A Butterfly Tree to spread some Love on a Monday…

A Butterfly Tree to spread some Love on a Monday…

Hello there.
So glad you dropped in!
Monday’s blog is Trees and Flowers, so 
let’s make a really simple card – it being Monday and all….
Attach the round Shape Framer stencil
at the top, like a hinge.
Make a tiny mark bottom left, so you know where to stamp the Butterfly tree.
Lift the stencil.
Use a Black Archival to stamp the tree into place.
Didn’t we use the butterflies recently?
Ah yes, with the Alcohol inks last Thursday 
Remember?

Close the stencil – it’s time to play with a brush…

Load one of the Clarity Stencil Brushes with Mountain Rose,
and start gently swirling around the edge of the circle.

Next, slide the Dotty Wave stencil in between the card and frame stencil. This is one of those must have stencils.
Lightly brush some dots into the background.

See?

Now lift away the stencil and using a black micron pen
go round the circle twice;
the object of the exercise is to create a weave.

Using a matching colour pencil, colour in the overlaps.
I have done a little Youtube video on this, which will come out in a couple of Tuesday’s time. In that one, I shaded in to make it look like a real weave with light and shade.
Here I just did solid block.
Yeah, well, it’s Monday. What do you expect?!

Very simple to do.

The trick is to incorporate the base of the tree into the weave.

Let’s use the weave as starting points for hills.
Weave back and forth in the background, 
creating hills and dales.

Use the same pencil to create depth,
by shading in above each line.

Trim back the card,

dust a little Mountain Rose round the edges with the same brush,

Nearly done!

We just need a thin black line around the outside 
to make the tree stand out.

Finally, dust through the Dotty Wave stencil 
on a fresh piece of card for the background.

And there she is: the Butterfly Tree.

That’ll do!
I bet this would look good in blues or teals, too.
Try it!
How about leaving a little love or happiness below?
much love,

55 thoughts on “A Butterfly Tree to spread some Love on a Monday…

  1. Barbara, Just beautiful and so easy (at least you make it easy) such a talented lady. I should be doing other things, but hey ho who is bothered not me.
    Love
    Mary

  2. "All you need is love ladadadada, all you is love, love. Love is all you need,

    Love today's project ant looks so easy to do and I have all the crafty goodies to have a go. Off to my craft tip! to have a play.

    Thanks Barbara. X

  3. Love it! When I do it why will I just think mine looks like squiggly lines and not a weave whereas yours looks like a wave and not squiggly lines! I will give it a try though as I'm sure I've got all that stash stashed away! Thanks B. xx

    1. p.s. just been and looked at it again and I bet my squiggles wont look circular when I've finished either! can you tell I've had an irritating day 🙂 x

  4. This is beautiful Barbara and so very simple – wishing i had bought the aperture pack of stencils whilst I was at clarity cumbria on Saturday – very useful! Next time I think! Big hugs rachel x

  5. Hi Barbara, simple but oh so effective, beautiful. And without all your wee tips and tricks that you so generously share with us, I'd have no chance of learning how to progress my craft (dare I call it art yet, don't think so!!!). I tried doing a double line round a circle, gave up after a few attempts, went back to a dashed line instead! But now I know it is doable, I'll be practising until my eyes and hand connect!!! Love it, thank you
    Love and big bear hug from me Brenda xx
    (I too had the Beatles All You Need is Love playing in my head while reading today's blog 🙂 )

  6. I was just thinking the same Jackie but lets not be negative. I don't have all the stuff but it has given me another idea so squiggly lines here I come. Thank you for your brilliant tutorials Barbara. I really look forward to your funny blog.

  7. Hi Barb,
    Love this. The mountain Rose is a gorgeous colour and was one of the ones I ordered when you had them on offer a while back. I did something similar using the butterfly tree stencil in green with a bit of yellow and it looked lovely – not as professional as yours but passable! I used the let heaven and nature sing stamp with it too which I thought to be quite apt. Looking forward to trying this though so thank you for the inspiration. Not sure what my squiggles will look like though! Love Alison xx

  8. Lovely! As always, the dotty wave makes all the difference as does the weave and hills. Have all the ingredients must give it a go! 7 weeks to retirement then all will be possible!

