Pink With Double Ribbon (well ribbon and twine in my case!). . . . .

The challenge this week at the Sunday Stampers is to create something with the theme of 'Pink'! This made me remember my daughter when she was little and how everything had to be pink otherwise it was rejected immediately! She's now twenty and is far too sophisticated for most shades of pink but the memories  are something special to keep hold of. I love pink but prefer what I call the 'dirty' shades of pink rather than baby pink. One of my favourite Distress Ink shades is probably Victorian Velvet so that gives you some idea of where I'm coming from! I decided to make a tag for Hel's challenge as I'd already started a pink background and didn't really know what to do with it . . . . . . I think she's reading my mind as her last challenge fitted perfectly with something else I was doing at the time!

The theme at Simon Says Stamp and Show is 'Anything Goes' so I'm going to enter my tag there too.

At 'Shopping Our Stash Weekly' the theme is 'Double The Ribbon (or twine or both)' so my tag will fit in with their challenge too. I love ribbon and natural twine and I've been trying to use them a little more in my work. I've found some lovely crushed ribbon in a natural shade which is easy to dye to the colour of whatever you're making, so now I've decided I need more Distress Stains. . . . . . . luckily I had the right colour for this project (I only have three distress stains anyway!) and everything else was all there just waiting to be used.

So, here's what I've made this time:

The elements I used to make the tag. I've shown four flower 'tiles' here but in the end I only used three on the tag as I felt it would have been too crowded.

The completed tag with three flower tiles instead of four.

The ribbon trim was dyed with Distress Stain and then pleated and attached. I love all the wrinkles which give a slightly 'shabby' look.

The heart was die cut from scrap card which had already been sprayed with pink shimmer. Part of a floral image was stamped on the heart and the edges were inked. The letters were die cut, coloured with Distress Ink and shimmer spray. When dry, they were coated with Glossy Accents and attached when dry. They have the look of pearl nail varnish in real life - love this look! I used an offcut of the ribbon to made a tiny rosebud which was tucked behind the heart.
The bottom edge of the tag was stamped with a floral border image and then embossed using Crystal powder to act a resist medium. I really like the way this lightens the pink tone against the background colour. A piece of natural twine finished the look on the lower part of the tag. I used twine which is very fine to keep to the delicate, feminine theme. 

The background was created using Distress Inks, an old 'Impress' ink pad and shimmer spray. Water was sprayed through a dot stencil and allowed to spread a little before being dried. A floral stamp by Paper Artsy was used with Coffee Archival to add depth and interest to the background - I was pleased that this colour looks more like plum than coffee and will try to recreate this effect again. The edges were inked with Walnut Distress Ink. The little sentiments were stamped onto the same scraps as the tiles and fixed with brads which were coloured with alcohol inks to match the pink theme.

The flower images were stamped and then cosmic shimmer powder was brushed over the wet image - in real life they have a lovely, pearly sheen but it's not easy to catch on camera (for me at least!). The edges of the tiles were powder embossed with 'Aged Rose' embossing enamel by Stampendous. This was repeated several times to achieve a ragged, dripping effect. The various colours in the embossing powder seem to show up really well when a more random approach to embossing is used - I love using this method as it gives a very textured, tactile finish.

Hope you like this piece of work. Please leave a comment if you wish and many thanks to all those new followers who visit me and say such nice things. I have tried to visit you too but if I haven't got there yet, I will soon.