Posted: October 9th, 2020 by helen

Butterfly Journey | Crackle Texture

Hello and Happy Friday to you! It’s been another very busy week here so we are looking forward to a little ‘time out’ over the weekend, hope you can enjoy some rest too! We have Heather Mitchell here on the blog today with an amazing mixed media card featuring our awesome BUTTERFLY INK stencil and loads of texture…

Afternoon everyone…

My make for Visible Image today is a super simple one but I absolutely love it and am going to be making some more for cards for friends. I’ve used the beautiful Butterfly Ink stencil and one of the Just Be Happy sentiments and that’s it… very sparse for me!

I had intended to do something much more convoluted but sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

I began by taping the stencil to watercolour card. I generally use watercolour card as it holds up to whatever I throw at it which is usually quite a lot! It’s 300GSM hot press card (which means it’s smooth) if anyone is interested!

I’ve then smoothed the glorious and gorgeous Golden Crackle Paste through the stencil and my word, I love this stuff. The Golden paste is so light and fluffy, it’s like stencilling with whipped cream.

The colour comes from Wow Embossing Powders ‘Pop’ powder. A mix of a vibrant orange alongside silver and white grains which gives a beautiful effect.

The powder has been sprinkled on to the paste while it’s still fresh (damp) so it sticks and then I let it air dry overnight which is when the crackles appear. Once perfectly dry, melt the powder… and I never tire of watching the melt!

I had intended to drip colour down the butterfly so it seeped into the cracks but I decided to keep it simple. Instead, I used the new-ish Speckled Egg Distress Oxide Spray to paint around the butterfly and leave lots of white space – which is very not me!

I do love the subtlety of the pale Speckled Egg against the real bright intense colour of the orange and then the little cracks across the butterfly look just fabulous!

The ‘Life is a Journey’ sentiment from the Just Be Happy set is perfect (I thought) for a butterfly and I’ve used Carved Pumpkin Distress Oxide Spray to add the colour and then given a couple of the letters some glossy accents just as a change in texture.

Why not have a go at re-creating this card? You don’t have to use the Butterfly Ink stencil… the technique would work with any of the Visible Image stencils.

Products used

I’ll be back here with another make very soon! xx

Woweee this is amazing Heather! Our butterfly looks stunning with all that crackle and texture, wonderful colour choices. Thank you ♡

You will find more inspiring projects from Heather over on her blog.

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Stay safe.

Helen & Mark xx