UK STAMPERS TAG SWAP

It's been a long time but I am so glad that I have refound UK Stampers Group on Facebook.  It has some great monthly swaps and I decided to take part in some. This week I am sharing my tag I made for the September Tag Swap.

First I stamped a music note background from a stamp by WOW! Embossing Powders. I then stamped and coloured the flowers with Spectrum Noir Pencils before affixing to the tag. I did the same with the birds. To made it look a bit distressed I edged the tag with white acrylic paint.

I hope the receiver will like it...!!

I am entering the following challenges too

Love to Craft - Anything Goes

Animal Tag

Don't you just love it when you discover stash you have never used and completely forgotten about?!

I haven't made a tag for a challenge for a while and wanted to join in with Tag Tuesday's theme which is Animals.  Searching through my stash I found an UNOPENED PACK OF SHEENA STAMPS!!!

This is the set is called a Perfect Day

and this is the tag I made

I created a tag blank and used Distress Inks to create the background. The stencil was also found in my stash! again from Sheena and I used this with Distress Ink to create the foliage. The hare I stamped onto card and coloured with ink and a wet paintbrush. I punched out a moon shape and stamped the cloud.

Having found all that new stash I am one happy hare (bunny!)

Other challenges I am entering:

Crafty Animals - Anything with Animals

Stempelgarten - Wildlife

Mixed Media Tag

Back now from the Easter break and ready to craft! I really enjoyed making this tag using different kinds of medium.

I used Distress Crayons and Gelatos to colour the background of the tag before stamping onto it with a text stamp. I dry brushed some of the area with white acrylic paint. The trellis is a die cut.

For the butterflies and flowers I stamped onto watercoloured card coloured again with Distress Crayons and Gelatos. I used WOW!Embossing Powder in Brass to emboss the outlines.

Finally I assembled them all onto the tag and added some glitter (well I am The Sparkly Fairy!)

I hope you like it!

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Make My Monday - Embossing

A Inky Mess - Anything Mixed Media

Crafts and Me - Things With Wings

WOW! Embossing Powder - Anything with Embossing

The Potting Shed

Must get this blogging done more regularly!! Its a busy month for birthday in my family so have spent a lot of time making cards for the men in my family.

This card is one I made just because I wanted too!

Those of you who read my blog will know I am a big fan of Little Claire Stamps. There them on their challenge blog is Add Some Bunting so I thought this would be perfect! I stamped and coloured the card with Promarkers, added a string of bunting and a sentiment from a set of free stamps I had.

It will soon be time here in the UK to prepare the garden once again for Spring!

I am also entering the following challenges:

 My Time to Craft - Tag It 

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Christmas Crafting

It is so hot here in the South of England I have been trying to keep cool with some Christmas crafting. The thought of snow and ice is appealing right now!

For this card I made a tag and embossed it with snowflakes using White WOW! Embossing powder. This created a resist effect once I had gone over the top with Distress Ink. I stamped the deer image and again embossed with white powder before mounting it onto blue card. This gave a nice border to the deer. I then stamped the greeting and added the embellishments. For the background card I stamped a snowflake stamp with Broken China and Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink using first and second generation stamping.

At least that is one card off the list for Christmas!!

I am entering the following challenges:

Crafty Boots - Christmas in July
The Glory of Christmas Challenge - Christmas
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Non traditional colours
Addicted to Stamps - Holiday
Artistic Inspiration Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas - Week 3 Catch Up

Sometimes it's great when a plan DOESN'T come together! Which is exactly what happened when creating this project.  It started out as a card, but the gold leaf went on slightly wrong, so I ended up cutting the card in half to make this tag and I'm quite pleased with the result.

I am slowly catching up with The Funkie Junkie's 12 tags of Christmas Challenge. As Linda did I coated the card with Frayed Burlap and dusted it with gold perfect pearls. I stencilled the stars with the Frayed Burlap. and added the Sunset gilding flakes along the bottom. The black silhouettes are peel offs I found in my stash (amazing what hides in the stash!). I didn't have the same font for the Noel so I used a wooden embellishment covered with WOW Brass Sparkle Embossing Powder. The brass stars are brads  - again in my crafty stash!

Onto Week 4!

Funkie Junkie Challenge - Catch Up Week 2

I am slowly catching up with the challenge Linda at Funkie Junkie has set this year.  This is my take on her Week 2 inspiration.

I'm not too keen on the reindeer I used, but I had to improvise! I created the background by swiping the tag through Frayed Burlap, Picket Fence Distress Stain and Perfect Pearls (as Linda did). Then I stamped the trees and the sentiments. The reindeer I created by die cutting and then embossing with gold powder before stamping into it while hot. The stars are wooden, stained with Picket Fence, stamped on and then covered with Glossy Accents and glitter. 

Week 3's tag to follow soon!

Other challenges I am entering : 

Boo!

Did I scare you?! With Halloween only a couple of weeks away, I thought I would get into the SPIRIT (LOL) with a spooky tag.

I made this tag initially with the challenge at Our Creative Corner in mind which is to create a Halloween tag with texture. I covered the tag in black tissue paper and then dry brushed it with silver acrylic paint. The Spiders web and spider was diecut with my Cricut machine. I then stamped and cut out the bat. The vial is filled with silver glitter and I added a vintage label. Lastly to hang the tag I created a chain from jump rings.

Look out for more spooky projects coming soon!

Challenges I am entering:

Country View Challenges - Something Spooky

Unruly Paper Arts - Going Batty

12 Tags of Christmas Challenge

I think Autumn has settled in for good today in the South, it is dull, wet and cold - perfect for staying in and crafting!

