Natural beauty - butterflies

Good Morning

Its the first Friday of the month so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media where the theme is anything mixed media goes, using at least 3 different mediums.

 I made this mdf plaque home decor piece for a friends birthday.  Her favourite colour is purple so I started with that.  We've had some sun this week so Ive seen a few early butterflies out, a couple of brimstones & painted ladies so spring must be here😀

This is another one I forgot to measure before posting but I think it was approx 6x10" 

See below for how I did the background.  I took the chipboard butterflies and on 2 base layers and 1 top layer 1 painted with pale and dark purple paints and then on the other 2 top layers and 1 base layer I used an interference paint which is purple until the light hits it when it turns gold.  Once dry I layered the butterflies together. 

 Inspired by my fellow DT at Creative Artiste Tracey at hotchpotchcreations who uses alot of seed beads in her creations I decided to use some of the million seed beads I have for the bodies of the butterflies - I chose beads in a mix of purples and golds, when the light hits them they really sparkle and shimmer.

I raided my stash of alphas and decided on 'natural beauty' the smaller ones are plastic ones by tim holtz which I covered with very dark green acrylic to take the plastic look away and the larger ones are chipboard which I painted with the purples used on the butterflies.  I then worked out the placement for the alphas and the butterflies and adhered all into place.

You can see the dimension on the butterflies better here and the beads give a lovely 3d effect to the bodies.  To stick the seed beads I added a good layer of tacky pva glue and waited for it to start going sticky and then added plenty of beads and pushed into the glue, once completely dry i brushed off any that hadn't stuck. 

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onto how I did the background

I first coated the background in pink and purple acrylic paints and once dry added texture paste through a large floral stencil, this is a nice big stencil so i could easily pick out the flowers i wanted.  I edged around the flowers with green paints and then dry brushed on a yellowy orange paint to just catch the texture paste flowers 

I added gold glitter paste through a foliage stencil but it wasn't very effective, i think the glitter too chunky for the stencil so switched to gold paint instead, you can just make out both here.  Once the background was finished i coated in mod podge to seal and protect.

This is how it started off - a charity shop find for £1 - I bought it with the sole intention of upcycling it.... First i gave it a light sanding with fine sandpaper and then a coat of gesso and no one would know Tenerife was there!    I also found the pack of greyboard butterflies in the charity shop for £1 so a bargain and the starting point for this project was born.  Now that im doing more mixed media projects  I do pop in charity shops more just to see what they have that I can use as a substrate and to upcycle. Its win win as it supports the charity shop and gives me affordable bases to work on..........mind you I do also have plenty of 'proper' substrates in the cupboard but it is fun to see how something preloved can be turned into something new. 

Items Used:

MDF plaque

Maya Road Chipboard butterflies 

Cosmic shimmer glitter paste 'sahara gold'

Marabu Crea texture paste

Decoart Metallic 'splendid gold'

Pebeo & Folk art acrylic paints

Folk art 'color shift' 'blue violet flash'

Thats crafty 7x7" stencil

13@rts stencil 'tiny leaves'

Tim Holtz adhesive alphas

Chipboard alphas

Gold & Purple seed beads

So hop over to Creative Artiste to join in and see what the rest of the DT created while mixing their mediums

Thank you all for popping by once again. I am still having issues with my eyes especially close up but determined to keep crafting and now using a magnifying glass that hangs around my neck so that is helping a bit but can only do small sessions but better than no crafting! Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://craftingfromtheartchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/02/february-challenge-2026.html

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https://dd-tripleb.blogspot.com/2026/03/march-2026-tb-challenge.html

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https://stencilfun.blogspot.com/2026/03/stencil-fun-march-2026-challenge.html  I used a large floral stencil and a small foliage stencil

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https://dragonflydreamschallenges.blogspot.com/2026/03/march-challenge-butterflies.html

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-march.html

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https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2026/02/garden-party-no-12-anything-in-or-from.html

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WLS March - wildlife

Good Morning everyone

This is a scheduled post as Im still away with the fairies so hopefully if I did it correctly this is Sunday morning, the 1st of March😊

Today is the start of a new challenge over at We love stamping where the theme this month is 

WILDLIFE

I was given this fabulous hedgehog stamp set for my birthday last year so made a couple of cards using them and an ombre ink pad.  I am very lucky to have lots of hedgehogs around, always a pleasure to see them each night eating in the porch.

Card size approx 7x5.5"  I made my base card from dark brown card and this lovely nesting die set. I also used cream cardstock for stamping on instead of white.  I first stamped the topper with the 2 hedgehogs, using fallen leaves versa clair ink for the outline and then ombre ink for the solid body filler stamp.  I then stamped the fab sentiment underneath in the brown ink and then die cut this panel.  I wanted a dark brown mat layer but the next size nesting die was too big and would have hidden too much of the background so I drew around the die I used for the topper and cut it out with scissors.

