Sunshine and Summertime!

We're hitting that point where I can see summer coming to a close, but I'm still far from ready to let it go, so this card is a celebration of what's left of it. Most of this is retired favorites of mine, but I did play with some new stuff too... on the Happy Birthday tag, I trimmed the edges and point, then used one of the tag cutouts from Chalk Talk and then the Corner punch to round the end of the tag. I used a Candy Dot to highlight the bottom bubble, a Round Array stamp with the 7/8" punch for the sun, and one of my favorite things from the Holiday Catalogue, the White Chalk marker, to color the dots on the embossed clouds! I also used Soft Sky with my brayer to color the water background and then spritzed it with water for a bubbly effect and let dry before stamping the animals.

I often have trouble choosing between the perfect flash photo and the flash-free, as they showcase different aspects better, but this time I couldn't decide, as the flash shows the white marker SO much better, but the tag just looks SO flat with it, so today, you get both ;)

Challenges I used:

Pile It On - Designer Paper

Ribbon Carousel - Summertime Fun

SUO Challenges - Ribbons and Bows

Stampin Royalty - Circles!

Colour Q - see below

Hand Stamped Sentiments - sketch below

Summer Flies...

Sorry it's been SO long since I shared anything (if anyone noticed ;), but my pre-order showed up just before our camping trip, and shortly after we got home, we had a flood in the basement and two cases of Chicken Pox (one after the other of course... both at once would have been too easy, lol!).

Anyway, after a month or so off, it always takes a bit to get back in the groove, but I think I managed to jump right in without making a mess of things...

I used the new Pretty Print embossing folder on the Gumball Green Co'redinations. Since the folder is landscape, I had to run it through twice to cover the portrait layout, but it worked well. The white layer is the waffle paper, embossed with the Honeycomb folder, shiny side up for a really cool look. (Not so visible in the photo though). I am so happy with all the different butterflies we have to choose from now, between the Papillon Potpourri and the Best of Butterflies sets! I never tire of butterflies...

Challenges I used:

Craft Project Central - (see sketch below)
Use It Tuesday - Un-Inked Stamps (smallest butterfly, and the stamps on the postage stamp), Other hoarded items are the waffle paper and the SAB ribbon.
SUO Challenges - Happy Birthday
Stampin Royalty - (see inspiration photo below)
Ribbon Carousel - Summertime Fun
Pile It On - No Designer Paper