Grown With Love ~ tutorial

Good morning!  I have a card and a tutorial for you today.

The card I made today started out one way and ended up a bit differently than I first imagined it but that's ok.  Sometimes it works out better that way!  The first thing I did was stamp my image onto Rose Vellum and then I embossed it with black embossing powder.  I don't have a photo of that stage but this is what is looks like after coloring it on the back with copic markers.

This is what the image looks like from the front after coloring it on the back.  I marked on the vellum where I wanted to cut it out to fit the seed packet.  (image coming up).

After it was all colored I added a touch of markers for shading on the front being very careful to not smear the black ink as shown on the berries and leaf below.

I stamped the seed packet image from Flourishes onto Heavenly White and embossed it with black embossing powder.  I used some of the swirl stamps and stamped and embossed in black onto the Rose Vellum. I then cut out the vellum and adhered it to the seed packet image.

Look how cool it looks with the light shining behind it!

This is what it looks like on the back.

I distressed the white a bit to give it a vintage look.

I marked and cut base of the card and the two layers of paper I wanted to use as mats behind the main image.  The gorgeous papers I used were Punch and Amethyst from the Mica/Metallic cardstock.  I used the text weight cardstock in the Amethyst color and it was quite a bit easier to cut than the heavy weight cardstock that the Punch color.  I have found that when layering or even dry embossing, the text weight works great and it's even cheaper to buy & ship!  I think I will stock up on some of my favorite colors.

Here's what the card looks like before putting on the top layer.  It doesn't matter that they don't match exactly because it won't be seen from the top.

Here's the card after gluing the top onto the other layers.  I'm quite pleased with how this turned out.  I hope that you like it too.

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Visit me at FancyCrafty{Me}

Butterfly Mobile & tutorial

Good morning everyone!  I'm sure that everyone is about ready for Spring so I'm here with a butterfly mobile because nothing says Spring more than seeing butterflies fluttering everywhere.

First I cut out a bunch of butterflies.  I cut at least 3 of each butterfly of the same pattern and color.   I cut 4 of some but I ended up only using 3 of each.  Pretty, aren't they?

I first scored each butterfly down the center and folded them in half.  I then glued 3 of each of the same butterflies together  putting them back halves together leaving one side open.  Here's 2 of them below so you can see how they look.  You could put 4 of them together but I felt that 3 were plenty.

The reason I left one side open was so that I could put the fishing line into the center of the butterfly before gluing it closed.  I beaded some large beads at the bottom of each fishing line strand to weigh the butterflies down and put some decorative beads in between the butterflies.   I ended up with 6 strands but you can do as many as you like.  I added glitter glue to some of the butterflies just for some sparkle.   I also felt like the basis paper that I had was beautiful but not quite as thick as the metallic/mica paper and the glitter glue made it more sturdy.  I am sending this mobile cross-country so I want it to hold up well during shipment.  Don't worry, I am going to wrap these butterflies very carefully and box them up so they don't get squashed.... at least I sure hope they don't get squashed!

I wrapped a large metal ring with ribbon (lots of glue on the back of it) and hung it with 3 strands of ribbon tied to a center small key ring.  I tied each strand of the mobile to the ring and viola', a butterfly mobile!

Here's a close up of the top half of the mobile.  It looks much better in person!  I didn't really have any rhyme nor reason to what order I put the butterflies or beads, I just had fun making it at random.

 

If I make another one (and my husband says I need to make one for him!) I may choose to have more of a design to it.  The little girl I'm sending it to won't even care if there are two yellow butterflies together (like in the back shown below)... she will be thrilled to receive it and so will her mom!

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial!  If you have any questions feel free to contact me.  I hope this project will inspire you to enjoy the little things in life just as my daughter and I have always enjoyed looking for butterflies.  Enjoy your weekend!

