Love is in the air (again!)

Hello all!  It's midnight and a new month, and the start of a very busy 1st February - this is the first of three posts today (yup, three... count'em - but not yet!).

First of all, it's time for a new challenge to start over at The Artistic Stamper, and you'll be glad to hear that this February Love is in the air.  You may remember singing along to the post title Love is in the Air very recently.  Yes, the Vintage Journey theme is helpfully very close to this new Artistic Stamper one  (From Russia With Love, my offering for that should have been called), and that has until Friday to run so, if you're clever about it, you could do the double.

Still need more inspiration to get crafting?  Well, here you go...

I'm a bit of a curmudgeon about Valentine's Day generally.  (Last year I gave you some very melancholy journalling pages to celebrate the festivities!)  So this year I decided to dive in at the deep end - so you've got the whole hearts and flowers shebang, plus some lace into the bargain!

It's even got some red (red? yes, red) in the mix, though a very vintage shade...

The tags have all been soaked in my usual tea/coffee mixture, but there's added Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs blended around the edges to draw the eye inward.










And if you're talking about flowers at The Artistic Stamper then, as far as I'm concerned,  you're talking about Katy Leitch.  (There are lots of other florals of course, including some newish ones, but I haven't got around to those yet.)











The two small tags are each partial stampings from the same large flower stamp from the Botanical 2 set.












I'm still working my through the book pages carved out of my Lynne Perrella candle-book-luminary - a simple layer behind the tags...












... as well as mounted on card for the die-cut Tim Holtz hearts.













There's some of my much loved Calligraphy Mat 19 on show in the background.












And then, yes, some lace, red gingham ribbon and buttons from my stash - gentle, rustic embellishing.












The ChitChat stickers finish off the tags with some positive word associations about love... 











So it may not be pink and fluffy, but at least it's not going to plunge anyone into despondency like last year's offering!  We'd love you to come and play along with our Love challenge at The Artistic Stamper.

As I mentioned, this is the first of a trio of posts today.  As usual, I'll be back in the morning with the new Country View Challenges theme (now published), and then just wait til you see what's going on over at PaperArtsy this evening!!

Happy Sunday everyone!





Love has no desire but to fulfil itself.  To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.  To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
Kahlil Gibran

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.
Peter Ustinov

Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate.
Sandra J. Dykes