I have decided to try and join in with the Funkie Junkie challenge (sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique Store) to make a Christmas tag each week based on the inspiration given. I am a bit behind, but here is my take on Week One.

To make the tag I used black card which I stamped and embossed snowflakes onto using WOW Embossing Powder. I edged the tag with a white inkpad to give it a chalky look.The baubles are from a fabulous set FREE! with Simply Cards and Papercraft Magazine this month. Again these were embossed with Bright White Embossing Powder from WOW! The holly leaves are stamped and coloured with Distress Markers and I added a felt snowflake and a pearl to finish.

1 down - 11 to go!

I am also entering this into the following challenges :
Winter Wonderland - Wrap It Up

Key to Home

I hope those of you who are at home today are enjoying th start of the Easter holidays. Its very cold here in the South but we are still looking forward to our Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday.

I enjoy using tags in my art and found time to make this tag for the Artistic Stamper Challenge.

I used some text printed paper and coloured it with Distress Inks. I printed the word HOME and again aged it with Distress Inks. The stamps are a favourite by Paper Artsy and I stamped these onto text paper and cut them out. To finish I added a key by Tim Holtz tied with twine.

Try it On Tuesday - Peel Offs

At Try It On Tuesday you had to use Peel Offs on a tag this week. First I sprayed a tag with Cosmic Shimmer. I put the peel offs onto acetate and then sprayed the back of the acetate with glitter spray. I added mini bells and fibre to finish. It's easy to forget to use your stash of peel offs, but there is some great inspiration at TIOT.

Other challenges I am entering :

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Bows and Berries - Make a Tag

Stamping a Tag

The theme at Fashionable Stamping at the moment is to make a tag. I wanted to create a pretty, vintage style tag so this is what I have come up with. I used a mixture of Papermania, Anna Griffin and a Craft Stamper freebie stamp. I used my mica paints to give all the pieces a metallic sheen and then added glitter glue for sparkle.

Other challenges I am entering :

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Anything Goes Challenge - Anything Goes

Try It On Tuesday - Guest Designer

Very excited this week as I am a Guest Designer over at Try It On Tuesday. The theme this week is Dig Out The Old - make a tag using a stamp you have had for awhile but never used. For mine I used a bird stamp I've never used, stamped and embossed onto coloured card and highlighted areas with Promarkers. I added a flower and chain to finish. So why not pop over and join in the challenge - and you might even see who the The Sparkly Fairy is!

Its been a hectic (and emotional!) week with my little one starting big school, but it means that I should get back on track with posting on my blog!

Tag Tuesday - Butterfly

The theme at Tag Tuesday for this week is Butterflies. I made this tag using Tim Holtz's faux enamel technique using Old Linen Distress Ink, Clear embossing powder and Walnut Distress Ink. I added tissue tape onto the background. The Anna Griffin butterfly stamp I stamped and used the direct to paper technique with Distress ink to colour. I then brushed out the colour with a water brush. I added dropped off gold UTEE onto the wings. Finally I made a bead dangle with butterfly beads to decorate.

TIO - Winged Things

The current challenge at Dragon's Tag It On is Winged Things. The challenge finishes tomorrow so got in by the skin of my teeth! I'm really pleased with the effect I achieved here with the sequin waste and Distress Ink. The stamp is from an Inkadinkadoo set and I used the Autumn set of Promarkers to colour.

If you have any spare cards with this theme you might want to send them to St Luke's Hospice in Sheffield. They have a monthly card challenge where you send them a card along the lines of the monthly theme and they sell them for their charity. There is also a small prize for the winner. The theme for June is Flying so could be things with wings, planes or air balloons.

Grungy Monday - Better late than never!

Well as usual I'm running a little late with this one. It was a new technique that I had to get round to trying and I'm so glad I did. When I wiped off the paint it was one of those "oooohh" moments! I used a Crafty Individuals key stamp, pounced over acrylic paint and wiped to reveal the image as instructed by Tim and then stamped and embossed some text to finish.

Christmas Leftovers

The challenge at Tag Tuesday this week was to make a tag using leftover materials from Christmas. I made this tag using wrapping paper for the background material, a picture left over from my Crafty Individuals stash, I made the ribbon rosettes from leftover wrapping ribbon. The tied raffia is from my Mum's christmas wrapping. To finish I scratched over the paper to give it an aged feel and then embossed snowflakes onto the piece.

Gold Tag - Tag Tuesday

I made this tag for this week's Tag Tuesday Challenge which this week is to make a tag using the colours of gold or silver. I used a Rubber Stampede Christmas collage stamp which is an old favourite of mine. I stamped it using versamark ink, then rubbed over with gold Perfect Pearls. I coloured the holly leaves with watercolour pencils.I then highlighted them with Distress Stickles. I used a gold sparkling reindeer to finish it off.

Other challenges entered :

Something Completely Different - Christmas Tag

Theme Thursday - Tags
Artistic Challenge - Withdrawal Tags

Winter Wonderland - Tag Card

Winter Wonderland's challenge this week was Tag Cards, so this is my entry. Its a decoupaged tag card which I have put together and decorated. The kit was designed by Avril at Avril's Crafting Corner and can be purchased here.

Art Raffle Entry

UKStamper's art raffle this month is themed "tags". Any theme, so here are my offerings. I got a bit carried away with various techniques and products - bubble wrap as a stamp, cosmic shimmers, flowers made from book pages and distress inks!