Saturday, July 4, 2015

Fabulous Frosted Film

Here we are at Challenge Number 32, just two more to go!  I confess I had not used this product before, but I love it now!  You may find this challenge on Page 59 of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities III book which still can be purchased here.  This challenge is once again sponsored by the generous Tim and Mario who are providing a fabulous prize package to the winner of this challenge! Head on over to Linda Ledbetter's site for all the details and enter!

One randomly chosen winner will also win a $25.00 shopping spree to The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Good luck to all!

Now for the technique.  Here is my latest challenge project:


I decided to use a canvas this time which features beautiful die cut flowers and frosted film butterflies.  I used a sentiment from Tim Holtz's Stampers Anonymous Life Quotes that I felt would blend well with the "dreamy quality" created as a result of blending the die cut butterflies with the  frosted film.

I started off by creating my butterflies. I used Tim Holtz's Sizzix Butterfly Duo die set.  (I obviously didn't use the included texture fade).  You will have to go to Page 59 to see how I accomplished this technique.  Here are the finished butterflies:


I then decided I wanted some texture to my canvas, so I started with a coat of white gesso on the canvas.  When it was dry, I added Wendy Vecchi's white embossing paste through Tim's Flourish Stencil.   Finally, I added some watered down Tumbled Glass Distress Paint to the background and then some white Picket Fence Distress paint to the raised surfaces.  This is how the prepared canvas looked:


Now I was quite unhappy with myself when I first created this texture pattern.  I originally had a "white on white" pattern, but decided that it was too "white" for my butterflies to really show up well.  I tossed around the idea of starting all over and painting the canvas with Tumbled Glass Distress paint first and then adding the white paste, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  One of my mottos is "there is a way to fix anything" so I was determined to fix it.  It ended up being easier than I thought to use white Picket Fence Distress Paint to highlight the raised surface.  The Tumbled Glass background was watered down a bit so that the background wasn't too dark.

I then cut a number of flowers from my absolute favorite Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Tattered Floral Garland as well as some greenery from the Alterations Spring Greenery die.  I colored the flowers by blending Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemonade Distress inks.  When dry, I assembled them and added Buttercup and Petal Pink Liquid Pearls to the flower centers.  The greenery was colored with Peeled Paint and Gathered Twigs Distress inks.

I laid out the flowers and greenery on the canvas until I was happy with the layout.


Unfortunately, even though I lightened the background a tad, the colors seemed to vary each time of the day I photographed the piece.  It is actually a little lighter in color.

Now I wondered how I was going to stamp my sentiment on the canvas.   I certainly couldn't do it the traditional way due to the texture.  Then I remembered the technique I learned from Cheryl (who learned it from Candy), etc. of stamping on white tissue paper, tearing around the sentiment and using Matte Medium to adhere it to the background with a paint brush.  Worked like a charm!  The tissue blends right into the background!

Finally, I adhered all the flowers and greenery as well as the butterflies to the canvas using Matte  Medium.  Once again here is the finished project:


See what I mean about the variation in background color!

Here it is on a darker background and different light (even though it is really a slightly lighter blue):



You may have noticed I added antennae to the butterflies before I adhered them to the canvas.  I achieved this by cutting two small pieces of black linen thread and creating a knot on either end.  I then folded each in half and adhered them to the back of the butterflies' bodies.

All of us here at the CC3 Challenge are looking forward to seeing your submissions!  You all are such talented artists who have blown us away with  your creativity!  Let's see more of it!

Susan



26 comments :

  1. Susan...great minds think alike! You and Cheryl are rockin' the butterflies, girlfriend! This is absolutely gorgeous! Your butterflies are so pretty. I adore your embossed background. Love the flowers arranged in the corners. This has a very Victorian feeling to me. Love the sentiment stamped in black in the center, too! Beautiful job!

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  2. It 's all in harmony, everything in the right place and the background is wonderful .... a few words: amazing job!
    Happy 4th of July!

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  3. So pretty, Susan, I loved your canvas prep. The stucco look you achieved with the Flourish stencil is beautiful and I love the sentiment. Very nice work, girlie!!

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  4. Susan, beautiful job you did for you canvas background. I like the dimensional feel of the paste, flowers, and your amazing butterflies. They look so soft and delicate. thanks for sharing

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  5. Love the paste background.... yummy... and your butterflies appear ready for flight... such a beautiful creation!

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  6. I am so glad there is someone else who thinks stripping back is the way to solve a problem... but so glad you carried on and used the white, because your background is beautiful. I love how you shaped your flowers and the butterflies are just divine! Anne xx

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  7. Gorgeous canvas...love the background! The butterflies are so lovely too!

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  8. this is beautiful susan - so very pretty - summer - bliss xx

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  9. Wow, the lighting sure makes a difference, however I still can't decide which one is more beautiful. Love them both. And I'm loving that textured background in your first photo of the prepared canvas. Your frosted film butterflies almost seem to glow when placed over the background. Absolutely love this!

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  10. I love that stencil, it makes such a fabulous background. The butterflies look so delicate, they could fly away at any time.

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  11. Love the idea of the antennae! Love the embossing paste background, and the process of "fixing it"!!

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  12. Now, I don't normally care for butterflies (of the paper crafted kind), but these are SWEET!!! Those barely there, but absolutely noticable touches that perfect this card!!!

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  13. Oh, Susan! This is a beautiful canvas and those butterflies are soooo lovely--They look like fragile little frosted glass figurines, delicately perched amongst those delicate blooms! Just an amazing creation!! XOXO-Shari

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  14. Beautiful Canvas!! Love the butterflies!!!

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  15. The background is stunning! I love how the color turned out. Such pretty colors on the butterflies too.

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  16. Love, love, love those butterflies! The colours you used, the quote and that textured background...... Perfect! Jan x

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  17. Beautiful canvas ... love the butterflies... background is amazing !!

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  18. Your frosted butterflies are so pretty. Love the traslucent look. Beautiful color combination and love how your flourish background adds even more depth.

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  19. I so love your frosted film butterflies and how pretty they look on that canvas! Great texture and beautiful flowers! Love this and Happy Weekend!

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  20. Oh, I love this and the frosted butterflies are perfect!

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  21. I love the contrast of the texture paste with the frosted film butterflies and the tattered floral garlands.

    Have the same trouble with backgrounds changing colors when photographed. some come out pinkish, others bluish, still others yellowish. I suppose I could pay $$$ for Photoshop (my old version went south with an OS upgrade) and play with color balance, but somehow, that isn't very truthful either, KWIM?

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  22. Gorgeous, gorgeous! I visited a butterfly garden/museum recently and was surprised to discover that there are several species of butterflies with transparent (colorless) wings. They are fascinating! Your background is to die for, and clearly I need some texture paste!

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  23. That tissue idea really is fabulous! I love your colors and textures, and the butterflies are perfct.

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  24. Gorgeous summery canvas ! Love the frosted film butterflies . Toni x

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  25. Such a beautiful canvas Susan. I love your background and how you "fixed" it. Your butterflies are so lovely...they look like they could fly off the canvas.

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