Vintage Butterfly Journal page

I recently completed this spread in my Ranger 6″x6″ kraft journal. The background or base of my page is covered in collage so by the time the page was finished very little of the kraft colour showed through.

When I started this page I didn’t have a plan but I did have patterned papers on my table. I had some pink, yellow and apricot coloured gel print scraps, some yellow-green tissue paper printed with botanical images and as always, some vintage book pages. Some of the gel printed scraps were left over from the cards I featured in a post last week. I glued down the gel print scraps in no particular arrangement then began gluing the green tissue over the top. I have some fancy washi tape called ‘Curators Adverts‘ which is 4″ wide and covered in black-on-cream ads. I tore some pieces of that and added them over the paper collage.

The collaged page sat on my desk for several weeks before I resumed by adding acrylic paint in pale neutral tones including sand and old ivory. The paint began to tie the page together but it was still lacking a focal point. I flipped through the DK Bees, Birds and Butterflies Sticker Anthology and chose a few pale yellow butterflies which I added to the bottom left and top right corner.

You know I love splatter on my cards and journal pages so I added some droplets of dark brown ink, then spritzed it to dilute and move it around the page. The brown ink diluted to burgandy and pink tones which made me go back to the sticker anthology in search of a bolder butterfly. Once I had added it to the page I worked with walnut stain distress ink and Parker writing ink to add scallop patterns by hand and through the beaded mandala stencil.

Final touches included some gold polka dot tissue paper, some sentences cut from book pages and sparkly gold watercolour paint. I really like the warm pinky brown tones of this page with some subtle yellow and green appearing sparingly. The vintage ad for grass seed is also a nice feature, centered but not the main attraction.

Collage is a favourite technique for me when beginning journal pages, how do you like to get started on a fresh new spread?