Saturday, April 30, 2011

Butterflies, Blossoms, a Bow and a Button

Humm, how do you like that title?  I should be able to play in a lot of challenges with all that going on, right?  Oh, and I could probably have thrown in babies too.  I actually did make this card to play in several challenges.  It's my DT card for Our Creative Corner today, plus The Shabby Tea Room has a butterfly inspiration photo challenge and CCEE Stampers are asking us to add a butterfly this week.  So butterflies it was.  Our hostess this week at the OCC is Jen Rzasa from Our Change of Art and she wants to see embroidery floss on our projects this week.  Not only does she want to see it, she wants it to be used in a fun new way.  Well, I guess I didn't nail this challenge because I couldn't think of any fun new way so I embroidered with it.  You can't see it too well, but I pierced a flourish into the card and then sewed through it with the embroidery floss to simulate the path of the butterflies.  

I had some more fun with PhotoShop Elements with this card.  The designer paper is digital and I wanted a washed out look so I faded it out.  Then I took the bird nest vintage image and removed the background, layered it over the DP and then reduced the opacity to fade it.  I really love the look of the new improved DP I created!  Then on to the image.  It was pretty bright.  The bright pink and blue grated on me so I changed it over to a sepia tone again in PSE.  Then I colorized it just a tad with my Copics.  What an amazing improvement for that image!  I felt kind of bad piercing holes in that pretty image.  I made some itty bitty flowers this time out of crinoline and topped them off with a tiny white prima bud.  I used two stamps - the butterflies are from the Papllion set by Tim Holtz and the Thanks a Bunch is from Crafty Secrets Sweet Kids set.  I used a small Sizzix die for the leaves, which I cut twice - once in matching CS (Bravo Burgundy and a page from an old book) and layered them together but offset them just a bit for effect.  This seam binding was scrunched  around in a puddle of water and one tiny drop of Creamy Caramel ink.  The crinoline was tea stained.  The butterflies were also tea stained.  All of these embellishments are available in my Etsy shop.  

I think that's about it for the details on this one.  Thanks so much for stopping over this morning.  Please do stop by Our Creative Corner to see more creative uses of embroidery floss.










Challenges Entered:
The Shabby Tea Room - Photo Inspiration
Crafts and Me - Vintage
Flutterby Wednesdays - 3 flowers, 2 papers and a button
CCEE Stampers - Add a butterfly
If the Shoe Fits - Things with Wings
Just Add Ink - Just Add a Flower
Stamp Something - Something With Wings
Totally Gorjuss - 1-2-3 (1 button, 2 butterflies and 3 flowers)
One Stop Craft Challenge - Stitching

29 comments:

Judi said...

BEAUTIFUL work, as always! Love everything about it.

Hugs

Judi x

Lourdes said...

Wonderful work!....It's so elegant!

Greetings from Spain

Lourdes

Esther said...

Wow, what a beautiful card! I love all the cream embellishments!

Hege-Annie Simonsen said...

Wow, I love this! You have such fabulous lace details on your cards!! Where do you get those from?? Just wondering. LOL

Happy weekend!
Hugs, Hege

Lori Rider said...

So beautiful, Linda - I love your stitched flourish and all the gorgeous details! You are so creative with your digital elements too - I could use your help with PSE! :) Wonderful job on the challenge.

LeAnne said...

This is just the prettiest thing, I want to cry. Cry because it's so sweet, creative and just because I know I can't even come close to making something like it! I just want to sit and stare at it all day. The papers & image are adorable. TFS.

Beverly G said...

Love the colors you used,I can see the butterfly flight, very clever. You always make everything mesh so well together. Yep, I had fun pulling out the floss.

Pastila said...

Very beautiful work!!!

HappyCrafter said...

So beautiful, it makes me feel like digging out my sewing machine and searching up some vintage images of my own :-) I hope you are having a great weekend!

Netty said...

You will never believe this but I thought I read Butterflies and Bosums.....must be getting a bit dyslexic........lol
Its a fabulous card Linda and I love the stitched flourish. Enjoy the weekend, Annette x

Jennifer Rzasa said...

I always love looking at the details in your cards! You beautifully pull off a style I know I couldn't even attempt. I hope you had fun with my challenge!

Jennifer M. said...

Just gorgeous! Look at all those embellishments you added in the corner. This is a wonderful card. Very pretty. :-)

Scrumplescrunch said...

I really don't know where to start in commenting on this card Linda, what a contrast to the CAS card you made. This to me is your genre, you have the talent to add the layers and embellishments perfectly to make a card a work of art which this is, it is just wonderful, I love the sentiment, the image you created and of course the stitching which I love on cards anyway.
If you have any time could you post up how you PS the BG and the image.
Smiles:)

Sarah Gough said...

lovely Linda, those stitched swirls are great!

Anonymous said...

I can only echo the previous comments - this card is simply stunning! I am already a huge fan of your creative talent but, as a bit of a Luddite, I am also in awe of your ability to use technology to enhance your natural skill. (Must add cream lace butterflies to my next order!). x

MD said...

Magique, Belle, Superbe
que des bravos
md

Danni said...

This is so beautiful! Wow!! thank you for playing along with my flutter by challenge!

Net said...

Oh wow that's gorjuss Linda! All that photoshop stuff is very clever!

Thanks for playing Gorjuss with us.

Vicki Burdick said...

So loving that sweet image you used!!! I simply adore your style and could just look at your cards all day!!! Perfect details always!!

Sheri said...

This is STUNNING!

Thanks for joining us this week at The Shabby Tea Room ;-)

Lori said...

Wow, truly gorgeous, Linda, just love the background you created!

SYLVIA-ANNE said...

Amazingly beautiful - LOVE it!
Sylvia x

jjcreations said...

WOW - I love the alliteration of the title - and your embroidery is perfect for the challenge. Love the embellishments too.

Conniecrafter said...

very sweet image and love the butterflies and the flowers!

Anna said...

Stunning card! Wonderful textures! Thanks for joining us at Flutter By Wednesday!

Unknown said...

Stunning design thanks for sharing the inspiration with us at OSCC.

Kerry

Anonymous said...

Wow so much gorgeous things to look at! love it! Thanks for playing along with us at JAI this week

lesleyworth said...

Absolutely beautiful! I love all of the elements and the color treatment you used creates a lovely warm card! thanks for playing along with us at the Shoe!

Sylvia/LittleTreasures said...

Beautiful layers.

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