Vintage . . . . . . . . With Some Bling!

The challenge over at The Stampman is to show some bling. I really like beads but don't tend to use gemstones or other types of bling much so thought I'd dig out some stones that my daughter bought for me and see what I could do to show them off.

The challenge at Crafty Cardmakers is to create your own flowers so I'm going to show my project there as well.

I tend to favour making the less intricate flowers with an emphasis on the grungy look so let's hope that appeals to some. I'm always very envious of those beautiful floral creations that some people produce with multi layered petals and wonderful curling edges! Perhaps one day, but for now mine are either made from card, paper or metal covered card and generally only feature one layer!

I love anything with a vintage look and decided to opt for a colour palette which I particularly favour: dirty pink and brown of course!

I recently acquired some Crafty Individual 'angel' stamps and thought I'd give one of them an outing this time. They are very beautiful and lend themselves to be used in many circumstances, so be prepared to see them from time to time!

Here is the card I have made complete with 'bling':

The elements used to construct the card.

The completed card.

The image was stamped twice with coffee archival. One copy was inked with antique linen distress ink. The other with victorian velvet and both the angel figure and the word were cut out. A water brush was used to 'bleach' her face and wings to make them stand out. All edges were inked with walnut.

The background was coloured using victorian velvet distress ink and picket fence stain was used to stamp some script. Walnut distress ink was used through a clock mask but was kept very 'grungy' to avoid looking perfect! I love this effect. Probably covers a multitude of sins too!
The lace was dyed with some distress re-inker to tone in with the scheme as was the jute thread holding the heart. The heart was 'distressed' with black acrylic paint.

The flowers were die cut from old book paper and coloured using distress inks and picket fence stain. A vintage floral image was stamped onto each flower with a toning versa mark colour for added depth.
The 'bling' stones were originally plain glass but were coloured with a toning shade of alcohol ink to complete the look.

The sentiment was stamped onto card which had previously been inked and stamped with a script image using distress ink.

I originally intended to layer the completed piece onto card which had been stamped with a vintage floral background image. When I put the layers together they  looked very busy and really quite awful! Instead, I opted for a plain layer which was lightly sanded, inked to enrich the tone and finally the edges were inked with walnut distress.

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings! Feel free to leave a comment if you have time - I love to hear your opinions and suggestions as I believe it's how we all learn and develop.