Art-C Butterflies Tropical Card

I have to admit, vintage and shabby chic are a HUGE challenge for me. I'm so fond of shiny and new, it's really hard to make a card look old or worn on purpose. However, I gave it my best shot this time around, and at this time of year, an awful lot of us here are dreaming of someplace warmer!

I'm entering this card into three challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Blog's Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge - Sketch 321
and Frilly and Funkie: Out of the Cold Challenge.

Materials
Art-C Stamp and Cut Butterflies
Cricut Design Space: Flower #M31CA4
Avery Elle Clear Stamp Set - Pegasus Duo
K & Company Tim Coffey Travel Specialty Paper Pad 12"x12": palm trees page
Core'dinations Tim Holtz & Ranger Distress Collection: 5 colors
DCWV The Old World Stack Textured: green patterned
Designer Dries Clear Adhesive: 159723
Metal Tip for Adhesive Bottles: 352854

Other Materials
pop dots; card: ivory, A7 size; Colorbox Pigment Ink in Espresso; Sizzex Big Kick; Scotch Advanced Tape Glider (ATG) with Acid Free tape; paper cutter; embossing heat tool; a Cricut; and a MISTI

Instructions
Start in the Cricut Design Space with Flower #M31CA4. The flower has two extraneous dots on it I didn't like; add a shape to that cut layer and weld to get rid of them. Resize the flower so it's just under 4" square. Using all but the largest background layer, cut each of the remaining six layers on separate colors of paper, using appropriate colors for the flower, leaves, and the patterned paper for the background. I suggest cutting the background out first and gluing the various pieces on it as you cut them out. This is easier than leaving them all until the end, although this flower's background has excellent guide marks once it's cut out should you choose to wait to glue it together.

Still in the Design Space, insert an octagon shape, duplicate it, size the second octagon slightly smaller than the first, align horizontally and vertically, and use slice. Save only the outline image. Size it to just under 4" by 4" and align to a corner of the grid lines placed about how you want to see it on the card, with the bottom right corner overlapping the grid lines. Insert a square that overlaps the octagon on one side of the grid lines and use slice. Save only the octagon outline with a part missing. Repeat with a second square on the grid lines perpendicular to the first set you used. Slice and save only the part that will now be the chopped outline on your card.

You'll need to use this template twice: once on the palm trees paper to form the card background, (leaving you with a thin octagon outline you can discard), and once on the patterned green paper used for the octagon, this time saving the thin outline. Once you've cut the octagon from the palm trees paper, use your paper cutter to trim it to 5" wide by 5.5" tall, making sure to line this up with the octagon in the lower right-hand corner.

Cut a colored strip of paper to 1.5" by 5" for the bottom of your card, and another strip in the patterned green to 1" by 5". Stamp your sentiment on the patterned green paper with Espresso ink. Stamp three butterflies with the same ink, one on each of the two brightest flower colors and one on a scrap of the palm tree paper. Use an embossing heat tool to set the ink on all four of these, and die cut the butterflies.

Now comes the easiest part: assembly! Start with the palm tree background and use the ATG to adhere it even to the upper edge of the card. Next adhere the 1.5" by 5" strip to the remaining space at the bottom of the card, and the 1" by 5" strip along the bottom edge on top of it. Glue the octagon edge around its open space in the card, and add the flower on top of it. Pop dot the three butterflies onto the card and you'll have a little taste of the tropics.