The Flight Continues

I really find it interesting knowing the story behind projects. Inspiration comes from many sources: our surroundings, personal experiences, favorite colors, images or designs, and even favorite products. These are but a few of the many things that can inspire a project. This card creation was designed to thank so many people who thoughtfully and generously reached out to our family during the loss of my mother-in-law, Jackie.

Mom’s favorite color was cobalt blue, but she just loved blue in general, so that is what I made it the main color used on this thank you note. I wanted to include some symbolism of her transition from her life here to a life in heaven. I believe this montage of butterflies does just that.

Supplies: (Stampin’ Up!®) Asstd. Blue Cardstock; Sizzlits Beautiful Wings Die; Thanks So Much verse; Finial Press Texture Embossing Plate; (Offray) Blue Satin ribbon; (Glue Arts) Extreme Adhesive Squares and Glue Glider™ Pro with high tac adhesive cartridge.

Butterflies also are a visual symbol for me of the life/death/after life transition since my uncle’s death in 2000. I would often get butterfly visits on my walks and have many other tales of this connection, too. Using a monochromatic color palette (different shades of the same color) creates a very elegant look that you can use in all your card designs. The cascading size of the butterflies adds movement and interest. This also serves to remind us that even though a loved one’s presence fades, the memories remain even though their flight continues.

I wanted to share another butterfly card created by fellow card designer, Diane Bove. She created these 3-D butterflies using a brush from my Stylish Butterflies set combined with patterned background.

Here is a preview of that set art which contains, editable eps, jpeg, png and abr (brush files).

The set contains 3 butterflies: one solid, one with transparent swirls to use over color or patterned backgrounds digitally and one butterfly with white swirls. If you use the photoshop brush file you can change the black to a color or patterned background. I will be creating some tutorials to show you how you can use digital brushes and png art in Photoshop. So check back to my blog for updates!

Let your creativity take flight with using a butterfly on your next card creation.

Get Ready for Spring with Dollar Off Sale on my Digi Designs

Everyone loves a sale. So I have marked select sets $1 off...that is 17 - 50% off their original price. Check out all of my digital designs in my shop. Here are a few fun sets for spring that are on sale right now! If you like to design with brushes, there are plenty to choose from. I am also adding new digi stamps and svg sets, so keep checking back! Don’t see what you are looking for, leave me a comment with your requests.

Spring Chicks

Something Springy

Easter Tweets

Stylish Butterflies

Ladybug Garden

“Sew” Bright Stems

Spotsy Dotsy Floral Collection

And if you are looking for ideas of projects made with these sets, 

check out my mygrafico gallery of sample albums.

Hurry, the sale runs now through March 20th!

TGIF...come on and do the Glue Arts Blog Hop!

Welcome new visitors to my lilypad! As you hop from blog to blog on the Glue Arts blog hop,  you increase your chances to win a Glue Glider™ Pro and a cartridge of your choice by leaving a comment on each one of the design team members’ blogs. Be sure to sign up as a follower of these great blogs for tips and inspiration using your favorite adhesives and craft products.

If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, click here to visit Kris Swain’s blog. From there, you can follow the links to visit each of our blogs. Get inspired by the talented ladies on the New Glue Arts Design Team and keep track of who the 4 new design team members are. You can have an added chance to win a Pro, cartridge and some Extreme Adhesive squares by emailing those 4 names to gluegirl@gluearts.com. Be sure to leave your comments by Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. All winners will be announced on Monday.

Now for a little bit of creativity using my Glue Arts adhesives... 

You may remember my Glue Arts Wall Display layout for CHA. Well, I had one of the embossed canvas squares left over and used it as inspiration for this get well card for a friend.  For most of the layers, I used my Glue Glider™ Pro with high tac adhesive. I even used that on the leafy diecut. Here’s a Tip: place a piece of scrap paper under the diecut, run glue glider with high tac adhesive cartridge over top and apply to project. Throw away scrap sheet so you don’t transfer excess adhesive to project.
Butterfly stamps are from K&Co Que Sera Sera clear stamp set. Corner rounder & oval scallop punches and leaves and floral fusion dies are all from Stampin’ Up!®. Embossed image is an embossing folder from Cuttlebug. Adhesive pearls are Recollections line from Michaels.

Be sure to sign up to follow my blog for more exciting project inspirations and crafty goodness! Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment.
Hop on over to the talented Linda Albrecht's blog,
the final stop on the Glue Arts blog hop.

A Growing Appreciation

Summer time, I love creating projects with flowers. This is a card/gift set I made before the end of the last school year for the school nurse who took such extra good care of Kylie. We were sad to see her retire. Hopefully, it is a cheerful reminder at home of the lives she touched with her nurturing.

