It's that time of the month again when panic starts as I realise that I only have a few days left to finish (to be honest, to do) my tags for the Chocolate Baroque alphatag swap. I did know which stamps I was going to use, and had actually got them out, which I suppose was an improvement!
The T tag was the easiest to do, as I had an old tulip stamp, which was stamped in black versafine, clear embossed then coloured with pencils before cutting out and adding glossy accents - it took longer waiting for the glossy accents to dry than anything else. Background tag was white, sponged with DIs - mostly antique lined, with bundled sage round the edges - I do like distress inks for quick backgrounds, I find them a lot easier than the pan pastels. I coloured the tulip stamp with very elderly Whispers markers and stamped three times across the tag - I was trying to get a very faded antique look for the background, and added a loop of SU crochet trim to finish it off.
The S tag used a seahorse stamp that arrived as part of a grab bag of stamps, so would be from a much more recent stamp set. background was again DIs, starting with tumbled glass, broken china, faded jeans and ending with chipped sapphire and bundled sage.I spritzed the whole tag heavily with a mix of water and shimmer paint to try to get an underwater effect. Once it was dry, I stamped the seahorse with versamark, then stamp'n'bond powder before using gilding flakes - I couldn't decide whether to use silver or a green mix of flakes, then decided on the green as I thought that the silver might not stand out enough. I'm not sure it worked too well, but black wouldn't have looked right either....I coloured the image with blue and green pencils
before brushing the colours together using the shimmer ink/water mix again. The ribbons came from another grab bag ages ago.
All the shimmer made it hard to photograph, and I tried using several angles before getting a couple that looked ok - at least I did take the photos this time......
My swap tags last month came from Kath Halstead (Q for quilling) and
Mickie Sutcliffe (Rose resist)
The tulip stamp I also have - delightful the way you made the background for it & I love how boldly the tulip colours work against it. The shimmery etherealness of your Seadragon is pretty effective & I'd imagine it looks quite a spectacle in reality.
ReplyDeletePaula (PEP)
Gorgeous tags Vronnie, the seahorse looks really pretty but my favourite is the tulips, such a lovely colour.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your husband has recovered enough to be coming home, hope all goes well for you. Jean x
Nice ideas for the tags this month - two lucky people when they are sent out. The letters seem to get more difficult to tie up with stamps as the alphabet progresses.
ReplyDeleteTwo lovely stamps again Vronnie. The tulips are gorgeous. Don't you just love it when everything comes together how you imagined it? The sea horse is great too, and I just know it is even prettier in real life. The sparkly things are so hard to do justice to with a camera.
ReplyDeleteYou do so well to keep up with this challenge with everything else that is going on in your life. I do hope your husband continues to improve. take care.
Kate x
Well done on continuing with your tags Veronica. As you know I've had to drop out (hangs head in shame here). You've made two more beauties this month and I couldn't choose a favourite. Tulips are one of my favourite flowers and I love the glossy treatment you've given them. Your colouring is beautiful and the same with the seahorse. I'd love to see this in real life because I bet the shimmer and shine is lovely. I think the gilding was a great idea.
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear your Hubby is coming home. My best wishes to you both.
Hugs
Lesley Xx