Butterfly by Juliet Arrighi, guest designer

Shana Tova (Happy New Year)!  My name is Juliet Arrighi, and I will be joining the SweetStamps team this September as a guest designer.

 I live just outside of Washington DC and have an extremely forgiving husband and 4 children, 3 of which have thankfully grown up and moved out.  I have replaced them with cats. You can see more of my work on my blog.  I used to be very resistant to the whole idea of rubber stamping - why would I put someone else's images in my work?  Then I came to see a rubber stamp as being more like a brush with a very specific shape, that I could use in techniques that don't lend themselves well to hand drawing. I've been hooked on stamps and stamp techniques for about 11 years now.

 My Rosh Hashanah cards traditionally feature apples and honey, but Rosh Hashanah is also a time to try things that are new, so I tried two new things with this card.

 First of all, this butterfly is a new stamp for me. Although I have a lot of butterfly stamps, I had to have this one for three reasons - first, the design is so ornate that not only is it fun to color, it looks great without any coloring. Second, the antennae are outlined so you can color them if you like. Third, it is really easy to cut out (especially the antennae)!  I heat embossed the butterfly on vintage silver lustre cardstock for shimmer, and colored it with Tombow markers.

The second new thing for me is the design - this is a rocker card, the first I've made.  I started with a 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 base; I drew the curve using a dinner plate, and tapered the sides on the radii.  If you look closely, you can see I used the same butterfly with pale purple ink on the background - it gives a feeling of movement.  Speaking of movement, it was hard taking this photo in my backyard, because every time the wind blew, the card started rocking!  You'll notice I stamped the envelope, too - this card fits perfectly in a normal invitation envelope.

I'd also like to point out the sentiment - I can't think of anything scarier than handwriting a sentiment on a card! Jewish sentiments are so hard to find.  Glitter pens don't often show well, so I first wrote it with marker, then colored over it with glitter pen.  I think that making this card was a great way to start the new year!