Give Me Sunshine

I'm so jealous of you Northern Hemispherians still enjoying your Summer sunshine at the moment. It's Natalie here, and I'm shivering my way through the cold of Winter down in Australia. I could easily do warm weather all year round, I seriously think I'm more suited to the tropics. I'll take any opportunity to escape the cold, so when it comes to family holidays in Winter I'll chose somewhere hot. Every single time.

We recently had a vacation in Queensland which is much closer to the equator and known for it's lovely weather. In fact, it's one of the common phrases here to describe Queensland as "beautiful one day, perfect the next". I'm sure it came from some tourist campaign, but hey... it also makes a catchy title don't you think?!

I used my favourite Modern Mercantile collection for this layout, but mixed in a generous amount of pink to coordinate with my girl's bathing suits. Those butterfly stickers are still ranked amongst my most used supplies. And those gold feather rubons? Perfection.

One of the only good things about colder weather is that it makes the perfect excuse for staying inside and scrapping. So since I was on a roll I couldn't help but make a card with my Modern Mercantile supplies as well.

This time I chose to mix in a touch of red highlights to bring a fresh persepective on the collection. I love how adding in a new colour each time gives it a whole different feel. But there's one thing that will remain a staple to me and that's butterflies. This time I chose to go BIG!

I took one of the classic rubon butterflies and transferred it to acetate. After cutting around it I was able to bend up the wings a bit and give it some dimension whilst still keeping it's translucent quality. You could probably create a similar effect with vellum too, but I appreciate how sturdy this stuff is and I know it won't get ruined if I shove place this in an envelope.

Enjoy your summer! I'm off to turn up the heating. Bbbrrrrrrr.....