I love Butterflies...

I wanted to show you parts of some pages that I did for a swap that I have signed up for. Soon I will show the whole pages but here they are for now.

Each of the participants has set a theme for their pages and then we do a round robin so that we do a page for each participant in their chosen theme. I really liked the way that we are doing this one as we are not posting the whole journal all around the world (which can be very cost prohibitive) but we have taken our journals apart and are just sending a page at a time. Over the year each recipient will receive 16 journal pages which we will then re-bind (that is the beauty of spiral bound journals) and have a finished journal. We are using a Strathmore visual art journal 300gsm.

I then found a post about a page that I did late last year that I thought I had posted but was sitting there as a draft. So here it is..

I was inspired by Paula over at Journal Artista when she showed a ghosting technique on her you tube channel. Paula used Alcohol inks under the white but since I didn't have any I tried with ordinary paints mixed with Atelier Liquifying Medium so the paint would thin in consistency but not in strength of colour.

I started with Jo Sonja Carbon Black

 .. then used a butterfly and flower stencil with Jo Sonja Napthol Crimson and Pthalo Green to pattern the background. I had quite a bit of water in the sponge so there would be the bubbled pattern as below.

 ... here it is dry

 .. with a stencil I sponged on shapes with Titanium White

 ... then misted with water

 ... and wiped away excess with a baby wipe. I like the ghostly moon-like appearance I ended up with. Until this stage I didn't know where the page was headed but the moon gave me some direction

 I found some ribbon and butterflies I had die cut out of red cardstock

 ... stuck them down with Mod Podge

 ... and floated Napthol Crimson around the outside edges of the flower shapes with an angle shader brush

 Next I chose a stamp and the Cloud White Vera Magic stamp pad and stamped over the top of the ribbon and in some other places

... I then found some other butterflies I had die cut and embossed with the Spellbinders range, rubbed black paint over them to distress them, and doodled on them with a silver gel pen. I stuck them down only by the body part so they would be 3D.

I then stamped the word butterfly on the right hand page..

 and journalled around the page about transformation, freedom, change and the colour red. I also rubbed silver paint around the outside edges of the pages to frame them.

A butterfly is the symbol of transformation, change, soul and transition. You can go here to read  a bit more about butterfly symbolism.

My quote today

"Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. 

But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder"

- Thoreau

Have a lovely day everyone, tomorrow is the Melbourne Cup which means a nice day relaxing at home with friends and family watching the race that stops the nation,  so pretend we are all together and have a glass of bubbly with me.

Namaste

Lee

Christmas is just around the corner.... so I'm told

Hi everyone, thanks for dropping by. 

I really appreciate all the lovely comments you are making and the fact that you take time out of your day to come visit me. So big hugs and kisses to you all...

Each year I paint and then donate Christmas ornaments for my son's special needs school to sell at their annual Christmas concert. All of the money raised goes directly to the school so I am happy to be a part of it. 

My son has been going to this school for about 7 years and this is his final year. Yes that is going to be another significant day for us when he finishes there. They are a wonderful school and have made such a huge difference in our lives and I am deeply grateful for their existence.

 Each year I have families who collect the ornaments so i have to come up with different designs each time. 

Here is the start of the process. I had them all base-coated and ready to go. Then I line them up, usually on my ironing board and paint all the one colour at the same time so by the end they are all finished at around the same time.

As I am not proficient at designing my own and knowing that there are Queens of Christmas out there, I borrow ideas and designs, with their permission of course, and paint those.

These cute little elves are designs from the lovely Kerryanne

These ones are from Jamie Mills Price

 I love Jamie's designs and have painted many of them over the years. I was also lucky enough to paint with her when she came to Melbourne a couple of years ago. A lovely lady and so generous with sharing her painting secrets.

 I used a stamp for the background which was stars and dots and looks a bit like snowflakes.

These are the puddings and cupcakes that I will be teaching at our True Blue Christmas workshop on Sunday.

 I used Jo Sonja paints and painted on some Opal Dust to make them sparkle

And here they are lined up on my ironing board all ready for some varnish all 52 of them.

I also dabbled in a bit of card making yesterday. 

A friend of mine is getting married on the weekend and I made her a card to give her with a couple of little gifts. I found a couple of videos on you tube as inspiration like Natalie's.

I used my Big Shot and the Spellbinders Die Template called Flying Beauties to emboss and cut out butterflies. I distressed them with Imprez ink in Fawn and Jo Sonja Rich Gold paint. I used this paint on the ribbon to get the matching colour and also rubbed it around the edge of the card face.

I embossed and cut the tag from the Spellbinders Nestabilities set which I stamped and distressed with the same ink and paint. I stuck pearls on the body of the butterflies as well. The heart paper on the left hand side is printed vellum. Inside I printed what I wanted to say in matching ink colour on vellum. I really like card making and think I will do more of it in the future.

Well today I have a lot of scrapbooking to do on my sons album and will be going to a scrap night at Scrapper's Warehouse so I can hopefully get it nearly finished by his party. I have my fingers crossed.

Today I offer you a Buddhist saying

"Live in the present and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering"

I hope you all have a great weekend and remember to find beauty in the present moment no matter where you are or what you are doing. Here it is supposed to be sunny and around 29 Deg so I'm looking forward to getting out in the garden and enjoying the sunshine..... ahhh come on Summer.

Namaste

Lee