Folded Butterflies

These are strange and unnerving times and I hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy. Normal routines are no longer relevant and so I have been trying to make new routines for myself. I am fortunate that I have outdoor space to potter around in and enjoy the sunny weather we have been having. I am trying to restrict watching the news to morning and evening otherwise I would spend the whole day watching TV and becoming more and more depressed. It's a difficult time to try and be upbeat but I am trying to be positive. Crafting is a means of de-stressing and passing the time.
I haven't made these butterflies for a long time but I've been enjoying folding these whilst listening to the radio plus it's a great way to use up scraps. I've made a template from mountboard (you can find it online) and used my scoreboard to help make the pleats. Fine gauge beading wire holds the pleats together and makes the antennae. I have no idea what I'm going to do with all these butterflies - maybe some will appear on cards - but I've had a relaxing time making them.

A Quick Message

These are difficult times for all of us no matter where we live. Everything we have taken for granted has been turned upside down and for us in the UK as elsewhere there is a lot worse to come I suspect.
I hope to continue posting my crafting efforts if possible although in recent times these have been infrequent but until then I'm attaching a chart that is fairly self explanatory. Click on it to read it. I hope it helps in some small way. Please do share it with others.

 

Monthly Challenge - March

An early postcard for the monthly challenge where the letter this month is:

                                                                  

                                                           T for Tree

 

The colour options are Turquoise, Terracotta and Teal and this month I actually made an effort to try and incorporate these colours (sort of).

I was planning to use my birch tree dies or perhaps some of the more wintry looking tree stamps I have but this Crafty Individuals stamp (CI497) was still sitting on my desk and with the awful weather we have been having here I felt in need of palm trees and sunshine. I have tried to go for an ombré effect again but my blending is not as smooth as I would have liked. I used peacock feathers, tumbled glass, salty ocean, stormy sky, broken china and blueprint sketch DIs. I diecut a circle and made a terracotta sun with rusty hinge DI. I like the burst of warmth against the blues. Can't you just hear the palm trees swishing gently in the warm breeze? Oh well back to the cold and wet real world!

 

 

Monthly Challenge - February

This month the letter of the alphabet is R for Recycle with colour options of red, rose and rust. To be honest I completely forgot about the colours and found this a very tricky one to do. It has turned out completely differently to what I started out to make but I guess sometimes you have to go with the flow.
I had some packaging that I was planning on using but then as I was emptying the shredder I thought I would try and make a background of shredded waste. There was some pink and yellow along with the white which looked quite pretty so I put glue on a postcard-sized piece of card and dunked it into the shredder bin. It took a few goes to get a fairly even coating of bits and then I brayered them down. I had to go over some again with a glue pen. I added some stamped text (CI 017) in Impress emerald green and ran the brayer over with a mesh roller and wilted violet DO. The double red markings you can see are stamped with an offcut from a foam insole!
I had some excess foil from lining one of my kitchen trays which I stuck onto card, coloured with raspberry and wild plum alcohol inks and ran through my Cuttlebug. The shadow text is a Synergy die and the top and bottom border is a Sizzix rose die cut in half. I added a few gems to finish.

Ombré Again

 

 Another ombré background with Distress Oxides and a Crafty Individuals silhouette stamp. I added 3 tiny punched butterflies for a little dimension.

Tropical Sunset

I'm very pleased with the way this card has turned out. I have been so out of touch with crafting for a while that my stamping ability has deteriorated badly. I bought this Crafty Individuals stamp (CI 497) in a recent sale. It's such a large detailed stamp that I didn't think it needed anything but an ombré background. I used DO's in broken china, fossilized amber, spiced marmalade, candied apple and a touch of wilted violet at the top. For me the best way to achieve a smooth gradation was to go back each time with my blending tool and use the lighter colour to blend the 2 colours together. It was a bit fiddly figuring out the exact placement of the blue for the sea but it worked out ok. I used my stamping platform and Versafine to stamp the image. I did try and lift some of the colour from the clouds with a wet brush and a tissue but it didn't work very well. I mounted it on a white card blank to finish. I'm debating whether to put a sentiment on the front (between the sun and the palm leaves) but I think it will detract from the image.

Monthly Challenge - January

This month's letter is A for Alcohol (appropriate I thought as 'Dry January' is in full swing). The colour options are Amber, Auburn and Azure. I used my neglected alcohol inks in stonewashed, terracotta, rust, butterscotch and stream to make a background. The gin glass was stamped, coloured with pencils and solvent and cut out. The text is a handy stamp with lots of words such as chocolate, glitter and gin that can be added to complete the phrase. I cut it with a deckle edged die and inked the edges with lucky clover DI. A couple of star gems and some wink of stella completed the postcard.
I'm delighted I've caught up and hope I don't fall behind again.