Tags, Bags and Tangles

My dear friend Paulien began making a tag a month at the beginning of the year, she was inspired by Tim Holtz's 12 tags of christmas and decided to carry the idea through the year. I asked if myself and a few friends could join her and also make tags each month.

So at the moment I am playing catch up. Here is my tag for the month of January. I created the background by blending Bundled Sage, Victorian Velvet and Old Paper distress inks, which I then over stamped in Frayed Burlap, the edges were distressed with scissors and then inked in Frayed Burlap.

I swiped gesso over the center of the tag to create a background to stamp my sentiment onto and then set to adding pretties.

You can see Paulien's January tag HERE

and Anita's January tag HERE

I believe Nicki is going to be joining us too so I will share her link once she has completed her tag.

Remember the ATC's I created a few posts ago ? Well this is what I did with them, I made a frame from some spare chipboard - from my friend Anita - thanks hon, painted it and covered it in Picket fence distress crackle paint before smearing it with Rock Candy stickles.

I also made this mini-book this week out of paper bags.

The bags were a gift from my friend Nicki - thanks hon

I used papers from the Making Memories Je t'adore range. The hearts on the front cover were cut from the patterned paper and embossed using UTEE , I froze them and cracked them and then rubbed them with white ink to accentuate the cracks.

Each page contains either a pocket with tags or a folder that opens to reveal a photo.

I made four of these larger tags to tuck into the open ends of the paper bags - for extra photos or journalling. I created the tabs simply by punching out two heart shapes and gluing them back to back on the edge of the tag.

I have also been creating more zentangles, well to be precise zentangles are only 3.5 inches square and are contained within four corner dots. So these are classed as Zentangle inspired art - mine have all been A4 in size so far ( which will explain why my pens keep running out lol)

This first one was just an organic pattern that evolved of its own accord, I started with the big woven circle and worked outwards.

And this particular zentangle is for Amy, I drew it especially for her ( being that she won't mind me revealing that she is totally obsessed with all things Dr Who and the Tardis)

I have been busy with other projects, but won't bore you all with more photos tonight, I will be back to share them later in the week.

This 'n' that 'n' a bit of the other

WARNING - photo heavy post, lots to share today

First up are a couple of cards I made yesterday with my new punch.

Just some real simple stamping and matting and layering, I added a little pearl to accentuate the punched border.

The flower is handmade, I punched out four daisies using the retro daisy punch ( I think everyone on the planet must own these by now lol) I spritzed them with water to soften, then I wrinkled them up, once they were dry I used chalk ink to add a little colour and attached the layers together with a jewelled brad.

The stamped sentiment is by Inkadinkadoo, the keyhole is a brad and I layered up lace over ribbon to finish the card. 

This next card is made up from papers from the Making Memories Je t'adore range, new in the shop and already one of my favourites - sooooo romantic and pretty.

Another handmade flower - this time using punched scalloped circles instead of daisies, this flower has eight layers but was made in the same way as above.  The ribbon was saved from the Making Memories packaging. Leaves are from Tilly's craft shop in Immingham ( yes I do visit other craft shops lol)

Ticket is also by Making Memories from the same range. I have been asked a couple of times recently how I get my edges to look aged, sometimes I sand or distress them, sometimes I ink them, and sometimes both, in this case, all the edges have been inked with Gingerbread chalk ink by Versamagic.

Now I have a mini book to share. I have made hundreds of mini books and love to try out different style and designs, this one is made with two rectangles of scrapbook paper folded for the pages and I used chipboard for the covers.

All papers are from the Capella range by Basic Grey, another new line to my shop. I adore these gorgeous papers, perfect for so many occasions. Cute little white flowers were a gift from my lovely friend Margaret, thankyou xxx

Tag on left, stamped with a Sirius stamp in Olive stazon, birdie is a Stampin' Up punch ( please email me if you are local and require any Stampin' Up products, my local demonstrator and good friend Deidre is absolutely brilliant and happy to help with any Stampin' Up queries or orders, or I can pass on her details)

Butterfly card is a collectors Cigarette card, flowers are a mix of Prima and Hero Arts. Tab punch is from Stampin' Up.

Ephemera on right page is by K and Co.

Background on left is Cuttlebugged cardstock, that has been inked in Peeled Paint Distress Ink and spritzed with Suede Glimmer Mist. Tag on right is K and Co.

Leaves are handmade, I stamped a leaf motif onto pale green card,  hand cut, inked the edges in a darker shade, covered in versamark, then clear embossing powder and embossed to create a lovely glossy leaf. 

Each page opens at the top and houses a further tag for journalling.

Journalling card is by K and Co from the Blue Awning range and letter stickers are Basic Grey.

