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...

Sunday 13 October 2013

The Wisdom of Flowers



Hello everyone, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.  I seem to be back on the greens and the flowers at the moment...


Some of you may have already seen this over at Artistic Outpost, but it's my first chance to share it with you here at Words and Pictures.


I've a tag for you today.  No big surprise there... Tags have always played a big part in my crafting and, especially just at the moment when real life is so busy, they're a quick way to get some satisfying crafting done.  


There'll be more complex projects under way soon, I hope - but I do love a tag... hope you do too!


This one uses stamps from the recent Artistic Outpost releases, Chalk It Up and Chalkboard Wisdom.












I started by applying texture paste through the Crafter's Workshop Cornflowers stencil to create the flowers.














And then I applied lots of dots of various Fresco paints and used rough brushstrokes to blend them onto the tag.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded back the flowers to reveal the white texture beneath.












I added the corner flourishes from the Chalk It Up plate, stamped first in white using the Prima Chalk Edger, and then overstamped in Peeled Paint Distress Ink.













I really like the ornate and slightly dimensional effect.















The sentiment is another of my original chalkboard experiments - Brilliant White Superfine Wow embossing powder on black card, with some extra chalkiness from the Chalk Edger and from a white pencil.





It's mounted on padded tape to give it a bit of a lift over the flowers.













The topper is crinkle ribbon dyed with Distress Stains - Peeled Paint and Bundled Sage, along with some Picket Fence, which is what gives it that lovely shabby opaque look.

















And it's tied together with my black and white paper string combination - to tone in with that chalkboard sentiment.


I then distressed the whole thing with the paper distresser and layered it onto some Prima paper by Finnabair, leftover from her workshop, which I was lucky enough to attend recently. (You can check out what it was leftover from here!)


Thank you so much for stopping by today, and all your amazing feedback throughout this busy week.  I'm almost there with the house-moving, so should be back to full speed on visiting very soon... 








With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.
Lope de Vega

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
Chinese Proverb

48 comments:

sam21ski said...

Fabulous tag Alison and lurve those colours been as green is my fave!!

Sam xxx

Mrs.B said...

Hi Alison, A beautiful tag, lovely little quotes too.
Avril xx

Amanda said...

Beautiful, such calming greens.
Love
Amanda x

Yvonne said...

STUNNING tag Alison! Gorgeous background, love the sanded flowers, love the whole tag!
Greetings, Yvon

Rita said...

This is so pretty Alison. I love the greens too. Enjoy your Evening. Hugs Rita xxx

Von said...

Just beautiful Alison and the painted background perfect ♥ really pleasing to the eye :)
Von ♥

Helen said...

You can't go wrong with a tag - and the cornflower stencil is a fave with me too (was using it today in fact!) Love the background on the tag, too.

Claudia N. said...

Love the stencilling and the chalkboard quotes, Alison! :)

Hugs,
Claudia x

barbarayaya62 said...

Alison your tag is really wonderful! love this stencil and quotes is fantastic! thanks for all your kinds comments on my blog!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I love those double stamped corners! Gorgeous tag Alison xx

Anonymous said...

I do remember this as I thought the stencilled flowers were simply glorious.
wishes
Lynne

maria's knutselplezier said...

What a great tag , dear Alison, amazing colour use and great structure, great words too, I love it very much!!

Greetings
Maria

Carol Q said...

gorgeous tag ALison - this stencil never fails for me. love your Artistic Outpost quotes too.

Redanne said...

Hi Alison, I do love that stencil and what you have done with it is just bautiful. The soft tones look wonderful with the chalkboard effect. You must be counting the days until the move is finished - all the very best! Hugs, Anne x

catherine said...

This looks brilliant Alison. a great effect and colour
x catherine

Mary Elizabeth said...

So beautiful Alison. I thought about you specifically during Creative Chemistry 102 Day 5 (chalkboard effect). You have some fabulous chalkboard stamps to play with when you get settled in from the move. Can't wait to see what you come up with :) Thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog. I know you were going crazy this week. It meant so much to me when I saw your comments :) Hugs to you -- Mary Elizabeth

Janny Jager said...

Stunning tag Allison.
Love every detail.
Greetings Janny

Tracy said...

