Kraft+ October challenge - In Max's Garden

This month at Kraft+, this is the challenge:

Another fabulous challenge, and had I not already scrapped some photos of Willy Wagtails that I had, that is probably what I would have done. So I had to think outside the square. I had this photo of me, admiring a plant in my friend Alz Callcott's garden, so this is what I went with. 

I had an awful time trying to get a decent background on the kraft cardstock, and this is the second attempt, that didn't go into the bin. It wasn't the cardstock, it was the crackling medium that I so desperately wanted to use. Anyway, I started by spraying the cardstock, which I cut down the top piece, stitched it to the second piece and then adhered that to some backing cardstock. I spread the horrible crackling medium (I am going to have to learn how to use it - lol - big tub), over the sprayed area, and allowed that to dry overnight - that is how long it took - 12 hours! It still didn't look great, really fine cracks, so I rubbed ink and then metallic lustre into it, to get something close to what I was looking for. I then stamped using a cool Tim Holtz stamp (recently acquired) over that - the end result was fabulous - I am glad I stuck it out, as I wasn't going to bother trying again had it failed. 

For my natural elements on the page, I dehyrated a piece of the bush, using a microwave dehydrater, and also added leaf matter from the garden under the photo, to which I also sprinkled some little prills. I die cut leaves using a Couture Creations die, and have tucked feathers here and there, I left the Scrap FX ones raw, I thought they looked cute like that.

I am happy with the end result.

Thanks for looking at my layout, and for any comments you may leave.

In Max's Garden