I know butterflies are not a traditional image for Valentine’s Day. Well, as you might suspect by now, there’s a story behind this project. Since it is nearly Valentine’s Day…and the story is super romantic, I’ll share it with you here.
My mom and dad were both working as bookkeepers at a trucking company in southern Vermont in 1939. Mom worked the day shift. Dad worked nights. Mom must have caught his eye right away, because of all the available chairs in that office, Dad opted to use hers each night. This meant that every day at shift change, he had to return her chair to her desk. And of course, this gave him the opportunity to say good morning.
Dad was shy. I mean super shy. So he rarely said anything beyond good morning each day. But, he started leaving little gifts for mom on her desk: a pack of her favorite chewing gum, a piece of candy…small tokens of friendship. After almost a YEAR of this delicate courtship dance, Valentine’s Day rolled around. Mom came into work that morning to find an envelope with her name on it. Inside the envelope was a beautiful Valentine’s Day card with…you guessed it…butterflies!
Mom and Dad were finally married on Valentine’s Day 1941. Each year when their anniversary rolled around, Dad gave her a box of chocolates, a packet of chewing gum and a card…and there was always a butterfly on it somewhere!
So now you know why I love butterflies for Valentine’s Day.
Graphic 45: Love Sweet Love Policy Envelope Wallet Tutorial with Nature Sketchbook
Hello, Friends! I’m up on the Graphic 45 blog today where I’m sharing this Love Sweet Love Policy Envelope Wallet Tutorial. It’s just the perfect little gift for Valentine’s Day.
Look at alll the darling little bee images in Nature Sketchbook. I decided to riff off that idea and turn it into a Love Sweet Love theme…complete with a honey spoon! Tea with honey is one of my favorite things!
These metal pieces are painted with Black Soot Distress Paint to match my yellow, black and red color palette. For the keyhole, I let the paint set for about 1 minute, then I wiped off with a barely damp paper towel.
Just as bees love to cluster around the hive, cluster your embellishments around a focal image to create a real visual impact.
Sweet Surprises on the inside
Join two policy envelopes together and what do you get? A really fun wallet/pocket combo. I altered the red policy envelope to create the pocket, and I’ll show you how in the Snapguide tutorial at the end of this post.
The pocket is filled with pretty ephemera cards, a post card and a delicious herbal tea bag to go along with the honey spoon on the front of the wallet.
Don’t you just love these gorgeous images? To create a custom string tie opening, simply glue chipboard buttons on top of the black discs . It adds a great pop of color!
Wanna see what’s in the pocket?
Happy to oblige!
Would you like to know how to make your own Love Sweet Love Policy Envelope Wallet? Then please enjoy this Snapguide Tutorial.
Snapguide: Love Sweet Love Policy Envelope Wallet Tutorial
Gypsy Laser Soul Guest Designer: Steampunk Butterfly Gift Wallet Tutorial
Hello, Friends! I’m having such a good time guest designing for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts this month! Today, I have a Steampunk Butterfly Gift Wallet tutorial to share with you.
I paired some fabulous GSL chippies up with Graphic 45 DIY papers and some elements from Botanicabella. Here’s a supply list for your convenience.
Supply List for Steampunk Butterfly Gift Wallet Tutorial
Two coin envelope flaps were glued together to create a wallet and covered with Graphic 45 DIY paper.
I trimmed down the Mixed Media Fragment squares to fit the height of my envelope, then used it as a stencil for my embossing paste. I then heat embossed the chippie with Aged Black Embossing Enamel. Once the paste on the envelope had dried, I glued the chipboard fragment down with Glossy Accents. I had to use a few hinge clips to hold it in place until it had dried. I threaded buttons and hot glued them in place. The faux metal number plate was tapped with paint, then glued in place.
The wallet has a side flap opening.
Here it is all opened up and decorated with elements from Graphic 45 Botanicabella. I kept everything on the inside “flat” so that the wallet could close with ease.
The left side is a sleeve with a magnetic opening.
It contains a decorated manila tag.
I cut one of the envelope sides off to create a slash pocket, then filled it with pretty postcards. This is a great place to write a personal greeting, mount photos on the reverse side of the post cards or tuck in a gift card.
It’s a really pretty little ensemble.
Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this Steampunk Butterfly Gift Wallet Tutorial. You can find more ideas and inspiration on the GSL BLOG.
Mixed Media Butterfly Card Tutorial for RRR and Canvas Corp Brands
Hello, Friends! I have such a fun mixed media butterfly card tutorial to share with you today! It’s made with the gorgeous new June Ribbon Club Assortmentfrom Really Reasonable Ribbon, fabby mixed media papers from Canvas Corp brands, and some bright and beautiful Petaloo Flowers, too. It’s like a summertime garden party on a card!
