Grunge Flowers. . . . .

Thank you so much for the lovely comments I had from people on my last post. It was not a good time for me  craft-wise and then it got worse due to a lovely friend's sad family news. Your support has made me rethink what I do and although I'm still going to join in with challenges, I need to just sit and create without worrying about anything except the enjoyment it brings. If it goes wrong - which it will! - I'll cope far better with it I'm sure.

I started this tag a few days ago because I wanted to play with some ancient watercolour pencils I've had since before my daughter was born and she's twenty!

I made a background in various layers and I loved how I could build on the colours and almost create a freehand stencil effect (mask for you trendy people!). This is how the first layer looked before adding water:

Doesn't look much does it?! I then used a large brush and washed over it with water, dried it and continued adding layers and a vague pattern with the watercolour pencils. Each layer was then moistened and dried before adding the next. Finally, I used some distress ink through a stencil in a toning green shade and some walnut ink around the edges. Scroll down for the finished tag.

You can see that the background had a number of layers added after the previous image. I used orange, red, two shades of green, and yellow pencils for the various layers. The small spots were achieved with distress ink as was the random script stamped in the background. 
I love the quote from Kahlil Gibran too - it can conjure up so many images for so many situations and emotions.

The lace die cut was coloured with the same pencils (and water), then coated with three layers of clear embossing powder. I stamped into the molten layer using a floral stamp with gold brilliance ink and a little coffee archival too. I love that you have to look very closely before you see this - it's just there, making a contribution to the project.

The grungy, scruffy but delicious flowers were made from card die cuts, stamped randomly and then coloured with dylusion ink after spritzing with water. When soaking wet, they are scrunched up (VERY messy!), teased apart to suit and then left to dry. I have to say thank you to the very talented Neil Walker who shared a tutorial for this which I just had to try - I now have  soggy lumps in various stages of drying around my room. If you want to read how Neil made these gorgeous creations then follow this link.

You may also notice that I've added some layers of netting behind each flower. It seems to soften their appearance and I really like the effect. It's more obvious in real life.

I was going to stamp some flower stalks but decided to use my sewing machine and stitch them instead. I chose a toning shade of green and a stitch which I felt worked well as a stalk with some 'leaves'. I'm pleased to be gradually using my textiles skills here and there in my craft work.

I'm very happy with this tag and at the suggestion of Alison, Buttons, Anne and others, I have now looked for some challenges to enter it in and here they are:

Sunday Stampers - A Riot Of Colour

Frilly and Funky - The Great Outdoors

The Stamp Man - Summer Sizzlers

I think this is the way for me to go. I always like to share at Sunday Stampers and have often entered at The Stamp Man. Frilly and Funky is a new one for me but I do keep tabs on a number of their designers and thought I should have a go!