Book Mouse, Fill Your Heart With Wonder

"Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high.." Anytime I think of butterflies I think of books and rainbows. So, this little mouse is going to fill his heart and his mind with wonder, by reading.

This little mouse went together pretty fast from concept to completion. Both the little mouse and the butterfly are watercoloured with Distress Ink.

Supplies

InLinkz.com

Putting It Together

I live in BC, Canada, not very far from the Washington border, so I do a lot of online shopping in the US and, to avoid high shipping costs, have it delivered to a mail agent by the border in Washington. I usually let a few packages accumulate (the mail agent holds them) before crossing the border to pick them up. So... shortly after I picked up this cutie-patootie in one of my orders, I read the challenge for House-Mouse and Friends is "Butterflies". Ooooo! Butterfly + Books in my mind always leads to The lovely PBS show about books, Reading Rainbow.

I started with a butterfly and the mouse with his lovely stack of books. I was thinking abotu watercolour for the butterfly and Chameleon pans for the mouse so I stamped them on watercolour paper for the butterfly and light sepia ink on X-press It for the mouse. I was intending to try a line-less colouring on the mouse.

I used these images to dry fit some ideas, rainbow background, a sentiment, tags, and the placement of the figures. Books are magical and can fill the heart with wonder so this sentiment was a perfect fit. It also fit perfectly on the tag I wanted to use.

In the dry fitting, I thought the profile butterfly was a bit flat for what I wanted on this project. I also like butterflies to be a little bit ethereal. I stamped a different butterfly on to gold translucent paper with Versamark and heat embossed it with a sparkle black powder. I then watercolour painted the butterfly with Distress inks, Broken China, Mowed Grass, and Peacock Feathers. I also painted the underside as well as the top.

I fussy cut the butterfly and shaped his wings.

I painted the mouse, too and then fussy cut him. I dry fit the layout again.

I used a star punch to make holes in the tags and added hemp cord to them. I put the mouse into place and... didn't like the look of the mouse. He didn't match, the colours were wrong, too muted, and he looked oddly simian because his shading was too light. But... it was approaching midnight and I should be trying to go to bed at 11. I left it to the next day.

I took off the mouse, re-stamped him with darker ink on watercolour paper and painted his books with much more bold colours. I also got another loose stack of books, with a pen, from Becky Bubbles to add to the scene.

 Lots of Distress Ink colours in the mouse, books, and pen:

• Spiced Marmelade
• Spun Sugar
• Scattered Straw
• Barn Door
• Broken China
• Victorian Velvet
• Mowed Lawn
• Seedless Preserves
• Antique Linen
• Vintage Photo
• Walnut Stain
• Salty Ocean
• Black Soot

What I Learned

• If at first you don't succeed, plan a do-over. 
• Waterbrushes and Distress Ink are amazing.
• I need more Distress Ink minis and markers (always *laugh*) - currently I have mini sets 1-6 and Cluttered Cellar set of markers. 
• I have more online orders in my future *impish grin* (you should see my wishlists!)

Challenges

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps blog 11 June Saturday challenge: Anything Goes
House-Mouse and Friends blog 6 June Monday challenge #221: Butterflies

 

 

 

 

Reading Rainbow!