CSI case file #77 - Bloom

Hi everyone! A new CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration challenge is up. Here's the case file:

I love the earthy colours and the botanical theme.

Yesterday, I posted a tutorial for a Garden Memories pop-up album and this was one of the photos I used there, but in a much smaller version. I like it so much that I wanted to scrap a larger version on a layout too. It is of my dad working in the vegetable garden of our old house, with all the apple trees blooming. From the evidence items I used: leaves and nature objects, envelope, twine, unusual banner, woodgrain, vintage botanical images and fruit accents. I tucked my journaling into a seed packet envelope, it is about gardening in this garden, but especially about a funny memory of a strawberry thief. He came to visit frequently for a while, and we had a pretty good idea who it was. One day we prepared some of the largest and yummiest looking strawberries with black pepper and salt, and later we could follow a trail of strawberries that someone had tasted only to realise they tasted horrible. As far as I can remember, the strawberry thief did not come back, and the story became an often laughed about family tale.

I found a very pretty FabScraps patterned paper in my stash, which worked real well for this layout and case file, it was embellished further with some stamping.

The banner was made with Karen Burniston's Flagpole w/Lantern & Sign die, from cork and canvas. The word on top spells 'flowers'. I found the seed packet images in a really old ephemera book from Hot of the Press, one of my first scrapbooking supplies I think. The little bird has been aged with a walnut ink mix.

One of my favourite natural products is mica, and here I white embossed three different stamps on mica pieces and stapled to the layout. This flower stamp and the 'nature study' label stamps were a RAK from my stamping friend Jan.

The cute Plant Markers come from Eileen Hull's new Picket Fence collection. I die cut them from mat board and painted with two colours green crackle paint (Old Paper and Peeled Paint). When dry, they were inked with Gathered Twigs and I stamped a strawberry on the one and a row of flowers on the other.

For my journaling, I created a little envelope with Eileen Hull's new Seed Packet Envelope die. I love this die, it makes the cutest looking envelopes. Here I left it open, to make it easy to take out the journaling cards and to show off the pretty flap. I used it in a similar way in my Garden Memories Album. I first die cut it from white paper, and then again from this pretty 7Gypsies paper, only using the front part and a piece to cover the flap. A strawberry and a carrot were stamped on top, both growing in the vegetable patch where my dad is working on the photo. 'Memories' comes from a new Hero Arts 'Stamp your story' set. I also found a skeleton leaf in my stash. The tabs on the journaling cards were die cut with the Tiny Tabs & Tags die.

The 'Bloom' word comes from the same die as the Plant Markers. Isn't it pretty? I die cut it from mat board and painted with Peeled Paint crackle paint. When dry, it was inked with Gathered Twigs.

The second Plant Marker was painted with Old Paper crackle paint. The flourish underneath comes from a new Sizzix Prima die and was die cut from kraft core paper.

Thank you so much for looking! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin
Supplies:
Surfaces: Sizzix Little Sizzles cream mat board 6 x 13; FabScrap patterned paper; MME 6 x 6 patterned papers; 7 Gypsies Off the Wall 8 x 8 paper pad; Hot off the Press Nature Arty Collage pad; Claudine Hellmuth Natural Sticky-Back Canvas; cork sheet; Tim Holtz Core'dinations Kraft-Core cardstock; mica
Dies: Sizzix: Seed Packet Envelope, Bloom & Plant Markers, Tiny Tabs & Tags, Flagpole w/Lantern & Sign, Classique
Stamps: Red Lead Paper Works: Nature Study Story; Hero Arts: Remember AC028, Farmer's Market CG384, Sunflower CG383, Three Artistic Butterflies LP215; 7Gypsies/Hampton Art: Distressed Words
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black, Olive; Distress Ink: Gathered Twigs
Embossing powder: Ranger Seafoam White
Paint: Distress Crackle Paint: Peeled Paint, Old Paper

Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chit Chat stickers, Label Letters; Prima wooden leaf; Studio Calico wood veneer bird; skeleton leaf