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Butterfly Dreams

Today's card is full of sparkle and whimsy. I combined an abstract background with a beautiful, realistic butterfly and a playful sentiment. I added sparkle to the background, butterfly, and shine to the sentiment. The butterfly is a symbol of change hope which fits Dream Big!

I started by inking this background stamp by Hero Arts called Abstract Butterfly Wing. I used Wilted Violet, Villainous Potion, Mermaid Lagoon, and Peacock Feathers Distress inks. All are cool colors on the color wheel and work well together. Pro Tip: use a blending brush the soften the transitions between colors to avoid harsh edges.

This is the resulting panel. I tried inking a background first, but it didn't look right. So, I added a couple of spritzes of water before stamping to give a watercolor look.


For the butterly, I used Hero Arts Color Layering Monarch Butterfly stamp set. As you can see, the layers line up easily. It would have been simple to stamp with an acrylic block, but I used my MISTI since I was making multiples.

This is the final butterfly. I know this is a Monarch set, but the great thing about art is there are no limitations on color or design. 

I fussy cut a total of three butterflies to stack together to add dimension and stability. I didn't use the coordination dies because I wanted to have the image cut right up to the edge. I hate fussy cutting, but my Scan N Cut kept cutting off the antennae. Pro Tip: to make the butterfly stand out on an already busy background, I ran a Memento marker around the edges to get rid of any white. Also, if you haven't fussy cut perfectly, the black ink hides that.

I added black foam dots to the back of the butterfly, avoiding the midline so I could glue that down. Pro Tip: double up foam squares on tips of wings to give added dimension and look of m








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