Every year that I go to convention, I get caught up in swapping.  The idea of taking a bunch of card fronts with you to convention and then trading them with everyone else so that you can get new ideas to take home and share… or copy… or hang on your wall and drool over!

Well, I’ve learned from the one year that I showed up with NO SWAPS, and proceeded to spend my first night there trying to make as many swaps as I could from the crafting supplies I happened to bring with me; that I LOVE swapping.  I love seeing an amazing card from across the room and running up and saying,”swapping?”  Its like the thrill of finding an amazing deal at the department store.

But the problem is, I come home with 50-100 card fronts and proceed to take pictures of them and then they sit in a box forgotten until I’m cleaning my room and find them again.

Which is very sad….

So, I decided this year, that I would not only share them on my blog, but I’d also use them for inspiration in my classes as well.  (Which really is one of the main points for swapping anyway!)  So, for class this month, I CASE’d (copy and share everything) two fabulous swap cards and I just had to share this one with you!

Card case’d from a design by Julie Leblanc

There are a few reasons why I love this card…

1.  The color combination (why do I always forget about Perfect Plum?)

2.  The touch of sparkle with the Silver Glimmer Paper

3.  The fact that this card uses NO WHITE PAPER at all!

I know it is silly, but that last point was kind of profound to me.  I’m so used to stamping on Whisper White paper with a colored ink that I didn’t think of stamping on Crumb Cake paper.

And then there is the really cute butterflies.  I had to change this up from the original because I didn’t have the Papillion Potpourri that she used,  Instead I used the Best of Butterflies stamp set and the Elegant Butterfly punch to make them.  They are stamped with Basic Black ink and then sponged on top with the Perfect Plum ink. Neat effect, huh?

And in class, I had someone emboss a little bit higher up the page than they meant and so they left their first attempt behind and made a second card.  So, I finished out the card with her “boo-boo” and the rest of the supplies only this time I used the Lacy & Lovely stamp set for my sentiment and drew around it with a marker.  I think it turned out just fine!

So I hope you liked this card as much as I did and I will have another fun card that we case’d tomorrow using the lovely Flower Shop stamp set and punch!  See you tomorrow!