Sunday, April 10, 2011

Butterfly Easel Card Tutorial

Many of you asked "How'd she do dat?" when I first showed you the butterfly easel card last week.  Well, here's a tutorial I whipped together that will show you how simple this is and will encourage you to pull out that Beautiful Butterfly Bigz die and give it a shot!  (as in Big Shot ;-)

First off, here's the finished card. This tutorial will only cover how to make the easel part of the card... you'll then have a blank canvas to embellish and decorate it as you please ;-)




To start, you'll need 2 pieces of cardstock -  i'm using So Saffron.


One piece should measure 3.5" x 6" and one should measure 3.5" x 3". These measurements are just a little bit on the generous side, once you get the hang of cutting them out, you can trim them to be just a bit smaller to save on your precious cardstock.





Take your 3.5" x 3" piece and run it through the bigshot using the Beautiful Butterfly Bigz Die. You'll be cutting out the larger of the two whole butterflies. Set this whole butterfly aside.




Take your 3.5"x 6" piece and score it at the 3" mark. Fold on the score line and what you'll have is a double layer 3.5" x 3" piece with a fold at the top. This fold will eventually be your "hinge" for the easel card base (more on that later).




I've done some creative photoshopping here to show you how to cut out the next piece. The red outline in the photo above illustrates the cutmarks of the die. Position your folded piece of cardstock so that the fold is just below the top of the wings. This will ensure that when you cut your two layers of cardstock, they will still be joined together along the fold line, forming a hinge.




After you have run this through the bigshot, notice that you have 2 diecut layers with a "hinge" at the top joining them together. Neat, eh? Don't worry that the tips of this little guy's wings have been "flattened". When all is said and done, his flattened wings will be hidden from view ;-)



Unfold your little twin butterflies so they lay flat. In this photo, i've put a dotted line to illustrate the fold line that is already there.




Create a new score line as indicated in the photo, which happens to be at the 1" mark. Be sure to only score one of the two twin butterflies, we want to leave one nice and flat.




Now it's time to tape this little guy up! You'll only be applying adhesive below your score line (see photo for details). Once you've decorated your "whole" butterfly that you've previously set aside, you can then line him up ontop of his glued brother and fasten them together.



(This next part is the hardest to describe, so hopefully looking at a photo of the finished product will be enough >.<) To finish off your easel and make it "stand up", fold along your score lines. You want to make sure you are folding away from the decorated butterfly front that you attached in the previous step. You'll know you've folded it correctly if by looking at your folded piece from the side, you see a triangle. Here's a photo of the side view of my finished piece. This should give you an idea of how the score lines work:


You might have to mush down on all your score lines with a bone folder to keep him from opening up on you, but by and large he'll stand on his own two feet wings! Voilà! You've created your easel!  

And, here's the finished piece once again!


I hope you found this tutorial helpful!  I'll include my supply list below on how I got this all decorated up, but if you have any question, just let me know.

Thanks for reading!
Michey


DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Just Believe, Punch Potpourri, French Script (retired)
Paper: So Saffron, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry
Ink: So Saffron, Pear Pizzaaz, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Beautiful Butterflies Die, Boho Blossoms Punch, Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

17 comments:

  1. Beautiful butterfly card! Thanks for the tutorial - it is great. Thanks for sharing your creation & time.

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  2. Well now I have to have this die! Your tutorial is wonderful and the example you show is so beautiful and delicate, just like a butterfly should be. Thanks so much Michey. By the way I really like the style of your tutorial with the arrows and pointers. Very nicely done!

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  3. WOW,WOW,WOW!!!! OMGosh!!! This is gorgeous!!! Thanks so much for the tutorial.....I can't wait to give this a try!!! I love it!!!;)
    Have an inky day!!!

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  4. Thank you for the tutorial. I am going to have to give this a try. Have a great day!

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  5. LOVELY card!! TFS and for Great easy to follow tutorial. :)

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  6. Beautiful card. TFS the well written tutorial.

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  7. Very pretty - thanks for sharing the great tutorial too!

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  8. Thanks for sharing. This is awesome.

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  9. So beautiful! Thanks for the great directions!

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  10. What a super sweet idea.. I love your blog.. so many great projects. I will come back for sure!

    Inky hugs, Pauline

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  11. I love your blog... your work is AMAZING! Thanks so much for your sweet comments... you always make my day!

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  12. Michey, this was a fabulous tutorial! That die was just added to my "must-have" list! Gorgeous card! Thank you so much for sharing the detailed instructions. It's always so fun to read your posts! Have a great day today! Hugs! :)

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  13. Great tutorial, Michey! I loved how you decorated your this beautiful card!

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  14. I am so glad that I found your blog...Love your inspiring techniques and ideas. Thanks for sharing so many projects.

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  15. would love a butterfly template... for those without the machine

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  16. This is perfect. Thanks so much for providing the photos. I don't have a big shot so this allows me to recreate the die cuts from your photos. Great tutorial!

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  17. Saw one of these at Stampin' Up's Dallas Regionals this past weekend and loved it. But my pictures weren't quite as helpful as I thought. So I started searching and there you were. Yay! Thanks so much. Your tutorial was very helpful. I especially love the red and white one. Thinking and waiting paid off, big time. Thanks again.

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