Enjoy

 I am a friend of recycling items in the craft room. Especially tags. I have a collection of beautiful tags in my craft drawer. Some are just too pretty which is why I haven't used them yet. But today was apparently the day...

I was intrigued by a couple of challenges and wanted to fit them together. How does circles, colorful, recycle and adding a charm sound to you? To me it sounded like just the ticket, as I always have so much leftovers. Either from projects that I made too much fodder for, or items that didn't fit a certain project and were discarded, or the cut-offs from die cuts.

 

I started by covering the tag with gelli print strips (cut for a project in 2024). I then stamped circles onto the background (stamp by Rubberdance, last used in the previous decennium) and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to fit the pink circle cut-outs onto it until I resorted to a die-cut of a round balloon (the balloony bit is hiding under the vase). The flowers in the vase is a die by Nellie's Choice. I had cut it ages ago from a neon colored post-it and darkened some areas with ink. Today it found its place.

 

Lastly came a pretty brad as my charm, and the little but important word 'enjoy' as this is going to accompany a tasty gift.

Entering this in these inspiring challenges:

Tag-along and ATC's: Circles

Die-cut Divas: Recycle, re-use & repurpose - I used a clothing tag as my base

GRC: #56 alles mag of gebruik een bedel - ik heb een bedel gebruikt

Crafters' Cafe: AG/ optional Lots and lots of colors - I am playing with the Option

The Neglected Stuff: September - all the used items have been neglected for years

This is my lemonade

 How does that wonderful saying go: if life deals you lemons, make lemonade?  Tag Tuesday is asking to re-use something in your art work, and it really felt like making something new and bright out of old stuff.

The things one keeps, though!

I took out a carefully preserved wrapping paper from a gift three years ago. Also a blotched background with butterflies. And a tea wrapper (Chinese mini tea brick) that went with the colors.

The background was slightly dulled by gueing down a white tissue paper on top. After that came the tea wrap tissue that was sewn on, a fussy cut flower from the wrapping paper and some silver thread  (which can't be seen here) - this is curled under the plant.

Lastly came the TH Remnant rub words and a length of pink linen twine.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Lots of layers

Tag Tuesday: Recycle and re-use

Paperminutes: #709 Nähen / Sewing

Gather moments

 ... and don't forget to enjoy them as well!

Again I played around with several challenges. Today I combined the themes 

Summer -  Enchanted garden - Musical - Layering

I started by tearing strips of sheet music and adhering that to a giant tag. I then painted it over with diluted chalk paint and stamped on with a round stamp. My first thought was to include numbers and letters (as per one other challenge) but then I decided that would be too much.

For me flowers represent the quintessence of summer. The air is heavy with their scent, the sun is hot and the insects are lazily buzzing around.

I then stamped six different flowers, fussy cut and watercolored them and arranged as a central panel. Lastly I applied the TH remnant rubs and a silk ribbon.

entering in:

Everybody Art Challenge: # 495 Summer

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Lazy days of summer

Tag Tuesday: Musical

Incy Wincy designs: Enchanted Garden

Crafters' Cafe blog Challenge: Layer it up

Where is Cynthia?

An old airmail envelope was used as the background for this tag.Onto it I added postage stamps and ephemera and a second tag as well as the text that I found in a book.

Entering this in:

Tag Tuesdays: Tag on tag

Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Red white and/or blue

Fly home!

The August Tim Holtz tag challenge introduced some nice techniques that I simply had to try. The brayered and flicked background technique immediately became my favorite, it produced such beautiful clean and airy look.

I used inks in colors Weathered Wood, Chipped Sapphire and Hickory Smoke. The first layer was weathered wood, gently diluted with a few drops of water. Next came weather wood mixed with chipped sapphire and hickory smoke, again with a few drops of water. It was flicked with water between brayering layers and the final drops are Infusions Black Knights - I like them because they start black but soon form vintage brown afterglow as well.

The die had ovals to be filled - I filled them with all sorts of linen. They soon reminded me of eggs. So I added  a flecked black feather (guinea fowl) and a charm birdie.

I could not find a text that would have fitted. I am mourning the fact that rub-ons seem to have all but vanished. Thankfully I am still hoarding a nice stash of rub-on letters, white among them. This way I was able to create my own phrase.
It was tied with a silk yarn. (Knitting yarn... Debbie Bliss if you should wonder. Takes dye well.)

entering this into:
Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016: August

Quite the opposite / tägi Timpan ohjeilla

I have been forever reading Tim Holtz Tags Challenge and oohing and aahing over the tags that are created. This year is a remix that takes two previous techniques and combines them. It's May, almost half of the year has gone and finally I pick up my courage to try!
This of course coincides beautifully with the challenge over at Frilly&Funkie, who think it is time to shake up your routine and make something you never usually do.
And pink! I love pink, and this is just the way to use it.

It is a clever mix of techniques, stamping over TH tissue tape which acts as a resist. (It would normally leave the face manila color, but I was so enamored with pink I coated my tag with it before starting.)
I also colored in the ribbon, then crunched it and let it dry. (This produced crinkles and an uneven color.)

