Summery swallowtail get well soon card

What a great weekend it's been. The ever so elusive sun has not been shy, and it almost feels like summer! Yesterday we bought a huge pile of strawberries, and I was planning on freezing some of them. However, by some mysterious power, they are almost gone already... I wonder who comes into my kitchen and eats my strawberries? Today we took the bikes out for a ride around the reservoir. I keep forgetting we live so close to great biking routes, although that was one of the reasons we did move out into the countryside. Anyhow, it was great to enjoy the sun and the wind in my hair. I could have done without the swarming insects that made their way up my nose, into my mouth and inside my Oakleys. Now I can't wait to dine on the leftovers from yesterday's BBQ.

With all the other stuff going on I'm not quite sure where I found the time to craft, but this weekend has seemed so blissfully long. So I did manage to steal some time in the craft room. I was inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch as well as the colour challenge over at ColourQ. Although I didn't have the Stampin' Up colours Island Indigo or Hello Honey, I did manage to find very close matches from the Tim Holtz Distress colour palette as two of the new colours, Fossilized Amber and Mermaid Lagoon, are very similar. And it was a great reason to get to use these new gorgeous colours. I was also inspired by the butterfly theme over at Addicted to CAS. I'm also linking up over at Addicted to Stamps where the theme is Make Your Mark (as I coloured the butterfly using markers). Last but not least I'm linking up with Just Us Girls where the theme this week is Summer.

I think this swallowtail stamp is one of the most gorgeous I have ever come across. I keep going back to it over and over. For the card, I cut out the two white panels and stamped the swallowtail in black ink. I then heat embossed it with clear powder, and coloured using markers. Then I realised I don't have matching cardstock to the Mermaid Lagoon and thought I would have to scrap the whole idea of the card I had in my mind, until I realised I have white cardstock, I have the ink pad and a foam applicator for the ink - and hey presto, Mermaid Lagoon coloured cardstock for matting. Such a simple solution but it took my two brain cells a while to get there... I used two sentiment from Lawn Fawn Scripty Sayings, one of my favourite sentiment sets at the moment and stamped them in black. Last, I inked up the Gorgeous Grunge stamps using markers and stamped splatters all over. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Swallowtail, Gorgeous Grunge, Lawn Fawn Scripty Sayings
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Fossilized Amber, Mermaid Lagoon, Ripe Persimmon
Other: Ranger Ultra Fine Clear Embossing Powder

Joy to the sketch

I guess by now you all wish I had never bought the Joy to the Woods stamp set and are bored to death seeing it so many times here on the blog recently. But every time I see a vertical element in a sketch my thoughts turn to those tree trunks... So once more, some cute critters and very straight tree trunks as inspired by this week's CAS(E) this Sketch. I'm also entering over at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Finishing touches. My finishing touch to this card was the red bird sitting on the banner, as the card looked like it needed a final touch before I added the bird. Last but not least I'm entering over at the ABC Christmas Challenge where T is for Tree Ornament.

This time I used Tim Holtz distress markers to colour the critters, and die cut them using the matching die set. I used a snowflake from another Lawn Fawn stamp set to stamp the snow in the background. I love the slightly untraditional look of the Christmas cards created with this set, but it also makes such a great autumn set and probably in the summer I will be inspired to make cards with the critters frolicking around in a green forest landscape instead. I also stamped some Christmas decorations inside the card and coloured in the same colour scheme as the front of the card.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Joy to the Woods, Critters in the Arctic

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Soft Sky

Colouring: Tim Holtz distress markes in Ripe Persimmon, Barn Door, Broken China, Tea Dye and Stampin' Write marker in Chocolate Chip and Smoky Slate

Other: Lawn Fawn Joy to the Woods Die