The best laid plans...

This is a difficult time of the year to plan a stamping get-together.  Everyone is either off to begin their holidays because the kids are out of school OR their child is graduating this weekend OR they have visitors.  Even I had trouble finding a weekend that I thought might work because so much has been going on.  In 20 minutes my New Catalogue get-together was supposed to begin.  Supposed to?  Yup.  It didn't happen and now it can't happen because, again, timing isn't working in my favour.  Ken and I are off to Alaska in two weeks and I wouldn't be able to distribute any orders made later than this weekend.  So now we're looking at the end of July/early August.  We'll see how that goes.

One of the make-and-takes I had planned for today was this card featuring an old stamp set as well as a new one.  It also features one of the new In-Colors and the  wonderful new heavy-weight Whisper White cardstock.  

My base is the new heavy-weight Whisper White.  The next layer is the new In-Color, Delightful Dijon.  The next layer is regular weight Whisper White -- yes, still available and wonderful for stamping.  First I used Delightful Dijon ink and the background image from the You've Got This stamp set.  Then I used the new Cucumber Crush ink and stamped a number of the fern images from the Butterfly Basics stamp set that was introduced in the Occasions catalogue and has carried over into the Annual Catalogue (Yay!).

For my butterflies I used the brand new Watercolor Wings stamp set and, since it's a two-step stamp set, I first used Blackberry Bliss and then I used Bermuda Bay.  I loved the look of the stamped butterflies and was unsure whether I wanted to use the solid framelit to cut it out or the lacy framelit.  As it turned out, I cut one with each and then discovered I liked the look of the lacy better against my background and recut the solid one with the lacy framelit.  This was only possible because both framelits are precisely the same size.

The beauty of the photopolymer stamp sets is that you can see right through them.  With this new Watercolor Wings stamp set you also get images to stamp the body and the antennae.  Great?  Definitely.  But it certainly would be a challenge to use those effectively and easily with a rubber stamp.  I was able to stamp the body right in place on the already-die-cut butterfly.  Then, after glueing the butterflies in place, I was able to stamp the antennae in the right spot.  I absolutely love the way the butterflies look as a result.  What a fun stamp set!

Finally, to finish off, I took one of the sentiments from the You've Got This stamp set and placed it along the upper right of the card using Memento ink.  I think this would have been such fun to make with my friends.  But at least I can share it with them.