Words. . . . with flowers, lace and ribbon

Seems ages since I was here posting a little something! Had a truly memorable short visit to Rome with my husband. I cannot describe how beautiful that city is. . . . . . or how much I want to go back again!! Came back to better weather here and a new craft room to set up - a room with enough space to sew and craft AND not have to pack away one before doing the other! My husband has been amazing as the move involved some re-decorating in my daughters room and making up flat pack furniture - neither of which he particularly enjoys! I did help with both tasks but his contribution was way larger than mine!!

I have missed creating things so I had a look at my usual challenge blogs to see the themes available. As usual, Hels over at Sunday Stampers has a lovely little challenge based on the theme of 'Words'. Dedicated to the sad passing of Robin Gibb - I so love the Bee Gees and would find it difficult to name a favourite track!! I like the idea of using words but don't have a great many stamps for this so have used some that I felt were appropriate and improvised with a little old book paper too.

Over at Artful Times, the challenge is to use some ribbon and lace. I love both of these elements but don't often use real lace in my craft work. This time I've dug out a little piece of white cotton lace, added some Distress Ink et voilà! A lovely challenge which allows a wide range of creating to take place.

Another challenge blog which I enjoy visiting is 'Shopping Our Stash Weekly'. I seem, like all of you out there, to have loads of 'stuff' in my collection which should be used up before buying anything else . . . . . . . . . it's so difficult when you NEED to buy that new Distress pad or Dylusion spray ink though isn't it. . . . . . . . ! The challenge here is anything floral related so I knew I had to join in as flowers are always something I enjoy using in my work.

So, here is what I've created in my new, lovely room:

The elements I used to make my card. As usual, I'm merrily sticking things together and then remember that I haven't taken any pictures - OOPS! Sorry, but I know you will get the idea from this image that the flowers, button & ribbon embellishment and the main image have already been assembled!

The completed card. The flowers, embossed panel and the words panel have all been shimmer sprayed liberally but it barely shows in this photo.

The flowers were die cut, shimmer sprayed and coloured with Distress Inks. The small, central flowers were also stamped with an Andy Skinner stamp which I masked off so I only used the floral element. I did the same with the die cut branches.
I tore some paper from an old 50p book and added some Distress Ink to tone with all the other colours used. For the first attempt, I inked the edges with Walnut Distress Ink but it was far too dark so I left them pale on the second attempt and I prefer this effect.
I wired some beads for the centre of the flowers choosing some iridescent purple ones but that doesn't show up so well here!

I dry embossed a Tim Holtz folder and cut out the central panel to make the frame. I inked the folder with Distress Ink prior to using to lay a foundation for the colour work. Once dried, I added more Distress ink to build up the colour combination you see here. Final step was to add some randomly distributed gold embossing powder - how much do I love that stuff?!!
The centre panel was shimmer sprayed, coloured with Distress Ink and then stamped using Andy Skinner 'words' images. I so love the main sentiment and I'm sure Robin Gibb would have approved of that phrase!

I die cut a button and embossed it with gold detail powder. I wanted to tie a bow through it but quite honestly my attempts were pathetic! I decided to use some wired ribbon and gold embroidery thread to attach the two elements together and I'm much happier with this second attempt!
The lace is a little 'fuzzy' in this image but I think you can just about see that I've dyed it with the same Distress Inks to ensure it tones in with the rest of the piece. The lace is much more variegated in real life and shows the three colours used very clearly along the length.

My first piece from new craft room - hope you like it! If you've got down to this point, thank you for reading all my ramblings!