Breaking Free Send it Clear Butterfly Card
May 06, 2014
Hello! Liza here, and I have a project to share that was dear to my heart to make.
My daughter turned 17 this month. It's not a "sweet" year like 16, it's not a milestone like 18. It's a transition time as she ramps up for Senior year, college applications, and working. My daughter has had a long year overcoming some personal challenges and reaching very personal goals with amazing success. These weren't obvious, outward challenges but important to her. And she quietly works toward her end game, maing strides. I am so proud of her.
I thought that kind of year deserved an extra special keepsake card to commemorate it. Using the Clear Scraps Send It Clear Card in Butterfly - I love using butterflies! - I incorporated something you don't always associate with a winged spring icon, the 6" Keys and Locks Mascil. I adore the Mascils because you can use them for so much more than stenciling but this time I used it strictly as that. Here are my steps:
- First, I removed the protective film from the card.
- I sprayed the front and back of the acrylic card panels with gold alcohol ink and let dry.
- Then I sponged straight gesso on the front panels of the card, not including the butterfly, through the Keys and Locks Mascil and let them dry. This gave it a nice textured effect.
- Once dry, I flipped the panels over and outlined and shadowed the locks and keys with a silver metallic fine-point Sharpie.
- I traced the butterfly closure shape onto patterned paper and added it to the inside of the shape, then cut two borders of the same paper for the inside of the card, leaving the center of the card clear. The two sections on the inside of the card are about 2" wide each. (This happened to be one-sided paper so I adhered two pieces back-to-back for each shape.)
- I did not want the words to show when the card was closed so, using the butterfly tracing I made earlier, I sketched out the wording placement onto a piece of paper so it would be positioned behind the butterfly when the card was closed. Once I had the lettering the way I wanted, (and this is where clear acrylic cards are so cool), I traced the over the wording with a white paint pen onto the inside of the acrylic card. When dry, I flipped it over and added a drop shadow with the silver Sharpie behind it. This made it pop and easier to read. (You can also stamp a saying with Stayz-On ink if you don't like to hand letter, just do one offset in silver first.)
- I fussy-cut three of the small butterflies from the pattern scraps and backed with solid card stock. I then adhered two behind the lettering.
- Last, I punched several butterflies in an ombre range of peach and orange. I put them in order of light to dark and strung them in twos, creased at the bodies, with nylon filament quilting thread. I attached one end of the thread with the last fussy cut butterfly and glue. It is attached inside, just under the center of the closure, allowing for a "mobile" effect when you open the card. It is supposed to be dangling in front of the lettering here, but it can be placed it elsewhere or made it shorter if you like.
- I used the included clear circle stickers to assemble the panels into a card. When closed, you can see the edges of the mobile butterflies peeking from behind the large butterfly, waiting to be released.
So now you see a card with a butterfly surrounded by locks and keys. When opened, it becomes group of free flying butterflies! Just like my daughter's accomplishments. I wanted to keep it as a animated sculpture so instead of writing on the inside I signed the back.
I hope you enjoyed this how-to. I strive to inspire! Have a day as a free as a butterfly!
Supplies used:
- Clear Scraps Send It Clear Card - Butterfly
- Clear Scraps Mascil - 6" Keys and Locks
- Beacon Zip Dry glue
- Xyron sticker adhesive and tape runners
- Heidi Swapp Color Shine ink - Gold
- Sharpie metallic fine point marker in Silver
- Faber-Castell Gesso
- DCVW paper - The Butterfly Garden Stack
- Various solid color cardstock
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