Handicrafts by Kate Perry and other ramblings

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Green Butterfly Challenge

I needed something to kick start me card making again after Christmas, and what better than a butterfly card. The Butterfly Challenge this time is to include a Zero, and or use the colour Zucchini. Now I have never used the word Zucchini to describe a colour. If my memory is correct, zucchini in USA are what we in UK call courgettes which are usually pale and dark green stripes. Now I live in Spain I know them as callabacin and they are plain, very dark green. However the challenge remit was anywhere on the green-yellow spectrum, so I dug out my leaf green brusho inks which separate with water to give a lot of yellow too, and made a background with them on very wet watercolour paper.



I left it to dry completely and trimmed it to fit a 11x17 card. I wanted to try a technique that I saw on some blogs before Christmas, where you use a cutting die to dry and wet emboss an image. I used two Wild Rose Studio butterfly dies. I won't write all the technique out here as there is an excellent video that explains it better than I can, by Jennifer McGuire, which you can see HERE.
In her video, Jennifer used a 'wink of stella' pen to highlight the raised areas in the embossing, but when I tried this it reacted with the ink and left a whitish film on it. So I coloured over this as best I could, and then went over it all with a deep yellow Leonie Pujol glitter brush pen which worked a lot better. I used a gold pen to draw in bodies and antennae on the butterflies, and to draw a frame around the card. You can see the detail of this technique better in this close up of the smaller butterfly.

Then I took the narrow pieces I had trimmed from the background card and die cut tiny flowers from the yellow areas which I glued randomly on the background, and some butterflies and the sentiment from the greener pieces, using a Joanna Sheen Signature die. Many of my friends are approaching a 'significant age' so I placed a gold peel-off 70th between the words to comply with the challenge to use a zero.
Now I shall link this up with Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge #69: Z for Zero and Zucchini.

10 comments:

Jean said...

Nice butterflies Kate and great technique. Well done to incorporate the 0 as well as the colour.
Jean x

Tina Z. said...

great technique with lovely butterflies.
Thank you for joining us at the Butterfly Challenge.

Veerle said...

Your card looks great Kate, very beautiful.
Hugs Veerle

Virginia said...

Gorgeous card Kate - really positive, loving the technique too!

Mrs A. said...

Wow, this is an amazing card. I love the colours. So nice to see you fluttering in the butterfly garden. Not heard of this technique . I must have missed this as I follow Jennifer's tutorials. The butterflies look really impressive. Love it. Hugs Mrs A.

kiwimeskreations said...

Stunning card Kate - love your background colour and that die technique is always a winner in my eyes. Your detailing is perfect.
Blessings
Maxine

Jules said...

Hi Kate

A great technique and you have used it beautifully here.

Loving your Brusho work too. I gained some for Christmas and am in the process of trying to find all the different ways to use them.

Hope you are having a good week.

Love Jules xx

veronica said...

lovely card kate, interesting technique wirth the dies, not seen that before, so off to check the link!
Happy new year, if a bit late!

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

Love your die embossing and the colours, so bright and a promise of Spring. Love it.
Faith
x

scrappymo! said...

This is so pretty, Kate. I saw this technique on shaz's design card for Jan RDays and I think it sounds so cool.
Your card is really pretty!