Tutorial: Mini-background stamp and reverse masking technique butterfly card

Can you see what the difference is between these two cards?

I wanted to make one of the cards that was posted in the Stampin' Up demonstrators' Stampin' Success March/April 2013 issue for my monthly cardmaking class.  

On the Stampin' Up website this pretty card was called: Put It in Reverse - Butterfly Card (4-1/4" x 5-1/2").  

It gave this information on the card:

Stamps:

En Français Background Stamp

Paper
Raspberry Ripple Cardstock
Whisper White Cardstock

Ink
Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad
Pool Party Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

Accessories & Tools
Pearl Basic Jewels
Stampin' Spritzer
Owl Punch
Big Shot
Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die
Rubbing alcohol

 

Instructions

1. Cut out a butterfly from a piece of copy paper using the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die.
2. Position the negative image over the front of the card, and mist it using the Stampin' Spritzer with a combination of Pool Party ink and rubbing alcohol.
3. Leaving the negative image in place, stamp the En Français Background Stamp in Island Indigo ink.
4. Adhere three pearls to the center of the butterfly.
5. Punch a heart from Raspberry Ripple Cardstock using the Owl Punch. Adhere the heart to the card.

After reading this, it sounded pretty simple and I thought I had all these supplies.  But when I was making up the card and kits for my class, I discovered I didn't have the En Francais background stamp.  Have you ever thought you had the stamp sets you needed, since you have quite a collection, and then found out you actually didn't have it?  That has got to be worse than accidentally buying two of something (not me, ha).  In fact, I didn't have any background stamp that had lots of words on it, so I decided to make my own!  I came up with a mini-background stamp with some clear acrylic stamps, similar to those put together to make those chalkboard cards.

I used the Fabulous Phrases clear stamp set and the size acrylic block that would fit over the butterfly and here is what I got:

 It took a while to get all the stamps put on the acrylic block just right, but it looks great!  And it's in english too lol!

I had never done reverse masking before but it didn't seem like it would be complicated; however, the directions didn't tell you how much alcohol and ink drops to put in the spritzer, or that glossy paper would not work....I did several trial and errors experimentations and found that filling the Stampin' Up spritzer with 3/4 alcohol and about 12 drops of ink gave a nice shade of pool party.  I also added one drop of the white frost shimmer paint and it came out beautiful when sprayed on the butterfly.  

 Making the reverse mask was another experiment - using "copy paper" didn't work because it just got too saturated with the alcohol/ink spray and left patches of pool party on my card.  So I diecut a butterfly template out of glossy cardstock since I already knew it repelled the spray better (yeah, another thing I found out doing this experiment).  After cutting a margin around just the butterfly I wanted to use, I taped large scraps of glossy cardstock all around it, but left an opening along one side and corner so I could slip my white card into.  This kept the white card in place while drying, and then it was easy to stamp the mini-background stamp onto the butterfly with indigo island ink.

I did end up helping the drying process along by dabbing with a paper towel, but you could use a heat embosser too.  You just want to make sure both the butterfly and the paper/tape around it on the template is completely dry before stamping it and removing it...another thing I learned! Here is a picture of the butterfly template that lasted through the entire class:

 

Another thing I decided to do was to use a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of white cardstock for the butterfly, then adhere that to the card.  That way in case it got messed up, only this piece of cardstock was ruined and it was easier to do another one.  In fact, I had the ladies in my class practice using the spritzer on a butterfly cut-out before actually doing their butterfly.

Here is how we slipped the white card front behind the butterfly template - you will want to make sure all the surrounding areas are covered with paper too, since the spray can get all around the butterfly we well.

It will make a difference with how the spritzing spray turns out when you spray closer or a little farther away, if you angle the spritzing bottle, and how many sprays you put on.  

 You don't want to make the butterfly or surrounding masking too wet.

 Waiting for the alcohol spritzing to dry - the air smells like alcohol!

If it's too wet it will take a lot longer to dry and seep under the mask...ugh

Now the butterfly is dry so we can ink up the mini-background stamp with island indigo ink:

 Let it completely dry - use your heat embosser if you can't wait!

Now you can slip your card front out from behind the mask and hopefully, your butterfly came out correctly colored and stamped!

 Hopefully your butterfly got centered when you placed it under the opening - oh another to remember to do...

 If it is a little off center, you can just trim around the butterfly and reduce the margin - it looks really nice either way after you finish the card up with the pearls and little heart!

Hope this helps and inspires you to make your own reversed masking butterfly card and/or mini-background stamps and put those greetings in other fun ways!!

Thanks to the ladies in my class for allowing me to photograph their hands and help with this tutorial! :-)

If you have any questions and/or want to order any of the Stampin' Up products shown, let me know, OK?