Lace Butterfly

Today I am sharing my lovely Mum's 80th birthday card. She's not one for fuss and bother, but a special birthday calls for one of my special 8x8 boxed cards.

I have used A3 Fresh White Centura Pearl to create the base card and the box. The patterned paper is Craft Sensations 12x12 Floral and Basics Paper. I bought this from The Range - it's my go to place for cheap but gorgeous 12x12 patterned paper pads.

The butterfly is an old 6x6 Crafter's Companion Create-a-card called Lace Butterfly. It's really pretty - and the wings of the butterfly lift up.

The pretty mirror card is from Chloe's Creative Card 8x8 Mirror Card Pad in Sugared Pastels. It teams up perfectly with the patterned paper.

The lettering is Julie Hickey Designs Sweet Pea Alphabet, and the numbers are from an Elizabeth Craft Designs Planner Essentials set called Retro Number Trio. As the name implies, there are 3 different sizes of number dies included.

You can't see it from these pictures, but I always add decoration to the inside of the box. I usually use offcuts left from making the card and box topper. I added a couple of butterflies in there using Trimcraft Butterflies dies.

Thank you for popping by. 

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Happy crafting, 

Cxxxx

Butterfly Pocket Card

Today I have another way to use the Butterfly Pocket Insert from Elizabeth Craft Designs: Art Journal collection. It makes a lovely little card - or, like I have done, a card on a card. The reason I did this was because I felt it was just a bit too small. So, I made an A6 card base from purple card, and mat and layered with green card and patterned paper.

I cut out the pocket insert from plain purple card, and stuck the pocket part together. I used the same green and patterned paper layers inside of the pocket card. To keep this all closed, I attached ribbon to the back of the pocket insert, before attaching it to another piece of green card. This was then stuck to the base card. The ribbon then ties around the front. 

 

The tag die from the set was cut from green card, also using the additional cut-in pattern die. This was backed with purple card, and then another tag cut from the patterned paper. To get the letters I wanted, I had to cut a combination of the dies from the set - but it's worth it.

For the butterfly, you need to cut this twice, as the die only cuts half. Cut one from the front of the paper, and one from the back. I did the same in the purple card as a backing. I used a small strip of card down the middle to cover the join.

If you want to see a video demonstration, then please click on the first photo.

Thanks for popping by, and I hope I have given you a little inspiration. Feel free to follow me here on my blog, or on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. For all the videos, pop over to the Hixxy Studio YouTube channel to subscribe. And FB lives are streamed on both the YouTube channel and the Hixxy Crafts FB page. The main items I use can be found on the Hixxy Crafts website - have a look under the Hixxy Studio tab.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

If nothing changed ....

I really enjoyed working in my new Arteza journal yesterday. The process felt more comfortable for me, and I like the end result. I know that, sometimes, you need to go outside your comfort zone, but for now I am happy doing what I know and love.

Today, I chose to use brighter colours - but stuck to two. I wanted to include sprays as well as inks today, so pulled out all my Imagination Crafts Mixed Media sprays. Sad to say that some of the bottles were clogged - but a bit of flushing with hot water seems to have sorted them out. In the end, I chose to use yellow and green. To go with this, I used Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Cracked Pistachio and Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxides. After inking the background, I added the sprays over the top.

For more texture, I used Sara Signature Flutterby stamps - Scripture and Textured Elements - with Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink. The wording (which unfortunately is a little blurred) is from the Fly Away stamps, while the large butterfly is the Botanical Butterfly stamp - both stamped in Versafine Onyx black. I used my watercolour tin to colour the butterfly.

 Happy crafting.
Cxxx
  

When it goes wrong - put a butterfly on...

That old crafter's adage worked for me today - and saved me from feeling pretty rubbish about what I was attempting. This is what I produced, but it is so far from what I set out to do, that it's really quite laughable.

