the last two.............

 The last two tags for the Chocolate Baroque alphatag challenge - I know they were not due till next month, but I still need to make my Christmas cards!
The Y is for yellow roses - not at all original, but I could find the stamp and the die, which helped! The embossed tag background used the SU Sizzix embossing folder called lacy brocade, which was inked up with summer starfruit (SU) ink before running through the big shot -funny, but having actually used this ink pad, I quite like it,  yellow is not a colour I would normally use....................which explains why this is the only yellow ink pad I own.
The rose is from the largest stamp on the  Harlequin Rose plate, stamped in black versafine ink and coloured with inktense pencils before cutting out and adding to the tag. Yellow roses were cut from yellow card using the Tim Holtz tattered florals die and the Sizzix (SU) blossom party die for the larger flower. All the flowers were heavily spritzed with glimmer mists in wheatfields and bronze.
Z is for Zoroastrian magi - the Magi are thought to have been Zoroastrian priests, who were renowned astronomers. The blue card of the tag base was stamped with the small star using a snow cap dabber, then white gel pen and finishing with a rhinestone centre. Tiny dabs of gel pen to represent other stars, then a shimmer spray finished the background. The 3 kings from an old DL Elusive Images plate were stamped 3 times on paper from the Echoes of Italy pack (had to grit my teeth a bit here and sacrifice this paper) using black versafine ink and clear EP. The various kings were then cut out and reassembled before gluing onto the tag. I did try using gilding flakes before using the paper, but the image is so finely detailed that it didn't work, and my eyesight is definitely  not up to colouring in a blank image!
Will have to post the swap tags separately when they have all arrived

xmas greetings

 I am afraid I went with the Xmas greetings for my X tag for the Chocolate Baroque alphatag swap - sorry, Val, hope you don't get this one! Brain just not working with ideas for alternatives - will be interesting to see how many of us have to use Xmas! I used my current favourite distress inks again, tumbled glass and broken china, and the freebie CB snowflake from the current issue of Craft Stamper. Some of the snowflakes were embossed in glittery white EP -Wow? it's lost the

label- but they don't seem to show up on the scan, and neither does the shimmer paint in the background. I will try to get a photo tomorrow if the weather is decent..................................
The greeting was stamped in old olive SU ink and coloured with olive, pear and ruby promarkers before cutting out and mounting on foam pads.
The two tags on the left are my swaps from last month -Ursine from Joan Carnell and Village in the valley by Joyce Dixon - both lovely tags for my collection, thanks ladies!
Only Y and Z to do now - and yes, I do have ideas for these, just got to clear enough workspace to do them............................

woodland spirit woodcut tag

For once, I have got slightly ahead in the Chocolate Baroque alphatag challenge (am sure it won't last) and have done my W tag! Background was done using peeled paint distress ink and a duster brush (have to admit that this technique is much easier with the brushes) and Elaine's background leaf technique. The image of the woodland nymph is from an old Graphicus plate called earth spirit  featuring Carrie's designs - I know they are linocuts, but they could just as easily be woodcuts!
Anyhow, the image was stamped in versamark and embossed with black EP - leaves at the base of the tag cut from cored'inations card using the Tim Holtz tattered leaves die. I crumpled the leaves up, splodged with brown and green inks and finally a gold TH dabber before glueing onto the tag.

joy and koi alphatags

 These are the latest for the alphatag swap over at Chocolate Baroque - it is getting harder to think of something for some letters now, something that I have a matching stamp for at least.
I couldn't find any stamps to match my first ideas for J - I even put some 'orphans' away whilst searching! - and then I had  a brainwave. This stamp was part of a set bought last year, and fitted beautifully - just hadn't thought of using a Christmas stamp. The white tag was stamped with black versafine and clear embossed, then sponged with distress inks, mostly tumbled glass, broken china and chipped

sapphire. I used white gel pen to outline the words and add detail to the holly border.
The K tag was easy, using one of my favourite stamps from years ago, the chinese-style koi carp. I used the faux pearl background, starting with tsukineko frost white shimmer ink and then mostly the same DIs used for the J tag, but more of the lighter colours. The image was  stamped in black versafine, grasses sponged over with shabby shutters DI before colouring the fish with watercolour pencils.The fish then got a coat of rock candy stickles, then one of clear crackle

accents, some stickles were smudged along the water as well, and a few highlights in white gel pen.
The final tags are the ones I received last month, the lovely golden H for happy hearts from Kathryn and the beautifully coloured  I for Ipomoea from Sarah - thanks ladies, two lovely additions to my growing collection

alphatags again- month 4

it is alphatag time again at Chocolate Baroque - and desperation set in when I realised that I hadn't even started my tags while several people had already got theirs in the post................and deadlines were approaching far too fast!
It didn't help that my stamps are totally disorganized - if you don't count boxes full of 'orphans' waiting to be returned to their sets, that is - and I just couldn't track down the ones I had originally intended to use. these are the two I eventually came up with - H for Home and I for Infinite Love - after consigning several tags to the bin.
H involved my favourite sponging and a couple of stamps, and the I just had a faux pearl background and the image stamped and gilded (a real cheat!).

These 3 tags are the ones I got back last month - a very dimensional Easter egg from Sarah, beautifully simple Flowers  and the very pretty Girly & glittery both from Jackie - the scan is much better of these than of mine - suspect I will be buying a new printer/scanner soon.................
Sorry, did post in a rush, and didn't say how I did the pearl background - dabbed Tsukineko frost white ink randomly over the tag using scrunched up paper. Let it dry - only takes a few minutes - then sponge with DIs , tunmbled glass and shabby shutters in this case. Far easier than the white paint + mica powder mix we used when we did this at craft club for Christmas cards

alphatags 2

 This month at the Chocolate Baroque Guild tag swap, we have to do C and D. C was easy, I have the very little-used chess set of stamps, but I had quite a list for D, and in the end went with dragon, simply because I had the stamps out for something else (yea, I know, lazy, that's me).
C tag
I stamped the main image onto a white tag using versafine smokey grey ink, which was also sponged round the edges of the tag, with a little blue creeping in in places to brighten it up a bit. The letter is a Tim Holtz mask again. The king and queen pieces were stamped in black versafine onto white card, cut out and covered with glossy accents - I didn't get a very even coating, but decided I quite liked the bubble effect anyway compared to the crackle finish I tried as well. this time I added white and grey ribbons to the tag.

D tag
I stamped the dragon  in black versafine onto another white tag, then onto post-its and cut out a mask for him. The letter d was from the Tim Holtz set of masks again. Once the maks were in place, I  used adirondack paint dabber in snow cap randomly across the tag, then sponged over the whole tag with distress inks - mainly tumbled glass and victorian velvet I think. Once everything was dry, I took the masks off and painted the dragon with H2O paints, the wispy ribbons were from a mystery stash box 

My two swap tags were these two, A from Paula and B from Kirsten- thanks ladies!
Now I have to decide what to do with my tags , in the meantime they are safely held by a book ring.