Masked Butterflies

I'm baaaaack! Didja miss me? :)

I have to say that my muse has been sleeping lately. Not gone, mind you, but absolutely snoring away! Aside from the odd family trouble (does your muse sleep when you're upset about something? or is it just me?) we've also embarked on the most terrifying journey of parenthood to date. Yup. Potty training. Not that it hasn't been going well (for the most part!) but we've been living in a sort of terrified daze. It's like living on red alert - exhausting to say the least! :D

I have, however, managed to finally get this card to come together. It's not my original concept (I had planned to color the butterflies & leave everything else white) but I think I like this one more than I anticipated.

I used a process called reverse masking (mask the image instead of the background) to color in the boxes with my Distress Inks. First I drew out the boxes, dividing the space into three and allowing space for the white edges. The edges were masked with post it notes, then he butterflies were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black. I cut the butterfly mask out of post it notes too, in two pieces because the sticky area wasn't big enough. Once the butterfly was masked, I used a cotton ball and rubbed Dried Marigold around the butterfly, following up with Fired Brick around the outside.

Even though you can't really see it in the pic, I used my Scor It to really define the white between the box edges and down the sides. Since I just couldn't stand to leave them alone you can see, just a little bit, that I used my black glitter pen on the bodies of the butterflies - much more shiny IRL. :)

The final touch was the vinyl printed ribbon you see on the side. Yes, it's a supple sort of vinyl-like-stuff (I have no idea what it actually is) that I bought by the yard at a scrap place in Fort Collins. I really have no idea who makes it, but if I had to guess - maybe 7 Gypsies?? Dunno. There were a couple of different patterns there - but I only liked this one!

So, that's it for today. Hope you're having inky fun! :)