Flower Girls

Hello all, and welcome to another Artistic Outpost bloghop.  The team have been working with the theme(s) Flowers or Women... well, I have some girls rather than women, but there are certainly flowers, so that should be okay!

I hope you'll have time to hop round and see the amazing work from my fellow teammates - I'm so proud to work alongside these wonderful artists.  Here's the full list:

Gerrie, Lisa, Suzanne, Tracy, Linda, Alison, Terry, Kate

But since you're here, here's mine!

My piece is created on a 7 x 5 inch canvas board (canvas on a thin, hard board; great for stamping on, and pretty cheap to buy!).



I love the trio of girls from the Paperboy set.  They've had a Hard-Knock Life if ever anyone did,
and the strength they've built to survive is so evident in their faces.

But since our theme was flowers, I thought I'd see whether it was possible to give them a softer, sweeter setting, and let them have a rest from their hard life for a while.




Well, it didn't really work out quite as planned (pink and pretty, lovely papers, delicate tinting of the image), and there were plenty of discards along the way.


But eventually the girls and I came to a compromise.

They kept their strong, unadorned Coffee Archival presence, and I got to add lots of  texture and vintage style embellishing around them.  And of course we ended up ditching the pink in favour of Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs!

I like the background I ended up with: lovely painty texture against the canvas...









... some shabby Harlequin texture paste with added gesso and gilding...

... partial stampings of the floral flourish from the Serenity set ...


... and some subtle crackle for extra definition around the edges.










The girls are in the centre of one of Tim Holtz's embossed frames, trimmed down.

And the sentiment calls into question that old nursery rhyme which consigns girls to the rather limited "all things nice" category - better a whole lot of spice than too much sugar I believe.





I've added ephemera in the form of the vintage label from the Secretary Pool set, and the Postcard stamp from the Ephemera Backgrounds.  Love how the AO stamps mix and match so deliciously!

There's a genuinely old lace doily in amongst the lacy die-cuts, adding character in a lovely way.






My flowers got some inking with Gathered Twigs DI and a good coat of gesso for a distressed shabby look.

I mounted the larger flowers on some filigree metal pieces, which got a little rub of Treasure Gold White Fire for extra oomph.


There's plenty more of it in action around the place adding that hint of gilded, faded glamour.









As you can see, the sun came out in all its glory for these photos - temperatures over 20 degrees, but due to plunge back down to 8 by the weekend... that's just taunting us, I think!

Hope your week is going wonderfully, and that you've time in it for a bit of hopping round to my amazing Artistic Outpost teammates.  All the hop details are here should you lose your way, and they'd love to see you.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon!




What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Slugs and snails
And puppy-dogs' tails,
That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And all things nice,
That's what little girls are made of.
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