YIKES! Carol at Just Us Girls has really thrown a complex challenge at us with this week's Trend Week #632 - Shaped Cards. Well, actually I made it more difficult for myself because I don't have any large shape dies for an entire card. The only thing I could find is my old Kaiser Craft "Butterfly" stamp and die.
The custom envelope I made to fit this is 4" x 4-1/2" and the card is slightly smaller. I can't begin to explain all of the steps for this card. After trial and error, I figured out that the best way to fabricate this was to fold the card stock and situate the die so that it folded at the top of the wings. This made a strange shape with the antennae cut off, so I decided to stamp and die-cut a second full butterfly and glue it to the face of the card. Then it wasn't complicated enough, so I stamped yet a third one, die-cut sections of the wings, and colored them with my Copic markers. I glued those next to the body and raised them up for dimension and then heat-embossed the body with black embossing powder, colored it, and fussy-cut it out to glue over the wings. The little tag is heat-embossed with a PTI "Beautiful Butterflies" sentiment, using Zing! "Powder" and threaded under the body with satin ribbon.And if anyone thinks I cheated and just did a single flat card, here she is standing up:
I don't think I'll do that again anytime soon - it literally took me half of the day! (I think I deserve a master's degree in card engineering, or at very least a lunch break!) My husband has asked to keep this, so I stamped a "Love You" onto a light coral die-cut heart and attached it inside. Here you are, Girls:
This was worth every extra step taken, Fran it's amazing! I was so happy to see it in our Just Us Girls gallery! Don't you just love it when the hubs asks to keep one <3
ReplyDeleteFran... WOW! I am blown away. This is gorgeous! A dimensional shaped card...there is going to be a recipient who will awed. Colors, tag, all of it...I love it! Thank you so much for joining and sharing at Just Us Girls this week!
ReplyDeleteWow, Fran, this is simply gorgeous! All the testing and steps taken were well worth it!
ReplyDeleteHi Fran! Noone could love a butterfly shaped card more than I!! Only wish we could bloom a few that are as beautiful as yours from our front porch!
ReplyDeleteYou deserve a PHD in design for this one!
=]
All that work paid off as the result is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteoh wow, Fran - that is just stunning!
ReplyDeleteFran, thank you so much for persevering with this challenge, because your butterfly shaped card is breath-taken-away gorgeous! I love it and I'm especially thrilled that your husband wants to keep it! That alone is testament to how awesome this is! Thank you for joining us at Just Us Girls!
ReplyDelete~carol
What a fabulous card a feat of engineering and a labour of love and how wonderful hubby wants to keep it.
ReplyDeleteMarie