Announcements and an Embossed Witch Flourish Card

Spooktacular Greetings Everyone!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post and my last video. Over the past few months I have been in and out of the hospital due to an unknown allergic reaction in my throat. Currently, the doctors are as mystified as I am as to why this is happening.

As the holiday and craft fair season begins, I am going through my supplies and weeding out things that I am no longer using or have never used. These items are available through my eBay store. 

Today I would like to share with you this embossed witch flourish card that I made using a stamp from Inkadinkado.

I made this card using a variety of materials that have been in my stash for...well...years. A kit for this card is available in the eBay store as well.

How-to Video:

How-to Emboss using Powder:

Thanks for stopping by. Happy crafting!

First Project of the New Year! Welcom 2015!

Happy New Year Everyone! Welcome 2015! So long 2014!

Every new year I set a goal or "resolution." This year I just want to be healthier and continue to be crafty. I hope to post at least once a week some of the different projects I've been working on.

So....here goes....

My first project for 2015 is an altered cabinet. I purchased the unfinished cabinet from my local Goodwill.

I figured it would be perfect altered with Graphic 45's French Country paper collection.

I started by taking apart the cabinet by removing all the hardware. I then painted all of the wood with black acrylic paint.

Next I measured all the sides and pieces of the cabinet. The height of the cabinet is taller than the paper in the 12x12" G45 French Country collection. So for the longer sides I used a piece of the rooster and hen border to cover the seams between paper strips.

Once I had finished cutting and laying out all of the pieces of paper I wanted to use, I distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Walnut Stain ink. I used Mod Podge for furniture to adhere the paper to the painted cabinet. Using a plastic putty knife I pressed out the extra glue and any air bubbles.

I covered the doors as well. The larger square door was easier than the smaller heart doors. I used an x-acto knife to trim out the heart openings.

Once all the paper was adhered, I let it dry for about 2 hours. After which I covered every edge with the Mod Podge to seal it. I waited another 2 hours before installing the hardware to the doors.

I really like the wired piece that came with the cabinet and tacked it back to the larger square door.

Next I adhered pieces of paper to the backside of the cabinet to enclose the shelf. I did this to both the top and bottom portion of the cabinet.

Then using a cereal box I created a back to the cabinet using black cardstock.


My next step is to create altered pieces to place in the cabinet. I'm so excited to have finished this cabinet as it has been sitting in my "To Do" bin for a few months.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my first project for the 2015 year.

#Graphic45, #G45, #French Country

Fresh Snow Owl Card

Good Morning Everyone!

It has been a cold start to the holiday season here in New England. The first snow of the season fell heavy on Wednesday into Thursday. It was beautiful. I love the look of fresh snow as it covers the browned grass. It's time to pull out sweaters and make hot cocoa.

That was my inspiration for this card.

I mixed the creaminess of hot cocoa with the white of fresh snow using Core'dinations White Wash line.I embossed the cardstock using a Tim Holtz Alteration folder called Deer Knit. I then sanded the paper to remove the white from the raised impressions.

The image and sentiment are from Teresa Collins Fisker collection Winter. I stamped the image and sentiment with Hot Cocoa Memento ink. I then used two different sized snowflake buttons to embellish the card.

I have a kit to recreate this card for sale through eBay by clicking the link above.

Thank you for stopping by. Stay warm and enjoy the snow.

A Little Halloween Spirit with Stampin' Up and Mojo Monday

My favorite season is coming! I love the cool crisp air of fall. The trees are changing colors and painting the forests and skies. This will be the second season that my dear boyfriend and I will be able to go apple picking together. I have two favorite places; Carter Hill Orchard and Gould Orchards. Apple orchard are a great place to visit for a whole day. It's even better when they make their own apple cider donuts or have pumpkins for carving.

Do you have a favorite orchard that you and your family visit every year??

To celebrate the coming season, I decided to create a card that showcased the wonders of the fall season and my favorite holiday...Halloween. This is the sketch I used as inspiration.

 I used my Copic markers to color this image from Stampin' Up's Halloween Smiles Set (now retired). To color the image

 I used the following color combinations:
Pumpkins-YR31, YR68, YR15
Crows, Tire and Wheel-barrow -C7, C5, C3
Leaves and Grass-G99, YG95
Stems and Ground- E37
Wheel-barrow handles- E31, E33













I then used my Inkssentials Opaque Pen in white to accent the images to highlight. 

 Each Layer to the card is inked with Walnut Stain from Ranger by Tim Holtz

The lace is also distressed with the stain.

Using two buttons in different shades of orange I accented the pendent with twine.

I have put a kit with materials to create this card on eBay. You can find my eBay store by clicking the navigation tab above. Thank you so much for stopping  by and happy crafting.

Proud to Announce...Our First Digital Stamp!

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I am very proud to announce that Blu Butterfly Creations has teamed up with Graphic Artist Adam Bagni to bring you digital stamps. Our first digital stamp is a sentiment for the upcoming Halloween Season. This image is available in The Butterfly Garden (Navigation Tab above).

