Butterfly Birthday Gifts For Michelle

These are the goodies I made for Michelle's birthday - belatedly I'm ashamed to say.  Since working with crackled paint on die cut shapes I've been looking around for items to stick flowers and butterflies on - I'm checking out all kinds of things in shops and earmarking things around the house LOL!  Anyway, I came across the mirrored photo frame and thought that might be perfect.  In the same shop I found the photopen and knew I could insert patterned paper instead of a photo.  Then on the way home I spied plain A6 notepads in the window of our local print shop - ideal to decorate to match the pen!

My only concern was what glue to use to attach things to the mirrored frame.  I tried gluing things on an old jam jar first to see what glue worked well on glass.  I tried Glossy Accents (SU!'s Crystal Effects is the same) and LocTite Super Glue Control and both worked really well.  I plumped for the LocTite Super Glue as it was easier to apply, the bottle has a small nozzle and it's easy to control the flow by clicking buttons on the side of the bottle.

The butterfly was cut from the SU! Beautiful Butterflies die and I applied a coat of Glossy Accents, let it dry and then applied a coat of Tim Holtz Picket Fence Crackle Paint.  Once that was dry I sponged on Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant inks.  I then applied a coat of gloss varnish.  Once that was dry, I added the stamens as antennae and attached the white velvet flower to the butterfly with a rhinestone brad.  I wiped rubbing alcohol over the frame to make sure the glass was really clean and then glued on the buttons and butterfly.  I added crystals to the flower petals and to the buttonholes.  Let me tell you it's murder getting a decent photo of a mirrored surface - the light tent was fine up to a point but we had to get a bed sheet involved as well!  It took ages and I was losing the will to live by the time we'd finished!

I found some purple butterfly paper in my stash and inserted a piece into the pen barrel and then I glued a line of purple crystals on the pen clip.  For the notepad cover I cut a piece of Perfect Plum CS large enough to cover the notepad and to overlap the back a bit.  I scored two lines so the CS folded over the pad and glued it down.  I added a piece of the butterfly paper and then threaded a pale purple button onto elasticated silver thread, tied a knot and slipped it over the pad to keep it closed.

I had a fab time making this gift ensemble just for Michelle, I just hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it!  Michelle is a real sweetie, go to her blog, the Card Grotto, to check out her gorgeous cards and watch the video tour of her terrifically tidy and organised - not to mention well stocked - craft room!

Supplies:
Stamps: None
CS: SU! Whisper White & Perfect Plum
Patterned paper: Daisy & Dandelion 'Hawthorn & Bramble' A5 Paper Pack
Ink: SU! Pale Plum, Perfect Plum & Elegant Eggplant
Tools: SU! Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, Scor-Pal
Embellishments & accessories: Ranger Glossy Accents, Tim Holtz Picket Fence Crackle Paint, gloss varnish, Maya Road velvet flower, pearl stamen, rhinestone brad, buttons, crystals, silver elasticated thread, mirrored glass photo frame, A6 notepad, Shot2Go photopen