Maybe a Little Bit Too Free.....Butterfly Art Journal Page

Life is all about being free to explore!!!

Hi, Friends.....

I am here with an art journal page to share with you today.  Anyone want to venture a guess at how what is originally intended to be a card turns itself into an art journal page?  Answer is a combination of two things:  (a) I can't bear to give it away....and/or.....(b) I can't bear for anyone to see it!  LOL!!!  I will let you figure out which is which for this project!  Ha.

It all started when two pieces of unrelated paper got shoved near each other on my craft table......a pretty scrap of K&Co paper with a butterfly on it and a birthday card envelope from my dear MIL.  "Hey, I like these together.  I could make a card!"  :)  

I covered up the handwriting with the patterned paper and should have stopped playing around right there.  I could have made a very attractive card with this nice, tidy, contrasting bit of background.

But, nooooooooooooooo.........

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think I remembered Tim Holtz saying that he crumples up stuff and rubs it around in his distress ink........whaaaaat????

Oh, why did I even start this project???  And what did I just DO to that pretty background????  Oh, woe is me!

Distress Ink in Tea Dye

I flattened it out and clipped it to my craft sheet to dry with my heat gun.

When I began this project, I had in mind to make something for Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge - Butterfly + Buttons and/or Bronze. So I got out my bronze glittery embossing powder. I stamped a big arty Unity sun image with Versamark and heat embossed with Vintage Mahogany embossing tinsel from my Stampendous Encrusted Jewels Frantage Kit in Bronze.

The result was hideous! lol....  I stopped taking photos!!!!!

Somewhere between the above photo where I was totally despairing of this project and the photo below where things are starting to reassemble themselves into something interesting, I did the following:

1. Sponged Versamark ink in a butterfly stencil and heat embossed with clear powder. (You can see some of that in the center of the lower edge.)

2. Stamped and heat embossed a Serendipity - Floral Butterfly to go with the sun.

3. Sponged all over with Distress Ink in Rusty Hinge for an emboss-resist look.

4. Dusted Perfect Pearls in Perfect Bronze all over the entire thing and misted it slightly with water to set the powder. Then I wiped off the heat embossed places with a baby wipe.

You can tell that I kind of like what is happening with my piece now because I am starting to take photos again.  :)

Using Versafine in Vintage Sepia, I inked up some miscellaneous stamps I got in a thrift store grab bag.  They remind me of ancient engravings and such.  I stamped them willy-nilly over my piece.  Then I dusted some more Perfect Pearls over it to set the ink.

Bearing in mind that I still think I am making this for a card, I began my search for some buttons to go with it...and to qualify for the Butterfly challenge.  Nothing bronze in my button stash, soooooooooo.......

Time to heat emboss some buttons!!!

My new heat gun (Remember how mine died mid-project during my Cat Lovers Hop last October????) gets super-hot....like a bajillion degrees!  So I held my buttons with a unfolded paper clip.  I sponged them with Versamark and dipped them in embossing powder and zapped them.  This  photo is just the first couple of layers....I used all sorts of powders on them to get a weather-worn look.  :)  When the holes got embossed shut, I stuck a paper clip end in them while the powder was still warm to reopen them.

I die cut a glittery Serendipity - Floral Butterfly to add to my piece.  And, finally, at this point....reality hit me.  This is NOT going to be a card.  Nobody nobody nobody in my circle of card-receiving friends or family (especially family!) is going to understand this at all.  Their opinions of my ever-loosening grasp on sanity is only going to be confirmed.  I'm keeping it for myself.  As an art journal page.  Period.  No one else sees this.  Nope.  Well, no one except for you faithful readers.  YOU understand....(I hope!)....No one else does!!  :)

So at that point.......I was free to do whatever I wanted with it!!!  Hooray!! I still wanted to use the buttons and so it was still going to look kind of like a card, but I felt free to actually write on this in my own handwriting....which I rarely use!  lol...  I use printing for everything and really only pull out my cursive writing for signing things....like autographs.  Hahaha...not really!  More like writing my signature on checks and such.  :)   

I wrote out and outlined the word Free using Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Markers in black and white. The white was a little too bright, so I sponged over it with Distress Ink in Tea Dye. I tied it all with dollar store twine and put it on a bundle of glued together book pages. You can see a stray string from the cloth binding at the top right.

I wish you could see the shine and glimmer of that sparkly Serendipity butterfly better!

Well, there you have it.  What do you think?  I know you didn't really need all those photos.....but I took them just in case (by some rare stroke of luck) the project turned out fabulous!  Ha!.....  I decided to share the process with you, anyway. :)  Even though there are things I would have done differently, I really kind of like how it turned out.

Are there some techniques you have been wanting to try?  I always have backdoor options, in case things really go south on a project.  For instance, I figure there is almost nothing that heat embossing or Perfect Pearls can't fix.  (You notice I used both on this project!!  lol...)  That gives me the freedom to explore new things in my art.  Do you have some favorite fixes, too?  If so (or even if not!), give some of your new ideas wings and go for it!!!   

Thanks for taking time today to look at my project!  This is a busy time for a lot of us and I appreciate each of you who comes to visit my blog and leaves such encouraging comments.  Have a lovely weekend!!!

<3
Janis


Thank you for the honor of entering this art journal page in the following challenges:
1. Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge - Butterfly + Buttons and/or Bronze
2. Serendipity Stamps Challenge #53 - Circles/Dots
3. Die Cut Divas - Something Spring
4. Word Art Wednesday Weeks #222-#223 - Anything Goes Family Friendly
5. DL.Art March Linky Challenge - Anything Goes
6. Let's Play! at A Colorful Journey
7. Little Scrap Pieces Show-It-Off-Saturday Linky Party
8. Craft Stamper March TIMI Challenge - Take a Stamp (must stamp)
9. WOW! Embossing March Challenge - Anything Goes with Heat Embossing
10. One Crazy Stamper March Challenge - Anything Goes
11. Crop Stop Linky Party #14 - Anything Goes, Use a product that CS sells (I used Distress Ink)
12. Little Claire's Challenge #67 - Anything Goes