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

Encore Post - Take a leaf out of my book

Encore Posts

Projects which made their first appearances elsewhere for Design Team duties or Guest Designer opportunities, but which only had a sneak peek here, are being gathered together in the pages of my virtual scrapbook while I'm away.

As always, the Encore Posts are formatted differently from the regular ones, so that you can easily spot them.  Please don't feel that you have to comment all over again!

Hello again.  As promised (threatened?), I'm back with another Encore post to fill the deafening silence around here.   This autumnal altered notebook was created for A Vintage Journey's Destination Inspiration series back in November 2016.  Over the course of a month, each of four Creative Guides would play with the same set of products/colours/techniques, and come up with their own individual creation.  Here's what I wrote back then...

_________________________________

Hello all, it's Alison here, arriving at Destination Inspiration.  I hope you saw Tracy's fantastic creation last Monday, and now's your chance to see what I got up to with the contents of this month's luggage.  Just to remind you, here's what's in the travel bag:

Substrate - Journal/Notebook cover

Product - Patterned Paper

Technique - Altered paper techniques

Colour - Orange/Rust

Well, regulars at Words and Pictures will guess that I went for the rusty end of that colour spectrum.  I did some basic paper tearing and distressing for my altered papers, and here's what I ended up with...

It started out as one of those basic black notebooks you can pick up almost anywhere.

I used one of my favourite Andy Skinner techniques to get the rusted look - spritzes of the DecoArt white Media Mister with Quinacridone Gold over it.  (It's part way through the process here.)

Quin Gold was probably my most-missed product while I was away, so I had to use it for this first project back in the craft room!

I generally add a dirty wash for a grungier, darker edge to the rusty look.

As I said, I kept my paper altering on a fairly simple level.  They're all Tim Holtz papers, and all from the subtler end of the colour spectrum.

I tore and inked the edges, and then ruffled them up at the edges once they were stuck down.

I also added the lovely thorny stamp in Sepia (as close to orange as I'm generally willing to go with my stamping).

I also used Quinacridone Gold and some Paynes Grey in layers on my Idea-ology Quote Band, and secured it in place with some rusty wire.

The leaves were actually a bit of an afterthought, but I'm very glad my brain went on thinking, as I really like the result.

They're Calico Craft Parts, and they've just had a touch of the Quin Gold for that burnished autumnal look.

It's rusted on the back cover too, but otherwise unadorned on the other side.  You have to be able to use the thing, after all!

And that's my altered notebook cover for you.  Thanks so much for dropping in today.

_____________________________________

Just catching the last of the autumn glows for you there... winter seems to be setting in with a grey, damp grimness round here at the moment.  I hope you enjoyed another trip down memory lane with me.  There'll be something new to enjoy on Friday... promise!  Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon.

Rebellious leaves
going out
in a blaze of glory,
setting trees aflame
in riotous colour.
Reluctant surrender
to rumours
of coming winter.
Taste the Wild Wonder by John Mark Green

Beautiful Moments

Hello all!  I'm still in recovery from travels and in preparation for more, so it's pretty quiet at the craft desk.  (Catch up with Beijing - The Forbidden City III and Beijing - The Artists' Quarter if you'd like to keep up with the travels... not that that's really keeping up - Beijing was in February - but I'm doing my best!)

However, I am thrilled to be over at Frilly and Funkie as a guest today, thanks to my Trash to Industrial Treasure project.  It's an honour to be chosen by the fabulous F&F team, and I was delighted to accept the invitation to guest design with them.  The new Let The Words Do The Talking theme couldn't have suited me better and, given my limited time at the craft desk, I gave myself permission simply to enjoy myself.  Here's the resulting page spread...

I suppose it's a sort of spring/summer version of A Beautiful Adventure, possibly my favourite journalling pages from last year.

I chose one of my all-time favourite Tim Holtz word stamps - and it's a thought I really try to live by.














I'm most successful at being in the moment when I'm being creative - whether that's at work with Shakespeare's words, or at the craft table, or when singing.  And those times definitely yield beautiful moments which stay in the memory.













There are also uplifting moments of presence when I let myself engage with nature, whether on the large scale - mountains, landscapes, forests - or on the small scale - the joy of a tiny new leaf starting on my Ficus, or a butterfly alighting on my arm.

