A Collection of Tattered Butterflies

Hello and Welcome!

I’m back again today with a new tutorial created for the Tim Holtz Sizzix Creativation Booth. As some of you know, the theme that Sizzix had for the show this year had to do with home and the Tim Holtz Sizzix Collection was to be displayed with a greenhouse or potting shed theme. How beautiful was that potting shed? WOW! I would love to have a shed like that in my backyard, not to mention having it decorated with all the lovely makes, products and vintage goodies…If you didn’t have a chance to see the walk through that Tim shared on Facebook Live, you can check it out HERE.

This project was created using the new Tattered Butterfly Bigz Die. A Bigz die is able to cut thicker mediums including Watercolor Paper, Felt, Fabric, Cork, Thin Metals, and Chipboard which makes it very versatile and an asset to have in your crafting stash. These butterflies were cut out of Distress Watercolor Paper and then watercolored with Distress Inks and Oxides then embellished with a Pitt Fine Tip Permanent Marker. I then added a bit of thin wire for their antenna. I found a new Glass Top Display Box on Amazon, then distressed it to look tattered and worn. This became the perfect specimen box to display these beautifully tattered butterflies. It also would make the perfect home for an Entomology display made from the Tim Holtz Entomology stamp (CMS328) and dies sets. 😉 so many possibilities!

Let’s Begin…

I started by creating the specimen box…

I sanded the edges of both the top and bottom of the box with a Sanding Grip then added some Picket Fence Distress Paint and added on some Opaque Crackle Texture Paste. I sprayed the inside of the box with Frayed Burlap and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain, then blended in some Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. Spritzed the box with water, dabbed with a towel and dried it with my heat tool. This created an aged look to the box.

I began adding layers of Opaque Crackle Texture Paste to the edges and then when it was dry and crackled, I blended some Walnut Stain Distress Crayon into the cracks. I added some Clear Rock Candy Paint and then after it had crackled, I added Mushroom Alcohol Ink.

I found a piece of vintage typing paper in my stash and blended, dipped, sprayed and dried the paper with a variety of brown distress inks and water. I stamped the Entomology (CMS328) handwritten background stamp onto the paper with Black Soot Archival Ink. 

I then began creating the inside padding for the butterflies. I knew I wanted the butterflies to look as though they were pinned inside the specimen box so I wanted something that pins could be poked into. I cut a piece of corrugated cardboard from a shipping box to fit within the specimen box. When I cut the cardboard I left approximately a 1/4″ of space around so that it fit within the box, but left enough space for the padding edge and bit of wiggle room. Then I cut 2 pieces of cotton batting with pinking sheers that were approximately 1/4″ larger then my cardboard piece.

I blended Walnut Stain Distress Ink and sprayed Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stain onto the cut pieces of cotton batting to add a bit of age.

Then, I messy stitched the edges to create a pocket to place the cardboard piece to slip into…kind of like a pillowcase 😉

After the cardboard piece was inserted into the pocket, I stitched the end shut.

the knob…

I painted a knob from the Idea-ology Mini Hardware pack with Picket Fence Distress Paint.

Then I added Mushroom Alcohol Ink, Gold Mixative Alcohol Ink and dabs of Cracked Pistachio Distress Paint to create an aged look.

I punched a hole in the side of the box top and added the knob with the provided screw. With that, my specimen box was complete… now to add the butterflies!

the butterflies…

I cut both sizes of the butterflies from the Tattered Butterfly Bigz Die from Distress Watercolor Paper and began coloring them with Distress Inks, Oxides and a Detail Water Brush. These butterflies are not a specific species of butterfly. 😉 I simply watercolored them with some colors that I thought blended well together and had fun with it.

I smooshed the colors (Gathered Twigs, Tea Dye, Broken China, Ground Expresso Distress Inks and  Broken China and Dried Marigold Distress Oxides) onto my mat and picked up the colors with a Detail Water Brush, painted the butterflies. I dried the butterflies in-between blending more colors onto the them. Then after the they were all painted and dry, I used my Pitt Fine Tip Permanent Marker and added outlines and details to them.

I cut 2 pieces of thin gauge silver wire, colored it with a black sharpie marker and adhered the wire to the butterflies with hot glue, then I added the butterfly bodies.

I tore an area of the stamped background paper and blended Frayed Burlap Distress Ink onto the torn edge, then I stamped a wildflower (from Illustrated Garden CMS295) to the right and bottom of the page. (you can see a good shot of that in the photo below, sorry I didn’t take a process photo of that…oops!)

I cut a few vintage straight pins down to fit within the box with my wire trimmers, poked the butterfly bodies, added a dab of Distress Collage Matte Medium and pinned them into the corrugated cardboard pad and background paper.

I typed out some details about the butterflies onto a scrap of typing paper and pinned it within the specimen box.

With that, my specimen box was complete.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

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Gather Your Supplies-

Tim Holtz/Sizzix- Tattered Butterfly, Vagabond 2

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous- Entomology (CMS328), Illustrated Garden (CMS295)

Tim Holtz/ Idea-ology- Mini Hardware (Knob)

Tim Holtz/Tonic- Tonic Guillotine Paper Trimmer, Tonic Shears

Tim Holtz/Ranger- Mushroom Alcohol Ink, Gold Mixative, Opaque Crackle Texture Paste, Clear Rock Candy Distress Paint, Black Soot Archival Ink

Distress Ink- Frayed Burlap, Gathered Twigs, Tea Dye, Broken China, Ground Expresso

Distress Oxide- Broken China, Dried Marigold

Distress Spray Stain- Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen

Distress Crayons- Walnut Stain

Distress Paint-Picket Fence, Cracked Pistachio

Distress Tools/Mediums- Distress Sprayer, Media Mat, Heat it Heat Tool, Blending Tools, Distress Collage Matte Medium, Distress Watercolor Paper, Detail Water brush, Sanding Grip, Wire Trimmers

Other- Glass Top Display Box, Vintage Straight Pins, Vintage Typing Paper, Thin Gauge Wire, Black Sharpie Marker, Corrugated Cardboard, Cotton Batting, Vintage Typewriter, Pitt Fine Tip Permanent Marker, Hot Glue Gun, Sewing Machine and Black Thread