Butterfly elements

jak

jak

Sweet Shoppe SugarBabe
So I just finished a page with some butterflies but I must have moved them around a thousand times trying to get them to look 'right'. Of all the things you can put on a scrapbook page, butterflies cause me the most angst!! I ALWAYS have trouble with butterflies... Can anyone give me any tips on how to place them so they don't look stupid, i.e. size, the number of them, direction they face, whether they should sit over something else or on their own????

Honestly, as much as I love them, I get so frustrated with them that after moving them around a zillion times I often end up deleting them coz they just don't look right (to me)!
 
Only thing I suggest is I always give them a bigger shadow so they're almost hovering. It's probably unrealistic but I can't help myself even on previews.

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Page looks great to me! They don't look out of place.

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I use butterflies All. The. Time! Lol.. if they're in a kit, I find a way to squeeze them on my page! :) I can't help myself!

Like Megs said, I also give them a bigger shadow. I like them to look like they're actually flying. I guess I'm a creature of habit and I pretty much always use 3 on my page. I like them to be an accent but not overwhelming -- if that makes sense? Sometimes mine are all the same size but I often do bigger ones on the bottom of the page and make them smaller as they're "flying" up -- sorta like they'd be smaller and off in the distance in real life. I tend to tilt mine so they're not all facing in the same direction. I personally put mine over flowers, or anything really, just as often as I place them on the background itself. I think they can work anywhere but maybe that's just me because I love them so much!

I think your page looks great like it is! I anguish over placement of elements or paper choice too and try out a hundred combinations before I choose one. I try to remind myself that no one else has seen the process I've went through or the options I had so they aren't going to think "she should have used that one" or "I liked it better that way". Of course, in the end, all that really matters is if you like your page but it's always nice when others do too! :D
 
I also love using butterfly elements and try to put them on my pages whenever a kit has them.
I think it all depends on one's scrapping style and the overall page style and design and I'm not sure there's right or wrong way to use them ;)
Like the girls already said, I also give them "bigger" and deeper shadows when I want them to look life "flying" or as if they've landed on a flower or a leaf, but I sometimes use them as stickers or some kind of "clipper" e.g. to clip a ribbon because I don't really like using buttons, eyelets, cabochons, etc. I decide on the shadows based on the overall style of the page and the paper I'd used.
Most of the times I alternate their size and direction but not always. I also try to use different butterflies and not just duplicate one but this really depends on whether the kit has one or a few :)

Here's a few examples of butterfly usage on my pages:

Here I used shallow shadows because the overall style is more traditional and I wanted to butterflies to look like they're attached with foam pads :)



Here they're more like "glued" so again the shadows are small and shallow



Same here:



Here they are used more like stickers:



Here I used them exactly like stickers because of the overall style of the kit and my page:



On this page the shadows are deeper because the butterflies give additional dimension to my page and I imagine them as if they're clipped or attached only in the center and their wings cast deeper shadows.



Here I used a butterfly to clip a ribbon because otherwise it seemed out of place



Here's a few more examples of butterflies on my pages:









 
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Thanks for the suggestions - will definitely try tweaking my shadows a bit more!

Anelia - all your pages are amazing! Thanks for sharing.
 
In my opinion you did great on the butterflies. The shadow is big enough that it looks like it's really flying and above other ellies on your page. The placement is wonderful since butterflies tend to wander around and look for prospective flowers to sip on the nectar. Love your page as always!
 
I am so glad you brought this up because I never know how to use them either, but I never thought of asking about it. I usually try a few things and then delete it and move on. lol!
 
I love butterflies too. I just HAVE to use them when they're in a kit.
I like to place them just like you did on your layout. Or I place them on top of flowers, so it looks like they're smelling the flowers.
 
Because they are 'alive' I place them as they would be in real life. Either flying above the page with a nice soft shadow or resting on the edge of another item such as a flower. But even when they are resting on something, I always try to keep their shadows paler unless they are sticker-type butterflies.
 
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