Stampin’ Up Iced Beautiful Day ‘Monarch’ for the Inkin’ Krew Blog Hop

Good Tuesday to You All! Welcome!

Today is our monthly Inkin’ Krew Blog Hop. Thank you for joining us as we bring you projects with a “Celebrate Spring” theme. I had several ideas in mind for this one,  but in the end, the Beautiful Day butterfly stamp won the contest. Not much of a contest, I admit, but I did argue with myself for a little bit.

I am a Master Gardener and one of my group’s projects for the past 3 years has been to go into the Middle School and talk to the sixth grade students about the importance of pollinators, their plight, and what we can do to help, in particular, the Monarch Butterfly. We also help them plant milkweed seeds, as this is the ONLY plant on which the adult Monarch lays its eggs, and thus, the ONLY plant the larvae will eat.

This species has seen an 80% reduction in population in the past 20 years, so we are educating people a little at a time to do what we can to help them return to previous levels. Habitat destruction, pesticides and weather have the most impact on these fragile insects. But I digress.

Having been to school just last week, Monarchs were on my mind and in my heart. While this stamp is not a monarch, I made it look as much like one as I could. Enjoy, then continue the hop to see what the rest of our talented team has done. Below is an image of a REAL Monarch butterfly. It is a female….yes, you can tell the difference if you know how.

The Monarch deserved special treatment I thought, and I used Melissa Kerman’s You Tube video on her ‘black ice’ technique as my inspiration. Only for this particular version she called it ‘clear ice’. You can view that here.

I began by rubbing my Embossing Buddy over the Gold Foil Sheets before stamping the butterfly from the Beautiful Day stamp set in Basic Black Archival ink. I then heat embossed it in Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder.  Stampin’ Blends in Pumpkin Pie Light and Dark were used to color in the wings. There are white dots also on the Monarch, so I used my White Gel Pen to make dots around the outside edges.

After completing the coloring and letting it dry thoroughly, I tapped my Versamark ink pad, very gently over the whole panel, added clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder and heat embossed it. Voila! Instant texture, which Ms. Kerman calls ‘ice’. (the black ice is done by dragging Basic Black over the foil, and dragging the Versamark instead of tapping it.) I think it is a lovely technique, and will be using it again. This panel was Liquid Glued to a Basic Black mat.

My card base is Basic Black. I cut a panel of Whisper White to fit, minus 1-1/2″ vertically. I cut a piece of Tangerine Tango to fit that space and ever-so-lightly, dragged my Basic Black stamp pad from either end to add some texture to the orange, then Tear and Taped them together. I used NO pressure, just the weight of the stamp pad.

This panel was adhered to the card base with Tear and Tape. I centered the butterfly panel over the card front to get the placement for a length of Black Shimmer Ribbon with the ends cut on an angle. This ribbon was Tear and Taped to the card front, then the butterfly panel was adhered with Liquid Glue. I sort of wished later that I had used Stampin’ Dimensionals. Next time I will do that, and perhaps add some Basic Jewels to the butterfly body, but this card was to be simple and highlight the ‘ice’ technique.

On the inside, I stamped the sentiment, butterfly and the border on a panel of Whisper White, all in Basic Black Archival Ink. The butterfly stamp is from Kinda Eclectic (retired), the sentiment and border from Butterfly Basics. The die cut butterfly, in Tangerine Tango and colored with my Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker, is from the You Move Me Bundle and attached with Liquid Glue. I also used my Tangerine Tango Stampin’ Write Marker to color in the stamped butterfly.

This panel was adhered to a Gold Foil Sheets panel, then onto a Tangerine Tango mat and into the card base. An Enameled Dot finished the inside.

I don’t like a plain envelope, but don’t usually spend too much time decorating it. However, I thought my Monarch deserved better, so I stamped the Beautiful Day butterfly on the back, putting most of it on the flap. I did this in Basic Black, then colored it. To do this I used my Aqua Pen and Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin’ Pad with ink in the lid to give a watercolor effect and keep it light in tone. To make the black veins darker, I went over each one with my Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker.

The envelope front received 3 of the small butterflies from Kinda Eclectic in Basic Black, then colored in with the Tangerine Marker.

I hope I did our Monarch Butterflies justice here. I am pretty sure Monarch butterflies qualify as ‘Celebrate Spring ‘ for this hop. If you desire more information on their plight, go to Monarch Watch for a plethora of ways you can help if you choose to do so.

Now, on with the hop. By clicking the ‘next’ button you will go directly to our team leader Amy’s blog. The ‘back’ button with return you to Shirley’s project. Or, you can click on any of the team names  below to go to their blog and just ‘Hop’ around.

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to join us again next month. Information on card cuts and products are below.

Jaimie Barbarczy

Nanette Tracy

Karen Finkle

Linda Richenberg

Sue Prather

Mary Deatherage

Shirley Gentry

Julie Johnston (You are here)

Amy Koenders

CARD CUTS: Basic Black: card base 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″, scored at 4-1/4″; Whisper White: top front panel 2-3/4″ x 5-3/8″, inside panel 3-3/8″ x 4-5/8″; Tangerine Tango: lower card front 1-3/8″ x 5-3/8″, inside mat 4″ x 5-1/4″, butterfly-scrap; Gold Foil Sheets: front butterfly panel 3-3-16″ x 4-7/16″, 3-3/4″ x 5″

Product List