Butterfly Overload

Thought it was about time I tried out my Stampin Up Swallowtail Butterfly stamp, and this is one of a few cards made last night with it. Seeing a Pinterest card, done using the Versamark resist technique, I thought I'd give it a go. 
 One thing I was curious about was did it have to be Versamark & white embossing powder? So I did three butterflys, one with Versamark/white, one with clear embossing ink/white, and a third with Brilliance Pearlescent white Pigment ink & White embossing powder.With this technique, you stamp in Versamark onto card then heat emboss using white powder. After that you sponge ink over the Butterfly and the white embossing resists the ink.

The three butterflies in the picture, top left Versamark/white, the top right Clear embossing ink & white and the bottom one is Brilliance & White. Which you can see didn't work too well. Maybe the pad is a bit dry- didn't hold enough embossing powder, but there really isn't anything to choose between the Versamark or Clear embossing ink.The card I saw, the lady sponged the ink on in circular motions, using Sponge Daubers. I don't have any of those, so I just used small pieces of make up sponge. She also didn't worry about going over the edge of the Butterfly, as this gives it a sort of shadow, as if the butterfly is raised up.For the sponging I used DI in Milled Lavender, Shaded Lilac & Dusty Concord.For the card at the top, I just trimmed it to size, matted it onto two shades of purple card, wrapped a purple spotted organza ribbon around it, tied in a knot and mounted it to the card front. Then I punched out three small butterflies and added them to the corners with a bit of Purple Stickles down their bodies.

 I quite like how they came out, so I did another one, This time I lined up three tags side by side, sticking them to my scrap paper with a bit of re-positionable tape. You can probably see the Butterfly looks a bit of a funny grey colour. Thats what happens when you loose track of whats on your desk! I stamped this one in Black Versafine, intending to heat emboss in clear powder- I just picked up the jar on my table and sprinkled it on. It was only when I started to heat it, and it was turning whiteish, that I remembered the powder on my desk was White, not clear! Well, they both look the same in the jar, lol. So I forged ahead, stamping a Post-it mask for the Butterfly, then overstamping in Versafine Black again, the Script Stampin Up stamp.Needed to stamp it twice to cover the image, I think I could have lined it up a bit better, to be honest.
 For the sponging this time, I stuck with DI, but used Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers & Faded Jeans. The Peacock Feathers is a very strong colour, and a little goes a VERY long way!
  I also added sponging around the edge of the three tags, again with Faded Jeans.To be honest, despite him being a funny colour, it didn't come out too badly. I matted the three tags onto dark blue card, and trimmed it to the shape of the tags. This I mounted onto an offwhite card base.


I thought it needed something extra, so I stamped the butterfly again and heat embossed in white, onto some thick vellum.
After I cut it out, I sponged the back of the vellum with the same three DI's I'd used on the main butterfly,which I heat set before going any further. Then mounted him on top of the tags with a line of Pinflair glue gel down his body, and the inner sides of his wings.

This Swallowtail is a huge stamp, 5 1/2x 4 1/4 inches, and I don't actually have an acrylic block big enough! What I do have though, is some thinner acrylic plates, which I use with my Stamp Positioner. I already have one, but I ordered some more off an e-bay supplier recently. They do them to any size you want, really cheap, which was cool. So I used one of those for it. Works fine too. I did notice that there is a lot of excess rubber around the stamp, they are not as close cut as some are.
 One video I watched, I noticed the stamper kept getting marks around the bottom of the 'tails', so I trimmed it there. When using clear ink on it, I'd advise going around the edges with a cotton bud, as its way too easy to get excess ink, even when applying the inkpad to the stamp, rather than the stamp to the inkpad.But I am impressed with the stamp quality, both give a beautifully clear impression.

Supplies:
 Stampin Up Swallowtail Butterfly
Stampin Up French Script
Distress Inkpads: Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord,Shaded Lilac, Faded Jeans,Peacock Feathers &Tumbled Glass.
 Versamark, or Clear Embossing Inkpad.
 White Detail embossing powder.
 Black Versafine inkpad.
Vellum, a thick quality.
White card & tags.
Sponges/sponge daubers.
Heat Gun.