Sneaking a Peek at "Beautiful Butterflies"

I want to remind readers today, in case they didn't read about it yesterday here, that we at Clear Dollar Stamps are so excited about the next venture that awaits one lucky challenge submission. Starting this month, and starting today through the end of this month, February 28th, CDS is offering a new Monthly Guest Designer Spot Challenge, and YOU could be the next Guest Designer for one month! The chosen winner will be the Guest Designer for CDS for the next release month (in March!), and will receive three stamp sets FREE of his/her choice from the stamps that are released in March! How exciting is that? If you think that you'd like to submit a card for this great opportunity, please DO YOUR BEST WORK, and for more details, see Lori McCroskey's blog, here.

Today I showing you a gorgeous new stamp set called "Beautiful Butterflies" by Clear Dollar Stamps to be released on March 1st. This set has many styles and sizes of butterflies ranging from realistic to stylized ones in silhouette. Also, are a good selection of very sweet sentiments to go with the stamps. This set, I think, is going to be one of my favorites because of it's versatility. I can see using this for birthdays, thinking of you, sympathy, get well and so much more! This card was a joy to make, as the large butterfly is so much fun to color and with all the butterflies in the world, there are many color possibilities to work with! I know that you love this set once you see it. Ordering and pricing details may be found here. Be sure to see my team members' blogs, Candy, Kim, Laurie, Monique and Stacy for their beautiful samples using "Beautiful Butterflies".

Stamp Sets Used: Clear Dollar Stamps "Beautiful Butterflies"
Cardstock & Papers: K&Co. "Remake Grass Greens" Mat Pad, K&Co "Mira" Designer Paper Mat Pad, K&Co. "Que Sera, Sera" Designer Paper, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Inkpads: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers: B05 Process Blue, B32 Pale Blue, G07 Nile Green, G82 Spring Dim Green, YG03 Yellow Green
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Perfect Paisley Embossing Folder, Nestabilities Labels Two Dies, Piercing Tool, Sewing Machine, Thread, Adhesives, American Crafts Dimensionals, Judi-Kins Diamond Glaze, Cloud Template, Michael's $1 Bin Ribbon, K&Co. "Que Sera, Sera" Self-Adhesive Gems
Coloring Medium: Copic Coloring and Blending
Special Techniques: Basic Stamping, Machine Stitching, Paper Piercing, Paper Tole, Sponging

INSTRUCTIONS:
A 5"x 10" card base was cut from Paper Trey White Cardstock and set aside. Two square mats were cut to size: dark blue to 4.5" and the light blue to 4". Using my Cuttlebug and the Cuttlebug Perfect Paisley Embossing Folder, I ran embossed the light blue square mat. I machine stitched around all four sides of each of the two blue mats, after gluing them together and set aside.

Next I cut 3 progressively sized mats using Nestabilities Labels Two die cuts: a small white one out of Paper Trey White Cardstock, a lime green one and a grass green one, out of K&Co. "Remake Grass Greens" Mat Pad. On another piece of Paper Trey White Cardstock, I stamped the larger butterfly twice. Using Copic Sketch Markers, I colored both butterflies identically the same and cut them each out and set aside. On the small white Nestabilities Labels Two die white mat, using Copic Sketch Markers, I freehand drew some grass in two shades of green on the bottom of the mat. Using a cloud template and a Tsukinkeo Sponge Dauber and Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue Ink, I sponged "clouds in the background. I then glued one of the butterflies in place on top of the white Labels Two die mat. I added Judi-Kins Diamond Glaze to the other colored, cut out butterfly to the colored areas to add interest and let dry. While that was drying, using a paper piercing tool, I hand pierced around the edge of both of the two green Labels Two die cut mats. Then I glued those 2 mats together. I then popped up the white mat with the clouds and butterfly finished, overtop the two green die cut mats using American Crafts Dimensionals.

To embellish, I added a pretty green print ribbon that I found at the Michael's $1 Ribbon Bin by gluing a ribbon strip across the middle of the card and anchoring to the back of the card front. The two Labels Two Die cut Mats were then popped up over the ribbon strip using American Crafts Dimensionals again. The Diamond Glazed colored, cut out butterfly was glued overtop the underneath butterfly on the small die cut white mat. As an extra embellishment and for balance I added a K&Co. "Que Sera, Sera" Self-Adhesive Gem to the bottom right corner. The card front was then glued to the 5" x 10" Paper Trey White Cardstock card base.