New at SU! - A Sketch Challenge

Hello and welcome to my blog. Today, I am participating in the New at SU! blog hop. We are a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world who are full of creative papercrafting ideas to share with you to get you crafting. We are using the sketches on page 22 of the current Stampin' Up! catalogue to inspire us this month.

Quite by chance, the sketch I chose to use to kick start my creativity is also one of the featured sketches in Stampin' Up!'s creative challenge for June. This is one of their interpretations of the sketch.

Whenever I am lucky enough to visit a butterfly house I always hope that I will be able to see one of the stunning Blue Morph butterflies - they are huge and their wings are the most beautiful shade of blue. There is such a gorgeous iridescence to them. So, with that in mind, I used the Sketched Butterflies bundle for my card. Together with  some circles cut with the Stylish Shapes dies.

I began with a top folding Thick Basic White card base. For the central pannel shown in the sketch I added a layer, embossed with one of the Fun Patterns folders, with a slightly wider layer of Boho Blue card. The Fun Patterns folders, which come as a pair, are part of the Online Exclusive offering and their narrow width is perfect for this layout.

The largest butterfly is stamped in Basic Gray and coloured with Blends - I used both Balmy Blue and Boho Blue - together with a liberal coating of Wink of Stella to create the sheen!

The other butterflies are also treated to a coating of Wink of Stella before curling the wings between my thumb and bone folder and mounting them on my card. I decided to adapt the sketch slightly by mounting the smaller stamped butterfly on a dimensional, but without another die cut circle. The shape of the layout is still the same! Finally, I added a trio of Iridescent Faceted Gems.

I hope that you have been inspired by my card and the sketch today. Continuing along the hop to the others you will find more inspiration and project ideas - you are currently with me, Furry Cat Designs by Karen Henderson - but before you hop on to the next post, please take a moment to leave a comment. We love reading your comments!

Blog Hop Index

Do you need any of the products  used on today's card? If you live in the UK please take a look in my online Stampin' Up! shop. You can follow the link or click on the pictures below of the products I have used today.

Stay safe and as always, happy crafting,

If you would like to order any supplies, and you live in the UK, I would love to be your demonstrator. Use the current hostess code (June 2024 code: S7DXQ73E) to get some free product (it will follow in the post after the end of the month). If your order is over £150 do not use the code as you become the hostess and get the rewards. To place an order please visit my online shop HERE. 

If you would like to join my team, you can choose your starter kit HERE and if you have any questions, please contact me at furrycatdesigns@gmail.com

Click on the images of the products I have used today to purchase them in my online shop:

Rembember to use the current hostess code.

June 2024 code: S7DXQ73E

A Colour Challenge for the Ink & Inspiration Blog Hop featuring Simply Zinnia - May 2024

Hello and welcome to my blog. Today I am delighted to be taking part in the Ink and Inspiration blog hop for May 2024.

This month we have a bright colour palette together with gorgeous floral image to inspire us. I knew instantly that I was going to use the Simply Zinnia bundle, from our Online Exclusives range, although I was a little out of my comfort zone with the bright colours!

I began by stamping multiples of the single flower images onto some Thick Basic White card using Black Memento ink and then had lots of fun colouring them in with my Blends. I pulled out the complete array of Blends together with Melon Mambo and Garden Green watercolor pencils.

The centres of the flowers are coloured using both the light and dark shades of Peach Pie. The petals themselves are built up using at least three layers of colour from a light shade through to a darker shade, sometimes adding a little Melon Mambo pencil for added dimension. The leaves are coloured with both light and dark shades of Granny Apple Green Blend and then I added definition using the Garden Green pencil.

As I used the bright colours they grew on me - it's a really rich, vibrant colour palette. Just like real life Zinnias! I selected a trio of flowers and leaves and mounted them on two layers of card, the uppermost one being embossed using the Zinnia folder. These layers are framed on the base card, leaing a chunky, wide border.

The sentiment is white heat embossed on a narrow strip with flagged ends and there's a hint of sparkle from the adhesive sequins and a the wink of stella added to the flower centres. These Zinnia cards have a real zing!

Not content with the two different versions of the same card, I wanted to try out the colour palette using the decorative die cut flowers. 

Not only do the dies cut the petal edges, but they also score and cut textural details. So although the cards come together very simply they a lot of texture and dimension. Using the colour inspiration as a guide, I added layers of petals to build up the flowers varying the shades to add depth. To add a darker yellowy orange tone to the flowers I coloured some of the Peach Pie card with a Peach Pie Blend and it worked a treat. Two shades of Peach Pie card! Again, the sentiment is white heat embossed. The happy birthday from the Best Family Ever set fits perfectly on the long, thin banner from the Stylish Shapes set.

I hope that you are inspired by my cards today and that you will continue along the hop to see what the others have created too - click on the names below to enjoy their  projects. We would love to hear from you and so if you have been inspired, please leave a comment.

Blog Hop Index

Do you need any of the products  used on today's cards? If you live in the UK please take a look in my online Stampin' Up! shop. You can follow the link or click on the pictures below of the products I have used today.

Stay safe and as always, happy crafting,

If you would like to order any supplies, and you live in the UK, I would love to be your demonstrator. Use the current hostess code (May 2024 code: MQ2V6VWV) to get some free product (it will follow in the post after the end of the month). If your order is over £150 do not use the code as you become the hostess and get the rewards. To place an order please visit my online shop HERE. 

If you would like to join my team, you can choose your starter kit HERE and if you have any questions, please contact me at furrycatdesigns@gmail.com

Click on the images of the products I have used today to purchase them in my online shop:

Rembember to use the current hostess code.

May 2024 code: MQ2V6VWV