Happy New Year!

 Welcome to the new decade!  I wonder what these next ten years will bring?  I spent most of the day making and breaking resolutions - well, there is always tomorrow!  I think I will redo my list and possibly share it here on my blog.  Doing that may make me more "accountable" and perhaps help me to accomplish some of the things I'd like to in the coming year.

I promised that I would give you the details on this card.  It is a simple file that you can make yourself if you have been reading my blog for a while.  I imagine that there are many people who may have just received a Cricut and Design Studio for a gift, so I will do a bit of explaining.

The file is for the two butterfly layers. The cuts are delicate at the antennae so take care when you lift them from the mat.

 The shadow layer of the butterfly is highlighted in this screen shot of the keypad.

 The top layer of the butterfly with the detailed cuts is highlighted on this keypad shot.  To create the welded top layer, place one butterfly on the mat, check weld and then copy and paste three times, rotating each butterfly an additional 90 degrees.  Once you have the top layer to your liking, preview and be sure that you have "Keep Preview as Mat Background" checked in the View menu.  Then, on a new page in the file, you can choose the blackout version, check weld and copy and paste three more butterflies on the mat.  Use the preview image as a guide to align the background layer for the second cut.

I used the large Pinking Circle Nestabilities die for the brown glitter cardstock behind the butterflies and cut the striped layer with my trimmer.  You could use a different die or a cut from a cartridge that you own - the Accent Essentials has several shapes that could work. Here is a LINK to a post from September that shows you how to create a "pinked" circle using Accent Essentials.

The card is a standard A2 card (8.5 x 5.5 inches folded in half).  The striped glitter cardstock layer is cut at 4 inches by 5.25 inches.

The actual pages to cut the layers are on the first and third pages of the file (they are marked "CUT").  The second and fourth pages are for preview purposes only - you can use these to "audition" some ideas for the color scheme. The fifth page is a rectangle to represent the card base.  The sixth page is for previewing the file as a whole.

If you preview the file on the pages where the top layer of butterflies are located you will see the black outline for the cuts.  You will notice that there are some very tiny holes just below the top wings.

 This close  view of the card as I posted it yesterday shows the tiny holes - I thought they looked a bit untidy so...Stickles to the rescue!

In this very close view you can see the dots of Orange Peel Stickles that I added to disguise the holes.  I put three dots on each side of the body - the holes are too closely place for a dot on each hole.

The butterfly medallion is added to the pinking circle background with foam squares for added dimension.

The cardstock I used for the butterflies and the striped background are from the DCWV "Mi Casa" stack (think this may have been a Michael's exclusive).  The brown glitter cardstock for the pinking circle is from an older Spring glitter mat stack.

Here is one more view of the final card with the Stickles added.  I'd love to see your version if you download and use the file.  You can also try this design with another cartridge if you don't have Hannah Montana - there are quite a few butterflies to choose from!

Butterfly Medallion Card