Hello there crafty friend!
Sometimes the sweetest cards are the simplest ones! Today's card combines a few easy techniques—soft ink blending, bold butterfly silhouettes, and playful dashed flight paths—to create a clean and cheerful design that's perfect for sending a quick hello.
I love how the butterflies seem to flutter from square to square, almost dancing across the card front before landing beside the sentiment, "Flying By to Say Hi." It's a reminder that a handmade card doesn't need lots of layers or embellishments to make someone's day—sometimes a simple "thinking of you" is all it takes.
This card was also created as inspiration for Kat Scrappiness's Monthly Card Challenge! This month's challenge uses a specific color palette and the colors are bright and cheery. Head on over to Kat Scrappiness Facebook page or here on the blog page for more details! We can't wait to see how you incorporated the color palette in your cards!
So grab your inks and let your creativity take flight with this bright and breezy butterfly card!
Here is the card I will be discussing in detail below:
For this card, I used just the silhouette stamps instead of the other layered stamps for adding detail to the butterflies. It's a technique that I've never tried before and thought I'd give it a go! I also used masking paper and masking strips but if you don't have them, don't worry, you can use a sheet of photocopy paper instead - you would just need to secure them down to your card panel with low tack tape.
To create this card, you will need the following products from Kat Scrappiness:
Kat's Essential Card Builder Craft Dies 3
Bubble Bath Dual Color Pearl Mix
Kat's Color Studio - Premium Cardstock - Smooth Bright White 120 lb
Kat's Color Studio - Premium Cardstock - Assortment Pack (you will be using the dark blue called Nightfall)
Blending Brushes - 1/2" Stencil & Ink Soft Blending Brushes or Hero Arts Extra Large Ink Blending Brush
White Crystal Dual Ended Embellishment Pick Up & Die Poker Tool
In addition, you will need the following additional supplies:
Die cutting machine
Ink pads in colors: black, medium pink, dark pink, light blue, and teal (Catherine Pooler Designs Premium Dye Ink)
Masking Paper and Masking Strips such as Spellbinders Masking Sheets
Stamp positioner or stamping blocks
Ok, have everything you need? Great, let's get to work!
Step #1 - Background
Take a piece of Spellbinders Masking Sheets or photocopy paper and die cut that using the Kat's Essential Builder Craft Die 3. Keep the squares that were die cut for a future project.
Trim a piece of white cardstock to an A2 sized panel (4 1/4" by 5 1/2").
Remove the backing of the masked die cut and place that onto your white card panel. To help line it up, use either your score board or stamp positioner. The corners will help ensure that the masking paper is lined up evenly. If you are using photocopy paper, lay the card panel onto your work surface or stamp positioner and use low tack tape to secure the masked die cut onto the panel.
You will notice that the builder die has stitching all the way around. To avoid ink bleeding through to the panel when ink blending, cut another piece of masking sheet into strips about the same size as the builder craft die and cover over the stitch lines. You can see in the picture below, I have mine placed in my stamp positioner. Alternatively, you can use Post Its and place them around the squares. Just be careful that the ink doesn't bleed through them.
Step #2 - Ink Blending
Using your blending brush, ink blend from one corner of one square up to the opposite corner using any of your four colors. Continue with the other three squares until you have finished the panel. (Hint: I used Post It's around the squares when I was ink blending to avoid ink blending into the other squares.) Yeah, it looks a little messy but it will be perfect when the ink has smoothed out and the masking strips are removed.
Step #3 - Silhouette butterflies
Place the three butterflies from the Fluttering By Stamp Set onto your panel in three of the squares. Stamp them using black ink. Repeat as necessary to try to get as close to the masked edges as possible to avoid gaps. Do the same with the flight path stamp and the 'Flying By to Say Hi' sentiment from the Sweet Tweets Sentiment Stamps. When the ink is dry, go ahead and carefully remove the masking strips. It's easier if you start removing the strips with the last one that was applied.
Fluttering By Stamp Set also has coordinating dies to die cut the butterflies.
Step #4 - Card Base
Cut the Nightfall cardstock to either a side folding or top folding card base.
Step #5 - Adhere panel and embellishments
Trim your butterfly panel just a little bit off each side so that the Nightfall cardstock gives a nice border all around.
Add liquid adhesive to the back of your card panel and adhere that to your card base.
Add three Bubble Bath Dual Color Pearl Mix onto each of the four squares using your White Crystal Dual Ended Embellishment Pick Up & Die Poker Tool and liquid adhesive. These pearls are so pretty and perfect for this card as one half is light pink and the other half is light blue.
And that completes the card!
I hope you like this simple, yet fun technique card.
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Thank you for stopping by and happy crafting!
Crafty Bo