Paper Temptress Paper:
Mica/Metallic: Azalea, Amethyst, Lagoon
Glimmer: Autumn Hay
Astrobright: Plasma Pink, Lunar Blue, Gamma Green

Dies by: Spellbinders, Memory Box, Poppy Stamps

Blast from the Past - Snowflakes Tutorial

Since I'm living in a construction zone right now due to an unfortunate plumbing issue which led to the dishwasher flooding our kitchen and hallway, getting underneath our wood laminate flooring and into our walls... I decided it would be a good idea to post a Blast from the Past post using one of my favorite cards from last year.  What's great is that the Paper Temptress's Christmas paper package is on sale again right now!!!  I love this paper so much that I've ordered more of it throughout the year.  It's gorgeous!  Now onto the post:

I have a special treat for you today!  This is one of the cards I made using the Paper Temptress's Christmas paper package which is on SALE!!  You can really get a lot of cards out of the package!   I tried a new technique for this card which is called Die Cut Inlay.  The paper I used are: Black Onyz Mica/Metallic, Russo Incandescent and Candido Incandescent for the snowflakes.

 

 I found a video by Jennifer McGuire here: Die Inlay It's a fun technique and I think I did pretty well considering this was my first try at it.  I had to work with a LOT of small pieces because I chose snowflakes... which have a lot of small pieces.  hehe!

First, you need to choose your background paper and the inlay paper.  You need to decide where you want the inlay pieces (snowflakes) to be on the background paper.   I placed the snowflake dies on top of the black Onyz background, taped them into place and ran it through my die cutting machine. (pictured below - you can see the black snowflakes top left of the image and the black background cut out just below.)  You then need to cut the same pieces (in my case - the snowflakes) out of the contrasting (inlay) paper also shown below:

 

Be sure to save all the little pieces - you'll need them!  Next you will adhere your background paper to the card and then start filling in the white spaces.  It's just like a puzzle.  You need to be sure to fit the snowflakes and the tiny pieces in where they fit.  You'll need to dot liquid glue to the backs of the pieces.  My favorite glue is Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue found in most craft stores.  The smaller bottle has a fine tip so you can easily manage how much glue comes out.  Try not to get glue on the background paper or on the top of the snowflakes.  I use tweezers to pick up the pieces and place them onto the card.

You can see that parts of a couple of snowflakes hang over the edge.  Carefully cut off the excess for a professional look.  You can see in the photo below how the card is one layer.  I added 1/2 pearls to the snowflakes to give them an elegant look.

I added a sentiment for the finishing touch.  I just LOVE how the Black Onyz shines in the light.

Thank you for stopping by!  This was a fun card to make even if it was kind of time-consuming.  But once I started putting the "puzzle" together, it was fun and went quickly!  If you try this technique of Die Cut Inlay, please let me know!  I'd love to see it!  

The Good Stuff:

Snowflake dies: Lifestyle Crafts - Snowflakes / Spellbinders - Create A Flake One / Sentiment stamp - Stampin Up - Angelic Joy (no longer available) / Spellbinders dies: Fancy Framed Tags Two & Labels Twenty

Butterflies Everywhere! *mini tutorial included

I am making a butterfly mobile for a precious special needs little girl.  She loves bright colors and butterflies so I've been making them like crazy!  These are a fair amount of work so it's taking me more time than I originally wanted to take but I'm sure she will love it when I finally get finished with it.

I will post another day when I actually have the mobile done but for now, enjoy these butterflies!

I used black Onyz for the outline of the butterflies.  I explain that process below.  As you can see in these photos, I shaped the butterflies so that they would be 3-dimensional.  Once they're hanging from the mobile they should look like they are flying.

I ran the butterfly dies through my Big Shot using the Onyz paper  and all the little pieces came out as you can see on the right side of the photo.  I used Heavenly White paper for the background of the butterfly and colored it using copics.  I placed the black outline on top of the white paper and colored in the individual sections.  I then took the black outline off and expanded the coloring a bit so that if I didn't glue the outline exactly where I originally had it, it would still look ok.

When gluing the black outline on top of the colored butterfly cut-out, it's important to shape the card as you glue the together.  If you wait until the glue dries then the paper won't bend right.  The Onyz paper  is a nice, thick and sturdy paper.  When you glue it to the other paper it holds that shape nicely.  I colored both sides of the white butterfly paper so that it is colorful from any angle.  So... I cut out another black outline and glued it to the back.  The front of this butterfly is below.

