TOUCH OF NATURE AND AN AWARD

Happy Hump Day! I swear time is just flying by, wasn't it just Sunday??? Anyway, today I am sharing another swap card made with the butterfly from Touch of Nature. The base of this card is Close to Cocoa card stock, then layered with Afternoon Tea Designer Series paper. I will be so sad to see this paper go at the end of June, I just love it! I used my Ticket Corner Punch and then double faux stitched around it. I used my Slit Punch on a piece of Cameo Coral card stock and made a scalloped edge to attach to the side of the card. I paper pierced the scallops, then added three silver brads. The image is stamped on Whisper White card stock in brown stazon ink, then stamped again on another piece of the Afternoon Tea Designer Series paper, which really gives this butterfly some nice color and texture. I adhered just the center of the butterfly to give it a 3-d effect - here is a closeup. I love this effect and don't think I will ever get tired of it! I layered the Whisper White card stock on a piece of Cameo Coral card stock and then a piece of Close to Cocoa card stock. I used my Ticket Corner Punch on all three pieces and added more faux stitching around the two colored layers. I sponged the Whisper White card stock with Cameo Coral Classic Stampin' Ink to soften it. The sentiment is actually from the Garden Whimsy stamp set (love it!) and is stamped in Brown Stazon on to Cameo Coral card stock, then punched out using my Large Oval Punch. I then added a piece of Chocolate Chip narrow grosgrain ribbon, popped it up on dimensionals and was done! For a finishing touch I added some dazzling diamonds with my two-way glue to both the butterfly and the bottom of the sentiment piece. Overall, I am pretty happy with how this came out! So, now I am thrilled to tell you that my good bloggin' friend Kathleen from My Happy Place nominated me for the Blogging with a Purpose Award - how sweet is she!!! I love her blog, she is mad talented, and I am so excited to get to meet her in person this year at Convention! Thanks Kathleen, this means a lot coming from you! I am supposed to nominate three people I feel deserve this, which is tough to do since there are so many of you out there who deserve this. So, I am going to pick these three:

(1) Corinne from Stampin with Roxy who has become a very special friend to me and is uber talented! Her blog is a must-stop for me everyday because not only does she blow me away with her creativity, but her posts are always interesting and heartfelt - love ya girl!

(2) Joan from AJCreations which is actually a blog she shares with her good friend and fellow demo Amy. I stop by and see them every day -they are very talented gals and I never fail to be amazed at their latest creations!

(3) Denise from Stampin with Denise who is awesomely talented and is someone I always stop by and visit with every day! She too has become a wonderful friend, and always has something totally great to share!

I also picked these three because they always stop by my blog to leave me words of encouragement or just to say hello and it means a lot to me! I could list about 50 more of you - LOL! but then I would breaking the rules *wink* So, I will leave it at this!