Below is an example of a card using this digital image. The image is printed at 2.5x5.75" and colored using Copic Markers. I used Spica pens to accent the image. The image was then adhered to a black cardstock mat with a piece of striped paper from DCWV. The orange pattern cardstock is from American Loft. Both the orange pattern paper and image are distressed with Black Soot by Tim Holtz.

We have more digital stamps on the way. I hope you enjoyed stopping by.

Toni
Blu Butterfly

Day 2 of Winter Holiday Fun

Good Morning Everyone!

Here is the second creation in my Holiday Fun blog event.

This creations is using a stamp from Stamping Bella and paper from Core'dinations and DCWV. This is an A2 card measuring 4"x5.5".

Instructions-

• Cut a piece of Core'dinations White Wash Grandpa's truck cardstock to 4x5.5" and 2.75"x2.75"
• Cut piece of pattern paper to 3.75"x5.25". (My pattern paper is from DCWV 2011 Holiday Stack.)
• Cut a piece of smooth white cardstock to 2.5"x2.5"
• Using Tuxedo Black ink from Memento ink and stamp image on white cardstock
• Color image using Copic Markers
• Use Fiskers Heritage punch to cut the corners of the image cardstock and coordinating sized Core'dinations
• Ink edges of image with Tea Dyed Distress Ink by Tim Holtz
• Adhere image to cardstock and pattern paper to card stock
• Adhere image to pattern paper
• attach ribbon and bow
• Adhere card front to base measuring 8"x5.5" folded in half
• Write "Wishing you many 'Cups of Good Cheer' this season" on the inside of card. (Lyric from "We Wish You a Merry Christmas")

Today's challenge

Use a holiday song lyric in your project. When posting your project please state the song title. Please link through the comments section.

13 Days of Halloween-Day 2

Good Morning World!

It's warm and sunny here in New Hampshire. I love warm Autumn days. Today I have a vintage looking Autumn card that is super simple to create.

I used paper from the 2011 Fall/Halloween stack by DCWV and some Core'dinations Vintage cardstock to create the card. The image is stamped using Memento Rich Cocoa ink and distressed around the edges using Tea Dye ink by Ranger. The image is called "Colonial Fall" and is made by Impression Obsession.

I love how this card turned out. It's warm tones reminds me of Autumn joys from my childhood.

There are two card kits and a set of six (6) finished cards available for purchase in my eBay store. Just click the tab above.

Video:

Challenge: Today's challenge is to create a project that uses the vintage feel. It can be a card, scrapbook page or a piece of altered art. To enter your creation, just post your blog address where I can find the creation in the comments below by November 1st.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sassy Studio Designs Challege for September 13th 2012

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I'm very excited to submit my first entry in the Sassy Studio Designs Challenges. This week was a sketch challenge.

Here is a picture of the sketch:

Here is my take on the sketch:

I decided to use the SSD Steampunk Vivian image. I used paper from Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante, Core'dinations Vintage Collection, Copic Markers and Dew Drops. The card measures 5.25 square and is distressed with Tim Holtz Tea Dyed ink.

I hope you like it. Please leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by!

G45 Botanicabella Altered Notebook

I absolutely adore Graphic 45 paper! I recently found a few sheets from the Botanicabella Collection in my paper stash. I decided to create an altered notebook with the pages that I had.

Here is a picture of the completed notebook cover.

Supplies used in this project:

• (2)-12x12 sheets of Graphic 45's Botanicabella Collection Botanicabella #4500045
• (1)-12x12 sheet of Graphic 45's Botanicabella Collection Ode to a Butterfly #4500053
• Golden yellow cardstock 
• (1) 8.5x11" shimmery white cardstock
• Composition Notebook
• Adhesive for book making and paper ( I used Glue Arts High Tac and Perma Tac)
• 1/8" pop dots
• sharp scissors
• Wild Honey Tim Holtz Distress Ink
• Ink distressing tool
• Red gems in 2 sizes
• scotch tape
• metallic thread
• Heritage Corner punch from Fiskers
• Zots for Bling
• craft knife
• bone folder
• ruler
• other embellishments

 Directions-

-Using High Tac or other book making adhesive (Mod Podge for example), outline the edges of the cover of the Composition notebook. NOTE: Do not cover the black spine with adhesive.

-Center one (1) sheet of the Botanicabella 12x12 paper over the adhesive so that the edge abuts the black spine so that the red with gold design is facing up.


-Smooth paper down on the top of the notebook

-Trim the over hang along the width of the notebook leaving about 1" on paper past the edge of the cover.

-Take the bone folder and placing the notebook on it's cover run the bone folder around the edge of the cover. This creates a crease line-making the next step so much easier. 

-Fold the paper over the edge of the cover on one of the short sides and the long side. Place the ruler on an angle that connects the inner and outer corner of the folded paper. Using the craft knife cut along the edge of the ruler. Be careful not to cut through the cover. Remove extra paper and adhere the flaps to the cover. Repeat process on the other corner.

-Repeat this entire process for the back cover using the second piece of Botanicabella.