I die cut more cream card size smaller than the base card and randomly stamped the hedgehogs all over it, rotating and turning them as i went.  Any gaps that were slightly too big i used a little heart stamp from the set to fill in with amber oxide ink.  

I cut a strip of copper pearl cardstock and embossed with a knit effect embossing folder, added this to the front and mounted the topper with foam tape.  The pearl embossed strip just adds a little interest and breaks up the background, sadly the photos don't pick up how shimmery it is.

Just a close up on the topper, with my eyes the line art and filler stamps aren't 100% lined up but I think it still works well and stamping onto linen card you rarely get a clean solid fill but it adds a lovely texture which sadly you can't see in the photos.

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and a 2nd version

5x7" white card blank.  This time instead of the stamped background I used a foliage embossing folder onto copper pearl cardstock - its only an A6 folder so where the join was i added a small strip of hedgehog patterned paper which i picked up in france a couple of years ago.

Sadly the photos don't pick up the pearlescence of the copper when the light hits it and the embossing it really dances. 

Items Used:

Sizzix stamp set 665830 'Hedgehugs'

Sizzix leaf embossing folder (very old)

Crafters companion purl/knit embossing folder (old)

Hedgehog printed paper - picked up in france years ago

Centura pearl card

Brown card

Craftuk ltd cream linen card

Versafine Clair 'fallen leaves'

Kaleidacolor inkpad 'cappuccino delight'

We have these fabulous nature themed prizes from aall&create for the lucky winner this month 

So hop over to We love stamping to join in with your stamped creations - if the wildlife theme isn't for you we always have the anything goes option.

Wishing you all a happy March, spring is well underway in Cornwall with all the spring bulbs well in bloom and the primroses brightening up the hedgerows, the birds are singing and beginning to nest build so hopefully we actually get some days without rain now. Emmax

 

Snowy cabin in the woods - (Creative Artiste Feb)

Good Morning all

Its the first friday in February so time for the first challenge of the year over at Creative Artiste where the theme is anything goes mixed media- we need at least 3 different mediums please.

When I made my Autumn Shadow box last year from a cat food box I thought I might try and do one for each season.  So here is my Winter scene -  a very snowy cabin in the woods.  

Approx size 8x6" and 3.5" deep

After covering it all in snow I made my little cabin (see details further down this post) and glued it into place.  I then die cut lots and lots and lots more pine trees from dark green cardstock, these I adhered together to make my own chipboard and make them nice and study - the trees adhered to a wall are 4 layers but those freestanding are 8 layers of die cuts, all covered in mod podge to again help strengthen them and then I added my snow with thick white gesso, dabbing it on the branches with my pallet knife, while still wet I sprinkled on the lightest dusting of super fine glitter.

I adhered the trees into place and covered the bottoms with more snow to hide any glue and make them part of the landscape.  I painted 5 wooden birds in brown and red like Robins and added around the scene, these just a little colour with the splash of red

I painted wooden snowflakes with white cadence dora paint which really shimmers in the light, these I adhered to the back and side walls of the box and added a clear gem to the centres for a bit more frosty bling.

I had to have a little Robin on the roof of the cabin.  Funnily while painting these Robins like our British ones the red is actually higher up on their breasts but it just looked weird so my Robins are more red bellies😀 which is more like the American Robin....but then that is more suiting this scene as snow like this in England would be very very very unusual and even more so coming across an old cabin in the woods...and if we ever get snow like this in Cornwall then we are in trouble! lol  As it a very rare occurrence to see snow and even rarer if it settles and hangs around for more than a day or two. 2" of snow is deep here and a rare sight.

Here you can see the outside of the box also, which I covered in texture paste and white acrylic for snow and added more wooden snowflakes.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to hang this on the wall or sitting on a side to display so I added both options.  I found some big clear acrylic heart beads in my stash which made great feet adhered flat, being clear they give a frosty like effect.  I also added a hanging hook to the back.

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How I made it 

I made a small slim box out of kraft card, gluing all the edges closed.  I added yellow acrylic paint where i wanted the window and then added matchsticks for my window.  I then added lolly sticks as the wood planks, making sure they weren't cut perfectly to give a more rustic feel like an older cabin would have.  I added more lolly sticks for the roof, this time keeping the rounded edge as the scalloped edge to the roof.   Then covered in black gesso.

I dried brushed on various layers of 3 shades of brown.  I added a touch of yellow around the outside of the window onto the planks to give the effect of the light shining out.  2nd pic shows back of box, the angled roof I attached with pinflair glue gel as its sticky enough to hold up the sticks while they were drying to get the right angle - once the back of the roof was attached to the back of the box it was solid and no chance of moving. 

I covered the box inside and out in texture paste - well cheap polyfiller actually which is ideal when doing larger areas like this.  I gave it a snowy effect with the spatula - this took me back to my bakery days and when we had to decorate 100's of Christmas cakes each year😀   Once dry I covered it in white gesso and then white acrylic paint, sprinkling just a little super fine glitter on the inside onto the paint while it was still wet, this gives a subtle glistening effect.....I don't really 'do' loose glitter as it gets everywhere but won some in a mixed media box so it did work well here.

