Springtime in Paris

Hello everyone and welcome to another DT card for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge - April in Paris. The constant cold weather in the UK means springtime this year seems to have been put on almost permanent hold. Looking at photos from the same time last year there were lots of flowers in bloom and nest building aplenty - that's not the case this year.

 So, I let my mind wander back to those lovely warm days and and grabbed my new stamp set - Tim Holtz 'Paris to London' - for inspiration. The Postcard Texture Fade was used on the white base card. It is a bit of an art using an embossing folder on a piece of card 6"x 6". Next I die cut various elements with the same white card, including a postage square (Spellbinders) for use as a base element.

The postage square was embossed with in white with the background stamp part of the set. I also stamped/embossed/fussy cut a fleur de lis, postage stamp, postcard and the Eiffel Tower (which looked better in copper). These elements were layered onto the postage square and the white texture paste leaves were applied to the background. 

Then it was time to take my heart in my mouth and grab the coloured mists (this is always scary as the end result is unpredictable!) The idea was to  echo the colours in the flowers so layers of orange, yellow and brown-red were spritzed onto the background/white elements. Initially I masked off the outer edges, but having a patch of colour in an off-centre position looked wrong so the whole lot got covered and the edges ink distressed.

I'll be honest - panic set in at this stage as all that lovely die cut/fussy cut/stencilled detail had been lost, with only the embossed areas remaining obvious. Then I reached for my white Uni-ball pen and coloured over those elements again to make them pop once more (with the added extra of some Treasure Gold gilding wax) and hey presto, card salvaged.

Then it was time to go mad with embellishments, including the handmade flowers, the distressed tape measure (cut from one of the new Texture Fade folders) and a copper metal corner that got snipped in half. Linda may recognise the little Paris tag, a die cut freebie that was sent with one of my first orders from her - anyone who has ever ordered from The Funkie Junkie Boutique will know that Linda wraps her orders by hand and has been known to drop in extra goodies too which makes the whole shopping experience so exciting:) 

Hurrah! You've made it to the end of this post! Hope you've been inspired/encouraged along the way, if only the recognition that things go wrong but can invariably be fixed with a bit of perseverance. Please make your way over to the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog to see what my awesome teamies have been up to. You may even be inspired to have a go at joining in yourselves, especially with a $25 shopping spree up for grabs. Hugs, Jenny xxx

Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Bottle Caps and Rulers Set	Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Postcard and Sheet Music Set	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Victorian Velvet	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Spiced Marmalade	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Mustard Seed	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Victorian Velvet	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Rusty Hinge
$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Paris to London	Ranger Archival Ink - Sepia	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Copper Mixative	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Rust	4 Piece Antiqued Copper Triangle Filigree Pieces	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	Ranger Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet