"The butterfly effect" by Susan Johannes

Wowsers, this one was so much fun!!  I have been meaning to do a canvas using Beeswax and crayons ever since I saw Marieke Broekman's on 2 Peas some months ago.  Little did I realise that this technique has been in stamping circles for years!!  Thank you Marieke and Jeni O'Connor for inspiring me to use it.

So, I started with a blank canvas.

And of course some Buzz and Bloom chipboard.  I have used the Tubby Junior Alphabet letters for the word butterfly and the large Nautilus Scroll for my actual butterfly.  I stuck the photo down using double-sided tape and then went to town using the Beeswax.

Beeswax can be a tricky thing to work with in that it cools and hardens so quickly so it makes it hard to paint with it.  To overcome this you can either use a heat gun and have that in one hand as you paint or do what I have done with an electric pan.  I basically put some shavings from a big block of Beeswax in a pie tin (disposable)  plus some of my kids old crayons (depending on the colour you want). 

I put a little water in the pan first and then turned it on high so that the water would simmer.  Don't use too much water as you don't want it bubbling into your Beeswax.  I then put the pie tin in the pan and the Beeswax and crayon shavings melted straight away.  I mixed them together with a cotton bud and actually used that to paint with too.  If you use a brush be prepared to then use that brush for only Beeswax in the future as it's too hard to get off the brush after.  Same goes with directly in a pan or saucepan.  So, now came the painting.  I just went to town straight onto the photo.  It didn't take long at all.  I actually did the blue first and then to give a dreamy/cloudy sort of look I then did Beeswax with white crayon.  Here is the result.

It looks so texturised and it smells so yummy.  I just love this technique.  It's not even that messy (or maybe I'm just used to mess)!!  LOL.  I then painted the tubby letters and the flourish with paint and added the dimensional magic to the top when the paint was dry.  I adhered these using craft glue.  The sun is made out of felt and was attached using craft glue.

Here is the end result.  I hope you like it!!