I'm travelling into a new way of working, a new country, a new language, and a new hobby which I'm passionate about. Come with me for some of the journey...

Wednesday 20 November 2013

A Simple Gift

Hello everyone!  First of all, thank you so much for your amazing feedback for the last couple of posts... Craftyblogland is so full of lovely, generous people.

Next, as some sort of recompense, I offer you the joys of an Artistic Outpost bloghop, with inspiration on offer from my fabulous team-mates at AO.  It's a Designer's Choice theme, so you'll get to see them let off the leash... well worth a moment of your time, I promise you!

So here's the full itinerary:


Alison Bomber, Terry Horrall, Kate Yetter

And if you're already en route, then here, without more ado, is my contribution.








Well, with Designer's Choice, the chances were that blue and green might feature...















You could probably have put money on either Generation Redux or Think and Wonder stamps putting in an appearance - you'd have won on the former (though I started out planning on using the latter).













What were the odds on hedgerow flowers putting in an appearance? These little tiny ones are also from the Generation Redux plate.












And do I see any takers for crackle technique?  Fresco Crackle Glaze, come on down!

Yup, well, after all the boundary pushing of the last couple of posts, I needed a return to normal service...












It's all done on one of the lovely papier mâché hanging boards, so I was also able to follow my heart and carry on over the edges with all my favourite things.










I started with book pages, white-washing and crackle glaze, and then started adding the stamping in Olive and Fern Archival inks.

















The inky effects are courtesy of Distress Stains over the whitewashed background.















I also added one of my new favourites.  The vine from the Hayride plate seemed to fit right in.













Ooh, I nearly forgot stencilling with texture paste - how is that possible?  

I used my lovely Magenta stencil to add these little butterflies, and tinted them using Distress Inks.












I added a wash of pearly shimmer using Liquid Pearl diluted with water.  A bit smudgy but, hey, I'm embracing imperfection!













(There are some round the side too, of course.)














The quote is from another favourite, the Kudzu Kafe set.












And one brand new thing (well, two really) to add to all these old favourites...

I got these lovely wooden laser cut hedgerow flowers from a Polish online store, the UHK Gallery - incredibly reasonably priced, lots of lovely shapes, beautiful quality, and a pretty good postage rate too. 














(Beware, they're listed as "chipboards" according to the Google translation!)












I used Distress Inks to stain them in blues and greens - other shades got added once I started inking the whole piece later.














Then I used Liquid Pearl to create the little flower heads on each stem.  I love the dimension, but it's quite a long drying time - I'm not a fan of waiting around!












I also used an Inkessentials white pen to create blossoms on the main image to echo my pearly ones.












And that's pretty much your lot for today here at Words and Pictures but, as I say, there's lots more amazing inspiration up for grabs if you hop round to the rest of the team.  

If you get lost along the way, you'll find all the hop details here at the Artistic Outpost blog.  Hope you have a wonderful time!

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Albert Einstein

63 comments:

Shilpa Nagaonkar said...

love that blue and green background with crackle effect!
adorable project, Alison!

Inkypinkycraft said...

hen I saw the pictures , I knew this was yours ...love how you use these gorgeous colours and all the details.x back blogging now , hugs trace x

dyeandpigment said...

Whoa, this is wonderful. One of my fav combos of color and so much texture and form. Love it.

Nan G said...

Lovely make! Love those weedy flowers.

chrissie said...

A wonderful creation that has Alison all over. Love the addition on the ends of the weeds, it drew me straight into the piece

Thank you for taking time in your very busy life to comment on my blog x

Have a great day

Love Chrissie x

froebelsternchen said...

a wonderful gift Alison....

Shirley said...

Another stunner Alison and wahoo with one of my fave stamp sets. Loads and loads to see as usual and I am enjoying every minute of the looking. Thank you sweets for such an inspiring piece.

Crafty hugs from Shirl x x

toni said...

You've created (another!) beautiful wall hanging . Full of your fabulous signature colours and details, those die cuts are forge pus I love the little pearly ends. I think that company are going to be very busy ! Love this x

toni said...

Just read my comment again thanks to apple I have new words for gorgeous 'forge pus' weird

Clare Lloyd said...

loving this project.

