Butterfly in a Box

Good Morning!  Today I am sharing with you a Home Decor Project.  As I have mentioned many times, (and will do again for any new readers), I love to use my stamps to create many different type projects and I want to encourage you to do the same.  It's nice to walk through the house and see some of my favorite images on display.  Spring has arrived and it's time to bring out my altered birdhouses and I'm so excited to add a butterfly collection to my Spring Decor this year.  I am using this project for the Copic Creations "Coloring embellishments" challenge.  I colored the 1/2 pearls in window 4 and 5 for this challenge. Scroll down to see those windows.

Before I get to the details, I need to tell you that I am using this project for the Creative Belli Challenge to use butterflies.  But don't forget to hop over and check out the Belli Blog Give-away for this challenge!  $30 worth of stamps!  Check it out HERE!  We hope you will decide to join us for our butterfly challenge!

I spent alot of time working on this one.  I purchased the shadow box on sale at a local scrapbook store. It was solid black, so I started by altering the box, inside and out.  Then I brought out my butterfly binder collection and started stamping some of my favorite butterflies.  Next, I searced for quote, phrased that match.  Alot of what I used is from a Cornish Heritage Farms set called Vintage Butterflies.  Most of the rest of the products used are from The Angel Company. While I was working on my box, I wrote a little poem.  Now, I am NO WRITER, and I'm terrible at english, so try to restrain your criticism, teehee.

Here we go...

Yesterday I caught a butterfly and put him in a box,

So I could enjoy his beauty.

Today I heard a tap on the glass, and the butterfly said,

"M'am, this is not my duty".

He further expained, I have been ordained,

by the one who sits on high,

To share this beauty with many others,

by floating in the sky.

So, I let him out of the box.

Melisa Waldorf 2010

Alright, enough with silly poems!  Lets get to the detailed photos!

Window 1

Window 2

Window 3

Window 4

Window 5

Window6

Window 7

Window 8

Window 9

(quote by me!! and I thought is was very clever)

Window 10

Window 11

Window 12

Thanks for stopping by!

You can view all of my Altered Projects HERE

Paper Flower Tutorial #2

It's time for anoter Just My Sketches Challenge!  Hop over and check out the sketch and 5 songs that Deanne has provided for inspiration!  I was inspired by "Thank You" by Dido.  I was actually inspired by several of the songs, but didn't have time to create more cards with them.  Maybe I'll post another one next week.  Check out what Deanne is giving away to one of our lucky participates this month.

So, I couldn't find any flowers in my stash to match the colors on this card.  Luckily I have my flower punches to rescue me!  I also didn't have the right color paper to punch, so I used the same copics I colored the dress with to create the perfect match for this card.

Paper Flower Tutorial #2

Notice that punch #3 has 3 flowers and one is

larger than the other 2.

For the first or larger flower, use 2 of the flowers from punch #2.  You will also need one of the smaller and  the larger of punch #3.  Begin by creasing the flowers from Punch #3.  Fold it in 1/2 as shown below both ways.

Layer, adhere, rotate, and fluff. 

To create the smaller flower, start with Punch #1.  You will need 2 of these.  Fold this on in 1/2 both ways as well, so that the sides of each petal is curved inward.  Now, use tweezers as shown below to fold the tip of each petal under.  Now pinch each petal as needed, layer the two of them, and adhere.

Create the center using 2 of the smaller flowers from Punch #3 and the shaping technique as used on Flower #1.  Layer and adhere!

As I said in yesterdays Flower Tutorial (scroll down if you missed it) if you have flower punches, you always have matching flowers for your project!

Paper Flower Tutorial #1

Here is another card using FCD's Christian Innies and Outies and Butter/ Dragonfly.  I also used one of FCD's fabulous Swirly Sets.  This one is retired, but she has lots of other sets that are just as beautiful.  To create the frame, I stamped the bottom swirly.  I used one of my Spellbinder oval dies as a template and after figuring out a good placement, I lightly traced the oval shape using a pencil.  I used the top of the penciled oval to help with placement of the swirly along the top.  Then I placed the Spellbinders Oval down again, and used a Micron 05 to draw the portion of the oval I wanted for the frame.  Then I used a white eraser to eliminate the pencil lines.

