It started with a tree ...

Firstly on the patient front, we seem to have turned a corner yesterday, my cheeky fun loving husband made an appearance yesterday afternoon which was great.  But then we did have a fainting episode whilst watching the local news (laughing too much at the presenters playing James Bond in an Aston Martin).  My brother who'd come round to watch the rugby found it highly amusing to see me slapping John shouting at him to wake up. On the whole though, I think we are through the worse.

Whilst rummaging yesterday in my copious quantities of stash (purchased, looked at and not used - we've all got it haven't we) I spied a packet of 3 wooden trees and thought ooh ooh Scandinavian look.  to be honest I had just been in NEXT mooching around their home wares section whilst waiting for my prescription looking at the Christmas deccies, so it may not have been a real original thought.
 
I started off with a tag cut from mountboard. Firstly I put a couple of coats of  Hyde Park on it, swiped a candle down it to act as a resit and then put Chocolate Pudding over it. Rubbed it back with some sandpaper to reveal the green and then added Mocha Mousse, and Irish Cream Fresco Finish paints to lighten it up  and add depths of distress!.  Then using a real old manky wide brush (I never clean it as I want the bristles really hard) I dry brushed some Nougat on the top. I wanted a sort of weathered wood look. Added some swirls of Baltic Blue through a stencil and stamped some text in Aquamarine Archival.  Finally some White Fire Treasure Gold and Walnut Ink around the edges.

The tree was painted in French Roast and Then Nougat lightly added on top. Some gentle sanding to reveal the French Roast. Well I say gentle sanding I did manage to break one of the branches at the top hence the button! This was stuck onto a piece of rough linen again stitched onto felt.

The cardboard back was from PaperArtsy, loads of layers of Chocolate pudding, Mocha Mousse, Irish Cream. Some text stamping in Aquamarine.  French Roast stencilling and finally White Fire Treasure Gold and Walnut Ink around the edges.

Well I'm off to put away all the paints and inks and get out my fabric and fibres, I feel the need for some grungy stitching this morning followed by some delicate sewing this afternoon whilst watching various rugby matches on the telly.

hugs
jo
xx