Spring in my Step

There's certainly a spring in my step - I'm making the most of my last week in New York City, walking everywhere, exploring and savouring.  Spring is in full swing in this city, and the bright green leaves and blossoms line the streets as well as filling the parks.  So it's high time for some more springtime inspiration from me for Monika's lovely Spring theme at Country View Challenges.

I made these long ago, before my trip to China, and I think I was still on the "backgrounds" kick from the month before, as that's definitely my favourite thing about these two springtime tags!




In another boost to my not-resolution to make sure I use the hoarded stash crowding my craft space, I've finally inked up the gorgeous floral background stamp from the Dots and Floral set.

While I was at it, I tried it two different ways...

First of all, I did some wrinkle-free distress technique using Distress Paints.  I think there's Antique Linen, Mowed Lawn and Broken China on the mat here.











And here are the scrumptious results of repeated smooshing, spritzing, drying and dabbing.

Then on one I tried to stamp the florals in white pigment ink, but had my usual fail as far as that goes (just never enough coverage for my liking, but I'm always hopeful)...











.... so I quickly grabbed some Vanilla White embossing powder and slung that over the still wet ink.

There's more texture than there would have been with just ink, so I'm happy with that.  The florals stamp is for the "negative space", so my blossoms are revealed with the lovely paints underneath.












Then for the second tag I thought I'd go for a version where the negative space was darker than the blossoms, and preferably sky-coloured.

So I used Archival French Ultramarine, and I think the results are really pretty.  And pretty is fine by me in spring... that's what spring should be!













So there were my backgrounds, and I was really happy with them - and slightly reluctant to cover them up very much.

I dug out a couple of wooden hearts, part of a set picked up in the Christmas sale at The Range...













... and grabbed some deliciously delicate pre-cut spring flowers.

Now this is more hoard-clearing, so I can't be certain any longer where I got them from, but they make me happy!













There are also some lace and torn book page fragments from the stash (somehow, it's not getting any emptier in the craft room though).













And lace and twine toppers too...
















And what would springtime be without some butterflies?














I used the Tim Holtz punch to make these, and they're ready to flutter away fearlessly, living in the moment... 














... as recommended by the Small Talk stickers of course!

I hope you like this pair of tags, and that you'll be inspired to come and play along at Country View Challenges.  You've got just a few days left, and we'd love to see your Spring creations.  Happy Crafting all!





It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!
From Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain

I'd like to enter these tags in Anything Spring at the Southern Ridge Trading Company
And the Love To Create Challenge Blog is looking for Anything Creative/Mixed Media as usual

It's Spring!

A new month, another country and, let's hope, a new season.  The forecast for New York as I write this (six weeks early) is -17, so I'm hoping by the time I arrive at the end of March that it will have warmed up a little into Spring.  And I hope you're enjoying blue skies and sunshine at least occasionally wherever you are.  (UPDATE - glad to say that it has warmed up somewhat here in New York, and the sky is frequently blue!)

I'm happy to say that it's definitely Spring at Country View Challenges at least... that's the new theme from our lovely host, Monika.

I've got the usual springtime suspects in action - butterflies and spring flowers - but I've stuck to a neutral colour palette, and I've been having fun playing with some wax to create translucent layers.

It's pretty hard to see the layered effect in the photos, or to appreciate the waxy sheen and texture.  You'll have to take it from me that this one looks really cool in real life!

I started by covering a piece of greyboard with Tim Holtz paper - some lovely large vintage script.  I then put on a layer of wax - just dropping the beads onto the piece and melting them with my heat tool.













I added a couple of spritzes of DecoArt Media Mister in White Shimmer and then heated the wax again - love how this made the inky splatter shift and spread as the wax moved.














I added some more wax and then stamped the butterflies... you can just about see how they hover above the text here, I think.

I also stamped the Paris postmarks in white.  They weren't showing up quite as I'd hoped, so I overstamped in brown and now they have a lovely echo effect.

I added some delicate spring flower woodcuts, and one of my much-loved WordBands tied on with fine twine, and finished the whole thing off with some delicate white spatter.












Do take a moment to hop over to Country View Challenges and see what my immensely talented team-mates have been up to.  There are some wonderful new designers on board and we'll all be offering more inspiration throughout the month, so do check it all out.  We hope you'll be inspired to come and play along with our Spring challenge this month.

Don't tell me not to burn the candle at both ends... tell me where to get more wax!
From the Frank and Ernest cartoon strip by Bob and Tom Thaves

Reflection of a Dragonfly

Hello all.  I'm glad you enjoyed my Flourishing Floral extravaganza over at Calico.  It's nice to let my opulent side out every now and then.  Watch out for more similar lines as I make further inroads on my craft stash through the year!

Today it's time for some more background-focus with my second piece of inspiration for Sue's brilliant Make Your Own Background theme at Country View Challenges.  We're just over half way through, so there's still plenty of time to play along, and here's a pair of tags which may nudge you in to action.

