Thinking Spring to chase away the Winter Chills

Happy Friday everyone,
Well, it is cold and snowing here in Northglenn, Colorado and I am chilled to the bone. So I decided today I would share something that is definitely Spring themed to try and chase away the Winter blues.
I recently participated in a swap with a Valentine's theme with the Luv21stroke decorative painting yahoo group.  I wanted my card to reflect how I can use my paper crafting to emulate a form of decorative painting. 

I love watercoloring with my Stampin' Up Classic ink pads and my blender pen. It is so relaxing and I love the way the colors look on the Very Vanilla Cardstock. The filgree heart is from the I (Heart) Hearts stamp set and I matted it on a Pretty in Pink heart diecut with the new embosslit Scalloped Heart of Hearts which is exclusive to Stampin' Up. I once again used the bouquet of flowers from the Happy Moments Sale-a-bration Stamp set, coloring them with Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana and Lavender Lace Stampin' Up Classic Inks. The sentiment is from the stamp set Teeny Tiny Wishes stamped in Pretty in Pink classic ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and punched out with the Large Oval punch. To make it pop, I matted it on Pretty in Pink cardstock punched out with the Scalloped Oval punch to match the heart.

In addition to the card, I added two little gifts for my partner.  When I think of Spring, I think of flowers and butterflies in pretty Spring colors. So with that in mind, I started creating.

One of my most favorite tools in my craft room is my Stampin' Up Sizzix Big Shot. It sits on my counter top ready to be used at a moments notice. I use it all the time and so do my children. It really is the work horse of my craft area.

So, using my Big Shot I went to work creating my partner's special gifts. Both were cut from the Two Tags Sizzix  Bigz die (Stampin' Up exclusive) and I embellished them with the embossed Butterflies from the Sizzix Beautiful Wings Embosslit (it can be found in the new Occasions Catalog) and the Cherry Blossom Embosslit (both SU exclusives).

The tag also uses the Swirls & Scribbles sizzlet to provide the vines. After all, the butterflies need somewhere to rest and the flower needed some greenery to help make it pop.

The ribbon is a piece I found in my ribbon jar and I loved the shimmer it added to the tag. Now I love bling, so I added a faux clear, crystal gemstone with an adhesive back for the center of the flower.

With the bookmark I decided to combine my Big Shot with a little stamping and some punches for good measure.

The vine is stamped with Certainly Celery Classick ink on Whisper White cardstock. This stamp is from the new Vintage Vogue stamp set and provides a nice contrast o the butterflies. I punched the circle with the 1 1/4" circle punch and then matted it  with a 1 3/8" pink circle. Then using purple cardstock punched using the Scalloped Circle punch, I matted the pink circle and applied it to the scallop end of the bookmark.

The butterflies were attached with a small amount of adhesive applied to the stamped circle. By applying the adhesive to the center on the back of each butterfly it allows the wings to be gently folded up to add dimension to the bookmark.  

To finish it all off I stamped the sentiment from the Whimsical Words Sale-a-bration stamp set with Lavender Lace Classic ink. I used two of the remaining butterflies to embellish the bottom part of the bookmark.

So I hope you enjoyed my little piece of Spring time and I hope it inspires you to get creative on this cold, Winter day.
Remember to take advantage of Sale-a-bration and earn a free Sale-a-bration product with every $50 purchase of Stampin' Up merchandise (excludes shipping & handling and taxes). Download your free digital copies of the Stampin' Up catalogs from my side bar here on my blog.

Contact me today to place your order or visit my Stampin' Up website and click Shop Now in the top right corner. Hope you have a great weekend.

Until Next Time.

Stampin' Hugs,

Tricia Butts 

Products Used (Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted):

Stamp Sets:

Happy Moments, Teeny Tiny Wishes, I (heart) Hearts, Vintage Vogue, Whimsical Words

Cardstock:

Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink, misc. scraps

Inks: Stazon Jet Black, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Certainly Celery, Lavender Lace, Pretty in Pink Classic inks

Accessories:

Sizzix Big Shot, Two Tags Bigz die, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit, Swirls Scribbles sizzlit, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Scalloped Circle Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch, snail adhesive, misc. ribbon.