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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Butterfly Birthday

Have you ever seen a black butterfly with hints of iridescent blues? Here's one example, although there are several different species of butterflies with this coloration.

Source



Beautiful, isn't it?

Well, that's sort of the inspiration for today's card...the combination of black and blue, with a hint of peacock thrown in the background for fun.




First, a comment or two on the layout. I adore working with small pieces of cardstock matted on a larger card. This idea came out of the humongous inspiration I got from business-card designs on Pinterest. These little gems of design goodness provide endless variations...and if you mess one up, it's just a tiny scrap of paper in the recycling bin.

Not intimidating. Not time-consuming. Just fun!

The background was made rubbing Distress broken china and peacock ink through a Tim Holtz stencil with a Tim Holtz mini inking tool...a very cool tool and so easy to use. I masked off one third of the top panel and did the inking by moving the stencil around for more saturation.

My original plan was to place the butterfly so its right wing would hang slightly off the right edge of the panel, but that looked weird because the butterfly is just a bit too small for the space provided, so I scooted it closer to the sentiment. That made the design look more unified, plus the angle of the butterfly, with the strong diagonal of the row of bling to emphasize it, was a happy contrast to the right angles of the sentiment and masked line. The tighter design also adds some movement that was lacking when the butterfly and sentiment were farther apart.

On another topic, thanks for the encouragement and offers of prayer for my job search. We shall see what happens in the coming months! I'll keep you posted.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Paper Trey
ink: Archival black, Distress broken china and peacock
paper: Papertrey black and white
accessories: Tim Holtz stencil, inking tool, rhinestones


5 comments:

  1. The stencil pattern is beautiful. It's a nice highlight for the bejeweled butterfly.

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  2. I love hearing you design out loud! Thanks for the lesson!

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  3. Belatedly, and FWIW, I have a comment about the job thing. In 1990, I fell into a job that turned out to be a calling for me, and it might be for you as well. (We both love words and everything that goes with them.) I became a copy editor/proofreader and worked in this profession for many years—even after I retired! Many projects I could do at home in my own hours. A good copy editor doesn't even have to have a degree in English, just the ability to notice such details as spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage—and the skill to correct or to improve them.

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  4. I've not seen a butterfly like that in real life, just photos. You've captured its essence well which such pretty and deep colors. Good luck with the job thing!

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  5. so beautiful mf...
    Hope you are well!
    xx Karen

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!