Butterfly Canvas

Hello!  I'm back again today to share a "canvas" I've made almost entirely of Christmas leftovers, and with a few old favorites and new things sprinkled in. I knew I wanted to try a canvas for my first project of the year, and the first thing I laid eyes on in my Closet was a plastic-y, rubbery lid I was trying some heat embossing on for my "Christmas-y Things" gift box. This could be my "canvas". That's as far as it got--I hit a creative block. When I heard that Pamellia over at Our Creative Corner was hosting a challenge for us to use our Christmas leftovers, and I had JUST thrown out a wadded up ball of white tissue from a late arriving Christmas package, I just had to go dumpster diving!

This is what the lid looked like prior to altering. This is shown on a base which I did not use for this project.

So there's my substrate--a technique I've never used before, but I've seen many others do, so why not give it a try.  Gel medium and tissue applied with lots of wrinkles--pretty cool so far.  Now what???  I'm thinking a butterfly...but what colors will I use?  I'm still stuck on Christmas-y colors.  This is the longest creative block I've ever had in my LIFE!

I have to say with ALL sincerity my kitty picked the color palette for this canvas.  To explain,  I was putting  away some pretty sparkly tissue that my sister had wrapped her late Christmas gift to me in (most of my family members are ready for Christmas around New Years!).  My furball pulled these gold and white and sparkly bright papers from the box. Aha!  Roger got those creative juices flowing again! From there this project just grew and grew, and I've never had so many ideas pour into my head!  I tried them all!  Some got tossed, some used on my last project and some for the future.

That's my crafty cat, Roger! He has a "thing" for tissue paper and pipe cleaners!

I can't go through every step that I did, because this post would be way longer than it already is going to be (and I can't remember it all--happened too fast).  I can say that I used the white gift tissue paper on all surfaces, front and back of the gift box lid. I used Distress stains in the assigned color palette chosen by Roger followed by some stamping (Tim Holtz) with Archival ink. (I used my new Picked Raspberry stain)  I cut the text from the printed tissue, selected by my kitty, and applied with Gel Medium.

                                                

When completely dry, I used a TCW stencil with Crackle texture paste.  Some of the stain bled through, but not enough for my liking. So when the paste was fully dry, I used coordinating Distress inks rubbed into the cracks.  Still not bold enough, so I used some Perfect Medium applied randomly and dusted on  Pearl Ex in Duo red/blue.  Now that's what I was going for! Beautiful, bold color!

Next some new Glue and Seal and clear micro beads to leave a magical trail, as butterflies do!

To finish my background, I used Perfect Medium on a new Studio 112 stamp and dusted with Perfect Pearls in a bold blue. I applied a spray fixative, because the Pearl Ex was rubbing off. You should see the shimmer in person!

All staining, stamping, beading,  and texturing was wrapped around all 4 sides.

The completed background.

Now onto my butterfly-- die cut from Tim Holtz' Layered Butterfly and embossed with the included embossing folder.  If you haven't added this to your pile of dies yet, I strongly recommend you do!  You will use it over and over! For the record, this is the first time I've used the embossing folder that is included, so this is new, too!

I cut two butterflies from fabric, which were embossed with the folder inked up with Distress stains and misted with water.  I applied some gel medium to the backs, and when dry, ran them through the embosser again. I cut the wings off and discarded the body.  I creased wings, and dipped the edges in Distress stain on one set and added micro beads and Pearl Ex to the other.

I cut two additional butterflies--one from a piece of the Christmas tissue Roger selected, and another from a piece of glassine-like wrapper from the Christmas pears from Harry and David (a fruit from Heaven).  Both were cut  and embossed in conjunction with waxed paper, so they have a bit more "body" to them. I removed and discarded the body. The backs were dusted with Pearl Ex, and the pink also had Pearl Ex added to the front. I used Crystal Stickles wiped on with my finger to both and a couple of dots on the wing tips on the pink.

Wrapping from pears received as a Christmas gift.

The Pearl Ex Duo Red/Blue really shows up on the pink wing in this photo.

Lots of pretty layers!

Antennae are made from ornament hook.

The Butterfly body is made from grunge board, textured with Crackle texture paste, dried and colored using a spray made from watered down Distress paint (I don't have the Distress sprays yet--so I'm being creative here). Metallic rubs were rubbed into the cracks.  When fully dry, I added clear micro beads to the edges.

Another Christmas leftover was used for the butterfly antennae --a forgotten ornament hook found by who other than my cat--this time, the ever-playful Biskit. Good idea, Biskit!  I bent them into a whimsical set and added my new Glue and Seal and the new-to-my-use Cloisonne High Gloss Granules (I've had these in storage for ages, but just found out how to use them--see previous post)and blasted them with my heat gun.  When still piping hot I dipped them into gold embossing powder and blasted them again.  The gold does not show up well on the camera--but it's there!

Now all assembled and ready to enjoy! Thanks for helping me out, Rog.

Thank you for stopping in to have a look, and as always, for your treasured comments!

I would like to enter this in the following inspiring challenges:

Frilly and Funkie "Anything Goes"

Mixed Media Place Creative Gym Exercise #3 "Wings" Lots of butterfly wings!

Our Creative Corner "Christmas Leftovers" Tissue paper, gift tissue, and printed gift tissue,  wrapping from Christmas pears, ornament hook, and an altered lid from a previous Christmas craft project "experiment piece".

Artist Trading Post Exchange "Fresh Beginnings" My Stamped images:  Tim Holtz  and Studio 112 New products, new way to choose a color palette, new ways to use leftovers, etc.

Country View Challenges "Use something New to You" New products in bold text, new way to choose color palette, and new ways to use an old "experiment" piece.

Fashionable Stamping Challenge #88 "Turn Up the Heat" I turned up the heat with my heat gun on the antennae to melt the Cloisonne granules and the embossing powder.

The Artistic Stamper January's Challenge "New Beginnings" Stamped images: Tim Holtz and Studio 112.  New products used in bold text, new techniques, new uses for old objects/products.

Loves Rubber Stamps Challenge #133 "Anything Goes"

Inspiration Journal "Fresh Start"  I've got a fresh start on my creative juice from my cats--of all things!

Crafting By Designs "Month Long Anything Goes in January"