Sara Jane's Studio

Adventures with Flower Soft - Chapter 4

I'm not going to call this the last chapter of my adventures with Flower Soft, because there are more tricks I want to try.  But this will be it for a while.

This card uses the same "Open Window" image from Impression Obsession that I used in the last post.  In this case, the image was stamped in Chocolate Chip on Whisper White cardstock, and the curtain and window shade highlighted with colored pencils.  I used "Summer" Flower Soft for the flowers in the pot.

The image was trimmed close to the edge, and mounted on Rose Red cardstock (Stampin' Up!).  It was then mounted on designer paper (Raspberry Tart, retired) and finally on an Always Artichoke 5" square card.  The sentiment was stamped in "Pure Poppy" Palette ink  using "Spiral Bouquet" from Papertrey Ink.  I trimmed close to the edges, mounted on Always Artichoke, and trimmed close, again.

 

Above is a side-by-side comparison of the two cards that used the same "Open WIndow" image.  The only difference is the color of Flower Soft and the background colors.  Do you have a favorite?  Let me know- I'd love to get your thoughts!

Adventures with Flower Soft - Chapter 3

Continuing my adventures with Flower Soft, I used the stamp image called "Open Window" from Impression Obsession.  Again, I stamped the image using Chocolate Chip on both Whisper White and Sahara Sand.  (And I still can't decide which color I like best for the background!)

This is a close-up of the stamped image on Sahara Sand, with white colored pencil used to highlight the woodwork. 

And this shows the entire image.  I colored the curtain and the flower pot with colored pencils, and used "Sweet Pea" Flower Soft for the flowers

Below is the final card.  I trimmed the image close to the edge, then mounted on Old Olive and Pink Pirouette (retired).  The card base is Chocolate Chip, and I used a corner rounder on all of the mats as well as the card.

The sentiment is from a new Stampin' Up! hostess set, "Kind and Caring Thoughts".

One of my friends liked this card the best of all of them. What do you think? 

Adventures with Flower Soft - Chapter 2

This little adventure uses the same "Closed Window" image from Impression Obsession that I used in my previous card, as well as Flower Soft in "Fuschia" and "sweet Pea".  This image was stamped with Chocolate Chip on Sahara Sand cardstock, and then the shutters and window frame were highlighted with white colored pencil.  The flower pots were also colored with pencil.

To make the card from this image, I trimmed close to the edges, and then mounted on Whisper White, and trimmed close again.  The image was mounted on designer paper from Stampin Up (Raspberry Tart; retired), and then on Rose Red using Stampin' Dimensionals. 

The card itself is Elegant Eggplant.  The sentiment is from "Endless Creations", stamped in Elegant Eggplant on Naturals White cardstock, and then mounted on Rose Red and Cameo Coral using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Another cheery card for a special person on any occasion!

 

Side-by-side comparison of the two cards, stamped on different cardstock.  Which one do you like better??

 

Adventures with Flower Soft

WAY back in early June (seems like eons ago!) I attended the Heirloom Rubber Stamp Festival in Springfield, MA.  One of the too many things I purchased included Flower Soft, whcih I've been curious about for a long time.

The manufacturers call it an "amazing pot of coloured sprinkles".  I don't know about "amazing" yet, but it is fun to play with!  The photo on the left shows the size of the little sprinkles- it's from the "Summer" mix.  I can't quite tell what it's made of, but it's some kind of paper fiber or other fiber.

Flower Soft comes in 30 ml jars of solid colors or mixes of colors (like the one at left).  I have a feeling this pot is going to last a LONG time, because it is really packed with the sprinkles.

At the same time I picked up the Flower Soft, I got a couple of stamp images perfect to use with it.  The images are from Impression Obsession- and the one below is called "Closed Window".  I stamped it using Chocolate Chip ink (Stampin' Up!) on Sahara Sand cardstock and on Whisper White cardstock- I wanted to see which version I liked better.

Then I took my white colored pencil and highlighted the parts of the window that would be reflecting light.  And I colored in the flower pots with colored pencils as well.

On this image, on Whisper White cardstock, I started with "Sunshine Yellow" Flower Soft.  I used plain white PVA glue to attach the sprinkles where I wanted them.  I filled in the rest of the flower images with "Fuschia" and "Sweet Pea". 

This is a close-up after adding all of the colors, letting them dry, and then shaking off the excess- much like you would do with glitter or embossing powder.

This is the finished card.  I cut out the window close to the edge of the image, and mounted it first on some yellow designer paper, then Cameo Coral.  The card itself is an odd size- it's from the now-retired Kiwi Kiss.

