When I planted my little wisteria, everyone who I asked said that it would flower in it's second year after planting. I watched it grow at a tremendous speed, and in the second year... it didn't flower! I waited five years for this beautiful plant to bloom finally in late April 2011 - but it was so worth the wait!
I don't think I've ever worked so hard in putting a layout together - from stamping with my favourite swirly La Blanche stamp, and also using a Tim Holtz stamp from the Visual Artistry collection (Urban Grunge CSS25917)... to making each and every little wisteria bloom and leaf... to the huge amount of hand stitching! I started with a 12x12 paper from the "Rose Garden" collection of papers (PMA1671300) and stamped using Milled Lavender (68976) first and embossing it with clear powder, followed by swirls and text using Dusty Concord (78179) Ranger inks over the top of the embossing. I then layered up a mix of scrap papers from the Rose Garden Collection, and also remnants from the Heather Capsule set of papers that are STILL in my stash drawer. I looked carefully at the wisteria to see how they're put together - but nomatter how I tried I couldn't make my paper replicas look as good as the real thing. I used plain papers and sprayed them with a mix of Cosmic Shimmer Mists.
The leaves were done in the same way - and I embossed them to make them look more authentic. When I glued the flower and leaves design to the papers, I stitched stems through them just to bring it all together a bit (not explaining myself very well here... sorry!). I topped off the paper wisteria bloom with a couple of ribbon bows in co-ordinationg colours.
The triple-fold design at the bottom right-hand corner is stitched to hold it down... and I also added matching buttons (found in my stash drawer).
The bright green butterflies are Anita's Decorative Toppers (ANT373100) - I cut around them to remove any white edges. I didn't really plan this layout, but I did have some idea of how I wanted it to look. I'm quite happy with the result - except for one really silly mistake. Look closely at the line of small photographs... the bottom one is upside down! lol. Well, this took me ages... and I'm not changing it now!
4 comments:
I am lost for words - this page is absolutely stunning. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of love and care you put into each page. You truely are an awesome scrapper and it is always a pleasure to look at your designs on your blog. Thank you for sharing them'
Beautiful LO and so glad that your Wisteria has finally bloomed - they are stunning plants; aren't they.
Toni :o)
All that work really shows, it's just the most amazing layout.
Sheleen, I had a go at making a paper rose with a hot glue gun yesterday and it has given me a whole new appreciation of your flower making talents!
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