WWC76 - Penny's CAS Challenge - Butterflies

This is my first time hosting a challenge at the Watercooler and I hope you're going to like it.  I've chosen a Clean and Simple Challenge (CAS) but I've added a theme, one I think everyone will have fun with.  The theme is to include Butterflies. 

Rules for our Clean & Simple Challenges (by group consensus)
So, what is a CAS and what is acceptable for this challenge? Sometimes it's very hard to determine how far you can go with a Clean and Simple design.   So it's clear for everyone,our design team artists recently held a discussion and came up with these guidelines:

• Either a single layer card base upon which we stamp or a card base with a single layer of card stock upon which we stamp, nothing more. 
• Since we use embellishments for any other type of card, no embellishments, die-cuts or anything else is allowed except the simplicity of stamping for the "clean & simple" look.
• Apart from stamping, we will allow heat embossing since, if one decides to use a colour, heat embossing would show better than simple stamping. 
• No dry (EF) embossing on card base or layer. 
• Following these rules will keep it clean, simple and challenging.

Here is my CAS Butterfly Card: 

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Papillion Potpourri and You've Got This
Ink:              Elegant Eggplant
Card Stock:   Elegant Eggplant for base and Whisper White 
Accessories:  Trimmer, Tom Bow Adhesive

This is a really plain and simple type of card for me, but sometimes that's all you need.  Sometimes, you don't have time to do all the fancy stuff and it's nice to step back from all the layers and embellishments and just let the sentiment say it all.  I think this quote is perfect:

For this card I chose Elegant Eggplant for my ink and card base because I love the rich bold colour paired with Whisper White. I think it sets the tone for this friendship card.  

Although I chose Elegant Eggplant for my card any combination of ink and matching card stock along with Whisper White will work with this design.  To demonstrate this I made five additional cards using the new Incolours and my brand new mini Misti precision stamping tool.  In no time at all I was able to make all of these cards.
I

Everyone I know loves butterflies.  I think this would make a nice gift set for someone.  If I were doing these as a gift set along with making a matching box, I would use a variety of sentiments and make 2 of each card colour.

Peek A Boo Peach

Flirty Flamingo

Emerald Envy

Sweet Sugarplum

Dapper Denim

Stepped Up Version of this Card:

For those of you who aren't fussy about "Clean and Simple" cards I decided to make some additional "stepped up" versions so you can see how little it takes to go from my original "plain jane" card to a new level.

1.  For my first stepped up card I took the basic card and simply drew a free hand border around the outer edge of the Whisper White layer using an Elegant Eggplant fine tip marker to coordinate with the ink and card base.

2. I added some clusters of  Basic Rhinestones to this second card to give it more pizzazz.  

3. For my third card I kept all the original design elements but began by stamping a block image from the Work of Art stamp set in Perfect Plum and Rich Razzleberry inks before I stamped the butterflies and sentiment. On this card I wanted to make the butterflies and sentiment stand out more because of the background stamping and so I stamped the images with Versa Mark and Elegant Eggplant inks, and then heat set them with Clear Embossing Powder. A strip of Rich Razzleberry Taffeta ribbon was the final enhancement.

4.  For my final stepped up card I simply changed the card stock base to Whisper White and then added layers of Elegant Eggplant and Whisper White card stocks.  Although you can't see it I also used Wink of Stella on the butterflies for a little glimmer and pizzazz.

I hope you've liked these samples, and would welcome your comments.  I'd love to know whether you like making CAS cards and which is your favourite sample.  

I also hope you'll join the Watercooler Design team this week with this fun challenge.  We're looking forward to seeing some awesome butterfly CAS cards!  Until then, thanks for stopping by and.....

Happy Stamping!
Penny Token's Stampin Spot

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