The sentiment is a stamp from Verses Rubber Stamps, stamped in Old Olive on Whisper White, then mounted on Old Olive cardstock.  

I added some little touches of Flower Soft to the sentiment, too.

Then, because it is oversized, I used some of the same designer paper to make an envelope, using a Coluzzle template.  And voila, a special card/gift for a special person!

More Butterflies

You may have already seen that I spent part of my holiday weekend working on the Butterfly Project for Craft Critique.  You can see my other posts here, here, and on Craft Critique.

I made so many butteflies while playing around with all kinds of papers in all kinds of designs that I had to make one more collection.  This one uses butterflies cut from patterned vellum, origami paper, and handmade paper.  Each butterfly has two layers.  One is adhered to the black background.  The top layer is stitched onto the first through the center using gold metallic embroidery thread.  This particular collection was then matted on Real Red cardstock (Stampin' Up!).

 My Bright Butterfly Collection.

I I love how different each of my collections feels!  And it's basically by changing the colors.  Also, the one on Craft Critique has an additional difference in that it is all the same buttefly image, layed out in a 3 X 3 grid. 

Butterfly from upper left corner.  Patterned vellum over origami paper.

If you are inspired to make some butterflies in support of the Holocaust Museum's call, you can get the details from Craft Critique.  There are also lots of other fun ideas for making hand-made butteflies on Craft Critique.  Just mail them in by September 15!!

My Butterfly Collection

I've had fun this holiday weekend making butterflies in support of the Craft Critique Butterfly Project.  I showed one of my projects here previously, and you can see one collection that I made on Craft Critique.

Here is another butterfly "collection" that I made.  As I said on Craft Critique, it feels a little like cheating because I used the exclusive Sizzix die from Stampin' Up! called "Beautiful Butterflies" which will create 6 butteflies at a time!  But it was fun to play with different papers, and then to design an arrangement that I liked.

In this particular collection I decided to use all neutral toned butterlfies.  They were cut from origami paper, vellum, handmade paper, and a paper doily.  The base is a piece of 8" X 8" Pink Pirouette cardstock (Stampin' Up!- retired).   I attached all of the butterlifes i a single layer by stitching through the center using gold metallic embroidery thread, so the wings are free to move with the air.

My Neutral Butterfly Collection.

I haven't decided yet whether to send this one in or not.....Butterflies are so cheerful and uplifting- the whole concept of transformation from a lowly caterpillar into such a beautiful creature is itself inspiring.  I may have to frame this in a shadow box and hand on my own wall as a reminder!

The origami paper butterfly in the lower left corner.

You can get ideas for other ways to make handmade butterflies on Craft Critique.  Just send them in by September 15 to be included in our craft community's effort to support the Holocaust Museum and it's remembrance of children lost during that terrible time.

The Butterfly Project

Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Craft Critique is promoting a Butterfly Project.  This is in support of the drive that the Holocaust Museum of Houston is sponsoring to collect 1.5 million hand-made butterflies, representing children whose live's were taken during the Holocaust.  Check out Craft Critique for the details, and send them some butterflies for the museum's collection. 

I thought it might be fun to make a butterfly mask- and I started with a butterfly image from Stamp Zia.  (Uh oh- I just realized it is actually the Luna Moth!!)  ANYWAY- I stamped the image and enlarged it about 225% to create a size that would fit your face.  I added the eyeholes to the design.

I made it easy for you to copy, too.  Just click here to download a PDF file with the full-sized image.  You can print it out on cardstock, and color it in.  Or, you can print it on copy paper, and use good old-fashioned carbon paper to transfer the image to decorative paper.

I chose the latter approach, and traced the image using carbon paper onto some watercolor paper that I had already made using Stamp Zia's chroma sprays and technique. Call me fickle, but I decided at this point to leave out the eyeholes, and not make a mask.

The next step was to go over the lines with a black Prismacolor Premier marker.  (Copic would work well, too.) 

I traced the body again on a darker portion of the paper, and I cut everything out along the black outline.  I mounted the body with two layers of Stampin' Dimensionals adhesive, and then mounted the whole butterfly on Whisper White cardstock and cut out again, leaving about a 1/8" border.

Finally, I decided to treat this as art, and mounted it on a piece of 12" X 12" decorative paper.  I'm going to get a shadowbox-type frame made for scrapbook pages to frame the whole piece.

If you decided to use this image, the butterfly itself is within the 8" X 10" limits that  the Holocaust Museum requested.  Obviously my version does not fit that criteria.  Oh darn, I guess I 'll have to keep it!