Stampin! with Jaydee

 

 

As this week is the start of a new month, we have a brand new guest designer joining us this month - the very talented Linda - all the way from down under!  As a Brit, I promise not to say anything to Linda about the fact that the English are currently ahead in the Ashes :-)

 

Last weekend I spent the day at the Minneapolis scrapbook expo and found some awesome stickers that you can use with DSP, watercolor papers, cardstock, etc. We used them in a class and I fell in love with them and, of course, had to go and buy a few.   The butterflies really appealed to me and I knew I wanted to use on for tonight's card.

 

I stuck the vinyl butterfly onto watercolor cardstock and used my Zig Clean Brush watercolor pens to color it.   I love these pens because of their brush tip.  I have some Aqua Spectrum markers, but much prefer these pens.  The brush tip makes a huge difference.  Once I had colored the butterfly it was so easy to fussy-cut around it - even the antennae - and the watercolor cardstock means that the butterfly has a fair amount of "weight" and can easily stand on the card.   

 

I added a couple of banners cut from some new papers contained in my Simon Says Stamp August card kit, adhered all of the elements to a Blackberry Bliss card base and finish the card off with a couple of gold enamel dots.

 

Here's my card:

 

 

Clean and simple - but the butterfly adds a lovely pop of color and texture and no sentiment is required because of the "hello" on the banner.

 

On a personal note:

 

Well, this has been a very long week.  It was the last week in the transition to my new job and I am trying to get up to speed with all the new products, new people, new processes, etc.  I'd been in my old job for a few years and, as the team lead, knew everyone, all the processes, the products, who did what, etc.... so this week has felt like I moved from being the Head Girl in my old school to a new school in a new state and not knowing even where the bathrooms are :-)  By mid-afternoon today I had already done 70+ hours and managed to log off and go make a card for tonight's challenge.  

 

It felt really good to just switch off and listen to some streaming classical music and play with ink, paper and glue :-)  I plan to do that most of Sunday, too :-)

 

I thought I'd share a couple of photos of what is happening in the garden.  Let's begin with this shot.... why says size doesn't matter!   In the case of birds at a feeder, it certainly does. :-)

 

 

The 4 Orioles waited patiently whilst the red-bellied woodpecker had his fill.

 

Who says it isn't hard to photograph woodpeckers?   Man, these things move so fast, it's impossible to get a decent shot.   In fact, if you take a look at this photograph, this bird was moving so fast all you can see is the ghostly outline of the Pileated

 

 

Let's take a look at the one I shot a few seconds later:

 

 

They never cease to amaze me!   When I took this photo there were three of them - Mom, Dad and "baby" who was crying to be fed.  In fact, it's "baby" that appears in the "ghost" photo.  This is the second year we have seen a Pileated pair bring up a baby.   We've also seen many more Oriole babies than any other year.

 

I'll be back tomorrow with my Paper Players card.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

 

Hugs

Jaydee

 

Card recipe:

 

• Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Blackberry Bliss
• Inks:  Zig Clean Brush Watercolor
• DSP:  Simon Says Stamp August card kit