Deborah said...

Love how the laser cuts echo the flower head in the stamped image. Stunning!

Astrid Maclean said...

Great make Alison, love all the crackle and stain effects and the little pearly bits on the chippies is a great touch!

Almo said...

Hi Alison, I dont care how many blue green projects you make they are my favourites colours too and I love to see you works with them. I can see sales in these little wooden flowers going up they are really nice. Love the little touch of the inkessentials pen to highlight the lower blossoms. Hugs Mo x

Anonymous said...

Beautiful piece Alison, love the colours and the wooden flowers are gorgeous ! Sue C x

Annie said...

Stunning tag Alison x love the colours and gorgeous stencil. Those stems are perfect for your project...at first I thought they were diecut and I was looking for the details. TFS

Best wishes
Annie x

Jennie Atkinson said...

Beautiful - just beautiful! I love love those colours and the layers are just fabulous. Off to check out those die cuts, they look stunning too. I never tire of looking at your work - always so fresh and inspiring x

Claudia N. said...

LOVE it when you play with your favourite things, Alison!

A beautiful, beautiful wall hanging indeed!

Hugs,
Claudia x

Cestina said...

I love how she is now hanging on one of the big plants in your craftroom. She looks made for it!
xx

rachel said...

this is just fabulous and thanks for the step by step photos - fabulous to see how you've built it all up. A wonderful piece x

Marci said...

The blue greeny colors are some of my favorites that you do. This is a beauty. I love how the little butterflies go up and fade into the little vine. I like what you call hedgerow flowers, also the wooden ones. Love this one!

Linda Coughlin, the funkie junkie said...

Oh wow, this is just too beautiful, Alison! Love the colors and all that wonderful texture you have built up over the layers. Really love the butterflies. The hedgerow laser cuts made me smile - they are so you and just fantastic. Terrific make, as always!

Hugs,
Liinda

Unknown said...

This is beautiful, love the colour blending. A fab project! Chris xxx

Redanne said...

Love it when you use blues and greens and love this gorgeous hanging, the chipboard embellishments are quite stunning. Love this! Hugs, Anne x

Kate Yetter said...

I am loving those perfectly blended inks in the background. The butterflies up the side are a lovely touch along side the hedgerow. Gorgeous tag!
Kate

cathylynn said...

Great combination of color and texture. Only you can make weeds beautiful! Great job!
Hugs, Cathy-Lynn

Meggymay said...

Gorgeous hanging, as always love your colours and details.
Yvonne

Terry said...

Breathing taking, Alison! Love all that texture and the butterfly stencil is now on my list! Beautiful use of colors and AO stamps. Love this!

Dorthe said...

Alison, it is gorgeous,
love the nature stamps you used,-and the pearls on the 3-d flowers...ofcourse the colours are just beautiful, what a stunning piece.
Dorthe,xo

sam21ski said...

This is stunning, love the colours and those chipboard pieces are fabulous

Sam xx

Monique said...

This is so beautiful, I love it. Those colours are so gorgeous with the fragility of the stamped flowers, amazing!
xx Monique

Dagmar said...

wow - a wonderful creation - i love all the Details!!!

May said...

O my word.... Gorgeous work Alison....the background is fantastic... I adore the stamping & colours...the flowers are simply beautiful... Hugs May x x x

Netty said...

Loving your beautiful hanging, great background and stamping and love the beautiful woodland flowers, Annette x

Helen said...

you rock the blue/green combination and I love it too - those chipboard pieces are fabulous.

Lisa Somerville said...

Stunning canvas Alison! Love your blue/green color and fabulous details!

Mrs.B said...

Gorgeous canvas, love all the textures abnd beautiful colours - always think this is your signature style.
Avril xx

Brenda Brown said...

I can just see you wonderfully calm and serene when making this beautiful work of art. Just what you needed to do methinks. I love it.
hugs {brenda} x0x

Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries said...

Great details on this creative and gorgeous coloured tag Alison...and I'm fond of that quote

Cocofolies said...

