A handy notepad and pen-holder wallet using Stampin' Up!'s Envelope Paper and Watercolor Wings butterflies!

Hello, today I have a project for you that I think would make a lovely gift - whether as a teacher thank you, for a friend's birthday, or even a "just because" kind of a present for someone who is in your thoughts... 

It is a notepad and pen holder wallet, with a pair of coordinating butterfly paperclip bookmarks tucked into the pocket inside:

The front cover is decorated with the lovely woodgrain patterned Envelope Paper in Tip Top Taupe, with a small taupe and Mint Macaron,  Watercolour Wings butterfly popped up on dimensionals. The wallet has a closure made using half inch circle punched pieces of cardstock placed on dimensionals. Whisper White Bakers' Twine is attached under the righthand side circle and it wraps, in a figure of eight, around both of the circles to keep the wallet closed:

Inside there is a small notepad (decorated at the top with the same patterned envelope paper as the front cover) plus a loop to hold a small pen. There is also a handy inside pocket, decorated with the same paper. Tucked into this are two large paperclips, that I decorated with butterflies stamped in the same colour inks as the one on the front cover:

Here are the butterfly paperclips, aren't they cute?

I love how versatile the Watercolor Wings butterfly stamps are - especially in combination with the Butterflies Thinlits and Bold Butterflies Framelits. I have used the same two colours (Mint Macaron and Tip Top Taupe) for all the butterflies, and have stamped off some of the ink to give more tones of the same colour to add interest.

I do like practical, useful things, especially when they are pretty too and I think that this notepad and pen-holder wallet fits the bill perfectly, don't you? I think that anyone who likes to be organised would appreciate this as a little gift. It is very quick and easy to make these wallets and they don't cost much either, which is handy if you have several people you want to give them to! You could also make several for yourself and keep one in your handbag, one by your bed for those things you think of when you should be falling asleep at night and maybe one on your desk for jotting notes on during the day too?

We made these wallets in my card class last week and everyone really enjoyed making them!  I gave the ladies a choice of colourways, using the different 2015-2017 In Color Envelope Paper colours as a starting point, so they were all a bit different and their butterflies were beautiful.

Unfortunately I was enjoying the class so much that I totally forgot to take any photographs of their finished wallets - oops! I blame my forgetfulness on  the unusually hot weather we had that day and the distraction of the yummy berry and coconut icecream that I had made especially for the class as a cooling treat! (I normally bake cakes for my classes, but it was far too hot to have the oven on in my kitchen, the day before the class - hence my decision to make the icecream instead! Yum!) 

Well, that's it for today, so, until next time, happy crafting everyone! Hope the sun is shining on you, wherever you are!

Come back soon to see some of projects I made for a team-training event, using the fabulous "Go Wild" Designer Series Paper Stack as my inspiration...

Happy crafting to you all.

Lucy x

Faux-corrugated card technique with Watermelon Wonder and Watercolor Wings!

I've been playing a lot with the Watercolor Wings stamp set recently - I love it! I've been experimenting with different colour-combinations and it is amazing to see just how different the butterflies look when stamped in different inks!

I have mostly been stamping them with soft colours so far,  but, decided to try out some bright and striking colours instead. Here is a card that I inked up with Stampin' Up!'s Watermelon Wonder, Memento Tuxedo Black and a little bit of Pumpkin Pie!

Here is the card I made:

I love how bold the Watermelon Wonder, Pumpkin Pie and Tuxedo Black look against the Whisper White cardstock. I slightly mis-aligned the layers of the butterfly and changed my mind about the orange Pumpkin Pie body, so over-stamped it with black ink - however, I think this all gives it a bit of a pop-art feel, don't you? However, it needed a little something extra, so I decided to score some lines with my Simply Scored Tool on the Watermelon Wonder card base - which I think looks a bit like some sort of ribbon behind the black butterfly panel... I still felt it needed something else, so decided to do a bit more scoring on the black layer.

Here it is in more detail:

I began with just a few score lines towards the bottom of the card, but then thought it needed even more detail - so I decided to score the whole of the black card layer to see what it would look like.

I was pleased with the result! I think it looks a bit like corrugated card and as I haven't yet got my mitts on Stampin' Up!'s brand new Corrugated Paper (in White and Kraft colours) I thought this makes a good faux alternative, don't you? It is a great way to add more interest without adding more layers or embellishments to a card...

Hope you like it?

That's all for today, but there will be more butterflies on Saturday, but in more subtle colours: Mint Macaron and Perfect Plum. Hope you return to take a look!

Don't forget that as it is Wednesday today, there is a brand new set of Weekly Deals on offer which are only available until next Tuesday (23rd June 2015). Here they are:

Click here to take a closer look at them.

I love the Arrows embossing folder - I use it on a lot of projects - it is great for all sorts of occasions - especially cards for kids and teenagers and for masculine cards too. The Decorative Dots embossing folder is probably my most-used embossing folder - I have used it on all sorts of things, from Christmas cards to animal-themed cards! The silver basic buttons are another "must have" item for me too - they are nicely weighted and so versatile as they go with everything being neutral in colour and style! Seam-binding ribbon is my all-time most-used ribbon - it ties beautifully, it can be crumpled, you can pull the threads and turn it into ruffled ribbon, it lies beautifully flat on cards and is easily stuck down with snail, glue dots or fast fuse glue. I haven't got any in Early Espresso though, so that will definitely be going on my order after my class on Thursday... and I think the two stamp sets might accidentally fall onto my order too as I have not got those yet and have been umm-ing and ahh-ing about them for a while now! Hmm... What will you choose?! Decisions, decisions, eh? :)

I shall be back on Saturday with more butterflies - this time in Perfect Plum and Mint Macaron, for a more subtly-coloured couple of projects! Hope you will like them...

