Reflection of a Dragonfly

Hello all.  I'm glad you enjoyed my Flourishing Floral extravaganza over at Calico.  It's nice to let my opulent side out every now and then.  Watch out for more similar lines as I make further inroads on my craft stash through the year!

Today it's time for some more background-focus with my second piece of inspiration for Sue's brilliant Make Your Own Background theme at Country View Challenges.  We're just over half way through, so there's still plenty of time to play along, and here's a pair of tags which may nudge you in to action.

I've been at the wrinkle free distress technique again - nothing I like better than smooshing and sweeping through the inky colours to create endless variations on a splotchy theme!  I almost always have enough ink on the craft mat for at least two tags, and so I often end up working in pairs.  This time I planned ahead sufficiently to have one tag already primed with gesso so that my two tags would end up with even more variation from one another.

It's a colour combination I fell in love with when Wilted Violet arrived in the world last year... so there's some of that, obviously, along with Ground Espresso and Stormy Sky.

The dark tag was the recipient of the first smoosh, then the gesso'd tag went next, then I carried on alternating, dabbing and drying, until all the ink was used up.  Simple!

From there, I just followed my fancy.   The dragonfly always makes me happy, so he's embossed in white over the darker inks...

... and embossed in Bark over the paler background.  Some powder got onto the ink which wasn't quite dry in places, but that's what embracing imperfection is all about.

I added my all-time favourite Idea-ology pieces, the Word Bands, mounted over some torn book page fragments and secured with fine twine as well as a blob or two of glue.













I added some complementary scribbling too - white over the dark, and dark over the light.













A few wooden buttons add an extra dimensional touch, and even a bit of extra texture in some cases.

Crinkle ribbon dyed with the same inky colours tops the tags off...














... tied with the same fine twine as the Word Bands to create another echo within each tag.















The aim was always to try to let those inky splotches take centre stage...















This is a Backgrounds challenge after all!

Very quick, but oh so pleasurable.  I hope they give you pleasure too, and that they'll inspire you to Make Your Own Background too, and come along and join us at Country View Challenges.

As always, there's a prize voucher from Country View Crafts on offer to a randomly drawn winner - but you've got to be in it to win it!







Thanks so much for stopping by today.  This is one of several scheduled posts which will be coming your way - some of them new projects, some of them "Encores" of pieces which made their first appearances elsewhere and are going to be brought in under the Words and Pictures roof over the next few weeks and months.

It's unclear how reliable my internet access is going to be on my travels, but I will be doing my best to keep up with you all when I can.  After all, without access to my craft desk I'll need to get my crafting hit somehow... I'm counting on Craftyblogland!

We cannot see our reflection in running water.  It is only in still water that we can see.
Taoist proverb

I'd like to make this my third and final entry into Stamps and Stencils challenge, Splatter, Spritz and Smoosh - I do enjoy doing all those things - but this one is principally smooshing!