I want to show you a little butterfly trick as well.  See the bottom of the post.  

Paper Flower Tutorial #1

The lighter blue blooms are by Prima and I made the navy ones using punches.  I used to tell my friends all the time, that if you have flower punches, then you always have matching flowers for your projects.  I love Prima, but I can't always afford to buy them.  I bought these flower punches years ago, and I can't tell you how many times they have come in handy.  The ones I'm showcasing today are by Paper Shapers.  Tomorrow I will be showcasing another kind of paper flowers so stay tuned.

For today's paper flowers I used the Daisy punch in 2 different sizes.  I think mine are the small and medium.  Mine are both green, but I bought them years ago, so EK Success may have changed the color by now.  Here is a photo :

Punch 2 for each flower.  And then adhere together in the center, rotating the top layer so that the petals are staggered.  And don't forget to fluff them!

You can leave them as you see them, but they look even better if :

1. You layer the small in the center of the larger one.

2. Ink the edges with black ink using a eye shadow applicator.

or doodle around the edges with a fine tip (005) Micron pen.

3. Embellish the center with stickles, 1/2 pearls, gems, or little buttons. 

Butterfly Trick

Next I want to share with you a creative way to get the most out of a butterfly images.

I am using my Butterfly/Dragonfly stamp set for this one.  The butterfly image is a full spread of the wings. But for this particular design I thought it would look better with a side view of the butterfly and some dimension.

Start by stamping the butterfly twice.

Color the same side of the the wings depending on which way you want it to face.  Color the body as well.

Cut out as shown below with my preference, cuticle sissors.  Anytime I'm cutting small curved area's I find the cuticle sissors much easier to use.

Fold/crease along the side of the body, so that the wing pops up off the page.  You will actually be adhering it to the page along the body.  Stagger the wings so that the bottom on is visible.

Thanks for tuning in today!  I will be back tomorrow with another Paper Flower Tutorial!

Altered Metal Tin

Tip / Technique : Stamping on Tissue Paper

I had so much fun making this!  I purchased one of those $1 tims from Michaels that already had the black and off white florish design you see in the background.  Did you know you can stamp and emboss on tissue paper.  Thought I'd give it a try, and it worked!!!  I painted a light layer of gesso over the top of the tin.  I stamped the heart, "love", birds, and butterly on tissue paper with pigment ink, and embossed.  I actually stamped the "love" first and then mask it off, stamped the heard and "forever" on the same peice of tissue.  I cut the tissue paper around the images but not close, because I wanted to tear it.  I painted water around the endges so that the tissue would tear and leave a distressed edge.  I used the gesso to adhere the tissue images and repeated the same steps with the birds and butterfly.  I stamped around the edges with a swirl and red pigment ink.  The other qoutes and cupid are rub-ons and the glittery heart is a brad I cut the prongs off of!

Stamps : The Angel Company

I think the rub-ons are Basic Grey, but the package is long gone, these are really old.

thanks for stopping by !

Melisa

You can view all of my VALENTINE projects HERE.

You can view all of my altered projects HERE

Another Candy Pouch - Tree Ornament

Challenge Project for Creative Card Crew "Valentine" Challenge and another entry for Fab an Funky's Shabby Chic Challenge.

Like the one below, I designed this one as a candy pouch as well, hoping to have enough to someday hang on a Vintage Valentine Tree!  These photo's are so inspirational!

So am I crazy or what???  Anyone else have a Valentine Tree??

You can view all of my VALENTINE projects HERE.

Floral Cupcake Liner Tutorial

I have several different post over the next couple of days for Valentine's Day.  I would like to have a Valentine Tree someday, covered in Valentine Oranaments and handmade papercrafts.  So I decided to get started this year by creating a couple of candy pouches I could hang on a tree.  This is the first one.  I created my own template for my pouch, scanned it, and can now print it over and over again.  I also created my own frilly/floral embellishment using some mini cupcake liners I had.  The image is from the same Dover Vignette Clip Art Publication I have mentioned before.  I got mine at a local used book store and it was loaded with vintage images for all the holidays.  Here is a link where you can get it from from Dover :

http://store.doverpublications.com/0486995062.html

I created this project for the Cute Card Thursdays "In the name of Love" Challenge  and Fab and Funky's Shabby Chic Challenge.

