Stained glass butterflies -- Butterfly thinlit dies

Yep! I just can't stop playing with the butterfly thinlets -- which, incidentally, are on sale for 15% off through April 30th!  AND if you purchase one of the bundles including the Butterfly Basics stamp set as well as framelits, you can choose one of three Sale-a-bration items for FREE -- the Irresistably Yours specialty DSP, the Best Year Ever DSP, or a ribbon/button pack.

This is a card we will be making at my next techniques stampers club.  I am in love with this stained glass technique, and just wanted to try another twist to this idea.  In a previous post, I showed how to emboss an image on vellum and color the opposite side with markers to create an amazing stained glass look.  On this card, I have die cut the medium butterfly out of black card stock, carefully glued it to a scrap of vellum, and then colored the back side using just a sponge dauber and inks.  Start with your lightest color of ink first, and add as much color to the vellum as possible.  Then get your darker color and add that to the outside edges of the wings, taking care not to get too much on the lighter color or your butterfly won't have that two tone look.

Another new treasure I used on these cards, was the striped scalloped thinnest die.  I've had this die on my wish list for a long time, and just recently got around to purchasing it.  I wanted the butterflies to 'pop' on this card, so I did a tone on tone look -- using Very Vanilla for the card base as well as my scalloped overlay.  Soft and elegant.

For the first card here, I used Tempting Turquoise and Rich Razzleberry inks on the butterfly, and on the second one -- Crushed Curry and Tangelo Twist inks.  My idea was a version of a monark butterfly with the latter.  Of course, I'm not striving for realism here -- just beauty! :)

Stained Glass Easter -- "Indescribable Gift" stamp set

Happy Monday, Everyone!

I have been playing around with the stained glass technique lately, and wanted to share this card we will be making at my next club.  Note: this card was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest, by Teneale Williams -- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/497507090062226749/.  I loved the springy look of it, and the white embossing gives such a soft look.  I did my own twist on it, but the inspiration came from there.

This technique is really pretty simple: choose a stamp image that you can color in, stamp your image in Versamark ink on vellum card stock and emboss with your choice of embossing powder color.  Here, in the first card, I used white embossing powder, because I wanted a soft look, and in the second one, I used black embossing powder for a bolder, more modern look.  Once you have embossed the image, color the images in on the back side of your vellum using the Blendabilities markers.  They dry more quickly on the vellum than some other mediums.  You won't get a blended look necessarily, and that is ok -- I think the contrast adds to the final result.  What do you think????  The vellum front panel is adhered to a Whisper White card stock panel that is the same size, using glue dots in the corners, and then placing rhinestones over top to conceal the glue dots that want to show through the vellum.

Other products used on the first card: Calypso coral card base, whisper white card stock, Early Espresso card stock, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, and Calypso Coral Blendabilities markers, Calypso Coral chevron ribbon, and Basic rhinestones.

 This card, features the Blended Bloom stamp set and the little Valentines paper stack from the Occasions catalog.  I wanted to create a more modern, chick look with this one.

During the month of March, four NEW Sale-a-bration freebies have been added! -- a cute vellum paper stack, two stamp sets, and a set of In Color twine and button pack.  I'm excited about all of them.  Really great new options!  check them out by clicking the link below to my website.