Floral Frenzy ~ Stamps and Stencils ~ New Challenge.

Hi everybody! It's time for a new challenge over at the Stamps and Stencils blog. Our talented host this month is  Ruth and she has chosen the theme, 'Floral Frenzy'.This is what Ruth has to say.......

'Hopefully it's sizzling June... when beautiful blooms burst into life. Whether they're stamped, stencilled or hand made, we want to see flowers as the main focus of your mixed media project'

Well, this is a challenge that speaks to my heart. I'm sure I've said it many times but I love making flowers! As you can see, my project features quite a few. The substrate is a piece of grey board, salvaged from the back of used sketch book. I adhered some torn book pages to the surface, and stenciled the top half with modelling paste.

Once this was dry, I gave the background a light coating of gesso, allowing some of the text to show through. I then used several colours of Distress Paint, blending and allowing the colours to dribble and mingle, by spraying with water.

I then stamped the face onto a piece of lightweight white card. The stamp by Indigo Blu, is called 'Jane'. It's a large size, A6, so is perfect to stand alone. I used black Archival Ink, and coloured the image with Pan Pastels.

I've made a mental note to use my Pan Pastels more! I've only got a few, and I'm afraid to say I've hardly used them. They are so nice though. I then cut Jane out, and adhered her to the background. I then had a root through my tin of spare paper flowers. I have a stash of flowers left over from past projects as well as ones that I've been trying out. As they were all different colours, I gave each one a coat of white gesso. I really like the way the gesso has blended with the original colour, giving some nice pastel shades. I used Distress ink to add depth to those that were plain.

After trying out a few arrangements, I used a hot glue gun to adhere each of the flowers. I used a black Stabilo pencil and water brush to add some shading around the edge of the head, and a little Distress Ink around the edges of the background. I applied a piece of paper doily, painted similarly to the background, to 'ground' the head. The dyed satin bow was my finishing touch.
If you'd like to join in with our latest challenge, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog, where you'll find the details of how to get involved. You'll also see some fantastic projects by the rest of the design team. Until next time....'Happy crafting' x

Just got word of a couple of challenges this will meet so I'm going to hop over to the lovely Indigo Blu, where the challenge is 'May...... all your Dreams come True', I think this dreamy image of a young Jane is longing for a summer full of romance! I'm also hopping over to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog where I've chosen '#14 Summer days'x