Framed butterfly card

The other day I was playing with my new TH Distress Oxides (DOX for short!) for the first time and made a few background pieces.  One was oranges and off it went down the right path without even planning it - so this is the card I made using some of the background piece:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, tent style

- a snippet from a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum Coated 300 gsm paper (I adore this!!) which had been smeared and daubed using TH Distress Oxides in the following colours: 'Fossilised Amber', 'Spiced Marmalade' and 'Fired Brick' - all part of the first set of 12 to be released

- heat dried between each colour so they didn't end up like a patch of mud ....... and then finally sprayed with plain water using a Mini Mister to add the 'splats and droplets' then given a final dry with the heat gun

- next I die cut two matching sets of frames using Impression Obsession's 'Rectangle 6 in 1 Frames' and white card stock -  then stuck the two matching frames together, one on top of another, for added dimension

- trimmed a piece from the rather precious TH DOX inky piece of card (it's not something you rattle off in five minutes!) and mounted it behind the white frame

- now that the framed piece of orange DOX card was assembled I could work out the positioning and potential 'look' of the sentiment - and after a lot of dithering opted for a die cut gold mirri card sentiment, to match the gold bodies I planned to add to the butterfly's wings later

- die cut the word 'Smile' (from the Penny Black 'Hooray' set of dies) using Stick-It backed gold mirri card and adhered it onto the card front. To really 'set' it in place and also to smooth out some 'cutting plate endowed wrinkles' I ran the whole card-  with the die cut word in place - through the Cuttlebug, using the embossing plates as well as an embossing folder for the right pressure

- time to glue the frame with the orange DOX backing in place, using Collall All Purpose glue - still a huge favourite of mine for 'wriggle room'

- at the same time as working with orange shades, I'd been using a variety of DOX blue shades in a similar way and had a little strip left over from a card I'll be showing on here in The Playground soon. So I die cut two little matching blue butterflies using SU's 'Beautiful Wings' Embosslits die/EF

- then added little gold mirri card bodies to the butterflies, die cut using Frantic Stamper's 'Petite Butterflies' plate die (it comes with loads of little butterflies and bodies, very pretty and in a way I wish I'd used it for the butterfly wings as well). If you love small butterflies then this die plate really is a lovely one to have in your die collection :)

- popped the butterflies in place using snippets of thin sticky pad and there it was - done!

I've said it before but running an added die cut through the embossing machine really does seem to 'embed' it into the card and it ends up looking almost 'foiled' if you use mirri card. Just remember to use an embossing folder for that added pressure, along with your normal embossing plates set up. For some cards I leave the embossing folder layer out, so it's a case of try the gentle approach without an EF first and see it you like it. Just make sure the EF is bigger than the card front for an even pressure and no rogue 'lines'. I tried to take a photo showing the mirri card shine but failed miserably :(

It sounds quite an easy card to make, but at the same time we were also trying to sort out the aftermath of the violent thunder storms we had here on Tuesday night. Both woken up by the bedroom lighting up like a funfair and an immediate enormous crash of thunder at about 2:30 am.

Looking back, it must have been quite an amusing sight - Len was out of bed in one huge hop (Olympic high jump standard) whilst I scrabbled to cower under the bedclothes! I swear that everything in the house rattled! And the next day we discovered that the telephone line was dead as a Dodo. BT are supposedly now on the case but who knows when things may be sorted out - at least we still have internet access, which surprises me, plus our mobiles! At least nothing blew up and we weren't endangered in any way :)

I have a friend who is absolutely terrified of thunder and lightning and has been known to dive under her bed or even into the wardrobe during a thunderstorm! After the other night, I'm on her side and would have been scrapping and fighting her out of the way I promise!

Edit: I just realised that this card is eligible for the brilliant CAS Watercolour challenge for July, run by Loll and Bonnie! The theme is 'Butterfly' - whoop, whoop - it's been far too long since I joined in.