Oh my, I'm afraid that I've been playing again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really need to stop playing and make a very special birthday card for a young lady that is turning 21 next week and I 'm going to do just that!  Yesterday I started making a "butterfly background" using a Silhouette America butterfly file (you can purchase this cutting file for $.99 from the Silhouette America Store and the file name is: butterfly_C00147_23067) that I removed the antennae from and that lead me to design a "Butterfly Stencil & Overlay for an A2 Card".  I cut the stencil on my Silhouette Cameo out of "quilter's plastic".  I ordered mine online at Joann's (yrs. ago) because I was able to get 6 sheets (4 with grids and 2 plain) for $7.99, which is only $1.25 a sheet and the sheets are 12x18 inches so they go a long way.  You can find them here!  I also use those when I want to make my own cutting mats.   I used a stencil brush and Tim Holtz "Forest Moss" Distress Ink to ink mine.   I did one sheet and then cut two ovals out of it to use with my Spellbinders Beaded Oval die and I used embossing powder which I heat set to give mine more dimension!  I did that three times.  Here are the two I made that I will later on use on cards.

Sample 1

Sample 2

Here's what my cut stencil looks like:

I'm sorry that I cannot share the file with you, but since I used a paid for Silhouette America file to make the stencil, I'm not sure that I can give away the file.  I just mainly wanted to show what can be done by making your own stencils with your digital cutting machines!

I would love to hear your comments about this technique!!!!