Christmas Tags a la Lynne Perrella

You may remember me doin some crazy coloured things on tags a while ago, a technique I learned from Lynne Perrella using acrylic paints, stencils and oil pastels. Well, when I first saw her demo the technique at Artsy Crafts I fell in love with it and thought I'm gonna make all my Christmas tags like that this year. Instead of writing someone's name I just pop a picture tag of them on the pressie.

So I finally got around to doin some of those tags, here is the one for my dad (right) and my brother, here in a picture with me (I'm the little one).


The one on the left here is for my mum, I think she was 16 or so in that picture. And the other picture you probably have seen before, it's me and my sister. I was searching high and low for a suitable pic of my sis but I always come back to this one. But she's getting more than one pressie so I will have to find another picture to make another tag. Watch this space.

I have also been sewing wrapping paper from a printed out photo, I'll show that once the present is wrapped.

What are your ideas for wrapping pressies this year? Anything personalised at all? I'm always up for new ideas!

I am entering these tags into the Happy Daze "Explosion of Colour" Challenge. The blank Manila tags are available from their shop and so is the black Staz On ink I used for rubbing over the tags at the end.

Artsy Crafts with Lynne Perrella

I'm sure I mentioned the fab Artsy Crafts workshop I went to at weekend a few times. Well today I'd like to share with you the project we created on the saturday with Lynne Perrella.

My piece is very tame and neutral in colour whereas everyone else went a bit colourcrazy with a lot of stenciling and bright colours. I kinda wish I had done something more colourful but maybe I just felt a bit scared. Nevertheless, if you have seen my recent colourful tags inspired by Lynne you know that her colourful creations have rubbed off on me in the end.

I just added some finishing touches to this today with a bit of ideaology and spray inks. It is not my favourite piece but as I said before sometimes it's about the journey not the destination.

More inspiration fom Lynne Perrella

If you have seen my recent tags in true Lynne Perrella style (one I showed was actually made by her) you will not be surprised to see this strangely colourful mirror.
I love working on these Ikea mirrors, cheap and cheerful and plenty of space to decorate on. I used a whole lot of old family photos here and went mad with paints, stencils and crayons. Loving the messy way of crafting at the moment and not caring and planning things too much, just grab some crayons and go.
Not a hundred percent on whether I like this particular piece but it's not always about the finished piece is it, it's about the fun you had creating it. And what you can learn from it.

Lynne Perrella inspired Tags

It's been a bit quiet on my blog for a few days but there is a reason, I spent a weekend in Warrington at Artsy Crafts. Having taken part in Lin and Leandras workshops before I just couldnt miss this one, it had a special guest - Lynne Perrella.
I must say I had not really been familar with her work before but liked what saw on her website and I like to learn new things and venture out into different angles of crafting and so I just booked myself 2 day workshops with her. As always it was well organized and I met a lot of lovely people. The projects we did with Lynne still need some finishing touches and I will share them with you when they are ready. In the meantime check out this You Tube video to see everyone's work.
But the main inspiration I took away from this weekend was Lynne's love for oil pastels. She gave us a quick demo on a tag how she layered pastels with paints and stencils and I am totally in love.
The tag on the left is one Lynne did or me using an old photo of me and my sister. The next one is one I made using the same technique. And then the other two are ones I did at home yesterday. I also created a whole mirror in that style - I'll share that some time this week.
So overall a fab weekend, the venue was nice, the people were even nicer and I have taken away loads of inspiration. Thanks Lin and Leandra and everyone involved and especially thanks to Lynne - you are amazing!

The Disco-Tag (get it?!?!) will be entered into the Tag Challenge at The Stampotique Designers Challenge.