How to use mini cupcake liners to create a handmade frilly embellishment :

I just love the fan fold on the sides of cupcake liners and decided they would make the perfect embellishment.  So I played around with them until I came up with the following.  I hope you are inspired to look at cupcake liners in a whole new way from now on!

Floral #1

 

Flatten and cut 4 cupcake liners as shown above.  Layer them, staggering them so that now gaps are seen.  Fluff them.

Floral #2

 

Fold cupcake liner in 1/2.  Then fold in 1/2 a second time.

 

Fold in 1/2 a third time and snip the pointy end off.  Fluff as shown above.

 

Create 4 of these and then join them together as shown above, slightly overlapping the edges.

Adhere to Floral #1 as shown above.  Now you are ready to embellish the center with whatever you like!!

You can view all of my VALENTINE projects HERE.

Designing with Vintage Digital Images / Stamps

Well after creating like a mad women, ignoring everything else, and posting everyday last week, I found myself feeling overwhelmed by emails and other real life stuff that had to be taken care of by Sunday.  I was in a funk for a couple of days, so I started blog hopping tonight, checking out challenges, searching for inspiration.  And then, there they were ...  these 2 sweet little girls.  I found them on Cora's "Digital Two for Tuesday" Blog and I immediately was inspired to print them and color. 

Isn't it funny what each of us are inspired by and right now, at this point, there is just something about those vintage images that is calling my name, teehee.  And they are free, that helps too!  I am on an extremely tight budget so I think that's why I creating more with digitals right now.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my rubber and clear stamps, and if I had the money would be loading up on them, but alas, real life doesn't always work out that way.  So for now the digi's are getting me through.  Thank you Cora!! 

You can find this image to copy and print HERE.

I love it when Cora tells us where the images are from too.  This one is from a book written in 1900's.  There is just something soooo cool about knowing that someone so long ago sat down and put their heart into their art,  that it was preserved until now, and that we can still enjoy what was their passion so many years ago, making it a part of what we love to do. 

Wanna see what other projects I have created with Cora's free digi's??   Click HERE.

have a great day!  Melisa

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Project Details

DP : K&Company 6"x6" Paper pad

Flower : Prima

Ribbon : found in an antique store

Deckled scissors

Copic Markers : 

Green - G21, BG34

Blue - B41, B34, B29

Browns - Hat E31, E35, E59

Hair - E35, E37, E59

Skin - E50, E000, YR000

H20 Watercolor Tutorial

Hello!  I'm back today with lots of news from FireCracker Designs by Pamela.

First of all, Pamela (owner), sent me the coolest stamp set to show off this month,

Christian Innies and Outties !  It's a sentiment set designed with coordinating phrases for the outside and inside of the card.  This is not the only set she has designed that works like this.  For my first showcase of this set, I chose this sentiment because I thought it would be so adorable with Pamela's Fruitcup set.  Ok, so I know, the last part of the sentiment was suppossed to be on the inside, but I thought it would be easier if I put it all on the outside for photographing purposes.  I promise I'll do it correctly next week, teehee.  So, at the bottom of the post I'm going to list some lengthy info on how I colored the pears.  Just in case your interested.  The short explanation is that I used Twinkling H20's.  But I am sharing some tips, so you might want to read on.  What I really want you to know is that FCD now sales Twinkling H20's.  So check them out HERE.  And Pamela has a tutorial - video HERE.    And tons of other tutorials HERE.

