Butterfly Art Journal Page

I often start with one idea and it morfs itself into another. That happens to me more often than not. I was really inspired by the challenge over at Our Creative Corner - "Party Like It's Mardi Gras." I just love the colors and the mardi Gras masks and I really intended for this page to be more "Mardi Gras-ish" but when I started the page I had one idea and it ended up totally different. Sometimes I feel I can't plan a page at all, it always takes on a life of it's own. This page has been in the works since the challenge was posted on Feb. 9th. I kept playing with the Gelli Plate and textures and colors and I kept sitting it aside and working on something different.  (mostly because I'm ADD, Seriously)
I knew I wanted to use the beautiful purple and gold that was in the mask picture posted on the front page of Our Creative Corner. I wanted to add a little green too but it never came to be that way. 
This page began with a layer of gold paint and the gelli plate. I just made some swirls and random squiggles in the gold paint and pressed my page into it. Then I knew I wanted purple, so I added some purple to the gelli plate and pressed in some tissue and crumpled up paper and some bubble wrap to make some cool textures and then I pressed my page into that. It looked pretty cool and the gold paint has some really cool shimmer to it. Once that was done, I set it aside.
I went to Michael's store yesterday (because I'm a craft supply hoarder LOL) and found this really awesome butterfly stencil. I think they are new for Michael's,  I've never seen it before.  I used some paint on the gelli plate and made an entirely different page and then I thought, hmm, wonder what the leftover paint on the stencil would look like on my Mardi Gras page.... so I pressed the remaining paint stuck to the stencil onto the page. It was this really cool ghost butterfly but it sort of blended into the background and I wanted it to pop and be brighter. I used my handy dandy pit pen to outline the butterfly with black and also color in some of the design inside as well. 
My friend Deanna had posted some really awesome quotes on her blog Here the other day and I knew I wanted to use those somehow in a journal page so I decided to write some of my favorites on my page around my butterfly. I also added a couple of my favorite sayings.

I didn't like the fine line edge that my pit pen left around my butterfly so I used some permanent oil pastels to go around the lines in the butterfly and smeared them with my finger, that really made it pop, I just love it and this was only my second time using the pastels.  I really love the soft look it gave the butterfly. I also went ahead and edged my page with the pastel as well, just to give it a border and bring it all together.

After the "opps" I did with the ATCs earlier today (posted below) this is a relief for me. I just love this page so much and I am so happy that Our Creative Corner has this challenge going. Otherwise I may not have ever done this page.