I am sooooo in love with these gorgeous ribbons! Here’s a little peek at the entire assortment:
I know….gorgeous, right? Anyway…back to the card! I have a SnapGuide below that will show you step by step how I built this Mixed Media Butterfly card, but first I thought you’d like to see some photos.
The ribbons really were the inspiration for this card. The Sheer Citrus Dots ribbon made me think of summer butterflies, which led to the paper selection. The inky goodness of the Citrus Paint Splatter Ribbon led to the decision to go in a Mixed Media Direction. Oh, what fun!
I added some fun techniques, loads of distressing, texture paint and lots of ink splatters/ The mixed media Wings paper from Canvas Corp Brands was able to hold up to all the many different treatments I added to it. I love this stuff! Adding Petaloo Gerber Daisies and Pistachio Burlap Blossoms really made this card come to life!
I wanted you to see how I was able to use my craft knife to lift those butterfly wings from the mixed media papers. This is one solid image. I did not add the butterfly. Instead, I placed the paper on a piece of glass (from an old picture frame) and traced around the wings with my craft knife, leaving the body connected to the paper. Then I just wet the wings, shaped them with my fingers and heat set them with my heat gun. They held their shape! How amazing is that? I backed the image with some tissue paper, and you can just see that peeking through here.
These papers are from the Ordre du Jour 8×8 pad. The little envelope contains a tag that I’ve topped with more of that sunshiney honeycomb ribbon.. The envelope is just big enough for a gift card or a small treat.
This is from the & Gypsies 8×8 Ordre du Jour papers. This collage is all done for you…which makes my life sooo easy! I just fussy cut a small butterfly from the Mixed Media paper and popped it into the mix.
I prepared a little SnapGuide Tutorial for your viewing pleasure, so you can see how I built up the mixed media papers. Honestly, this stuff is so much fun to work with! I just ordered more so I can spend another happy afternoon in inky bliss! Check out How to Create a Butterfly Garden Mixed Media Card by Kathy Clement on Snapguide.
If you love mixed media, I highly recommend you invite these Mixed Media Origins paper over for a play date. I just ordered a few more to play with myself! hehehehe And, if you still haven’t signed up for the Ribbon Club at RRR, this is a great time to jump in, cuz these ribbons are scrumptious! Just wait til you see what else I have in store for you with these bright citrusy ribbons! Fun times ahead!
If you have any questions about the techniques or processes used in this Mixed Media Butterfly Card tutorial, please don’t be afraid to ask! I’d love to help in any way I can.
Heartfelt Creations Wednesday: Jumbo Poppy Tag Tutorial
Happy Heartfelt Creations Wednesday, my friends! We’re taking another look at the beautiful Blazing Poppy release from Heartfelt Creations. This time, I have a Blazing Poppy Jumbo Tag Tutorial to share with you. I think you are going to like it!
I had a little fun playing with embossing powder on this tag. I used a Ranger Jumbo Black tag as my base. The Poppy Border and Filler stamps were done in white pigment ink, then heat embossed with superfine white embossing powder. Then, I stitched the black tag to a red cardstock base. Here, I used Scattered Straw Distress Embossing Powder to stamp my poppies onto the same red cardstock. I love the contrast of that yellow embossing powder against the red cardstock! The centers were filled with Prima flower centers and Black Soot Distress Stickles. For my foliage, I used the classic leaf stamp and die.
Here’s a closeup so you can see all the wonderful texture and detail of these gorgeous flowers!
But we’re not done having fun with embossing powder yet! I stamped and die cut 2 of the beautiful Botanical Wings butterflies. One, from cardstock and one from clear cardstock. The beautiful black poppies were stamped onto black cardstock and heat embossed with more of the Scattered Straw Distress Ink. I folded some of the smaller petal layers and tucked them behind my focal sentiment to add extra depth and dimension.
I have a complete supply list and step by step tutorial below so that you can make your own tag if you’d like. These flowers are stunning, whether you go soft and pastel as I did last week, or you go bold and fiery like this week’s project. Have fun playing with Blazing Poppies!
I’m entering this tag in the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create: Anything Goes (optional twist: use your flag colors)
Thanks for stopping by!