The mini flowerpot was something I picked up at JoAnn's and added some accents of my own. And the card was made from a shared embellishment of floral punched patterned papers that my SU demonstrator friend, Ree, gave to me. I made an uneven bi-fold card and used Glue Art's adhesive squares on all of the 3-D accents on the card and flower pot. For the rest, I used my trusty companion, the Glue Glider™ Pro with perma tac adhesive.The beautiful butteflies were diecut using the Sizzlit Beautiful Wings die from Stampin’ Up!® and I also used the Floral Fusion die to create my own stacked flower which was added onto a Heidi Grace stick pin. The scallop border punch and verse used on the card are also from Stampin’ Up!. Try out using your favorite diecuts an punches with both solid and patterned papers for a bit of variety. And if you have a growing appreciation for someone in your life, I encourage you to create a simple car and gift set like this! All it takes is some ribbon, some paper, a few punches and your own creative touch!

A Butterfly Gathering

I am not quite sure what it is about butterflies that make us smile and lift our spirits. After my uncle passed away in 2000 he has decided to let his presence be felt through random (or as I believe, not so random) butterfly visits. The first occurred during our first beach visit to Wildwood, NJ where our family vacationed every summer with my aunt, uncle and our cousins. We all still were feeling the sadness and loss of this vibrant personality and kidder. We were talking in our group of women as our kids and husbands relaxed or played with the kids on the beach. We all said how "muzzy" (his knickname) was definitely missed. As his daughter-in-law was video taping the kids, they laughed at how this butterfly mistook my brightly flowered bathing suit for the real deal and landed on my butt. Was this a coincidence or just like him to show up on que? Well, my uncle in the day was quite the practical joker and this butterfly shared the same spirit landing from butt to butt. We laughed and joked that Muzzy was with us afterall...just like him to not want to miss out on the trip. Even stranger, and if you have ever been to the Jersey Shore you can appreciate this. The butterfly left our chat fest and went up to our umbrella, circled around then flew off. Mind you, there were probably over 200 umbrellas to choose from and ours was navy, white and quite sun bleached...definitely not the brightest of the bunch!

Over the months and years I would get visits from Monarch butterflies in my garden. I would silently talk to my uncle and tell him how much he was missed. Sometimes he would visit my front garden or fly by me on my walks and bring along a buddy, which I believe was my grandpop Joe, who died just two months before my uncle. He even showed his approval for the home we picked here in Florida by mysteriously appearing inside the covered lanai as Dan, the girls and I contemplated our choices. It just happened to also be near his birthday.

The most remarkable encounter was one year on Father's Day. A monarch was trapped inside our screened enclosure and was sitting awkwardly on the tile surround of our pool. I got a stick and tried to transfer it outside the enclosure. My daughter Ashley was helping me with the door. She watched in disbelief as the buttterfly flew like a parrot and landed on my shoulder, where it sat for a long time as I walked into the back yard. We took pictures of it and it lingered for the longest time. I went to move it and it sat gently on my hand until I placed it on top of a plant in our garden. You see, my uncle was even more special in my life, he was also my godfather so it made total sense that this Father’s Day would be one of our last encounters.

As my aunt, his widow, battles the horrible side effect of chemo and a seemingly losing battle with cancer, I wonder if there will be a new butterfly gathering and if it will be their special way of letting me know, “hey, you are not forgotten either!”

The horizontal folded card sample above was created with my Hip and Happy set using Glue Arts adhesives. I printed out the graphics, hand colored and layered the flowers and brads to create this hybrid sample. It is a get well card that I will be sending to my aunt today to let her know how much she is loved. She knows the specialness of butterflies as I have shared the stories of Uncle Muz’ “visits” with her. Soon it may be her time to join the butterfly dance.

It’s Still Spring, Isn’t It?

With temps expected to reach 90’s this weekend, I had to check that it is still Springtime!???

This card was created using some beautiful papers from Karen Foster Design. I love the muted tones on this, which made it extra fun to use with my new Stampin’ Up!® Sizzlits die. It is so fun to use to create mini butterflies, and since it is also an embossing die, I love the textures, too. Don’t you? I used a scrap of white card stock embossed with my mini dot cuttlebug die and used my scallop border punch in succession to create the bottom detail. I often forget to use my little clips from SU, but I paired with a ribbon on this Thank You card. To assemble this card, I used my Glue Glider Pro with high tac adhesive and some mini adhesive squares to attach the smaller items to my card. Here is close shot to show you more detail on the layered elements...

Leave me a note to let me know what you think!

Easter Pocket Garden

I promised to post on Monday a spring card using the pocket from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff Patriotic Set, however life interrupted. So, finally I get to share this card with you today! It features my digi stamp collection, ModTwist Garden. I used brushes in color to create the flowers inside the pocket, which I colorized first then printed directly onto Core’dinations cardstock. The embossed, diecut butterflies (Beautiful Wings Sizzlits) and Easter verse (A Good Egg set) are both products from Stampin’ Up!®. The patterned papers used on this are from Doodlebug Designs, Inc. and the solid CS is also from SU. I hope to post a tutorial later this week to show you how I did it. The sheer ribbon is a retired Wide Organdy from SU and the fibers are from Basic Grey. I used Glue Arts adhesives to assemble the card with small strips of their ribbon adhesive to adhere the 3-D butterflies. I used double sided foam adhesive to pop up the flowers. To purchase the digi stamps to create this card, go to www.mygrafico.com. You can order the SU products from my friend, Ree!