Hello Honey Bee friends! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for spring and my card today reflects that! I’ve used two beautiful sets today–Fluttering By and Spring Peony.

It has been a while since I made a heat-embossed, ink-smooshed background. I love this fun technique! Here are my steps for the background:

• Place a piece of watercolor card stock in your MISTI or other stamp positioning tool.
• Lay out the butterfly stamps from the Fluttering By set and pick them up with the MISTI door.
• Be sure to use anti-static powder on your card stock, then ink the stamps with Versamark clear embossing ink and stamp. Repeat, if needed.
• Sprinkle on WOW! Opaque Bright White embossing powder and heat set.
• Smoosh Distress Inks onto your craft mat. I used Squeezed Lemonade, Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick, and Spun Sugar. Mist the ink with water.
• Place your embossed piece into the ink and lift. Air or heat dry. Repeat until you are happy with the look.
• When dry, die cut the piece with the largest of the A2 Double Stitched Frame Honey Cuts.
• TIP: I almost always prepare at least two embossed pieces to play and experiment with. It seems to help me not feel so much pressure to get the first one just right!

I used one butterfly from the Fluttering By set and some greenery from the Spring Peony set for the card front. Stamp in Copic safe ink, color and die cut with the Spring Peony and Fluttering By coordinating dies. I played around with the arrangement of the pieces until I liked it and took a photo to remember the placement. Before I adhered the greenery, I used my fingers to slightly curl them to add dimension. For the butterfly, I added liquid glue to just the middle so the wings would stay raised.

To finish, I added some clear Wink of Stella to the butterfly’s wings and the berries. Then I added Glossy Accents to the berries.

I love how this turned out and had so much fun making the inky background! Thank you so much for stopping by! Stay crafty!