Textured Butterflies Tag Tutorial

Hello friends!! I've been busy trying to sort out my new studio, and most things are no longer standing around on the floor, although I still need to figure out if everything is in the right place. Today I have a Sizzix tutorial to share with you, using new dies by Tim Holtz. 

I had such fun making this mixed media tag, starting out without much of a plan and ending up with a cool textured tag. The new Butterfly Duo is such a great die, and I really like the size of the butterflies. It comes with a coordinating Texture Fade, so that you can dry emboss the butterflies. Let's start with the butterflies:

Smear gesso here and there on a piece of Ranger's natural sticky back canvas.

I used Dina Wakley's paints because they are thick and creamy, perfect for what I had in mind. Start with one colour, and apply it with a palette knife, making sure each application is not too large. We want to have quite small areas of each colour, but close to each other, to basically fill the whole sheet. Leave to dry.

Adhere the sticky back canvas to a piece of cardstock to give it more stability and die cut the butterflies twice. Sandwich: Cutting Pad, die facing up, canvas, second Cutting Pad.

The butterflies are colourful and I like the random blobs of paint. You need four butterflies.

Emboss the butterflies in the coordinating folder. I find it to be easier to do one at a time, rather than to try to line up both butterflies.

You don't see the embossing that well yet, because of all the colours. 

Add a little white paint here and there on the butterflies. Leave to dry.

Dry brush Umber paint on the butterflies, most of the paint will be picked up by the raised parts and you will see the embossing better. Make sure that your brush is pretty dry when you do this so that you don't cover up all the paint. 

Layer two butterflies together and shape them a little to give them life. Smear Rock Candy Distress Stickles on the wings to give them a pretty vintage shine. It is hard to photograph, but looks very pretty. Shape some wire and attach under the butterflies.

I love the new Mixed Media Thinlits set, there are so many possibilities with this set. Die cut a manila tag with the harlequin pattern. It is easiest to use the Sizzix Magnetic Platform for this, since the paper doesn't shift so easily then. Sandwich: Magnetic Platform, Cutting Pad, tag, die facing down, second Cutting Pad.

Die cut a small piece in the upper right-hand corner too. Keep all the little pieces for now, we'll get back to them a later.

I decided to layer the tag on top of another tag, and picked this flower paper from Menagerie 8 x 8 paper stash. It is quite a busy paper and I thought it looked great under the harlequin tag.

Coat the tag with a layer of gesso and leave to dry (I forgot to take a photo of this step).  Paint the tag with slightly watered-down Pumice Stone paint and while the paint is still wet, mist with Pumice Stone Distress Spray Stain. The paint and the spray react with each other and a great textured effect.

When the tag is dry, stamp it here and there with a definition stamp and Watering Can ink.

Tone down the colours of the patterned paper tag by swiping it quickly with Picket Fence paint.

Glue the two tags together and place some of the off-cuts back into the die cut holes. This is like doing a puzzle and it takes a little patience to find the right pieces. Paint them with Picket Fence paint before gluing them into their places.

I dry-brushed the edges of the tag with Black Soot Distress Paint, and splattered some of the same paint here and there on the background.

I was real happy with how this die cut, painted, misted, stamped and splattered background turned out. 

The butterflies were attached with a game spinner and brad. The same paint technique can be used for many different dies and creates a great painterly effect.

There is something about butterflies that just makes me happy. Paint a large piece of canvas and have it ready and handy for when you want to use it to die cut something from.

Instead of using a ribbon, I cut and frayed a strip of Eclectic Elements fabric and tied it to the tag.

White paint was rubbed into the words on the philosophy tag  and I added some around the edges too.

The sentiment, Live your dream with passion, comes from the new Perspective stamp set. I stamped it on a piece of manila cardstock that had been inked with Victorian Velvet and Tattered Rose. The sentiment was too large for my tag, so I cut it into three strips instead.

Thank you so much for looking at this tutorial!!

Happy crafting!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies (affiliate links):

Tim Holtz Sizzix Die BUTTERFLY DUO	Tim Holtz Sizzix MIXED MEDIA Thinlits	Tim Holtz Sizzix Die TAG & BOOKPLATES	Tim Holtz PERSPECTIVE	Tim Holtz CURIOSITIES
Ranger Inkssentials 12 X 12 MANILA CARDSTOCK	Ranger NATURAL STICKY-BACK CANVAS 8.5 x 11	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Stash MENAGERIE	Tim Holtz Fabric Eclectic Elements	Ranger Archival Ink Pad JET BLACK
Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival WATERING CAN	Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK BLACK SOOT	Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK ICED SPRUCE	Tim Holtz Distress Ink VICTORIAN VELVET	Tim Holtz Distress Ink TATTERED ROSE
Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain PUMICE STONE	Dina Wakley Ranger MAGENTA	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE Paint	Dina Wakley Ranger RUBY	Dina Wakley Ranger LIME
Tim Holtz Distress Paint PICKET FENCE	Dina Wakley Ranger UMBER Acrylic Paint	Tim Holtz Distress Paint PUMICE STONE	Tim Holtz Distress Paint BLACK SOOT	Tim Holtz Distress Paint PICKET FENCE
Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE GESSO	Tim Holtz Distress Stickles ROCK CANDY	Tim Holtz Idea-ology LONG FASTENERS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology PHILOSOPHY TAGS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology TRINKET PINS
Tim Holtz Idea-ology GAME SPINNERS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology 75 JUMP RINGS	Sizzix Big Shot Machine	Sizzix Standard Magnetic Platform	Sizzix Cutting Pad, Standard
Ranger Inkssentials Non Stick CRAFT SHEET	Dina Wakley Ranger PALETTE KNIFE	Ranger Inkssentials INK BLENDING TOOL

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