Butterfly Card

I have another birthday coming up and the gift is sorted. As a matter of fact, it is already wrapped. All that is left to do is to make a beautiful card to accompany the gift. I love it when the card and the wrapping paper and/or gift compliment each other.

I start by gathering a selection of materials to work with. As I progress through the creative process some of these will fall away and others will be added. But I have a starting point and that is all I need at the moment. I choose a background that is similar to the background of the wrapping paper. I zoom in on the purple, because I know it is a favourite colour of the recipient of the gift. I add a selection of paper off-cuts from previous projects. It is the one thing that is really great about cardmaking; the fact that you can often use with off-cuts rather than cutting up new paper sheets. Lastly I add some designs of the wrapping paper itself. I had a small piece left after wrapping the gift and I cut this up to add to the file I keep for cut-out pictures.

The card consists of a normal A4 piece of cardboard which I fold in half in the width.

I layer a discarded frame and piece of paper I have on it. You can easily cut your own frame with a craft knife. Decide on the length and width of the frame and cut out the cardboard. Now cut 1 cm inside the frame, doing your best not to cut into the frame. This is very easy when working on a cutting mat, using a metal ruler and sharp craft knife. It is too easy to cut into plastic rulers, which is why I prefer the metal ones instead. I also cut a piece of vellum with a purple flower motif to go on top of the other off-cut.

Next, I decide which butterflies from the wrapping paper I like best for the card and I cut these out with a pair of sharp scissors.

I have some frames that have been cut in half and decide that even these would work quite nicely on the card. The complete frames would not work in this case, since they are too small for what I have in mind. I will use the off-cut frames to make photo corners (although they won’t be fitted on a photo).

I use a roll of double-sided tape to attach the layers to the card.

I then decide that the vellum could be used more creatively. I go in search of an embossing roller and roll the vellum through the roller. You can also use a range of machines or embossing tools for this purpose. The most commonly used machine in South Africa is probably the Cuttlebug. Drop me a comment if you’d like me to follow up with a blog on embossing.

I add the embossed vellum.

I use double-sided 3Dsquares to attach the butterflies to the card.

I turn to the inside of the card. I prefer to leave this space wide open so that I can add poems or long messages, but strongly dislike the vast openness. I use the cut-up frames and glue them to the card with double-sided tape.

My card is now complete and can be added to the gift.

If you want to learn more about cardmaking or want to explore more creative ideas, you can consult any of the many available books on the topic, e.g. Celebrate with Cards, available from APrettyTalent.com.

For more crafty ideas and great products, visit APrettyTalent.com.

Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.

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