Monday 24 February 2014

Les Fleurs

Hi all, Alison (butterfly) here, with a pair of tags for you today.  It will come as no surprise to regulars that they use Katy Fox's beautiful botanical stamps... I seem to be obsessed with them!  (Remember, you can click on the photos if you need a closer look.)


So I started with a couple of plain manila tags, and inked them up with Tim's wrinkle-free distress technique and some spritzing and flicking.  I layered in some stencilling, rays and letters with Broken China and Vintage Photo Distress Inks.


Then I added some background stamping with the Artistic Stamper Large Random Dots.  They're stamped in Picket Fence Distress Paint, and then I used a white pen to add a little dimensional shading.  I also stamped the Sequin Waste in Peacock Feathers - which you can see in a later photo.


The main stamp for the first tag is from Encyclopaedia Botanica, from Katy's first release.


And the second tag uses the large flower from Botanical 2.  On each of them, I've used a very light wash of Mermaid Fresco paint to just highlight the flower heads a little.

 

The adorable little Les Fleurs label is also from that second set.


It's simply stamped on card in Black Archival and then torn and inked, and positioned to complement the flower stamping.


Regulars at Words and Pictures will see that I've created some new glass pebbles for this project.  Rather than sticking my glass pebbles onto book pages, as I've done previously, this time I created some musical embellishments!


I spritzed some colour onto some card (Dylusions and Perfect Pearls Mists), and then stamped the Music Background over the top in Jet Black Archival.  


Then you just glue on the pebbles (the sort you use to fill vases and so on) using gel medium - I use gloss, but I think any would do - wait until dry and then cut around the pebbles.  I do love how they catch the light!



I've also been having another little play with the beeswax (loved my first go on some journalling pages also using Artistic Stamper stamps and stencils).  I painted melted beeswax onto some book pages, and tore and inked them.  


You get a lovely translucence from the beeswax, and I really like the look of ancient parchment that it gives the paper.


As you can see, I also added some Idea-ology cogs and gears - somehow the composition just needed them - and then I simply couldn't resist the urge to mount the tags onto corrugated cardboard (another obsession).


This time it's had a rough coat of a couple of paint colours that complemented the tags, and then a good bit of inking with Gathered Twigs around the roughened edges.  (And here's that Sequin Waste stamping - such a cool background texture stamp!)


A little bit of crinkle ribbon, dyed with Distress Stains and Paints - the paints give it that lovely opaque look - and tied with paper string to top the whole thing off.


You can probably tell from these tags that I'm longing for Spring.  


Again, I caught one of those odd pockets of sunshine to take some of these photos, but I hope you are all keeping safe and dry in these storms in the UK, and not too cold in the US, and generally happy, safe and sound wherever you are in the world.



Thanks so much for stopping by today, and if you've been using Distress products then come and play along in this month's challenge here at The Artistic Stamper where that's all you need to do: Use Distress.  Hope to see you there!

Ingredients used:
Artistic Stamper stamps: Katy Fox - Encyclopaedia Botanica and Botanical #2; Backgrounds - Music Background, Large Random Dots, Sequin Waste
Tim Holtz Layering Stencils
Melt Art Natural Beeswax
Distress Inks - Broken China, Vintage Photo, Peacock Feathers
Distress Paints - Picket Fence
Distress Stains - Peeled Paint, Broken China
Archival Inks - Jet Black, Sepia
Fresco Paints - Mermaid
Dylusions - Dirty Martini, Cut Grass
Perfect Pearls Mists - Turquoise
Inkssentials White Pen
Idea-ology Findings - Sprocket Gears
From my stash: book pages, corrugated cardboard, Idea-ology paper string

35 comments:

Astrid Maclean said...

Great pair of tags Alison, - love how the backgrounds turned out and those Katie Fox stamps are just wonderful!

Anonymous said...

Love your tags Alison. The corrugated iron is fantastic. Thank you for visiting me with your kind comments and welcome to my blog. Karen.x

Shilpa Nagaonkar said...