-Cut two pieces of golden yellow cardstock to fit within the cover of the notebook (if using a smaller or larger notebook than the standard composition notebook, cut the cardstock so that it rests 1/8" in from the long and short sides of the cover.) These inside pieces measure 9.5x6.75"

-Using the Wild Honey distress ink ink the golden yellow cardstock around the edges and adhere to the inside of the back cover.

-Create a pocket on the liner for the cover by placing the back side of Ode to a Butterfly on an angle across the liner. Using the corner covering process from above to adhere the pocket to the liner. Using scraps from the Botanicabella cardstock cut a strip of butterflies and adhere as a pocket edge and wrap around the back of the liner.

-Adhere liner to the inside of the front cover.

-Cut a piece of the the white shimmery cardstock to 3.5x5" Using the Heritage punch, cut all four corners of the cardstock

-Distress with Wild Honey ink and apply title (I used a "Dream" rub-on)

-Thread clock face embellishment (or embellishment of choice) on to the metallic thread. Using the cheater method attach the thread to the title block.

-From the paper scraps of the Botanicabella paper cut out seven butterflies. Create dementional butterflies by using pop dots to layer two of the butterflies together. Adhere two of the butterflies to the front cover around the title.

-Attach one to the center of the pocket liner on the inside cover. Attach the last butterfly (flat) to the top right corner of the cover liner.

Attach the red gems to the bottom of the front cover as pictured.

A Steampunk Morning

Good Morning!

It's finally Friday here in New Hampshire. I woke up this morning wanting to watch Return to Oz. If you  haven't seen this movie you should. It's a great 'what-if' movie. Anyway...

Last night was a great night at the Steamy Swan Society's first movie night event. We screened League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The event was a hit! We had about twenty-five plus people and plenty of goodies including popcorn (a movie staple), warm brownies, cookies, soda, and mini pies. As a group, we look forward to having more events like this in the future. We are currently working on a Masquerade Ball, Victorian Tea, and a Murder Mystery Theater.

I'm so happy to find people in my area that are into the culture/genre that is Steampunk. So this post has some of my recent projects that incorporate aspects of the Steampunk world.

Steampunk is basically a what-if scenario. What if technology didn't progress the way it did? What-if everything was still powered by steam? This genre takes on properties of popular fiction during the mid 1800's through about 1910's. Julies Vern for example.

3D Mandala using Assorted papers and Embellishments

A paper pin for the Mystery Murder Event

A card for a time traveler (i.e. Birthday)

Love Graphic 45 paper

  Thanks for stopping by and reading. Have a great day!

Technique #1- 3 Tier Stamping

3 tier stamping is a fun and easy way to create a layered card or background for a scrapbook page. This technique uses three layers of paper that gradually shrink in size. When stamped this layering creates a cascading effect with the stamped image. When practicing this technique, it is easier to use a stamp that has a flourish image.

You can find a printable version of these directions here.

Materials-
-(1) 8 1/2x11" piece of white cardstock
-(1) 8 1/2x11" piece of colored cardstock
-(1) stamp with a flourish
-(1) card base of 8x5 1/2" folded in half
-ink in your choice of color (chose an ink that won't run when using the distressing ink like Memento)

-distressing ink a coordinating color to the ink used to stamp the flourish-this should be lighter than the stamping ink
-distress ink applicator
-ashesieve
-1/8' pop dots
-fibers or ribbon for embellishment

Directions-
-Cut the colored cardstock into three pieces measuring (1) 3 3/4x5 1/4, (2) 2 3/4x4 1/4, and (3) 1 3/4x 3 1/4"
-Cut the white cardstock into three pieces measuring (1) 4x5 1/2", (2) 3x4 1/2", and (3) 2x3 1/2"
-Using a small piece of adhesive, layer the three white pieces of cardstock so that the smallest piece is on top (You may have to dull the hold of the adhesive by pressing and lifting your finger off of it)
-Ink up the stamp using selected color
-Stamp randomly across the three layers of white cardstock making sure the flourish overlaps the layers of paper.
-Continue inking and stamping (for this size card about 3-4 times)
- Peel the three layers apart and apply distress ink using applicator tool.
-Adhere the stamped pieces to their coordinating sized background paper.

IMPORTANT- Check your stamped images to make sure they are going the right way and mimic the stamp image across the layers.


-Adhere the top and middle layer together by centering the top layer over the middle.
-Wrap ribbon or fibers to embellish around the top and middle layer.
-Use pop dots to adhere top two layers to bottom layer.
-Adhere bottom layer to card base and enjoy. 

Steampunk Altered Art Shadow Coffin

Good Afternoon Everyone!

It's sunny and hot here in New Hampshire USA. Laundry is drying in the sun and I have finished another Steampunk themed project. I bought the coffin at Michael's and the paper from Stamping Memories in Belmont NH.

This item is available on ebay

Front of the outside-

 Inside the coffin-

The pattern paper is from the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante collection. I used some of Tim Holtz's Wild Honey distress ink around the edges of the paper.

I used denominational foam under the flowers in the left side of the coffin and the corset on the right side.

The charms are jewelry pieces in my collection of embellishments. The loop opens to add more charms or to change the assortment. I spray painted the gears using Krylon paints.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.