Geometric Butterflies In All Manner of Colours

I am a huge fan of Bev's Ink and Flip stencils and when we had our recent mash-up back in May, I purchased the Ink and Flip Geometric Butterfly Layering Stencil and finally managed to get some time this week to play with it.

I'm also a huge fan of all the In Color Inks from Stampin' Up!, including the fabulous new magnetic ink pads in the 2026-28 colours - Barely Blush, Peaceful Pine, Golden Glow, Hydrangea Hue and Crisp Cantaloupe.

What happens when you mash them all together? A joyful and bright fusion of colour and style, that's what! 

Here's what you need and how to make them:

Supplies:

• Ink and Flip Geometric Butterfly Layering Stencil
• Ink and Flip Layering Retro Flowers Stencil  
• In Color Inks 2024-6 Peach Pie, Shy Shamrock, Pretty in Pink, Summer Splash and Peach Pie Cardstock
• In Color Inks 2025-7 Cloud Cover, Secret Sea, Strawberry Slush, Darling Duckling and Darling Duckling and Cloud Cover Cardstock
• In Color Inks 2026-8Crisp Canteloupe, Hydrangea Hue, Barely Blush, Golden Glow and Hydrangea Hue Cardstock
• Per card two pieces of white cardstock 4.5 x 4.5 inches 
• White card for inking butterfly apron 3.5 x 3.5 inches
• Circle Die 3.25 inches in diameter
• Blending Brushes
• Glue
• Foam pads

Method:

1. Ink up your butterfly in two of the colours from whichever In Color set you're using and fussy cut.
2. Cut a piece of card 5 x 10 inches in one of the butterfly's colours. Score and fold at 5 inches to make your card base.
3. With the two colours you didn't ink your butterfly in, ink up your layering retro flowers stencil onto one of the white pieces of card
4. Die cut the circle from the other white piece of card
5. Using foam pads attach the card with the circle aperture on top of the flower stencilled card
6. Attach this to the front of the card base
7. With foam pads and glue, attach the butterfly on top in the bottom left hand corner.

There's a reason I love these colours - they just all go together so well. The possibilities are endless too with 5 ink pads in each collection. What is your favourite? I don't recommend things I don't absolutely love and all of the inks I absolutely love!

To get your hands on the In Color 2025-7 and In Color 2026-8, head on over to my Stampin' Up! shop. 

Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you get some crafty time this week.

Core Memories...

Everybody needs a friend like Justine. I've known her for 25 years and we first met through a friend of mine (Kathleen) who I'd known at Glasgow University and who had moved to Oxford University to do a PhD (I know a lot of smart friends!). She had met Justine as they were studying in similar fields (Classics, it's not a very big world) and as I was working at the University in one of the libraries, she introduced me. 

Like a lot of friendships over the years we've flitted in and out of each other's lives, but this past year or so, we've been back in touch more regularly, and she's popped in to see me in Leeds on her way back further up north, when this photo was taken last October. 

This was one memory I was definitely going to be keeping and so this page was born. As it happens, I've met up with Kathleen early this year in Oxford and so this will eventually become a double page spread.

I've been making good use of the Party Alphabet dies on my pages lately, and stencils from Uniko - this one is the Layering Retro Lines - along with the new ink colours for 2026-8, which I absolutely love, not just for their colours, but because they are now the magnetic closures which makes my life a whole lot easier in opening them.

This year is definitely becoming the year of reconnecting with friends. I have a trip planned to Dublin later on in the year with some other friends I lost touch with, and I will definitely be keeping those memories too.

Justine is definitely one of a kind. A kind, wild, helpful, intelligent and thoughtful person, who has faced challenges and overcome them. I'm very glad that she's in my life, and I am definitely the better for it.

Keep those memories of your friends, they deserve to be remembered.