Beautiful Botanicals

Hello Monday my friends! We are all about botanicals this week at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with our BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS theme. Did you know mushrooms, toadstools and fungi are also botanicals? I think these species are pretty amazing with their diverse shapes and colors. I did sneak in a few flowers too if you look closely. 

MYCOLOGY FIELD NOTES

I went to a page in my small Dylusions journal that I'd made long ago and am using this as my base. If your creative mojo is in a slump, why not just play and make some backgrounds in your journal?

Next, I am adding a crackle layer with the new Crackle Background (designed by my teammate Anna-Karin!) and Ground Espresso. 

I'm sneaking in some flowers with the new Anna's Flowers set (yes, another from Anna-Karin!) The large ones are using Peeled Paint, and the smaller sizes are the Tumbled Glass and Speckled Egg inks.

There are some great dots and script in the Tiny Toadstools set by Tim Holtz, and I've added in another element using Simon's black ink. I think the background is done.

Detail...

Meanwhile, I stamped the tiny toadstools and mushrooms onto watercolor paper, and colored them with colored pencils...and yes, mushrooms come in a whole rainbow of colors! I stamped and punched out the specimen labels, then looked up scientific names of mushrooms to write on them. (NOTE - if you are a mycologist, there is no scientific accuracy here...I've taken my artistic license to use these as a design element) (My science background made me say that, lol!)

I stamped "Mycology field notes" onto the pages.  I collaged on some bits of paper too, then arranged my mushrooms.

Details...

I went a bit off the usual botanical tract with my mushrooms, and had a lot of fun putting this together. 

So what do you think of when you hear botanical? Take out your craft supplies and create something botanical this week and join us! Our generous friends at Simon Says Stamp are offering a $25 shopping voucher for one of you, chosen at random. 

SUPPLIES:

Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous TINY TOADSTOOLS stamps	Stamper′s Anonymous Tim Holtz Worn Text Stamp Set	Simon Says Stamp ANNA′S FLOWERS clear stamps	Simon Says Stamp Cling Stamp CRACKLE BACKGROUND	Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits Tag Collection dies
EK Success 1 inch Medium CIRCLE PUNCH	Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink Black	Tim-Holtz-Distress-Ink-Pad-COLOR-Speckled-Egg-Ranger	tim holtz distress tumbled glass ink pad	tim holtz distress peeled paint mini ink pad
Tim Holtz Distress Mini ink pad Vintage Photo	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad GROUND ESPRESSO Ranger TIM43270	Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils-72	Dyan Reaveley SMALL CREATIVE JOURNAL Ranger Dylusions	Canson XL WATERCOLOR PAPER
Dylusions Shimmer Spray, Lemon Zest	Dylusions Fresh Lime Shimmer Spray	Dylusions Shimmer Spray, Calypso Teal	Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte	ranger manila tags #8
Tim Holtz Grid Acrylic Blocks	uni-ball signo white gel pen	Black Sharpie Fine Point Pen

A great place to shop for all your crafting supplies!

Simon is on Instagram - use #sssmchallenge

 Head on over to see the botanical wonders from the design team!

Don't forget about our Kids Summer Challenge! 

Kids Summer Vacation Challenge 

....and STAMPTEMBER is right around the corner!!