Nature's Beauty

Hello there everyone and hope you're having a lovely weekend. I'm a very happy crafter today as for the first time in I can't remember how long, I've managed to do some creating that isn't DT work - yippee!
My frame is inspired by the latest challenge at Crafty Individuals which is Nature's Beauty so how could I resist when I love nature so much. The post is a bit picture heavy to show the detail and I hope you like it.

I started off with a blank papier mache frame which I decorated using my Shabby Chic Peeloff Technique which you can find HERE. It's very easy and this time I used a combination of flourish and daisy peeloffs - the daisies were gold and the flourishes copper but I bet you'd never guess that if I hadn't told you!
For the frame, I used Wild Honey and Vintage Photo Distress inks after 2 coats of gesso as the frame was kraft coloured. After using my technique, I then stamped on a daisy from CI-206 Flower Heads with Palette Raw Sienna ink which is permanent like StazOn.I then rubbed some Creative Expressions Cast Bronze Gilding Wax.
The central panel was made by colouring a piece of thick, smooth cartridge paper with Distress Inks applied with an acrylic block - I used Crushed Olive, Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade and smooshed the ink around on the paper whilst it was still wet.
I stamped the silhouette meadow image - CI-367 - twice with VersaFine Olympia Green ink and stamped some of the butterflies from CI-231 on scrap cartridge paper with the same green. I cut these out and added them to the panel after sticking it in the frame.
I then sanded the raised peeloff elements slightly to knock off a little of the paint and embossing for a vintage look.

 Thanks to everyone at Crafty Individuals for inspiring me.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Distress It!

Hello there folks and a Happy Easter to you all. I hope you had a lovely time and didn't eat too much chocolate!
I'm here now with a slightly late post for the new challenge today over at Make My Monday which was chosen by former team mate Jan and involves one of my absolute favourite techniques - Distressing.
I have a tutorial to share too, so that you can see how I turned something that has been in my stash for many years, unused as I tend to prefer stamping but this is all about how you can make a humble Peel Off look like it isn't a peel off! I think I'll be using this technique quite a lot too and you may need a cuppa before you read on although I promise it's not too long.

The finished card is above and you'll find the background paper steps below.

Step 1

For this you need a piece of smooth thick paper or watercolour paper cut to fit your chosen card blank and some peel offs. I chose corner ones but you could use flowers or patterned peel offs to make a frame shape.

As you can see, I placed the peel off in the corners of my paper.

 Step 2

For this step you need some gesso which I brushed roughly all over. You don't have to be precise with this as it gives a better shabby chic effect if the coverage is quite textured.

Step 3

This step takes the most time. You need some Distress inks - I used Tattered Rose, Wild Honey and Frayed Burlap. I applied the 2 lighter shades with a sponge and then added just a touch of the brown which you can see inked the rougher areas more. I then stamped a pattern design (Kaisercraft Lattice) all over with the Wild Honey to add more texture.
I heat embossed the paper with clear detail embossing powder. I distressed the edges and the peel off corners gently with an emery board and added Vintage Photo Distress ink round the edges.
If you click on the photo below, you'll see that sanding some of the paint off the peel offs gives them a rather distressed look like rusted metal.

As you can see on my card above, the addition of some pearls and lace together with the filigree butterfly and the lovely Gibson lady (Flonzcraft), the paper gives a soft vintage feel.

Hoping that you like this and please do let me know what you think.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

PS: I'd also like to enter my tutorial in the current Mixed Media Mayhem at Quirky Crafts Challenges as you can see from the card and tutorial quite a few things came into play. Hope that's OK with you ladies :)