Masking Butterflies

Hello everyone, I am sharing two cards with you today created for last month TV shows on Hochanda. If you caught the shows, you will have seen me demoing the first card, and showing the second card as an alternative option for the technique that I used.

To create my card, I drew a circle with a pencil onto a piece of smooth white card using a circle die, but anything the right size will do. I then stamped three butterflies into the card using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and masked the images using masking tissue. I stamped six daisies from the Butterfly Daisy Collage stamp set around the circle, three close to the butterflies, and masked those as well. I used a foliage stamp from the Thistle Butterfly stamp set to create the background leaves for the wreath, using Shady Lane Versafine Clair ink. Once I had finished, I removed the masks, and coloured the images with pencils. I added a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set.

My second card was created in much the same way, but I based the colours on my background, which I had found in my stash box. This was simply a wrinkle free Distress Ink background, using Seedless Preserves and Salty Ocean Distress Ink. I stamped the butterflies first, masking them as before, then adding the daisies behind. Finally, I added the same foliage stamp to fill in the background, using Purple Delight Versafine Clair ink. I coloured the images with pencils as before. I added a bit of shading around the edges of both pieces of card with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink, and used a purple card to mat both layers. The sentiment comes from Amazing Mackintosh Words.

To help me plan both cards, I placed my masking tissue images onto my pieces of card first, moving them around to see how they would fit, this helps to visualise what the card will look like. I also stamped my wreath onto a piece of copy paper first, trying out the design, and various colour options for the flowers. I would always advise you to do this if you are unsure about a design, copy paper is very cheap, and you can have several attempts at something, without worrying about your mistakes, before moving onto card.

Another top tip regards colouring in your images. I have used quite a limited colour palette, and have used orange and red in both the flowers and the butterflies in my first example as you can see in the photograph below, to keep some continuity to the images. In the photograph above, although it is not obvious, I have added blue to both the flowers and the butterflies, (along the outer edges of the wings), to again pull everything together. I always choose a toning card to mat the layers in my project, or use ink to edge the panels of card that will coordinate the colours I have used. I hope that this helps you in your own creative process.

I will be back later in the month with more designs to share with you. Thanks for stopping by, xx