FREEBIE

Here's a little Thanks freebie for you.

I hope you enjoy it!  :)

Also SCROLL DOWN for an AWESOME flower technique and an acetate butterfly technique.

AMAZING FLOWER TECHNIQUE!!!

I found a new technique for making flowers and buttons and I absolutely ~L~O~V~E~ them!!! 
This is my FIRST flower and my FIRST button. 
I cut the flowers out of an old Precious Moments magazine that I had.   If you want to mail your flower on a card then I'd use heavier paper, but this worked pretty well and I will save the card for someone that I don't have to mail it to.  If I'm giving a gift to someone then I usually just stick my card in the bag and omit an envelope.  I figure they're going to throw the envelope away anyway, so why waste one.  
I just happened to have some background paper that matched the flower (I didn't plan it this way.) and I colored the button to match.  I also outlined the flowers on the background paper in black so as to match the flower a little better.  The background paper was in a 12 x 12 pack from Michaels.  I'm sorry, but I don't keep the names of all my papers...I'd have to have another file just for that!

HAND MADE BUTTON TECHNIQUE:
After making the flower, I thought I'd attempt to make a home-made button.  I was very pleasantly pleased with how it turned out and now I am VERY EXCITED because now I can always have a button that matches anything I want to put one on.  (P. S. These are made out of cardboard, so you cannot put them on your clothes.  LOL!)
I hand cut the leaves, inked the edges with black ink and then ran them through my crimper, and then added them to the flower.  (Once I hand cut a leaf I am pleased with I save it and use it as a template for the next time.  You can make many leaf templates and have them on hand for future use.)
This was sooooo much fun and I hope you all give it a try!
I found the idea on a web site called Jennibellie Studio and here is the address where you'll find how to make the flowers and the buttons:
http://jennibelliestudio.blogspot.com/2012/10/recycled-flower-tutorial.html

Another card with the same flower technique.  Only problem with this one is I made the flower too big, so if you try this, be careful how big you cut your flower...but, it does take a little practice.

ACETATE BUTTERFLIES (Scroll down further to this same card for instructions.)

This card was pretty easy and I made an acrylic butterfly for it. 

You can find instructions as to how to make these butterflies if you scroll further down in my blog.

The little "Happy" embellishment came with the paper pack that I used for the background.  I added a little bling to give it some pizzazz.

All the acetate packaging that you get from your Spellbinder's dies, etc., can now be put to wonderful use!

I sent this card to my sister Ginny who is in a rest home in upstate New York.  I got the folded heart idea from a site called 
mondocherry.blogspot.com.  They have an awesome site with lots and lots of things to look at and think about.

The background is done with a Martha Stewart corner punch and I embossed the background with an embossing folder.

The way I got the heart shape was to lay a heart die onto my background and then I placed the hearts inside where I wanted them to go, glued them down, and then removed the die.  It was pretty easy to do and made a very pretty Valentines Day card.