Note to self…

You know that phrase “don’t sweat the small stuff”? I think I should have it written large on the wall of my craft room. Many times over in fact. Cover a whole wall. Maybe every wall.

Why am I considering this drastic redecoration? Because, I kid you not, when I was happily stamping and sticking here it actually popped into my head that I should be sure to mention no butterflies were harmed in the making of this card. Really. Fleetingly, but it happened. Now, a kind person could suggest here that perhaps it is just an example of political correctness gone mad. Possibly.

But wait, there’s more. I also thought that aesthetically I would have preferred more butterflies in the jar, so colours (wings) overlapped. But I couldn’t overcrowd them, could I?! So now I have non-sentient stamped butterflies endowed with rights to a reasonable space in which to flap a wing…

The third one is the charm they say (although I never really understood that saying): I had to have some of them escaping the jar so it was clear they were not being held prisoner…

If my family feel they need to get me sectioned after this, well, to be honest I’d think they had a point…

This is made using a lovely stamp set by Dreamees. It has four different sizes of jar (this is the largest), a really cute fairy castle, a sail boat (for ship in the bottle fun) and some small butterflies, hearts and flowers plus a few other elements. This is the first time I have used any of their stamps and I was impressed: they took the ink really well, stamped beautifully, and are really well priced.

I have kept things very simple here (when is it ever any different?!). So one flat layer, just masking off the jar to allow it to be grounded. I considered masking the sides too, and stamping the butterflies over the edge, but y’know, I thought it might be a breach of the Butterfly Rights Act 2016. I cut the layer with the stamping a bit smaller than usual to show off some of the gingham-y goodness underneath. I added a couple of bits of Candi for extra pinkness. With the exception of the sentiment all the inks used are from Altenew: Moon Rock for the jar, Evening Gray for the ‘table’, Frosty Pink, Cotton Candy and Coral Berry for the butterflies. The sentiment was stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black as I was using vellum and the dye ink was just taking too long to dry. I wish I had waited because it has dried fine now, and it would have been nicer to have it in the same grey. Never mind. I have much more important issues of butterfly welfare and husbandry to keep me occupied.

So, card number 2. No anthropomorphising issues this time. Just hearts. Who cares if they get broken or damaged along the way?! Weeeeeell…I stamped the hearts in blue and then wondered if that was an indication of misery of the romantic kind. Feeling blue? Heartbroken? Guess what? This uncaring, unsympathetic eejit has put your suffering in a jar… and stuck a garnish on it… Seriously over-thinking here!

I used a Reverse Confetti die called Falling Confetti for this one. Except the confetti is, erm, reversed and falling upwards… Must remember the packaging is the brand name, not an instruction!

For card number three it would appear that some sanity has been restored. Three small jars in pretty papers. This was made with the Trimcraft Floral Muse pack. I have used it a lot, but that is because it is beautiful, so why not? The border is a Magnolia Tilda Lace die which I have had for years but gets pulled out every time I want something pretty and lacy.

Still not ‘feeling it’ craft-wise. I am hoping that some Christmas projects, maybe gift bags and gift wrap instead of cards, might just get me a bit more motivated. I think that makes me a ‘glass half full’ kind of chick.