Quite Contrary.....

       Hi everyone! Welcome back! Hope you had a wonderful sunny weekend?

Today is a special treat for me - being a guest designer for the first time! Over at Country View Crafts challenge blog, the challenge is "How does your garden grow?"

     When I was told the challenge, the first thing that sprung to mind was the old nursery rhyme...

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

So this was where I headed for the challenge....combining the elements of the rhyme. There had to be flowers of course, and of course it fitted in with my love of vintage. Certainly as this, like all nursery rhymes have been around for generations (in one form or another)

I had a lovely paper mache wall hanging constructed of three circle frames attached to twine...and I had been waiting for something to come along that would be perfect...I had considered tags, canvases, etc....but this would work really well....

 I had some shells - Ok, we are stretching the imagination to say they are cockleshells, but they are actual shells. I didn't have silver bells....and where were the pretty maids? Lets find out......

With the title of the challenge being 'Garden' based I couldn't resist taking photos of this outside on a gloriously bright sunny day.....

First I covered the frames with Antique Linen Distress Paint....then I got a flower print background Stamp and applied Bundled Sage DP to it and pressed it onto the frame...sadly the pictures don't do it justice as the Bundled Sage paint is very pale, so it looks quite indistinct in the bright sunlight....

I selected some lovely print images to be framed in the circles - so there were the 'pretty maids'. I blended Frayed Burlap DI around the edges of the prints and attached music paper into the frames as a background.

Crocheted lace was applied as a base for the other decorations...I selected some peach roses, and a die cut swirl which I covered in Frayed Burlap DI.

    The silver bells were drawn onto card, cut out and then a very thick coat of Pewter Crackle Paint was applied. After it had dried I attached a silver brad to the top. The shells completed the nursery rhyme inspired creation.

      I felt the other side of the frame needed balancing - so I covered some die cut flowers with Tattered Rose DS and put a matt gold brad in the center of each one...a leaf covered with peeled Paint DI completed the little flower arrangement and I applied them opposite the larger decoration

Hope you liked seeing my 'How does your garden grow?' creation - Why not hop over to Country View Challenges and see where this inspiring challenge leads you....How will your Garden grow?

I would like to enter the following challenges -

Fashionable Stamping Challenges -Anything Goes
Unruly Paperarts - Paper Flowers
Simon Says  - Inspired by - The nursery rhyme
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes

Style is Eternal

   Happy Wednesday to everyone...I haven't posted in about a week and that was mainly due to no ideas at all and a need to take a tiny break...Have been trying to catch up with some blog posts today and I also managed to do a tag! So lets have a peek!.......

   At Our Creative Corner there is a photo inspiration challenge...I adore this photo as it is just what I love - pastel vintage shabby chic....The requirements were to use the photo as inspiration and use fabric flowers and a crown...I had to have a go

  Strangely...my tag didn't turn out to be pale...I did try! I used mainly Tattered Rose DI which is very pale but all of a sudden I was using Weathered Wood and Vintage Photo and it got darker and darker...I was just trying to see where the inspiration took me and ....well, this is where I ended up!

    I used Tattered Rose and Weathered Wood distress stains all over the tag then sprayed with pearl glimmer mist and allowed the colours to run. I dried it with the heat gun then stamped script in Vintage photo randomly on the tag then I dabbed some weathered wood over a text stencil.

      I then was blending Tattered Rose, Weathered Wood and Vintage Photo all over and it got too dark, so I spritzed it all with water and dabbed dry with tissue. It gave it a very shabby vintage look and was a bit paler. I really liked the effect, especially now the text was now less vibrant and appeared to be blended in to the background

    I used some Weathered Wood stain on the central rectangle and stamped a border frame in weathered wood DI.

I don't have a mannequin die cut so I drew it by hand, cut it out, stained it with Antique Linen DS and stamped over it with Vintage Photo DI. I then used some Weathered Wood ink - watered down and spritzed onto the mannequin. I stamped a crown image and then painted it with Tarnished Brass DS..I couldn't resist placing it at an angle!

    I blended some Vintage Photo DI over some cut out flourishes and a fabric peach rose and I added these to the tag. I then cut out a cotton reel shape and two buttons out of card...covered with inks and tied up with embroidery thread.

    I was obviously inspired by the mannequin...and of course that led me to thinking about fashion. Then I remembered a quote, I believe from Yves Saint Laurent, who said "Fashion fades, style is eternal" I stamped the quote using an alphabet stamp onto tissue paper and then stuck it onto card covered in Tattered Rose DS.

   A piece of lace was stained with Tattered Rose and placed on the tag. A piece of ribbon was stained with Vintage Photo ink to compliment the browns already in the tag.

     A larger fabric rose was spritzed with Weathered Wood ink that was watered down and had a lovely pearl glimmer to it - sadly the photo just can't capture that kind of effect very well...

    So there it is...my photo inspired tag that really looks nothing like the photo....I was glad though that I just let myself create the tag without trying to be too strict about exact colours, because I really like this tag and I had so much fun making it. I knew I wanted to use Weathered Wood and Tattered Rose..and I definitely wanted some pastel elements in there. It was strange as I was making it to suddenly really want to bring browns into it. And of course I couldn't help but choose my latest favourite...how I managed without Vintage Photo for the last few months I will never know!

         Thanks for being here to see my latest creation - Hope to see you again soon!

                           
I am entering this tag into the following challenges -

Our Creative Corner  - Shabby Chic Inspiration
The Artistic Stamper  - Tags
Country view challenges  - Pick and Mix

    

Miniature Frame

    Hello everyone! Here with romantic lace and hearts (again!) Frilly and Funkie are having a lace and hearts Valentine challenge and well, I couldn't resist. Though I am not quite sure I I have got the Valentines theme right - It certainly has Hearts and Lace.

    I had seen on a blog a while ago a collage inside a miniature frame and I filed away that thought to use at some point. I have some dolls house frames that I don't need for my dolls house and this seemed like a good way to use them.

    They were from a cheap set so were very bright yellow gold. I covered them with matt white enamel paint and then rubbed some metallic rub-on to bring back the texture of the frame.

Earlier that day I had received a parcel in the post - had been doing some retail therapy and bought Old Paper, Tea Dye and Weathered Wood DI and my first ever stains! (Tattered Rose, Bundled Sage, Weathered wood, Antique Linen, Milled Lavender and Tarnished Brass).....My kids were thrilled that there was parcel to open and of course my daughter, who loves working with DI's, was overjoyed to see she now had stains to play with....

     Anyway....that delivery certainly led the way with the colour choices...after a bit of a play around with my new colours I got to work.

 

A background of Tattered Rose, dab of Antique Linen over ephemera to age them. Collecting bits and pieces from the art cupboard...Including my new twig style miniature hearts, buttons and beads. Also I had just bought some gorgeous crochet lace and rusty wire....I was so thrilled to get to use those straight away!

I sat and moved things around..added and taken away until I liked what I saw.

It was really difficult because I was working on a smaller surface than an ATC...(5.5cms x 4 cms).I had the freedom to take some of the decoration onto the frame but most had to be placed inside....It was tricky fiddly work but I have always loved working in miniature....I guess I like a challenge!

    Hope you like it!

   I would like to enter this for the following challenge -

Frilly and Funkie -Lacy Heartsy Valentine
Anything but a card  - Share the love
Anything challenge - Vintage Shabby Chic