Sunday 3 July 2011

Where flowers bloom

When we got back from holiday last weekend our front lawn was a sea of beautiful flowers - white clover, daisies, and what my Dad tells me is birdsfoot trefoil. Unfortunately our neighbours are very keen gardeners whose lawns are always perfect - literally they go round the edges with scissors! - and have been known to moan to our landlord when we don't keep the garden as neat as they'd like. So the pretty flowers had to be mown :-( It was almost heartbreaking, but I'm sure they'll grow back pretty quickly.

I took this photo before we got the lawnmower out (sorry for the quality - I don't think photography is really my strong point):


Anyway, this inspired me to make a flowery tag. I coloured an ATC sized piece of white card with butterscotch and stream alcohol inks, edged it in vintage photo distress ink and stamped 'Where flowers bloom...' a few times also in vintage photo. The stamp was from the flower fairies lavender set by Crafters Companion, which I got as part of some blog candy from Craft Stamping Magazine. When I first saw it I didn't think I'd use it as cutesy isn't really my style, but I've ended using it a few times now.


The flowers were cut from grungepaper using the Tim Holtz tattered florals die and coloured using alcohol inks (butterscotch, and wild plum) and distress inks (wild honey and vintage photo). I also stamped a Hero Arts script stamp over them using various different inks. The letters spelling flower were stamped in black in the center of each one.

I curled the petals a little and mounted them to the background card using foam pads. The whole thing was added to a plain kraft tag and to finish it off I added some ribbon and an acetate butterfly (stamped from the Tim Holtz Papillon set in black stazon and coloured with wild plum alcohol ink).

I think this tag fits the new Sunday Stampers challenge over at Hels Sheridans blog. The theme is writing and this tag has both the script stamp on the flowers and the phrase stamped on the background.
And the current challenge at the Stamp Man is alcohol inks so I'm going to enter it in that too.
Oooh and not to forget the Grungy Monday Challenge at Studio L3 where the theme is also Alcohol Inks - check out Tim Holtz's demo here!
...And finally Simon Says Stamp and Show - A word!

Thanks for reading and I hope you're having a good Sunday

Sarah
xx

14 comments:

  1. This is soo cute. Love your Lizzard!! I have a bit of a soft spot for Gekkos after sharing my room with them in Vietnam!

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  2. Wow ! Beautiful love your tag, such fab colours and just love that lizard !
    Marie

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  3. What a fabulous tag. I love how you have made up the word 'flower' and the white stamping over some of them.

    Has the photo been taken on your mown grass? Shame about the flowers, but cutting them will probably make them grow back quicker.

    Thanks for sharing this with us at The Stamp Man for the alcohol inks challenge.

    luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

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  4. Very colourful and creative! Love the letters on the flowers and great colour combo. The grass looks just lovely as it is! Thank you for sharing with Simon says Stamp & Show!
    Sarah

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  5. An absolutely beautiful tag Sarah, I love the colours and how clever to incorporate your word into your gorgeous flowers. I also love your flower filled garden and feel your pain at having to cut them.... a shame some people can't appreciate natural beauty. Chris :)

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  6. I'm sure your garden looked much better with all those flowers rather than just green grass.....some people. At least its was an inspiration for your lovely atc
    hugs

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  7. love the combination of colours.

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  8. Hello PsyPenguin! Thank you so much for the lovely comment you left on my blog! I love this piece as well....very inspired. Lots of detail with your embossing of the flowers, stamping and distressing. Love it all! Oh...just wait until you get the Shrink Plastic. SO MUCH FUN!!! I played with it off and on this weekend making some samples for Ranger...I had such a blast! <3 Candy

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  9. THis is a fun tag. I like the flowers and the script stamp on some of them!

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  10. Aha! Very clever using the ickle letters on the flowers... cool! Thanks for joining in with the Sunday STamper... as for your grass... I prefer the over grown and flowery meadow look... tis better for the butterflies and buzzy bees too... so... it is conservation lol

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  11. Wonderful tag with beautiful flowers.

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  12. Love your blooms! Great tag Sarah! x

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  13. Gorgeous!!! Thanks for joining us at The Stamp Man challenge.

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  14. wonderful work with alcohol ink x Thanks for joining in The Stamp Man challenge x Janet

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Many thanks for reading and commenting on my blog. It's fantastic to get your comments and feedback xx