Parchment and Pressed Flowers

Hello all, and a very happy 2020 to you... a whole new decade to play in!  I hope it brings you joy, good health and, of course, plenty of creative time and inspiration.  I kicked off the year with a look back at my 2019 crafting journey, and now I'm moving forward, hosting the new challenge theme over at A Vintage Journey but this also involves a bit of backwards time travel.  I've called it We're All Getting Older!

I don't mean to depress you!  What I'm really looking for is projects and techniques where you make something new look older... we're after distressing, weathering, ageing and antiquing.  You can achieve your effects however you want - with inks, paints, mixed media products or good old tea and coffee.  The Vintage Journey Creative Guides have been creating plenty of aged and weathered inspiration for you, so do check it all out but, before you go, here's what I've been up to.

I'll be sharing the how-to details over at A Vintage Journey in a couple of weeks' time so for now I'll just be sharing some close up pictures and the storytelling behind my tag trio.






I wanted to create a look of old parchment, weathered and torn over the years...
















... with that mottled look that very old paper often gets, especially when exposed to moisture... perhaps some tears?















Yes, I think probably tears (though they may have been happy tears).  These are old love letters, with vintage script hovering in and out of view, the ink faded by time.















The pieces of parchment have been preserved and pored over in later years.
















I think maybe they were pressed between the pages of a book, along with these flower stems...












... fragile mementoes of spring and summer days long ago.















Though the colours are faded, they still have a delicate beauty.

















And how do I know that the weathered script forms the love letters of a long-ago romance?















Well, I have the evidence of the sentiments at the foot of the tags, recording it all... the unexpected beginning of new love...













... the feverish intensity at the height of the affair...














... and the yearning memory of intimacy when perhaps it is all over.  

(They're all from my PaperArtsy Love Edition quote set, of course.)













And in terms of evidence, you have the vintage pen nibs which wrote the words too...














You can understand how someone might want to tie these parchments together with fine twine and keep them for always.













That's all from me for today.  If you'd like to know more about how this weathered parchment was created, you can find out in a couple of weeks' time over at A Vintage Journey when I share the making-of details.














But for now, I hope these tags have provided some inspiration for you to go and start making something new look old.  There are so many possibilities with all the Distress products, or weathered crackle, or rusting, or paint effects...  I hope you have lots of fun with getting older!














If you're after some more ideas before you get going, do check out the amazing inspiration from my fellow Creative Guides.  They've all been getting older too!

As always, we're looking forward to seeing what you create, and we'll be selecting a few chosen Pinworthies at the end of the challenge to display on our Vintage Journey Pinterest boards.








Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope I'll see you somewhere further down the road over at A Vintage Journey where We're All Getting Older!

The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.
Madeleine l'Engle

I prefer the rather old and battered, things with character, to the brand new.
Rick Allen

Old has character that’s been built up over time. It’s the scrapes and the dents, it’s the wear and tear of use and of service.
Larry G. Maguire

I'd like to play along at Country View Challenges where the first challenge theme of the year is Love