Die Cuts as the Focal Point

Today I have card with a sentiment I love and find inspirational - "Good things are sure to happen."  I think this sentiment is particularly good for these times - good things are going to happen, we just may just have to wait a bit.  This card uses dies to accentuate the stamping and give the card its focal point.

To start, I cut a piece of mixed media paper to 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches and taped it to a masonite board for watercoloring.

I used a large watercolor brush and a light green ink to create a wash on the upper right and lower left corners of my paper.

I then used foliage and typography stamps with both the green and a light brown ink.  I stamped while the wash was damp and also after drying it with a heat tool.  This is a very loose process and there is no one way to do it.  Things come out differently every time but that is part of its beauty!

I cut my panel to 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 then stamped my sentiment in the brown.  I used a sponge with brown ink to go around the edges.

I mounted the the panel to a brown 5 3/8 x 5 3/8 inch panel and this I mounted to a top fold 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch card base.  Because the mixed media panel was a bit buckled, I used heavy books on top of the card to weigh everything down for a few minutes.  This got it nice and flat.

Now for my dies.

I cut all the butterflies (Springtime Butterflies) and some foliage (Spring Blooms) from gold foil cardstock.  I cut more than I needed but wanted some extra to play with the layout.

I ended up using just one butterfly.  I put some foam tape across it's body so it would stand up from the card and I could curl up the wings just a bit.  This really makes the butterfly stand out and "pop" against the background.

Finally I added some gold foliage in the lower left along with gold glitter enamel dots.

Dies: Cottage Cutz Springtime Butterflies and Spring Blooms
Stamps: Stampin' Up! Butterfly Basics, Tasteful Textures, Very Versailles, First Frost
Ink: Stampin' Up! Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede

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