Wings to Fly!

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven! Over on the PA blog, PaperArtsy fans have been showing how talented they are and creating some amazing projects for the #3up Challenge here. Each night three volunteers are selected to work with beautiful, new PaperArtsy products. Please pop across because the standard has been very, very high: you will not be disappointed! I've loved the artists' work with all the new products, but the other day my good friend, Lucy gave me the gift of some of the new Chatsworth papers. They are fabulous to work with, so if you're not sure what to give a crafty friend you couldn't go far wrong with these. Because I've been a GD this semester, I've not joined in the PA challenges lately, so I really wanted to get involved again and I decided to create something using Chatsworth! It's nothing like Gail's Origami style 'make', but she did inspire the theme of flight and I did use PA paper as part of it! Here it is - my Shabby Chic butterfly!

My colour scheme is partly inspired by Gail and partly by that of my kitchen. Ah, don't get me started on that one! Last June a friend who fits kitchens started to work on ours. Soon it will be a year, and we have three out of the planned sixteen cupboards; no work surfaces; a sink that desperately needs replacing; no tiling and walls that need plastering! Something has gone a bit wrong in our dear friend's life maybe or events just keep overtaking him; but he doesn't seem able to tell us about it! We soldier on with what we have, assurances - sometimes - that more will be done, and we can dream! I have now placed my butterfly over the door to the kitchen and it reminds me of how lovely it will all be when it's finished!

 On a previous blog I told how a demonstrator at Ally Pally taught us to use pretty papers on MDF shapes. I was eager to try this technique again and I had a pack of MDF butterfly shapes. I cut out some Chatsworth, stuck my butterfly face down, making sure my glue - matte multi-medium this time, although in the demo it was PVA - went to the very edge of the shape. I then gave the butterfly a wiggle to dispel air bubbles and trimmed around it roughly before sanding down the edges thoroughly, working in strong downward strokes.

I used some old sand-paper sheets from Mr Magpie's tool cupboard because I needed to be able to get into those fiddly little corners and make everything smooth. Chatsworth is so beautiful, it doesn't exactly need embellishment; but I did want - like Craftyfield - to see how it would look with stamping and Frescos applied.

The butterfly is edged with Hey Pesto Fresco Finish and I used some Sage, watered down in the centre and touches of Chartreuse here and there. I then used the LPC028 script stamp without a block and stamped randomly with Sage Fresco and Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil, Archival ink.

 I flipped the paper over and stamped this sentiment from Ink and the Dog Wings Plate 1 in Potting Soil, embossing it with clear EP. The metal plate is from a pack I bought from the MDF Man and rusted with rusting powder. I used tiny pearls at each corner.

The butterfly is to hang above the door so it can be seen on both sides. On this side I coloured the MDF with Guacamole, Sage, Chartreuse and Hey Pesto and did a little more stamping with LPC028. I again stamped my sentiment on the reverse side of the Chatsworth, but attached it to the centre of a half cotton reel that I bought from PA at Ally Pally - I love these! A little cream hemp cord keeps the butterfly in flight, hovering above our half-finished kitchen with a message of hope for the future! Well, our friend has informed us he is now working on the fourth cupboard door! I should like to enter my butterfly for the PaperArtsy challenge this week. Thank you so much for dropping by. And some day, when the kitchen is completed you're all invited over for tea and home-made cake! If you can't make it, I promise to post pictures on the blog!!! Have  a great weekend and - if you're playing along with the draw - good luck!