Magical Butterflies Art Journal Page
Hi friends! Please join me in a warm welcome back to special guest Anna-Karin Evaldsson with this gorgeous Butterfly Burlap project! Be sure to scroll through for lots of step by step still shots and enjoy!
Hi everyone! I am so happy to be here today with a fun and easy tutorial. Spring has arrived in full and I particularly like the shades of green that are now appearing everywhere and the long days. Butterflies are always fun to include in a project and especially fun to color. Today, I wanted to use some pretty large butterflies so that they would really be the focus of my page. Even though I made an art journal page, the techniques work on any kind of project: cardmaking, scrapbooking, tags etc.
Dina Wakley’s Media Journal is a favorite of mine since it contains four different, interesting surfaces: cotton-rag watercolor paper, canvas, kraft paper, and burlap. Recently, someone asked me about the burlap pages and how they can be used, which gave me the idea to work on one of the burlap pages in this tutorial. It gives really great texture and is wonderful for layering. The butterflies were colored with Dina’s Scribble Sticks. Let’s start.
1. I wanted more variation in the background and painted most of the burlap page with gesso, except for around the edges. You need to place a thick piece of paper, or a non-stick mat underneath, otherwise the gesso will seep through to the next page.
2. The butterflies were stamped with Archival Jet Black ink on Dina’s Cotton Watercolor paper, which has almost a fabric feel to it. It is such a joy to work on.
3. Color the butterflies roughly with Scribble Sticks. I used sticks from Set 1 and Set 2.
4. Use a paint brush and clean water to dissolve the Scribble Sticks and turn them into watercolor. If you want darker color in some areas, pick the pigment up with the paintbrush directly from the tip of the Scribble Stick.
5. When the butterflies were dry, I went over them with a black pen, which makes the lines stand out more clearly. Here you can see the difference between the butterfly to the left and the one to the right.
6. Emboss the sentiment with white embossing powder and stamp the SSS Circle Doodle Background around it. Don’t aim for perfection and let some of the stray powder remain.
7. Turn the vellum around and add some color to it. Don’t worry about if it looks rough, it won’t show when you turn the vellum around again.
8. Die cut the SSS Stitching Butterflies from the Cotton Watercolor paper.
9. Color them with the Scribble Sticks, by picking the color up with a paintbrush directly from the Scribble Stick.
10. It is a little tricky, but you can stitch on the page with a sewing machine. Depending on your machine, you might not reach quite all the way. I couldn’t sew down the left-hand side of the vellum.
11. Finally, I added some doodled dots on and after the butterflies and scribbled a border around the vellum panel.
12. I used Tim Holtz Small Talk sentiments, and draw a rough border around them.
13. You can color these butterflies with so many different color combinations, and it is fun to sometimes try ones that you might not use so often.
14. I never get tired of the look of white embossing on vellum. The burlap gives a subtle texture in the background, which you can see here.
15. These Stitched Butterflies are so cute and the stitched elements add such a nice extra touch.
16. I hope you enjoyed this project and that it inspired you to use burlap as a background and to do some fun Scribble Stick watercoloring. You can use the same techniques to color many other types of images. It also looks great on flowers, for example.
Thank you so much for looking!
Happy crafting!
Anna-Karin
SUPPLIES:
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Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks to Anna-Karin for being our guest!
Fun project.
Very nice. Love those butterflies. They are magical!
Wow! Gorgeous project!!!
Butterflies are perfect for any spring project, and these are colored so very beautiful.
WOWZERS, double WOWZERS! THIS IS AWESOME!
This is so pretty!
Wow, what a fun project! And so very beautiful. Love the sentiments, too. Love the vellum & burlap.
Nice job. Love seeing how you did this. Looks like something fun to try.
So pretty.
Great job–I have this art journal, wish I had more time to work in it. I love the butterflies, this page is so pretty!
Beautiful butterflies!
this is such a pretty project – thanks for the ideas:)
What an interesting card. I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten into burlap, but I like how this turned out. I particularly like the embossed vellum piece. Also, I’ve never seen scribble sticks before, but those created a really fun look too. Thanks for sharing with us!
(PS I assume you meant to put a Blog Candy Alert instead of Reed’s email up there, if you want to change that.)
Wow! SO beautiful! Perfectly captures the spirit of spring!
OH MY… Your butterfly burlap project is just so beautiful!!!!
What a gorgeous project, I love all of the colorful butterflies!
very pretty,love all the layers
Such a unique, inspiring and beautiful project!
I love the way you colored the butterflies. SO pretty.
Great journal page. Love the design, colors and sentiments! Thanks for sharing !
I like all things Butterflies. Your creation is wonderful. Like the use of the burlap.
Melissa
“Sunshine HoneyBee”
delightful!
Beautiful work and great techniques. I find the phrases very meaningful, too!
Fun journal page! Love the burlap and vellum combination and the scribbling of color.
Beautiful project! Loved seeing new product I had never seen and all the tips and tricks such as the micron pen outline after you color!
I love this! Thanks for sharing.
How delightful this
work is! Love all
the layers and
elements on it.
Carla from Utah
What a gorgeous page! LOVE those butterflies ♥
Pretty burlap panel.
Gorgeous!!
Have a great day!
Marilyn❤️
Beautiful butterflies! :) Love how you pulled this project together!
Awesome journal page! Love the butterflies and thanks for showing how to use the burlap page.
Such a pretty project! Thank you for sharing your project!
WOW Anna-Karin, what a fabulous page. Thanks for the great tutorial, you always share such great tips! These butterflies are beautiful and the burlap really adds interest. Well done!
Beautiful page…love the burlap. Fantastic instructions…thank you!
What an awesome project. Love the pretty colors.
Thanks for sharing,
Wow what a gorgeous project!!!
Really love the stunning texture on this! Beautiful!
Gorgeous butterflies and coloring! I love the texture of the burlap and the little details you added! Fabulous! Thanks for the tips and ideas!!
This is really neat. I love seeing how you used the burlap page in the book. I love the combination of all the different mediums you used.
I am so in love with this project.
this is stunning, thanks for sharing the process!!!
Magical page.
I love butterflies and your are
beautiful. they have so many
wonderful colors and dimension.
thanks for sharing
txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com
Such talent to know how all those layers would come together to make such a beautiful artwork! Thanks for sharing.
OOOOH this is so beautiful, I love the colours and the texture, and – as usual, I am a total sucker for butterflies :-)
pretty, pretty. I like the burlap background.
Beautiful! I love the partial coloring on the background stamp.
Beautiful butterflies :)
What a fantastic creation !!
Such a lovely piece! The butterflies are coloured with such beautiful colour combinations and I really like the Scribble Circles embossed on the vellum!