Butterfly Bookmark

Since my sister is in the hospital and starting to feel better, she has been doing a lot of reading. When I visited her one day, I noticed she didn't have a bookmark, so I decided to change that! I like making bookmarks because they give you just a small amount of space to work with, which is perfect when you have that creative block. And I need a creative jumpstart these days! So this was a perfect excuse to get me stamping without feeling overwhelmed.

I used a sentiment from the old Sale-a-bration set called "Happy Harmony". I don't often like the sayings they make stamps of, but I really do like this one. It's perfect for butterflies, or if you were scrapbooking pictures of your children as babies, or a grandparent-with-grandchild photo, or a favourite pet as a youngin'....the possibilities are endless with this sentiment!



I attached butterflies to it instead of flowers since there were flowers on the dsp I used. I thought stamping the butterflies (from the Dreams du Jour set) on window sheets (in Staz-On) would be fun. I cut them out, attached them with mini-glue dots (so quick and neat!) and folded up the wings a bit, as you can see in the close-up, for a neat, 3-D effect.



On the back of this bookmark I attached a mini calendar for 2009. It seems that the life of "luxury" my sister's been living in the hospital has blended all into one luxurious stay, and she isn't sure of which day it is-although she has a general idea of the day of the week, she's not sure of the date. So I thought this would be a welcomed idea.



Now that this bookmark is finished, and I look at these pictures, I see a beautiful card in here somewhere. See how simple it was to kickstart that little bit of creativity? Sometimes thinking outside the box for a bit makes going back to the box a lot easier.



So my challenge for you, to help you get started with your creativity, is to create a bookmark, and then the card it inspires! Don't think about a card as you create your bookmark, just focus on making a bookmark. Only think about a card after you've finished your bookmark. If you would like to post a link to your picture of your creations in the comments section, I would love to check out what you've done!



Happy creating!

Donna

I'm back!

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. I've been preoccupied with my sister, who was ill and in the hospital. A month later, she is still hospitalized, but she is showing signs of improvement (finally!), and as my stress slowly melts away, I am beginning to think of stamping again.

This is the card I made for my sister. The style is called a Joy Gate fold card. I love this style, because I like the way it opens/closes. A part of the front tucks in behind the medallion on the main part of the card, which I think is the best feature of this card. I like the fact it isn't your basic open and close fold.

You can find instructions for this card here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/joy_fold_card/

The instructions are easy enough to follow, so I hope you will give it a try!

Until next time!


Donna