Beautiful as always Alison, soft colours, adore that stencil and quote!!
Hope you are having an Amazing weekend.
Big hugs
Tracy
xoxox

Clare Lloyd said...

Fabulous colours.

Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries said...

Great sentiment on a very artistic tag, Alison! Very special...top result!

Silvia(Barnie) said...

Wow, that's a wonderful tag, love the color scheme and the texture.

froebelsternchen said...

it caught my eye a few minutes ago on Pinterest ... it´s absolut fantastic to me Alison!

Astrid Maclean said...

Must have missed this over on the AO blog, so glad to see it here. Great stencil and wonderful use of these stamps!

Dagmar said...

It-s a beautiful tag - great artwork!

Meggymay said...

Wonderful colour combination and textures. A fantastic tag.
Yvonne

Kezzy said...

Fantastic tag, I saw it the other day and loved it. The stencil is one of my favourites, when I first saw it I was sure, then I used it at a workshop and fell in love lol. I'm afraid my journal page I did like yours over at paperartsy went so badly I didn't end up blogging it, so I did play along sort of, think I have to practice more in spraying paints lol. Hugs :-) Kezzy xxx

Brenda Brown said...

Beautifully designed Alison. I love the textured background and the way you sanded back the modelling paste to get the colour back again on the flowers. Love it.
hugs {brenda} x0x

Julie Lee said...

This tag is so beautiful. I love the stencil and the background. I do wish you all the best with the moving. We are so busy helping my mum who is still at the packing stage, not yet having been given a completion date! I'm sure some of the things we've unearthed will find their way into future craft projects, but - my - is the sorting out tiring! Julie Ann xx

Dianne said...

Oh Miss Butterfly, no one makes tags like you do, they are so unique and GORGEOUS hope you can settle in soon, your still creating like a genus your are, BIG HUGS and a big Happy Thanksgiving from Canada, thankful for YOU...

Anke said...

Oh Alison your tag is so beautiful, I love the flowers, the words and the background.

Hugs
Anke

Anonymous said...

Good morning Alison, that is such a beautiful tag. The stencil is one of my favourites & you've used it perfectly here. Good luck with the rest of the house moving, I hope it goes without a hitch.

chrissie said...

Really beautiful tag and a gorgeous stencil to use. I never thought to sand back the textured paste--great idea

Love Chrissie x

cathylynn said...

This tag is fabulous with great textures and soft colors. Love those flowers and quotes. and... of course those corners are perfect!
Hugs, Cathy-Lynn

annes paperfun said...

Wow!.. Your tag is amazing ....love it !
Lovely colors and texture.
Hugs, Anne

hazel said...

A fabulous tag Alison - my favourite colour.
xxx Hazel.

Shirley said...

Matching the right sentiments to your designs Alison always works perfectly. The chalk edging is fabby. The overall design and colours of the tag is sublime.

Not long now and you will be unpacking and in your new home ... sigh!!!

Crafty hugs from Shirl x x

Deborah said...

I love a tag too - they've taken over from atcs for me. I love this green one - do you think you are subconsciously pining for Summer?

Art By Wanda said...

Really beautiful!!!!!!!!!!

Candy C said...

Alison...your tag is gorgeous. I love that stencil! May have to have that one! :) I love the idea behind your tag and how you've carried it out. The green background color is so lovely with the white corn flowers popping through. The black rectangles with the white sentiments is very effective! Love it! <3 Candy

Cocofolies said...

As I love tags, it's not a problem for me!! Additionally this one is so pretty, I love your quotes and this Cornflowers mask too. That's a great one I think, there's so many possiblilities with it! Gorgeous !! Hugs Coco xx

Netty said...

Beautiful choice of words and stencilling, fab work as always, Annette x

Paper Profusion said...

Yes I remember this - it's a fabulous tag Alison - hope all going smoothly and calmly this week! Nicola x

Terry said...

I sure do remember this beautiful tag! Love the greens and I enjoy tags very much! Have a wonderful week! Hugs!

Iris said...

amazing

Nan G said...

Fabulous as usual! Love flower stencil.

Marjie Kemper said...

I just love that stencil and what you've done with it, but the sentiments are precious.

Marjie Kemper said...

I just love that stencil and what you've done with it, but the sentiments are precious.

Marjie Kemper said...

I just love that stencil and what you've done with it, but the sentiments are precious.