Quick & Easy Butterfly die cut cards

As promised yesterday, here is the blog post on the Butterfly cards.
 I saw a You Tube video a couple of nights ago making these cards, and I'm sorry but I forgot to make a note of the name of the crafter, and trying to search You Tube using key words brought up masses of similar cards!
 The lady used plain vellum behind the Butterfly, and added colour using markers.
But it reminded me I have some vellum sheets that are multicoloured, and thought I'd use up some scraps to do these.
 You could also use plain vellum and blend ink over it, or I reckon you could also use acetate and Alcohol inks, or Alcohol markers.
 The Butterfly die is a Tim Holtz/Sizzix Thinlets set:



















 You get the base Butterfly, and the Wings overlay, which is the part used to cut out the cards.
Base are the top pair, overlay is the bottom ones.

The card bases themselves are White Pearl cardstock,topfold, and made by cutting an A4 sheet in half lengthways. It's better to use white as a base, as darker card will not show the pattern on the vellum very well.

4 pieces of black cardstock for the fronts, I've used two Black Linen card, and two plain card so I can run them through an embossing folder. They are trimmed to leave around a 1/4" border all round.

 The two folders I chose are a Cuttlebug one, called Forest Branches, and the stone wall effect one was bought at a Craft fair, and I have no idea of the brand!

Both are slightly too small to fill the card front in one go- I think they made them based on the standard US card sizes, thank heaven they are getting larger these days!



Anyway, there is a way to resolve this without leaving a harsh line where you joined it.
I ran the Forest Branches through the 'Bug, and as you can see it doesn't quite extend all the way to the bottom.
 Now, for the fix.
 Line up your cardstock so it extends out of the bottom of the folder,and allowing the pattern to continue down.  Like so:

Now, lay your top plate in place, BUT line up the edge of the B plate with the very edge of the Embossing Folder, not past it. This looks odd in my picture, but that's because the B plate is a bit warped.😀
 Now run through the machine again.





Result- a completely embossed piece, with no lines.



After both were embossed I started cutting out the four butterflies.

Also, be careful where you place the cut out. You'll need to add DST/tape runner later to matt the panel onto the card, and if it  goes behind the vellum on the wings it will show. You can see bottom right I cut that one a bit close, so had to trim down a strip of tape for that bit.


Now for the vellum.



Having a look through my stash, I found these oddments.
Hard to believe how much vellum was a 'thing' back in the day. Rarely see it used now except for Parchment work.








 I cut the vellum down to fit behind the butterfly cut out.

Used a Stix2 tape runner to attach it to the back.
It's a good idea to mark the top of the vellum, so you get the pattern you wanted.

Vellum all stuck down, ready to add the butterfly bodies.


I also cut out the bodies of the butterflies using scraps of glitter paper/card. You can skip this, or add Stickles/Pearls to the bodies.









Trimmed them to shape, and added to the body with Glossy Accents.












 

 The next step was to fold up the wings slightly either side of the body, then attach to the respective panel with glue dots.

The panels added to the card base with DST.



Now for a sentiment. I chose some Text dies from Crealies.  
They are only small, so ideal for smaller cards. And not expensive either.













I went with Birthday, Sympathy and Get Well, and cut each sentiment 3 times, so I could layer them up for some dimension. I cut them from the same white pearl card as the bases.


I layered them up with Glossy Accents, and put an acrylic block on top to make sure they stuck well.
 While those were sticking, I stamped inserts for the card.
 The sentiments are from Phill Martin sets, Feel Better Soon and So Sorry for you loss from a set called Mini Baroque Occasions Sentiments, and Very Happy Birthday from the Butterfly Elegance set.
 I added some random small butterflies of unknown origin to the edges, all stamped In Versafine Majestic Blue.

 The sentiments were added using Glossy Accents again, and this was when I realised I hadn't actually kept the dot from the 'i' in Birthday.
Rectified that with a clear acrylic gem, from a pack of Anitas 2mm stones.

Mothers Day cards,with Mixed Media dies.

Two cards made, using patterned papers, peel offs and a die set called 'Delicate Asters', from Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders.










