Dragonfly Card

The cutout area on the left front side was done with a Martha Stewart magnetic punch.  I traced the dragonfly and cut it using MTC.  The sentiment was computer printed.

Dragonfly Card

The die and stamp for the dragonfly came attached to issue 134 of Simply Cards and Papercrafts magazine.

I used the die and cut the shape from white cardstock, then again from vellum.  I trimmed the body portion off of the vellum image and then glued the wings onto the white base.

The stamped image was colored with a SU marker and I used just the body portion. The faux stitching was done with the same SU marker.

The wings looked too plain so I embossed them with a Swiss Dot folder and colored them with a clear star jelly roll pen to add some sparkle and bent them slightly up for dimension.

The tiny stars came from the Dollar Tree. 

Dragonfly Card

This card was seen at Stampingmathilda.     I followed her basic design but used card making software to print the images and sentiment rather than using a stamp.  The dragonfly is free clip art found online.

The next thing I did, was to measure the image and cut myself a mask for the width of the strip I wanted to sponge the ink into. 

This time I used Make The Cut software rather than Design Studio to cut my mask.  I'm gradually weaning myself off using Design Studio.  Make The Cut is quicker to use and now that I'm getting more confident with using it, I totally understand why so many people like it.

The outside dimension of the mask is 4 1/4" x 7".  It's the same width as an A2 card and slightly longer.  I secured the mask onto my cutting mat with a strip of tape to keep it in place.

The folded card was placed under the 2" x 5 3/4" opening and inked.  I needed the stencil opening to be slightly larger than the card so that I could ink all the way to the upper and lower edges.

The grid lines on the cutting mat helped me keep the card squared up with the opening.

Doing the distressed ink technique isn't difficult if you have the proper daubers.  I find the round fingertip daubers work better for me than the square wooden handled tool that Tim Holtz recommends.

Been Gathering Goodies

After taking care of some business this morning, I took time to hit a couple of thrift shops in search of some metal objects to incorporate into my dragonfly project.

These odds and ends are going to be converted into dragonflies that will be hung on our back fence.  We have a wooden privacy fence surrounding our back yard and it's boring.  My plan for the spring is to decorate it with the dragonflies and some other metal items.

The turned wood pieces from salvage yards willl be used for the bodies of the dragonflies. The fan blades will be the wings.  I plan to embellish the wings with some trim pieces and cut some openings in them with a Rot-zip saw.

When I found these metal "legs"  I immediately saw antennas!  LOL!  Fred will have to detach them from the circle part and then I can put a curve in them with a metal bending tool he has. 

It was so weird, I found one set in one thrift shop and the other at another I visited later in the day!

 As soon as they're completed, I'll post some photos!