Butterfly Dreams Sentiment Set - by Donna Ellis

Hey all!

I have teamed with Donna Ellis to bring you some of her fabulous sentiments sets!  She is the one who is behind all the wonderful sentiments on Sparkle N Sprinkle's own rubber stamp sets.

Here is Butterfly Dreams Sentiments Set:

Please check out Donna's blog post!  

She has some wonderful projects using the Butterfly Dreams Sentiments Set and various butterfly and background images from Fred She Said Designs!

Here is a card I made with the sentiments set as well  :)

Other products used are  the Blossoms and Leaves from Distressed Butterfly & Blossoms Digi Set and Blossom Borders & DFT Butterfly CUTFILE SET.   The background was a very loose watercolour with a big mop brush.  The blossoms and leaves were watercoloured as well.  The butterfly and floral were given the stardust glitter treatment :)

Butterfly Bonanza Extended! - CUTFILE New Butterfly & Border Set

Hi all!

I wanted to get this done for the early part of this week BUT I ran into snags with my new computer setup and software.  I am also very rusty!  I almost have to relearn all my tricks! LOL

Because of this - Butterfly Bonanza is still in effect!  Use code BUTTERFLY  ( through STORE cart or via email order ) to get 20% OFF your order :)   CODE EXPIRES TUESDAY JUNE 6!

Anyhoo... I made another cutting file set! ... and a mini tutorial!

Blossom Borders & DFT Butterfly CUTFILE SET:

I re-envisioned the Blossom & Three Leave Springs cutfiles into a border.  The set includes all the cards, fronts and borders you see in the preview.    The butterfly is derived from the Doodle Flower Trio sets:

Doodled Flower Trio Cardfront COL SETDoodled Flowers & Butterflies SINGLES COL SET

Doodled Flower Trio with Butterfly/Flowers

Here is a card made using the diagonal border cardfront and the butterfly. 

 I added Ranger Diamond glitter to the butterfly and cut the base of the butterfly out of pink vellum.  I experimented with watercolour dabs on the border front and then added diamond Stickles glue dabs.  oooh GLITTER!...

Here is another card using the Blossom Border:

Here is a mini tutorial on how to make and use a butterfly embossing plate :)

First THE EMBOSSING PLATE:

First this is the embossing plate.  It is made out of 2-4 butterflies cut out of 110 lb cardstock.  The cutting file is the SwallowTail CUTFILE.   I glued each butterfly down onto a rectangle of cereal box board cut to fit in my cuttlebug.  You brush matte or gel medium onto the board and glue the cardstock butterflies with brushed on matte medium... even layers of matte medium between each layer and on the very top.  Let dry... a day or two!  You want it to completely harden. The embossing plate shown above has seen many butterflies and just gets better and more distressed with age.  When I make another one I will stick to only 2  layers of butterflies.  A bit shallower emboss would probably be better.

Cut a base solid butterfly same size as the cut butterflies on your embossing plate.  Colour with any medium.  I love watercolors.  This example I tried gouache.

Once dry, align the butterfly to the embossing plate.  

RUN the plate and butterfly through your embossing/cutting machine.  Use a sandwich of base plate/C plate + B plate/embossing plate + butterfly plate and butterfly face up + silicon embossing mat + another B plate/embossing plate.  You might need a card stock shim.  I did not.  Also before I forget ( like I did with this example) ... lightly spray the backside of your butterfly with water to soften the paper a bit to avoid cracking.  I got cracks but didn't care LOL!

This part is the most satisfying!   Swipe a black inkpad over the butterfly.  The raised areas will get inked.  The look is very pretty and distressed.  To get the look on my card, I had best striking results with Versafine and Ranger Archival Inks.

 I have also had fun with distress inks... a nice subtle effect with that.  I am going to try flowers and leaves next... this embossed inked look on  watercoloured flowers and leaves... so pretty!

The sentiments on the 2 cards shown are from a new rubber stamp set coming out June 15 from Sparkle N Sprinkle!  ;)

Have a great weekend!

:)*  Fred

Butterfly Bonanza - More cards to share :)

Hi All!

Butterfly Bonanza is still in effect!  Use code BUTTERFLY  ( through STORE cart or via email order ) to get 20% OFF your order :)   CODE EXPIRES FRIDAY JUNE 2nd!

Over the next few days I will be posting various cards I have made using new products in the store.

Today I have some cards with a similar theme... I added butterflies to some hand watercoloured backgrounds.

I splooshed various watercolors to make a colourful background.  I used the Rainbow Butterfly from Distressed Butterfly & Blossoms COL SET

 I have a ton of inked and painted backgrounds from various playtimes LOL  I have no certainty as to how I did the purple background but i think it was homemade distress ink & Mica sprays on glossy cardstock.  The ACEO is a simple watercolour of purple flowers and sky.  I added yellow Stickle glitter glue to the centers of the flowers.   The Monarch Butterfly is from the outline version that I handcoloured and added a clear shimmer to the wings with Twinkling H2Os.  The orange Monarch from the Monarch Butterfly COL SET will give the same look.

Next post I will show a neat technique using digitally cut butterflies!  Have a great day!