The set has 4 different sizes of flower, along with some centres and a leafy branch. I'll be honest, I've had this a while, but my early attempts with it were a nightmare for cutting. Getting all the flowers to cut cleanly was impossible, I had to resort each time to cutting each layer individually, which, if you want a few is incredibly time consuming. However, I recently bought a Precision Base Plate for the Big Shot, which I can use in my BSPro, and that does make a difference. As does trying to line up the dies to go through at the edge of the machine, rather than the centre.
 Word of warning, apparently over time the Plate can cause damage to the dies, so it's one to be used sparingly.
Back to the cards. I'd picked out some 7"x7" deckle edged cards that I got at Happy Stampers, and a couple of A4 sheets of white card to trim down to fit.
I'd been tossing around in my head a design for the cards, fairly simple to do, but look really lovely.
 Next came a hunt through the patterned papers- not for the faint hearted, I assure you. Finally settled on this one, which comes from a Dovecraft pad,called Amethyst Floral Prints with  designs by Kate Knight,which is quite an oldie, but is still available, certainly  on E-Bay. My pack is 8"x8", but it also comes in 12"x12".
Slight jump in the pictures here, I forgot to photograph the die cut stage! I used Tim Holtz Mixed Media die set #2, and cut this from the top left corner. I cut the paper sheet into 2 triangles, and trimmed them down to fit neatly.

 Next job was to find something to back the die cut with, and after rejecting patterned papers as being too 'busy', I decided on a Fuchsia coloured glitter paper.
 This was going to need a wet glue to attach, and my wet glue of choice is silicone glue, or Pinflair Glue Gel.
 The other point that would need to be addressed is that die cutting those MM dies does result in distinct warping of the cardstock, which meant I needed to apply glue to areas of the design, not just around the edges.
 I sorted that by using a small paintbrush to get into some of the finer detail areas.



 I worked on top of the glass mat, as it meant I could keep lifting the cardstock, and wiping off any glue that may have spread through the design.

  A little longer than a couple of strips of tape, but does a better job. Now it needing laying down with some weight on the top to make it set 
flat.


















While this was drying, I moved on to the flowers.

I cut some in a pale lilac pearl paper, some in white and some in a white vellum.

 I only used three of the four flower sizes to build them up this time.

I shaped them using a ball stylus, my pokey tool and a foam mat.

Stacked up using Ranger Glossy Accents, and seed pearls/ seed beads added to the centres, also with Glossy Accents.

 A few hours later, and the silicone glue has dried, and they are nice and flat.
 Here I added some peel off strips across the edges to finish them off neatly.

Foam tape on the back to give the panel a little dimension and support.

The flowers positioned on the patterned paper - they look similar to the paper, which gave the idea to use them.

A peel off Happy Mothers Day sentiment was added just below the flowers.

Honey Doo BIrthday Cards #2

Delving into my stack of images, and this one is up next. The stamp is called Falling Flowers, and I stamped this one in Versafine Onyx Black, and heat embossed with Stampendous Crystal Embossing Powder.
 The image was stamped and embossed again onto Black vellum, so I could cut out the flowers.
 I die cut the image using the largest die from Presscuts Scalloped Rectangle set.Matted it onto black paper, then onto a 7" square scalloped card base.
 I added a Sue Wilson Lattice ribbon & bow to the side, and a small peel off sentiment.
 A few acrylic gems were added to the spots on the design, along with some Black Diamond & Crystal Stickles for the centres of the flowers.


Second  card in this set is this gold one:

The stamp is called Butterflies & Flowers Large Corner, from Honey Doo again. This was stamped in Encore Metallic Gold, and heat embossed with a WOW Embossing Powder called Jingle Bells. Stamped as well onto Gold vellum, and I cut out the butterflies as well as the flowers. When I attached the butterflies, I cut away the rear wing, and placed them over the stamped version using a blob of Pinflair Silicone Glue for dimension. The flowers have gold mixed seed bead centres.
 I matted the image onto Gold glitter card, and repeated that with a smaller piece for the sentiment.

Honey Doo Cards #2

The second half of the batch started the other day.

