Always Believe Butterfly wreath

There must have been a challenge on Instagram about butterflies and rainbows - I saw a lot of cards on there with that theme - or I'm just drawn to those!  Here's my take on that theme - inspired by those same cards.

I made a rainbow wash with Zig clean color brush on watercolor paper and die cut the Butterflies spray from it.

 After stamping in the center of the panel, I die cut out the wreath to help place the butterflies in a circle.  I initially planned a circle without a wreath but I liked how the wreath tied the blank space together. 

To fill in more of the blank spaces, I used my Copic markers to color some pearls in different colors.

This came together very quickly- lots of white space but colorful and with butterflies - my kind of card!

Always Believes Stamp

Butterflies and Stars Spray dies

Rosebud Wreath dies

"Always believe" 15 minute CAS (and elegant!) inspirational card

Hello Crafty Friends!

There are many reasons why I adore Quietfire Design stamps and dies.  Today's project is an example of one of those reasons: the elegant stamps and dies can make the simplest of cards stunning.

The focal point of the card front is the inspirational stamp, Always believe:

The below instructions can be used with many Quietfire Design stamps.  In a jam to get a card out quickly?  Follow the instructions below to create a card that the recipient will love!

Card instructions:

1. Create a 4.25 x 5.5 top fold card using ivory card stock.
2. Cut patterned paper smaller than card front.  Use black archival ink to stamp quote onto patterned paper.  Mount to card front.
3. Die cut frame using ivory card stock.  Mount to card front.  (I added a slight bend to the die cut to add some dimension.)
   
4. Create bow and mount to top of frame.
5. Done!

So easy!  And what elegant results!  Imagine doing this for your Christmas cards.  Pick your stamp and patterned paper, then create a stack of holiday cards in a flash.

Thank you for stopping by!
Have a happy, crafty day.
Big Hugs,
Kathy Jo

Tutorial: Botanical Edging Technique

Hello Crafty Friends!  Kathy Jo here sharing an inky fun botanical edge technique that can be used on your next crafty project.  This technique was originally used on the project I created for the Quietfiire Designs blog hop:  

The blog hop project was a 12x12 mixed media page.  The project today is a 6x6 card with step by step photo instructions.  Several products were used to create this card, including the following Quietfire Design products:

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme stamp set

Illuminations 1 stamp set

Always Believe stamp

Instructions:

Cut a piece of mixed media paper and and draw an outline of the area in which you plan to use for your project.  (My area was slightly smaller than 6x6.)  For the outline, do not use a pencil or utensil that would bleed or smear after ink was applied.  Use washi tape to secure to a non-stick craft sheet.  

 Apply Broken China Distress ink to the center of the workable area leaving a small border (~1") left without ink.

Apply Mowed Lawn Distress Ink, as shown, to create a green border.

  Stamp plants around border using Bamboo Leaves Memento Ink.  Turn stamp while stamping to create a more natural looking border.  You may also stamp an image twice before re-inking to create depth to your border.  It is ok if the plants extend past your working area as you will trim your area to size when complete.

Use Olive Grove Memento Ink to stamp image from Illuminations stamp set. 

Heat or air dry project then spritz with a glimmer spray such as Art-C's glimmer spray. Dry.  (The glimmer spray was added to add a hint of "sunshine" to the scene.)

 Cut image to desired size.  Stamp sentiment using Jet Black Archival Ink.

 Apply Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Ink along edges.  Dry.  (You will probably want to wash your hands after this step to ensure you do not smudge your image with inky fingers.)

 Mount onto Kraft paper (it was pre-cut to size with Distress Inks applied) and then onto tent fold black card base.

 Time to add some wee flowers.  Use Nuvo Crystal drops or Liquid Pearls to create the flowers.

Below is a close up of the "flowers". 

I love butterflies and always have a bag of butterflies cut and ready for projects.  Most of my butterflies are cut from Graphic 45 patterned papers. 

After the butterflies were mounted (using liquid adhesive), Stickles was applied to their wings. 

The card is now complete with a botanical frame, shimmery blues skies, beautiful butterflies and a gorgeous, uplifting sentiment.   

I do hope you enjoyed the tutorial and project.  Feel free to share your botanical edge project with Quietfire Design by leaving your link in the comments below or on Facebook...we would love to see it!

Thank you for stopping by!  Have a happy, crafty day.

Big hugs,

Kathy Jo

Always believe.....

Hello everyone,
Yvonne here sharing a card using the Quietfire Design stamp "Always Believe".
Usually I use black ink to stamp, but this time I chose gold to match the golden die-cut.

By using matching colours, you "pull" the different layers together even more.
Using 3D foam squares for each layer give the card an extra 3D effect.

