Wonderful Journey

Hello all and welcome all... I'm sorry I've not been hopping around with my usual tireless energy recently - I hope to do some catching up over the next few days.


For now, though, I'm here - slightly late - to share the news that there's a new challenge just begun over at eclectic Paperie.  


It's another of our eteam Picks and our hostess, the fabulous Sherry Cheever, has selected Flowers as the theme... that's right: stamped, dimensional, die-cut, it's entirely up to you - just include some Flowers and you're good to go (all the challenge details are here in case you want the small print)!


Well, it's eP, and it's flowers - you can probably guess that I'm going to head for my favourite Unity Donna Downey giant hedgerow stems, right?  And I've got some leaves into the bargain.


I've a tag to share that really was a fairly wonderful journey, though really the title is taken from the words to be found on the tag - a thought I definitely try to live by.  And this tag is far from perfect, but I really did enjoy the journey - I'll leave it to you to decide the rest!











The background is a reverse leftover from some Gelli plate printing.  I learned the lesson when one of my favourite Gelli results so far ended up on my craft mat after I laid down a stencil there after using it on the plate.  Lesson learned: now I always make sure I've got tags and more paper handy to receive the painty stencils!


So when I was playing with my lovely Crafter's Workshop Mini Ferns on the Gelli plate, I made sure I had a jumbo tag onto which to "print" the reverse side after I'd peeled it off.  It makes the most of the paint, obviously, too - less wastage - which we like!  


I dabbed the top and bottom edges of the tag onto the plate to get some paint there too (since the tag is longer than the six inch height of my stencil and plate).

I used Fresco paints for my prints, but I've suggested some Dabber colours below which would be similar.









Once it was dry, I thought I'd have a go at blending some Distress Inks over the top (lots of
colours - see the recipe list at the foot of the post!) and I do like the effect I ended up with.  

There's a kind of dappled look to it where the ink really takes on the card beneath whilst being slightly resisted by the paint.  And that's what gives the leaves that glow, I think - pure inky translucency in the midst of opaque paint.

But it was the spritzing and flicking I did next that really made the background come to life for me.  I've fallen in love with this sequence of techniques - you'll certainly see it again!


















Then it was time for some stamping...  First of all the Delicate Flowers by Unity in Olive Archival.
















Then a sentiment from the brilliant new wordy release by Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous, Way With Words.

For this, I inked up the stamp with several inks - Memento Teal Zeal, DIs Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn - and then embossed it with the Ranger SuperFine clear embossing powder.  I do love a bit of multi-coloured text-y embossing, glistening on a background!

I cut the phrase "enjoy the journey" from the Stacked Artful Words Decorative Strip Die using some kraft-core cardstock, and gave it a light sandpapering to reveal the krafty core ("it does exactly what it says on the tin" - sorry, that may be a baffling reference for those not in the UK).

But I then inked it with some Peeled Paint DI, so that it would tone in better with the colours of the tag, and of course that "took" best in the sanded areas.  So now the words have a lovely green tinge to the distressing which I like a lot.

Crinkle ribbon dyed with Distress Stains finishes things off at the top of the tag - one that I had no plans for as I set out, but I so enjoyed playing.  That I love the destination is simply a bonus on top of that...

Thank you so much for your company today - I value each and every visit and comment and, as I say, I'll be re-immersing myself in Craftyblogland over the next few days - I'll see you out there!

Do come and play along in the Flowers challenge this fortnight at eclectic Paperie.  You'll find more inspiration from Sherry and the rest of the DT over at the blog, and if you fancy playing with any of the ingredients I've used here, just click on the links below to go straight to them.




I'm entering this in the following:
The Inspiration Journal are using Marvellous Masks and Spectacular Stencils
Crafty Creations are playing No Patterned Papers this week

In honour of the dappling, both on the tag and in the sunlight today, I'm adding one of my favourite poems because it's all about dappled things.  Don't worry about meaning... speak it out loud to yourself and enjoy the pictures and the taste of it!

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
  For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
    For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
  Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
    And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
  Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
    With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:  
                  Praise him.
Gerald Manley Hopkins