Crafty Capers: Beautiful Butterflies

Friday, 16 May 2014

Beautiful Butterflies

Here is another great post from the Couture Creations blog.

It has great techniques in it and you will be able to include these techniques in your own projects.

Framed Butterflies By Lauren Tomecek

I'm not normally one for creating purely decorative pieces without any photos at all, but when I saw the Beautiful Butterfly die in my Couture Creations DT kit I just knew I had to create a feature piece with it. Once again, the Damask Delight paper pad was perfect to create a vibrant and fun feel to the piece.

Want to create something similar yourself? Here is how I did it.
Make sure you show off your creation too if you give it a go, either on the blog or the Couture Creations facebook page.

1/ I wanted to create some subtle texture in the background which wouldn't distract from the butterflies so I painted some white gesso through a template and then spritzed it with a mist to create a golden shimmer.

2/ Put the background piece aside to dry and die-cut a minimum of 25 butterflies using the Beautiful Butterfly die from The Van Roe collection. I say minimum because I ended up doubling up some of mine for added dimension so I cut 30 in total. They will get harder to remove from the die as you go, if you find them getting too difficult, use the Quick Release Die Paper.

3/ To help the butterflies pop from the background I inked the outside edges of every butterfly with black ink.

4/ Play around with the butterflies until you have a combination of positions you are happy with.

5/ Decorate your butterflies:

a/ Punch out 5 scalloped circles and place these behind random butterflies. Attach the butterfly to the circle using foam tape for added dimension.

b/ Pick 5 butterflies to double up on. Adhere them using mini glue dots and bend up both sets of wings.

c/ Add a small button to the centre of 5 butterflies. Add three pearls in decreasing size down the body under the buttons.

d/ Run a line of Glitzin Glamour down the bodies of each butterfly except for the buttoned ones.

6/ Adhere the butterflies to the page using mini glue dots (they are the perfect size to place right in the middle of each die-cut). I found it easier to fold the wings up before placing the butterfly on the paper. I also started with the butterfly in the exact middle of the page and worked my way out from there to keep them all evenly spaced. If you want to add a quote to the bottom make sure you consider your spacing accordingly.

7/ Run some lace along the top and bottom of the page. This helps balance out the rectangular shape of the butterfly die on the square page.

8/ Print your quote, cut it into a banner shape, ink the edges, add gems to the edges. Adhere to the page using foam tape to lift it up.

10/ Pop the layout into a frame with the glass removed so all the wings can stay raised. Alternatively, use one of the Boutique Scrapbooking Frames shadow boxes to keep the dimension and protect the project. Wish I had some of these. :)