PTI Blog Hop Challenge - July 2015

I'm playing along with PTI today in the July Blog Hop Challenge.  I absolutely LOVE the inspiration photo for this month's challenge!

The colors are incredible, the butterflies are awesome, and the layout made me think of a butterfly collector's pin board full of butterflies.  So naturally, I had to pull out my adhesive backed cork and roll with that idea.  :)

I started by die-cutting a mat from the cork using a spellbinders die.  My next step was to pick out some patterned papers inspired by the colors in this photo.  The papers I chose are from a 6x6 pad from My Mind's Eye called Lost & Found Two.

I die cut three of the butterflies from my patterned papers using the PTI Beautiful Butterflies dies.  Since the papers are thinner than I usually work with, I decided to cut them again from cardstock and mount the patterned papers on top for stability.  I die cut their antennas from coordinating colors of PTI cardstock.  

I used the PTI Chamomile Tea Die ink pad and a sponge dauber to distress their edges a little bit, and then I used a marker to help curl the wings slightly for dimension.  To make sure my butterflies don't get smashed flat in the envelope, I glued them down with Scrap Dots 3-dimensional glue.  It will support the wings so they don't flatten out.

After gluing them down on my paper, I found some straight pins from my sewing supplies and poked them into the butterflies at an angle so they appear to be pinned to the cork "board".  I had to cut the pins down shorter in order to make them lay where I wanted them to.  I added a small drop of Multi Matte Medium from Ranger behind the head of each pin to make sure they won't fall out.

The card base is Autumn Rose cardstock that was stamped with a background stamp from JustRite stamps using Scarlet Jewell ink and my Misti tool to line it up straight.  I already had a little banner strip in my stash of pre-cut shapes, so I stamped the sentiment (from Delightful Dahlia) in Scarlet Jewell ink and used my Score Pal to crease it so it looks like a ribbon or something.  I added a bit of curl to the ends of the banner using a marker again.

I love how well the stamped card base coordinates with the patterned papers I used on my butterflies.  Originally, I wanted to use Scarlet Jewell cardstock for the card base, but I only have small scraps of it at the moment.  (Time to order more!!)  I thought the Autumn Rose paper was too light and didn't quite coordinate with my patterned papers, so I opted to stamp on it to darken it.  It worked out even better than I thought it would!  :)  I'm very happy with the outcome.

Thanks for visiting!  I'll be fluttering on now.  Bye!