Butterfly Window Art Canvas

I have a bit of a unique project for you today. I am here with my Topflight Stamps blog post & we are playing with IndigoBlu stamps. The team is also participating in the Mix Media Monthly challenge. I am thrilled with how my project turned out & I hope you like it too.

I decided to go with a Photo Mat Art Board project by Crescent. It just was the perfect base for the idea I had in mind.

First off here is the inspiration for this months challenge. That will help you understand the idea I came up with.

The stamp set is Butterfly Collector and you can buy it here. It is made from red rubber and the stamps have wonderful detail. You can see it on the stamped butterflies.If you want to see how I made my background you can check out the process here. I started my board the same way with the only difference being, instead of using stencils I pushed stamps into the gesso. Just clean your stamps with warm water & an old tooth brush immediately following so the paint does not dry in the stamp. One thing I did learn is, to get a crisper image embedded in the gesso, put down a thinner coat. 

Sadly I do not have a picture of just the gesso layer- somehow it got deleted. Once my gesso was dry I did the same process as the journal link above, I made a color glaze with 50% acrylic paint 50% acrylic glaze. I painted a layer of paint & let it dry for a minute or so then wiped it back using a baby wipe. I worked on about half the canvas at a time so the paint did not dry fully.

You can see the stamps in the gesso but because it was a bit too thick I lost the detail. Still cool though. If I had the time I could have scrapped the gesso up & reapplied it. I painted the top 2/3rds of the canvas in the black & the bottom in the green (supply list below). 

Next step was to cover my gate pieces & heat emboss them. Love how they turned out. I over lapped them on the board to give them even more height. I wanted my garden of flowers to show up so decided to put it next to the fence instead of behind it. 

For the flower portion I colored the background of a piece of white card stock with Distress Oxide (DO). I spritzed with some water to activate it & create some splatter. To add the flowers, ink the bottom grass portion with the DO then color in the flowers & stems with multiple color of Distress Marker. These products have a slower dry time so you can make this work. Apply a fine mist of water to activate & stamp. Let that dry & then spritz the bottom grasses a bit to create the softer impressionist look. I stamped the image 2x with a bit of an over lap. 

All that is left is assembly. I used Tombo Mono Multi XL to glue everything down. It is easy to use, good & sticky. I also fussy cut some more of the butterflies & the dragonfly then adhered them randomly around my piece. Lastly & I should have done this before assembly I decided to hit the high points with copper paint. I also painted over the cut butterflies with Chandalier Glimmer Glam which gave them some glitter & sealed them to protect them.

The quote did not transfer perfectly because my gesso was too thick but I simply filled it in with a marker. Still looks cool, embedded & like old stone. The butterfly photo is mine, a frequent visitor in my garden. This project will be entered in this months contest. I hope you get a chance to pop over & see all the wonderful inspiration. See you next week!

*Affiliate disclosure I did receive some of these products to create my project. The ideas however are my own and currently all the design teams I am on I love!!

Supply List:

• IndigoBlu Butterfly Collection Stamps from Topflight Stamps
• Crescent Photo Mat Art Board
• Closed Garden Gate- chipboard by Southern Ridge Trading Co.
•  Tombo Mono Multi XL glue
• Glimmer Glam- Chandelier
• Ranger Ink- Distress Oxide- Peeled Paint, Cracked Pistachio, Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo.
• Ranger Ink -Distress Markers, Black Soot Archival Ink, Emboss Dabber.
• Stampendous Emboss in  Shabby Green
• Finnabair art alchemy by Prima in Raven Black & Dark Forest.
• Golden: Acrylic Glazing Liquid &  Iridescent Copper paint