:)*  Fred

Butterfly Bonanza - Butterflies on Transparency Film

Hi All!

Another day of butterflies!

Butterfly Bonanza is still in effect!  Use code BUTTERFLY  ( through STORE cart or via email order ) to get 20% OFF your order :)   CODE EXPIRES FRIDAY JUNE 2nd!

Over the next few days I will be posting various cards I have made using new products in the store.

Today I want to share a neat technique.  I laser printed the Distressed Butterfly onto transparency film :)

Tip:  To aid in cutting out the butterflies, back the film with white copy paper, secure with masking or washi tape to help keep them together while you cut.

I dotted Diamond Stickles glitter glue and let dry.  This first example, I dabbed on ( using a ranger distress tool and felt squares)  red, yellow and blue alcohol inks.  Then with a piece of felt wet with alcohol blending solution, I gently daubed to blend the colours.  The ink concentrated around the  glitter dots.  I like the look. 



 For a smoother look, apply your alcohol inks THEN add the glitter.  Either side of your print can be coloured or glue added with a laser print.   Printed side up and coloured/glittered underneath will give a matte look to the outlines.

Here is another example with a laser printed butterfly, same techniques BUT using Bic Markit Markers, Sharpies or Alcohol Markers.

INKJET PRINTING:

You can use an inkjet printer if you have transparency film MADE FOR INKJET PRINTERS as this film has a special coating that grabs and holds the ink.  If you do use inkjet, you would do your glitter and colouring on the opposite side of your printing to avoid smearing your print.   oh.... and make sure you make the most out of your print out, I crammed as many butterflies as I could on this sheet before printing ;)

 Here are examples using INKJET Transparency Film.

I used Distressed Butterfly & Blossoms COL SET:

This one uses Monarch Butterfly COL SET:

The cutout border above is a work in progress.  I plan on adding a border CUTFILE set for this next week :)  

Have a great weekend!  I plan to be back tomorrow for more butterflies!

:)*  Fred

Butterfly Bonanza Continues - Butterflies & Backdrops

Hi All!

Butterfly Bonanza is still in effect!  Use code BUTTERFLY  ( through STORE cart or via email order ) to get 20% OFF your order :)   CODE EXPIRES FRIDAY JUNE 2nd!

Over the next few days I will be posting various cards I have made using new products in the store.


Today I am featuring the new backdrops.

Used:  3 Backdrops for Flowers or Butterflies SET ( card uses the original watercoloured sketch but it prints virtually identical)
           Monarch Buttterfly Digi & SVG Cutting Files  (watercoloured)
           Happy Flowers DIGI SET  ( UNcoloured)    (watercoloured)
           CUTFILE/PRINT Blossoms Stencils     (stencil cut on acetate, distress ink brayered on stencil then spritzed then pressed onto watercolour paper)

Used:    Monarch Buttterfly Digi & SVG Cutting Files  (watercoloured)
              Distressed Butterfly & Blossoms COL SET
              Soft Floral Foliage Backgrounds SET

Used:        Distressed Butterfly & Blossoms DIGI SET (butterfly watercoloured but looks same in pre-coloured)
                 Distressed Butterfly & Blossoms COL SET ( for flowers)
                 3 Backdrops for Flowers or Butterflies SET

Have a great day!  I'll be back tomorrow with more cards to share :)

:)* Fred

BUTTERFLY BONANZA! 20% OFF

It's a holiday weekend in my country of Canada...    Happy Victoria Day!

There are new pretty things in the store :)

Everything in this spring release can be easily mixed and matched.  Trust me, I know because I have played HARD.  I had serious "SQUIRREL!!"  when I was designing... I went in so many creative rabbit holes.... oooh this is nice!  but this could be nicer... what about this... and you can also do this with THAT!!!  oh my.  I had..... FUN.  I hope you do too :D

It's BUTTERFLY BONANZA!

OH and before I start HERE IS A COUPON CODE for 20% OFF your entire order:

Use code:  BUTTERFLY



I finally created a PRE-COLOURED version of MONARCH BUTTERFLY with 7 colours and a printable sheet full of them to get started :)

Monarch Butterfly COL SET

Here are some hand painted backdrops for your flowers and butterflies!

3 Backdrops for Flowers or Butterflies SET

I played with a prototype of a swallowtail I made and it was too fun not to share.  I created a distressed look to the outlines.  In the DIGI set I included a clean line as well as the distressed line.  So there are DIGI, Pre-Coloured & CUFTILE sets!

Distressed Butterfly & Blossoms COL SET

Distressed Butterfly & Blossoms DIGI Set (uncoloured)

Distressed Butterfly & Blossoms CUTFILE Set

I digitally painted ANOTHER background that is a soft watercoloured or pastel looking soft foliage and sky to add some flowers and butterflies to.  I then made a card and painted on small impressionistic flowers and leaves with oil pastels and loved the look.  I replicated it and I am offering it in 6 colours plus the original foliage background that you can jazz up however you like :)

Soft Floral Foliage Backgrounds Set

The last one is some pastel coloured painterly papers!  

Painterly Pastel Papers

That's all of it.   Over the next few days I'll be sharing how I used them :)  Have a great weekend!

:)* Fred