Tuesday 21 October 2014

Watercolour Poppy Tag

Afternoon Everyone,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying your day.

Here, the hatches are battened down and we are hunkering in just waiting out the storm. I can see the old sycamore from the window and it is being battered about really fiercely. So much so, I fear it may be just facing one gale too many this time. I hope it survives, not least because if it comes down it will be right on top of the EM's new shed!

So it's going to be a day of crafting for me or, more correctly, a day of tidying up in the craft room. There's so many odds and ends lying about, bits of my experiments, snippets of card, photos to be scanned, etc., etc., that I've decided it all has to be dealt with before I do anything else. Which brings me to this tag:
The grey textured base has been sitting in my 'to be used' box on my desk for, well, I can't remember how long. It could be as long as two years! It was part of an embossing experiment, you might have gathered by now that I like to experiment, a technique using leaves and flowers sandwiched in cardstock and put through the Cuttlebug. This resulted in some interesting textures, most of which I did put to good use at the time but I could never think what to do with this piece. I can't even remember what type of leaf this was but the card was white scrap which, after embossing, was inked with a grey ink pad, possibly Memento London Fog. 

Determined to use it in this tidy up and to try out my newest find, Poppy Field from Rubber Necker, a stamp designed to be used specifically with watercolours, or inks that can behave like watercolours, e.g. Ranger's distress inks. I've never tried this type of stamp out before so it was quite a revelation! The stamp comes in two parts, the first is for the flower part and the second is for the outline and stem part. There's a great set of YouTube demos on how to use these stamps - check out the Poppy Field one here. I used a selection of lavenders and mauves to colour the flowers, Ranger's Milled Lavender and Memento Elderberry, Lulu Lavender and Grape Jelly, and Archival Black for the stem section.
Once dry, I painted in some gold detail with Aquatint paint - better seen here in this photo. The sentiment, from the same stamp set, was stamped in Archival Black too. The butterfly was created using a snippet trimmed from the background, inked over with the Milled Lavender and Elderberry inks and inking the stamp, an IndigoBlu freebie, with the gold paint ... it's a thick paint so works quite well for stamping. Once dry it was cut out and attached to the tag which was then adhered to a base of mauve card - yet another scrap from the snippet mountain. Eyelash fibres and purple gems provided the finishing touch.

I'm submitting the tag to the following challenges:

Butterfly Challenge #16 - Butterfly with a Tag.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 147 - anything as long as there's a snippet used somewhere



That's me done here for now but the storm is still raging outside. Despite that, the EM has ventured out, though only to the local shop in search of a newspaper. One of the plastic pails we use in the garden has blown into the long border, coming to rest under that sycamore tree ... it will stay there until I think it's safe to go out again!

I hope conditions are rather better where you are, but if not do take care and stay safe.
 
Whatever, I wish you, as usual, much Happy Crafting,

17 comments:

Sandra H said...

Simply gorgeous as always and full of lots of lovely details you are so creative Elizabeth x

Di said...

Absolutely stunning Elizabeth! I love the soft and gentle colouring, gorgeous butterfly too. I have a Stampin's up set of simiilar 'two-step' stamps and being so OCD I have huge difficulty using them as they are meant to look a bit abstract rather than precise. Sigh :(

Hope that tree is holding up - even down here we're having very high winds today. Len went out earlier in the car and was glad to get home!

Hugs

Di xx

Sarn said...

Hi Elizabeth . . . I think your tag is wonderful.

Hope you don't have any damage from the storm. Pretty windy down South too!

Hugs, Sarn xxx

Mrs A. said...

Hi Elizabeth, just checked out the video and I so want/need/must have this stamp!! Your colouring is super and goes perfectly with all your snippets. A lovely watercolour effect. Thaankyou for fluttering by. hugs Mrs A.
p.s The winds are getting up here now. Hope your sycamore is still standing in the morning.

Jean said...

I simply love your tag Elizabeth, the poppy stamp is gorgeous, I was drooling over them myself last week but so far I have resisted. I am trying to save my pennies for the NEC craft show next month. Thanks for the link to the video though I am off to watch it now.
Hope you and your tree stay safe in the storm.It is very windy down here today as well, it was like fighting with an octopus to get the towels on the washing line this morning, but they did dry nice quickly.
Jean x

Hettie said...

This is beautiful Elizabeth. I just love poppies and you have done a great job of this.
Hugs
xx

Marie-Louise said...

Wonderful tag Elizabeth. Love the colours and the beautiful stamp. Dreadful weather here also - a good excuse for a big fire.

creative lady said...

Nice tag, love the sentiment. Thanks for joining Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

lost coast scrapper said...

Beautiful! Thanks for joining us at Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

Rita said...

What a gorgeous tag Elizabeth. Love the beautiful colours. Like you I have not ventured out as the storm is really bad here too. Stay safe and enjoy your crafting. Hugs Rita xxx

Jackie said...

I hope that tree survived Gonzalo's ferocity Elizabeth!
What a beautiful tag :o)
Jackie xx

Carole Pollard said...

This is so beautiful and a fabulous technique so lovely love and Hugs Carolex

Kathy/NorthCarolina said...

This is simply lovely! Very artfully composed and I love your color palette! Thanks for sharing this with us at Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

Glenda said...

I am blown away by the soft beauty of your tag! Thanks for sharing with us at Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

Pammejo said...

Fabulous tag, love the color palette... thanks for joining us on the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Craft Blog.

Andreja said...

This is so lovely :-)) I like your tag!
Thank you for joining us at All Crafts Challenge ... Good luck!
Hugs, Andreja

Gloria Stengel said...

Very pretty. I have a small bin on my work desk where I dump this and that when I work on a project. Stuff I am too lazy to find a place for when I clean up. Sometimes, I sift through the bin and make things with those odds and ends! I am happy to be in good company. hee hee Thanks for playing along at Craft Hoarders Anonymous!