Until next time, happy crafting everyone! 

Lucy x

STOP PRESS NEWS: I was utterly delighted to find out that my entry into the Always Playing With Paper Blog Colour Challenge last week was chosen as one of the design team's Top Picks - How exciting! I am thrilled - what an honour! Thank you Nance from APWP, you made my whole week! :)

First play with my Watercolour Wings stamp set and a Colour Challenge!

I have totally fallen in love with my brand new Watercolor Wings stamp set which arrived this week. I adore butterflies and this set is just so versatile and full of potential! The butterflies are simply stunning... swoon!

This gorgeous two-step stamp set comprises of a total of 15 stamps, for you to make several designs of two differently-sized butterflies, three sentiments and a couple of dotty patterns. As it is a photopolymer set, it is really easy to line up the different "layers" of the butterflies (without the need for a Stamp-a-majig!). 

Here are the stamps in the set:

Watercolor Wings Photopolymer Stamp Set 139424 £23.00/31,00€

You can buy the stamp set on its own, or as a bundle, with the Bold Butterfly Framelit Dies, which will save you 15%. (140232 £32.50/44,00€) They also co-ordinate with the Butterfly Thinlits too. However, today I decided to just use the stamps on their own to make a card:

The colours used are Calypso Coral, Night of Navy and Tip Top Taupe. I love how the stamps are designed to look a bit patchy on purpose to give a water-coloured look, with no need for a paintbrush! I inked up the more solid, base stamp of the larger butterfly with Calypso Coral and then stamped it off first onto my grid paper to give it a paler look on the Very Vanilla card layer. Next was the edged-wing stamp which was straight-up Calypso Coral; then the spots and splodges wing pattern stamp was inked with Night of Navy. The butterfly bodies and antennae plus the trios of dots in the background of the card were all stamped in Tip Top Taupe.

I chose the colours to go in the Always Playing With Paper Challenge #38 colour challenge which asked for coral, navy and kraft inks. I think that Tip Top Taupe falls under the Kraft category, don't you?

 Of course I couldn't leave the inside of the card undecorated, could I? 

I had such a fun afternoon playing with this glorious stamp set. I even stamped up the smaller butterflies in the same colour-combo too onto a 5cm wide strip of Very Vanilla Cardstock too. Aren't they gorgeous? I haven't decided yet whether to make this panel into a bookmark or to add it onto a card base - I am waiting for my Ornate Tag Topper Punch to arrive (which I bought at a reduced price in last week's Weekly Deals) so I think I might use that when it arrives and turn it into a bookmark. I think it would make a beautiful gift tag too - decisions, decisions... what to do? See, I told you this stamp set was versatile, didn't I? And as usual I have more ideas whizzing around my head than time to make them all!

Hope you have enjoyed seeing my first projects made with this fabby-tastic stamp set, I am SURE that you will be seeing many more butterflies here in the next few weeks and months. I think it will become one of my "go-to" stamp sets for all sorts of occasions and it will definitely feature in a class or two I think, so watch this space!

Well, that's it for today, I'm off to make some more butterflies in different colours... Until next time, happy crafting everyone!

Lucy x

Hello Butterfly!

I love butterflies - not only are they beautiful, they also symbolise hope and change - and one of my favourite, most used ever, stamp sets from Stampin' Up! is the Papillon Potpourri set which has seven butterflies (and a pair of antennae!) in it. True to form, good old Stampin' Up! has, of course, provided us with a couple of punches to match them too... yey!

 

At the moment there is a special offer on where you can save 15% if you buy both the Papillon Pot Pourri Stamp Set and the Bitty Butterfly Punch together as a bundle before September 30th 2013...

 

 

Below is a photograph of three simple, quick and easy to make, 3x3" (7.5x7.5cm approx.) cards which I have created using one of the small butterflies in the Papillon Potpourri set and the Bitty Butterfly punch that are in the special offer. I have stamped the butterflies on the scallop circle and then once more on another piece of Whisper White cardstock. I punched the second one out, bent the dainty wings and attached it over the first image with a glue dot, so it looks like a real butterfly has landed on the card to say hello!



I have stuck to a colour pallette of the 2012-2014 In Colors of Rasperry Ripple, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green and Primrose Petals - they all go beautifully together, don't you think? It always amazes me how by just switching the colours around on the same card design layout you can produce such different looking cards! (The "hello" is from the really useful Four You stamp set...which I have used a LOT since I bought it!)

 

Tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 14th Sept. 2013), I am having a table at the Farthinghoe Village Fayre, with my good friend Jenny McCormac and we shall be offering the above card design as a "Make & Take" - so if you live locally and want to see just how quick and easy it is to make a beautiful card with a coordinating stamp set and punch, please do pop along to see us, we would love to see you. The fayre runs from 2pm to 5pm and we will be in the marquee!

 

STOP PRESS!! EXCITING NEWS:

 

 

 



I am  very excited to announce that tomorrow I am also taking part in my first ever "Blog Hop" with some of the members of the Pinkies (the team of Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrators that I'm part of). We shall be showcasing some of the gorgeous new products from the Autumn/Winter Seasonal Catalogue - so, be sure to pop back here tomorrow to take a look! I can't wait to see what everyone has made... :O)

Lucy