I've been at the wrinkle free distress technique again - nothing I like better than smooshing and sweeping through the inky colours to create endless variations on a splotchy theme!  I almost always have enough ink on the craft mat for at least two tags, and so I often end up working in pairs.  This time I planned ahead sufficiently to have one tag already primed with gesso so that my two tags would end up with even more variation from one another.

It's a colour combination I fell in love with when Wilted Violet arrived in the world last year... so there's some of that, obviously, along with Ground Espresso and Stormy Sky.

The dark tag was the recipient of the first smoosh, then the gesso'd tag went next, then I carried on alternating, dabbing and drying, until all the ink was used up.  Simple!

From there, I just followed my fancy.   The dragonfly always makes me happy, so he's embossed in white over the darker inks...

... and embossed in Bark over the paler background.  Some powder got onto the ink which wasn't quite dry in places, but that's what embracing imperfection is all about.

I added my all-time favourite Idea-ology pieces, the Word Bands, mounted over some torn book page fragments and secured with fine twine as well as a blob or two of glue.













I added some complementary scribbling too - white over the dark, and dark over the light.













A few wooden buttons add an extra dimensional touch, and even a bit of extra texture in some cases.

Crinkle ribbon dyed with the same inky colours tops the tags off...














... tied with the same fine twine as the Word Bands to create another echo within each tag.















The aim was always to try to let those inky splotches take centre stage...















This is a Backgrounds challenge after all!

Very quick, but oh so pleasurable.  I hope they give you pleasure too, and that they'll inspire you to Make Your Own Background too, and come along and join us at Country View Challenges.

As always, there's a prize voucher from Country View Crafts on offer to a randomly drawn winner - but you've got to be in it to win it!







Thanks so much for stopping by today.  This is one of several scheduled posts which will be coming your way - some of them new projects, some of them "Encores" of pieces which made their first appearances elsewhere and are going to be brought in under the Words and Pictures roof over the next few weeks and months.

It's unclear how reliable my internet access is going to be on my travels, but I will be doing my best to keep up with you all when I can.  After all, without access to my craft desk I'll need to get my crafting hit somehow... I'm counting on Craftyblogland!

We cannot see our reflection in running water.  It is only in still water that we can see.
Taoist proverb

I'd like to make this my third and final entry into Stamps and Stencils challenge, Splatter, Spritz and Smoosh - I do enjoy doing all those things - but this one is principally smooshing!

Bottling It Up

Hello all.  Thank you so much for your lovely response to my Wanderlust Travel Journal.  I hope I'll be able to return some visits over the next few days - I've been a bit distracted lately (all with good things, don't worry - just time-consuming).  I'm back today with my second inspiration offering for Brenda's wonderful "Inspired by Bottles" theme at Country View Challenges.

You've only got a few days before the end of the month, but I hope this might nudge you in to action.  Although there are already lots of great projects, it's always the more, the merrier!






I got a job lot of vintage bottles on Ebay for a very good price, and some have already put in an appearance.

I suppose serious collectors might get antsy about altering old glass bottles, but there seem to be a lot of this type around - and I do have others in my collection which I wouldn't dream of altering!












These were actually pretty simple to do... 

First, a couple of coats of gesso to seal and give some tooth.










Then I stamped the gorgeous Graphic 45 vintage label stamp on to tissue paper with Archival ink.  

(The two in this photo are in fact some others I was also playing with, painted with white crackle paint rather than gesso, and both stamped on natural kraft-coloured tissue paper, but in different coloured inks.)












Of the two I've ended up with here, one is stamped on white tissue paper and one onto kraft tissue paper, but both stamped in black ink.  For some reason I can't find the early stages photos of these ones.  














I couldn't decide which I preferred out of the two tissue papers, so decided to go with one of each.















After all, if they've been standing around for decades in different places with differing amounts of sunlight falling on each of them, they'd have faded differently in any case.














I stamped my favourite PaperArtsy "birds in the grass" along the foot of the bottles.  It just makes me happy!












After that, I applied DecoArt Crackle Glaze in places, just using my fingers mostly.















And once that had crackled nicely, I used various Distress Inks and DecoArt paints to highlight the crackles.













A couple of Idea-ology Muse Tokens are attached with rusty wire...















... wound around the necks of the bottles.













I thought about putting a coat of Ultra Matte Varnish over the top, but the crackle is showing no signs of going anywhere, and I decided I rather liked the gleam of the glaze in the sunlight.













And I really love that embossed lettering along the sides of the bottles too - so glad it has plenty of exposure despite all the ageing. 













And that's pretty much your lot for today.








I hope you like my "antique" bottles, and I hope you'll be "Inspired by Bottles" and come and play along with us at Country View Challenges.

As always, there's a prize voucher on offer from Country View Crafts, and the honour of being one of our Top Three or our Special Mention for the month.  Hope to see you there!

He who pours water hastily into a bottle spills more than goes in.
Spanish Proverb