"Paper Papillon" Sentiments Card ~ set free a little bit of kindness

"Paper Papillon" Sentiments Card

set free a little bit of kindness

There's nothing more special in springtime than the sight of the first butterfly of the warm season.  The butterfly to me symbolizes hope and rebirth; nature's promise of better and brighter things to come.
The sight of a Monarch or a Swallowtail flitting on the air over garden blossoms and fresh greenery lights up my heart immediately.  I always take the time to stop and watch it as it goes along, paying attention to its carefreeness and appreciation of all things flowery.
In my heart I find myself silently making a wish that it will stay just a bit longer so I can take in its pure beauty for just a bit longer ... but alas, she has things to do, flowers to tend, nectar to drink and promises to bring to others besides myself.  On her way she merrily goes ... over the curls of wind and up ... up ... into the sky and beyond my view.
Under my breath I whisper "Thank you" to her for kindly visiting me and granting me the blessing of her visit.

Follow along in my tutorial below to create your own "Paper Papillon" sentiments card and set free a little "kindness" of your own.

You will need:

• a variety of pretty coloured papers (I chose mainly orange and a small amount of black to make a Monarch butterfly but you can choose any colours you wish for yours)
• sharp scissors (or a craft knife if desired)
• a pencil
• glue stick
• kitchen blender
• medium/large shallow plastic bin
• small scoop or cup
• cellulose sponge
• Arnold Grummer® large pour handmold kit
• Arnold Grummer® large mesh screen
• Arnold Grummer® couch sheets (absorbent material)
• Favourite embellishments such as glitter, sparkly gems, beads, etc.
• Small pieces of rice or foil papers
• Ribbon or pretty twine
• Very small piece of foam core or flat styrofoam
• Sentiments stamp or writing pen/marker
• Embossing folder (optional)
• Printout of tutorial PDF template

Instructions:

Tear your chosen coloured papers for pulping into approximately 2" x 2" manageable squares.  I used approximately a 3:1 ratio of orange to black to give me a beautiful pulp reminiscent of the Monarch butterfly's wings.  You could use yellow and black for a swallowtail butterfly or even minty green and pink if you're a Luna moth fan.  The combinations are up to you.

Using a kitchen blender, fill the pitcher with about 2 cups of water and then add in the torn pieces of your paper.  Blend well (30-45 seconds) on high and set aside.  Do this for any chosen combinations of paper you have decided upon.

Fill your plastic bin with a couple of inches of water.  Assemble the handmold and place it into your bin of water.  I used the  Arnold Grummer® large handmold for this project so I could have ample pretty paper available to make a kaleidoscope of butterfly cards to give away as sweet little surprises to friends and family.  Pour in your pretty pulp and agitate with your fingers to evenly distribute the pulp over the screen.

You can add some Arnold Grummer® dried botanicals or sparkles into the pulp prior to hand agitating to give the your butterfly's wings some "texture" and fun accents!

Gently lift the mold from the water and tilt slightly to drain into the bin.  Undo the velcro straps and lift the mold up and away from the cast pulp, paper screen and support grid. You should have a lovely, layer of pulp ready for pressing.

Place the fresh cast onto a cookie sheet (or plastic bin lid does nicely ... I simply placed mine on the countertop) and set your cover screen (looks like window screen) over the wet casting.  Gently press out most of the water using a cellulose sponge.

Remove the plastic grid and set aside and continue to press out more water.

Remove the cover screen and place a dry couch sheet on top of the casting.  Using your press bar, continue pressing to remove even more of the water.

Turn the stack over so that the couch sheet is now on the bottom of the stack.  Using the sponge, firmly press to remove any remaining water in the kit's light green papermaking screen.

Lift the edge of the papermaking screen to see if the sheet has released itself onto the couch sheet.  If not, try another corner or gently encourage the sheet edge away from the screen using a finger.

Peel away the papermaking (light green) screen from the cast sheet and then place a fresh, dry couch sheet onto the stack.  Using your press bar, continue to remove any remaining water, changing the couch sheets as often as necessary until most of the water has been pressed out.

Once most of the water has been removed, you can then move on to the iron drying process.
Using a very hot household iron (and making sure the "steam" function is off) iron your sheet to speed up the drying process.  I always iron mine using a couple of sheets of absorbent paper towel as a barrier and a wooden cutting board to help keep the sheet flat.  The paper towel helps to prevent the hot iron from sticking to the pressed wet sheet.

For the purposes of demonstration, I've included a photo that shows what can happen if you iron right on top of the damp sheet.

Once you get most of the excess water ironed out, you can remove the paper towel sheet and continue ironing directly onto the surface of the piece until it's completely dry.

Watch this Arnold Grummer® video on YouTube for a super helpful demonstration of handcasting paper sheets and ironing them for crisp flatness! 
Repeat the steps above for each separately cast sheet of paper.

Construction: 

I've designed a "Butterfly Template" for easy printout and use as a guide in this tutorial.  
Simply print out the JPEG attachment below on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of photocopy paper, trim it from the paper and trace around it with a pencil on your lovely hand cast paper sheets.

Once the template outline guides have been traced onto your papers, cut out the layers in preparation for assembly.

If you'd like to give the pieces some interesting texture, you may run them through your favourite embossing folders.
Take the main body piece of the card and fold along the dotted areas in the manner shown in the photo.

Next, using a glue stick, affix your inside paper rectangle into place as shown here.

Then, glue your top flap left and right side layers into place as demonstrated below.  For mine, I used some pretty rice paper to help distinguish the flaps better and to add some contrast against the handmade papers.

For the surprise, use the template guide to cut out 2 butterflies.  If you have a butterfly punch that you'd prefer to use, certainly do so.  This is YOUR creation so make it fun!  Put a gentle fold into the one you'll be using in the inside centre.

I stamped my sentiment on a small piece of paper and attached it to the surface of my butterfly, which is a nice touch for the receiver.  You can use a pen or marker if you wish.  That is just as nice.

If you've decided to do the same, you may skip the step of folding down the centre of this butterfly piece, as the sentiment scroll will cover it up anyway.

Trim out a very small piece of foamcore or thin styrofoam and glue it into place between the inside "sentiment" butterfly and the centre of the card.  This will give the effect that your butterfly is somewhat "floating" in place.

For the second butterfly, cut it in half up the centre and glue into place on the top centre tabs that meet in the middle.

Feel free to spruce up your little surprise card with sparkly gems and glitter or whatever you like.
For the finish, use a cute piece of twine or a sweet little ribbon to tie the card closed.

Thanks again for joining me and I do hope you'll visit again for more tutorials and fun creations!  Let me know what you think!  I'd love to hear from you!

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