DSC #178 - DO STARS Challenge- Butterflies & Pretty Petals

I’m not gonna lie – this challenge was exactly that. A challenge! When I first saw the sketch, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get it come out on paper like I had imagined it.  Have you ever had that happen?  Anyway, I finally gave myself permission to just play and throw away what didn’t work.  And you know what?  That’s okay…sometimes you need to lighten up and give yourself permission to experiment.  After a few iterations that ended up in the trash, I came up with this version and I’m really happy! 

An interesting aspect of my design is that I created it without a single stamp!  I also really love the bold colors against the black, don’t you? 

So, here’s the skinny – I used patterned paper from the Pretty Petals DSP Stack.  After trimming the DSP into rectangles, I matted them with black.  I originally tried to make both the green layer and butterfly patterned layer the same size, but I felt like the green layer didn’t show much, so I ended up making that layer ½” bigger in each direction than the butterfly layer.  I embellished the card with some retired ribbon from my stash, and a little layered circle embellishment I created using my 1-3/4” Scallop Circle punch, my 1-1/2” CirclePunch, and my Elegant Butterfly Punch.  I gave popped it up with some Dimensionals and gave it some Pearl Basic Jewels as a finishing touch.  I decided to decorate the inside, but left it free of sentiments so that I can either hand-write my own note, or add an appropriate sentiment when I want to use it…I think this is versatile enough for many occasions, so I wanted to keep my options open…it’s always nice to have a few cards laying around that can be sent quickly as the need arises.

***ALERT: The 1-3/4" scallop circle punch IS retiring so grab it while you can!

Here's the sketch that inspired my card:

Now, grab a favorite beverage and snack and click the following links to see what my friends did with this same sketch:

• Judy Strickling
• Sharon Bennett 
• Dawn Thomas 
• Cathy Peck
• Joan Weidling
• Angela O'Neill
• Dawn Olchefske
• Michelle Harrington 
• Robyn Rasset
• Debbie Sollinger 
• Miriam Bollinger  
• Jan Carlson
• Connie Plaumann