Blooming Marvellous At Artful Times. . . . . . .

The challenge this fortnight at Artful Times asks us to show how we display our flowers. I love making flowers and just had to find time to play along with Von and Neet. If you don't know these lovely ladies, follow the links to their blogs and to Artful Times - you won't be disappointed!

Another tag from me - I just can't resist making them to be honest. I love the display area they provide and you can pack so many elements into your design on just one tag.

I've used another family photo (copy, of course) and I'm so proud I can say that because I think it's delightful. The photo shows my paternal Grandmother as a little girl and the family resemblance is certainly there.

The finished piece. The photo of my Grandmother looks a little blurred because the original doesn't have anything like the resolution we can achieve now. The main spray of roses is attached to some wire which I've covered with the sari silk so the tag looks reasonable from the back as well as the front.
I've used some more sari silk at the top and bottom of the tag. In real life, the colours match perfectly but I couldn't achieve that on the photos!

The tag was coated twice with gesso. Scraps of Tim tissue tape were glued here and there. The two layers which followed were a mixture of DecoArt Americana and Fresco paints.

Stamping of florals was done using archival ink. You can see the tissue tape peeking through here. The little diamonds are waste from some washer die cuts used previously. They have been painted using the same colours.

After the paint, the diamonds were coloured with pencil, followed by Treasure Gold, dry brushed Americana and finally a thin later of crackle. Some tissue tape also peeps out on the left of the photo.

All the rose blooms were made with die cut tattered florals. Before construction they were painted with Fresco. After construction, archival ink was randomly applied, mica spray was spritzed all over the blooms and when dry, the edges of the petals were swiped with a little Treasure Gold.

Sari silk was pleated and added to the bottom of the tag. To the right of the diamond shapes you can see some script. To achieve this, modelling paste was applied through a stencil and then the area was treated in the same way as the rest of the tag.

For the 'frame', thick card was embossed, layered with Americana acrylics, antiqued with several washes using Americana paints and finally a light coat of Treasure Gold was applied to give definition. You can also see some dry brushing in this image (on the right, under the stamping) which was applied to the tag background.

Hope you like my tag. I've missed a few challenges at Artful Times so it's really good to be back playing with the ladies again.