Twinkling H20 Technique / Tutorial

Is it even possible to make "pear jam".  I have no idea, but this all about being artistic, not realistic, teehee.  I couldn't pass up a chance to use this cute pear DP by Basic Grey.  It's part of the Nook and Pantry line.  I had so much fun coloring the pears with my twinkling H20's.  Trust me, they look WAY better in real life.  If you have never used Twinkling H20's you need to give them a try.  I'm not the best water color artist, but it was worth the practice to get this look.  I stamped a full sheet of pears on water color paper with water proof ink (I used Palette Noir).  I found the best way to get the blending that I wanted was to pre-wet the image a little.  The manufacturer recommends that you "spritz" the pot of color with water.  Here's a tip :  use and old bottle of eye drops, empty out the eye drops, fill it with water, and drop 1-2 drops in your pot.  Way easier than spritzing.  The amount of water you add depends on how thick you want your paint.  You can mix it pretty thick but then it can obliterate your stamp lines.  Mine was pretty watered down to begin with because I wanted to blend the colors.  I started out with a damp paint brush and loaded Heavnly Bamboo.  It's like a cedar green but has a slight yellow tint.  I lightly covered the entire image.  Because the image is already wet, the paint kinda spreads out.  Work fast, because I got the best shading when I was able to get all the colors on before it dried.  Then along the sides, I added watered down Cedar Wood (a dark brown with an orange tint).  This one is so dark it did take much.  My brush was damp, but now wet.   I kinda pounced it on with the brush around the sides to create some dimension.  Then I did the same with a darker green, Wild Vine, bringing it in toward the center of the pear.  Let me just say that this is not an exact process.  I had a paper towel wadded up and handy to tap over the image and used this to begin blending.  Then I layered on another coat of the Heavenly Bamboo.  If an area was to dry it would pull some of the previous color up and create lines I didn't want.  That's when I would grab that paper towel and dab it again.  Eash one seemed to be a little different, so on some I had to go back and add a little more darker green then dab again, until I got the shading I wanted.  They were fun to play with and I can't wait to do it again, now that I have a better feel for how to blend with them.  I the past I had pretty muched used them to highlight or added only one color, which is easier and beautiful as well.  But, blending these colors was very cool.  My stamp lines were no longer vivid at this point, so I used a 005 Micron to doodle over the stamp lines to restore them where needed.  I would take the time to do a step by step photo tutorial, but I didn't know if anyone was even interested.  And I'm not a real artist, just an amateur playing around with some great products, teehee.  Ok, so here is my last tip.  It has to do with orgainzing you H20's.  I store mine in a drawer.  I used those little white stickers (they are about 1/2" x 3/4")  you buy when your pricing stuff for a garage sale.  I stick them on the top of the black lid, and then paint the color over it, so I can see the colors easily when I'm picking them out of the drawer or trying to match them to my project.  You can't always tell by looking at the color in the jar what it will look like.

I hope you read something that inspires you to be creative!

If you have any questions about using H20's just shoot me an email.

Impression Obsession Color Challenge : Green

This challenge gave me an opportunity to use "Damask Clover" and "All Year Long".  One of my TAC friends had created a green/black card last year and I loved it!  I never forgot the how wonderful they looked together so when I seen this DP I grabbed it.  I trimmed it down to 4 x 5.5" and set it aside.  So when I seen this challenge I knew immediately what I was going to use!  I LOVE Impression Obsession. 

My favorite artist over there are Alesa Baker and Montagerie.  And then there is a fabulously unique Leigh Hannon.  I can walk into a stamp store and without even checking the label, many times identify her stamps!  Who else would combine a garden in a cake, seashells in a christmas tree, or florals in a rooster!  Her images are fun and whimsical.  The Damask Clover is by Leigh as well.   

   

If you have Impression Obsession Stamps then hop on over to the IO Blog and check out todays DT Blog Hop and all the details for the challenge.  Mitra, the owner, generously offers up a $25 gift certificate to their online store twice monthly!  I don't know about you, but I LIKE winnig free stuff.  I won once in 2009, and I'm hoping to get lucky again in 2010!  Shirley, our blog hostess, list the challenges WAY in advance for us so you can plan to play along. 

I'm off to work on tomorrow's blog post.  Will I ever get ahead??  Probably not, teehee.