a little tutorial on making butterflies using corner dies

Good morning. Here's a little tutorial by request on how to make a beautiful butterfly using your corner dies.  When choosing the die to use, you need to make sure that it forms a nice "V" shape- that is- there is no flourishes etc coming from the centre of the die OR that the die doesn't go straight across (If you only have dies that flourish out, simply cut off the florish into a nice V shape).  The die I have used here is the La La Lands corner die- it is the perfect shape and size.  There are two ways you can cut your "wings". The first is to fold your paper (I like to use vellum and mulberry paper) like I have in the picture, overlaping the corner section over the fold- this way you cut TWO die cuts.  The other way is to cut FOUR die cuts and glue two together ONLY AT THE CORNER SECTION (you want to be able to separate your wings so they look like they are flying) - you would use this technique if you are using something with a print on it.

whichever technique you use, you will end up with two wings that look like this:

then it is a matter of gluing the two wings together.  I like to twist my wings down, giving the look that one wing is larger than the other.  You may need to trim excess corner from the centre.

There are numerous ways to decorate the centre body.  You can use adhesive pearls or rhinestones, use liquid pearls or similar and use little flower stamens for the antellas... Or you can get fancy and add real beads! Heres how:

the wire you want to use is 22 or 24 gauge.  24 is thinner and you would use this for beads with smaller hole in the centre like a bicone crystal. You need to thread two pieces of wire through your bead so I suggest buying the thinner wire and you can use it for all your beads unless you are going to make tons! Here I have used a purple 22 gauge wire.  Thread wire through your beads, and then thread it back through the same beads. Using a round nose plier hold the loop while you pull the ends tight with another set of normal pliers.  It is easier to pull only one wire at a time.

trim the antellas and curl them around your round pliers

The it is a matter of gluing your body to your wings.  I use and recommend Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue, but you could use a jewellers cement or even hot glue.  I wrap my top wings around the beads a little not only to give a more adhesive hold, but it makes the wings stay in flight.  Viola! a beautiful butterfly!

I hope you have found this little tutorial helpful... let your imagination run wild!

Thanks for stopping by, Stay safe XOX Tania