France
- Apr 19, 2018

Butterfly Squad creative team inspiration: Helen

Hi Butterflies!

I do hope you are all creating! I really do try to create a little something everyday! And this week I want to show you my next project for France’s Butterfly Squad!

I love art journaling, and the one thing I enjoy and find relaxing are giving each of my pieces those final touches. I was like this when I was an avid scrapbooker, my friends would tease me because I use to say… It’s all in the detail. I do the same art journaling…. Most of the time!! Hopefully by the end of this, you will get to know me a bit better and realize, it is all in the details!

First of all, I gessoed my pages with DecoArt Media Gesso using a brush. After this was dry, I added some DecoArt Media Modeling Paste through France’s Rock Formation stencil over both pages, top to bottom. I let this air dry over night. Sometimes I find if I rush this step, the page crinkles and rolls… drives me crazy! LOL!!

Now to apply some DecoArt fluid acylic paints. I started with Cobalt Teal Hue (my favourite!) and applied it to the bottom two thirds of my pages, leaving white at the top.

Before I let it dry completely, I wiped away some of the acrylic paint with a baby wipe.

Now to add some detail. I like my pages to have an edge to them, so that they looked finished, if you know what I mean! I added some Phtholo Turquoise to the bottom of the pages and edges, using a fine brush. I didn’t want this color to seep into the lighter colors too much. I also watered a bit down and gave my pages some splatters. Because I had a bit of the watered down left, I cut a piece of Frances Cambric and soaked it up with the remainder for later.

Once I let this all sit for a day to dry, I then used DecoArt Modeling paste to make a circle using Frances Circles stencils. Once it was dry, I outlined it with a blue Stabilo All pencil and blended it out.

On to a little embellishment, because I just have to have one! I used France’s Rectangles stencil to trace a couple hearts. I colorized them with DecoArt Quinacridone Magenta, and once dried, stamped over them with Frances London New York stamps. The hearts were then outlined with a black Pitt pen to make sure that the white edges of the cardstock wouldn’t show through after I was done with them. Once dry, I applied a layer of DecoArt Triple Thick Gloss Glaze and let this dry. There was a bit of Magenta left on my working surface and I added a bit of water and made very fins splatters on the bottom part of my spread.

I added the hearts, the colorized cambric, some blue thread, and the words from Frances Perfect Words stamp set…. Soul Search… to my spread to complete it. I feel all those little details make me happy, even if I am the only one who knows what they are!