More Than Words January Main Challenge, Celebrate & Bling

Hi everyone! Melissa here with a page for the January More Than Words Challenge.  I chose these two photos of my son, because they celebrate the joy of having fun! They were taken years ago  in front of my husband's childhood home, in beautiful Northport, New York. It's always exciting to go there in the summer because we can see family, enjoy the beauty of the area, and escape the Houston heat.

For the bling I've used mica flakes, gold mica powder, micro beads,copper wire,and a couple druzy style beads. I also used a Tim Holtz clock face,ornate plate,key, and some Ranger clear crackle. The green watercolor paint is Shimmers by Tattered Angels. The Prima flower in the middle has some chunky clear glitter on it, although it's hard to see in the photo.

The background paper is My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found, Market Street. Almost all the cut up pieces are tags from a sheet of baseball Paper House paper. Along with soccer, Nick played baseball for several years. There's also some ppr. with distressed edges from Bo Bunny. The flowers are Prima, from Engraver, and Coventry Roses,the leaves are also Prima.

I extended some of the tree branches with a bark color Inktense watercolor pencil, I also used it for all the shading on the page, I softened the pencil lines by brushing on some water.

I used Prima heavy Gesso to form a base so paint wouldn't soak into the paper, and also to tone down some of the detail and color of the page.

I used a lot of gold mica powder.

Thank you so much for looking! I hope you have a wonderful year, filled with all the things you love.

This page is for the following challenge:

January 2017 Main Challenge, Celebrate and Bling

Girl and Butterfly

Hi everyone! A card I made for my collection.

I made 24 of these butterflies, thinking I would make a mobile, then changed my mind. I'm going to save them for layouts and cards. I used the Sizzix- Tim Holtz- Alterations Collection-BigZ Die with Texture Fades- Butterfly Duo. I started off painting them with Lindy's Stamp Gang, a teal color. I followed this with some gesso, then used a brown watercolor pencil and outlined the indented areas from the embossing.  I brushed over the lines with a little water to soften them.  I inked the edges with cocao brown. I added a little purple gel pen, glitter glue in a couple areas, and a mix of gold mica powder and water on the edges. I put a little Tsukineko Pigment Ink Pad Nordic Ice on in a few areas.

I took a 12 by 12 sheet of watercolor paper, cut it in half, and folded it. I took my Farber Castell water soluble oil pastel crayons, (the ones for kids, they're cheaper) and scribbled some on my craft mat.  I used to use wax paper, but a mat is much better. After awhile the water seeps through wax paper, still , its good in a pinch.   I mixed the colors together.  I sprayed the paper with water, and brushed on the color very quickly, I just wanted to get the color on.  I sprayed it with more water, picked it up and let the color move and drip all over the paper. If you want to, you can dab some off with a paper towel.

I initially just wanted two butterflies on this, but instead, used part of a photo from Advantus -Tim Holtz- Idea-ology Collection-Found Relatives. The girl's crown is a rub on by Hampton Arts.

I used a Prima  stencil, Fluttering Flowers,  and some texture paste, and spread it on with a credit card. It's important to have some wet paper towels at hand to immediately get that paste off your stencil. It dries super fast and it's hard to remove. 

I brushed some extra watercolor on in teal and brown tones. I rubbed  some gold mica powder on the texture paste. I decided there were too many colors on the card, and dabbed on some gesso with a cosmetic sponge,and rubbed some pearl mica powder on top of it.

Here at the bottom edge you can see a little fairy from Graphic 45's Enchanted Forest Collection. Thanks for looking, and I hope you liked it! Have a wonderful week!