Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2012 November

November brings the frost to make your feet and fingers glow, so what better time to keep warm and cosy indoors and craft, craft, craft.

I have finished up with something totally different from what was started. Mostly because I needed to re-ink my clear embossing ink pad, after several attempts at getting a good impression with the un-inked pad and having to cut off the original wording which was quite large and said blessed, I eventually stamped my flower in a very light blue ink and heat embossed it. The re-inker is still on the loose I am sure it will find itself soon.

I used distressed inks to colour the background, the flowers and butterfly. Once I had removed the embossing powder from the flower I over stamped the flower with metallic distress stain and the word blessed is also stamped in the same  stain and is about a 10th of the size of the original which took up a lot of my tag space. Having chopped the original tag about I mounted what was left of it onto black card to create my tag. I think I like the effect better than my original idea.

Happy crafting
Georgina

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2012 October

The tag that I had envisioned when I started is not the tag you see today.
It started out with the same premise a grave/tomb stone. I was thinking of Disney as my inspiration  I love the walk through line of the hunted mansion with all the amusing sayings on the grave stones, I had several amusing ditties in my head I was going inscribe on to my grave stone along with a glittered black cat, some skeleton bones maybe a witches hat and broom, you get the picture. Instead I have ended up with something much more reflective.

I decided that I wanted to have an angel on my grave stone and as I had not used print on the background (as in Tim's tag) I decided to use print for the angel the closest thing to hand was an old news paper. While I was waiting for the ink to dry I was reading the paper as you do. It was an article about the lost of innocent life due to the interests  greed, beliefs and the physical and cognitive behavior of others, which, got me thinking about how history has a way of continually repeating it's self, it seems we never learn what we never learn. Gosh! I sound very morbid and moralizing I don't mean to be, this is just my humble and simple tribute to all those innocent souls past, present and future, lost to the beliefs and actions of others.

The card stock is coloured in shades of grey Promarkers,The angel is a Crafty individuals stamp and the cat is a WRMM stamp, stamped onto black card, with Stickles for the eyes and collar the covered with Glossy Accents.The broom is made from a coffee stirrer and some raffia. The grass has been cut from a Sizzix die then covered in glitter, coloured with Lettuce Alcohol Ink.The inscription which does not show up very well  on the photo reads Beloved Innocent 1692.

Until next time enjoy your crafting.
Georgina

Birthday Card for an Old Lady

Not really old in fact they say 50 is the new 30 and therefore Dorrie is unofficially 30 today.
As it's her birthday so she is having a having a day off. She is still at work but is playing. She used up Tally's extra paint a while ago and covered a couple of canvases to create backgrounds, she is now creating works of art in her brand new art apron that says Warning Artiste At Work, she is worried that she will get paint on it. I have told her that paint is good, how things change as a young girl she thought dirty garments much more interesting than clean ones. I keep trying to get a photo but every time she sees the camera she turns around, if I succeed I will post a picture later. In the meantime here is the card that I made her. She has been reminding me for the last week that I need to make a card. I kept telling her I could pick one up a card in Tesco's (apparently this is sacrilege)

I used a pearlescent card and stencilled a flourish using a Dreamweaver Stencil and Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, where they merge they create a 3rd colour tone. I used the same inks to blend around the edges. The butterflies are stencilled  using Dreamweaver embossing paste and sprinkled with perfect pearls. Instead of letting it dry naturally I used a heat gun which fuses the perfect pearls to the paste but also creates a bubbly effect in the paste. Then cut them out and positioned them on the card.

 I made her pose and now she says I can't upload the pics but hey possession of the memory card is nine tenths of the law.

Well, I have to clean the bar as we have some bubbly to drink this evening so until next time
Happy crafting
Georgina

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2012 September

Or wise owl version 3

Yes, the 3 of us decided to use the same tag for Tim's 12 tags of 2012 September, you can see how he did it here. It started out with Dorrie saying are you going to us the Steam-punk owl stamp (Stampendous), I replied that  I was going to but I could use another stamp. So off Dorrie went stamp in hand and started her tag. Meanwhile Mouse decided she wanted to do the owl entirely in metal. So I said why don't we all use the owl stamp and voila 3 very different tags see Dorrie's here and Mouse's. here.

I created a tag out of red card then created a smaller tag out of blue metal,  using a selection of equipment from Walnut Hollow and Ten Second Studio I embossed  a border, sanded it on the raised edges,I then scooched an pattern on the metal and re-coloured the exposed metal with pro-markers. I then created a leaf border on a separate piece of metal and again coloured it with Pro-markers.

