Flowers and Butterflies for a Card Swap

Tonight is the last class for the monthly card class group that I joined months ago when I was first introduced to Stampin' Up! and we are having a card swap. These are the cards I made for the swap.

I cut 4 x 5 1/4 pieces of Very Vanilla Card stock and stamped them with the greeting from the Butterfly Basics stamp set using Baked Brown Sugar.

Then I embossed each one using the Texture Boutique and the Lovely Lace embossing folder.

When they were all embossed I started sponging. I sponged the leaves with Pistachio Pudding on all of them.

Next I started sponging the flowers, a different colour on each card front.

I didn't have classic ink pads for a couple of the colours that I decided to use but I did have ink spots from Paper Pumpkin kits I had received. I decided to try something a little different with them and instead of sponging the colour on with them, I simply swiped the ink spot across the cardstock to apply the ink.

This method resulted in a clearer, crisper look. You can compare the different results of the two methods in the next picture. The top two were sponged giving them a softer, subtle look, but the ink was applied to the bottom two by swiping the ink spot across the cardstock. I waffle back and forth between which I like better.

Here are all the card fronts ready for the next step.

Next I adhered each card front to a Very Vanilla cardbase.

The cards could be left just like that, but I decided to add another feature. I got out my Big Shot and one of the dies from the Butterfly Thinlits Dies and cut a butterfly for each card out of Very Vanilla cardstock.

I adhered the butterflies on the cards and added a touch of glitter to the butterfly bodies with Dazzling Details.

Here are the finished cards with the ink pads I used for them