Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Butterfly Thank You Card


I am sure some of you were starting to wonder when you'd see another paper project on my blog.  Things have been hectic with travels and family but I did find time to make a card today.  I used Design Studio to help me plan the card - by choosing and sizing the elements on the computer I can experiment without wasting paper.  

 
Here you can see the Design Studio preview of the card.  The only item on the preview that is cut with the Cricut is the sentiment.  The other shapes are simply used to represent the pieces that I will use for the card and to try various color schemes.


The color scheme for the card was determined by the patterned paper from the "Chloe's Closet" collection by Making Memories.  I found some of this paper at Tuesday morning recently.  There were six sheets each of four designs and one shaped and pierced page in the package, a total of 25 pieces for $3.99 and I was helpless to resist!  I don't use a lot of orange but the bright citrus colors appealed to me along with the great price.


Here are all of the pieces of this card.  The card base, cardstock layers, ribbon and butterfly were represented in the Design Studio preview, however, only the sentiment (and the sentiment shadow) were actually cut with the Cricut.


This is an A2 card (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 piece of cardstock folded to form a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inch card).  The first layer is cut at 5 1/4 inches x 4 inches.  I tried plain white but it was too stark a contrast with the shiny floral cardstock which has more of an off-white shade around the flowers (you can see the white at the top and the dotted cardstock I chose at the bottom in this photo).  I remembered the DCWV Citrus Stack which has similar bright colors and I found this off-white dotted with orange cardstock in the stack.  The two lines work together nicely.  The floral cardstock is cut at 3 3/4 x 5 inches.


The ribbon is from American Crafts.  I cut a piece to wrap around the floral patterned layer and simply added a bit more adhesive with my ATG to hold the ribbon.


This basic layering is a great start for many cards - all you have to do now is add an embellishment and a sentiment for a quick and easy card.


In my preview, I used only the top layer of the sentiment.  I didn't have the option of adding the patterned paper to preview the effect (one of the things that I really like about the new Craft Room online design tool is the ability to fill images with patterned paper - I just wish we could add papers other than the ones available on the Imagine cartridges).  By looking at the sentiment on the card front it is obvious that I needed to add the shadow layer.


You can see what a difference adding the layer makes - the sentiment is easy to read now.  I used the same DCWV paper that I used for the first layer for the shadow.


I added a butterfly instead of a bow on the ribbon.  This butterfly is from the Creative Charms Kit of the Month for April (available for just a few more days).  I used a large dimensional glue dot to hold the bulky butterfly securely.


Here is a closer view of the butterfly - the colors work together perfectly.


The dots in the first layer and the sentiment shadow also coordinate with the dots in the floral patterned paper.  This cardstock is shiny but not glittered.  The card base and the top layer of the sentiment are Bazzill cardstock which also coordinates well with the blue color in the design.


I would probably send this card to a crafty friend and hope that the butterfly would be plucked off and reused for another crafty project!

I have explained about the use of color previews before - here is a LINK to a post from last fall.  I'll try to post another explanation of exactly how to plan a card in Design Studio tomorrow.  I have been doing this for years to save paper and help myself make color choices.  This is something you can do with just the trial version of the program if you want to have a better idea of the proper size and placement of your cuts.  I'll be driving back to New Jersey for a quick trip to attend an award ceremony at our son's college - he was chosen to receive the Annual Award for Music and we are very proud of him!  If things get too crazy it may take a day or two to add this post.

link to Discussion Day 2 - How much is enough?

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23 comments:

  1. Thanks for the detail and thought process. I like the choices you made for the same reasons. I hadn't thought of using DS {CCR} for design & color previews but will try it.
    Send Congratulations to your son!

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  2. I have not seen colored dotted swiss paper--I really like the colored dots! Very pretty card and butterfly that will likely fly to another project! Congrats to your son, and enjoy your trip!
    Shellee

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  3. Oh this is so pretty. I love the bright colors.

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  4. Very pretty card...I love the colors you have chosed. They seem to just pop! It's amazing how an added shadow layer can make such a difference. I have a G and it's too bad the preview is not in color. I haven't used CCR too much, but I'm thinking adding colors might be a feature. The butterfly completes the card. She looks like she is hovering over her butterfly garden! Thanks for showing the construction details. When I first began card making, I loved blogs that showed every detail. Have a great day!
    Kathryn

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  5. That is a very pretty card! And I don't blame you for resisting buying that. $3.99? How can you go wrong!

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  6. You are such a source of incredible learning for my. I was just about to write a comment asking you how to do the color preview when I saw the link to your detailed post. Thanks so much for enriching my life with your creativity and generous teaching. God Bless!

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  7. LOVE the color combo! Great design as usual. Miss your paper projects ;-) But enjoyed your photography in the meantime. And love how you alter the photos to bring out the best in them.

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  8. What a 'happy' looking Thank You card...has to be the colors...sunshine happy!!! Looking forward to tomorrow when you show how to plan a card in Design Studio...THANK YOU!!

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  9. I can see why the pack caught your eye at Tuesday Morning. The colors yell "spring" :) The card is lovely and so cheerful. It makes you feel good just to see the colors and the sentiment. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day!!!

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  10. Hi Diane, I really like the colors you have chosen for the card. It is a very pretty card. I use the DS color preview when I am designing a card. Of course I learned "how to" from you. You have helped me so much with using DS. I bought the Gypsy for myself at Christmas and design on it but I miss that you can't do a color preview on it! Thanks for sharing!
    Kathy

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  11. Diane~ Beautiful card. What cartridge is the sentiment from?

    Thanks for sharing your crafts!

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  12. Love the colors. Off to check out the link about the color previews. What a great help that would be. Have a safe trip back to NJ.

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  13. Congrats to your son! I thought it was funny you got the paper at Tues. Morning. I just mad the conscious decision to skip stopping there to see what they had knowing the price might make me buy something I didn't need, thinking about what I wrote for this week's discussion. I have picked up some nice Martha punches there though. Diet's can be hard. We don't want to even talk about marshmallow bunnies ;- ) I love the bright happy colors of this card (I have the Citrus Stack also). the butterfly is the perfect embellishment, esp. with the red gem. Thanks for sharing your creative process. Have a great and safe trip.

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  14. I usually do not use orange/bright colors, but do like what you have. I was also wondering what cartridge the sentiment came from, as I don't think I have that one!!

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  15. Lovely card I have some of that paper as well ( couldn't resist the price) and was not sure what I could c do with it Thanks for the great discussion of your process.

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  16. Diane,

    What cartridge did you use for the Thank You? I don't see that info in your post, unless I missed it completely.

    TFS

    Carmen L
    cal8007 at aol dot com

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  17. So bright and cheary. You made the colors work wonderfully for this card. Lucky you to come across such a great find at Tuesday Morning. I like to go there and I sometimes find the neatest things. Congrata to your son.

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  18. This is so cute and love the colors. I love butterflies and I cannot wait for my bushes to get bigger.
    Blog: http://lovethatexpressions.blogspot.com/

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  19. Love the bright colors...and that fab butterfly! The only Tuesday Morning anywhere near me closed a few months ago. :-( I found some terrific bargains there.

    Congrats to your son!

    ~Sharon C.

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  20. Lovely card! Very bright. I got that same pack at Michael's for the great sales price!--Can't pass up a bargain.--Pat

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