Beaded butterfly - 1 down and more to do!

Here is my May BJP 2011 butterfly finished. Yes, I'm a tad behind but I will finish 12 pieces. It might take me to the end of 2012 but I will do them all. I'm enjoying this year's project even more than I did in 2010. But with so much going on this year it has put me behind.
This is the Kamehameha butterfly that lives in the Hawaiian islands. I did say he was finished but there is more to do on this piece and my other BJP's.

I will be attaching each beaded piece (8 1/2" x 11") to gallery wrapped canvas when they are all finished. I'm doing both birds and butterfly's.
But as I started my next butterfly, which is called the Colorado Hairstreak, I decided to try something different.
This is the Hairstreak butterfly that I traced out on my fabric then I quilted the butterfly and the background. I was looking at the beads I wanted to use but then I got an idea and out came my paints and...
This was my outcome! I used all different types of paints along with Aloe Vera gel. The Hairstreak butterfly is purple, black and orange so I may have to add some pink to the flower depending on my bead supply! I know the backgrounds appear different colors in each of these but the 1st picture is more true to the color than the picture below. You get the idea though, right!
I got so excited about the look of the paint on this piece that I pulled out my other five BJP's and started painting the leaves on each of them. Four are birds and I quilted each background very similar with leaves and circles. You can see my first bird and background piece here. I'll post pics tomorrow of my progress on painting them but so far I'm really happy with how they look.
And I delivered my daughter's table topper today while she was at work! Surprise, Dawn! You did get it before Christmas - a little late for her birthday but it could have been worse! Pics on that this week are also forthcoming!