I'd loved entering your blog hop as there are a number of great ladies in it that I really love ! But Christmas is around the corner now, and I really miss time for that in this moment unfortunately !...:( I'm just trying to keep time to follow my favourite blogs and best crafty friends, that's means already a lot.. Well Alison, your canvas in papier maché is really wonderful...!! even if - hahaha - I see that the online shop that has provided you this beautiful chipboards is a bit concurrent with Tando Rofl! :) Hugs, Coco xx

Unknown said...

Another amazing piece of art. And in some of my favourite colours too! LOVE!

Evelyn Walter said...

Again a great work - I love your projects!! Allways a pleasure to come to your blog and see what pretty things you´ve done. Thank you, Alison!

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Fabulous hanging Alison, the colours are one of my favourite palettes and you have used it beautifully here. Love the background stamping, texture and focal image. Those umbelliferous embellishments are amazing. Tracy x

Hettie said...

Absolutely beautiful Alison. I just love how you have pulled all the elements together. Very clever and beautiful.
Hugs
xx

Kathy Eddy said...

Great canvas with sooo many wonderful details!

Suzanne C said...

Lovely! The texture with the butterflies and the die cut flowers over the sweet image is fabulous!

Anonymous said...

So beautiful! I love the textures & of course, the colours are gorgeous.

maria's knutselplezier said...

What an amazing project ,dear Alison, I really , really love this , great colours , great structure , beautiful stamp use, great deatails!! I am so in love with the stamp of the girl stamp!! really gorgeous Artwork!!!

Greetings
Maria

Unknown said...

Je trouve encore cette création très jolie J'aime beaucoup tes choix de couleurs, de tampons et de textures. Bises

Silvia(Barnie) said...

Another wonderful creation in great colors and with fantastic texture.

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wow! wow! wow! (to quote Kylie!) this is just gorgeous - anything but simple but simply fabulous of course! Chrisxx

craftytrog said...

Absolutely beautiful & very 'you' Alison! xxx

Kasia said...

Wow! So beautiful! Love the colors and these cute fowers :)

Sue said...

This is so pretty Alison, I love those little stencilled butterflies xx

Sue Lelli said...

This is absolutely FANTASTIC! LOVE so many things but most of all the colors, the crackle, the way you spilled over onto the sides, and those hedgerow flowers that matched your image so well! All I can say is WOW!

Paper Profusion said...

This is so beautifully calming Alison. Love that you have gone back to your roots so to speak. Congratulations on your very well deserved win at SSS too. Hope you are managing to catch up with yourself. Happy Weekend. Nicola x

Lucy Edmondson said...

This is so beautiful, Alison, I love the olive and pale blue together; perfect!

Lucy x

maj. said...

This is absolutely beautiful creation, Alison!!!

Julie Lee said...

Exquisitely beautiful and radiating the joy of creating. Those little butterflies are great: I love the way they carry on over the edge. Sorry I'm really late commenting on this beautiful creation. Life is busy, but I'm so glad I made time to stop by and see this. Julie Ann xx

Maggie said...

Fabulous Alison love the colour combo and as always the textures and layers you manage to create I Love it!!

MaggieH

Jools Robertson said...

So pretty, the colours are gorgeous
The border details with butterflies and grasses is so pretty and those laser cuts with the pearls is stunning

Hugs

Jools x

Dianne said...

Hello Miss Butterfly,I have had a real busy week so just finally getting a chance to visit. As I scrolled down I am in a frenzy now :O), alllllll of my favorite things you have used, those wooden hedgerow flowers are to die for, and then you made them look FANTASTIC, the hedgerows all over, love the flowers on them, amazing really, the butterflies, gorgeous, watching you create with your heart is MAGIC!!!!, thanks for sharing it all...

Margaret said...

Gorgeous! Your hedgerow flowers are absolutely wonderful on this!

Kezzy said...

Wow wow wow Alison this is truly stunning, I love all the depth and layers and the background is gorgeous, I love the distress over the whitewash, it gives a beautiful soft blues and greens. Those butterflies are super cute and I love the chipboard flower I have never seen one like that but it is a stunner. Love it love it, love it lol. I wish I could do greens and blues like you lol. Hugs :-) kezzy xxx