Cheerio,
kathy
BLAZING POPPY JUMBO TAG TUTORIAL
Heartfelt Creations Products and Products Carried by HC: HCDP1-255 Blazing Poppy Paper Collection HCPC 3674 Blazing Poppy Petals Cling Stamp Set HCPC 3675 Poppy Corner and Border Cling Stamp Set HCPC 3678 Poppy Fillers Cling Stamp Set HCPC 3652 Botanical Wings Cling Stamp Set HCPC 3546 Classic Leaf Cling Stamp Set HCD 764 Blazing Poppy Die HCD 762 Decorative Oval Die HCD 758 Botanical Wings Die HCD 736 Classic Leaf Die Deluxe Tool Kit Stamp Pad Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel Bridal Embossing Powder Viva Décor Moss Green Metallic Stamp Paint
Other Products: Jumbo Black Tag; SU Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral Cardstock, White, Black Cardstock; Scattered Straw Distress Embossing Powder; Tattered Angels Roses R Red Glimmer Glam, Oriental Poppy Glimmer Mist; Peacock Feathers, Peeled Paint Distress Ink; Versamark; ColorBox Frost White Pigment Ink; Black Soot, Diamond Stickles; Prima Say it in Studs Flower Centers; beads; Cream Seam Binding, Foam Dots.
Directions:
Use white pigment ink to stamp the Poppy Border at the base of the black tag. Stamp the baby’s breath from Poppy Fillers onto the remainder of the tag. Heat emboss with Bridal Embossing Powder. Mat with Poppy Parade Cardstock and sew along the edges.
Stamp two sets of Poppy Petals onto Poppy Parade Cardstock using Versamark Ink. Stamp an additional set onto black cardstock. Heat emboss with Scattered Straw Distress ink. Die cut with the Blazing Poppy Die. Shape with the Deluxe Tool Kit. Spritz the Poppy Parade poppies with Oriental Poppy Glimmer Mist. Paint the black poppy layers with Roses R Red Glimmer Glam. Set the largest layer of the black poppy aside. Stack the remaining flower layers and fill centers with beads or Prima flower centers.
Die cut the Decorative Oval Die from Poppy Parade Cardstock. Glue onto the top third of the tag base.
Stamp the Classic Open Leaf onto white cardstock using Peeled Paint Distress ink. Die cut with the Classic Leaf Die. Sponge with Moss Green Metallic Stamp Paint. Cut into 3 sections.
Fussy cut “You are One in a Million” from the paper collection. Ink with Versamark and heat emboss with UTEE. When cooled, crack slightly. Place foam dots in the center and attach to the center of the Decorative Oval Die.
Stamp two large butterflies from Botanical Wings onto designer paper using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. Heat emboss with Bridal EP. Die cut and spritz very lightly with Oriental Poppy. Shape the wings and glue the two bodies together to form a dimensional butterfly. Glue onto card base as shown. Add Black Soot Stickles to the Butterfly Body and Diamond Stickles to the butterfly wings.
Cut the largest black poppy petal into 2 pieces and pinch pleat the petals. Use hot glue to secure beneath the tag focal, as shown. Add the black poppy to the top of the fussy cut image, as shown. Tuck a small piece of the Classic Leaf behind it. Arrange the other flowers and leaves on the tag as shown.
Dye the seam binding by spritzing it with Oriental Poppy Glimmer Mist. Scrunch together and let dry, or dry carefully with a heat gun. Smoosh Peacock Feathers Distress Ink onto a non porous surface and spritz with water. Randomly tap the seam binding into the puddle, scrunch and dry. Use to create the top streamers and bow on the tag.
I know butterflies are not a traditional image for Valentine’s Day. Well, as you might suspect by now, there’s a story behind this project. Since it is nearly Valentine’s Day…and the story is super romantic, I’ll share it with you here.
My mom and dad were both working as bookkeepers at a trucking company in southern Vermont in 1939. Mom worked the day shift. Dad worked nights. Mom must have caught his eye right away, because of all the available chairs in that office, Dad opted to use hers each night. This meant that every day at shift change, he had to return her chair to her desk. And of course, this gave him the opportunity to say good morning.
Dad was shy. I mean super shy. So he rarely said anything beyond good morning each day. But, he started leaving little gifts for mom on her desk: a pack of her favorite chewing gum, a piece of candy…small tokens of friendship. After almost a YEAR of this delicate courtship dance, Valentine’s Day rolled around. Mom came into work that morning to find an envelope with her name on it. Inside the envelope was a beautiful Valentine’s Day card with…you guessed it…butterflies!
Mom and Dad were finally married on Valentine’s Day 1941. Each year when their anniversary rolled around, Dad gave her a box of chocolates, a packet of chewing gum and a card…and there was always a butterfly on it somewhere!
