Thursday, July 24, 2014

An English Country Garden


We're having fabulous weather at the moment, the flowers (and weeds) are growing like crazy, and there are loads of butterflies around, so I thought I'd show you a picture of my garden.  No, not this picture, you'll have to scroll down for the real thing.

The stencilled/paste-embossed background was in my stash from a stencilling session waiting to be coloured, so I sponged Distress Inks over it and stamped some leaves, and it was all a bit vibrant (I was getting carried away with that sunshine) so I flicked some water over it, water-bleached some butterflies and sponged it with Antique Linen to calm it down a bit.  The big butterfly was sitting in my stash - I'd made it for a DT project and ended up not using it, so it was perfect for this card.

A few challenges have aligned perfectly for me.  At Simon Says Monday Challenge, it's Summer; at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, it's embossing; at Uniko Studios it's Anything Goes; and the curtain is coming down soon at Curtain Call Anything Goes.




Neither of us is a keen gardner, we'd rather look at it than do it.  Fortunately there are no weeds in this shot ;)

23 comments:

  1. Gorgeous card, Shirley, and a gorgeous garden...sizzling weather here in Belfast too! :)

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  2. WOW! Both your card and garden are beautiful. You create the most amazing backgrounds with such vibrancy and detail. I love the big bright butterfly too, it works perfectly on the card. Thanks SO much for joining in on the Uniko Studio challenge :) Hugs Bev x

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  3. Gorgeous card, Shirley! My hubby is a gardener by profession so our garden is manicured to within an inch of its flowery life. Your garden looks lovely, Jo x

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  4. Gorgeous card Helen, and a great photo of your wonderful garden.

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  5. Love your card, Shirley! So many beautiful elements! And...your garden...it's just lovely!

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  6. Beautiful card Shirley. Love the watercolored background and your gorgeous butterflies. LOVE your garden too - wow! ... lots of beautiful blooms and colors to inspire! Loll xx

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  7. Stunning card full of colourful wonders! I live the pop of white on top.. Very effective!
    Ingrid xx

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  8. That is such a lovely card Shirley, I always love your creations...had to chuckle when you said you and hubby aren't really gardeners and rather look at them then do them as my hubby and I are exactly the same.lol

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  9. Woo-Hoo! This is beautiful! And your garden is also.

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  10. Shirley, totally love your card, the colours are perfect. The mix of media, the butterfly. WOW want to make one just like it though I doubt I could ever capture the vibrancy.
    As to your garden, the photo shows such a wonderful garden. I would love to be sitting in that garden right now, of course its winter here and nothing much growing other than weeds. I'm very good at weeds.

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  11. Gorgeous card, love the background and the use of vibrant colours. Have a great weekend, Shirleyx

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  12. What a fabulous card! The background patterns and colors are gorgeous. Thank you so much for sharing with us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. :)

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  13. So pretty! I love how you did the background!

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  14. Your garden is simply amazing!!! And huge congrats on your Paper Players win - that card was stunning. This one is really pretty, too!

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  15. This is so pretty :) love the colors and ur garden looks awesome... Doesn't look like that u guys are not keen gardeners :)

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  16. What a riot of colour and beauty, Shirley ... that's your card and your garden ... both gorgeous! Anita :)

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  17. What a fabulous colourful card, love all the techniques you've used. Especially love the butterfly.
    Thank you for joining us at Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.
    Luv
    Debby

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  18. I love English cottage gardens. I tried once to create one myself but I moved house before i got anywhere near completion. And now that I live on Crete, i have mostly olive trees and lemon trees in my garden, and lots of pelargoniums, but hey, I'm not complaining LOL. Anyway, saw your card on the Curtain Call blog and just had to come over to tell you how much I like it. I should be playing more with my distress inks...

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  19. Wow, this is gorgeous, what fabulous use of colour. Thank you so much for joining in the Uniko Challenge this month.

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  20. This is 100% perfect! Love everything about it!!!!!

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