Or there is delight in silence, especially that silence just before a favourite piece of music begins, and of course there are moments of heart-soaring joy in listening to the music itself.

The more of those beautiful moments I manage to build in to my life, the happier I am all round.

So the Distress Ink background here made me really happy.

The torn script interspersed with soft textural wisps of cheesecloth made me happy.

The layering of the grasses and wildflowers made me happy...















... stamping with abandon to create a lush summer meadow.


















My first chance to play with the Wildflower die-cuts made me happy.















And I found unexpected pleasure in getting a little bit sparkly for once...















... with micro beads, seed beads, sequins and mica.















I really enjoy how they interact with the paper scraps and cheesecloth and, above all, how they catch the light!















At the heart of it all are the words, of course.















And though they may not seem to be very visible, white-embossed amidst all that sparkle and colour...







... I hope the thought behind them is present in the whole page.  It feels like a beautiful moment to me.  I hope you like it too, and that it will help to inspire you to Let The Words Do The Talking.

Thanks so much to the amazing team over at Frilly and Funkie for picking my project and for having me as a guest again.  It's always a delight and an honour - another memorable moment!  And thanks to all of you for your visits and comments - more delight and honour to have your company for the journey.  Happy Crafting all!

All that is important is this one moment in movement.  Make the moment important, vital and worth living.  Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused.
Martha Graham

Lucky Numbers

Hello all and welcome, with an especially big welcome to the newest followers - it's so lovely to have you along for the ride.

It's time for the new challenge at A Vintage Journey, and the brilliant Brenda is looking for Special Numbers - projects incorporating significant numbers, whether that's birthdays, anniversaries or lucky numbers.

As usual, we'd like to see Tim Holtz-style creations and/or products but the project can be anything at all.  And here's my starter for ten.

I came up with a burlap panel full of numbers, but there are three particular ones significant to me... and they all add up to the fact that I feel incredibly lucky in how my life works.











I got to play with one of the new Photobooth photos - and she takes the role of being "me".  And yes, that's the kind of happy smile I get to enjoy moment to moment in my work very often; certainly at the craft table or on visits around Craftyblogland enjoying your creations; and whenever I stop to count my blessings.













I also managed to get my hands on the new Small Talk stickers - yay for Country View Crafts! - and this one leapt straight out at me the moment I flicked through them.









I mounted it on a WordBand (one of the festive ones that I'm unlikely to use - 'holly jolly Christmas' or some such wording - just not me!) that I altered with alcohol inks - Mermaid, Mushroom and Pebble I think.











So, to my numbers...

The 24th, the number brad up in the top corner, also alcohol inked to within an inch of its life, is the date of my birthday in April.











And 46 is the number of years I'll hit when it comes around the next time, in a couple of months.  I had to double-check that was the right number when I found the Plaquette - I'm starting to lose count.  Not that it troubles me in the slightest... so far each decade has been better than the one before, so what's to worry?!

Down in the bottom corner, the Idea-ology Stencil Mark holding together some more ephemera fragments is my lucky number three.

Each of the ephemera pieces layered up behind the photo has numbers on it...












... and it's all mounted over the Bingo Texture Fade embossed onto Kraft Core in a lovely deep turquoise shade - sanded and torn to create a dimensional weathered look.

I gave the burlap panel a couple of rough coats of gesso, and then of course there's the rusty wire.











I wrapped some around the edges of the panel, as well as using it to fasten my WordBand to the centre of things.  Big thanks to Nina at It's Crafting Time for taking the trouble to source and stock the rusty wire on request - I'd be lost without it!













So that's my happy-go-lucky burlap panel for you - counting my blessings and sharing my significant numbers.

Hop over to A Vintage Journey to see the fantastic creations my team-mates have come up with to inspire you, and check out all the challenge details and travelling instructions while you're there.  We hope you'll come and share your Special Numbers with us this fortnight, and be in with a chance at the prize voucher generously sponsored by Country View Crafts.  See you there!

I'm a great believer in luck.  I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
Variously attributed to Coleman Cox, Samuel Goldwyn and even Thomas Jefferson

A man is rich in the proportion of the number of things he can afford to let alone.
Henry David Thoreau