Flower twill is from my shop, punch used to edge right hand pocket is by Martha Stewart.

Back cover, I used the tab punch again here in a different way, instead of folding it in half I left it open, I think it resembles a cotton bobbin this way.  

And finally ( if you are still awake ) is my latest addiction - a Zentangle, I completed this whilst Neil zoned out in front of the footie. It really is just doodling and is incredibly relaxing.

Basically you draw your design in pen and then colour in and doodle patterns using the same pen, colour and shading can be added - can you tell what it is yet ? ( said in my best Rolf Harris voice) Apparently there are official patterns, I just kind of made mine up as I went along, this one fills an A4 piece of sketch paper but you can complete them in any size and they vary massively in complexity.  I have ideas for several more and have just started my second, will share as soon as I have it finished.

Animal

I looooooooooove scrapbooking - have I mentioned that before ?

It was Aj's birthday last week so I decided to add a page to my albums to remember the day. I used a mix of different collections from Bo Bunny.

The large flower has been die cut with the Tatty Florals ( Tim Holtz ) and I added a layer of metallic mesh, The red globes are glass pebbles, I won them in a competition  a little while back, I received lots of cool little bits and bobs but have not used many of them yet, these just shouted to me from the drawer - "use me, use me"

The clip is by Making Memories and the Kraft coloured corner is some Prima packaging which I always keep as they make the cutest wrappings ( not one to waste anything !!!)

The grey textured piece is a plastic carrier bag - again recycled.

I used my Spellbinders die to create a label, covered it in a little scrap of paper and used it to display AJ's age ( can't believe my baby is 11 already !!!) Numerals are chipboard and are by Thickers.

Finally here is the card I made him, Neil always teases AJ and calls him a muppet ( in an affectionate teasing dad kind of way) so he asked me to make a card to that effect. 

Not my usual style but I am not one to stick to the 'same old, same old', I love trying new styles and creating the card to suit the person rather than my own taste ( God knows  - I must love AJ to be working with the colour orange lol)

Talking of trying new things, I have a new addiction, I was up til two in the morning last night and Neil is on nights again tonight so will be sneaking another late night playing, will share as soon as I have one finished.

Romantique

I had friday off work and had planned to spend the day with Anita. Although we had plenty of projects to fill our crafting time together, we saw Laura Dennisons Romanitique box and just had to have a go, all thoughts of other intentions were instantly dismissed.

We had some lovely new papers to play with, Anita chose Making memories Je t'adore and I used these yummy Capella papers by Basic Grey.

I made the pearly swirls from self adhesive pearls and the flowers are all an eclectic mix from my ever growing flower stash, the crochet ones all coming from Anita who made them all herself - thanks hon xxx - the book plate is by Basic Grey. Butterfly is a chipboard one from K and Co.

The knob is one I received as part of my christmas gifts from my sweet friend Nicki - thanks hon xxx

The inside all prettied up with complimentary papers

I couldn't resist adding some ribbon and lace, this bow at the back helps hide the seam.

Finally a close up of the flowers - have you guessed I love my flowers ! Also, you can detect from the photo that we have been having some lovely and much appreciated sunshine in our neck of the woods. I have not shed any layers yet but like a sunflower I did turn in admiration and enjoyed the warming glow.

Saturday saw me playing with my inks, creating backgrounds, which ended up becoming little atc's. The colours I ended up using reminded me of each of the seasons so the embellishments reflect that theme.

Spring - I used double embossing on the diamond background and shades of green ( shabby shutters and peeled paint over old paper ) I over stamped in Olive Stazon. The butterfly was made by and sent to me as a little gift by my sweet friend Paulien - thanks honey xxx

Summer - I again used the double embossing technique and used pinky shades of ink (tattered rose, worn lipstick and dusty concord) The butterfly is another little beauty from Paulien.

Autumn - The background layer was inked in brushed corduroy and stamped in close to cocoa (stampin' up) The tag was made by inking up an embossing folder with walnut stain before running it through my Cuttlebug and then the whole thing was inked again ( old paper, scattered straw and vintage photo) finally I rubbed it with some rock candy stickles. The flower and leaves were dipped in versamark and embossed with gold. The springs were little off cuts of craft wire I twisted into coils ( I wrap them around my pokey tool and then carefully slide them off - teasing them into the shape I require)

Winter - Tag was painted with Golden medium and the tissue paper was 'wrinkled' over it, I edged with a little broken china and faded jeans distress inks and added some snowflakes ( Marianne design) which were glittered with stickles. Finally I added a little picket fence crackle paint in the bottom corner which was coated in rock candy distress stickles once it was dry. 

All inks used were Tim Holtz distress inks aside from Close to cocoa which is made by Stampin' Up.