Tips for Painted Petals & Butterfly Framelits

 I was so thrilled when I saw the butterfly framelits in the Occasions catalog this year!  They are so pretty and I am having a fun time working with them.  This card is pretty basic and I will list what all you need to make it below but I wanted to use this post to give you some information about working with these framelits -- at least, my experience for getting good results!

 

Here's my recommendation - although it may need some tweaking depending upon your Big Shot as the pressure on each machine is different.  Here's the sandwich that works best for me (working from the bottom up):

• Magnetic Platform
• Acrylic plate
• Piece of copy paper
• Cardstock you want cut
• Piece of wax paper
• Acrylic plate

When you run it through the Big Shot, I go back and forth twice so it goes through a total of 4 times.  This seems to always give me a good cut on all the little pieces.  The copy paper behind the cardstock gives the die something to cut into after the cardstock and before it stops in the acrylic plate.  The wax paper makes it easy to get the cardstock out of the framelit.  In fact, most of the time, it just drops out or stays down on the platform.  You will need to pull the wax paper out of the framelit but since you usually don't care if it is destroyed, it is no problem.  In this card, we actually used the wax paper butterfly and not the cardstock piece!  I had to cut a bunch of butterflies for a different project and held onto the wax paper butterflies to use for this project.

 



Here is my second tip for this blog post and it has to do with the Painted Petals stamp set.  Unless you are a die-hard wood mount person, order the photopolymer of this stamp set.  One, it is cheaper but more importantly, it is so much easier to line up the stamps in the two-step stamping process.  I have the clear mount set and trying to get those stems/leaves to line up properly was a challenge!  In fact, I started out working with the other flowers in this set but quickly gave up because I had such a difficult time lining up the leaves.  If I had such a difficult time with it, I figured  my customers would as well.

Well, there's two hints for the price of one today!  Not a bad day, huh?

Forever Stampin',

    Cathy Williams

Product List

Painted Petals Clear Stamp Set [138822]	Wetlands Clear Stamp Set [126697]	Pear Pizzazz 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131201]	Blushing Bride 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131198]
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad [126948]	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [131172]	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad [131180]
Spring Flowers Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [137365]	Butterflies Thinlits Dies [137360]	Ticket Duo Builder Punch [126883]	Pear Pizzazz 1/4" Cotton Ribbon [134562]
Melon Mambo 1/4" Cotton Ribbon [134566]