Saturday 25 May 2024

Embrace the Flowers



Hi everyone, this month’s ATC swap in the Tracy Evans FB group has a theme of “Embrace the Flowers”.  Given the huge number and variety of floral design stamps Tracy has produced both for AALL & Create, and most recently for her own brand, the possibilities for this theme are endless - but I just HAD to include the new wheelbarrow stamp! I ended up making a series of 6 ATC’s - 4 for the swap and 2 extra for me to trade separately. They involved a lot of steps and stages and were very fiddly and time consuming, but I love playing with these stamps and am very pleased with how they turned out - here they are.


I cut six pieces of white stamping card each fractionally smaller than standard ATC size, and created my backgrounds by blending Lavinia Elements inks using my Mini Hill Masks and a home made cloud stencil.  I then stamped the wheelbarrows, and masked each one in turn while I repeatedly stamped a foliage portion of a larger stamp in Verdant Versafine Clair followed by a 2nd generation fern in Shady Lane VFC… this part of the process really did take forever! I then stamped 18 little flowers, coloured with Zig pens and added white Posca highlights and Wink of Stella for sparkle, and fussy cut them all out. I stamped a little tulip onto each ATC using various shades of VFC, and a portion of the “Branched Heart” stamp to represent an overhanging tree branch. I added white Posca highlights to the tulips and wheelbarrows, then matted each panel onto a standard ATC size piece of black card stock before finally attaching a row of 3 flowers onto each wheelbarrow.

Here are some closeups.

ATC 1/6
ATC 3/6
ATC 5/6

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE14 The Wonder if Nature, TE13 Delight In Nature, TE6 Branched Heart, TE3 Fern, AALL & Create #906 The Good;
Media: Lavinia Elements Inks (Blue Lagoon, Olive); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Verdant, Shady Lane, Tulip Red, Cheerful, Baby Pink, Lilac Bloom, Charming Pink, Summertime); Kuretake Zig Clean Colour watercolour pens; Wink of Stella; Posca pen (white);
Tools: Lavinia Mini Hill Masks; home made cloud stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #782 - Anything Goes
ATC’s Around The World (May) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)
Beautiful Blossoms #17 - Anything Floral Goes (3rd entry)
Crafts Galore Encore #123 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)
Creative Crafters #76 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)
Four Seasons (May) - Anything Goes Spring (2nd entry)
Love to Craft #80 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)
Mix It Up #71 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)
Outlawz (May) - Anything Goes In a Card Free Zone (2nd entry)
Paper Funday #65 - Anything Goes with option Flower Shoppe
Papercraft #106 - Flower Power (3rd entry)
Try It On Tuesday - Small Things - TOP 5
We Love Stamping (May) - Anything Goes (3rd entry)
Word Art Wednesday #649/650 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Speaking of embracing the flowers … I’d also like to share a few pictures I took at Rufford Old Hall, a National Trust Tudor Hall near Liverpool which we visited in the gorgeous sunshine last Sunday.  The flowers were in glorious full bloom and made me feel quite inspired, particularly the honeysuckle, dandelion clock and cow parsley which really reminded me of Lavinia stamps. 











Sadly the weather here has really gone downhill since then, but today is looking a bit brighter again so we can but hope some more spring sunshine isn’t too far away! Take care everyone and thanks for visiting. 
Hugs,

19 comments:

brenda said...

What a gorgeous collection of ATC's Pauline, really summery and we'll forgot about the weather outside, as you say gone downhill since last weekend. Great photos of a beautiful building and gardens as well.

Many thanks for sharing an ATC with us at Allsorts and We Love Stamping challenges.

B x

Stephanie Lanzalotto said...

A wonderful collection of ATC's with beautiful images and skilled coloring. I really enjoyed the photos of your visit to Rufford Old Hall too.Thanks for playing and sharing with us at The Four Seasons Challenge.

Ellibelle said...

A really beautiful assortment of ATC Pauline, loving each version and the wheelbarrow looks like a great addition to your stamps.
Such great pictures too, I never get tired of seeing things in bloom!
Great to see you at Allsorts challenge this week too!

crafty-stamper said...

Fabulous ATCs,beautiful flowers and the different colourways.Love the photos from your trip out.
Carol x

Sarn said...

Beautiful ATCs with an amazing amount of work in them.

Pretty pictures of your day out. We’ve had a beautiful day down south but set for some rain tomorrow. Xxx

Donna Walls said...

Such a lovely collection of ATC's, I love the wheelbarrow image filled with florals. Also, your pictures of the Tudor Hall are amazing, thanks for sharing. Thanks for joining us at The Paper Funday and Beautiful Challenges. Best of luck in the draw!
Donna xx
Inspiration Station Challenge
Paper Funday Challenge
Beautiful Blossoms Challenge

coldwaters2 said...

WOW these ATC's are so beautiful Pauline those flowers are wonderful I also have enjoyed your pictures, my mum and I used to love visiting stately homes and gardens thank you for joining our challenges at both Allsorts and We Love Stamping
hugs
lolo x

Linby said...

Gorgeous and they look so wonderful all lined up together.
Not been to Rufford Hall but it looks amazing.

Rainey's Craft Room said...

A superb set of very colourful ATC's Pauline, lovely designs too.
It has been torrential rain here this morning and is set to be a very wet week, such a shame for everyone on holiday especially families with children as they've finished school for this week and want to be outside.
Lorraine

KraftyKoolKat said...

Such a gorgeous array of ATC's Pauline, a lot of work has gone into these. Thank for sharing your lovely day out photo's too. Brought back memeories, I use to live in that area once upon a time. Thank you so much for sharing your lovely creation with us at We Love Stamping.
Hugs
Cathy
xxxxx

Joan said...

Your ATC's are beautiful.

Thanks for joining in at Try It On Tuesday Challenge


Joan

Liz said...

Wonderful collection of ATCs, Pauline. So much detail in a little space. Thank you for joining in the Allsorts Challenge this week.

The Tudor Hall and gardens look amazing.

Liz xx

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

With both my hats on Pauline, I am in awe at your ATC's, I love the colours and the barrows full of flowers, SO beautiful. Thank you so much for joining us in our challenge at We Love Stamping. Good Luck and I hope you will join us in our next challenge.
Faith A DT

Darlene said...

WOW! These are AWESOME! Thanks so much for joining in the fun at Beautiful Blossoms! Good Luck and we hope you’ll come back often. We appreciate your support!

Darlene
BB DT
BEAUTIFUL BLOSSOMS
DAR’S CRAFTY CREATIONS

PS: Thanks for sharing these beauties with us over on our SF & Four Seasons blogs. We appreciate you!

MortiCraft said...

What a lovely set of cards. The red and yellow ones catch my eye the most. Thanks for playing along with Papercraft Challenges. X

Anke said...

WOW Pauline your ATCs are so beautiful ...

Hugs
Anke

Conny said...

Wonderful flower ATCs and beautiful photos!
Thanks for joining us at ATC Around The World!

Hugs,
Conny

ILEANA ARTUFFO said...

Wonderful creations!
Thank-you for joining us at the Crafts Galore Encore Challenge May "ATG".
Ileanaxx

Diane said...

Beautifully creative variety of ATS's and thanks for sharing your photos with us too, I loved seeing them!!
Thank you for joining our challenge at Beautiful Blossoms, Stencil Fun and The Four Seasons!
Diane BB DT and FS, SF Co-Owner
{Nellies Nest}
{Beautiful Blossoms}