Sparkly Butterfly Hello Card

I was out of sorts all day - trying to get paperwork done (not the creative type of paperwork!) and wondering if the stormy weather we are having in the Northeast will ever end.  We have had nearly a foot of rain in some areas!  There is a lot of flooding - fortunately we live up a hill and our lower level has stayed dry.  We do have a bit of a leak in the roof in our family room.

I wasn't on the computer most of the day and I haven't had a chance to finish up the comments/questions from last week.  I did take a quick break to make a card - I needed something bright and sparkly to cheer myself up!

I started with this butterfly on the Lyrical Letters cartridge.  As I mentioned last week - this cartridge is full of hidden treasures and is far more versatile than the average font cartridge.  I used Design Studio to determine the sizes I needed for my card.

The butterfly image is designed to be used as a layer on the "congratulations" word art so it is easier to set the mat up using the real dial size to avoid a lot of sizing guesswork.  Once you figure out the size you can cut the butterfly directly from the machine if you have only the trial version of Design Studio.

I also selected this frame and set the real dial size at 5 1/4 inches to fit an A2 card.

 
The cartridges does not have a blackout option for the shapes (this butterfly was meant to be layered on the word art which has a blackout version connected to the "congratulations").  You can create a blackout version in the proper size by using the "hide selected contour" on a second butterfly entered at real dial size 3 1/4 inches.  (Left click to select each dot - the line will turn red - then right click and choose "hide selected contour" from the bottom of the pop up menu).

I wanted to add a sentiment to the front and, since I was using glitter cardstock for the frame, I thought it would be best to cut my sentiment and not try to stamp it.  I needed to make the sentiment very tiny.  I used the preview to size the cut.

The smallest size you can enter from the keypad is one inch.  You can adjust the image to a smaller size by using the "handle" in the lower right corner.

This screen shot shows the difference between the two.  The final word is very tiny and I was a bit worried that it would not cut properly.

As you can see in this close view - it cut perfectly!  This was cut in the pink Core'dinations gemstone cardstock I used for my Easter projects last week.  I turned it over so the darker matte side would show.

I added some "Star Dust" Stickles to the dots of the butterfly and some small pink gems to the tips of the antennae.

The butterfly seemed to something more, so I added a heart shaped gem for the head and some more Stickles to make a body for the butterfly.  The butterfly is raised up with foam squares for more dimension.

Here is how the card would look totally unadorned with bling - still very pretty.  I use multi-cut 2 when I cut this heavy glitter cardstock from DCWV, pressure at maximum and blade at 6.

You could cut the frame, save it for another card and use the interior section behind the butterfly for a different look.

Patterned paper for the background creates yet another look (this is my oops! butterfly when I forgot to change the page of the file and cut the blackout version twice - it won't go to waste...).

I hope this card will bring a smile to the person who receives it.