Lots of Love

Hello everyone, Alison (butterfly) here with a folded tag which I made as my mother's birthday card (these people with birthdays so close to Christmas...). I'm writing this before the birthday (though it will all be over by the time you're reading this) and I'm guessing that her complaint will be that there are no fungi amidst the undergrowth - I'll have to get Jennie onto that for the next stamp release! - but I hope she'll like it, nonetheless.

The folded wallet structure comes from Linda Coughlin's brilliant tags offered up as bonuses in her recent Funkie Junkie 12 Tags competition.  I loved making my version so much that I've added it to the repertoire!

I started with some wrinkle-free distress technique on a large tag - colours, I think, were Evergreen Bough, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Peeled Paint, inks and stains combined - and I also added a couple of spritzes of Perfect Pearls Blue Patina to the craft mat, so there are lovely touches of shimmer.

I gave the edges a good inking with Walnut Stain - I never tire of how this gives such depth to the colours and draws the eye inwards.  There are a couple of flower stamps on the outside cover: the little one is from Botanical Plate 1, and the larger head is from Katy Fox's Encyclopaedia Botanica set...

... as is the little butterfly on the flap.  All the stamping is done in Archival Potting Soil.

I added some Idea-ology Foliage, positioning them so that the petals of the lower flower actually form the closure to tuck the tag behind (very pleased with this little brainwave - and it works beautifully!).

And then lots of painty splatter - one of my favourite things to do at the moment.  Once you open it up, you're heading into the undergrowth (seems I like it in the undergrowth!)...

Here you get the full version of Katy's large flower...

There's a little bug on the inside of the flap... bugs like to hide under things, I find, don't you?!

The layered background started with mopping up the leftover inks from the front cover's wrinkle-free distress - so you get a paler version of the same shades.

There's some stencilling: Evergreen Bough through the Artistic Stamper Splats and Swirls mask, and Broken China and Walnut Stain through the Tim Holtz Bubbles stencil.

Then I got going with one of the Tim Holtz flourishes to add some detail into the layers.

The gorgeous wording comes from the fairly new Grungy Greetings plate - what a font! - and it's stamped (Potting Soil still) onto kraft card, and layered over an inked book page (and I promise I didn't notice the words surrounding it until I was taking the photos...)

Closed up again, you get a full version of the flourish on the back, and a little butterfly stamp (from Unity) that, with my monogram, seems to be becoming my "signature".

Thanks for stopping by today.  You've still got time to play along in our challenge this month: Love Is In The Air.  With Valentine's Day around the corner, I'm betting you've been working on something that fits the bill.  You don't have to use Artistic Stamper stamps on your project, but if you do you get two entries into the prize draw!!  Hope to see you there...

Ingredients used:
Artistic Stamper Stamps: Botanical Plate 1, Katy Fox's Encyclopaedia Botanica, Grungy Greetings
Artistic Stamper Mask: Splats and Swirls
Distress Inks and Distress Stains: Evergreen Bough, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain
Tim Holtz stencils - I used Bubbles but you could use any of these
White acrylic paint
Idea-ology Foliage
Large Tag - size 10
From my stash: Tim Holtz flourish by Stampers Anonymous (lots of lovely alternative possibilities here), Unity butterfly stamp, book pages,