#TGIFC200 On The Wings of Inspiration

It’s TGIF Friday! Our theme this week is “on the wings of inspiration” — bunches of butterflies. How fun is that with all the butterfly themed products in the Occasions and Sale-A-Bration catalogs?

Click on the graphic below to see all the designers’ projects this week.

I took this challenge very literal!!! Haha! I had this crazy idea to create a kaleidoscope of little, tiny butterflies in the shape of a heart. (Yes, kaleidoscope is the official name of a group of butterflies … way better than swarm.) Coming up with this idea was one thing, actually doing it was another. At one point, I seriously asked myself if I was crazy. But, it was worth it in the end, because this card is for my daughter. Actually, that makes it doubly worth it.

I cut out all the butterflies using the Butterfly Beauty Thinlits Dies. There are 10 different die cuts in this set that produce these little, tiny butterflies. And some of the dies produce two! So I could produce 14 butterflies in one pass of the Big Shot. After doing that with all five colors of cardstock (Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Petal Pink, Flirty Flamingo, and Shimmery White), I only had to cut a few more extras for the top area.

For the Shimmery White butterflies, I watercolored them with Lemon Lime Twist and Petal Pink ink to transition from the two colors.

Next, I gave my background a quick watercolor wash using both Granny Apple Green and Lemon Lime Twist ink.

Next step was the assembly. I started by applying a large heart die cut from the Be Mine Stitched Framelits Dies to use as a guide. Then, I applied each butterfly individually with glue dots and a Take Your Pick Tool. (That tool was MY FRIEND during this project!!!) I pulled apart the glue dots into 2 or 3 pieces so they were small enough. While that may seem tedious, using them had some advantages. First, they adhered firmly and quickly so I could manipulate layering. Second, I could use the Take Your Pick Tool to carefully move them around if I changed my mind, with no residual glue.

I started with the bigger butterflies and then filled in with the little ones.

After all that work, I didn’t think this card needed much embellishing. So I used a simple bow and sentiment. I cut the sentiment out of Shimmery White Cardstock with Well Written Framelits and watercolored the die cuts with Petal Pink and Flirty Flamingo ink.

Supplies used:

Good news! The Gingham Gala Designer Series Paper (a free Sale-A-Bration item) is back in stock. Additionaliy, Stampin’ Up! is expecting a new shipment of the Organdy Ribbon Combo Pack by March 4th. (Many other backordered and non-orderable items are expected as well. If you have questions about a particular product, please feel free to contact me.)

Be sure to join us at TGIF Challenges this week!!! I want to see your “on the wings of inspiration” projects. Have a wonderful and creative day.