Cards From the Brusho Card Fronts

Well, I got on a roll making cards out of many of the card fronts I've created while stretching my watercolor skills.  I thought I would share the finished product for these sets of cards.  You'll find I used some store bought and homemade acetate butterflies to finish these backgrounds.

I am keeping these kinds of cards to use as Christmas gifts for my friends and family.  If they don't have to purchase cards this year, things are going well for me.  I use up my stash don't feel guilty if I find a new tool or supply that I want to try out.  Can you believe that Christmas is a few short weeks away (ok - less than eight weeks, but that will seem short in about 4 more weeks!)?  Are you ready?

A Happy Birthday Wish

You'll have seen my acetate butterflies from the stamp convention.  I decided that one of these lovelies had to make their way (actually 2 because I layered them) onto a card.  What better than this card meant for my twin sister, Angela. 

The doily is a Market Street Stamp (sadly, they've moved on to better things and are no longer in business) which I stamped in brown archival ink and distressed with Vintage Photo and Scattered Straw Distress Ink.  I then fussy cut the doily out for use on the card. 

Each patterned paper was also distressed with the same inks- it blended the color differences (a trick from my Pattern Play online card class).  I simply cut the five different papers the exact same way and made the patchwork from the pieces.  I looked at all the remaining pieces and thought- such a waste.  Then I remembered the hundreds of patterned papers I've owned for a very long time (each of these pieces is probably at least 2 years old if not much longer) and decided that getting them used and to such good effect was well worth it.  Having said all that, the scraps when into the scrap container.  I might use them sometime. 

You'll see the ODBD Fancy Foliage die cut, the Stampin' Up Apothecary Accents Framelit sentiment tag and the teeny, tiny pearl accents. 

Happy Birthday, Sis!  It should be a great day for us!

Glittery Butterflies

These butterflies are a direct result of our recent trip to the stamp convention.  Both Brandy and I have known that you can stamp on acetate using a Stazon-type ink and then glitter from behind.  However, we don't always get around to doing so.  When we saw these pre-printed lovelies, scoop them up we did.  I came home and this is the result of my experiments.



The technique requires the use of an double-sided adhesive sheet.  You apply the adhesive to the back (dull) side of the butterfly.  Then, fussy cut the image while the backing paper is still in place.  Finally, remove the backing paper and sprinkle glitter of various shades to the image.  The sprinkling takes a little finesse.   In this pink lovely you can see how the gold blends more to the light pink to the dark pink.  Better than than the red butterfly above. 

That look is achieved by taping a spoonful of glitter causing it to literally sprinkle down.  After glittering, I burnished the glitter by rubbing my finger lightly over the back.  It settles the glitter in place and seemed to add a bit of shine to the finished product.  What you are looking at is the smooth side of the acetate and the glitter shines through. 

This blue one is another good example where you can see the mixing of the gold and the light blue glitter.

Here's the back of the blue butterfly.  You can see the image through the glitter- this is a light dusting, but the effect is simply marvelous. 

I've left the antennae in place until I use them- I'll fussy cut that last piece out right before using.  You'll also notice that I didn't apply the double-sided adhesive to the body- electing to cut on a curve and apply only to the wings.  This seems to be unnecessary, but my neurotic, picky brain got the best of me.

I've plans to use this on a birthday card very soon.  I'll try to get that done and posted.