Every year as kids, mum and dad took us camping to Cowes on Phillip Island. It is about an hour from home, with calm, still beaches on one side of the island and rugged ocean surf beaches on the other side. Cowes is also where the fairy penguins come waddling in ever night. Penguins don't come in unil it is dark, so to fill in time we would go to this little place we called Butterfly Forest.
It was really just rough bush, filled with gum trees, bracken and ferns. It was a haven for butterflies, kangaroos and koalas, unfortunately it was also a haven for snakes. At dusk the sky seemed to turn every shade of orange and finally settle into the green background. The butterflies would go nuts at this time of the day, obviously hurrying home before it gets dark.
This was made using my Smack & Squirt technique. Smack distress ink pad onto foil, spray on a LOT of water, mop up coloured water with a sponge or foam blending tool. Scrub over card and repeat until you have the right colours. I used 3 green inks then finished off with a couple of orange inks. The dramatic dark orange is called Ripe Persimon. Stamp all around the edges and using a Stampamajig, stamp on sentiment.
I then stamped, coloured and fussy cut the butterfly. Using my finger tip I rubbed on some gold 3D stamp paint to the butterfly then stuck the right wing and a small part of its body to the card (most of the wing sits up as it is not glued down). I then added a few white dots...looked wrong, wiped it off....rubbed a large hole in the wing....this was so well stuck down that I couldn't remove it.....stamped another butterfly, put a couple of drops of green Izink onto foil, spritz with water then dunk the new butterfly in the watery/painty mess.
I still had some of the gold 3D stamp paint on my finger, so I wiped some of the folliage to give it a nice glow. In real life this looks shimmery, didn't photo graph so well on the gold part of the butterfly. Sorry about that chief.
Thank you for looking.
Date: Friday, January 2, 2015 GMT Views: 2806
Favorited:23
Registered: September 21, 2006 Location: In the beautiful Sequatchie Valley, Home of the Paper Clip Project - The National Cornbread Festival Posts: 26563
Registered: January 8, 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 40327
Sat, Jan 10, 2015 @ 9:13 PM
Absolutely beautifully done, Susie - LOVE this!!! We took our boys to see the penguins on Phillip Island when they were young, such a wonderful holiday memory!!
------------------------------ Sue
Fan Club Member QFTD143 FS420
Registered: September 21, 2006 Location: In the beautiful Sequatchie Valley, Home of the Paper Clip Project - The National Cornbread Festival Posts: 26563
Registered: September 21, 2006 Location: In the beautiful Sequatchie Valley, Home of the Paper Clip Project - The National Cornbread Festival Posts: 26563
Registered: September 21, 2006 Location: In the beautiful Sequatchie Valley, Home of the Paper Clip Project - The National Cornbread Festival Posts: 26563
Registered: August 12, 2007 Location: Ottawa Posts: 666
Sun, Jan 18, 2015 @ 7:17 AM
This is superb Susie, I love the rich background and the delicate images. I also spent some of my childhood summer time on Phillip Island, not in Cowes but in my Aunt and Uncle's beach house near Surf Beach. I don't think we ever visited the Butterfly Forest.