Monday 22 June 2015

Flourishing Butterflies by Alison

Hello everyone, Alison here from Words and Pictures, and I've brought along some Flourishing Butterflies to share with you today.


What I mean by that is that I've been playing with the fabulous Mini Butterflies again, as well as some of the scrumptious Mini Cogs, and they're all nestled around one of the glorious ornate Flourishes now available to create an altered notebook cover which, I will confess, I'm rather in love with!


First I planned the layout roughly.  You'll notice I didn't end up with quite this many butterflies!


I had a lovely time creating the background - book pages, tissue tapes and various layers of gesso and crackle mediums are at the heart of it.


I applied texture sand paste and gesso to the large flourish (this is Curled Vine Fancy Flourish Style 2, but there are so many lovely ones to choose from) before gluing it in place.  I added the metal flowers and filigree pieces, and gesso'd all of it.


I decided I needed a bit of extra crackle texture, so I applied that and let it dry before going on to the next stage.


Ah yes, the next stage - lots of spritzing inky colour over and around it all - such fun.


As well as spraying on inky colour, I also used a paintbrush to apply paint (shockingly conventional, I know) to intensify the colour in places.


That also gave me a bit more control in deciding where and how much colour I was applying to the flourish, the flowers or the crackled "sky".


Both the butterflies and the cogs have been given a touch of golden shimmer using some iridescent gold paint - Interference Gold, which changes as it catches the light.


I've used some of the same stuff to add highlights and gilding on the flourish texture and the metal elements too.


The butterflies gleam as they catch the light (these are mostly from the Mini Butterflies Style 4 sheet) ...


... and the cogs add a little hint of Steampunk glamour...


(... or should that be Glampunk? - something I explored with one of my first ever posts for Calico way back when!!)


These are from the Cogs Style 1 sheet, and I love how they glow amongst the other elements.


I quite often leave my Calico Craft Parts "naked" as I find them so beautiful, but as you've seen in my last couple of projects, they're also fabulous when altered and so much fun to play with!


So there's my notebook cover for you - I hope you like it.  If you're tempted to go shopping, you can click on any of the links in the text to go straight to the relevant Craft Parts.  See you again soon.

Alison xx

24 comments:

  1. AMAZING! I love to see your progress and enjoy it! Thank you dear Alison!
    oxo
    Susi

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gorgeous crackled background again Alison, wonderful finishing touches too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alison this is awesome. Oh dear.., LOVE the combination of butterflies, gears, crackle !! It is such a fantastic book cover. You are truly very talented. Thank you so much for sharing. Great inspiration.
    Hugs from Monica... Spain

    ReplyDelete
  4. Quite literally crackling with glimmering gorgeousness. It's little wonder you are a little in love with your beautiful book cover. It's wonderful. Lx

    ReplyDelete
  5. This looks stunning Alison, bet the shimmering 'in real life' is beautiful. Nicola x

    ReplyDelete
  6. Positively gorgeous Alison - I'm tempted!!! Jenny x

    ReplyDelete
  7. just beautiful Alison - I love the crackle and all the texture - its awesome!!! Gorgeous colours too - beautiful work! Hugs rachel x

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stunning, as ever!! Love the flourishes, but the whole cover looks incredible!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very pretty cover in those favourite colours of yours lol!

    Sally

    ReplyDelete
  10. I even like it at the naked white stage. Fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stunning work and a great tutorial Alison....looks amazing !! TFS and hfs Annie xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. There you are... Having so much work to do, a busy-bee on all fields... And you still find the time to produce such lovely pieces of art PLUS creating the complete tutorial to follow your steps... Thank you so much, dear Alison!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dear Alison, , a wonder in crackle, glimmer, and beauty.
    The butterflies are so beautiful, with the golden shimmer, and fly in the most gorgeous crackled sky, and your clolour code in blue and green looks stunning with the golden glitter.
    Hugs, Dorthe

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a fabulous page!! You inspire me so Alison!! xo

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh definitely Glampunk Alison! I love the gorgeous crackle, the wonderful (very YOU) colours and the contrast with the colour of the cogs. The butterflies are such a wonderful finishing touch - gorgeous work! Anne xx

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow! Fabulous crackle, gorgeous blend of colours and all those brilliant little details- another stunner! Chrisx

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh WOW, Alison! This is a stunning notebook cover! The layers of the Calico Craft Parts with the altered metal embellies-Fabulous! All of the crackly texture is delicious and I'm sure a wonder to touch! Thank you for sharing your process and your style!! XOXO-Shari

    ReplyDelete
  18. Well, this is yet just one ore wonderful creation from your talented hands and eyes. You have the knack to put things together in a pleasing combination of colours, texture and shapes.
    A beautiful piece of art.
    Hugs, Neet xx

    ReplyDelete
  19. Stunning!! LOVE, love love that flourish and your butterflies are just perfect with all the crackling and layered elements..... you've used that paintbrush to great effect to augment the sprays. Beautiful cover! xx Lynn and PS - I marvel at your makes in the midst of your schedule! And thank you for your visits in all of that doing-ness!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Amazing notebook cover, the texture and all the elements and Calico Craft Parts put and altered together are scrumptious!!! Fabulous work Alison! xx

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thanks for the great step by step, love how it came together, the blue, greens and rust work gorgeously...this is one of my favourite projects of yours.....so beautiful Alison! Ruth xx

    ReplyDelete
  22. "Glampunk" -- so appropriate. Gorgeous touch. And yes ... the extra bit of crackle is just want this piece needed. It provides a sort of movement that draws everything together. And those gleaming butterflies .. straight out of a fairytale. Love all the layers. I know how long it takes to build those layers. So worth the effort. I can see you really enjoyed playing with the color this time (even pulling out some dusty paintbrushes :) ). Beautiful!! -- Mary Elizabeth

    ReplyDelete