RETIRING HAPPY BIRTHDAY THINLET

Oh no, the Happy Birthday Thinlet Die is retiring.  This is such a versatile die and I will be sad to see it go.

Here is a quick and easy card I recently created with this die and the Beauty Abounds Stamp Set.

Colours used are Grapefruit Grove and Coastal Cabana.

It was very easy to create the two tone effect with the die - simply die cut a Happy Birthday in both Basic Black and Grapefruit Grove cardstock and then adhere the Grapefruit Grove slightly offset over the top of the Basic Black.  I finished off with a little Wink of Stella.

If you don't have this die in your stash, you need to get it before it retires, it makes creating simple cards very easy.

Products used for this card are here:

Happy Birthday Thinlits Die [143700] $35.00	Beauty Abounds Cling Stamp Set [148726] $40.00	Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] $14.75	Grapefruit Grove A4 Cardstock [146995] $14.75	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00
Grapefruit Grove Classic Stampin' Pad [147142] $13.00	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad [147097] $13.00	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] $11.50

JUST ADD INK CHALLENGE #452

Today's card has been created for Challenge #452 over at Just Add Ink.  What a great sketch to work with.

Here is my card.  

For this card I decided to use one of the stamp sets in the current Annual Catalogue which I haven't used for quite some time and finally settled on the very cute Foxy Friends Stamp Set and Punch.

The base card is Basic Black, a layer of Shaded Spruce and the Whisper White layer which has been stamped upon.

The fox has been stamped in Cajun Craze and punched out.  The log has been stamped in Early Espresso and hand cut.

I stamped the dotty stamps that are in the Beauty Abounds Stamp Set in both Shaded Spruce and Soft Sea Foam down the left side.

The trees have also been stamped in Soft Sea Foam and Shaded Spruce.

A couple of mushrooms have been added to the bottom of the log in Petal Pink.

Finally the For You sentiment has been stamped in Shaded Spruce and cut into a banner.

If you would like to create a card like this one, here are the products I used:

Foxy Friends Photopolymer Bundle [142326] $70.00	Beauty Abounds Cling Stamp Set [148726] $40.00	Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' Pad [147102] $13.00	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad [147088] $13.00	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [147114] $13.00
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [147085] $13.00	Petal Pink Classic Stampin' Pad [147108] $13.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $10.00	Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] $14.75	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock [147006] $14.75
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $6.00

BUTTERFLIES GALORE

Today's post is all about the beautiful Beauty Abounds Bundle.

There are so many possibilities with the Beauty Abounds Stamp Set and the co-ordinating Butterfly Beauty Thinlits Dies.

I created all of these cards when I was preparing for the Occasions Catalogue Open House back in January.  Finally, gotten around to sharing them with you all.

My first card has a Lemon Lime Twist Base Card, a Blueberry Bushel layer and then a Whisper White layer on which the stamping has been completed.  The card is 5" x 5" when closed.

Steps to complete this card:

1. On the Whisper White Cardstock randomly stamp the splotch image in Blueberry Bushel, the floral image in Lemon Lime Twist and the circles in Pineapple Punch.  The sentiment has been stamped in Blueberry Bushell.
2. Die cut one of the large connected butterflies from Lemon Lime Twist Cardstock and cut apart.  I used the 3 smaller butterflies.
3. Affix some pearls (colour the pearls with Pineapple Punch Blends Markers first) to the centres of the butterflies and then affix to the card front (as shown in photo).
4. Adhere all the layers together and adhere to the base card.

My next card I partially cased from the Occasions Catalogue.  I tried a bit of a watercolour wash look - didn't quite turn out like the catalogue version - but I was still happy with the results.

I can't remember exactly which colours I used to get this combination watercolour look - that will teach me for not writing it down, however, any co-ordinating colours would look great.

Then simply die cut one of the large butterfly dies from Crushed Curry and adhere to the prepared Whisper White layer.  Swipe around the edges of this piece with the Crushed Curry Ink Pad and affix to the base card of Tranquil Tide.

Add some diamantes and a sentiment and you are all done.

My third card is also fairly simple with a Whisper White card base, a Blueberry Bushel layer and a top layer of Whisper White which has been stamped on.

Steps for this card:

1. Stamp three of the floral images in the middle of the Whisper White layer in Blueberry Bushel.  Use a blender pen to move some of the colour from the flowers onto the petals.
2. Die cut from Blueberry Bushel Cardstock a couple of leaves and a Stitched Circle and from Lemon Lime Twist Cardstock some leaves, some swirls and a butterfly.
3. Affix the butterfly to the centre of the Blueberry Bushel Circle and add some diamontes to the body.
4. Affix the leaves and swirls flat to the card over to the left hand side and then affix a piece of White Ribbon and a piece of Lemon Lime Twist Ribbon.
5. Finish off by affixing the Circle with dimensionals and stamp the sentiment in Lemon Lime Twist Ink to the bottom right.
6. Affix the embellished white layer to the Blueberry Bushel layer and then affix with dimensionals to the base card.

And finally, here are the supplies I used for each of these cards:

Product List for Card 1

Beauty Abounds Cling Bundle [150617] $97.00	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock [144250] $14.75	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock [146991] $14.75	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad [147145] $13.00
Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad [147138] $13.00	Pineapple Punch Classic Stampin' Pad [147141] $13.00

Product List for Card 2 

Beauty Abounds Cling Bundle [150617] $97.00	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry [131288] $14.75	Tranquil Tide A4 Cardstock [144252] $14.75	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [147087] $13.00
Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad [147138] $13.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $6.00

Product List for Card 3

Beauty Abounds Cling Bundle [150617] $97.00	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock [144250] $14.75	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock [146991] $14.75	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad [147138] $13.00
Whisper White 3/8" Classic Weave Ribbon [144159] $12.25	Lemon Lime Twist 1/4" Ombre Ribbon [144234] $12.25	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372] $50.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $6.00

Don't forget that you can shop for any of these products in my online store and if placing an order online don't forget to use April's Hostess Code.