Provincial butterfly cottage

So this is the gift I made my mum for Mother's day. I utilised the techniques Jennifer McGuire 'taught' me via her Thinking Inking videos on youtube (for Two Peas in a Bucket)...I found her vids SOO inspiring, I crafted every night till midnight before dragging my heavy eye-lidded self back to bed to feed Charlotte a bottle.

I suddenly had the idea for this Abandoned French Provincial cottage for my mum and it really didn't take very long for me to achieve the look I was after. I painted the whole cottage with white 'student' paint (twice) and then with Crackle Paint in varying thicknesses over the walls, giving the house a really old, abandoned/provincial feel to it. I hated Crackle Paint the last time I used it (about 2 years ago) ...but my gosh I'm in LURVE now...can't wait for tomorrow when I can head to my local scrapbooking shop and buy some more!!! I left the roof and 'floor' around the cottage white to achieve a snowy effect.

If I'd tried to make this even 2 months ago, I would've over-thought it and really messed it up with my need for neatness, clean lines and matching matching matching...I'm letting go!!! As Julie Fei-Fan Balzer said, I'm going to revel in the imperfections...and I'm so excited that this project worked so well...I might have to make one of my own!

I really love the end result and mum did too!! (Yes I gave it to her early :))...now, if only I could actually find a real-life version of this then I'll be happy!!

Hope you enjoyed!!

Lx



Materials Used: White Acrylic "student" Paint (all over cottage), Tim Holtz Crackle Paint in Frayed Burlap, various Tim Holtz distress inks, Perfect Pearls, Wooden House 'puzzle'/model (from "The Reject Shop"!!), manilla folders cut into butterfly shapes using Cuttlebug die & Martha Stewart craft punch.