Floral Display

Continuing on with my mission to use old stash, I did this layout as part of a challenge on one of my social groups on UKS. 

The fuschia cardstock is Betty in Love, love Elsie - not THAT old in terms of my stash, but the striped patterned paper is Made to Match Valentines, by American Crafts.  I don't think stripes or cardstock ages that much, but these stickers hark back to the start of my scrapping days, so over 6 years old.  I don't like them now, but I've got it, so I will use it! 

The photos are of the Floral Display in the Great Pavilion at the Chelsea Flower Show, 2009.  The floral displays were created by the National Association of Flower Arrangement Society - blimey - try saying that 10 times really quickly!  That's a real mouthful. 

Additional parts of the challenge were to use distressing, stamping, and a frame.  I distressed the photos by adding a thin border of green paint.  After mixing a colour and painting the Fancy Pants chipboard, I then stamped over the top of the mauve with white.  After that, I added some stickles at the end to bring some refracted light into the layout.  I added more stamping with the tail of the butterfly and the motif in the top left hand corner - it reads:  "Beauty is all around us".  The stamp is "Word Flourishes" by Rhonna Farrer - I love those swirling words.  If I want the flourish but not the word, then I stamp the image and cut the word off. 

I have had the Cuttlebug butterfly die and embossing set for about two months now and finally got to use it today - hurray!  Once embossed, I outlined the butterfly in white ink, and then added stickles to the embossed parts, so it adds some impact.  The green pearls also add some lift. 

The shape of that Fancy Pants chipboard bothers me - and gives me the impression that the layout isn't balanced.  But it is done now, and I don't have the inclination to do a triple part process just to add in more chipboard!  This also acts as a frame for the accent bead inserts.  It adds quite a lot of dimension IRL. The photos were quite drab before I added in some white cardstock cut into a flower shape - white brings in a lot of light, and it was just the touch I needed here.  I made three cardstock roses and added in a Prima leaf - I am not sure if that works or not - but it's there now, and stuck down - so that's the way it will stay.  Job finally done after a lot of time faffing!  :)

Flying Away Further ...

Part Two!  I get bored really easily, and occasionally go through my brad boxes filled with little odds and bods, and then pick something out ...

A very simple card which I really like - a scrap of Basic Grey Scarlet's Letter, together with some Mrs Grossman's stickers that I am slowly getting through after about six years ....  A shaped clip with some scallop punches, and another one of those Craftwork Cards printed messages.

Here's another of the cuttlebug embossing folders, used very simply.  Again, some pressed flowers - from a generic QVC kit when I first started crafting and some grograin ribbon. Tip - when I cut the ribbon down, I add a fine line of glossy accents at the edge to stop the ribbon from fraying. 

Here, I used a shaped template cut out from the Cricut.  Small white dots just break up some of the brightness.  Just one small velvet teal flower gives somewhere for the eye to rest. 

Here's a rustic "Hello" made from left over Chatterbox, an old flower denuded from a much bigger one, and one of those daisy gel stickers. 

I love spring colours, but my card making really is determined by the contents of my scraps.  Here's a card I really do like, reminiscent of spring - now, if only we had some  ....

Hopefully tomorrow I will get to do some scrapbooking, and rats - I really should do some housework!  Although I've got some outstanding crafty business to finish first, really - it is FAR more important, isn't it?