When you surf around the internet to some of the top Stampin' Up! demonstrator blogs, you're sure to run across Dawn Olchefske at the DO Stamping With Dawn blog. She always does a fantastic job on her projects, which makes her site one of my favorites for finding projects to CASE!
Yesterday, I found an awesome paper flower technique and I had to try it out immediately—making pansies out of the Butterfly Punch! Take a look at my beautiful bouquet:
Aren't these Too Cool! They look very realistic and are SO much fun to make! And, if you look closely, you can see they are made out of two dyed Butterfly punches that are layered with an eyelet holding them together in the center.
Here's the card that Dawn Olchefske posted using the butterfly punched pansies technique. Simply stunning!
Butterfly Pansies How-To
Dawn has a fabulous Pansies video tutorial on her blog, so you'll be able to see the whole process in action. I couldn't even wait to watch the video to begin playing with the idea, so my pansies are made just a little differently. Here's how I did mine:
- I used Watercolor Paper, rather than the Shimmery White Card Stock that Dawn used, for my butterfly punchouts. You'll need two butterflies for each flower, so punch out even numbers.
- Mist the punches with water so the water is pooling. For the watercolor paper, I had to keep re-misting as I worked, because the paper is so absorbent. The Shimmery Card Stock is coated on the surface, so you will need less re-misting, but you won't be able to blot your piece to help it dry.
- Put a few drops of the Classic Re-Inker colors you want to use in on a little watercolor palette or in separate small plastic cups. I played with several color combos using Elegant Eggplant, More Mustard, Almost Amethyst and Melon Mambo.
- Use an Aqua Painter, or a small round paint brush, to pick up the color from your palette. I started with the center color first by lightly tapping the middle of the butterfly once. The color will immediately spread across the wet paper.
- Add another color by painting the very edges of the wings. Depending on how much water and color you've applied, the colors will spread and mingle together into a beautiful blend. If it isn't spreading or blending as much as you would like, re-mist.
- Once your colors are applied to your satisfaction, and only if you're using Watercolor Paper, you can blot the water off of the accents with paper towel, so they will dry faster. If you're using Shimmer Card Stock, do not blot, or you may lose your color! Just let it dry on it's own.
- When the pieces are fully dry (or still very damp in my case, because I'm not a patient girl!), you can use a dark colored (I used Black) Stampin' Write Marker to add the veins of the flower.
- Curl the petals of your flower with a dowel rod, or with the edge of
your bone folder for more dimension. (I completely missed this step, so my flowers are currently very flat…I'll have to correct that later…) - Layer two of your butterflies and add a brad or eyelet to the center to hold them together. Dawn used a Mini Brad. I liked the look of the 1/8" Eyelet for the centers; some have gold and some silver.
I can see where creating these pretty little blooms could be addictive! I made 15 total (that's 30 little butterflies) and it was SO much fun I could have gone on and on! But, alas, I thought I better start finding a way to use these awesome embellishments on a few projects. Tomorrow, I'll show you a Mini Notecard Purse Set I created with my new butterfly pansies! It's so cute that it may have to be my May Stamp Club project!
Angie