A big card and a butterfly

Wow, can you believe the weather today?  It was 85 degrees here in Howard County and I (shamefully) had to put my air conditioning on.  I am very heat sensitive and all the pollen flying through the house these past weeks has made me and my kids miserable.  How is it that hubby Kevin has lived in this area his whole life but never developed allergies?  Not fair I say!  While the kids were at school today and I was in air conditioning heaven, I had an opportunity to play with my stamps and the Fancy Pants paper we are featuring for Design Team this month.  My camera is busy having it's battery charged so I used my scanner to get pics of these cards.  Trust me, they look better when you see them in person as the scanner really washes the colors out.

My first card is a big one, measuring 5 x 7.  I used a "back side" of a Fancy Pants paper as my background.  I always think of the plain colored flip sides of paper as the "back sides" mainly because of their lack of pattern.  The calla lily image is from Impression Obsession.  I think I brought this stamp home a year ago but never took the time to play with it.  Calla lilies are my absolute favorite flowers (my wedding bouquet was made solely of calla lilies and greens) and finding stamps made of them is rare, so I snatch them up whenever I can.  I colored the flowers with Copic markers and added some bling, a big bow, and a Hero Arts sentiment to finish the card off.  A couple of things about this card...1) it would make a great birthday or sympathy or Easter card...2) I used the FABULOUS Imaginisce Imagicut ribbon tool to cut and seal the ends of my bow.  It cut through both the organdy and the satin like butter!  This is a must have tool for anyone that does not like the ends of their ribbon fraying.  Word of caution...do not use it on twine.  Apparently natural, tiny cotton fibers do not like having heat applied to them :)

My second card is a butterfly card based on sketch from which I was asked to create something.  I moderate an online stamping group and one of the activities we do is weekly sketch challenges where we post a sketch and then a card or ATC that we created with that sketch.  For this card I used several different patterns from Fancy Pants (loving these bright happy colors!), a little bling, an Impression Obsession butterfly stamped in Ranger Watermelon ink (a favorite color), and a little Hero Arts sentiment.  Again, I used the Imagicut to cut and seal the ends of my bow.  Following a sketch really helps in the creative process because half the work is already done for you.  There are lots of fabulous sketch sites out on the web on which to base your cards and layouts.

The sketch:

My card:

Remember to peruse the Design Team section when you are shopping in the store to see our projects in person.

I look forward to seeing you soon!
Cindy