   No step by step, as I covered that in the post HERE.  The only slight difference is the Black & White card, which uses a different stamp-called 'Butterflies & Flowers Large Corner.'

 The sentiment is Scribbled sentiments from Phill Martin, and two sets of black half pearls were added for balance.
 All three panels fit onto an A4 folded cardstock base.

This blue one has a Ribbon & Bow die cut, Filligree Bow along the bottom, and to balance, a Phill Martin Decadant Damask Sentiment matted along the top. I masked off the Damask centrepiece again.

Finally, the Plum coloured one, and again another Ribbon & Bow die cut, this time Lattice. I left the Plum coloured cardstock matt a little longer than the image, and added the ribbon on top.
 In each case, I've added a few half pearls to some of the circles of the design.

Visible Image Birthday Card for a Guitarist/Music Fan

 Quite quick and simple, and in basic black and white, which I always love working in.
 The 7x7" base card was covered in some music print vellum, and attached in the four corners with star brads.



Next off, the guitarist from Visible Images 'Rock Out' set was stamped in Archival Black, onto a piece of white card. I trimmed this down to about two thirds of the width of the card front, then matted it onto some black card.

 The Guitar, Music Speaks,  I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black. I wanted to heat emboss this, so before inking my stamp with the Versafine, I inked it with Versamark. Then when the Versafine goes on top, it stays wet long enough to heat emboss.



 I embossed it with clear detail powder, then trimmed it to be slightly longer than the Guitarist panel and matted it onto black again.

 The Guitarist panel went onto the front of the card,after I'd stamped the greeting, from Go To Words Set 1 alongside it.
 I added the guitar panel to the left over the top of the first panel.


Stamps:
 All Visible Image:
Rock Out set
Music Speaks
Go To Words set 1
Versafine Onyx Black
Archival Black
Versamark.
Clear Detail E.P.
Backing paper.
Black card
White card.
























This version of the card I made for Dougs birthday. The Guitar in this case is a stamp from a company called Dimension, who used to be Dimension Fourth. It's much more an outline stamp, and I coloured it in using  Distress Markers, then threw Clear Detail EP over it. The sentiment on here is from a Phill Martin set,Scribbled Sentiment Corners. The panels in this card were matted onto dark red, then black card.


I'm going to add here a discovery I made whilst writing these posts, quite accidentaly. I double clicked on a picture, and the standard 'free transform' box came up around it. Don't know how long that feature has been there, but loving being able to change the image size without being restricted to the small medium large option we've always had.

NOEL

Well, these cards are not exactly how I intended to make them, I had a number of embellishments to add, but once I'd attached the glittered NOEL to the front, adding anything else seemed like overkill.



Two colourways, one red, one green, both going really well with the chosen background.








This was a Kay & Co vellum I bought quite a few years ago now, I think it was being retired- don't you just love how 'retired' has replaced 'discontinued'? Anyway, it's a very thick embossed vellum, and is gorgeous. I think I bought half a dozen sheets and decided it was about time I used some, instead of hoarding it. Isn't it funny how we do that? Buy something really nice, then save it 'for a special project'.

This is what it looks like as a full sheet, the NOEL and the reindeer are embossed, as well as the holly and a few other bits.







The NOEL die cuts I did from chipboard weight cardboard,this was covered in PVA glue and sprinkled with glitter. I gave the glitter plenty of time to settle, then patted it down well.

They were left to dry thoroughly for a few days, then I covered the fronts of four  6"x6" card bases with the embossed vellum.

I sponged some Walnut Stain DI around the edges, and built it up a little in the corners.

 To attach the NOEL to the card front I used foam dots.

 


 This was the point I realised adding anything else in the way of embellishments was going to go horribly wrong, but I realised it did still need something, just not too much.




For the greeting, I turned again to my Peel-offs, and coloured two with a red marker, and two green.

I had a browse in my ribbons, and sure enough, there was a green that matched nicely, with some gold woven through it. So, the peel off went on the right hand side, and the ribbon was wrapped around the front next to the spine, and the ends overlapped inside with a glue dot.
 By some stroke of luck, and I'm guessing I bought these ribbons with Christmas in mind, I had a red ribbon of the same pattern.

So, job done.