Countdown to Spring

Hello, everybody!  It seems like it's been a while since I've posted, but rest assured, I have been working and playing in my Closet!  My projects have just been a little more time consuming. I have a wall hanging here for you today. When I saw that Frilly and Funkie was having a "Winter Blooms" challenge all sorts of ideas came to mind to make winter flowers--but that means camellias and pansies  to me, neither of which I know how to make--yet!

 My wall hanging was partially inspired by my friend, Kathy's store--it is her dream, and she is living her dream with passion.  There is a colorful sign out front; it is a chalkboard with a countdown of the number of days left until spring, and each day she updates it and it brings her that much closer to spring. So I thought why not make spring flowers in anticipation of this glorious season.

 Of course, my other inspiration comes from Tim Holtz' techniques and his versatile products.  I'm very excited to see the fresh, light- hearted new line of goodies he has turned out for us.  This butterfly is one of his new stamps from the Perspective set, and I''m seeing so many possibilities for it. I LOVE the butterfly!

If you REALLY  use your imagination you can see the sparkle from the Rock Candy Distress Glitter.  Need sunlight to pick that up with the camera, and we just weren't having any of that today!

A Vintage Journey  would like to see us include special numbers on our project this time. I stamped some random and subtle numbers with my new stamp (part of the Perspective set) to signify the countdown toward spring.  A few "figure" numbers to add some interest, and even some numbers stamped on one of my flowers! Not a lot; just enough to get my countdown point across.

Some subtle numbers in the corner.

                                               

Some subtle numerology can be seen under the leaves.

I started with water color paper, Distress stains and water. I still don't have the sprays yet, so I made my puddle and dragged and dipped my paper to get this gorgeous background. I held the paper just so to get some yummy drips, and spritz and flicked to get some drops. The drips were added special for Country View's challenge this month, but the drops were just for me! I watercolor stamped a few butterflies and then rolled on the accompanying numbers stamp randomly (remember the countdown to spring). When completely dry I gave a spritz with Perfect Pearls mist for some shimmer.  I used Tim's Rock Candy Distress Glitter technique with a few of the butterflies. The sentiment is from the same set, inked in Cobalt Archival. I added another Tim Holtz stamp from his Bird Feather set and a bee (Little Things--Tim Holtz) stamped on tissue in black archival.  I used gel medium to adhere and was able to get my bee to head in a different direction using this technique.  I colored him with Distress markers and blended him in with a tiny bit of Picket Fence Distress paint on a baby wipe. To finish the background, I used a Heidi Swapp stencil and Distress ink to make a trellis along the left edge, and used Picket Fence Distress Paint and the stencil to do the monoprint on the right edge, but neither is barely visible with all the flowers I've added!

 I celebrate the day they made Distress stains!  What beautiful backgrounds they make!

Some of the mono printing done with a stencil can be seen above the bee.

I mounted the water color background to a piece of white card stock adorned with ink and a Recollections trellis-like stencil and given the spritz and flick for those wonderful droplets. This was mounted to a piece of foam board.

Some of the droplet s can be seen along the left edge and some of the trellis stenciling on the card stock edge and on the water color background under the foliage.

Next came the flowers, all made with Tim's Tattered Florals Bigz die and Tatterered Floral Garland die. The yellow roses were colored with Dylusions spray and Distress ink, and after assembled and dried given a little swipe of Picket Fence Distress Paint.  The Daisy looking flower amongst the roses is made from the Bigz die and several punches from a sunburst punch for the center.  This paper was colored with Glimmer Mist. The two blue flowers on the right were made using the TF Garland die and Distress stain.  The smaller one was stamped with script from  Tim's Attic Treasures set.  I chose this image because it has numbers on it, but they are not obvious when you look at the flower--I know the numbers are there! I made the stamen out of thread and embossing powder. The greenery is cut from Tim's Springtime Greenery die and shaded using Distress stain.

More numbers on this flower, but upside down!

This was so much fun to make while I enjoyed a nice warm day indoors while we had a cold, wet day outdoors.  It really is a countdown to spring! I couldn't resist a few similar shots with different lighting! I felt like different light flattered different elements on this and found it hard to pick one favorite shot.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your lovely comments.  I read, appreciate and comment on every one of them.  I'll be back at the end of the week with another breath of spring! Hugs and blessings!

Sara Emily

I would like to enter this into the following inspirational challenges:

Frilly and Funkie "Winter Blooms"

A Vintage Journey "Special Numbers" My numbers represent a countdown to spring.


Country View Challenges "Drips and Drops"

Artist Trading Post "Alphabet Soup" I used numbers (an option for this challenge) to represent a countdown to spring.

Artistic Stamper February's Creative Challenge "Love" I LOVE butterflies and I'm in love with my new Tim Holtz Perspective stamp set!

Inspiration Journal "Love is in the Air"  I'm in love with Tim's new Perspective stamps and I love butterflies!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "No Rules" Now I like anything without rules!

Craft Stamper February Challenge "Stencilling" I used 2 stencils with ink and paint, regular stencilling and monoprinting.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Add a Little Texture" I love texture, both one dimensional "visual" texture and 3 dimensional "tactile' texture and I've included both.

Open Minded Crafting Challenge #30 "Up in the Air" How could I not enter in a challenge blog called "Open Minded"?!






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