Let's rewind to just before lunch yesterday. I decided to make a list of all the things on my shelves, in my drawers and in my cupboards (and already I know I missed some things - gel press, mica powders...) that I really should play with, have a go with, experiment with. you get the idea.

And when lockdown had seemed imminent a couple of weeks ago, I ordered myself some journals from Pink Pig. The large one has watercolour card in - for an art journal, The next one is lined for jotting ideas and thoughts down. And the little one is for drawing and sketching - I went small with this one as I didn't want to be intimidated by a larger size.

The art journal was the one I wanted to start with, but I didn't really want to ruin other pages, so I cut a piece of mylar to sit behind the page and protect the rest (or that was the idea).

 

For the afternoon's dabble, I decided to have a play with the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Inks. I bought these with the intention of using them on my Christmas cards, and never did, so they have sat in the cupboard for a while.

I got all excited, googled for something different to try with watercolour based products, and found a lovely video clip which showed techniques using salt water, water with bleach, and clingfilm. Great, I thought. And got myself all set up, remembering to take photos for a step by step. And I used some low tack tape to divide the page into three - one for each of the things shown on the clip. So far, so good.

  

I started with the salt water. The idea was to put a wash of the salt water on the paper, then dot the ink on. I used Amethyst and Garnet from the Glitz and Glamour set. This was reasonably successful - but not quite as great as in the video.

I pushed on with the water with bleach in it. Same idea - make a wash with the water and then dot the ink on. This was supposed to give a much more feathery effect. This was what I got. Total fail.

At this point I was starting to get frustrated, but ploughed on with number 3 - the clingfilm. Plain water is put on the clingfilm, ink dotted on, and then applied to the paper. 

  

The result - a puddly mess that leaked onto the other two sides as well. Totally annoyed with myself by this point. Instead of a lovely page showing three techniques, it looked like a small child had been let loose on it (no offence to small children intended). So, I went over the whole lot with the salt water.

  

At this point, it was a case of what can I do to save this. So I dug out my Sara Signature Flutterby Collection (have pretty much all of this as I demo'd it not long after release), Harmony Water Reactive Inks - Plum Pudding, Winter Rose and Silent Night and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide.

At this point, photos kind of went by the wayside. I added more of the Pink Garnet Sparkle Ink at the top and bottom and stamped the Botanical Butterfly with Silent Night inkpad. I used water to spread some of the ink, and then filled in with Amethyst and Pink Garnet Sparkle inks. 

Have to say, it looks better on the above photo than I felt it did yesterday, so I watered down some white gesso and went over it to knock it back. And then I attempted to overstamp the butterfly with Memento - Nautical Blue.

    

To frame it, I used one of the Scripture stamps with the Winter Rose inkpad and two different stamps from the Textured Elements set with the Plum Pudding and Silent Night.

The sentiment is from the Fly Away set, and I edged the whole thing (tricky when it's spiral bound) with Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide.

While this is is no way what I had intended when I started, it ended up OK. Oh, and it's almost impossible to keep the next pages clean in a book like this!! 

Lessons learned. Onwards and upwards!!

Take care and stay safe.

Cxxx

Butterfly and Keys

Another make for Mandy's shows on Wednesday on Hochanda.

No step by step pics for this one as I forgot to take them. But this is what I did.

I used Aqua and Sand Starlight paints across the middle of the canvas, making sure it was large enough so as not to be covered by the mask.

I then used the Butterfly and Keys mask over the top with Structure Paste.

In the top left and bottom right corners, I used Transparent Relief Paste through the Baby Bubbles stencil. In the top right and bottom left I added Artsy Stones with some of the Cogs and Flourishes Magi Cutz painted with the Starlights.

The whole canvas was edged with Aqua Starlight.

Back soon,

Cxxxx

Black Butterflies!!

Well, I know you don't normally see black butterflies, but I like the silhouette against the bright background.

