Silver Embossed Butterfly

The idea for this card came to me whilst I was mulling over the current Muse challenge as well as the Butterfly Spot Challenge (edit – where it was picked for the top 3)which is Q for Quotes and Quick Silver. I’m also entering it to Perfectly Created Chaos‘s heat embossing challenge, Addicted to Stamps and More‘s CAS challenge, Allsorts Challenge‘s feature a creature, The Sisterhood of Crafters‘ challenge to feature anything that flies, and Simon Says Stamp Monday‘s challenge to include some sparkle.

I started by creating the background pattern which is directly on my card base. I started by stamping the large swirl from TCP’s Polar Holiday stamp set using an embossing ink. I stamped it several times, applying silver embossing powder in between so that I could see where I’d stamped, then filled in some of the gaps with the smaller swirl. I then used my heat gun to melt the embossing powder. I was very happy with how the background turned out!

Next I worked on my focal panel. I cut a piece of white card down to size and ran it through my Big Shot using a butterfly die. After popping it out of the die I put all the little negative pieces into a pot and set it aside. I then carefully coated the butterfly with embossing ink and the same silver embossing powder before heat embossing it. I repeated the process a couple of times until I was happy with the coating. Actually I didn’t use the ink every time, as it was possible to just dip the butterfly back in the powder whilst it was still slightly warm in order to pick up some more on it.

I’ll be honest, embossing it was pretty difficult because I don’t have any tool suitable for holding it whilst it is being heated, so I kept nearly burning my fingers with the heat gun… Which is partly why the body of the butterfly isn’t as coated as I would have liked.

With the butterfly completed I decided I wanted to add some silver around the edge of the white panel. I ran my ink pad around the edge, added the powder and melted it. It didn’t make as thick of a line as I would have liked… I probably should have gone back and added some more!

I positioned the panel onto the card front where I wanted it, then glued the butterfly in place. I then glued the panel, using the butterfly as a guide for positioning. Next I needed to inlay the negative pieces that I had saved. The pieces are very small so I made myself a make shift pick up tool by putting some Tombow Multi Mono Liquid glue onto the end of a cocktail stick and waiting for it to dry, at which point it was sticky but would not stick to the paper permenantly. I then used the little tool to pick up the pieces and press them into place. Initially I was using more Tombow to glue those pieces in place but I switched to glossy accents as it has a finer application tip and was easier to get into the small space.

Finally I wanted to add my sentiment. I had a look through different quotes online to try and find something suitable. I had the thought in mind that this card is perhaps suitable for a wedding card, and considered that as I searched. There were many lovely quotes but I decided to stay simple and go for Butterfly Kisses, in part because that would be easy to add to the card! I used Lawn Fawn’s Jessie’s ABCs, because that’s the letter set I have. I stamped with embossing ink and heat embossed with the same silver embossing powder. Then the card was done!

I’m really happy with how this turned out.  It’s almost exactly how I’d imagined when the idea came into my head, which is always a good outcome! I’m not too happy with the heat embossing around the edges of the focal panel as I think it almost makes it look as if it is dirty… And I do need to get some other fonts because as much as I like the Jessie’s ABCs I do feel this card would have benefited from a more elegant font. I do love how the background turned out though and can see using it again for other projects!

Love,

Lady Joyful