Love to Create Guest Designer!

Hello and good morning!

I am so excited today to have been invited to be this week's Guest Designer for the Love to Create Challenge Blog! 

 
I have only recently discovered this fun challenge site as I am relatively new to challenges at all, having only begun my blog last September; however, their challenges are so enjoyable that I try to play along every week.  The Design Team is fantastic, and I always enjoy seeing what they've come up with, and that's why I am delighted to get to play with them this week! 

This week's theme is "3 Favorite Colors," which for me was a little tricky since I have so many favorites.  Red is probably my all time fave in all aspects - wardrobe, wall color, furniture upholstery...(no, my house doesn't look like a bordello, but it DOES have a lot of red in it).  But I also love turquoise.  And pink.  And black. And...the list goes on.  Therefore, today's center step card has a big dose of turquoise with rose red and saffron yellow to complement because, while I wouldn't wear yellow per se, I love it and love what it does to other colors - it just warms them right up.

This little furry sweetie is a digi stamp called "Butterfly Friend" and you can find her over at Whimsy Stamps.  I love their images, they are perfect for coloring and/or paper piecing, which is what I've done with this image.  I learned a different way to paper piece from the lovely blog In Rosie's Book - she calls it "paper toile" and I was fascinated the first time I saw one of her cards using this technique.  You need to head over there pronto to see her work and see how she does this.

See the different pieces?  Put them together...

...and you get this.  Can you see the slight shadow the raised pieces make?  It looks 3-D indeed.  SO much fun if you like fussy cutting (and I do).  Now Rose cuts really, REALLY small pieces, but I just did three.

BTW, this was my first time ever to color fur with Copics, and I have to say I'm fairly happy with it.  Tutorial by Suzanne Dean here.  I used Copics for the coloring.  The purple edge to the butterfly is a bit sparkly, and there are the teeniest rhinestones in the centers of the flowers.

Here you can see the popped up nature of the pieces a little more.  I added stitching around all of the panel pieces and a nice little bow with ribbon from 3 Girl JAM.   I also added a few punched butterflies sprinkled about.

The greeting was punched with a ribbon banner die and stenciled in blue chalk which is soft and subtle in real life, although it doesn't show well in the picture. I also chalked around the image.  A few rhinestones both on the banner and on the punched butterflies complete the card.

Thank you so much for taking the time to come and visit, and I wish you a fabulous week full of all the crafting fun you can stand.  And many thanks again to the fine team at Love to Create!

Happy crafting!!

Supplies:

Stamps: Butterfly Friend (Whimsy Stamps), Banner Wishes (Paper Sweeties)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise, Brights DSP Stack (all SU); Sweet Fairy (Prima)
Extras: Circle Stax, Decorative Doily (Dienamics); SB Ribbon Banner, chalks, rhinestones, Copics, ribbon (3 Girl JAM), MS butterfly punch, sewing machine, dimensionals, Embosslits Beautiful Wings.

Challenges entered:

Allsorts #190 - Flower Power