Crazicards Crafty Blog

I have been a member of the Graphicus Guild for a while now but due to circumstance I never seemed to be able to find the time to join in with the monthly swaps that are ongoing.

So one of my New Year Resolutions was to make sure I join in swaps more often this year. So when January's swap was announced I put my name down straight away. The subject was New Beginnings and you could either make an ATC or a Tag.

I racked my brains for ages to see what I could possibly do an this is the Tag that I made:

 I made a large tag and then set about stamping with versamark ink and embossing with Clear WOW powder, several flowers from the Creative Expressions stamp plates - British Wild Flowers and Meadow Flora.

I then used Tim Holtz distress Inks with cut'n'dry to colour the background. The stamped and embossed areas done previously created a resist to the ink and once I had finished with the ink the flowers really stood out.

I then created the flowers and coloured them using Brilliance inks which have a lovely shine to them. As these tend to be a little wet for a while I set them aside to dry whilst I stamped onto acetate the sentiment "Let the Adventure Begin" from the Elusive Images stamp plate - Artistic Affirmations.

I then stamped the beautiful butterfly from another Elusive Images stamp plate - Flora and Fauna  and embossed it using a pepper Wow embossing powder. The Wow powders are brilliant for this as you don't leave as much powder on the acetate as you do with other types of embossing powders.

I must admit though that I still use my antistatic bag on acetate as no matter how good a powder is it will still get caught in the static on the acetate, the bag helps to prevent that.

I then had to create the pupa, (I think that's the right word for it), for the butterfly to emerge from, and for this I tried several thing like Angelina Fibres and wool but neither gave he right effect. Whilst I was rummaging through my scrap box I came a cross a small scrap of hand made paper that had been stitched and when I pulled apart the two sheets the threads split giving quite a fluffy stranded effect, just perfect for what I wanted.

I then stamped and glazed a branch from the Sheena stamp plate - Faith for the pupa to hang from. The finished tag is almost A5 in size which I think is probably a little bit large, but I think it turned out OK for my first tag swap.

Here is the fantastic tag that I received from this swap. The detail is just fantastic and I am afraid this photograph doesn't really do the tag any justice as you can't see the superb Copper embossing of the lady tree or the deep Gold embossing of the swirly Sun. The lovely bead trim at the bottom is simply gorgeous.

I am now thinking of my next tag for the February swap which has a title of Romance. I am quite looking forward to taking part over the coming months and I shall be sure to share my tags and the ones that I receive with you all.

If they are all as beautiful as this one it will be wonderful.