The background was stenciled (I love the flower stencil!), then colored in with inks (crushed olive, broken china, rusty hinge). Last were the flowers, I had great fun making them, though without the die they became rather open and large. But the openness was a plus, because I could add some seed pearls into their centers. They were colored using glittery peachy pink mist, the leaves with olive crush ink.
Why don't you go and hop over to learn some nifty new techniques!

entering this into:
Tim Holtz Tags 2016: May
Frilly and Funkie: Opposites attract
Stamps and Stencils: Think pink

Tägi syntyi Timpan ohjeilla. Nyt kun minulle on vihdoinkin alkanut kertyä aa/ hieman enemmän mömmö- ja tekniikkaymmärrystä  ja bee/ Timpan tarvikkeita, ajattelin vihdoinkin osallistua hänen haasteisiinsa. Tägejähän en yleensä tee, ne ovat jotenkin niin turhia, mutta on kyllä kiva kokeilla uusia tekniikoita. Tässä on jujuna Timpan paperiteipin käyttö. Kun sen päälle leimaa niin se leimaus pysyy muuttumattomana vaikka kuinka ruiskisi korttiin muita värejä. Minun naisenpääni on pinkki siksi, että maalasin kortin pinkiksi ennen kuin tein mitään muuta.
Mutta just kun sanoin että tägit on niin hyödyttömiä, niin onhan nää kivoja. Voi lähettää jollekulle tyyliin 'kiitoksia vaihdosta' kun tietää saajan osaavan arvostaa kaikkia niitä työvaiheita.

Tag it / Mitä tehdä tägeille- arvonta

You don't see much manila tags here. While they are cute, and a good format to work on, in the end I rarely know what to do with them. They are too large for my atc folder, I don't hang small things on my walls, and they don't suit as a gift tag either.
What do other people do with large tags?

Which means I have now made one and am wondering how to proceed from here ... got any ideas for me?

"Why don't you reply to my letters? They tell you everything that happens."

Tägit ja minä emme usein kohtaa. Iso tausta on kyllä kiva, siinä on tilaa temmeltää ihan erilailla kuin atc-korteissa, mutta toisaalta - mitä tehdä kun se on valmis? Se ei mahdu atc-kansioon, enkä ripustele pikkutuotoksia seinälle, ja lahjapakettiinkin se tuntuu hiukkasen oudolta. Mitä ihmiset tekee tägeillään? Kerro ja vinkkaa ja osallistu vastauksellasi arvontaan. Arvon viikonlopun jälkeen vähän askartelumatskua, taustoja ja kuvia, jollekin onnekkaalle. Tietoa saa myös levittää (siitä tulee toinen arpa).

Lähden nimittäin ulkomaille ensi kesään saakka, ja kun kaikkea ei voi ottaa mukaansa - ketä oikein juksaan? Mitään ei voi ottaa mukaansa! - niinpä panen herkkupaloja* kiertoon.

Tägin pohja on tehty uudella tekstuuripastalla, jota on vanhennettu parilla leimasinvärillä. Vanhensin samaten säkkikankaan palasen musteilla. Muut elementit onkin leikattu erilaisilta arkeilta, teksti on löydetty vanhasta kirjasta ja pojalla on aito kuparinen tähti rintapielessään.

Poika on matkalla, tosin zeppeliinin kyydissä. Osallistun tällä kuitenkin p*skikseen. Matka kuin matka?

* taustapapereita, Crafty Individualsin kuvia, sydän ja kruunu messinkielementtejä, kopioita omien kokoelmieni vanhoista valokuvista, säkkikangasta, pellavanarua, nauhoja ... Varmaan löydän vielä muutakin kun ryhdyn etsimään :-) 

Manila tag was worked with texture paste and stencil. Then I distressed the background and edges, added a piece of burlap which I distressed as well. A piece of an old letter, some fussy-cut elements and a copper (real copper) star.
I am entering this into Steampunk challenge.
Thanks for looking!

Tageja

Tägeja peräänkuulutetaan - pitipä kokeilla niitäkin. Ne ovat yksinään vähän vaikeita, mutta sopivat kivasti atc-korttiin.

Käytin näihin kaikenlaisia hukkamateriaaleja, vaikkei heti uskoiskaan. Linnut ja niiden ihanat turkoosinherkät taustat on työpöydän suojuspaperista. Toisessa kortissa suojuspaperi on käytössä täginä, toisessa pohjana.

kun tuuli käy niiden ylitse

Lisäksi ainakin viisi vuotta säilömäni sydänhaaraniitti, vaihdoista muinoin saatuja kukkia ja lehti,

Elämän laulu soi kuolemastakin huolimatta

joitain lankoja ja vanhan nyyhkyromaanin tekstiä (jossa ei kuoltu, vaan rakastettiin sitäkin hurjemmin).
Linkitän nämä TJK 31-32 haasteeseen.

I am entering my tags into Artistic Stamper July challenge (tags). I used several stamps (Hero Arts, Finnstamper, Above the Mark, Kortstugan...) to name a few. Truth is, this was my desk guard that takes overflow of paints as well as second and third impressions of stamps. I really like using these papers. I added flowers, other stamped images, and found text.
Thank you for looking!

Buttons!

This week both FFTT and Mixed Media Mondays (MMM?) have challenged us to use buttons in our artwork. I have a lot of beautiful, but really dimensional and bulky buttons. My favorite to use on flat(tish) collage work are these old underwear buttons from Germany. They are just round cardboard discs clad with white linen, simple and to the point. An added plus: they come on a pretty printed card.
I played around and made these tags. (Lately I have been making just tags, but double sided, so you can flip them. Possible use? Bookmarks, I guess. Or carry-along pocket art?)

I made two tags, but gave the second one to my sister before I had a chance to take a picture. Eventually I will show the second one here. Two tags for two challenges, fair enough.

Domestictext left: changes temporarily
right: background shows ads for domestic help and summer houses to rent
clicks for big!

Skinny Saturday

I'm really into tags right now, which I've been doing in this skinny format.



Sarah's Skinny Saturday challenge is asking to make a diptych. Well, I made a tag which is a diptych in itself, as both sides are needed to form a complete image.

Edit: Oh WHY can't I get the pictures to appear side by side, oh why!

Theme Thursday: Boys

Trying out the new Theme Thursday for the first time. This week: boys.
I made a tag. The "caption" reads: smart, well yes. That is boys for me; they act silly even if they're smart.