Spellbinders Crafty Advent Calendar 2025 – Day 7

December 7, 2025 - By mrbennett68

Day 7 –

For day 7 we have our first stencil set of the calendar. A set of 4 different butterfly patterns. Two patters are of open butterflies and 2 are closed.

Right away I knew I wanted to cut one of the butterflies out and adhere to a tag, but it took a while to settle on how the background would come together.

For the background I used a technique to create my own patterned paper and cut tags out where the pattern matched what I wanted on the tag.

Tag Measurements – 2.5 x 4.25 inches

Assembly instructions –

Cut 8.5 x 11 inch white cardstock in half
Select 4 colors and 1 neutral color per your preference. I selected some spring colors in violet, teal, blue green and blue with dark grey as the neutral color.
With the white paper laying horizontal, run the edge of the ink pad left to right to create streaks of color. it should not be solid color, but light streaks. I used a small square ink pad instead of a full sized inkpad. Repeat with a single row per color top to bottom. Let dry.
Place butterfly stencils at random and brush ink onto stencil. One color for each pattern. I found that a small overlap of butterflies was best.
Using dark grey ink, stamp random words (THANKFUL) or textures (script and stripes). Less is more in this step.
Splatter white paint/ink across the half sheet of paper.
Die cut stitched tag from inked paper. I cut about 6 tags total.
On velum, use embossing ink on one of the butterfly stencils. Heat emboss with iridescent embossing powder. Cut the butterfly, fussy cut, with a good-sized margin.
Cut strip of vellum 1/2 inch wide.
Stamp sentiment (day 2 stamp set) with embossing ink, heat emboss in silver detail embossing powder.
Adhere sentiment strip across the bottom of the tag, adhering only on the back of the tag so the velum seems to float on the top.
Adhere cut vellum butterfly to the tag, off center to the right and tilted to the left. Apply glue only to the body of the butterfly. Use a bone folder or a pen to roll the wings to give them lift from the tag.
Add ribbon.