Thursday, February 19, 2015

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):




19 comments:

  1. Gorgeous tag Anna-Karin, love the pops of colour and the cut out areas, fabulous. Tracy x

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  2. Gorgeous tag Anna-Karin - love the butterflies!

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  3. Gorgeous....I am in love with this tag ,Anna Karin.Stunning texture Thanks for wonderful tutorial, now, I'll have to get those new dies :)

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  4. Wonderful idea, beautiful tag, thanks for sharing your tutorial !!! BArbarayaya

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  5. OMG I Love this tag. I seriously want to come and play in your studio... You have the coolest stuff ever :D This is just beautiful. I am going to have to try and find some of those thinlets... they are awesome.

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  6. Such a gorgeous project , cannot wait for my mixed media die to arrive ! X

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  7. Stunning tag, Anna-Karin! Love the laying of the tags! And the butterflies are fabulous! Hugs, Sandra

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  8. This is stunning and a great tutorial too!

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  9. What a beauty! Love the butterflies and thanks for sharing how you made these! (See that you use slightly different ways to get that effect as I so learnt again!) Have a fun weekend, Gerrina

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  10. I just received the butterflies duo die. Better not put it away too far. thanks as always for sharing.

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  11. Did you cut the Thinlits apart?

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  12. Its Beautiful ! The textured and colorful butterflies bring life to whole project.Thanks a lot for the tutorial .

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  13. This tag is incredible! Such great ideas in such a small space! Thank you for all your inspiration. You are amazing!

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  14. Love everything about this gorgeous tag. Simply amazing watching the layers come together. Genius!

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  15. You've used so many different technques and supplies here. What a gorgeous tag!

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  16. Stunning tag - the canvas butterflies are great, but it's that background that has really got me excited. Fabulous!
    Alison xx

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  17. This tag is absolutely gorgeous! I'd love to try re-creating your techniques. Thanks so much for the tutorial!

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!