Wednesday 23 April 2014

Dragons' Dream - A flower and the letter 'B'.

Hello Followers and Friends! I do hope that you had a wonderful Easter break and that if you don't celebrate Easter, you have been happy and enjoying some glorious Spring weather. I so appreciate the kindness of my followers in stopping by to take a look at my 'Magpie Makes' and I hope that you will find something of interest in the Magpie's Nest. Today it's time to dream with the Dragons again, and this week the amazing Gabrielle has set the recipe! She had so many ideas whirring around in her imagination, in the end she asked her son, Tom to decide and he came up with 'The letter 'b' and a flower'. Of course I was up and away with that recipe, so eager to play around with creating flowers that it wasn't until it was too late that I realized Tom's instruction had been 'A flower' - not a whole bunch of them! I do hope he and Gabrielle will forgive me for getting 'carried away' and featuring not one, but four flowers in all! Sadly Magpies are not renowned for arithmetic! If you want to see some great takes on this recipe by people who can read and count (!) then please click here. We love to see your beautiful tags so do link up with the Dragons' Dream too!
'B' is for blue - my favourite colour so I began by covering a Jumbo tag with some Ice Blue, Fresco Finish paint. I then went over with some Antarctic and some Mermaid, using my new Prima sanding tool that I bought at Ally Pally to rub off some of the top coat to reveal the different shades beneath. Next it was time to play with the gorgeous doily stencil by Rebekah Meier for the Crafters Workshop that I also bought from AP. I used Leandra at PaperArtsy's 'bumping' technique for this, sponging through the stencil first in Chocolate Pudding, then shifting it a little and sponging over with Mermaid.
After adding some text from a PaperArtsy mini in Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil archival, I gave it a good sand with my Prima tool for an aged look and edged it with Inky Pool and then French Roast. The Prima too also has an edge for distressing the sides of the tag.
As you can see, I played with all sorts of ideas for creating different layered flowers. I had to put aside some of my fantasy flowers for another project in the end. I also found a Tim Holtz medallion in my stash with the word, 'Breathe' engraved into it. My tag was beginning to have a message: flowers, birds and blue all symbolize part of what it is to breathe and to feel alive for me! Blue skies, the scent of flowers and the sound of birdsong combine to make my Magpieheaven!
 Eventually, after much shifting around of elements, I came up with this composition. The blue eye at the centre of the flower on the right was painted with some Glossy Accents over Beach Hut Fresco to give the effect of a bright blue eye! The eye is part of an 'Inkylicious' stamp of a face. Over on the left is the beautiful Lynne Perrella lady stamped with Wendy Vecchi, Potting Soil onto Shrink Plastic, painted with Antarctic Fresco. I just had to include her, as she seemed so perfectly to complement the circles on the doily stencil.
I used a Crop-o-dile to punch a hole through the plastic, threading a little blue waxed thread through to make her into a medallion too. The Tim Holtz disc was painted with Antarctic and touched with some Sapphire Treasure Gold.
This is my favourite in the flower garden: a brown gauze flower sent by my crafting friend, Kerry Ann Hickton; some Tim Holtz die-cut petals; a rusted Prima flower courtesy of Lucy another of my dear crafting friends and a little blue resin bird, covered in Sapphire and Indigo Treasure Gold. Thank you so much for dreaming with me today in my blue tag garden. I wish you all blue skies, blue flowers and birdsong in your own gardens this Springtime!

18 comments:

  1. Gorgeous tag Julie Ann, the blue eye looks fab amonst all those flowers. Elizabeth xxx

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  2. Oh so lovely Julie Ann, so many different techniques. Loving the colour and I really the eye in your flower xx

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  3. This is so gorgeous, Julie Ann; so many wonderful elements with that beautiful doily stencil and the wonderful Lynne Perrella lady on the shrink plastic. That Prima distressing tool is a new one on me, it looks great. I thought it was for chiropody! I love the beautiful blue you have chosen,

    Lucy x

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  4. Oh Julie Ann, this has so much interest and detail on it. I love this Doily die...on my wish list that always grows. Your flower with the detail of the eye on it is just such a genius idea, looks fabulous. Julie x

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  5. I am loving all those flowers - I am sure more than one is ok!! That doily stencil is just gorgeous, isn't it?!

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  6. Oooh wow this looks stunning, your stencil looks like it's 3d and colours are fab xx

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  7. Had to be blue, blue flowers and birdsong i agree, a fantastic theme. Am a huge fan of blue poppies after seeing them at Dawyck Botanical Gardens in Stobo, Peebles a few years ago. I bought some from a rare plant sale from Arley Hall, they lasted less then 24 hours. Little did i know that garden snails find them a delicacy and had devoured my plants overnight. I was totally shocked to find my back yard full of the snails at 7am!!!

    Sorry i digress... Your Tag is beautiful, the RM stencil is amazing and realky does look 3D. Another stunner Julie Ann:-) xxx

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  8. Sooo Gorgeous! Love everything about your tag!!! xoxo

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  9. Beautifully designed Julie Ann, I adore the colour combination and the composition is wonderfully balanced. The eye in the flower particularly grabs my attention, I just love your creativity. Having seen you pick up the prima tool at AP, I went and invested in one myself and love using it xx

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  10. Gorgeous tag Julie Ann, Love the Blue the background is fabulous...Beautiful stamps & flowers...the eye in the flower is fabulous... Hugs May x x x

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  11. This is amazing, Julie Ann - the dimension you've created on the doily from the bumping is just astounding, and I love your glorious flowers - I'm sure you'll be forgiven!
    Alison xx

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  12. Wow, what a gorgeous tag. The stencilled doily looks great & I love the eye too, but every detail is fantastic.

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  13. How cool is this tag ?! Fantastic details, love the blue eye.

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  14. Oh Miss Julie Ann that tag is FABULOUSSSSS, that dolie is fantastic, the colors are gorgeous, now those flowers are just THE BOMB, you are a Master with those paints, I hope I can get some time to dream with the Dragons. You are blowing me away with all of your creations, thanks for always inspiring me...

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  15. Oh my! I totally love this!

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  16. Your tag is so fabulous and gorgeous! Do not despair, each and every flower is "a flower". They have as much individual beauty as they do all together. We just like them to have company, is all. So many wonderful elements in your tag. Well done!

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  17. Wow wow wow absolutely amazing wonderful fabulous tag. I really love the flowers and the eye in the flower is genius. I have just started playing with the bumping technique, but when I first saw your tag all I thought was I want that paper doily because seriously I thought it was paper or plastic as it jumps out at you. I had to re read when you said it was a stencil, then I re read thinking no surely not. Its a huge wow the depth it shows is truly awesome :-) Kezzy xxx

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