Imagination Crafts: 

Mix Media Inks - Fuchsia and Sunshine

Magi Blend

Art Stamps - Distress Set 1

Other:

Gesso

Glycerine

Memento Tuxedo Black

Watercolour and Black Card

Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Overlay pen

Acetate - from Sara Signature Flutterby collection

Dies - Botanical Butterfly, Trio of Wings, Simplistic Sentiments from Sara Signature  Flutterby Collection

I started by masking off the bottom of a piece of watercolour card, as I only wanted the colour on the top. I used a bit of wax paper and low tack tape.

Next, I sprayed some of the Mix Media inks onto my craft mat, then using a sponge applicator, I mixed them with some glycerine to blend for the background - creating this lovely warm orangey colour.

I used more of the sprays, but this time mixed them with a bit of gesso and some Magi Blend, because I wanted to paint them onto the printed acetate. It's hard to see on the finished picture, but one of the layers of the large butterfly was made from this. 

I also used this mixture to stamp onto the background. 

I then stamped over this with Memento Tuxedo Black - stamping more than once each time to get different depths of colour.

The background was mounted onto black card, and I used a thin black ribbon across the bottom of the inked part to define the edge. 

The die cuts were covered with Clear Sparkly pen, and both the large butterfly and the sentiment have a layer cut from the painted acetate.

Haven't had a chance to craft and get messy for a while - so not sure when the next post like this will be - but I will have hopefully have some quick cards to share in the meantime.

Take care

Cxxxx 

Mixing it up!!

Have been working on a few bits and pieces - really messy, mixed media type stuff. This is the first of my pieces. A canvas with the focal point being a gorgeous rose image. 

What I used

8x8 Canvas                      

White Gesso                           

Crafter's Companion Textures Elements Stamps- Words to Inspire 2

Brilliance Ink - Galaxy Gold

Memento - Espresso Truffle

Prima Finnabair Art Ingredients - Melange Art Pebbles

Metal Butterfly

Imagination Crafts: 

Starlight Paints - Clotted Cream, Topaz, Mint; 

Mix Media Ink Sprays - Light Blue, Sunshine, Dark Brown;

Structure Paste;

Starlight Wax - Diamond, White Gold;

A4 Stencil - Past Times;

Art Stamps - Distress Set 1;

Just Pearls - Antique Brown;

Magi Bond Decoupage Glue.

I started by wetting the rice paper to take out the piece I wanted for the canvas.

 I mixed Clotted Cream with white gesso, and covered the background.

I also mixed Topaz with white gesso and dry brushed this on, creating a vertical and horizontal texture.

I did the same with the Mix Media Sprays, to create a green paint for dry brushing on the canvas.  

I cleaned up the mess by spritzing my mat with water, and then smooshing a piece of card over the top.

 I'm sure it'll come in useful for something!! 

The border part of the stencil was all I wanted to use so I taped it off, and spread structure paste through the stencil onto the canvas.

As ever with me, I then got carried away and forgot to photograph the next couple of steps. So, once the Structure Paste was dry, I added the Rice Paper in the middle with Decoupage Glue. I then put the stencil back over and sponged Dark Brown Mix Media Ink Spray through, and over the Structure Paste.

I also used Topaz over the stencil to add depth. More Clotted Cream and Gesso were mixed, and used to stamp texture over the structure paste and other areas.

 With the script stamp, I used Diamond Starlight Wax to stamp onto the canvas.

The word "sentiment" was stamped once with Brilliance Galaxy Gold, and then re-stamped with Memento Espresso Truffle. I used the washi tape to help stamp in the correct place the second time.  

White Gold Starlight Wax was used to add highlights to the Structure paste, and also brushed on to areas of the rose. The final touches were: Just Pearls - Antique Brown, highlighted with White Gold wax, a metal butterfly and the Melange Art Pebbles.

Phew!! Have a few more step by steps in the coming weeks. Looking forward to sharing them with you. 

Cxxx