Pretty in Pink

My mum would be killing herself laughing if she were reading this blog right now, as she of all people know that the colour pink and I have not been good friends for a very long time!

My mum says that she was desperate for a little girl, so when I was born, she went mad on pink frilly things. Much to her dismay, I never really went through the 'girly' phase .. so my beautiful princess bedroom (queue whiter than white furniture with gold handles and pink accessories as far as the eye could see... curtains, doona covers, pillows, throws, and bed valance.. you get the picture!) was totally wasted on me. The first chance I got, I turfed all things pink and swapped them for British Racing Green and Maroon! Since then, I've never really been comfortable with pinks ... and indeed the last post was about as pink as I have ever gotten - until today that is!

I was on the hunt for a warm pink colour, and loved SU's Pink Pirouette, but cranky about the lack of matching embellishments/ribbons et al. So I went down the path of one of the new in-colours: Pretty In Pink. It's a little more vivid than I would have liked, but it seems to set off the choc chip accents, so maybe its okay after all :)

I played around with my base card this time as I wanted it to fit into a standard envelope, but was sick of the usual version of A4 CS cut in half horizontally with a side-fold or long top-fold. This time, I cut the A4 sheet in half lengthwise, and used it to make a portrait card but with the fold on top. I just rounded the corners with the punch to take away all those harsh angles.

Its that trusty old Kraft again, stamped using my new SU Kraft (Crumb Cake) Classic Stampin Pad (Yay!) Its so much better than relying on versarmark. I think it gives a much crisper image for that shade on shade look.

I've stamped it with the SU En Francais background stamp which I am totally in love with. Seriously so versatile. The Pretty in Pink CS has been run through the big shot with the Swiss dots embossing folder and matted onto WW.

Those gorgeous butterflies you've all seen around lately - again nifty SU embosslit dies for the big shot called 'Beautiful Wings'. It has 5 different butterflies in the single die which is great for matching accents.

I've used two of the largest butterflies in Choc Chip CS and stuck them on with Ranger Glossy Accents. (Crystal Effect should do the same thing). I shaped the top butterfly with my fingers and just stuck it on using a tiny line of Glossy accents. I had tried using dimensionals but they were always visible, so this did the trick and stuck it on nice and snug without losing its 3D-ness (is that even a word??) hehe. Here's a close up which may help explain ...

The butterfly path was just penciled in free-hand and pierced with the paper piercer and matt pack. I then rubbed out the pencil and traced it with my choc chip marker for that faux stitched look.

I wrapped some translucent white ribbon around the whole card front which I bought from the local $2 shop. It's width works well I think because the inside flap just has that lovely pattern pulled taught against the Kraft card stock and looks very elegant. (Me!.. elegant ... unbelievable I know!)

I've tied a knot but it needed something extra, so out came those gorgeous SU antique brads. I've secured them as normal, but then squirted a little glossy accents under them to hold them tight in place. I found it makes them more robust when handled without being visible.

The inside was quick and easy as I just used the off-cuts of the Pretty in Pink CS when I trimmed it down to fit off-centre and 2 of the remaining butterflies from the same die. I love the fact that you can whizz it nice through the die for 5 matching embellishments. Gotta love the laziness of it all :)

The matching envelope again was just alternating colours of the same die. See, so simple!

So that's my girly girl Pretty in Pink butterfly card.  (Mum, stop hyperventilating - you have not gone colour-blind!)

I think I've done my dash at pink for a while, but .. well maybe there's one more in me before I head back to the safety of my earthy/neutral tones!

Until then, take care and Happy crafting x