Beautiful Expanding Butterflies

Today I have been very self-indulgent, as a reward for getting my chores done yesterday. I found a blog hop promoting the Stamparatus, and hopped from site to site watching YouTube videos on how to achieve the different effects, and then couldn't wait to try some out, and this is the one I made today, since Watercolor Wings (#139424 -$45.00), Butterflies Thinlets (#137360 - $45.00) &  Bold Butterfly Framelits (#138135 - $29.00) are all set to retire at the end of May.

Dena Rekow was the creator of the card I saw and here is a link to her Youtube. 

I was surprised as Stampin' Up!® had used the same stamp to promote Stamparatus, but I guess it has been around for a long time.

For the front of the card I used the Fluttering TIEF (also retiring) and Lovely Words Thinlets (#143733 $45.00) which are retiring along with the matching stamp set, Lovely Inside & Out. The other stamp set used for sentiments today is Hello Friend, on page 17 of the current Annual catalogue.

I began by stamping out the butterflies. It is the large one that is inside the card, but as I have the dies for all the butterflies, I decided to set up the smaller ones as well, to be inked and stamped at the same time. Positioning does take a little time, and I did as Dena suggested and stamped the darker rim of wings first. I do think it made positioning of the main part of the wings a lot easier. I used the framelit upside down to place the body, but it still took several tries before it was right.

After you have stamped the butterflies, you take them to the Big Shot to die cut. You also die cut as many 'blanks' as you want to stamp. Making sure that the card is butted into the corner is the most important thing at every step of this process.

I played with some of the newer colours, as well as returning favourites. Feeling thankful I didn't get rid of my InColor pads and card when they finished their two-year stint.

I haven't chosen any particular order for my colours, just randomly bright.

If you need a shopping fix, you can shop in my online store anytime of the night or day. If you include the Host code when you check out, I include a free gift from me, along with a card. Checkout the Clearance Rack for framelit, and pattern paper at very reduced prices. The retiring list is there also.

PMGJPHEN

Cupcake Birthday

My friend is an amazing baker of cakes and seems to be able to turn out enough delicious cakes in an evening (after working all day too) to keep a cafè fully stocked. She always laughs when we tell her that. I put together some cupcakes for her celebration - only mine are paper, because I'm not great in the kitchen, paper is my passion.

For the paper patties I experimented while using Stampin' Markers to colour them. That technique is 'Ink To Rubber' and can come in handy when you want to pick out different features on a stamp, like the spots on some of the paper cases. I used mostly pale pastels, but injected a bit more life with a splash of Island Indigo, Elegant Eggplant and Hello Honey.

There's some texture in the background with butterflies of assorted sizes on the larger Fluttering Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. That is why there's a tiny silver punched butterfly as well. These cupcakes are easy to make, there are two styles of icing and two styles of paper patties to mix and match in Cupcake Party, plus the Cupcake Builder Punch helps to punch them out. I did grab Sprinkles of Life for the sentiments on the front, too cute!

Unfortunately, Cupcake Party and the Cupcake Buider Punch have retired from the Stampin' Up!® range now, to be replaced by Sweet Cupcake and the Cupcake Cutouts Framelits, available as a bundle at 10% off and shown on page 23 of the Annual Catalogue.Sprinkles of Life is still available.
What colour cupcake will you make?


Cheers, Rachel