By Judi Kauffman
My Designer Challenge project for September, shown in the two photos below, gave birth to the three card projects I designed for this blog post, shown above. Each features some of the Fitted Frames 4 Curvy Squares pieces that were left after making the card with the nymph (cut all at the same time in one pass through the machine). They also include the extra butterflies I made that same day while I was at it and had set aside with the frames. No time or materials were wasted! I even put the leftovers from the transparent Glitter Dots sheet to use.
Rather than providing step-by-step instructions, I’m going to include my design strategies – the unifying elements that made it fun to work on several cards at the same time – and encourage you to use the photos as a source of inspiration. That way, you can switch to a different color combination and otherwise customize the cards to suit your taste and the occasion.
Instead of Friends or Missing You substitute a different sentiment, for example: Happy Birthday, Thinking of You, or Thanks. Instead of pink, orange, brown, and blue as the palette, go for another colorful quartet. Make large cards or small ones, top-fold, side-fold or flat. You get the idea!
The unifying elements that repeat among the trio of projects are:
Dots – Notice the piece of Light Pink Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz embossed with the Lots of Dots embossing folder, those wonderful little extra dot pieces from the frames, and the leftovers from a sheet of Glitter Dots peel-offs that I used for some of the butterflies.
Squares – In addition to the die cut frames and the die cut square with the heart-shaped cutout, add patterned paper and solid color cardstock squares cut on a paper trimmer.
Butterflies – Die cut from Shimmer Sheetz, most have a decorative overlay cut from a second color. A trick for the 2-layer butterflies: Cut off the head and antennae from the bottom layer (only the body section of the two pieces are aligned and attached). And make sure that the wings are bent upward for dimension. Reminder – Use the Metal Adaptor Plate to die cut Shimmer Sheetz; review Els van de Burgt’s YouTube video tutorial if you are new to this technique. TIP: When removing the Shimmer Sheetz butterflies from the die, poke out the two wings first, then the body, and finally pull upward toward the head and antennae last so they won’t tear. (That’s the most fragile part. This strategy works well for cardstock or paper, too!)
Words – Use cardstock that matches the frames for words cut with Suzanne Cannon’s ‘A Way with Words’ dies or mix in a smaller vinyl peel-off greeting.
Layouts – Trust your eye. Arrange and rearrange the elements till you’re pleased with the results and then use the appropriate adhesives to hold things in place.
Dimension – Use Power Adhesive Tabs to add dimension to some of the frames, to hold the layers together in each of the 2-layer butterflies, and to attach the butterflies to the cards. Use Clear Double Sided Adhesive Tape to hold all flat layers.
Supplies:
Elizabeth Craft Designs –
1064 Fitted Frames 4 Curvy Squares
Shimmer Sheetz in assorted colors
Leftovers (background) from 1018 Transparent Glitter Dots peel-off sheet
Clear Double Sided Adhesive Tape (narrow width, or trim wider tape to fit)
Missing You peel-off from 2580 Thinking of You peel-offs sheet in Black
A Way with Words die(s) of choice (shown – 1058 Quietfire Thanks, 1052 Quietfire Friends)
Other –
Patterned papers (BoBunny)
Solid color cardstock in coordinating colors
Power Adhesive Tabs (Tombow)
