Anna Hands: Butterfly Wishes

Inspiration can be a tricky thing, sometimes it is elusive and sometimes it surprises us with its presence and almost smacks us in the face. One of the best ways to nudge inspiration a little is to look at and learn from the work of others, a little like the artists of old who studied the work of the Masters. We are very fortunate that the ones who inspire us are so accessible in the Stampin' world.

Last evening I was watching Brandy Cox on Youtube, creating an amazing butterfly card and it struck me as I watched, that her card bore a resemblance to a quilt I had created a few years ago.( I provide the link at the bottom of the post) An idea for a card grew. I got pretty excited about butterflies at that stage and couldn't wait to get started in the Studio in the morning.

I incorporated some of my favourite things in this design, butterflies and rainbows. It was a real labour of love because it took lots of visits to fabric stores with swatches of fabric and a drawing of how I wanted my quilt to look. I am so happy with how it turned out and I love it.

As inspired as I was this morning, sometimes the vision does not immediately translate well to the creation on the desk. One thing that I learned from Brandy's video is not to be afraid of showing the process and progression of a design. In that spirit, I will show the first attempt where I felt that the proportions were all wrong.

The idea was there but...

Attempt two was what I was aiming for. The card is smaller and tighter and I think to proportions are better. It's not very often that I make a square card but I think it works.

The colours that I used on the Whisper White cardstock base were, in both cardstock and Classic Stampin' Pads were;

Pacific Point

Balmy Blue

Gorgeous Grape

Highland Heather

Real Red

Calypso Coral

Bumble Bee

Daffodil Delight

So Saffron

Old Olive

Bermuda Bay

Just Jade

and Rococo Rose. I used the Old World Paper embossing folder on a piece of Whisper White to simulate the stitching on quilt. The coloured cardstock was cut using the smallest square from the Stitched Shapes Die.

I used the Butterfly Wishes Stamp set and Butterfly Duet Punch as well as the sentiment from the Forever Fern Stamp set.

Card two

Once the card was completed, I realised I had lots of large butterflies left, over so I decided to CASE Brandy's card, but give it a slightly different spin. I used Whisper White and Gorgeous Grape Cardstock, Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather and Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin' Pads. I also added a rhinestone to each of the butterflies and again I used the Butterfly Wishes Stamp set and Butterfly Duet Punch as well as the sentiment from the Forever Fern Stamp set.