Saturday, June 1, 2013

Butterfly Swirly Finishing Touches


Following is a vingette of three ways to use this ensemble of butterfly cutouts available on the Silhouette America online store from the SnapDragon Snippets team
(butterflies 4 bev or gift accent).
The set includes a pair that can sit on the rim of fancy stemware glasses
as name card or simple embellishment (pink & green),
threaded onto a swizzle stirring stick (yellow),
or held in place on special gift wrap by pass-through ribbon (blue).
(Inspiration for this design came from K Burgess on Pinterest.)


Here the ensemble demonstrates how these butterfly accents cut from heavy weight card stock can add sparkle to a special table service for your next party or special dinner or luncheon.

Top left is a smoothie with butterfly threaded onto a stripey paper straw. (Find more information about this farther on in this post.) 

Top right is a specialty glass with name place card variation.

Right lower is a beverage glass with a fresh fruit skewer threaded through the skewer butterfly variation.

Bottom is the ribbon slots variation embellishing a package.



Top left is a smoothie with the "swizzle stick" variation. The butterfly has been threaded (back-to-front) onto a paper stripey straw. To do this, you may need to enlarge the circle punches in Silhouette Studio to be about 110% larger than the original download size. (To do this, 1) select the butterfly shape, 2) click the "ungroup" button at the lower left corner of the tools panel (you may also need to use the "Release compound path"  option found under the OBJECT drop down menu in top menu ribbon), 3) click a center circle, 4) click the "scale" window on the upper right half of the top-screen tools panel (overlapping squares symbol), 5) type "110" into the custom percentage window, click "apply", 6) select the entire butterfly shape and regroup (lower left) or "Make Compound Path" so that inner shapes don't shift during movement on your screen. 7) Repeat for the other circle. You may need move and re-center the circles so they are not too close to other cut edges.




This closeup shows how a name has been written on the left wing near upper edge. Use a personalized butterfly that has "alighted" on each tall glass as the place cards at each setting of your spring or summer gathering. Use a silver or white gel pen , or black felt tip to pen the name. 

The center partial cutout triangle serves as the "hook" to keep the butterfly in place. Bend triangle back at the top perforation, then bend on the lower perforation to bend the lower half forward part-way. A special reinforcement shape of this triangle area is included in the cut file and can be glued behind the provide more strength and un-bend resistance. 




This fruit skewer threads through the pair of hole punches then through fresh fruit to add color and flavor to a clear soda drink in a clear goblet. I used a standard bamboo skewer cut down to about 6 inches. Holes for this size skewer fit the original cut holes.











The slot pair butterfly in original size can allow a ribbon (or pair) of 3/4" width or smaller to thread through slots. This butterfly was cut from heavy card stock, then a second shape was cut from Silhouette double sided adhesive, mounted to the upper surface, then fine glitter was applied. Simple but fancy way to get a special gift ready fast.






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