Field Notes

Hi Friends! I know it’s been a while since I posted a new project. Things around here have been hectic to say the least. So many of us have had weeks where our emotions are all over the place but for our family we had a single day where emotions were all over the place. On Sunday, we were overjoyed to celebrate the birth of our 3rd grandchild but also on the same day we lost my father-in-law. He had gone from spending many months in a care facility to hospice care in his home. It was to be expected but sad nonetheless. How can someone feel so much joy and sadness at the same time, yet here we are. A beautiful new life begins and one ends. This was my inspiration for the butterfly because it represents a new life or transformation. I’m sorry, I don’t have a tutorial for you this week. I wanted to work through the process of creating this project without interruption while I thought of my new grandchild, Michael, and the remembrance of my father-in-law, Stan. Art has always been a place of refuge for me. My studio is a haven where I’ve spent much time working through sadness and joy.  But for the first time, I found myself working through both. If you know, you know. I so appreciate the time you take to spent with me here on my blog. I hope you all have a beautiful day and remember to cherish life. It is a wonderful thing, it is a beautiful thing and it is worth every moment good or bad!!!

 

To create the background:

• Stamp the flowers from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Dearly Departed (CMS413)k onto a piece of mixed media cardstock in Tea Dye Distress Ink.
• Using Distress Peeled Paint and Fossilized Amber color the leaves and flower stamens.
• Next, stamp the largest script stamp from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Ledger Script stamp set (CMS241) with Tea Dye right over top of the flowers.
• Ink the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink using an ink blending tool.
• I then used the Tim Holtz Deckle Torn Edge cutter to create a distressed edge.

To create the butterfly:

• Cut the new Perspective Tim Holtz Sizzix die (665201). Remove the intricate outline of the butterfly but reserve the negative cutout. Using the negative cutout, trace the butterfly outline onto a piece of mixed media cardstock.
• Using Distress Inks, color the solid butterfly cutout with colors of your choice. I wanted to try a color that I haven’t used in a long time so I chose Ripe Persimmon. I also used Peeled Paint which I use all the time.
• I sprayed the intricate butterfly die piece with Peeled Paint Distress Spray. I then spritzed it with water so the color would have variants and not be solid.

Finishing the card:

• To finish the card, I adhered the main card panel onto a piece of coordinating cardstock and then onto a piece of Simon Says Stamp Dark Chocolate cardstock. I adhered the butterfly and some Idea-ology pieces around it with a quote chip at the bottom.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me to the end.