Items Used:

Memory box tree die

Dark green 350gsm cardstock

Cadence white gesso

Cadence white dora paint

Folk art acrylic paints

Polyfiller

Wood match sticks and lolly pop sticks

Fine glitter

Mod podge matt & glossy

Papermania wood snowflakes

kaisercraft wood birds

Papermania clear gems

Cardboard box

Hop over to Creative Artiste Mixed Media to see what the rest of the DT have created and join in.  Maybe its a new year to try a new craft and have a go at some mixed media - we accept cards and papercraft projects as well as 3d ones like mine so you can start off small like an ATC but just mix your mediums - at least 3 different ones

Thank you for stopping by once again. I hope that February is a good month for you all.  Here the snowdrops are well in flower, early daffodils in full flower and crocus too and the days are slowly drawing out. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-february.html

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https://thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/02/winter-season-february-2026.html

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We Love Stamping February

 Good Morning everyone

Its the first Sunday of the month so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping and the theme for February is

HEARTS 💖

It had to be really didn't it with valentines on the horizon but of course you can use hearts for any occasion and we always have the anything goes option as long as you use stamping. 

  Im sitting out this month but do hop over to join in with your stamping creations.  Digi stamps welcome as well as the traditional rubber and clear stamps.

2 Lovely prizes for this months winners supplied by Buddly Crafts

2 fabulous penny black stamps

£10 Kim MacFarlane digital download

So do hop over to see what the design team has created and to join in 

We Love Stamping

Cherry Blossom

Good Morning everyone

Today Im sharing a little gift I made for a friend, its a wooden book shaped box which I decided to turn into a kind of shadow box which can be displayed stood up and open.  I used a beautiful paper set I got back in the black friday sales with a spring theme. I used a mix of the 12x12 and 6x6 papers and found the images work well together for creating my little scenes.  It is unusual for me not to add anything else other than the chat stickers but was nice and relaxing when I was feeling a bit rough over Christmas time to not think too much about matching things and just use what was in the sets.

I forgot to measure the box before I posted it, but it isn't very big, if i remember correctly its about 5x3" and 1" deep

I painted the box with matt acrylic paints in shades to match the papers, so ive picked out the blue, pink and soft yellow, I painted the outside blue, the inside pink and the sides yellow.  I then cut one of the papers to fit the front and decoupaged with matt mod podge.  I then cut out the little girl catching a cherry blossom, some branches and little bird.  I tore a couple of pieces of paper to add as some ground for her to stand on and a couple of smaller flowers and sealed it all with more mod podge.

The chit chat stickers are by aall&create on the front here I added 'admire divine blossom' as thought that worked - there is something magical about the first blossoms of spring and how they lift our spirits. 

This shows it stood up open on display, it nicely stands up by itself.  I lightly added pink cadence dora paint to the edges for a little shimmer in the light 

On the inside left I added one of the papers and cut out elements of this cherry blossom wreath which I added the little cross legged girl inside and surrounded with different sized flowers.  A little birdie sits on top of the wreath.  I added a little touch of diamond stickles glitter glue to the flower centres for just a little sparkle 

Chat stickers say 'Enjoy serenity, experience enlightenment'

Just spending quiet time in the garden or anywhere with nature, sit and listen and its very calming and healing.  A kind of meditation against the hassle of life. 

I adhered the paper girl on swing to study acetate and cut around her, thus giving her stability and strength, i then added score lines at the top of the 'ropes' to adhere to the top of the box so that she actually moves and get swing forward and back.  I then added some cherry blossoms in front of the ropes to hide the workings - these I also added on acetate so nice and strong and wont damage as the swing moves. 

Below the swinging girl we have  a blossom branch with a little birds nest and bird.  I added glossy accents to the eggs.

Chat stickers read 'Achieve happiness'

Once you have done your meditation in the garden and breathed in the scent of the blossom and listened to the birds singing its is happiness and of course who then doesn't love a go on a swing😁  These bags of chat words from aall&create contain hundreds of words so I was going boggle eyed looking for some to suit that weren't too gushy! 

and the back of the box, just the same paper as the front.  Everything was coated in mod podge to varnish and protect it as it will be handled a bit. 

Items Used:

13arts paper 'Pastel Spring' 6x6 & 12x12 

Aall&create chat stickers

Wooden box

Folk art matt paint 

Cadence Dora paint - fuchsia 

Mod podge

acetate

Ranger Stickles 'diamond'

Id love to enter the following:

https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/ - anything goes option

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https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2026/01/ellibelles-garden-party-no-11-anything.html

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https://lovethoseprettypapers.blogspot.com/2026/01/atg-using-pretty-patterned-paper.html

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https://girlzcreativefunartofscrap.blogspot.com/2026/01/challenge-18.html