Papillion Potpourri and the New Year!

The New Year is almost here, and what better way to celebrate it than with a couple of butterfly cards! Ah, the fragile, yet gracious butterfly - the symbol of new life, new beginning! And that’s what the New Year is all about, isn’t it?

The stamp set is one that I fell in love with the moment I opened the 2012-13 annual catalogue – Papillion Potpourri. So pretty and useful for so many different occasions, from birthdays to ‘Get Well’ and ‘Thank You’ cards.

To make the most of this set, you’ve got to have the Elegant Butterfly punch, which is what I’ve used here, having stamped the butterfly image first on to some Whisper White cardstock, then punched it out, and mounted it on to the card topper, using 3-D Dimensionals.

And if you’re anything like me, you might like to take coordination on to the next, higher level. I believe there’s another smaller, Bitty Butterfly punch coming out in February, with the new Spring-Summer 2013 Catalogue (p.13), which goes really well with the smaller butterfly stamp of the Papillion Potpourri set. Isn’t that brilliant?

To finish off the card you could add a sentiment – I went for ‘Happy Birthday Wishes’ from the Petite Pairs stamp set.

The buttons add a nice touch to the butterflies’ bodies, and Stampin’Up’s own buttons are perfect for this.

Alternatively, you could use Rhinestone Gems, which is what I’ve used on the second card. The sentiment on this is from a beautiful, unfortunately now retired, set called Vintage Vogue. “You raise kindness to an art” – how lovely to be able to say that to someone who deserves your thanks!

I don’t yet possess a Stampamajig, but if I did, I’d have horizontally stamped up the three butterfly images using this very useful tool, though the way I’ve done it (i.e. not in a straight line), doesn’t look too bad. What do you think? After all, butterflies fly where and how they please!

May your New Year be a happy, healthy and successful one! May all its joys and surprises, as well as its trials and challenges, help you grow stronger in body and spirit. Life is indeed like a butterfly. Treasure it while it lasts!

Christmas cards again - Delightful Decorations and Be of Good Cheer!

Hello again!

This is another Christmas card I made using the Delightful Decorations stamp set, and the Ornament and ¾” Circle punches.

I started by stamping the background with one of the set’s snowflake circle stamps in Old Olive ink. Then I centrally layered a red rectangle (using Real Red cardstock), and on top of it, another white rectangle from Whisper White cardstock. I’d previously stamped half of this rectangle using another snowflake circle stamp (again in Old Olive ink), and the other half I covered with a piece of designer paper from the Be of Good Cheer series, which I really like.

Then I stamped and punched out one of the ornaments, as well as a ¾” circle (using the last of the snowflake stamps), and mounted these on to the card using 3-D Dimensionals, to give them some height.

 To finish off the card, I used some Baker’s Twine for the ornament, as well as around the middle of the white rectangle, where it joins the paper.

And no card is complete without a greeting, so this one came from the Petite Pairs stamp set, which coordinates well with the ‘Merry Christmas’ snowflake stamp already mounted on the ornament.

Quick and easy! What do you think?  

Staying with the Christmas theme, here are two more simple cards, which I made using the Snow Festival Printed Tags from the Seasonal Catalogue.

The papers are (again!) from Be of Good Cheer Designer Paper Series, and the circles (on the second card) are stamped using the Delightful Decorations stamp set, and the ¾” Circle punch.

I applied some Rhinestone Gems on one of the cards, as well as a Christmas greeting from the Petite Pairs stamp set. Simple!

Happy Christmas, everyone!