Embossed Butterfly Tutorial

Hello and welcome! It's a busy start of the month here on the blog. Today, I have a Sizzix tutorial for you, using dies by Tim Holtz, Distress Crayons and embossing powder. 

I just love to play around with background techniques and this was no exception. To build up the layers on this tag, I used several different easy techniques. Last week, when I posted my Butterfly Textures layout, I said that I was going to show you another technique with the Detailed Butterflies die set. If you compare the butterfly on this project, with the ones on the layout, done with the same dies, you'll see one example of the versatility of dies. 

Start by die cutting the flourish die from the Mixed Media set #2, from a tag or another background. For another use of the Mixed Media sets, check out my Vellum Inksheets Flowers from yesterday.

Stamp with the Cracks background stamp, or you could use another background stamp.

Apply Dina Wakley's Clear Gesso on top. The Clear Gesso has great tooth and leaves a matte surface on the project, which works great as a base for Distress Crayons.

Colour with Distress Crayons, blending them with a soft cloth or your finger.

Place a stencil on top and remove some of the colour with a slightly moist cloth.

Apply Distress Crazing Collage Medium mainly to the edges, using your finger or a palette knife.

When the medium has dried, rub Black Soot crayon into the cracks to make them more visible.

I tested a whole lot of different backgrounds for the tag, and ended up picking a silver Deco Sheet. The wonderful shine of the Deco Sheet looked great through the die cut flourishes. Adhere to a piece of cardstock and die cut with the Tag & Bookplates die.

Die cut an outline butterfly from cardstock and paint black (or die cut from black cardstock).

Apply embossing ink to the butterfly with a dabber. First sprinkle Buttercup powder on the top of the wings, tap to remove excess powder. Repeat with Lime Green for the bottom wings and finish with Liquid Platinum for the middle part. Some of the platinum will stick here and there in the coloured powders, giving a bit of texture. I always cut a couple of sheets of printer paper in half and fold them in the middle, before starting to use embossing powders, so that they are ready and I don't mix any powers. It also makes it easy to pour the powders back into the jar.

Repeat with a die cut word from the Vacation Words Script (I had glued it to a black die cut word before taking this photo).

Die cut the solid butterfly from book paper and black cardstock.

Glue the body of the embossed butterfly to the book paper one, and then to the black one, offsetting it slightly. The Pen Nib was coloured with black alcohol ink.

Did you know that the Small Circle punch fits perfectly into the Charmed idea-ology pieces? Punch a Deco Sheet circle and add a rub-on on top.

Fasten it with a Mini Fastener. If you look at the Crackle stamping on this photo, you can see that it is below the other layers, particularly because of the Clear Gesso. I really like that effect of depth.

Add some rub-on words on top of the tag, for another layer. I folded a strip of silver Deco Sheet tape over on itself and used as a tie for the tag, together with paper strings.

Another photo showing the layers on the tag.

The silver Deco Sheet looks really nice through the flourish, especially with all that colour and texture on the flourish. This is a fun way of using the Mixed Media dies.

I added a strip of book paper under the word to make it stand out, and a Small Talk sticker. A rough border was drawn around the tag with a pen.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and thank you for looking!

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Detailed Butterflies	Tim Holtz Sizzix DETAILED BUTTERFLIES	Tim Holtz Sizzix MIXED MEDIA 2	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 3PK - Mixed Media #2	Tim Holtz Sizzix VACATION WORDS SCRIPT
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 18PK - Vacation Words: Script	Tim Holtz Sizzix Die TAG & BOOKPLATES	Sizzix Movers & Shapers L Die - Tag & Bookplates	Sizzix Paper Punch - Circle, Small	Tim Holtz Sizzix CIRCLE Small Paper Punch
Tim Holtz CRACKS & SPECKS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology DECO TAPE	Tim Holtz Idea-ology PEN NIBS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology DECO SHEETS	Ranger 8.5 X 11 MANILA CARDSTOCK
Ranger CLEAR EMBOSS IT DABBER	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Embossing Powder BUTTERCUP	Ranger Embossing Powder LIME GREEN	Ranger Embossing Powder LIQUID PLATINUM	Dina Wakley Ranger CLEAR GESSO
Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium CRAZING	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons SET 3	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons SET 1	Ranger Archival Ink Pad JET BLACK	Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink PITCH BLACK
Tim Holtz Distress Paint BLACK SOOT	Tim Holtz MINI STENCIL SET 5	Tim Holtz Idea-ology SMALL TALK Stickers	Tim Holtz Idea-ology CHARMED Findings	Tim Holtz Idea-ology PAPER STRING SOLIDS
Tim Holtz PAPER STRING STRIPES	Tim Holtz BOTANICAL REMNANT RUBS	Tim Holtz LIFE QUOTES REMNANT RUBS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology WORDS REMNANT RUBS	Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Gray And White
Sizzix Big Shot Plus Machine Only	Standard Magnetic Platform for Wafer-Thin Dies	Sizzix MAGNETIC PLATFORM	Sizzix PRECISION BASE PLATE	Sizzix Accessory - Precision Base Plate for Intricate Thinlits Dies
Sizzix GRAPE Standard Cutting Pads	Sizzix MINT Standard Cutting Pads	Dina Wakley Ranger PALETTE KNIFE	Tim Holtz TINY ATTACHER Stapler	Ranger Inkssentials GLOSSY ACCENTS
Tim Holtz DISTRESS SPRAYER Ranger	Ranger Inkssentials EUROPEAN HEAT IT CRAFT TOOL	Ranger Inkssentials US HEAT IT CRAFT TOOL

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