Three Butterflies

It is hard to believe that we are already into 2018 - at my age I don't want time to fly as fast as it is.

Today is the start of the first challenge of the year at Frilly and Funkie and I am the hostess this time.  I am calling it Three Is Not A Crowd and here is what I have to say about it:

Create a vintage or shabby chic project that includes three of something. Examples of three of something could be three different patterned papers, three colours, three layers, three flowers, three bows - the list goes on. This would be a perfect time to use some of the new supplies you received for Christmas or to make space in your stash by using up old supplies. Just remember to think in multiples of three.

I decided to make a canvas with three butterflies and here is how I did it.

I started by adding some crackled texture paste (Wendy Vecchi) to three different card stock butterflies that were hand cut.  I used the Harlequin and Bubbles stencils (Tim Holtz and the Checkmate stencil (Wendy Vecchi).

When the paste was dry I coated them with some Buttermilk Acrylic Paint (DecoArt).  Sorry about the photo - I guess I was pointing the wrong way because some of it is out of focus.  Did I ever tell you I hate photography - grrrrr?

I coloured the butterflies with Cracked Pistachio and Broken China Distress Oxide (Tim Holtz) and spritzed them with some water.  When they were dry I decided they needed a bit more vivid ink on the edges so I added the same colours in Distress Ink.  Then I used my fingers to rub on some Classic Treasure Gold wax paste (Connoisseur Studio) that I have had for ages but you could use the Vintage Gold Metallique Wax (Prima by Finnabair) so I will link it in Linda's shop.

Next I took a piece of white corrugated cardboard that came from Linda's shop and painted it with Mocha Mousse Fresco Finish (Paper Artsy), English Mustard Acrylic Paint (Folk Art) and Toffee Acrylic Paint (DecoArt).

I added some texture to a canvas with Texture Paste (Ranger) and the Crossed stencil (Tim Holtz) and Dots and Stripes Borders (Wendy Vecchi).

Once the texture was dry I gave the canvas a coat of white Gesso (Dina Wakley) and then painted it with the same colours that I used for the cardboard and then spritzed on some Gathered Twigs Distress Spray Stain (Tim Holtz) and some White Linen Dylusions Spray (Dyan Reaveley).

I tore a page from an old book and added some Vintage Collage Medium to it.  After I took this photo I realized that it was a little yellow for my liking so I randomly inked it all over and along the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink (Tim Holtz) and gave it a spritz of White Linen Dylusions Spray Ink.

The canvas needed a little pick-me-up so I spritzed on some Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain (Tim Holtz) and sponged on some Silver Moss Pearlescent Acrylic Ink (Daler Rowney).  The shimmer of the ink really jumps out in the photo of the finished piece - love it.

To assemble the collage I mounted a piece of muslin that I frayed on the canvas first.  Then I added the book paper panel on the cardboard and adhered it to the muslin.  The butterflies were added next and topped with some little key charms as bodies.  The keys were altered with Gold Mixative Alcohol Ink (Tim Holtz) and then a rubbing of Classic Treasure Gold wax paste.

This was a fun way to spend my Christmas break and I am looking forward to even more fun creating along side my lovely and very talented team mates.  I hope you will join us for this challenge and you have until 11:55 pm EST on January 16th to do that.