Butterfly arch

Those that follow me on Twitter (I love it it's like drinks down the pub with the girlie's gassing and laughing)  know that I was intrigued by the reference to "metal cracks" At the time I hadn't read the PaperArtsy blog post on Suzz using metal card and crackle

So this is my interpretation.

The double wooden arch I 've had for ages and by chance found the other day whilst rummaging. First off I cit the metal card to size and put a layer of crackle glaze on.  I was very patient (ready for bed actually) and left it to dry overnight.  I painted the double arch in quite a few layers of Hyde Park Fresco giving it a sand in between.

Next day (my crafting always seems to happen over a number of days) I painted the metal in Fresco Guacamole. Oh my the cracks appeared beautifully.  With the spare Guacamole I lightly brushed that over the arches.

Concentrating on the arches I added some Inky Pool, panicked a bit as it covered up the green , wiped it off with a baby wipe and stopped panicking! Added some stamping of the owl and the numbers from this PaperArtsy plate and some copper embossed swirls from this PaperArtsy plate. 

On the reverse of the arches I decided to try some tissue paper stamping. Used the winged lady from this PaperArtsy plate, added some Inky Pool paint on the reverse and stuck down adding a layer of glaze over the top.  One dry I could still the tissue paper so dabbed on some Hyde Park to blend it in a bit.  Added some copper Treasure gold around the edges, panicked again as I was a bit heavy handed gave a bit a of wipe and also sanded which softened it up and took aways some of the excess (more shabby distressed than opaque of colour).

Back to the metal card.  I added a thin wash of Fresco Holly to dirty it up a bit added some Shabby Copper Frantage embossing powder around the edges, bit of Walnut Stain and finally some stamping in Aquamarine Archival using this numbers mini from PaperArtsy.  The butterflies were stamped in Black Archival and Inky Pool added to colour in the wings. The little tag stamps from the same plate were also added. Once stuck down the metal card still didn't quite stand out so I went round the edge with a dark grey Oil Pastel just to add some shadow. On reflection I think I should have edged the metal in black embossing powder, but hey they look ok.

I really really like this and I think I will take to work so it can remind me when I slogging away doing long days, getting stressed that the reason I work is so I can make lovely things like this.

hugs
jo
xx