Wings and Things

Hello and a warm welcome to you all, with an especially big welcome to the newest followers - so lovely to have you here!

After all the colour that's been going on lately, I seem to have hit a neutrals zone!  From yesterday's Men At Work mini-album (if you blinked, you probably missed it, so I'd love it if you had time to check it out), we move to something a little more feminine, and it's all in honour of the new challenge at A Vintage Journey, where our host - the fabulous S@ndy Diller - is looking for Wings and Things - we must see birds, bees, butterflies or dragonflies (or all of them together!) on your Tim-inspired creations.

You'll find all the details of what she's looking for, as well as lots more lovely inspiration from my fabulous team-mates over at A Vintage Journey, and here's my starter for ten.

I had a lovely time playing with one of the 6x4inch burlap canvases.  The background was inspired by a technique I saw over at Layers of Ink, the blog of the amazing Anna-Karin... She was showing how to transfer patterned papers onto the burlap, so that's what I decided to play with first.




I used one of the Wallflower 12x12 sheets (click Anna-Karin's link above to see how it's done), and was really pleased with the textured look once it was done.

It's a subtle bit of damask, but it's there - for now!

I also wanted to play along with the Compendium of Curiosities III challenge, while I was at it.  I haven't managed to play in the last couple for various reasons, so needed to dive back in.  So, as you can see, the next step was stencilling for texture.









But I really, really wanted butterflies - to stick to the Wings and Things theme - and there isn't (yet) a Layered Stencil of butterflies, so I cut the Butterfly Frenzy Decorative Strip Die and used the "leftovers" from that as my stencil instead.  (I don't know if it will count.)








I can't tell you too much more (you'll find the technique on page 49 of Tim's book), but I wanted a bit of extra sparkle around my butterflies, so I also added some Picket Fence Distress Stickles for a touch of vintage shimmer.












I'd had the corrugated cardboard sitting around for weeks, with the butterflies already stamped and framed with the Ornate Plate, knowing this challenge was coming up.  (It travelled all the way to the Czech Republic and back.)  Now finally there was somewhere for it to sit!












The butterflies are stamped in Potting Soil over a thick layer of gesso, and then there's plenty of Walnut Stain inking around the edges.






I started to layer up some other bits and bobs around the corrugated panel:







Some Vintage Lace cut from the same paper as I used for the image transfer...












... and it goes off around the edge too, naturally!














Some ephemera from the Idea-ology Thrift Shop Ephemera Pack... this butterfly has acquired a Game Spinner body.













A couple of skeleton leaves, to tone in with the gold of the Ornate Frame...

One of the little Custom Fasteners, customised with the butterfly sticker, of course...













And the butterflies from the Butterfly Frenzy die - well, they're everywhere!

I'd used the new Motif Resist Paper Stash to cut them, so once inked with Walnut Stain, they've got lovely white script dancing across their bodies.










I decided to layer some of them precisely over the shimmery texture butterflies, to give them double dimension...

Others are just flying free.

And on the top, I added an Idea-ology Clock Key, with a butterfly perched just ready to alight on it.

It sits on some more Vintage Lace heading off around the edge of the burlap frame.














The Courageous Muse Token sits over another label from the Thrift Shop pack.














Oh, and there are the words, of course - stamped in Potting Soil, inked and spritzed and layered up with some more lace and ephemera.







I had such a lovely time playing with this - so thank you, S@ndy, for a great theme.  Do hop over to see what she and the rest of the Vintage Journey team have created to inspire you - you won't be disappointed! - and we hope you'll come and play along with your Wings and Things some time in the next fortnight.

Thanks so much for stopping by... there'll be dollshouses starting on Sunday, and a big celebration next week, so I hope to see you again soon!!

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs, and developing our wings on the way down.
Kurt Vonnegut

If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them growing.
Coco Chanel

I'd like to enter this in the Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge 4, hosted by the fabulous Linda Ledbetter
And at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where they are playing Stencil It