Fly Away, Be Free! by Linda Hess

I am a mom of 3 beautiful children, 1 boy and 2 girls.  They are in various stages of growth and I have discovered along the way that age does not guarantee what stage they shall be in at any given time!  Looking through the Sin City Stamp collection I stumbled on this wonderful saying and knew I had to use it on a canvas.  It makes me think of growth and beauty and the wings we all must sprout eventually to learn our true potential in life.  With that in mind, may I present "Fly Away, Be Free!"

Materials:
Sin City Stamps (www.sincitystamps.com):
Love of Butterflies (plate), Caterpillar (SC32-6)
Bird cage Chipboard Book (sccb68)
Branch Stencil (scs29)

8"x8" Artists Loft back-stapled traditional canvas
variety of acrylic paints ( I like metallics)
assorted polymer clay butterflies ( see info below to contact)
Creative Paper Clay
Color Box Archival Dye (Coal Black)
"The Ultimate" Glue (www.crafterspick.com)
Pentel Metallic Brush Pens in red, gold, green (www.pentel.com/store/metallic-brush-pen)

Procedure:
1) Paint canvas using colors of choice.  I am not much of a painter so I tend to sponge paint in layers: blue, pearl, a little more blue, maybe some purple until I am happy with the look.  Don't forget to paint the sides along with the top!  Set aside to dry.

 

 

 

 

2) Paint birdhouse cage in bronze or gold.  Set aside to dry.
3) Rubber stamp "to become..." saying on a sheet of computer paper.  For this canvas I wanted the words to be larger, so I scanned it into my computer and enlarged it before printing on a piece of vellum. (PLEASE NOTE: To keep ink from smearing on vellum I rub it first with the Perfect Printing Pouch from www.scraperfect.com
4) Choose a few smaller butterflies from "Love of Butterflies" plate and cut out as shown. 

Rubber stamp on vellum using Color Box ink.  If desired detail with pencils or markers before cutting out individual butterflies.
5) Use "The Ultimate" glue (my favorite!) to attach vellum butterflies to canvas.  Glue painted cage over the butterflies. Glue rubber stamped saying in the upper corner.

6) Mix a small amount of Creative Paper Clay with water, just enough to make a paste.  Position Branch Stencil as shown.  Smear paste over stencil, filling the openings. 

Remove stencil.  Rinse and dry stencil before repositioning.  Repeat process until happy with look.  Let dry.

7) Color in flowers, leaves and stems as desired.  I like Pentel's Metallic Brush Pens because they are so easy to use and give the perfect pop of color. 

Also use the Brush Pens to detail stamped saying.

8) Finally, polymer clay butterflies are glued in place. (PLEASE NOTE: All shown are made by me and vary in size and color [obviously]  Email me at polymercreations4u@msn.com for info)

 

 

Thanks for visiting.  Have fun flying free!