Beautiful tags, Alison! love thenew stamp background!

Brenda Brown said...

Fabulous tags, full of botanical beauty xx

barbarayaya62 said...

FAb tag Alison! As always your background are incredible! Love both! BArbarayaya

Helen said...

Oh, Alison, these tags are stunning!! I love the Katy Fox flowers (I really must buy them!) and your pebbles are fabulous.

Lin said...

Alison these tags are absolutely beautiful!! the layers are great and love the colours you've used..and the pebbles are brill, and who can resist some corrugated!! xx

rachel said...

stunning love this and Katy's flowers look amazing - love all the details - those glass beads are genius xx

Maggie said...

Gorgeous tags Alison

MaggieH

Amanda said...

Beautiful tags so full of beautiful things to look at
Love
Amanda x

Redanne said...

I love how you used lush spring colours on your beautiful tags and the cogs and pebbles are quite striking additions. Beautiful work, as ever Alison. Anne xx

craftytrog said...

They're beautiful Alison! xxx

Cocofolies said...

Both are fabulous Alison, and the background is fantastic!!! I love the spring colours, your use of beeswax again (I must have a try on it!), and many other lovely details. Coco xx

Weasel said...

I'm loving the use of the glass vase stones and the music stamp - want a go of this myself! Great tags as well Alison!

Dianne said...

Oh Miss Alison these are GLORIOUS,GLORIOUS
GLORIOUS, stunning background fantastic stamping, beautiful corrugate, and the glass jewels you created all over whoot, whoot, these are MAGNIFICENT... Thanks for sharing, hope you have a wonderful week, ((( BIG HUGS)))...

Evelyn Walter said...

Fabululous tags, dear Alison! I love these glass pebbles and the stamps are really wonderful.

Kay Wallace said...

Absolutely stunning tags, Alison!

Lisa Minckler said...

layers and layers of gorgeous!!!

Anneke said...

Beautiful these tags. Thanks for your great explanation. Anneke.
www.annekescardart.blogspot.com

Paper Profusion said...

Stunning! And I'm absolutely loving your pebbles each time! Must search them out in a garden centre. Nicola x

Sid said...

Two simply gorgeous tags !!

massofhair said...

Two glorious Tags! Love everything about them and am loving the inclusion of pebbles, i have loads of these things, must try and include them in my crafting :-) xxx

Anonymous said...

Two stunning tags. I love the background, the flowers are gorgeous & the pebbles are fab embellishments.

May said...

Two Gorgeous tags Alison, Love those pebbles...the stamps are so beautiful... Great tutorial... Hugs May x x x

Annie said...

Love both tags Alison...the stamps certainly are stunning...like you I cant wait for Spring....It's my favourite time of the Year !!

Hugs Annie x

Deborah Wainwright said...

Love these tags Alison the colours work so well together and the little bubbles of lovlliness are fantastic xx

Anonymous said...

I don't have them but I can well understand why you are obsessed with them, they are so beautiful as is always the art you create with them.
Wishes
Lynne

pearshapedcrafting said...

Oh so gorgeous! Colours are lovely and those cogs and pebbles add a unique touch! Chrisx

cathylynn said...

Both tags are totally awesome and I love the glass gems! Once again you have created beauty!
Hugs, Cathy-Lynn

Anjas-Artefaktotum said...

Really amazing tag creations!

Princess Judy Palmer said...

My hands are too cold to type this comment. Brrr... these are such lovely spring tags. I hope spring gets here soon. Lovely details as always.

Marjie Kemper said...

Such gorgeous creations!

Deborah said...

Those glass pebbles are the icing on the cake. Wonderful tags!

Sandy said...

Love those bubble thingys - they seem to add a touch of whimsy and lightness to the gears. so much fun to follow you, if only I could keep up!!
sandy xx

Kezzy said...

Wow absolutely gorgeous stunning tags, I really really love the flower stamps you have used, and the background is awesome. I definitely love those pebbles :-) Kezzy xxx