"Butterflies" with Kira

Hello crafty friends!  Kira here with another scrapbook layout.  I have been obsessively visiting The Cut Shoppe to find the ~perfect~ cut file...but with so many choices, it's kind of hard to decide.  But I had visions of butterflies with this one.

I used the Social Butterfly cut file, but deleted all but one butterfly when importing into my design software.  Then I upload the single butterfly a second time to create a template to back the butterfly.  I used white textured cardstock to cut out the outlined butterflies and then a variety of papers in shades of orange, greens, and teals to cut out the backings.

I wanted the butterflies to be layered on top of each other so I cut twice as many "backings" as I did outlines.  And I wanted a variety of sizes so I cut them between 1.5" and 2.2". Once I had everything cut out, I started placing the layers together.

Then I machine stitched down the centers of all the butterflies with white thread on some and aqua thread on others.  I left the excess thread on the butterflies and tangled it on top of their bodies for a little added texture.  Then I folded the wings to give them a little dimension.

I decided to scrapbook this picture of my husband with our youngest son as they sat on a park bench together.  Seriously, how adorable are these two?  The title came easy, because, no joke, these two give me butterflies.

I can never get enough of a wood grain background and I like the "outdoorsy" neutral it provides.  But I craved a little pop of color, so I placed it on this navy blue floral paper.  To give it a little more texture, I distressed the edges and tore to spots on the side.  I tucked some thread beneath one of the tears and a butterfly beneath the other.  I stapled down the flaps to give it another added bit of texture.

I finished off the page by stitching over the foam thickers with some aqua thread.  And added the date stamp and called my page done!

Thank you so much for stopping by!