Make a Beautiful 3D Butterfly for Your Handmade Greeting Card

Happy Friday morning!
Today I have a greeting card made from the gorgeous Kirby Teesdale Paper Pack by The Paper Studio and Core'dinations Cards and Envelopes set. I have also included, a short tutorial to show how to make the 3D butterfly, and a materials list so that you can make your own card, but first things first.
Hope everyone is warm. It's freezing here in Western Pennsylvania and my furnace hasn't stopped running. Although, I have really enjoyed the beautiful snowflakes floating past my windows. Just as long as I don't have to go out into the snow, I can appreciate how lovely it looks. 
Speaking of looking lovely, below is paper that I will be adding to my "All-Time Favorite Papers" list. The colors are very soft and the designs are beautiful. I love the look of the paper so much that I wanted to bring an element of it to life. 

Card measures 5.5in x 5.5in and is decorated with paper from
Paper Studio's Kirby Teesdale Paper Pack

Matching paper was added to the inside of the envelope. The paper goes about half way down the inside and is only adhered at the top. Anything more is not necessary. I used a corner rounding punch and placed the top edge of the paper just under the glue strip of the envelope.

To give the white cardstock and sentiment a little color I lightly sponged them with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in the colors Victorian Velvet and Tea Dye. Glossy Accents was used on the sentiment and on both large butterflies to further accentuate them.

Adhering a three dimensional butterfly and a swirl of adhesive pearls was the last touch.

Materials List

Kirby Teesdale Paper Pack by the Paper Studio

Core'dinations White, Smooth, Square Cards and Envelopes sets

Tools List

Paper-cutter

X-Acto Knife

Adhesive

Black Sharpie (fine tip) 

Sizzix Thinlits Sentiments (660218)

Martha Stewart corner rounding punch

Glossy Accents

Card Assembly

White base card (5.5in x 5.5in)

Pink mat (Just 1/8 of an inch bigger than the front of the card)

Front of card (5.25in x 5.25in)

Instructions for Butterfly (This is your last step when making this card)

1) Use an X-Acto knife to cut out the same butterfly from another sheet of paper. You'll want to be careful to keep the butterfly's head intact, but there is no need to cut out the antenna. Just leave them behind.

2) I decided to draw over the black lines of the butterfly's wings with a black Sharpie marker to make the lines darker and stand out more.

3) Keeping the body of your butterfly flat, bend the wings into the shape that you would like them to be in when your card is finished. 

4) Now flatten out the wings a little bit so you can put your Glossy Accents on without it sliding off the wings. Bending the wings now will make it easier to move and shape them once the Glossy Accents is dry.

5) When the butterfly is completely dry go ahead and very gently shape the wings. Be careful not to crack the shiny coat by bending them too much.

6) Place adhesive only on the butterfly's body and adhere it right on top of the same butterfly that is on the front of your finished card. 

That's it!

NOTE: There is another way to achieve the 3D look. Before assembling your card, just cut around the wings of the butterfly you want to stand out. Then shape the wings and add Glossy Accents. No need for a second butterfly. Here is a card that I did using that technique.

You can find this card here.

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by. Stop back again for new projects!

How To Get More Out of Your Cutting Dies: Looking for Usable Shapes in Die-cuts

Hello crafty friends!
Today I'm sharing something I was messing around with recently. I decided to take one of my fancy die-cuts to see what I could do with it and below are a few of the things I discovered. 
I found a really cute flower among this design. You can also use this particular shaped piece to make wings for a dragonfly, leaves, a cross, etc.

Cut the corner designs away and you have a beautiful butterfly or corner designs for any shape card. Turn one corner upright and you have a crown. Turn it upside down and you have the entire body, hands and feet of a Christmas Caroler (just add a head). Remember you can always cut little pieces off to get a more specific shape. Place a doily or another piece over it and have it as a pretty background filler. Those little loops in the middle of the die-cut could be the trail of a bee.

I found that even your odd shapes can have many purposes. In fact when you look at the photo below on the left, imagine the corner brackets I made as scary pumpkin eyes. 

For one of my recent cards I used a piece of my die-cut just to make the corner of my card a little more interesting. 

So grab a die-cut and start seeing what you can make out of it. 

I used the Cricut Cuttlebug Flourish Emblem die
If you like this you might like these...

How to Get More Out of the Cutting Dies You Already Own: Making an Assymetrical Die-cut, Symetrical

How to Make Die Cuts a Different Shape to Match Your Image

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by :)

Handmade Valentine's Day Gift Tag: Love with Hearts and Butterflies

Hello crafty friends!
My project today was inspired by Giorgia's January Challenge over at Sketches4All. Her challenge is to make ANY kind of paper project and include at least one heart. I decided to make a gift tag and although I wasn't sure how I was going to go about it at first, I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. 

1. I used a #8 sized Inkssentials manila tag and wanted to leave some of the original color showing through so I did not cover it with anything.

2. Then before I used the embossing folders I took die-cuts and pieces of die-cut swirls and designs and used them as masks.
 
