Yahoo! This is my first step into the blogging world!

After receiving my Sizzix Embosslit butterfly from Stampin’ UP, I cut out butterflies from several printed and plain papers and cardstocks but they just didn’t work for me. Somehow something was missing. Finally I realized what it was: butterflies with no bodies or antennae were too weird, too naked, kinda like buttons without any thread in their holes.

 I toyed with making wire antennae and maybe beaded bodies, but frankly it seemed to be more work than I wanted to do at the moment! I also knew that having 3 seperate parts meant 3 places for something to come lose or fall off.  I needed an all-in-one solution.

I happened to have some embroidery floss in my line of sight and poof!, an idea was born.

For the largest butterfly I used 3 strands of embroidery floss (the standard 6-strand stuff comes in a milion different colors). I wrapped it around the middle of the butterfly (between the wings) and then double knotted it. I then slid the knot up to the top of the butterfly, making the head.  DON’T cut the threads yet, they will become the antennae! Squeeze some glue (Elmers, Sobo, whatever) onto a piece of scrap paper. Dab your index finger in the glue, then rub the glue between your index finger and your thumb. This will take very little glue. Now take the thread ends you left and, starting at the “head” of the butterfly, rub the glue up the threads. This stiffens the thread so that you end up with lovely antennae! Once they are dry, trim to the length you desire. For the smaller butterflies use fewer strands of floss.

To apply to your project, just run a line of glue along the floss on the underside of the butterfly and not only will it stick, but the floss provides a tiny bit of dimension as well.

This procedure works well for stacking multiple pieces together . This is a really great technique when using vellum as there is no glue used so no worry about glue showing.

Both of the cards used Clean And Simple Stamping sketches

Hope you enjoyed this- let me know!