Gold, Pearls and Butterflies

This wedding card design has been percolating in my mind for a while now. When all your friends are getting married, you end up trying to come up with a lot of new ideas for wedding cards. I decided to do something different from my usual bride and groom outfits. I'm mailing this card to my friend in the States which meant that I could not make it too heavy or put too many pop-up embellishments on it.

I was determined to use one of my butterfly punches and am very pleased with how it turned out. I went for a gold and white colour palette this time and finally put my floral stamps to good use. (I bought them last year at the Great Glebe Garage Sale and haven't really touched them since.) By the way, those pearls are actually strategically placed. The golden butterfly was made by inking a butterfly punch out, but when you're working with ink, it can get everywhere. Those pearls were a last minute add on to cover up my fingerprints. They turned out so well, I bet that you couldn't even tell ;).

I wanted a punch out, step-back so the inside wouldn't look too empty. 

Of course, I must add my signature stamp!

As a side project, I ended up making an elegant note card with the trimmed card stock and the left over ink on my stamps before I cleaned them off.

Bonus!

Now all I need to do is send it off!

Linky Parties this post is part of: Friday Finds Linky Party

Butterfly Notes (Lil' Notes II)

These number as one of my more extravagant crafting purchases and if you know how much punches usually cost, you will understand why I say that.

The guilt was taken away by an Amazon gift card and free shipping though!

I have discovered a love of punches but their price is the only thing that keeps me from purchasing tons of them. Honestly, that is probably a good thing as I do not craft enough to justify to myself buying so much stuff.

I see butterfly punches used in many, many Pinterest projects. When the punches arrived in the mail, I immediately put them to work punching through my stack of paint chips.

I really enjoy the ombre look.

Some punches are elaborate but although they look beautiful, they are less versatile compared to simpler designs. However, I really couldn't pass up this monarch butterfly punch. They look so good when punched out with rich colours.

There's a butterfly mobile that I've seen on Pinterest and Etsy that I want to try one day. We shall see when I finally have the time...

Heart Punch Notes (Lil' Notes I)

I have decided to start a multi-post feature called Lil' Notes. I really like decorating note cards because they are fast projects and a simple design tends to work out best. I made these two a while back when I was playing with the small heart punch that I found. Remember these cards?

I usually use these cards to add a cheery message to my aunt's lunch when I am delivering it to her at work (we work at the same hospital).

More to come!

{Update 16/02/15 - I added him to the Gluesticks blog's Friday Finds Linky Party. Check it out. There's a lot of neat stuff there.}