Finally – I made a card for the Stamping 411 challenge.  I think I participated the first 2 weeks when they started and then tried a couple more but kept missing the deadline.  I think this time I made it.  And I’m pleased with my card too.

I wanted to make a card to send to all the wonderful new ladies that I met this month either at events or workshops.  Just a little note to says thanks and to invite them to join me for stamping.  If you are one of those people and you gave me your mailing address – then you should be getting one in the mail soon.  As an added bonus this little card includes a special coupon for $5 off one of my stamping classes.  I have been thinking on this for a while but nothing popped into my head as being the right thing until I saw the sketch for this weeks 411 challenge.

The sketch was a square card and while the measurements given on the blog – by the way it is here – were for a 5-1/4″ square card I had an idea…….

If I make a regular size card – 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ but here is the neat part – I’ll trim the front of the card to be a square – so 4-1/4″ x 4-1/4″ and leave the back with the extra 1-1/4″ showing and that piece becomes my class coupon!  I used the handy little perforating tool on the Cutter Kit to perforate that extra piece so that you can rip that part off to bring it back to me and still keep the little card.

I sketched it out on my grid paper last night and got to work – what stamp set and colors to use were my next decision – but that didn’t take long – I have had the “For All You Do” stamp set on my desk ready to work with and decided it would be perfect.  Colors – the Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive colors have been very appealing to me and in the front of the catalog where the color families are pictured they used these colors along with So Saffron – which is what I ended up with.  I created my flowers like they did on that sample.

So here is my creation…………….

I also used the Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder on the Rich Razzleberry card stock.  The embossing folders are so cool –  I hope Stampin’ Up! creates lots more.

The butterfly was inked with So Saffron ink and then I used the Rich Razzleberry Stampin’ Write Marker to outline the edges of the wings and color the body before I stamped it on Whisper White card stock.  The Butterfly and flowers are all hand cut.  That’s the part that is taking me the longest.  I am in production mode so I have the different pieces of card stock cut and the images stamped and now I’m cutting all the flowers and butterflies before I put all the pieces together.  They should be going out in the mail tomorrow – I hope.

The coupon information was put on a label and I added a few stamped flowers.  This concept could be used for any kind of coupon – have the kids make mom or dad (or a grandparent) a personalized coupon card.  Or use the tear off part to make a little bookmark – just decorate to suit your need.

So I think it fits into the Stamping 411 challenge and it is perfectly suited to what I wanted to send out.  I hope everyone likes them.

Thanks for visiting today – go get creative!