    1. Ha ha, Hilary, I have been busier than ever since retiring. Thought I was going to spend so much time in my crafty corner. Fantastic though, so enjoy every moment. xx

    2. That's what I'm thinking Hilary! My successor starts this Tuesday, then a handover and I'm planning to be gone by end of April! All the stuff I have here waiting to use 🙂

  9. Oh I love this. I can see a complete set of trees in different colours as a gift set. Brilliant. However my wavy lines will never, I repeat never look this good! Lol.
    xxxxxxx

  10. Really lovely and peaceful – must add to my Clarity stash. Getting excited already for my birthday and Ali Pali!
    Lots of love to a wonderful crafter and person
    Anne (Reading)

  11. Simple, but perfect! And I have lots of birthdays coming up, so maybe everyone will get this card in different shades – I love it!!!
    Had a little play with my gelliplate today – had left one layer drying on the plate, and would it come off today? Would it hell!!! Serves me right for trying a different type of metallic acrylic paint – still, nothing a bit of fairy liquid couldn't solve, so try again tomorrow….Susan x

  12. This is one to try for sure. Love the effect of layering up inks using stencils as it always looks like added depth without adding any extra layers. Hope you are feeling a little more organised today bet that craft room is super tidy……………of course if you are like me after I tidy I cant wait to get it all out again! Just finished the first stage of packing as I am off to America on Wednesday for a 2 week holiday!! Can't wait XX

    1. Usually folk are glad to be going on holiday to get a break from me! I'm so not used to this – you, Barbara and some other people on here interested in me and saying such lovely things about me, and no one is even paying you to!!! Guess I better try going to sleep, or I'll never be able to get up tomorrow /today, I think Barbara sent her washing machine head up here!!! Some nights it's proper morning before I can get to sleep! It's ironic, I feel like I could sleep all day so much of the time, yet I occasionally have nights where I struggle to get to sleep! I've not been managing any craft the last few days so need to make sure I have some time up to do some to keep it going, even if it's just practising wavy lines round a circle!!! Where are you going to in America? Glad you've mostly got over your bug before going. I've only been abroad twice – to Italy with the school and a wee place in Majorca when I was 21. xx

    2. Mostly Florida, with a few days in Atlanta. I want to see the pandas in the zoo and Kennedy space centre. I think we might also be kayaking! I'm not a good flyer but now I'm more worried about being eaten by a crocodile! I think that was my sisters plan all along. Good luck with your crafting today. Xx

  13. Lots of love and hugs from St. Neots think I might have enoughstash out to do this that's not packed for move hope not much long really missing playing so my try this tomorrow have a good rest of evening what's left night night love Joy xxx

  14. Hi Barbara
    This is beautiful and I love your weaved lines, mine would just look like random squiggles! This stamp is on my wish list, a friend and I were talking about butterflies today and how many stamps and stencils we gave with butterflies on…. Just one more wouldn't hurt would it!! Haha.
    Thank you for sharing this and I hope your craft space is sorted and tidy today.
    Take care love Diane xxx

  15. Hi Barb,
    Fantastic, artistic and so special. I think I might be tempted to get the sewing machine out for this one, although I hope you don't think that's sacrilege to alter one of your designs.
    Maureen xx

  16. Hello Barbara. The stamps, the colour, the dots and the weave all come together and what a great picture they make. Sheer genius! xx Margaret col.

  17. I love this Barbara, and the way you have made that pretty woven edge and then using that edge to place the hills is so interesting and unusual, and the tree is grounded on the edge of the circle too, another interesting design idea. x

  18. This is great, It's amazing how one thing can make a big difference.adding the black pen really does make the tree stand out. Great technique. Bwt it was really nice crafting in a lovely tidy space.

  19. Great! Just love it Barbara & how lucky am I, got these stencils at NEC . No excuse not to try as I have it all hooray. Hope I can do the squiggly lines not too confident with them A beautiful picture yet again, you have so many fantastic ideas. Thank you so much.xx

  20. Fabulous card Just got my set of framer stencils in the post at the weekend all set to play over Easter. Must say that this set of stamps are on my wish list love and hugs Pauline xx

  21. Hello Barb, this is really lovely, great with the woven border and then the hills drawn in. Love the colour too. Thank you for all the inspiration you give us. Bx

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