Box stamp (gathered blooms) with Versafine Spanish moss. I masked off the flowers and stamped the stems again upside down to give the gathered effect of the stems. To hide the join where the 2 lots of stamping meet I added a die cut Marietta buckle by Memory Box and a bow made from a scrap of ribbon. Sometimes when I don't have enough ribbon for a proper tied bow I make this knotted bow.  Some punched butterflies completed the card.
I am entering this into the:
 Memory Box challenge for June - butterflies
Craft Barn weekly challenge - bows

Katzelkraft Challenge - June

This month's challenge theme on the Katzelkraft blog is circles. There are some fab recently issued Katzelkraft stamps that I would love to have used for this but sadly they are still on my wish-list rather than on my stamps-I-own-list. Choosing what to do for this challenge was tricky as you can only use Katzelkraft stamps and nothing I had really jumped out at me. Finally I decided to use the spotlight technique where you stamp an image twice (usually a line drawing) colour one image and cut out parts of the coloured image to place over the plain image. Clear as mud? If you click on the image above you should be able to see the coloured circles that have been superimposed over the main image (there are 6 of them). I added 3 tiny butterflies from a corner punch I have and used a circle die to cut out the completed image. This was mounted onto a kraft card blank and surrounded by various punched circles.
You can read the rules and see all the other entries here.
I am also entering this into the Craft Barn's weekly challenge the theme of which is butterflies.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - June

This is the last in the series of song title ATC swaps on the UK Stampers forum. I think we are taking a summer break and returning with a new series of ATCs. This month's song title is 'walking on sunshine'.
I used a Tim Holtz stencil for the sunrays with squeezed lemonade, spiced marmalade and ripe persimmon DIs. The main image is a Non Sequitur stamp, painted with Twinkling H2Os with some computer-generated text and a metallic brad to finish.

Cogs and Gears - Craft Barn Weekly Challenge

Whilst browsing Pinterest recently I found this card and as I needed to make another masculine card I decided to create my own version. Is that a case or a cardlift? I'm never too sure.
The background was made by running the edge of an old credit card into some ink. The card has a hammered finish which helped give the lines a slightly grungy look. I then cut some gears from an X cut set in gold, silver and copper. What's the difference between a cog and a gear? Apparently cogs are the teeth of a gear. If it's a gear run by some sort of belt (like a cycle chain) it's called a sprocket. Who knew cardmaking could be so educational? Having arranged them to my satisfaction I stuck them down and added matching brads. The text is from a Winnie & Walter set.
I am entering this as my second entry into the Craft Barn weekly challenge entitled 'for the man in your life'.

Jolly Duck

I visited the Craft Barn this weekend and came away with this stamp from Crafty Individuals' Alice Palace collection. It's been on my wish list for a while and I could think of a few male birthdays it would be suitable for. I used a stencil and DIs for the background and coloured the image with coloursoft pencils.
I am entering this into the Craft Barn's weekly challenge which is entitled 'for the man in your life'.

UK Stampers Postcard Swap - June

Another month and another round of swaps to participate in... this is the postcard swap on UK Stampers. Sam who started this particular swap and has run it brilliantly for many years, decided to step down due to other commitments. Luckily Jill has decided to take over and this month's theme is numbers.
I had 'tea for two' in mind and decided to use this Crafty Individuals stamp that fitted well but on closer inspection there are 3 cups and the clock reads 3. That irritated me no end and I felt I had to abandon the 'tea for two' idea (a terrible first world problem when your stamp doesn't convey what you want it to!). Anyway as you can see I got around this non-problem by re-titling it 'tea at three' or at least the text speak equivalent of that.
The pic looks a bit grey so I will see if I can get a better one. I stamped the main image in archival teal and coloured in with coloursoft pencils. The patterned paper is from MME cut & paste charm. I embossed the CB number folder over part of the card and brushed teal ink over to highlight the embossing. The alphabet and number are block talk by Sizzix and the @ symbol is from a CB alpha set, curls & swirls.

Craft Barn Calendar Challenge - June

This month's calendar challenge on the Craft Barn blog asks for the colour lavender and dragonflies. I started with some floral embossed handmade paper which I had kept from a present I was given. I lightly spritzed some cobalt blue ink over a dragonfly mask. The effect was very subtle so I replaced the mask and brushed some shaded lilac and milled lavender DIs all over. I cut a dragonfly from Tim Holtz's fanciful flight die and used 2 sizes of punch for the other dragonflies. Because of the metallic silver card, it hasn't scanned very well so here's a close-up: