Butterfly Collage

Hello!

All I can say is it's about time I get something posted!  I started this canvas collage last week but life conspired against me such that it took a week to complete!  I won't bore you with the details, but things have finally worked out so that I could finish it and share it with you.

Note: Look no further if heavy embellishment causes you hives or claustrophobia, because this piece is LOADED with it.  <smile>

This is a 6x8" canvas board that is chock full of stuff (my favorite kind!) and techniques.  It starts out with a wonderful tissue technique that gives lots of texture and which I painted shades of brown and red and topped with gold Rub 'N' Buff and some lime green paint flicked on as the last step.  Then I decoupaged a piece of vintage style collage paper from Gecko Galz "Dapper Dan" digital paper set and curled up one of the corners.  And last, I placed a strip of beaded, pink leaf-shaped trim up the left side, but most of that has been covered with the various embellishments.  Typical.

I agree, it IS "always tea time."  At least in this household.  Yesterday I had four cups because it was so cold.  Two in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening.  There is no wrong time when it comes to tea.  

The words have been decoupaged after first inking the edges.  Once the decoupage medium was dry I edged them with clear glitter glue.  There is no wrong time for sparkle in one's life, either.

This cute image is what started the whole thing.  It's from the Gecko Galz "Teatime" digital stamp set.  I smile every time I look at it.  I colored it very softly with Copics and distressed the edges, then I adhered it to the back of the Tim Holtz Weathered Clock die cut made from some of his grunge board.  It was inked and brushed with crackle paint, then I applied some gold Rub N Buff with my finger.  Guess what, it doesn't come off with soap and water, so I had two pretty gold "fingahs" for a couple of days.  (Sorry, was channeling a little Shirley Bassey there.)

That little bitty teapot came from my mother's enormous stash of mosaic/crafting supplies in her garage some time ago and it finally found a home here.  See that little bird?  Too sweet!  The large purple flower behind it was made with a purchased rose that I glittered up a bit and which I then placed on three layers of flower petal "blanks" which I airbrushed with various Copic colors.  I needed a bigger flower than that rose.  

Many of the flowers on this piece have been hand colored including the pink-tipped cherry blossoms and some of the roses, though not all.

The ceramic rose is another piece from my mother's "garage stash" and I've applied drops of Glossy Accents to simulate dewdrops.  The dragonfly is a vintage style brooch.

The rose has been attached to a rather rusty, age spotted vintage key escutcheon.  I layered a bit of hand-dyed cheesecloth underneath for a bit of textural difference and placed a beige pearl where the screw once went.  You can see the keyhole in the first and third pictures.

The butterfly was treated the same as the clock.  It started out as grunge board wings which I inked with two colors of distress ink then brushed on a thick coat of crackle glaze and then finger-rubbed some Rub 'N' Buff over that.  I edged the wings with gold glitter glue and adhered a vintage button as the body.  This is propped up and adhered to a resin rose for the 3-D effect. 

The little wooden clock is from Prima and is purely for decoration.

Another garage stash item is the teacup.  It started out white with a Delft windmill which is on the other side, but I airbrushed it with two colors of Copics (thanks, Katie, for the suggestion!) to tie it in with the teapot.  There are two little brown pearls in it signifying tea.  

That's one of the custom colored cherry blossoms.  Of course I had to put a little glitter on the stamens...

This will go up for sale in my brand new Etsy shop today.

Thank you for joining me, and I wish you lots of fun crafting goodness in your week!

Happy crafting!

Lunch and a butterfly

  

Hello and good morning!  

Did you remember to turn your clocks back an hour?

Today I am having a friend over for lunch and an afternoon of crafting.  She and I used to work together and she left 7 years ago to have twin boys, but we've kept in touch and talk regularly, though we don't see each other as often as we'd like.  Twins will keep you busy.  So she and I are having a "girls' day in" with lunch, then afternoon tea, and crafting throughout, just like my DD and I do every Friday.

I managed to fit a card in today between other things (laundry, making tomorrow's pound cake, etc.).  It's for several challenges, among them the color challenge over at The Shabby Tearoom, which is to make a card using peach, green, yellow AND a flower (or two). 

These aren't colors I normally work with, so this was a rather tough card for me.  You wouldn't know it to look at it because it's simple and not loaded with the embellishments with which I usually tend to cover a card.

I can't even tell you why it took so long except that I kept trying a stamp-with-glue method that refused to work, causing much CS murder in the process.  And of a color (So Saffron) that I have in small supply, no less.  So I eventually wound up inking the Rubber Cafe's Large Swirled Butterfly with Versamark and rubbing dark and light peach chalks onto the resulting image.  I was trying to go for a peachy glittery look, but I guess that will have to wait until I get the proper glue.  Believe me, I tried.

The butterfly reminds me of an Asian line art pattern I bought last year that I've embroidered onto a t-shirt.  I did get a bit of luster by tracing over some of the lines and filling in the circles with a Gelly Roll sparkle pen which appeased my need for sparkle, however subtle.  Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.  I also spritzed the center panel with a bit of glimmer mist, though sadly it doesn't show up in the pic. 

The other papers used are Very Vanilla, Peach Parfait and a green print from my stash.  

The lace border was punched using a MS border punch, and the gingham ribbon was from my ever-expanding ribbon stash.  I believe this one came from my daughter from a gift-with-purchase somewhere.  The sentiment was cut with a SB Ribbon Banners die and I applied a tiny bit of peach chalk in the areas exposed by the die.  The ink used is SU Old Olive (inkpad) and Pumpkin Pie (marker).

 The Very Vanilla flowers were made using SU's Boho Blossoms punch.  I misted the pieces with water, scrunched them up as tightly as possible, then flattened them out, stacked and glued them, and brushed them with some Ivory Creative Inspirations paints.  Pearls there and on the bow finished the card.  

Simple, yet oddly time-consuming.  I have decided that I just can't "whip up" a card, no matter how simple, and am probably destined to agonize over each and every one.  But I'm ok with that.  

Thank you for joining me, and I hope you have a fab day today!  

Happy Crafting!!

Challenges entered:

The Shabby Tearoom Week #138 - Color Challenge "Hey Pumpkin"
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Just Add Pearl
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #193 - Focal Image Falls Off Page (mine's hiding, does that count?)
Anything Goes Challenge 79 - Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy Challenge 75 - Pearls and Flowers
SCS Inspiration Challenge 361 - Artful Home
Drunken Stampers Challenge 104 - Memoirs of a Geisha

and last but not least,

The Craft's Meow - November sketch