Thursday, August 18, 2011

Butterflies!

I love making butterflies and including them in my greeting cards. And I'm always looking for new techniques for making my butterflies. I also love using the interpolate feature in Inkscape. Yippee! I scored on both counts! I found three videos explaining how to use the interpolate feature to make rhinestone paths, and the last one shows how to make a butterfly. The videos were created by one of my favorite Inkscape tutorial makers, Aussie Carolyn of CuttingTime. These videos are explaining the interpolate feature to make SVG files for use with cutting machines (such as Silhouette, Cricut or Black Cat cutters), but the method can also work to make vector images for use in non-cut greeting cards as well.

Rhinestone Path Using Interpolate in Inkscape Part 1

Rhinestone Path Using Interpolate in Inkscape Part 2

Rhinestone Path Using Interpolate in Inkscape Part 3 - Making a Butterfly

Here are some butterfly cards that I made (although none of them have incorporated the rhinestone path technique yet):


And here are some beautiful butterfly cards from other GCU artists:


Update . . . I created my own unique butterfly using Carolyn's nifty tutorial. Here it is.

Later update . . . Here are some other wonderful blog postings about butterflies from other Greeting Card Universe artists:

A Bit of Fun with Colorful Butterflies
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve been intrigued with the beauty of butterflies…”
Sunshine’s Creative Explorations, Donna Lorello
The Delicate Life of a Butterfly
“So you have a great love for butterflies?”
Sheryl Kasper Card Store, Sheryl Kasper
Beautiful Butterflies
“I have noticed lots of butterflies lately…”
Dragonfire Graphics, Betsy Bush
To a Butterfly
“I’ve watched you now a full half-hour…”
Photography TK Designs, Tracie
Greeting Card Universe & Butterfly Changes
“I started this blog as a way to promote greeting cards…”
Janet Lee Designs, Janet Palaggi
Papillon: The Butterfly Dog
“The big dog in the small body…”
DogBreedz, Peggy Mundell
Monarch Butterflies
“The beauty and wonder of Monarch butterflies inspired me…”
It’s a Beautiful World, Catherine Sherman
Good Luck
“A most unusual thing happened this week when I was gardening…”
Painted Cottage, Judith Cheng
Butterflies
“Imagine, Dare, Do!”
Naquiaya’s Cards, Naquaiya
Butterfly Animal Medicine Transformation Success Story: Carol Moore
“Animal Medicine is a Native American way of using lessons from the animal kingdom…”
Heart to Art, Sri
I Love Butterflies
“I love making butterflies, and including them in my greeting cards…”
 I Love Cuttables,  Cindy Johns

Friday, August 5, 2011

Two Helpful Webites

The first one helps you do amazing things with your photos ...and I can attest to that!  :-)       BeFunky.com

The second one helps you do amazing things with your words ...and I can attest to that, too.  :-)       Wordle.net

Both are fun and fabulous!