A Kept Life

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Fusion - Bright Butterfly

What crazy weather we're having in the Chicago area. It hardly feels like summer at all. Today.. more rain. Seems like it's been raining every day for a week. Temps vary from hot and humid to down right chilly. Where is the summer sunshine?? The only rainbow I can find is that I don't have to water the garden. Some things are popping up.. others.. it's like the seeds are dormant or perhaps.. say it aint so.. non existent? I've replanted several items as I've found some empty shells (pumpkin, zucchini and sunflower). And other items I've found relocated.. I have some melon or squash (not sure yet - they look the same) AND corn growing in front of the house with my evergreens! I wonder what the neighbors will think of that. I'm not sure if I should pull them or let them thrive where they are! Crazy chipmunks!! They're making me crazy!

A new challenge begins today at Fusion Card Challenge. It's a two week challenge and I hope you find some time to play. It's the last one for the summer - we'll be taking a little time off and be back in the fall. This one is so pretty isn't it? That beautiful blue butterfly is so striking against the background of colorful flowers. Of course this is Fusion so you don't have to work with the inspiration photo - you can use the sketch if you like. OR YES!! Mix them both together like I did! In place of the star I added a pretty die cut butterfly!

I created the background with a daisy stamp from the Serendipity Stamps Flower Pop set. I cut several masks by stamping the image on a pad of post it notes and then cut several at one time. After all the stamping and masking was done I colored up the flowers in Copic Markers. All that was left was to layer the background and embellish with gems.

I double layered the "dream" die cut to give it more pop - so it wouldn't disappear into the background. I used the same colors as the butterfly.

Need a little more inspiration? Stop by the Fusion Card Challenge blog! The design team is amazing and I know they're going to knock your socks off! I hope I see you there! And have a great summer!

Supplies: Finished Size 4.25 x 5.5"
Stamps: Serendipity Stamps Flower Pops
Dies: Serendipity Stamps Dream, Memory Box Lunette Butterfly, Oriel Butterfly
Ink: Memento, Copic Markers
Gems

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

SSCB#44 My Guy

Hi and thanks for stopping by! We're at the half way point of the monthly Serendipity Stamps Challenge. This month's theme is "My Guy". We're looking for all sorts of masculine cards for young and old - any theme, any occasion. We post a new challenge on the first Wednesday of every month and remind you to play again on the third Wednesday. There's still two weeks to go so I hope you join us. I love nature themes when making cards for the guys in my life. Our family loves to spend time outdoors and are always looking for unusual things to discover - simple pleasures.

Some examples? I've got a cardinal nest in the Rose of Sharron bush next to the porch - I never knew their eggs had speckles of red. Or some really interesting mushrooms I found growing near my raspberries. My husband works outside and always sends me photos of his finds. This week he sent a photo of a killdeer on its nest. He loved telling me how they fake an injury to draw you away from their nest.

So this one is for him! We have a great horned owl living behind us somewhere. We can hear it's who who who at night. Once we saw him in a tree in our yard. It's amazing how large they are! When Moriko was a puppy I used to joke about the owl swooping down and carrying her away. I never let her get too far at night.

I cut the die with the Stitched Duo 3 Die from Pretty Pink Posh - did you know we stock PPP at Serendipity?

I've been playing around with my photos more lately too - trying to make my backgrounds a little more interesting. It's been fun and frustrating at the same time - like most thing I don't know much about. But I'm learning as I go.