  

Here is another butterfly using pink, blue and purple copics.  The thick outline of this set made it much easier to glue than the thin outline above - but I like the look of both.

This is the back of this butterfly with it face-down.  You can see how I colored this side and added the 2nd black outline.  You can also see that it's shaped and not flat.

Here it is right-side up.

This is one of my favorite butterflies.  I enjoyed coloring different colors in the outer circle cut-outs on the wings.

Below are the smallest and largest butterflies.  The smallest one is about 1 1/2" wide and the large one is about 3 1/2" wide.  They would be a bit wider if they weren't bent and shaped.  The orange area of the large butterfly has two shades of orange.  I thought it made a dramatic effect if I feathered the darker color on top of the light.

I plan to put pearls or other "bling" onto the butterfly bodies after I get them hanging on the mobile.  I'll be sure to glue them on good so they don't fall off!

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you have a wonderful & creative weekend!

The butterfly dies that I used are Spellbinders and Memory Box dies.

Floral Garden with tutorial

I thought it would be fun to do a 'Blast from the Past' that uses several of the yummy paper that are on sale at PaperTemptress.com.  The gorgeous Lustre Paperline is on sale for 25% off  and the Hambly Studio is on sale at a 50% discount!  Be sure to check out the rest of PaperTemptress's monthly specials on the new Sales page.

I first started off with a teal cardstock and dark brown cardstock from the Basis pack and a Hambly overlay.  There are a LOT of Hambly overlays and Screenprints available at the store,in fact,Patricia has cut them down to 6×6 sheets and is selling them in sets. They are on sale too!

I used a floral die from Stampin up to make a window for the overlay to show through.  I then layered them and adhered them to the front of a card.

Next I took these beautiful purple and pink vellum ,white Smoothie Silver Lustre and Emerald Mica.

I took my Martha Stewart punches and just started having fun punching them out.  (the punches I used are pictured at the end of this post.)  I then took my flower making kit (by Punch Bunch) and took out the embossing tool (with the round metal ball at the end.)    

On a floral moulding mat I first turned the flower upside down and embossed the petals by gently rolling the ball in a circular motion.  Once all the petals are shaped in upward cups I turned the flower rightside up and gently embossed the center of the flower.  Below you can see two white flowers that are embossed and the one at the bottom still needs the center embossed.

  

Here’s a look at the flowers close up.  I dabbed liquid pearls in the centers.  The large flower in the center was stamped with versa mark ink and heat embossed with detail white embossing powder.

 

And the top corner:

I added some “shininess”to the overlay by putting some Viva Pearl Pen (Magic Transparent Blue).  It was really hard to photograph because the overlay reflects the light so much but I think the photo below captures it the best.

Here’s the card with the Martha Stewart punches I used.  

Here's some of the other supplies I used for this card.

Thank you for coming by!   I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather and have a great weekend!

Butterfly Clip & a Tutorial

I have a little tutorial for you today.    I made a butterfly and attached it to a clip so that it could be clipped anywhere you like!

 

First I cut out 2 of the Memory Box Willoughby Butterfly die out of  Anthracite paper.  I cut the  Memory Box Asti Butterfly out of X-Press It found in the Copic Sampler Pack.   I laid the cutout on top of the white and colored it in with copics.  I flipped over the white paper and colored in the back side too.  I then glued the outline on top of the X-Press It and shaped it before the glue dried.

I took the 2nd butterfly outline and with fishing wire tired it to a small clip.  This is what it looked like on the top of the clip.

And this is what it looks like inside the clip.

After the black butterfly outline is attached to the clip I glued it to the underside of the butterfly. 

 Here is what the underside of the clip looks like...

Here's the back of the butterfly once it's clipped to a paper.

I added some diamond Stickles to the wings and some bling to the center.  I think it's just what the butterfly needed!  You can also see how the wings are shaped in the following photo.  

And here's the front again:

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial.  Since this butterfly is made of paper you would need to be sure and not get it wet but it would be fun to clip to a gift package, onto a card or anywhere you would like a little butterfly clip.

Thank you for stopping by!