Happy Today and Always

Perfect for cats, not so perfect for people. This is just what our scamp Skippyjon needs.....someplace to lie in wait to attack us!  He just got neutered so we are hoping that will cool his jets a little bit....

Hi, Friends.....

I am here with a pretty card that has lots of fun techniques.....some that I haven't tried before and some of my tried and true faves, like my double embossing that I outlined recently in this post. 

I am combining several challenges, but I want to mention one in particular up front because you still have lots of time to participate! I am getting my entry in early (for a change!!!) to Mrs. A's fun and fabulous Butterfly Challenge. This time the challenge theme involves the Letter J......my favorite letter in the alphabet, so of course I had to make a card!! She is asking us to use, in addition to the requisite butterfly/ies, J is for Jewels and/or Jade (the color).

I'll take you through my process....but if you prefer, you can just scroll down to see my finished card! :)


First I dry embossed a piece of Core'dinations heavy duty white cardstock with my Darice - Butterfly folder. Then I tried something new-to-me that I saw Lindsay, the Frugal Crafter do with a Poppy embossed design quite some time ago.....sadly, I cannot find the post!  I selected several of my Ranger - TH Distress Markers in Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Broken China, and Tumbled Glass and colored the debossed side of the paper.  I chose this side so I would be coloring in the "wells" and so the veins of the wings would show nicely after heat embossing. A quick, inexact coloring job was fine because it was all going to be misted with water next, anyway. (This is all I remember Lindsay doing....so here I take off on my own creative journey....Wheeee!!!!)

I outlined a few of the butterflies with my Wild Honey DI marker and then misted the paper with water. After I was satisfied with the way the ink had reacted with the water, I dabbed with paper towels and used my heat gun to dry. All of this made the paper buckle, but no matter!

I slipped the buckled paper right back into place in the original embossing folder and ran it through my Big Shot again to flatten it back out! It is quite easy to fit it back onto the design on the folder....and it doesn't have to 100% exact. I got it off a tiny bit and it made no difference in the end result.

Ahhhhh....much flatter. Not 100%, but it is fine. Okay....ready to heat emboss!

I brayered Versamark ink all over the surface of my paper, so the Versamark only touches the higher parts of the design. Then I sprinkled on gold embossing powder and zapped it with my heat gun. I like to repeat this step two or three times to get a good build-up of embossing on the ridges of my design. Loving how this is looking!!!

I trimmed it to size and mounted it securely onto black cardstock to help finish flattening it. I wanted this to be a celebratory card that I could use for birthday, anniversary, or other special joyful occasion so I chose a layered die cut (Winnie & Walter - In a Word: Happy Cutaway) and sentiment from Winnie & Walter - LS Exclusives: So Tweet with Evelin T Designs stamp set stamped with Versafine Ink in Onyx Black with the banner die cut from the Winnie & Walter - Essentials: Katharine Cutaways die set. (Each of these pieces were from my scrap bags. Yay!)

I'm not really sure these words/phrases have ever been paired together before, but they really spoke to me of happiness being something that we can choose each and every day!!  "Happy - today and always"......that's something I want to practice in my life this year!!!

Last of all, I applied some small adhesive jewels in several colors to the bodies of the butterflies. I wanted them to add some bling without stealing the show. I think this small size is just perfect. Some of them I colored with a Sharpie to get a color I liked better. :)

As I was making my embossed background, I was interested to discover the mineral look that resulted in some of the areas. I was reminded of the Winnie & Walter - Gossip Column Marble Challenge. In the Gossip Column feature, the amazing Taheerah Atchia shows us all sorts of examples of real and faux marble and has made the most awesome cards using some fabulous techniques. You must go see!!! :)

From Tile-Stones.com

I looked at some images of marble and found this one that looks a lot like some of the parts of my background. Take a look at the close-ups of my card below. Do you see what I mean about how it looks mineralized?




Always before, my gold double-embossed backgrounds reminded me of heavy vintage jewelry, but now I am seeing something even more elemental.....mineralized marble! :)

Here also......

Well.....did you make it all the way to the end of my long post? Wow! Thanks for having a look. Hope you enjoyed this celebration card. It was a really fun adventure trying out new things and looking at familiar things with a new appreciation! Thank you for your visit and for your lovely comments. Have a fabulous day!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Butterfly Challenge #70 - J is for Jewels and/or Jade
2. Winnie & Walter - Gossip Column Challenge #6 - Marble
3. Mod Squad Challenge - Bling!
4. Word Art Wednesday Weeks 264-265 - AG with Family Friendly Sentiment
5. DL.Art January Linky Challenge
6. Crop Stop January Linky Party #24 - Anything Goes use prod CS sells
(I used a Darice embossing folder and Distress Markers)
7. Moving Along With The Times Challenge #36 - Something in the Air
8. Daisy Chain Challenge #4 - Add Some Sparkle
9. MarkerPOP Challenge #111 - Let's Celebrate