I hope you like the card. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs from Holland,
Yvonne

Always Believe That Something Wonderful is About to Happen

Hello and Happy May Day!!!  It's Wanda with you today.  It's been very wet and chilly here in Southern Iowa and I'm ready for the warm weather to come back.

I recently bought a Royal Sovereign Laminator (Model CL-1223) and have been testing it out with foil.  Very fun!!!!  For this card I wanted to try using Transparent Embossing Paste.  Onto a piece of Mixed Media Paper (Ranger), I put the paste through the Butterfly Kaleidoscope stencil scraping it mostly flat, removed the stencil (clean your stencil before the paste dries), let the paste completely dry on the paper, put a piece of foil over the paper (Therm-O-Web iCraft deco foil, Emerald Watercolor), placed the paper with the foil on top inside a folded piece of parchment paper,  ran it through the heated up laminator, pulled the piece of foil off and, ta-da!!, gorgeous foiled, dimensional butterflies!!! 

I added background color to the piece with Distress products.  I sprayed some water on the paper first, then sprayed Distress Spray Stain Picked Raspberry just in the center of the paper (but, of course, you get speckles toward the edges of the paper), blotted with a paper towel and dried it.  Around the edges I inked with Distress Ink Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade and then also distressed the edges.  When I was putting the card together I decided to add a bit more to the background and did some random stamping with the Crackle Background using Distress Ink Mustard Seed. 

For my center piece I also started with Mixed Media Cardstock (Ranger), inked the Crackled Background with Distress Oxide Ink Cracked Pistachio, gave it a very light spray with water and then stamped it onto the paper, dried it, stamped the quote (Always Believe) with Archival Ink Jet Black, sprayed the paper with Distress Spray Stain Squeezed Lemonade, blotted it, dried it, dripped on some water, blotted it, dried it, cut it out with a Stitched Circled die (Elizabeth Craft Designs), and inked the edges with Distress Ink Mowed Lawn.  

The "flowers" are Elizabeth Craft Designs ModaScrap Dandelion Fluff diecut from colored cardstock, inked with Embossing Ink (Ranger), embossed with clear powder, and white dots added to the ends with a Posca Paint Marker.  The butterfly is metal (Finnabair Mechanical Grungy Butterflies, Prima).  I used my finger to dab on some Ranger Ink Enamel Accents (a mix of Classic Cherry and Wild Orchid).  I've also used a paper doily and some twine on the card. 

I hope you've enjoyed this card.  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks for following along!!!!

Hugs, Wanda

Always Believe

Once those distress inks are out on my desk, I can't help but keep using them!  To make this colorful card, I sponged distress inks at the top of the base layer of the card and on the smaller layer, I did the bottom half with a lighter hand.  

The top was stamped with the quote from Quietfire Design: 

I emphasized the Always from the quote by adding a die with a black shadow to the bottom of the card.

My final touch was to add some dew drops to the card.

Always Believe mounted stamp

Always Metal cutting die

"Always Believe" butterfly card

 Hello Crafty Friends!  Kathy Jo here sharing a project using the stunning new stamp from Quietfire Design, Always Believe:

Love the flowing letters of Suzanne's calligraphy.  The calligraphy is full of such light and delicate beauty...it reminds me of a butterfly gracefully fluttering by on a summer's day.  The image of butterflies following the exquisite calligraphy of the stamp inspired my card.  

The papers are from Graphic 45's Nature Sketchbook.  The butterflies were fussy cut and Stickles applied.

The stamped sentiment was die cut using a square die, the sentiment was left inside the die and Peeled Paint Distress Ink applied along the inside edges.

The stamp is one of several new releases from Quietfire Design.  All of the newly released stamps, dies and stencils can be found here.  Oh!  What a fabulous release!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a happy, crafty day.
Big Hugs,
Kathy Jo

New Stamps! Always believe / You are.../ together forever

Hi Y'all, Robyn here with the hot off the press new stamps!
Valentine's Day/ Love 2017!
 Quietfire Design stamps are hand lettered, not computer generated fonts.

 These ATC's flew off of my desk as soon as I unwrapped the package!

The DT will have them this week, so stop by here often for 

inspiration to 

Create without Limits!

I'm sending this in some form to everyone I know!

Always Believe

This will be the base for many Brave girl Cards!
(Check my blog for more on Brave Girls)
Loving the pointed pen lettering.

You are-set of 5


Tis the season!

together forever

Heart flourish

Calligraphic Love bits

One more! Glue isn't dry yet!

After you order from the What's New section be sure to click on
Valentine's Day for more heart and love stamps.

Comments and Questions Welcomed!