3. Once I lightly applied my first coat of ink over swirls I placed my butterflies over the background and use my ink over them too. 

By using the same ink in increments and lightly each time I was able to build depth into my tag without using any other colors or adding anything to my tag, such as embellishments.

4. After I finished my background and stamped my sentiment with a clear stamp I used my heart embossing folders.

5. To make the hearts stand out more I sponged a little more ink on them while being careful not to hit the tag with my sponge too much.

6. To complete my project I added a tie and bow.

Supplies List

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Valentine's Day Card: Brown and Blue Masculine Old-West Valentine

Hello crafty friends! Today I'm sharing a card that fulfills one of the challenges over at Sketches4All. I decided to try making a masculine Valentine's Day card with a bit of an old-west feel. The challenge is to use blue and brown and incorporate at least one heart. If you would like to take part in it you can find it here... Fia's January Color Combo

The paper
The light brown and deep brown paper I used for the base of my card as well as the corners is from Core'dinations "Chocolate Lovers" paper pack. The striped paper I used is from the DCWV "The Basics Stack". There are a lot of cute papers in this 6"x 6" tablet.

The sentiment was a breeze to put together.
I just colored a pre-made white paper doily with Rubber Stampede blue ink and cut out a sentiment from the DCWV "The Basics Stack" and adhered it to the heart.

I used the same blue ink to edge my striped paper on all sides.
To dress up the corners of my card  I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to color white cardstock and then used the Spellbinders Moroccan Accents cutting die to make four corner designs.

I decided to use ink instead of just the light brown paper I was already using because I wanted the designs to have a leather look which unfortunately doesn't show well in the photos, but looks great in person.
I then adhered each one to deep brown cardstock and cut them out using decorative edged craft scissors. 

I hope you will join us over at S4All for the challenge.
Have a wonderful day :)
Supplies List

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Valentine's Day Card: Love in Blue and Green

Happy Hump Day friends!
For the remainder of the month I've challenged myself to do as many of the January challenges over at Sketches4All as possible. Inspiration, motivation and direction are wonderful to have and that's exactly what S4All challenges provide. This specific card was made for  Stacy's - Something New or Blue, Card Challenge.

I always like to try and make my own embellishments, but these little cream colored paper roses and green translucent ribbon flowers were just too cute to pass up. 
My card is made up of a 6"x6" base-card with a heart that extends above the top by approximately 1 and 1/4 ".

To make the heart 

I do not have any measurements for this heart because I used a paper heart doily to cut around leaving a margin to make the larger heart. Then I used an extra doily to cut the middle out and use as a template for my smallest sentiment heart. 

• I layered polka-dotted paper and white cardstock that I cut into heart shapes using decorative edge craft scissors. 
• Between those two hearts I placed a paper heart doily.
• I wanted the inner heart to show up so I inked the edge of it with VersaMagic Chalk Ink in Sea Breeze. 
• I used a clear stamp and silver ink to make my sentiment. 
• For the blue decorative edge at the top of my card I used a waste piece from the die-cuts I made for the bottom of my card.

The patterned papers all came from DCWVs "The Basics Stack". I cut them with Spellbinders Card Creator "A2 Bracket Borders One" and then layered them. I used white lace to cover and finish off the upper exposed edge of the paper and I think the lace adds a nice touch.

Supply List

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Birthday Card: Pretty in Pink

Hello everyone! Amidst some recent life challenges I've managed to get back to crafting and make a card. What more can we do but move forward when hit with something and what better way to do it than relaxing with some pretty paper and embellishments. :) I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for this months challenge over at Sketches4All and I was preparing to make a Valentines Day card when I got sidetracked by the floral paper my daughter bought me for Christmas. As soon as I saw the paper, I knew what I wanted my challenge to be and what I wanted to make. I love those moments of inspiration. Now I have a beautiful card to give someone or sell in my shop.

I only have two 6" x 6" sheets of this particular floral paper and want to use it for multiple projects so I used it sparingly as accents on my card.

I don't own an embossing folder to make a lattice background so I used my Martha Stewart Scoring Board to make a lattice look.  I took a 6" x 6" piece of white cardstock and lined up the top left corner and bottom right corner on the 6" line on my scoring board and made lines every inch to the right and left of that center line. Then I turned my cardstock, lining up the top right corner and bottom left corner on the 6" mark and repeated the same process. 
I then cut the cardstock in half, saving the other half for a later project. 

To make my pink dots I dipped a knitting needle into light pink acrylic paint and lightly touched my paper where the scored lines cross.

I made my sentiment using a Sizzix die and white cardstock of which I used ink to color. 
Note: I've only used my phrase die on paper and only about five times and not once has it cleanly cut out the phrase for me. I'm not sure why, but even shimming it and running it through my die cutting machine multiple times before removing the paper has not worked. I end up having to cut my phrase out with an X-acto knife and that does not make me happy at all.

To make the corner a little fancy I lined the underside of the striped paper with the floral paper by just cutting a small triangle and taping it in place. Underneath, I used a piece of a die-cut shape cut from white cardstock.

