Stampin! with Jaydee

Hi Everyone.  Happy Thursday.

I managed to play along with the fabulous team across at Just Us Girls this week and they have a soft and feminine color challenge:

At first I thought - for sure this was going to be a floral card, but there was something inside that said... nah.... take it in a different direction.  Which is a fine thought.  BUT... what direction?!  For some reason I thought butterfly.  However, my final card was nothing like I had originally imagined.  

I went with a grungy butterfly theme - I thought that would be a good contrast with the soft feminine colors, however, I needed to still keep it soft to fit with the colors.

Finding a place for a sentiment was the hardest part and then I realized I had the perfect Fiskars stamp that read "Live in the Moment" and, instead of being a straight sentiment, it comes in a swirl - perfect to give a feeling of movement on the card.

Here's a closeup look at the sentiment - and the colors:

In the closeup you can see the pink, peach and lemon colors of the challenge - as well as the addition of a neutral for the sentiment.  A soft brown.

My butterfly is a plain white die-cut using a SSS die.   I used the Tim Holtz Grunge stamp over the top of the butterfly - and I love the distressed feel of it - it seemed to work well with the grunge background.  I stamped the pattern twice and my butterfly was ready.   I mounted the middle part of the butterfly onto the card base with glue.  When it was dry, I added a couple of foam squares under the part of the wings closest to the body to give it a little lift.

Here's my full card:

I was tempted to add some enamel dots... but thought it would detract from the butterfly, so I kept it very clean and simple.   The card might not have been what I was originally thinking, but I was very pleased with it in the end :-)

On a personal note:

As I type up my blog post, I am looking out over the wetland and I can see green grass coming up al over the place.  No leaves on the trees yet, but a wonderful carpet of green is starting to appear.  We have had plenty of rain now all we need is a little warmth and sunshine and we should start to see things sprouting really quickly.

We do have a new bird in the wetland.  We hear him, but we certainly don't see him.   He is incredibly camouflaged in the grasses - but his call and mating sounds are pretty distinct.   I don't have a photo to share with you - but I can link to him on all about birds for you.   You can click here to see photos of him and also check out his sound.  To hear the mating sounds he makes - you will need to listen a little way through the call sounds.  It's an incredible sound - especially after dusk as it echoes over the wetland.

Sadly, we have not seen our pheasants this week.  So, they seem to have wandered off to find their nesting spot.  It's gotten pretty wet in the area where they were and we think that might have put them off a little.

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

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Background stamps:  Tim Holtz Grunge
• Die:  Butterfly:  Simon Says Stamp - Paulina
• Inks:  Altenew - Four Scoops
• Sentiment stamp:  Fiskars - Sincere Salutations