Hello Flower by Fliss Goodwin

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to my first tutorial of 2016 which features one of the fab new substrata blanks by That’s Crafty!, in this case a large MDF tag which is a lovely sturdy surface to take paint and anything else you might throw at it! I’ve tried my hand at the current Bokeh trend too with the bubbles stencil, which I think is perfect for this effect.

Ingredients:

Tim Holtz Cling Stamp Sets – Bird Crazy, Flower Garden

Sizzix Tim Holtz Crazy Bird Die Set

Carabelle Studio A7 Stamp – Journal du Jour (my favourite go to background stamp)

That’s Crafty! MDF Tag 4.2 x 8.4 

That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil – Bubbles Background 

Archival Ink – Jet Black, Fern Green

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Paint – Hansa Yellow Light, Green Gold

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints – Blush, Sherbet, Haystack, Vintage Lace

White Gesso 

White Stamping Card 

Circle Die Set or Punch

Thick Card (to make a DIY stencil)

Scraps of Green Painted Paper (made with a Gelli Plate)

Watercolour Pencils 

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chit Chat Sticker Book

Ribbon

Recipe:

Paint the tag with the white Gesso to form a base coat for the paint layers. When dry, use the bubbles stencil with the Haystack and Green Gold paints to apply a circular pattern all over the tag.

Cut a strip of thick card and use circular dies or punches to make a stencil with 2 slightly larger sizes of circle. Use the stencil to randomly apply further circles with the remaining paint shades, starting with the lightest shade and finishing with the yellow.

Using the Fern Green ink and the text collage background stamp, stamp off first on scrap paper and then stamp the image randomly on the painted tag, stamping some off the edges until you’re happy with the effect.

Stamp the bird twice on stamping card, together with the Echinacea flower head (I thought this was a daisy until I saw the last Countryfile episode which featured a whole garden of these and they were pink, which is why mine is here!).

Colour one of the birds and the flower with the watercolour pencils. I’ve used my favourite trick here, running grey all around the edges before cutting out or die cutting as it makes them really pop! Cut the flower out by hand and use the bird die set to cut out the bird and the eyes and beak from the second stamped image.

Curve the long stalk from the flower garden set to the left on an acrylic block – this is actually the opposite way to that intended but it works well if you press it firmly to the block. Stamp directly on the painted tag with the black ink and colour with a green watercolour pencil.

Cut some long leaves out of the green paper scraps and draw round the edges and down the centre with a grey pencil to blend them in with the stamped images.

Glue the flower head and leaves on the tag together with the bird and finish off with a Chit Chat text sticker.

Wishing you all a fab and craft filled 2016 and keep your eyes peeled for all the exciting happenings here in this new year.

Fliss x