Aside from a couple of bumps in the road this was an easy card to make and worthwhile.

Materials List American Crafts Dear Lizzy's Polka Dot Party 6x6 inch DCWV The Basics Stack (double sided) 6x6 inch Core'dinations White Cardstock StudioG pigment ink (WM0813) Sizzix Phrase Happy Birthday #3 Spellbinders Die D-Lites Flutters  Jolees Boutique Bling Stickers - Pearl Flower Gems Cricut Cuttlebug Flourish Emblem 2002208 Offray translucent ribbon
Lace Trim Happy crafting and thank you for stopping by!

Greeting Card: Dimensional White Winter

Hello Everyone!   I'm in my craft room happily blogging away and right outside the window there is snow on the ground and believe it or not it's pouring rain. It sounds like a waterfall is hitting the side of the house. The weather has seriously gone mad, but on the bright side that means it warmed up.    The greatest part about crafting today is while the sky has been falling outside, I've been busy soothing my soul inside. I'm so happy that I stumbled upon all those YouTube craft videos a year and one month ago. The television has barely been on since and it's kind of nice to listen to the rain :)   
Tonight is a near-by town's Christmas light-up night, with a parade and refreshments. My daughter loves to go and it is quite the experience to see the entire town suddenly glow from end to end. Let's hope the rain let's up and the temperature stays where it's at.
Does your town have a light-up night?   Today I'm sharing my first ever all white card. Well, almost all white. Every time I see one on Pinterest or someone's blog, I always think they look so pretty, but no matter how many times I've tried to limit myself to just white paper, my card never quite came together for me like it did today.

This time instead of sitting in front of a stack of white cardstock wondering where to start, I got the cutting dies out for some ideas and inspiration. It worked!

 

My favorite part of my card is the window scene. I also love the little fence as this is the first time I used it and it's just adorable. I will definitely be pulling out the dies again for inspiration.

If you are interested in making this card or using part of it with your own ideas, I broke up the instructions below to make them a little easier to reference.

How to make the bird and branch
1. I wanted something a little heavier weight to make my bird stand out so I used chipboard and cut it with my Sizzix, Caged Bird, die.
2. I colored the leafless branch and the bird's feet with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo then coated the entire bird in clear embossing powder that has a little sparkle. The embossing powder is an important step because it seals the ink from bleeding into the paint you'll use in the next step. 

3. I used silver acrylic paint for the birds body and then while it was still wet I mixed in white dimensional paint to add texture.

4. For the pine branch I used an Impression Obsessions die and then painted the branch with dark green acrylic paint.  

5. To make the snow effects, I continued to use the white dimensional paint.

 

How to make the main section of the card

1. Cut one piece of white cardstock 10"w x 7"h.

2. Score at 5" and then fold in half.

3. Cut one piece of white cardstock 5"w x7"h. This is a mat that will make your card a bit more sturdy for all that is going on the front of it.

Step 4 is optional
4. Cut a 4 3/4"w x 6 3/4"h piece of white cardstock and use the EK Success Scroll border punch to make a scroll design on the edges of it. Once I was done I adhered it to my mat. I made step 3 optional because honestly it was a real pain in the neck. You would be much better off using a rectangular Card Creator die for the background if you want more details or you can embossing it. Once you've finished adhere this to your mat.

 

How to make the window

1. Use the largest die from the Spellbinders Card Creator, Reflective Moments die pack. This will be the base of your design.
2. Cut a piece of cardstock that measures 3 1/4" wide x 4 1/2" long. Then emboss with the Darice Snowflake embossing folder and tape into place. This will sit right in the center of your Reflective Moments die cut, over the plain rectangular area.

 3. Cut out your front design using the largest die from the Spellbinders Card Creator, Valiant Honor die pack and place the third largest die from the Spellbinders Standard Circles die pack where you want your window to be, (pictured on left). I taped mine into place with a couple of small pieces of Washi tape to keep the die from moving.

4. Turn your Valiant Honor die-cut over to the back and adhere a rough-cut piece of transparency (bigger than the opening to leave plenty of room for tape or glue) to cover your opening.

5. Once your transparency is taped into position add your bird and pine branch to the back of your window by adhering them just to the outside edges of your circle. I taped my pine branch into place and used a dab of hot glue for the bird since I cut it from chipboard. Make sure you don't have any tape or glue showing through your transparency.

6. Once you have your scene in place, adhere the bird scene portion of your card right over top of your snowflake background and then attach it to your folded card base.
7. Use the Spellbinders Wrought Iron die to make the fence.
To give the card a more dimensional look I just hooked each end of the fence to the sides of the Reflective Moments die-cut. You may choose to glue or tape the fence into place, but I found by just leaving it loose it will flatten out to place in an envelope and can easily be popped back into position when taken out.
8. To finish my card I added ribbon to the edges and some bows.

Walla! You have a card with a window scene :)

  
Supplies

Any clear transparencies will work for the window.

 Thank you for stopping by. If you decide to try making this card, as always I would love to see it. You're welcome to share your link to your project in the comment section :)

Happy Crafting!