Dreamer - Flying Unicorn KOM

How's your October going?  It's been super busy already here, but the sun is shining and I can still wear a T-shirt during the day, so all-in-all I can't complain.

It is my turn to provide an inspirational project on the Flying Unicorn Forums today, and I recently completed another layout with the gorgeous October kit of the month.  Along with more decorative papers, this kit contained a number of lovely background papers with a more subdued pattern, perfect for customizing. Inspired by Lynne's Stencil Me Different challenge I sat down with several new Prima stencils I'd picked up and the Crate Paper DIY Shop Artistry paper from the KOM and set about making a custom background. And here is what I came up with.

I don't know about you, but I still find something soothing in playing with watercolor pencils.  I started with the butterflies, tracing darker lines for the outside and adding subtle shading about halfway into each one, then went over the insides with water and a paintbrush. Next I went in and added the bricks, again making a darker line and adding shading.

I then added some moss to my bricks with Shimmerz Texturez in Artie-Choked using a third stencil.  I wanted to really bring the butterflies to the foreground, so I covered each in a thick coat of Gloss Gel, making sure to leave ridges and valleys for added texture.

The vines are a Dylusions stamp, again colored with watercolor pencils.  Some stamping with a Prima stamp helped to incorporate them into the background and tone down the bright green.

I finished it all off with flowers, adhesive canvas leaves, a corrugated butterfly and a metal frame, all from this month's kit and add-ons.

The picture of my eldest at 2 just seemed perfect for the fairytale garden I created, and the top of the wall created a natural place for my title to rest.

Supplies Used:

From the Kit and Add-Ons:
- Crate Paper DIY Shop Artistry, Measurements, Design, Borders
- Kaisercraft Take Note: Perforated sheet
- Jillibean Soup corrugated butterfly
- Maya Road Vintage Findings metal frame
- Studio Calico Mistables leaves
- Prima Flowers: Lifetime Fabric Flowers, Sherwood Rose Truffle, Lyric Mini Roses

- Prima Script stamp
- Gloss Gel
- Prima Masks: Butterflies 12x12, Crackle 6x6, Stones 6x6
- Prima Chalk Edgers: Turquoise Stone, Blossom Tree, Branch Bark, Dark Rust
- Shimmerz Texturez Artie-Choked
- Royal Langnickel Watercolor Pencils
- Dylusions Leaf Stamp
- Memento Tuxedo Black
- 13 Arts Water Inks & Pearl Mists (on canvas leaves)
- Gesso

Thank you for stopping by today.  In the spirit of Canadian Thanksgiving which is coming up on Monday I wanted to take the chance to thank you all for your continued friendship and support - I feel truly blessed.