I stamped Mr Owl onto newspaper using coffee Archival ink. Then covered the newspaper with Perfect Medium to make the paper go translucent. The image can then be seen on both sides I used the reversed image. I used Gel medium to stick Mr Owl to some card this also seals the sticky Perfect Medium. Once I had impatiently waited for it to dry I highlighted the image, again using  Pro-markers.
 It was then just a quick assembly job or so I thought. However Mr Owl looked very forlorn sitting on the tag a good excuse to get out some embellishments. I am really loving Prima's Junkyard findings (Available in our craft shop) at the moment. I tried to colour the clock face with Pro-markers but the surface was a bit resistant so I covered it with Gel Medium the re coated it with colour, my impatience got the better of me though as some of it wasn't quite dry and the printing of the clock face blurred a bit, but hay ho I like the grungy look. The light bulb says sweet so I added the word dreams with some letter peal off we had in the workshop stash.

Unlike last months tag, which I had lost my mojo for and to be quite honest was not my finest hour, a bit pants really, this months attempt I am really quite pleased with. Perhaps my mojo is back..

Enjoy your crafting
Til next time
Georgina

12 tags of 2012 August taking it to the wire

It is official, I am in the creative doldrums!

I haven't felt very creative in the last few weeks but had to stir my stumps to post my tag for August. I started with all good intentions at the beginning of the month, but it has all gone down hill since then. Gawd I sound like a whinging pom.

Anyway here is my tag, very simple and self explanatory. I did try painting my embossed background but didn't like the effect that I achieved so I have gone for the natural look of kraft paper, which I do like.

I was going to add words but decided the words I had chosen weren't quite right. Perhaps it is my mood. Anyhow I am now going to start September by re-organising my craft stash and work space, maybe I will find the embossing powder that I seem to have lost. I'm bound to find something in my stash that I have forgotten about and will inspire me. See I am in a better mood already there is nothing like a bit of re-organisation to sooth the battered spirit.

Enjoy you crafting
Georgina

12 tags of 2012 July

I have surprised myself, I was determined not to leave July's tag until the last possible moment and whilst I am not the 1st to post I did not let myself down.

We don't celebrate the 4th July in England, but we are celebrating a lot this year including the Olympics starting at the end of the month so I decided that London 2012 would be a good theme. I am really pleased with the effect I achieved I hope you like it

I enjoyed playing with Alcohol inks they have not been out of the cupboard for a while. I tried both the air can and the blowing through a straw method and found that I had more control over the ink with the later method. Having said that the ink splats on the tag were achieved with the air can method, just because of the location of the ink splats on the paper. The stamps are from sets by Kanban and Papermania and the other embellishments came from my stash, except the guard ribbon which Mouse choose when we went to buy some buttons. I have a feeling it will make it's way into her tag as well.

Happy crafting
Georgina
  

12 tags of 2012 June

I want to know where June has gone, it has just disappeared in a flash.
I did manage to fit a little holiday into the month on the heritage  coast and North Yorkshire Moors, beautiful if a trifle wet. I treated myself to some Whitby Jet Jewellery. Had a great time rummaging through a host of antique shops and stomping around the coast and moors not to mention the tea rooms and country pubs bliss!
I had been pondering on what to do for Junes' tag when I came across a pile of old postcards in a flea market I have to say I am a fan of old sepia and black and white postcards particularly when they have been sent to someone I suppose it is a bit like eavesdropping but it is kind of uplifting to read messages of good cheer sent to friends and relations.

The postcard I choose to use was sent from Vic to his mother, the journey to Bournemouth was good, the weather was marvelous and he was making the most of his holiday in sight seeing. It was sent on the 8th August but the year on the postmark can't be seen The stamp has the head of George VI, the Queens' father and cost 2d (I am probably boring you now but I find these details fascinating). From the fashions worn on the card I would guess it was sometime in the late 1940's or early 1950's.

Having spent ages looking for a packet of craft nibs both in the craft box and in the shop to no avail ( I have now ordered new stock) but in the meantime I used a fine paint brush to tint the postcard using a variety of distress inks.I have kept layout and embellishments simple.The old penny has the Kings head on it. Even though the postcard originally cost 2d to send I thought the caption PENNY POST sounded better.

When we were going through some old family photos for Dorrie's tag we found a few of Dad's attempts at tinting photos then I remembered this. He made the frame out of old cigarette packets. In those days smoking was socially acceptable. The colours on the photo have degenerated Mum's hair really wasn't green.

I hope you all have a great weekend 

Happy Crafting

Georgina xx